HEADLINES

Month: December 2024

Jeremy Hill Intends To Test Market

January 31st, 2018 at 4:04pm CST by Sam Robinson

It appears the Bengals and Jeremy Hill are going their separate ways. The running back’s rookie deal expired at season’s end, and with the Bengals having both Joe Mixon and Giovani Bernard signed long-term, Hill is going to test the free agent market.

Hill posted on Twitter that he won’t be playing for the Bengals next season and said (via Jim Owczarski of the Cincinnati Enquirer) he’s going to be available come March. He’d left the door somewhat ajar about a Bengals reunion after the season but is now set to head elsewhere.

“I’m not nervous at all,” Hill said. “I think the chips will fall where they may and I’m good with that going forward. I’m going to put the work in and when you do that you can sleep good at night knowing you did everything you could, and that’s what I’m going to do.”

Although the former second-round pick is just 25, he is not going to be entering free agency with much momentum.

The LSU product who enjoyed a strong rookie season (1,124 rushing yards, nine touchdowns) and followed it up with an 11-touchdown 2015, but he ventured to IR last season and was the third-string running back prior to doing so. Hill received just 37 carries in 2017 after an incredibly consistent workload (222, 223 and 222 carries during his first three seasons) prior to his contract year.

Hill averaged 5.1 yards per carry as a rookie but failed to exceed four yards per tote in each of the following slates. Hill, who switched agents early in the season, told Owczarski he played through ankle trouble over a multiyear period and decided to undergo surgery to get ready for free agency.

“I had some bone spurs build up in my ankle the past few years, just from rolling it, playing through it,” Hill told said. “… At that point in the season, they decided to go forward with Joe and my people, my family and myself, we just thought it would be best for me to have surgery and make sure I’m good to go going forward, putting my career over this season. That was a decision that I felt was best for me going forward and that’s what I did.”

He’ll join Carlos Hyde, Isaiah Crowell, Terrance West and Jerick McKinnon among fifth-year players looking for their second contract. Le’Veon Bell is technically a free agent, but the Steelers are expected to either use the franchise tag on him or reach an extension agreement.

Broncos To Enter Kirk Cousins Sweepstakes?

January 31st, 2018 at 2:08pm CST by Sam Robinson

Kirk Cousins said on multiple occasions how critical a team’s competitive situation would be to his free agency decision, and given the talent remaining from the Broncos’ Super Bowl 50 title, they fit this profile better than some of Cousins’ top expected suitors despite their 5-11 2017 performance.

The Broncos are ready to enter the market for a veteran or rookie quarterback, Charles Robinson of Yahoo.com notes, having made that decision after quarterback play did the most to sink their ’17 slate. But Robinson adds the Broncos’ veteran-heavy roster would gel with a pursuit of a veteran. Robinson tabs the Broncos as making more sense for Cousins than the Jets, Browns, Cardinals and even Jaguars, who are strongly considering retaining Blake Bortles.

And the most successful coach in Broncos history’s assessment of Cousins will impact John Elway‘s decision here. Robinson writes Mike Shanahan has made it known to Elway and Gary Kubiak he believes Cousins is a special player who’s been limited by some Redskins shortcomings, and the Broncos will lend weight to their former HC/de facto GM’s endorsement. Robinson adds that veteran backing for a free agent quarterback signing exists. Some, like linebacker Brandon Marshall, have offered effusive praise for Cousins while he was still under contract with Washington.

The current Broncos centerpiece gave a strong Cousins endorsement as well, doing so after praising him following Washington’s Week 16 win over Denver.

“He knows exactly how I feel about Kirk Cousins and what he’d mean to our team,” Von Miller said when asked about Cousins on The Dan Patrick Show (video link). “And what he would mean to a lot of other teams. He’s the hot quarterback on the market right now. … Yeah, we need Kirk. We need Kirk. I’d like to have Kirk. We have great quarterbacks now. Kirk could take us over the edge.”

