2017 July - Pro Football Rumors

Crockett Gillmore To Undergo Knee Surgery

July 30th, 2017 at 3:31pm CST by Dallas Robinson

Ravens tight end Crockett Gillmore will undergo meniscus surgery on Monday, according to Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (Twitter link). Baltimore will be able to further assess Gillmore’s condition once the operation is complete, per Rapoport.

Meniscus injuries typically require one of two treatments: either a trim, or a full repair. A trim will typically allow a player to return much more quickly following the surgery. A full repair, meanwhile, is better for the long-term health of the player’s knee, but often requires a season-long absence. Ravens running back Kenneth Dixon, for example, recently underwent a repair, meaning he’ll miss the 2017 campaign.

Baltimore’s tight end depth has already been reduced this offseason, as Dennis Pitta was released after suffering a possibly career-ending injury, while Darren Waller is suspended for the entire season. Maxx Williams and Ben Watson, meanwhile, are recovering from injuries, leading the Ravens to sign veteran tight end Larry Donnell earlier today.

Gillmore, 25, was last productive during the 2015 season, when he posted 33 receptions for 412 yards and four touchdowns. In 2016, Gillmore appeared in only seven games, while dealing with back and knee injuries.

Buccaneers Sign Marqueston Huff

July 30th, 2017 at 2:59pm CST by Dallas Robinson

The Buccaneers have signed free agent safety Marqueston Huff, the club announced today. Tampa Bay also signed wide receiver Jhajuan Seales and waived wide receiver and Thomas Sperbeck and safety Alex Gray.

Huff, 25, has already enjoyed stints with two other clubs — the Ravens and Chiefs — this offseason. After Baltimore withdrew Huff’s restricted free agent tender, Huff signed on with Kansas City, but his tenure with the Chiefs didn’t last long. Kansas City cut ties with Huff after he spent fewer than three months on its roster.

A former fourth-round pick, Huff has primarily been a special teams player throughout his three-year NFL career, as he’s appeared in 41 games but only posted one start. Last season with the Ravens, Huff played in 11 games but saw action on just 32 defensive snaps. He played on nearly half of Baltimore’s special teams snaps, though.

Tampa Bay has boasted one of the league’s worst safety tandems for several years running, but the club made several additions to the position this offseason. The Buccaneers used a second-round pick on Texas A&M defensive back Justin Evans, and also signed free agent J.J. Wilcox to two-year pact.

Malik McDowell Could Miss 2017 Season

July 30th, 2017 at 2:38pm CST by Dallas Robinson

Seahawks rookie defensive tackle Malik McDowell could potentially miss the season after being involved in an ATV accident, according to Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (Twitter link). McDowell suffered a concussion and facial injuries in the mishap, per Mike Garafolo and James Palmer of NFL.com (Twitter link).

Seattle released a statement today indicating McDowell is currently undergoing care in Michigan. McDowell himself, meanwhile, tweeted that his injuries are not career- or life-threatening, and added that he expects to rejoin the the Seahawks soon.

Given that he’s unable to practice, McDowell has been placed on the reserve/did not report list, tweets Bob Condotta of the Seattle Times. To fill McDowell’s roster spot, the Seahawks have signed fellow defensive tackle Rodney Coe, per Condotta.

McDowell, a Michigan State product, was the Seahawks’ first selection in the draft and the No. 35 overall pick. Originally holding the No. 25 selection, Seattle traded down three times — acquiring a bevy of extra draft capital in the process — before picking up McDowell at the top of the second round.

A defensive tackle for the Spartans, McDowell had been expected to also play defensive end for the Seahawks. While Seattle is well-stocked along the defensive line, the club was surely hoping to see what it had its rookie interior defender in 2017. If McDowell is forced to miss his rookie campaign, defensive linemen such as Jarran Reed, Ahtyba Rubin, Dion Jordan, and Marcus Smith could see more playing time.

Lions Extend Glover Quin Through 2019

July 30th, 2017 at 2:21pm CST by Dallas Robinson

The Lions have signed safety Glover Quin to a two-year extension that will keep him in Detroit through the 2019 season, the club announced today. The new deal is worth $13MM and contains $9.5MM in guarantees, per Adam Schefter of ESPN.com (Twitter link).

Quin, 31, indicated a desire for a new contract in May, and the Lions reportedly began discussing an extension with Quin’s representatives the following month. Set to enter the final season of a five-year, $23.5MM pact he signed prior to the 2013 campaign, Quin had been scheduled to earn a $4MM base salary and a $1MM roster bonus while carrying a cap charge of ~$7.828MM. Quin’s annual salary of $4.7MM ranked just 27th among NFL safeties.

