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Month: December 2024

Extra Points: Lincoln Riley, Prescott, AAF, Supplemental Draft

June 25th, 2018 at 6:21pm CST by Andrew Ortenberg

As one of the top coaches in college football, it was only a matter of time before Lincoln Riley started to be discussed as a potential NFL head coach. The discussion has already started after just a year as the coach of Oklahoma. NFL teams are fascinated by what Riley has done at Oklahoma and are flocking to Norman to pick his brain, according to Albert Breer of SI.com. Breer notes how the NFL is trending more and more toward college-style offenses, and that many of the concepts Riley has been implementing at Oklahoma since he became their coordinator in 2015 are already starting to become commonplace in the pro game.

Breer thinks that due to their interest in his schemes, NFL teams will eventually try to hire him, writing “it’s not hard to see NFL teams trying to pry him loose” from Oklahoma. When Breer asked Riley about it, he said it was “hard to say” and that “you can never say never” but added that “it’s hard to see myself ever leaving Oklahoma right now.” Whatever happens, Riley will be an interesting name to keep an eye on for future head coaching searches at the NFL level.

Here’s more from the football universe:

  • Dak Prescott changed agents, signing with Todd France of CAA, according to Clarence Hill Jr. of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Hill notes Prescott needed to make the move now, since he’s eligible to sign a contract extension after this season. Cowboys brass has repeatedly made clear they plan to sign Prescott to a longterm mega-extension in the near future.
  • Randy Mueller will be named the new GM of the Salt Lake City AAF team, a source told Alex Marvez of Sporting News (Twitter link). Mueller is currently a senior executive with the Chargers. The AAF continues to poach talent away from the NFL as it ramps up its operations.
  • Supplemental Draft prospect Sam Beal “has a shot to be a second round claim” but Matt Miller of Bleacher Report hears he is “most likely” to be a third round pick (Twitter link). Beal, from Western Michigan, is one of three defensive backs with a shot at being taken in the Supplemental Draft, which will be held July 11th.

Poll: Which NFC East Team Had The Best Offseason?

June 25th, 2018 at 5:11pm CST by Andrew Ortenberg

Over the past couple weeks, we’ve asked you which teams from the AFC North, AFC East, AFC West, NFC West, and NFC North had the best offseasons. Today we’ll be looking at the offseason each team from the NFC East had, another division with a lot of moving parts.

The Redskins may have had the most tumultuous past couple months of any team in the division. Their years long drama with Kirk Cousins finally culminated in the team trading for Alex Smith and allowing Cousins to walk in free agency. Coach Jay Gruden has been adamant that there will be no downgrade from Cousins to Smith, and that the team is very high on Smith. Washington’s receiving corp will look quite different, with Terrelle Pryor and Ryan Grant gone, and Paul Richardson brought in from Seattle in their place. They added defensive tackle Da’Ron Payne with the 13th overall pick to help shore up their run defense and selected running back Derrius Guice in the second round. Guice was viewed by most as a first round talent who fell into the Redskins’ laps due to off-field concerns. They also signed cornerback Orlando Scandrick and linebacker Pernell McPhee in free agency, and will return several key players from injury, like defensive lineman Jonathan Allen. It was an offseason of change for the Redskins, and the team will have to hope Smith can carry over his play from last season when he was the best of his career.

The Giants’ 2017 season went off the rails fast. After a playoff appearance in 2016, the team started the year 0-4, which quickly led to infighting. Both head coach Ben McAdoo and GM Jerry Reese, replacing them with Pat Shurmur and Dave Gettleman respectively. The team ultimately passed on taking a successor to Eli Manning with the number two overall pick, instead taking running back Saquon Barkley and signing the veteran Jonathan Stewart to be his backup. The team made Nate Solder the highest paid tackle in football, signing him away from the Patriots to help bolster their offensive line, and area of weakness the past few seasons. They also drafted guard Will Hernandez 34th overall to help along the interior. While the team has announced they plan on riding Manning for the foreseeable future, they did take the intriguing small-school quarterback Kyle Lauletta in the draft. They traded Jason Pierre-Paul to the Buccaneers in March, leaving a hole at pass-rusher. Overall, the Giants 2018 season will depend on how much Manning can bounce back from his poor 2017. If Manning and Odell Beckham Jr. can both return to form, the Giants could sneak back into the playoffs.