While Cousins could command a deal possibly north of Matthew Stafford‘s NFL-record $27MM-AAV agreement, Robinson notes the possibility of a slight compromise for a winning team is in play. A “good team” would be able to get a deal done with Cousins for $24-$25MM per year with heavy guarantees, Robinson writes. Cousins said during an appearance on PFT Live he was “willing to make sacrifices” to be in the best position to win. Although considering a soon-to-be 34-year-old Alex Smith received a $23.5MM-per-year accord from the Redskins, the soon-to-be 30-year-old Cousins barely eclipsing that may be difficult to envision given his opportunity.

The Broncos have Trevor Siemian and Paxton Lynch under contract, but Robinson makes it clear they’re in the market for an upgrade. And the quarterback they prefer in the draft is not expected to be there at No. 5. Robinson reports Elway and Kubiak view Josh Rosen as having the most best most refined passing motion in the draft, adding it would be a lock the Broncos would take the UCLA product at 5 if he were still on the board. Rosen, though, is projected to go to the Browns at No. 1 or Giants at No. 2 on most mock drafts.

Should the Broncos not land Cousins, and the Vikings tag Case Keenum, Mike Klis of 9News reports notes they will pursue a stopgap quarterback and prepare to draft a rookie at No. 5. Dominoes still exist in a complex marketplace, but it’s fairly clear the Broncos will strongly consider Cousins before turning to the draft.

Browns Offered Second-Rounder For Smith

January 31st, 2018 at 12:20pm CST by Sam Robinson

A report Tuesday night indicated the Browns were in the mix for Alex Smith, but it was unclear how willing John Dorsey was to reunite with his former quarterback.

However, the Browns appeared rather serious in their pursuit, with ESPN.com’s Pat McManamon reporting the team offered the Chiefs a second-round pick for Smith.

The Browns, who own three second-round selections, weren’t willing to give Smith the kind of contract the Redskins were. McManamon notes Cleveland wouldn’t match Washington’s extension for Smith.

It’s unclear which of the Browns’ second-round choices was offered. Cleveland owns picks 33, 35 and 63. The Redskins acquired Smith for a mid-third-round selection and emerging cornerback Kendall Fuller. The defender being under contract for two more seasons may have been a key bargaining chip against Cleveland, which has not been said to have offered a player as well as the Round 2 pick.

The Browns were not the only non-Redskins team in the mix for Smith, whom Adam Schefter of ESPN reported was pursued by as many as six franchises. The Cardinals and Broncos were also in on the veteran quarterback.

This marks the second time in less than six months the Browns were willing to fork over a second-round pick for a quarterback they didn’t end up getting.

Cleveland offered Cincinnati second- and third-round choices for A.J. McCarron and nearly acquired the Bengals backup, with the deal infamously falling apart at the 11th hour. The Browns were also reportedly willing to surrender a first-round pick for Jimmy Garoppolo. Although expected to draft a quarterback at No. 1 overall, Cleveland remains without a proven passer despite extensive efforts to land a veteran.

Kirk Cousins On Free Agency Approach

January 31st, 2018 at 11:59am CST by Sam Robinson

The events of Tuesday night moved Kirk Cousins into relatively foreign territory — for himself and the NFL.

A franchise quarterback in his prime without injury issues is now pointed toward free agency. The 29-year-old passer will be pursued by several teams, including some who missed out on the Alex Smith sweepstakes. It could take a record contract to land the seventh-year signal-caller.

But after banking more than $44MM over the past two seasons through Redskins franchise tags, Cousins said a team’s competitive window will play heavily into his thought process.

“Winning is everything, especially at this stage of my career,” Cousins said, via Rich Cimini of ESPN.com. “I’m going into Year 7. Because I’ve been franchise-tagged twice, it’s not about the money so much. It’s about winning. I want to win. This isn’t the NBA. You can’t just get one player and now you’re in the AFC championship game or NFC championship game. There are other pieces that come into play.”

Expanding on his desire to land in a winning situation after starting just one playoff game in his career, Cousins said a team’s coaching staff, GM and offensive system and personnel will be “huge” factors during his process.