“I would love to be here in Detroit, and if I sign an extension, I’d probably finish my career here — that’d be huge for me,” Quin said in May. “But I can’t control that. I don’t know if it’s going to happen, when it’s going to happen. My job is like I’ve always said since I got in the league, is I’m a player. So I just play, and I’ll let the coaches coach, the managers manage, and the trainers train.”

Quin has been a remarkably durable player throughout his eight-year NFL career, as his only missed game came during his rookie season in 2009. Last season, Quin played all 1,027 of the Lions’ defensive snaps while posting 68 tackles, two interceptions, and ranked an impressive 23rd in performance among Pro Football Focus’ 90 qualified safeties.

PFR Originals: 7/23/17 – 7/30/17

July 30th, 2017 at 2:01pm CST by Dallas Robinson

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

With the 2017 regular season only two months away, PFR began its annual Offseason In Review series, assessing the major signings, departures, trades, and other notable events for each of the 32 NFL clubs. We covered two teams this week:
- Detroit Lions
- Indianapolis Colts

Vikings, Xavier Rhodes Agree To Extension

July 30th, 2017 at 12:47pm CST by Rory Parks

The Vikings and cornerback Xavier Rhodes have agreed to terms on a five-year, $70MM extension, per ESPN’s Adam Schefter (via Twitter). Rhodes was already slated to earn a little over $8MM this season under his fifth-year option, so in total, he is now under contract for six years (through 2022) and $78MM. As Schefter reports, the deal includes a whopping $41MM in guaranteed money, and also comes with a $12MM signing bonus, per Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (Twitter link).

This is not surprising news, as reports from multiple sources this morning indicated that the two sides expected to finalize a deal today, and we heard yesterday that a lucrative extension was imminent. Schefter adds (via Twitter) that Rhodes will receive $42MM over the first three years of the contract, and he now ranks as the league’s third-highest-paid corner in terms of average annual value (behind only Trumaine Johnson, who is playing out the 2017 season under the franchise tag, and Josh Norman).

Rhodes, whom the Vikings selected in the first round of the 2013 draft, turned in the best season of his career in 2016, which earned him his first Pro Bowl nod. Pro Football Focus’ advanced metrics were fairly kind to his overall effort, as Rhodes graded out as the 29th-best corner in the league out of 111 qualified players, but PFF really loved his performance against the run, where he graded as the top CB in football. Whatever issues he had in coverage he helped to make up for with his five interceptions, one of which he returned 100 yards for a score.

Since he became a full-time starter in 2014, Rhodes has also been pretty durable. He started all 16 regular-season contests in 2014 and 2015, and after missing the first two weeks of 2016 with a knee injury, he started and finished the remaining 14 games.

As Rapoport tweets, Minnesota will pursue a long-term deal with linebacker Anthony Barr next offseason.

Minor NFL Transactions: 7/30/17

July 30th, 2017 at 12:32pm CST by Rory Parks

Here are today’s minor moves:

The Panthers have signed safety Damian Parms, per Jourdan Rodrigue of the Charlotte Observer (via Twitter). Parms tried out with the team back in May.
The Browns signed offensive lineman Kitt O’Brien, Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle tweets. Nate Ulrich of the Akron Beacon Journal tweets that Cleveland waived offensive lineman Chris Barker with an injury designation in a corresponding move. O’Brien, 27, spent the 2013-14 campaigns in the Arena Football League after going undrafted out of Ball State. Subsequently, he latched on with the Colts and spent parts of the past two seasons on Indianapolis’ practice squad. O’Brien has yet to appear in an NFL game.
The Dolphins will sign WR Jordan Westerkamp today, according to Armando Salguero of the Miami Herald (Twitter link). In four years at Nebraska, Westerkamp posted 167 catches for 2,474 yards and 18 touchdowns, as Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald tweets.
The Jets announced that they’ve signed cornerback David Rivers and waived/injured fellow CB Bryson Keeton. Rivers, a Youngstown State product, went undrafted earlier this year and has already been cut by Green Bay.

Mike Williams To Miss Training Camp

July 30th, 2017 at 12:11pm CST by Rory Parks

We learned on Friday that Chargers rookie wideout Mike Williams would begin training camp on the PUP list, but the team announced today that he will miss all of training camp.

The Chargers’ press release, passed along by ESPN’s Adam Schefter (via Twitter), says Williams met with team doctors yesterday and will continue with the doctors’ plan to rehab and strengthen his back. As Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets, Williams has progressed past the “rest” phase of his recovery and will move on the rehab phase.

Needless to say, the fact that Williams will miss the entirety of his first training camp is a disappointing development for Los Angeles. Theoretically, he could still be ready for Week 1 of the regular season, but that is now very much in doubt, and even if he is able to play, it is fair to question how effective he would be without the benefit of training camp.

