HEADLINES

Month: September 2024

Dion Jordan To Apply For Reinstatement

May 30th, 2016 at 1:00pm CST by Zachary Links

This week, Dion Jordan will take the first step towards making his return to football. The Dolphins defensive end will apply for reinstatement to the NFL on Wednesday, according to Tom Pelissero of USA Today Sports. Dion Jordan (vertical)

Jordan is eligible for reinstatement this year following multiple violations of the league’s substance policy. The Dolphins could theoretically cut the former No. 3 overall pick without being on the hook for what would have previously been guaranteed money, but they’d first like to see if Jordan can fulfill his vast potential. For his part, Jordan says that he’s not going to squander that opportunity if it is given to him.

“I’m not about to waste it. I can’t waste it. And I (expletive) love doing it,” Jordan said. “Who doesn’t love running out in front of 30,000-plus fans and you get that rush? But it’s also things that you can get that rush from that can be very satisfying and can carry you on to a successful life after football…I just turned 26 years old, so life starts to hit you in the face. Who are you outside of those shoulder pads and helmet? And it’s weird, but I feel like it’s a blessing for me at this point in time to think about it, instead of waiting ‘til they really tell me I can’t play football no more.”

Of course, Jordan is not the only notable name to run afoul of the league’s policy on substance abuse. In recent years, Josh Gordon, Justin Blackmon, Martavis Bryant, Aldon Smith, and Daryl Washington have all been sidelined by the NFL and as Jordan has witnessed, those missteps can sometimes be career threatening or ending. The 26-year-old needs to prove that he can stay on the straight and narrow. He also needs to prove that he can produce on the field. Through 26 games in 2013 and 2014, Jordan registered only 46 tackles and three sacks.

Jordan’s reinstatement into the league is not guaranteed, but he seems to have said all of the right things in his conversation with Pelissero. His future with the Dolphins is also uncertain, though the team is reportedly open to giving him another chance because he is talented and, generally, not a bad guy, despite his past mistakes.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

West Notes: Raiders, Las Vegas, Rams

May 30th, 2016 at 11:45am CST by Zachary Links

Jenny Vrentas of The MMQB spoke with various NFL owners to get their take on the Raiders‘ potential move to Las Vegas. Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie expressed some concerns about the idea, though he did not cite gambling as a major problem.

“I’d be open to it. My only question is, is it a really good NFL market?,” Lurie said. “I’m not totally worried about a lot of other things. I am more worried, is it a great market for the NFL? I don’t know enough about that. I never thought about it much before. It has to support 70,000 every weekend. It is not an NBA team, like say the Thunder, which does an incredible job of supporting their smaller market. We have got to make sure it really will support a team if a team goes there, but I am open to it.”

Here’s more from the AFC and NFC West:

Rex Ryan On Rumored Playoff Ultimatum

May 30th, 2016 at 10:07am CST by Zachary Links

In January, Bills owner Terry Pegula announced that head coach Rex Ryan and general manager Doug Whaley would be returning to the team for the 2016 season. However, according to one report, Pegula also told the duo that they would be let go after the 2016 season if they were unable to guide Buffalo into the playoffs. Rex Ryan (Featured)

Soon after, the Bills locked up both Ryan and Whaley on multi-year extensions that could keep them in Buffalo through the 2019 season. While those deals would seem to be pretty solid endorsement of both men, it’s far from a guarantee of their long-term job security. The Pegulas spent $1.4 billion to purchase the franchise in 2014, so they probably wouldn’t worry about eating a few million dollars to replace a GM and/or head coach if they felt it was necessary.

Today, Jenny Vrentas of The MMQB released a bit of material that was left on the cutting room floor of her recent interview with Rex and Rob Ryan. During their lengthy chat, Rex dismissed the notion of their being a hard and fast postseason ultimatum for 2016.

“The media looks at it [like], Well, we have to win this year,” the Bills head coach said. “Or what? Oh, I am going to be fired? I don’t think so. I’m not going to worry about it, because we are going to win anyway. But it’s like, that is an ultimatum. No.”

On a related note, Rex also indicated during the interview that the business staff Buffalo might not be big fans of his. Some speculated that he was referring to team president Russ Brandon, but Vrentas notes that the two men have a solid relationship. Instead, she believes that Ryan was “simply picking a department in the building that he doesn’t interact with on a daily basis, and making the point that they might not buy in because they don’t know him well.”