“Who am I throwing to? Who’s protecting? What’s the depth chart look like?” Cousins said, via Cimini. “It’s so multifaceted. It’s going to be a really interesting process to gather those facts. I haven’t had the opportunity to gather that research. Until then, I’m going to keep an open mind and see what’s out there.”

While many free agents sign in the frenzied first several hours of the league year opening without taking visits, Cousins hinted he may go through a meet-and-greet process. Peyton Manning was thorough during his 2012 tour, traveling to several teams before deciding on the Broncos, who, interestingly, are almost certainly going to be part of the Cousins derby as well.

“Well, that will be uncharted territory for me,” Cousins said, via Charles Robinson of Yahoo.com, just before learning he will have a chance to test free agency. “I haven’t been there before. So I don’t know what that process looks like at all to this point. That would be my first time going through it.

“But I want to win. I’ll make sure that any fact-gathering that I do, or business that I take, or coaches that I meet – it’ll all be centered on do I feel like this is a place where I can win, or we can win? That’s what it’ll all boil down to.”

Former Bills S Aaron Williams Retires

January 31st, 2018 at 11:28am CST by Sam Robinson

Aaron Williams attempted to return to the NFL in 2017, working out with three teams, but none ended up signing him. A six-year safety with the Bills, Williams has not played in a game since midway through the 2016 season.

As a result, he will retire from the league. The 27-year-old defender announced this on The Players’ Tribune.

Williams details the 2015 and ’16 neck injuries that ended his run in Buffalo and describes quality workouts with the Texans, Jaguars and Chiefs in 2017. However, Williams writes those teams informed him they wouldn’t offer a contract because of concerns regarding his history with neck issues and concussions.

The former second-round pick wrote that he set a New Year’s Day 2018 deadline for himself, and if he wasn’t on a team by then, he’d retire. That’s come to fruition.

Buffalo signed Williams to an extension, but after he’d started 38 games from 2012-14, the Texas product only appeared in 10 games during his final two seasons. He ended up starting in 52 of the 59 games he played, lining up at both cornerback and safety, and played only for the Bills during his six-season run.

Redskins, Kirk Cousins Haven’t Talked

January 31st, 2018 at 10:55am CST by Zachary Links

Even before the Redskins traded for Alex Smith, Kirk Cousins probably sensed that he wouldn’t be back in Washington next year. Cousins and the Redskins haven’t had any contact since the regular season ended, a source tells Adam Schefter of ESPN.com (on Twitter). Of course, now that the Redskins have acquired Smith and extended him, they’ll be going their separate ways. Kirk Cousins

The Cousins saga will go down as one of the strangest storylines in Redskins franchise history. Cousins fully emerged from Robert Griffin III’s shadow in 2015 and led the team to the NFC East title. Unwilling to commit to Cousins in the long term, the Redskins used the non-exclusive franchise tag to retain him on a one-year, $20MM deal. In 2016, Cousins placed third in the NFL with 4,917 passing yards, but the Redskins were still unwilling to give him a fair market value contract and tagged him for a second consecutive year. This time around, the Redskins punted rather than offering Cousins a top-tier contract or tagging him for a third time at a cost of $34.47MM.

Finally, Cousins will reach the open market as an unfettered free agent. QB-needy teams flush with cash like the Browns, Jets, and Broncos will be eager to speak with Cousins in March and some club out there make Cousins an even richer man with a four or five-year deal. In time, the Redskins may come to regret their course of action with the 29-year-old.