The Cowboys didn’t add many major pieces this offseason. The biggest storyline surrounding the team was the release of Dez Bryant. The Cowboys were apparently fed up with Bryant’s antics and his on-field production no longer justified keeping him around. They signed Allen Hurns from the Jaguars to replace him and step in as their new number one receiver. Dak Prescott‘s receiving options will look a lot different next year as they also lost Jason Witten to retirement and Brice Butler in free agency. They drafted linebacker Leighton Vander Esch in the first round to strengthen the defense. Other than their pass-catchers, the 2018 Cowboys will look fairly similar to last year’s underachieving squad. They’ll have Ezekiel Elliott for the full season after he was suspended for part of last year, and will look to recapture the magic of their 13-3 2016 season.

The Eagles went into the offseason riding high off their Super Bowl victory. They lost several players, but moved quickly to replace them all. When defensive linemen Vinny Curry and Beau Allen left in free agency, they promptly traded for Michael Bennett and signed Haloti Ngata. They lost offensive coordinator Frank Reich who took the Colts’ head coaching job and quarterbacks coach John DeFilippo who left to become the Vikings’ offensive coordinator. LeGarrette Blount left to sign with the Lions, but the Eagles have a deep running back depth chart still. The team rewarded Super Bowl hero Nick Foles with some extra incentives in his contract, although he still could possibly be dealt at a future point. They re-signed linebacker Nigel Bradham and added Corey Nelson and Paul Worrilow in free agency to further strengthen the linebacking corp. The biggest storyline for the defending champions this summer will continue to be the progress of Carson Wentz as he rehabs from a torn ACL. If Wentz is healthy, with all the pieces added to the defense this spring, the Eagles should be able to compete for another Super Bowl in 2018.

Latest On DB Brandon Bryant

June 25th, 2018 at 2:39pm CST by Zachary Links

Mississippi State defensive back Brandon Bryant is making his case to NFL scouts in advance of the NFL’s supplemental draft. On Monday, 40 scouts from the Rams, Browns, Falcons, Jets, Giants, 49ers, Redskins, Colts, Steelers, Saints, Jaguars, Texans, Raiders, and Ravens watched Bryant audition, Chase Goodbread of NFL.com tweets. 

There may have been even more clubs on hand to watch Bryant work out, according to Tony Pauline of Draft Insider (on Twitter). Pauline hears there were “about 20 teams on hand” and he hears his 40-yard-dash times ranged from the high 4.3’s to the low 4.4’s. He also conducted five separate one-on-one meetings on Sunday.

Bryant established himself as one of the top safeties in the SEC in his time with the Bulldogs. Across three years, Bryant compiled 157 tackles and five interceptions in 37 games. This year, after Mississippi State hired Joe Moorhead as their new head coach, Bryant announced he was going pro.

This year’s supplemental draft will take place on July 11. Other entrants include former Western Michigan cornerback Sam Beal and Virginia Tech cornerback Adonis Alexander.

94% Of Draft Picks Have Signed

June 25th, 2018 at 1:11pm CST by Zachary Links

As shown in PFR’s tracker, the overwhelming majority of this year’s draft picks are now under contract. Of this year’s 256 selections, 239 have inked their first NFL deal. As of Monday morning, that leaves just 17 players – or 6.6% of this year’s class – unsigned. Here’s the complete breakdown of the stragglers, round by round:

First Round (12)

Second Round (3)

  • Colts, 2-36: Darius Leonard, LB (South Carolina State)
  • Colts, 2-37: Braden Smith, G (Auburn)
  • 49ers, 2-44: Dante Pettis, WR (Washington)

Third Round (1)

Fourth Round (0)

Fifth Round (1)

Sixth Round (0)

Seventh Round (0)

At this point, the bulk of this year’s stragglers are in the first round – specifically, within the top ten. So far, Broncos defensive end Bradley Chubb (No. 5 overall), Colts guard Quenton Nelson (No. 6), and Cardinals quarterback Josh Rosen (No. 10) are the only players in the top ten who have signed their deals. The rest of those players are likely haggling over offset language. Offset language was at the root of Joey Bosa‘s protracted negotiations with the Chargers in 2016 and kept him from signing until the very end of August.

