2017 February - Pro Football Rumors

Bills Re-Sign LB Ramon Humber

February 16th, 2017 at 6:02pm CST by Dallas Robinson

The Bills have re-signed linebacker Ramon Humber, the club announced today. Although terms of the deal weren’t announced, Humber likely agreed to a one-year deal at or near the veteran’s minimum.

Humber, 29, has always been a key special teams cog and continued in that role in 2016, playing on nearly three-quarters of Buffalo’s special teams snaps. In previous years, however, Humber had logged at least some time on defense, as he’d seen action on more than 700 total defensive snaps with the Saints from 2014-15. Last season, though, Humber only saw the field for 60 defensive plays despite the Bills’ suffering numerous injuries at linebacker.

An undrafted free agent out of North Dakota in 2009, Humber has carved out a nice career as he enters his ninth NFL season. In addition to Buffalo and New Orleans, Humber has also been employed by Indianapolis (with whom he started his pro tenure) and New England, who signed Hubmer last spring but released him during final cutdowns. All told, Humber has appeared in 108 career games and racked up 138 tackles.

Fins Unlikely To Target TE Martellus Bennett

February 16th, 2017 at 5:17pm CST by Dallas Robinson

The Dolphins will be on the lookout for a tight end in the coming months, but free agent Martellus Bennett won’t be on the club’s radar, according to Armando Salguero of the Miami Herald, who reports Bennett will “never play for the Dolphins as long as the current administration is running the organization.” That’s likely an allusion to head coach Adam Gase, who didn’t get along with Bennett when the two were with the Bears in 2015.

Tight end should be a focus for Miami this offseason, as both Jordan Cameron and Dion Sims are scheduled to become unrestricted free agents. Cameron may hang up his cleats altogether after suffering repeated head trauma, but the Dolphins reportedly view Sims as their starter going forward. Sims, 26 this week, has never topped 30 receptions or 300 yards receiving during his four-year career, meaning Miami would be taking quite the leap of faith by installing him in its starting lineup.

As such, the addition of a veteran tight end has been listed among the Dolphins’ needs, but that new face apparently won’t be that of Bennett. The 29-year-old Bennett is eyeing free agency following an excellent campaign with the Patriots, but he’s unlikely to land in Miami given his history with Gase. During the duo’s lone season together in Chicago, Bennett reportedly irritated much of the club’s coaching staff, exhibiting behavior that ultimately led to his being traded to New England. On the field, Bennett wasn’t productive, either, failing to top 500 yards receiving for the first time since becoming a full-time starter.

With Bennett not in the cards, the Dolphins figure to look elsewhere in free agency to find a new tight end, and the club could also invest a draft pick in what is thought to be a deep tight end draft class. Miami has been loosely linked to local product David Njoku throughout the draft process, while Alabama’s O.J. Howard could be also be in consideration.

RB Zac Stacy Retires From NFL

February 16th, 2017 at 4:27pm CST by Zachary Links

Running back Zac Stacy is done with football. On Thursday afternoon, Stacy announced his retirement via Instagram:

“[I] would like to take this time to show appreciation to all those who have supported [me] and were involved throughout my career. The game of football was more than a game to me. It was a life changer…I am forever blessed and grateful for my many former coaches and teammates throughout the years, the resources and relationships that I’ve built playing this game…and the numerous opportunities that I received on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays (and the occasional Monday night) to do what I love to do, and that’s to play the game of football.”

Stacy entered the league as a fifth-round pick of the Rams in 2013. As a rookie, he showed great promise as he gained 973 yards on the ground. In his follow-up campaign, he amassed just 293 yards rushing. After two years with the Rams, he landed with the Jets and saw his career 3.9 yards-per-carry average plummet to 2.9 yards per attempt. In July of 2016, he was cut by the Jets and we didn’t hear much about him after that. Now, he’s moving on to the next chapter.

Dolphins Change Minds, Won’t Cut Branden Albert

February 16th, 2017 at 4:08pm CST by Zachary Links

The Dolphins are not moving on from Branden Albert after all. Hours after deciding to cut the left tackle and informing him of their plans to do so, Miami has decided to hang on to him – for now. Armando Salguero of The Miami Herald hears that after word of Albert’s release broke, the Dolphins heard from at least one team that had interest in working out a trade. Now, the Dolphins decided that they are going to investigate any trade possibilities out there before letting him go for nothing.

Albert was scheduled to carry a $10.6MM cap hit this season and releasing him would have saved $7.2MM. The team could also increase its immediate savings to $8.9MM by designating him a post June 1 cut. Before going down that path, however, the Dolphins first want to see if they can get some draft picks in return.

Albert, a exceptionally talented tackle, has struggled to stay healthy in Miami. In 2016, he made 12 starts and had a career-worst 42.2 grade from Pro Football Focus. The Dolphins drafted Laremy Tunsil last year with the idea that he would eventually play left tackle and, apparently, the future is now. He doesn’t have a place in Miami any longer, but other teams still want him despite his injury history and age.

The Dolphins currently have upwards of $40MM in cap room. If they trade or release Albert, they should have something closer to $50MM to work with.

Browns Re-Sign LS Charley Hughlett

February 16th, 2017 at 3:40pm CST by Zachary Links

The Browns have locked up long snapper Charley Hughlett for a long, long time. Hughlett has inked a brand new six-year deal with Cleveland, according to agent Brett Tessler (on Twitter). The deal will make him the highest-paid long snapper in the league, the agent adds.