Reactions To Alex Smith Trade

January 31st, 2018 at 10:33am CST by Zachary Links

It was widely rumored that the Chiefs would trade Alex Smith this offseason, but few expected him to be moved in January and almost no one saw him going to the Redskins. But, on Tuesday night, Kansas City and Washington agreed to a blockbuster deal which will have far-reaching implications around the NFL. Here’s a look at some of the reactions following the mega-trade:

  • Cornerback Kendall Fuller was a vital part of the Redskins and a tough piece to part with, ESPN.com’s John Keim writes. Fuller, who earned a tremendous 90.0 overall grade from Pro Football Focus in 2017, was one of the best pieces of Washington’s D. Meanwhile, fellow cornerback Bashaud Breeland is scheduled for free agency, so Washington could have multiple holes to fill in the secondary.Keim also feels that it’s tough to justify the extension for Smith which will reportedly pay him at an average of $23.5MM per year with $71MM guaranteed. Then again, the full details of the extension have yet to surface, so the deal might be more palatable for Washington if they can easily escape the contract after the first year or two.
  • The Smith deal means that Kirk Cousins will finally hit free agency and Mike Sando of ESPN.com lists the Cardinals, Browns, Broncos, Bills, Jets, Dolphins, Jaguars, Vikings, Giants, Buccaneers, and Colts as possible landing spots. Still, it’s not a given that all of these teams will make a run at him. The Cardinals would almost certainly like to add someone of Cousins’ caliber, but their cap room is an issue. The Buccaneers already have Jameis Winston under center, so it’s not especially likely that they’ll make a serious play for Cousins. Cousins signing with the Colts would be a shock – to say the least – given that Andrew Luck is expected to come back healthy in 2018. The Jaguars, who have less cap room than most of the teams listed here, may want to stick with Blake Bortles after reaching the AFC Championship Game. The Vikings, meanwhile, have three starting-caliber quarterbacks about to hit the free agent market and logic dictates that they will try to retain one of them (most likely Case Keenum).
  • In a sense, the Redskins’ sacrifice of a third-round pick in this year’s draft will be offset by the likely addition of a third-round compensatory pick in 2019 gained after Cousins signs elsewhere, as Charles Robinson of Yahoo Sports tweets. The Redskins also will have more cap room to work with in the coming years with Smith under center rather than Cousins.
  • The Redskins did a good job of fixing the mess they made with Cousins, but Bill Barnwell of ESPN.com refuses to congratulate owner Daniel Snyder and president Bruce Allen for creating the mess in the first place. The Redskins also could have gotten a better return for Cousins by franchising him for a third season at $34.5MM and fielding trade offers from teams that would have acquired him and extended him to reduce the cap hold. Now that they have Smith under contract with a $20MM+ cap charge in 2018, they have no choice but to allow Cousins to walk.
  • More from Barnwell, who writes that it’s too early to grade the trade for the Chiefs. Patrick Mahomes is a high-ceiling, low-floor option for 2018 and even under the best of circumstances, there should be some growing pains. Still, Barnwell believes that Kansas City got a tremendous talent in Fuller. Fuller emerged as an excellent slot cornerback last season and still has two years left on his rookie deal at a combined cost of less than $1.4MM. The Chiefs may put Fuller on the outside to see if he can be their new CB2 opposite of Marcus Peters, but they could also leave him in the slot and use him as a roving weapon.
  • Multiple teams expressed some interest in trading for Smith, Adam Schefter of ESPN.com (on Twitter) hears. One source tells Schefter that six clubs reached out to Kansas City to try and trade for the veteran. We know that the Cardinals and Browns both had interest in acquiring the soon-to-be 34-year-old.
  • Fun fact: Smith is the first QB to lead the NFL in touchdown-to-interception ratio (26 TD, 5 Int, a 5.2 ratio) in one season and then change teams the following year, according to the Elias Sports Bureau (Twitter link).

Cardinals Had Interest In Alex Smith

January 31st, 2018 at 9:52am CST by Zachary Links

The Cardinals were among a handful of teams interested in trading for Alex Smith, Kent Somers of AZCentral Sports tweets. However, the Chiefs wound up trading the quarterback to the Redskins on Tuesday night in a deal that netted them cornerback Kendall Fuller and a third-round draft choice. Alex Smith

[RELATED: Browns Tried To Trade For QB Alex Smith]

It’s no surprise that the Cardinals expressed interest in Smith given their own murky quarterback situation. In the wake of Carson Palmer‘s retirement, the Cardinals have zero quarterbacks under contract with Drew Stanton, Blaine Gabbert, and Matt Barkley all scheduled for unrestricted free agency.

