HEADLINES

Month: November 2024

Extra Points: Eagles, Cassel, Romo, Peterson

October 25th, 2015 at 9:17pm CST by Ben Levine

Some assorted notes from around the NFL as we wrap up the weekend…

  • According to CBSSports.com’s Jason La Canfora (via Twitter), the Eagles won’t get a 2016 fourth-rounder from the Rams if Sam Bradford plays 50-percent of his team’s snaps. Philadelphia will still have to part with a second-round pick, however.
  • Cowboys owner Jerry Jones didn’t have the highest praise for quarterback Matt Cassel following his team’s loss to the Giants. “If you’re asking me if I’m confident that Cassel can help us win several of the next ballgames, I don’t know that,” Jones said (via The Washington Post’s Mark Maske on Twitter). With Tony Romo still about a month away from returning, it’s uncertain if Cassel will stick around in Dallas.
  • Speaking of Romo, Jones told ESPN’s Adam Schefter that the quarterback would be back for the Cowboys‘ Week 10 matchup against the Buccaneers (Twitter link). Of course, as Schefter notes, Romo isn’t eligible to return until Week 11, but the owner’s optimism is certainly worth noting.
  • Vikings running back Adrian Peterson said his illness was due to a shrimp allergy, not chewing tobacco, writes ESPN.com’s Ben Goessling. Peterson was downgraded to questionable Saturday evening, but he suited up for Sunday’s victory over the Lions.

AFC Notes: McCown, Chargers, Bills

October 25th, 2015 at 8:07pm CST by Ben Levine

Some assorted notes from around the AFC…

  • Browns quarterback Josh McCown wasn’t checked for a concussion until after today’s game, and Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com tweets that the NFL will “review” whether the signal caller’s potential head injury was “handled properly.”
  • Chargers offensive lineman Orlando Franklin was carted off the field during his team’s loss to the Raiders, and Michael Gehlken of the San Diego Union-Tribune believes (via Twitter) the former second-rounder suffered a left leg injury. Franklin didn’t speak following the game, but Gehlken tweets that the lineman could “barely walk.”
  • Furthermore, Gehlken tweets that Chargers linebacker Denzel Perryman left the stadium with his right arm in a sling. It’s believed to be a biceps injury, and the writer says the team is worried there’s a possible tear.
  • Bills coach Rex Ryan is confident that Tyrod Taylor will return following the team’s bye, reports Tyler Dunne of The Buffalo News (via Twitter). Ryan also said the EJ Manuel would “100 percent” be the Bills backup quarterback.

Latest on Manziel, NFL Investigation

October 25th, 2015 at 7:35pm CST by Ben Levine

SUNDAY, 7:30pm: It’s going to be a busy week for Manziel. McManamon reports that the quarterback is likely to start next weekend’s game for the Browns, and that will come after a scheduled interview with the NFL regarding the mid-October incident.

Manziel played briefly during Cleveland’s loss to the Rams today, passing for 27 yards. Starter Josh McCown left the contest with an injured right shoulder, and he was also checked for a concussion following the game.

While Manziel wouldn’t confirm whether the meeting will take place, he did say he’d cooperate with any investigation.

“If anybody reaches out to me, if the NFL does reach out to me, I’ll fully cooperate with anything that they ask me,” he said. “Anything they need from me, I’m not shying away from that. I cooperated fully with Avon. I cooperated fully with everybody in the Browns and anybody that’s asked me anything.

“It’s an ongoing situation, and I don’t really want to speak on it much more than that. If the situation does arise I’ll fully cooperate. That’s really it.”

Manziel also had a message for the Browns fanbase.

“I hope people haven’t given up on me,” Manziel said. “I know I’m trying to do the right things on the field. Just trying to keep my head down and just keep plugging and keep pushing and keep trying to gain, back, really, what I felt I lost last year in a rough rookie season.”

SATURDAY, 9:35am: While the NFL continues to investigate the recent Johnny Manziel incident, Pat McManamon of ESPN.com says the league could still punish the sophomore quarterback before the “probe is complete.” The NFL could cite the league’s personal conduct policy, which allows commissioner Roger Goodell to place Manziel on paid leave if he believes the former first-rounder was in violation of league rules.