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

PFR Social Media Feeds By Team

May 30th, 2016 at 9:30am CST by Zachary Links

We’ve detailed how you can follow Pro Football Rumors on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, or using an RSS reader to ensure that you receive all of our updates, 365 days a year. If you prefer to only receive news about your favorite NFL team, PFR has you covered. Below are links to our Facebook, Twitter, and RSS pages and feeds for all 32 teams.

AFC East

AFC North

AFC South

AFC West

NFC East

NFC North

NFC South

NFC West

Transactions only: Twitter / RSS

Extra Points: Butler, Pats, Loadholt, Whitworth

May 29th, 2016 at 8:34pm CST by Dallas Robinson

Patriots cornerback Malcolm Butler is reportedly aiming for a new contract prior to the 2016 season, but as Joel Corry of CBSSports.com details (Twitter links: 1, 2, 3, 4), Butler might not have a leg to stand on in negotiations. As a former undrafted free agent, Butler isn’t in line to reach unrestricted free agency until after the 2017 season — rather, he’ll only be a restricted free agent in 2017, in line for a first-round tender at a tad under $4MM. Linebackers Jamie Collins and Dont’a Hightower, however, will be UFAs next March, and are thus likely to be higher priorities. The best-case scenario for Butler, per Corry, might be a contract in line with Bengals linebacker — and fellow former UDFA — Vontaze Burfict, who sacrificed two unrestricted years at market value while tacitly accepting that he would be hit with a restricted tender.

Let’s take a look at more news and notes from around the NFL on this Memorial Day weekend…

  • Vikings right tackle Phil Loadholt missed the entire 2015 season after tearing his Achilles, but he’s doing well in his recovery, as he explains to Chris Tomasson of the Pioneer Press. Loadholt, who also missed the tail end of the 2014 campaign after tearing his pectoral, agreed to a paycut this offseason, reducing his base salary from $6MM to $2.25MM (with another $1.25MM available through incentives). None of that money is guaranteed, however, so if Loadholt loses out to free agent signee Andre Smith in Minnesota’s right tackle battle, it’s possible that he gets released. The Vikings have one of the more interesting offensive line situations in the league, with Matt Kalil, Brandon Fusco, John Sullivan, Alex Boone, Mike Harris, Joe Berger, and T.J. Clemmings joining Loadholt and Smith, ensuring that the club has plenty of depth.
  • More on the Vikings, as Ben Goessling of ESPN.com answers several questions in his latest mailbag, including one on a scenario involving wide receiver Cordarrelle Patterson. If Patterson were to post a decent season, thriving in both the passing game and on special teams, he’d make for an interesting extension candidate, granted that he was interested in remaining in Minnesota. Of course, as Goessling notes, the entire scenario is merely hypothetical, and Patterson doesn’t seem likely to break out in his fourth NFL season, especially given the addition of Laquon Treadwell in the first round.
  • After agreeing to a one-year extension that locks him up through the 2016 season, Bengals tackle Andrew Whitworth says he’s not worried about playing out the final year of his deal. “If I go into the season pretty much with the thought that I’ll be a free agent I think that the reality for me is that I wouldn’t think about it again until they brought it up,” Whitworth told Jim Owczarski of the Cincinnati Enquirer. Whitworth also said that he’s open to shifting to guard later in his career, a move that he made briefly in 2014 (with great success). The Bengals drafted tackles Cedric Ogbuehi and Jake Fisher in the first two rounds of the 2015 draft, so Whitworth’s future at tackle might be limited, at least in Cincinnati.

Redskins Could Add Running Back

May 29th, 2016 at 7:15pm CST by Dallas Robinson

The Redskins envision that second-year player Matt Jones will be their starting running back, as head coach Jay Gruden said in March. But that doesn’t mean the club won’t consider making an addition to their backfield, John Keim of ESPN.com details. Washington won’t be in the market for Arian Foster at this time, per Keim, but the team is still interested in fellow veteran Pierre Thomas, who played in four games for the Redskins in 2015.Arian Foster (Vertical)

As I noted when ranking Foster as the No. 3 available offensive free agent, the 29-year-old back is still capable of putting up results when he is on the field. He accumulated 6,472 rushing yards during his seven years as a Texan, and earned three consecutive Pro Bowl nods from 2010 to 2012, averaging about 1,900 all purpose yards and 16 touchdowns in those seasons. But Foster was limited to 25 regular-season games from 2013 to 2015, and injuries, his age, and his increasing cap number resulted in the Houston releasing him this spring.