Contract Guarantees

June 25th, 2018 at 12:55pm CST by Zachary Links

Unlike in the NBA or MLB, players’ contracts in the NFL aren’t guaranteed by default. Typically, an NFL player will receive at least some guaranteed money when he signs a deal, but that money often comes in the form of contract bonuses, and in particular signing bonuses. While a player’s base salary, or P5 salary, will occasionally be guaranteed for a season or two, more often than not future seasons in that contract are fully non-guaranteed, allowing the team to escape the contract without much of a cap hit, particularly if the player’s bonus money was limited. 

Take Tyrann Mathieu for example. The safety inked a five-year, $62.5MM extension with the Cardinals back in 2016, but only $21.25MM of that sum was fully guaranteed. Rather than paying Mathieu a $5MM roster bonus in March, the Cardinals released him, leaving $9.3MM in dead money on the cap. Mathieu’s $60MM+ contract seemed like a whopper at the time of signing, but he only collected on a fraction of it.

Signing bonuses, which are generally paid in one or two lump sums, are fairly straightforward forms of guaranteed money, but not all guaranteed money is created equal. We saw a prime example of that when Colin Kaepernick inked a long-term extension with the 49ers in 2014. When word of the agreement first broke, Kaepernick’s guaranteed money was reported to exceed $60MM+. However, upon learning the full details of the contract, we found that only about $13MM of that total was fully guaranteed, whereas another $48MM+ was guaranteed for injury only.

An injury-only guarantee is one of three types of guarantees that a team can write into a player’s contract that apply to his base salary in a given season. These guarantees are as follows:

  • Guaranteed for injury: If a player suffers a football injury and cannot pass a physical administered by the team doctor, he would still be entitled to his full salary if the team were to release him. For a player like Kaepernick who has several future seasons guaranteed for injury only, it would take a career-ending injury for the Niners to be on the hook for all those future injury-only guaranteed salaries.
  • Guaranteed for skill: The most subjective of the three, a player whose talents have significantly declined and is released for skill-related reasons (ie. another player beats him out for a roster spot) would still be entitled to his full salary if that salary is guaranteed for skill.
  • Guaranteed for cap purposes: This form of guarantee ensures that a player who is released due to his team’s need to create cap room will still be entitled to his full salary.

A team can use a combination of these forms of guarantees, making a player’s salary guaranteed for injury and skill, for example. In the event that a player’s salary is guaranteed for injury, skill, and cap purposes, we’d refer to that salary as fully guaranteed, since the player would be eligible for his full salary regardless of the reason for his release.

As is the case with prorated bonuses, all future guaranteed salary owed to a player by a team is considered “dead money” and would accelerate onto the club’s current cap in the event of his release (over one or two years, depending on whether the cut happens after June 1). For the most part though, beyond the first year or two of a deal, that prorated signing bonus money is the only guaranteed figure remaining on the contract, which is why teams often don’t have qualms about releasing a player in the later years of his deal.

Note: This is a PFR Glossary entry. Our glossary posts will explain specific rules relating to free agency, trades, or other aspects of the NFL’s Collective Bargaining Agreement. Information from Over the Cap was used in the creation of this post. This post was modified from an early entry by editor emeritus Luke Adams. 

Falcons To Sign Ron Parker

June 25th, 2018 at 11:26am CST by Zachary Links

Former Chiefs safety Ron Parker is expected to sign with the Falcons on Monday, sources tell Terez A. Paylor of Yahoo Sports (on Twitter). It’s a one-year deal, according to NFL.com’s Tom Pelissero (on Twitter). 

The free agent safety market has moved at a glacial pace this offseason and Parker was one of several vets without work in June. Tre Boston, Eric Reid, Kenny Vaccaro, and several other experienced safeties continue to hunt for a job, but Parker has found an NFL home for the 2018 season.

Parker started in 64 of the Chiefs’ last 65 games. This offseason, KC opted to let him go in order to save $5MM with $2MM left over in dead money. His release terminated the five-year, $30MM extension he signed in 2015.

In his run with the Chiefs, the former UDFA notched 40 pass breakups and intercepted nine passes. His performance slipped in 2017, but he’ll look to get back to his old ways in Atlanta as he enters his age-31 season.

The Falcons will start a solid 1-2 at safety with Keanu Neal at free safety and Ricardo Allen delivering the big hits at strong safety. Parker projects to serve as one of the top safeties off of the bench with Kemal Ishmael, Damontae Kazee, and Tyson Graham among those also pushing for time.