“If an investigation leads the Commissioner to believe that you may have violated this Policy by committing any of the conduct identified above, he may act where the circumstances and evidence warrant doing so,” the NFL personal conduct policy states (via McManamon). “This decision will not reflect a finding of guilt or innocence and will not be guided by the same legal standards and considerations that would apply in a criminal trial.”

As Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk.com writes, the league hasn’t hesitated from handing out these “paid vacations” in the past, but it’s still uncertain whether they’ll punish Manziel. Overall, the writer would be surprised if the quarterback was placed on paid leave.

Phillip Dorsett Out At Least Four Weeks

October 25th, 2015 at 5:41pm CST by Ben Levine

The Colts’ disappointing day continues, as ESPN’s Adam Schefter tweets that wideout Phillip Dorsett fractured his ankle during his team’s loss to the Saints. The injury is expected to sideline the rookie for four to six weeks. Schefter adds that Dorsett will undergo more tests on Monday.

The first-round pick had appeared in all seven of the Colts’ contest, but he was no more than the fourth option in a receiving group that includes T.Y. Hilton, Donte Moncrief, and Andre Johnson. Dorsett had compiled 10 catches for 159 yards and one touchdown this season.

Griff Whalen, who FootballOutsiders.com cites as having played only three less snaps than Dorsett this season, will likely step up in the rookie’s place.

Todd Haley A Candidate For Dolphins HC?

October 25th, 2015 at 4:48pm CST by Dallas Robinson

Steelers offensive coordinator Todd Haley has had success as a head coach before, leading the Chiefs to a 10-6 record and the AFC West title during his second season in Kansas City. Now, due no doubt to his work with Ben Roethlisberger and the rest of the Pittsburgh offense, Haley could ascend to the head coaching ranks once again, as Jason La Canfora of CBSSports.com reports that Haley has support from Dolphins officials and is expected to receive “ample consideration” for the position.

Per La Canfora, Bill Parcells — known to have the ear of Dolphins owner Stephen Ross — is highly supportive of Haley, who workd under Parcells with both the Jets and the Cowboys. Many of Ross’ recent hires, including football czar Mike Tannenbaum, have come from the Parcells “coaching tree,” as La Canfora notes, so the interest in Haley would not come as a surprise.

Haley, 48, posted a pedestrian 19-26 overall record with the Chiefs, but his success as a offensive play-caller is hard to question. He helped lead the Cardinals to the Super Bowl following the 2008 season, and has molded Roethlisberger, Antonio Brown, Le’Veon Bell, and others into one of the best offenses in the league. Pittsburgh’s offense has improved each season under Haley, topping out as the second-best unit in 2014, per Football Outsiders’ DVOA.

One obvious impediment to Haley landing in Miami is the presence of interim head coach Dan Campbell, and more specifically, how the Dolphins play for the remainder of the season. The club has won its first two games under Campbell, including a 44-26 drubbing of the Texans today. It’s hard to judge a locker room from the outside, but it’s clear the Miami is playing with a renewed energy. If that continues for the duration of the year, it will be hard for the Dolphins front office to not retain Campbell.

PFR Originals: 10/18/15 – 10/25/15

October 25th, 2015 at 3:07pm CST by Dallas Robinson

The original content and analysis produced by the PFR staff during the past seven days:

  • Luke Adams delved into the cap outlook for the 2016 Dolphins, identifying players like Brent Grimes and Cameron Wake as extension candidates, while noting the Ndamukong Suh‘s contract is “begging for a restructure.”
  • Now that we’re nearly at the midpoint of the season, injured players — including those on injured reserve/designated to return, the physically unable to perform list, and the non-football injury list — are eligible to begin practicing and potentially return to game action. Luke provided a roundup of all such players, with big names such as Will Beatty, Dennis Pitta, and Leodis McKelvin among them.
  • In our Community Tailgate series, we post topics for discussion and encourage readers to chime in with their thoughts in the comments section. This week, Luke asked: which of the undefeated clubs — the Broncos, Bengals, Patriots, Panthers, and Packers — has the strongest outlook going forward?