Foster has garnered some interest since being cut by the Texans, as he met with the Dolphins in the early stages of free agency — Miami is reportedly still “monitoring” Foster, perhaps waiting for him to prove his health before issuing a contract offer. For what it’s worth, Foster recently said he could need until July or so to get back to his old form. The Patriots also have some modicum of “preliminary interest” in the free agent back.

Thomas, meanwhile, hasn’t been linked to any other clubs since the free agent period opened (aside from the Redskins, of course). After signing on with Washington in December, Thomas rushed for 4.7 yards per carry on 11 totes, adding nine receptions for another 84 yards. Those limited numbers obviously don’t speak to Thomas’ true ability, especially in the passing game — in eight years with the Saints, Thomas averaged 49 receptions per season. The 31-year-old, then, could make sense as a third-down option behind Jones.Pierre Thomas (Vertical)

As the more high-profile back, Foster is likely to cost more than Thomas, but doesn’t mean Thomas is going to settle for a minimum deal. According to Keim, Thomas waited to sign last offseason while waiting for a good fit, and clubs apparently deemed his asking price too high — Thomas might be willing to wait out the league again while searching for the right opportunity.

Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

PFR Originals: 5/22/16 – 5/29/16

May 29th, 2016 at 6:06pm CST by Dallas Robinson

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

Week In Review: 5/22/16 – 5/29/16

May 29th, 2016 at 2:06pm CST by Dallas Robinson

Headlines:

Injuries:

Signed:

Released/Waived:

Sunday Roundup: Lynch, Fitzpatrick, Leary

May 29th, 2016 at 12:54pm CST by Rory Parks

Whether Marshawn Lynch opts to continue his football career in 2016 and whether he will play for the Seahawks if he does suit up this season are two very different questions, as Sheil Kapadia of ESPN.com writes. Lynch, 30, may well be having second thoughts about his decision to retire, but while Kapadia would not be surprised if Lynch chooses to return to the league, the ESPN scribe would be stunned if the Seahawks are the team to welcome him back.

Although Seattle controls Lynch’s rights through 2017, he is due $9MM in 2016, is coming off an injury-plagued season, and is at the point in his career when most running backs begin to wear down anyway. Plus, the club’s running game looked perfectly capable without Beast Mode in 2015. Theoretically, the team could trade him or negotiate a pay cut, but it is more likely that the Seahawks would simply release Lynch if he ultimately decides he is not done playing.

Now let’s take a look at some more notes from around the league:

  • Rich Cimini of ESPN.com and Brian Costello of The New York Post echo the common sense point that Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk made several days ago: we now know that the Jets have offered Ryan Fitzpatrick a three-year deal that includes $12MM in the first year, but until we know what the second and third years of the offer look like, we cannot say which side is being overly obstinate. Cimini “gets the sense” that it is a three-year, $24MM contract, which would mean that if Fitzpatrick plays well this season and retains his starting job, he would be significantly underpaid in 2017. Similarly, Costello believes that it is not a three-year, $36MM deal unless Fitzpatrick hits incentives, some of which are surely unrealistic.
  • Cowboys left guard Ronald Leary has made it abundantly clear that he wants to be traded, but as Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk writes, Leary lost almost all of his leverage when he chose to sign his restricted free agent tender last month. Now that he has signed the $2.55MM tender, Leary can be fined if he misses mandatory minicamp or training camp, so Dallas will be perfectly content to either wait for a good return from another club seeking an interior lineman, or for Leary to give in and report to the team.
  • Former Baylor wideout Jay Lee, overshadowed by teammate Corey Coleman–the Browns’ first-round selection in this year’s draft–in the Baylor offense, had a productive collegiate career in his own right, and he turned down offers from five other clubs to join the Lions as a UDFA, as Justin Rogers of MLive.com writes. Lee said, “[Detroit] is a better fit for me. I had a relationship with the coaches. I got to do a private workout with them, got to come up here and visit and I just felt at home.”
  • Tim Twentyman of DetroitLions.com looks at five of the Lions‘ biggest roster competitions this summer. The competition at defensive tackle, the club’s deepest unit, could be particularly fierce.
  • Instead of hitting the open market this offseason, Steelers guard Ramon Foster and cornerback William Gay turned down the chance at a bigger payday elsewhere to remain in Pittsburgh, as Ray Fittipaldo of The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette writes. Gay, who signed a two-year, $3.2MM contract with the Cardinals in 2012 after spending the first five years of his career with the Steelers, never saw the second year of that deal after Arizona’s coaching staff told him he no longer fit in their plans, and he had no interest in seeing the dark side of free agency again. Foster, meanwhile, said, “[Pittsburgh] is where it’s at. We’re chasing that ring. The chance for the Super Bowl ring is more important than those extra [millions].”
  • Ravens tight end Dennis Pitta has looked good in the team’s offseason workouts, Don Markus of The Baltimore Sun writes. Pitta, looking to make his way back from a second major hip fracture, is not showing any lingering effects of his injuries, although training camp will present an entirely different test. Pitta could face an uphill battle to make the roster, as the team recently signed veteran free agent Ben Watson and also has intriguing young talents in Crockett Gillmore and Maxx Williams on the tight end depth chart.
  • In an Insider-only piece, Field Yates of ESPN.com lists the biggest roster decisions that each of the league’s 32 clubs will have to make over the coming months.

Poll: Where Will Dwight Freeney Sign?

May 29th, 2016 at 10:36am CST by Rory Parks

Free agent linebacker/defensive end Dwight Freeney is still available, and he still wants to play. Now 36, Freeney has continued to be effective at getting to the quarterback in the twilight years of his career, and he proved in 2015 that he still has enough gas left in the tank to be a viable situational pass rusher. In just 11 games for the Cardinals last season–Freeney did not sign with Arizona until the second week of October–the surefire Hall-of-Famer picked up eight sacks and three forced fumbles, grading out as the 51st-best edge rusher in the NFL out of 110 qualified players per Pro Football Focus’ advanced metrics (subscription required) despite being on the field for just 317 regular season snaps.

Dwight Freeney (vertical)

His 2015 performance was consistent with what he displayed in his 2014 campaign, his only full season with the Chargers. In 2014, Freeney amassed just 3.5 sacks, but he placed third among qualifying 3-4 OLBs with 40 quarterback hurries, and 14th with nine QB hits. In today’s NFL, one would think that there is plenty of demand for that type of production.

But Freeney, our fourth-best defensive free agent still on the board, is yet to find a new home. He visited and took a physical with the Bengals a few days ago but left Cincinnati without a contract, and he is set to visit the Falcons this week. Ravens head coach John Harbaugh brought up Freeney’s name unprompted when speaking with reporters during March’s owners meetings, but Baltimore ultimately selected three young pass rushers in the draft and already have aging veterans Terrell Suggs and Elvis Dumervil at outside linebacker.

On the surface, the Cowboys appear to be a perfect fit for Freeney–they are a contender with an obvious need for an experienced pass rusher–but Dallas has professed to have no interest in the Syracuse alumnus. It could be that Freeney’s contract demands are too rich at the moment, though there have been no real reports as to his asking price, and he did ink a veteran’s minimum deal with Arizona last season, so the fact that Freeney remains unsigned probably has nothing to do with financial considerations.

Freeney’s preference is to return to the Cardinals, though he has described a possible stint with the Patriots as a “win-win” for both sides, and he appears to be open to playing for any contending club. But there has been no movement on the Arizona front, and New England is fairly well-stocked with edge rushers, so he may need to look elsewhere.

With all of that said, where do you think Freeney will land? Will it be one of the teams mentioned above, or someone else entirely? Indeed, our own Dallas Robinson, in compiling the above-referenced list of top defensive free agents still available, also listed the Panthers, Jets, Lions, Chiefs, and Bills as possible destinations. Or, maybe you think Freeney will have a change of heart and hang up the cleats, thereby setting his Hall of Fame countdown in motion.

Cast your vote below, and feel free to discuss in the comment section.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

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