Earlier this month, it was believed that Williams may need season-ending surgery, but while surgery apparently was an option at one point, Williams improved enough since then to take surgery off the table for the time being. Luckily for the Chargers, they should have enough wide receiver depth to overcome Williams’ unavailability. The team boasts Keenan Allen, Travis Benjamin, Tyrell Williams, and Dontrelle Inman, giving the club ample weapons to withstand Williams’ recovery period.

NFC Notes: T. Johnson, Elliott, Martin

July 30th, 2017 at 11:54am CST by Rory Parks

Rams cornerback Trumaine Johnson is clearly disappointed that he did not receive a long-term deal and that he will be play out the season under his second consecutive franchise tag, as Alden Gonzalez of ESPN.com writes. Johnson said his focus is now on the field, but he added, “I wanted [a multi-year deal]; I wanted it big time. I believe the Rams are going in a different direction at the end of the season. It’s out of my control.”

While it is impossible to say for certain whether the Rams will move on from Johnson at the end of the year, it does seem as if that will be the case. Indeed, as Charles Robinson of Yahoo! Sports tweets, Los Angeles put the tag on Johnson because it wanted to see what new defensive coordinator Wade Phillips could do with him. If Phillips had not joined the club, Johnson would already be elsewhere, per Robinson, and even with Phillips on the sidelines, it is difficult to see Johnson elevating his play enough to convince the Rams to give him elite CB money on a long-term basis.

Let’s take a look at a few more rumors from the NFC:

Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said embattled running back Ezekiel Elliott met with NFL officials in New York last month to discuss the domestic violence allegations levied against him. While Jones does not have a timeframe for the league’s much-anticipated decision, he did say “everything is in place” for that decision, as Todd Archer of ESPN.com writes.
We heard earlier this month that the Buccaneers are well-stocked at running back even without Doug Martin, who will miss the first three games of the 2017 season due to suspension. And, as Dan Graziano of ESPN.com writes, GM Jason Licht is so pleased with his stable of RBs that he says Martin may not be the starter when he returns in Week 4. That may just be GM-speak to give Martin a little extra motivation, but it underscores how comfortable Tampa Bay is with its backs, who do offer a nice variety of skill-sets.
New Saints offensive lineman Orlando Franklin started all 16 games for the Chargers last year after an injury-plagued 2015, but he graded out as one of the seven worst qualified guards in the NFL, according to Pro Football Focus. However, Joel Erickson of the New Orleans Advocate writes that Franklin had knee surgery in January, and Franklin says he was never fully healthy during his time in San Diego. This year, he expects to return to the form he displayed during his best seasons in Denver.
The Lions were the first team to reach out to LB Zach Orr when he announced his intention to come out of retirement, but Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press says Detroit is unlikely to sign Orr, which is consistent with a report we heard yesterday afternoon.
Eagles rookie CB Randall Goforth has suffered a season-ending ACL tear, per Jeff McLane of the Philadelphia Inquirer (via Twitter). Goforth, a UDFA from UCLA, had a real chance for playing time given Philadelphia’s shaky cornerback situation.
Giants rookie safety Jadar Johnson, whom the team signed as a UDFA this year, has decided to retire from football, as Mike Garafolo of the NFL Network tweets.
Redskins RB Keith Marshall tore his right patella tendon and will miss the 2017 season, per John Keim of ESPN.com. Washington selected Marshall in the seventh round of the 2016 draft, but he missed the entire 2016 season with an elbow injury. He now will have to wait until 2018 to get his NFL career on track.

Ravens Sign Larry Donnell

July 30th, 2017 at 10:58am CST by Rory Parks

The Ravens have signed free agent tight end Larry Donnell, according to Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (via Twitter). After Crockett Gillmore sustained a potentially serious knee injury Friday, Baltimore suddenly found itself without three tight ends it opened the league year with (Gillmore, Dennis Pitta, and Darren Waller), leaving Ben Watson, Maxx Williams, and Nick Boyle as the only TEs with game experience on the roster. All have talent, but Watson is 36 and missed all of last season with an ACL tear, Williams has struggled with injuries in his brief professional career, and Boyle is one positive PED test away from a year-long suspension.

Enter Donnell, who worked out with the Colts last month. The Grambling State product first made a name for himself in 2014 when he had a breakout season with the Giants, catching 63 passes for 623 yards and six scores. Since then, however, he has been hampered by his own injuries and has been unable to reprise his 2014 performance. He missed half of the 2015 season and found himself with a lesser role in the offense in 2016, catching just 15 passes (22 targets) for 92 yards and one score.

As Jeff Zrebiec of the Baltimore Sun tweets, Donnell could be a quality redzone target, though his blocking prowess leaves much to be desired.

To make room for Donnell, the Ravens waived UDFA wide receiver Tim Patrick.