 

NFL Supplemental Draft Set For July 11

June 25th, 2018 at 10:39am CST by Zachary Links

The NFL’s supplemental draft will be held on July 11, a league official tells Adam Schefter of ESPN.com (on Twitter). Unlike previous years, this year’s “second chance” draft features some quality talent and it’s almost assured that a player will be selected. 

Former Western Michigan cornerback Sam Beal was already projected to be taken high in the 2019 NFL draft and it is believed that he will go somewhere in the first three rounds of next month’s supplemental draft. Beal, a 6’1″ corner, notched two interceptions and ten pass deflections last year as he put himself squarely on the NFL radar. His raw athleticism is a major draw for clubs – he started out as a wide receiver and only started playing cornerback in 2016. Despite his inexperience, he has flashed tremendous potential in the secondary.

In addition to Beal, there’s also Virginia Tech cornerback Adonis Alexander and Mississippi State safety Brandon Bryant for teams to consider. It seems likely that Beal will be the first player to come off of the board, but Alexander has been auditioned by just about every team in the NFL.

If a player is selected during any of the supplemental draft’s seven rounds, the team will have to sacrifice the equivalent pick for the following year’s rookie draft. There have only been 43 players selected in the supplemental draft since 1977, including two in the past six years (the Browns selected wideout Josh Gordon in 2012 while the Rams selected Isaiah Battle in 2015).

Latest On Patriots’ Julian Edelman

June 25th, 2018 at 10:22am CST by Zachary Links

Julian Edelman‘s appeal of his four-game drug suspension will be heard on Monday, Dan Graziano of ESPN.com hears. Edelman’s camp, in part, will argue that the league mishandled the documentation and delivery of the wide receiver’s test results. 

Edelman’s team is prepared to present a two-pronged attack on the league’s claims of PED use. Not only will he call the league’s handling of the samples into question, but Edelman will also point out the substance he tested positive for wasn’t one the league’s drug testers recognized.

Edelman, 32, missed the entire 2017 season after tearing an ACL during the preseason. If his suspension stands, he’ll have to wait an extra four games before making his return.

Naturally, the wide receiver is desperate to get back on the field. And, with that in mind, Graziano openly wonders whether this case could drag into federal court, similar to how Deflategate played out. It should be noted that Edelman is being represented by Alex Spiro, a high-priced New York attorney who has represented many NBA players in legal matters. Should Edelman lose his appeal, it’s a situation worth keeping an eye on.

This Date In Transactions History: Joe Horn Retires

June 25th, 2018 at 8:03am CST by Zachary Links

On this date in 2010, wide receiver Joe Horn officially called it a career. By signing a one-day deal with the Saints, Horn found the perfect way to ride into the sunset while also patching things up with the franchise that helped make him famous. 

Horn entered the league with the Chiefs in 1996, but he made his name with the Saints starting in 2000. Horn seemingly came from out of the blue to notch 94 catches, 1,430 yards, and eight touchdowns in his first season with New Orleans, earning him his first of four career Pro Bowl selections. Through the highs (helping the franchise to its first playoff victory), lows (a five-year playoff drought), and the in-between (hiding a cell phone in the goal post), Horn was out in front as one of the Saints’ premier players.

However, his Saints tenure ended on an awkward note in 2007 when he joined up with the rival Falcons. Things were a bit frosty between the outspoken wide receiver and the organization, but the two sides patched things up years later when he was inducted into the team’s Hall of Fame.

“I appreciate the city that welcomed me, and I’m humbled by this day, ” Horn said (via the Times-Picayune). “When I was embracing Coach [Sean] Payton and we immediately started reliving the good times, I felt very good leaving that golf course.”

Horn tried hard to find success after his time with the Saints, but he was never able to replicate those results. At the age of 35, the Falcons used him as a bit player in 2007. He later auditioned for the Lions, Giants, and Titans, but did not find a deal in 2008 or 2009.

It only makes sense that the Saints and Horn put the ugliness behind them to focus on the positives. Although Marques Colston and Jimmy Graham pushed him down the list in many statistical categories, Horn is still third all-time in Saints history in touchdown receptions (50), receiving yards (7,622), and receptions (523).

PFR Originals: 6/17/18 – 6/24/18

June 24th, 2018 at 9:35pm CST by Andrew Ortenberg

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

 

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