Week In Review: 10/18/15 – 10/25/15

October 25th, 2015 at 1:55pm CST by Dallas Robinson

The headlines from the past week at PFR:

Key News:

Signed:

Released:

Injuries:

Suspended:

  • Jets – Quincy Enuwa, WR (link)

Retired:

Sunday Roundup: Mallett, Trades, Guion

October 25th, 2015 at 1:07pm CST by Rory Parks

Ryan Mallett missed the Texans‘ team charter to Miami Saturday and had to make the trip via commercial airline, per Karen Warren of The Houston Chronicle. Mallett is in uniform and will be the team’s No. 2 quarterback today, as expected–the Texans do not have another quarterback on the roster–but he will certainly be fined, and his future with the club has never been more in doubt. Mallett, who also missed a training camp practice this year–he said his cell phone battery died, so his cell phone alarm would not go off–is due $2.5MM in 2016, the second year of his two-year contract, but Aaron Wilson of The Houston Chronicle believes the team will cut ties with Mallett after the 2015 season (Twitter link). If Tom Savage was not on injured reserve, Warren says it would not be a surprise if Mallett was cut today.

Now for some more links from around the league:

  • The Bears‘ Matt Forte, the 49ers‘ Vernon Davis, and the Falcons‘ Roddy White have been the biggest names included in this year’s trade rumors, but Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (article via Kevin Patra of NFL.com) does not believe any of the three will be traded, and he sets forth his rationale for why each will stay with their current clubs for the remainder of 2015.
  • According to Rapoport (via Twitter), there are three notable college coaches who would be open to an NFL head coaching job after this season: UCLA’s Jim Mora, Notre Dame’s Brian Kelly, and Texas A&M’s Kevin Sumlin. In a separate tweet, Rapoport notes that NFL GMs believe Kelly would be an especially good fit with the Giants, if Big Blue has a head coaching vacancy after 2015.
  • Earlier this year, Johnny Manziel was saying and doing all the right things, and he had earned considerable praise for his on- and off-field behavior and for apparently turning his life around. But after an alcohol-related incident that culminated in an encounter with police several weeks ago–an incident for which he will not be facing any charges–questions about his future in the league have resurfaced. According to Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports, Browns officials had been bracing for some sort of negative publicity, as Manziel’s demeanor and dedication had taken a turn for the worse after Josh McCown returned from injury to reclaim the starting quarterback job from Manziel, who led the club for one week. Some within the organization have been hoping to part ways with Manziel for some time, and this latest development will give that contingent a little more ammunition, as they have further proof that Manziel is not a team-first type of player.
  • Packers DT Letroy Guion‘s recent legal troubles have been well-documented, but according to Michael Cohen and John Diedrich of The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Guion has faced domestic violence charges as well, which had previously gone unreported. In two of the three cases brought against Guion, the charges were dropped, and in the third, Guion paid restitution to avoid additional penalties. He has been accused of stalking and of hitting the mother of his child in the jaw. Those incidents occurred from 2011 to 2013 when Guion was with the Vikings, and if it turns out he never reported the charges to the club, he could face further discipline from the league.
  • The Bears are actively scouting college quarterbacks as they prepare for the post-Jay Cutler era, and Brad Biggs of The Chicago Tribune examines two potential targets, California’s Jared Goff and Michigan State’s Connor Cook, in detail.
  • Nicki Jhabvala of The Denver Post examines in detail how Broncos GM John Elway has methodically constructed Denver’s defense, which has been the league’s best in 2015.

Gus Bradley Safe Through 2016

October 25th, 2015 at 11:19am CST by Rory Parks

Things are going fairly well for Gus Bradley and the Jaguars in London today (at least score-wise), but the same can’t be said for much of Bradley’s tenure with the Jags. As Jacksonville’s head coach, Bradley sports an 8-30 record, and with his team off to a 1-5 start in 2015, there are some who believe his job could be in jeopardy.