Smith is now off the table for Arizona, but the trade means that Kirk Cousins will be in play for the Cardinals and other QB-needy teams. Even if Arizona can’t clear enough cap room to put themselves in the mix for Cousins, that could be good news for the Cardinals. If another team in need of a QB like the Browns (picking at No. 4 in the draft), Broncos (No. 4) or the Jets (No. 6) signs Cousins, it will open up possibilities for the Cardinals, who own the 15th overall pick.

Chiefs To Acquire CB Kendall Fuller

January 30th, 2018 at 10:00pm CST by Dallas Robinson

The Chiefs will receive cornerback Kendall Fuller from the Redskins as part of the Alex Smith trade, according to Field Yates of ESPN.com (Twitter link). Kansas City is also acquiring a 2018 third-round pick from Washington.Kendall Fuller (Vertical)

The Redskins’ decision to part with Fuller in exchange for Smith is fairly surprising given that Fuller is still only 22 years old and performed like one the NFL’s best cornerbacks in 2017. Fuller played two-thirds of Washington’s defensive snaps a season ago and graded as the league’s No. 6 cornerback, per Pro Football Focus. Football Outsiders was also a fan of Fuller’s work, as the former third-round pick ranked second in success rate and eighth in yards per pass allowed.

Fuller’s contract situation is also appealing, as he still has two years left on his rookie deal. While the Redskins have agreed to a four-year, $94MM extension with Smith, Fuller will earn less than $1.5MM from 2018-19. That’s incredibly important for the Chiefs, who were projected to be nearly $10MM over the cap when the 2018 league year began in mid-March.

Now that he’s in Kansas City, Fuller figures to step immediately into the club’s starting lineup opposite fellow cornerback Marcus Peters. The Chiefs ranked just 23rd in pass defense DVOA in 2017, but they now have the opportunity to revamp their secondary, as Terrance Mitchell, Kenneth Acker, and Phillip Gaines are all scheduled to hit free agency in roughly six weeks. Veteran Darrelle Revis is technically under contract for 2018, but he’ll be released before his $10MM guarantee kicks in on March 14.

Browns Tried To Trade For QB Alex Smith

January 30th, 2018 at 9:55pm CST by Dallas Robinson

Before the Chiefs sent Alex Smith to the Redskins, the Browns made a play for the veteran quarterback, according to Mark Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com. As many as six teams may have expressed interest in Smith, reports Adam Schefter of ESPN.com (Twitter link). The Broncos had some level of interest in Smith, but it’s not clear if Denver actually discussed an acquisition with Kansas City, per Mike Klis of 9News (Twitter link).Alex Smith (Vertical)

Washington ultimately acquired Smith in exchange for a 2018 third-round pick and an unidentified player, so Cleveland presumably was unwilling to meet that asking price. The Browns not only own higher draft choices than do the Redskins, but also possess more total selections, meaning general manager John Dorsey & Co. had the ammunition to make a deal. Dorsey, notably, previously acquired Smith from the 49ers as Kansas City’s general manager in 2013.

Cleveland is fully expected to pursue quarterback upgrades this offseason, and may be open to adding a veteran signal-caller via trade or free agency and using an early-round pick on a passer. Smith would have given the Browns a competent starter under center, allowing the club to either bring in a first-round rookie — such as USC’s Sam Darnold, UCLA’s Josh Rosen, Wyoming’s Josh Allen, or Oklahoma’s Baker Mayfield — or give 2017 second-rounder DeShone Kizer more time to develop.

But now that Smith is on board in the nation’s capital, the Redskins won’t be signing fellow quarterback Kirk Cousins, who will now hit the open market. The Browns expressed interest in trading for Cousins during the 2017 draft, and while Cleveland now has a new front office in place, it’s fair to assume the club will have pursue Cousins now that he’s a free agent. The Browns are second in the NFL with nearly $110MM in available cap space, meaning they’ll have the flexibility to offer him a hefty contract.

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