“I am super excited,” said Hughlett in a press release from the Browns. “I couldn’t be happier to be here. My wife and I are happy to call Cleveland our home. I can’t wait to start getting things turned around.”

Hughlett, 27 in May, bounced around the league a bit before making his NFL debut with the Browns in 2015. Since then, Hughlett has appeared in every regular season game for Cleveland. This year, Hughlett was a pending exclusive rights free agent, but the Browns didn’t want to sign him to the standard one-year addition.

John Denney of the Dolphins was the league’s highest-paid long snapper in the league last year with a $1.215MM cap number. Exact terms of Hughlett’s deal are not yet known.

Agent Ben Dogra Reinstated By NFLPA

February 16th, 2017 at 3:17pm CST by Zachary Links

Agent Ben Dogra is back. After having his license revoked by the NFL Players’ Association last year, he has been reinstated, a source tells Dan Graziano of ESPN.com (on Twitter).

Dogra was originally suspended for three years but later had his ban reduced to six months. He also paid a $25K fine to the Gene Upshaw Players Assistance Trust for his undisclosed violation, opening the door to his return today.

Dogra represents Adrian Peterson and once had one of the most impressive stable of clients in the NFL. He was formerly the co-CEO of Relatively Football before the company reorganized and relaunched as Independent Sports and Entertainment in June. It’s not immediately clear where Dogra is headquartered at the moment, nor do we know which players still consider Dogra to be their agent. Just prior to the sanctions, Peterson, Gerald McCoy, Robert Griffin III, DeMeco Ryans, Mario Williams, and Sebastian Vollmer were among the players under Dogra’s management.

Patriots, Tom Brady Begin Extension Talks

February 16th, 2017 at 3:07pm CST by Zachary Links

Tom Brady’s is under contract with the Patriots through the 2019 season, but the team is already getting a head start on extension talks. The five-time Super Bowl winner is in early talks with the Pats about a new deal, Jeff Howe of the Boston Herald tweets. Howe cautions that things are still preliminary and nothing is imminent.

Both sides are still basking in the afterglow of a thrilling Super Bowl 51 victory, so it will probably take a while before a deal can be finalized. Brady will turn 40 in August and his current deal will take him through his age-42 season, but he has been vocal about wanting to play into his mid-40s. If it were any other player, we would all be dubious of his ability to stay in the game for that long. However, Brady just finished a spectacular season in which he was arguably the No. 1 QB in the entire league. There’s no reason to doubt the future Hall of Famer and the Patriots are willing to commit to him for as long as he’s able to play.

Right now, Brady is scheduled to make $14MM in 2017, $22MM in 2018, and $22MM in 2019. By extending Brady, the Pats might be able to smooth out some of those cap hits. From the QB’s perspective, a lengthy new deal coupled with a trade of young upstart Jimmy Garoppolo would be the ultimate show of confidence.

Dolphins Pondering Trade For Big-Name CB

February 16th, 2017 at 2:17pm CST by Zachary Links

After cleaning house on Thursday morning, the Dolphins are plotting their next move. The Dolphins see their secondary as a unit in need of help and they’re thinking about swinging a trade for a big-name cornerback, Adam Beasley of the Miami Herald (on Twitter) hears.

Around this time last year, the Dolphins acquired cornerback Byron Maxwell (and Kiko Alonso) via trade from the Eagles. Maxwell, Tony Lippett, Bobby McCain, and Xavien Howard are still in the fold, but Miami still craves a CB upgrade. Maxwell graded out as Pro Football Focus’ No. 11 cornerback in the NFL last year, but no other Dolphins corner placed in the top 65. It’s not immediately clear who the Dolphins might be targeting or how much they’re willing to give up via trade.

For those of you just tuning in, the Dolphins handed out pink slips to defensive end Mario Williams, left tackle Branden Albert, and defensive tackle Earl Mitchell on Thursday. The Dolphins are expected to have roughly $50MM in cap space by the time free agency gets underway.

PFR Live Chat With Zach Links

February 16th, 2017 at 12:44pm CST by Zachary Links

Click here to read the transcript of today’s PFR Live Chat With Zach Links.

Dolphins To Release Earl Mitchell

February 16th, 2017 at 11:28am CST by Zachary Links

We have another notable release in Miami. The Dolphins are cutting defensive tackle Earl Mitchell, Mike Garafolo of NFL.com tweets. Mitchell was due $4MM this upcoming season. Instead, his contract will leave just $500K in dead money.

Mitchell was said to have “internal support” within the Dolphins front office, but his fan club was not large enough to keep him in South Florida. After missing half the season with a calf injury, Mitchell only ended up playing one-quarter of Miami’s defensive snaps. Apparently, the Dolphins feel that they can acquire defensive line depth elsewhere for cheaper.

Mitchell, 30 in September, left the Texans in free agency to sign with the Dolphins prior to the 2014 season. The defensive tackle received a four-year, $19MM deal with $8MM guaranteed, thanks in large part to his work ethic and leadership skills. In his first year as a Dolphin, Mitchell was a highly-valued sub as he notched 33 total tackles and 2.0 sacks. In the last two seasons, however, his production has noticeably dipped.