But according to NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport (via Kevin Patra of NFL.com), that is not the case. Rapoport says that, barring a player mutiny, Bradley will not only keep his job for the remainder of 2015–which team owner Shad Khan implied yesterday–but for all of 2016 as well. The team’s front office appreciates that Bradley inherited one of the least-talented rosters in the NFL when he took the job, and no one realistically believed that the turnaround would be completed in three seasons. Furthermore, 90% of the Jaguars’ roster is 24-years-old or younger, so the team will exhibit patience with Bradley as he attempts to get the most out of his inexperienced squad.

And it’s not as though there are no encouraging signs. The team made a concerted effort to address its offense this past offseason, and although the jury is still out on Blake Bortles, Jacksonville has a good deal of enviable young talent at the skill positions with players like Allen Robinson, Allen Hurns, Julius Thomas, and T.J. Yeldon. The team is expected to place a similar focus on the defensive side of the ball this offseason, and the success of that unit will likely be what determines Bradley’s ultimate fate in Jacksonville. After all, Bradley came to the Jags as a hot head coaching commodity and defensive guru, after leading the Seahawks’ defense to prominence in his last two seasons as Seattle’s defensive coordinator, a position he held from 2009-2012.

If the defense does not improve, Khan’s rare and much-needed patience may begin to wear thin. And no matter the age or inexperience of the roster, Bradley simply has to start winning more games. Luckily for him, it looks as though he will be given ample opportunity to do just that.

East Notes: Bradford, Wake, Harvin

October 25th, 2015 at 9:49am CST by Rory Parks

As part of the trade that sent Nick Foles to St. Louis and Sam Bradford to Philadelphia, the Eagles had a chance to acquire a 2016 draft choice from the Rams if certain conditions were met, conditions that the clubs did not reveal when the trade was consummated. According to Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports, those conditions pertain only to Bradford’s playing time. Once he plays 50% of the Eagles’ offensive snaps, Philadelphia will receive no compensation. If he plays fewer than 50% of the team’s snaps, the Eagles would garner a fourth-round pick in 2016 (had he played no snaps, the team would have been in line for a third-round selection in 2016).

With the season’s midway point fast approaching, it is becoming increasingly clear that the Eagles will not recover a 2016 draft choice from the Rams. Despite Bradford’s struggles this season, head coach Chip Kelly has remained steadfast in his support of his signal-caller, and although he could acquire an additional draft pick by reverting to Mark Sanchez now, all indications are that Bradford will remain under center for the foreseeable future.

Now for some more notes from the league’s east divisions:

  • When former Dolphins defensive coordinator Kevin Coyle was fired, a great number of the schematic complexities that had handcuffed some of the club’s best defensive players went with him. Relying more on individual matchups than scheme, Miami’s defense enjoyed its best game of the season last week, and defensive end Cameron Wake led the way with a whopping four sacks after recording zero in the team’s first four games. Of course, Wake won’t put up that kind of production every week, but if he goes on the type of tear he is capable of, he could be in for a big payday. Wake is scheduled to make $8.4MM in 2016, the final year of his contract, but he has significant escalators tied to his sack production. As La Canfora writes, “If [Wake] achieves 10-12 sacks he earns $750,000 more in base salary next year, while 13-14 sacks nets him an additional $1.75MM and 15 sacks earns him $3MM. Should he lead the league in sacks, the defensive lineman receives $5MM in additional base salary.”
  • In keeping with reports from earlier this week, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets that Percy Harvin is not contemplating retirement at the moment. If his hip is healthy enough to allow him, Harvin will play for the Bills this season. Vic Carucci of The Buffalo News adds (via Twitter) that Buffalo wants Harvin to play and that the team does not want to place him on IR, as Harvin would then keep his $3MM signing bonus plus the remainder of his base pay.
  • Giants tackle Will Beatty began practicing on Wednesday, which means he now has a little less than three weeks to be activated from the team’s PUP list or be placed on season-ending injured reserve. Per Jordan Raanan of NJ.com, Beatty appears to be in good physical shape and is trending towards a return. He could suit up for the Giants when they take on the Saints next week, and with rookie Ereck Flowers just settling in to the left tackle position, the team could ask Beatty to shift to right tackle, especially since current right tackle Marshall Newhouse has been inconsistent in 2015. Beatty, who last played right tackle in his rookie season in 2009, has been receptive to the possibility.
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