With the news of Jameis Winston‘s impending suspension from the NFL, lots has been written about Winston’s future with the Buccaneers. One potentially unexplored angle is how Winston’s fate may tie into the fate of Bucs GM Jason Licht and the team’s head coach Dirk Koetter, according to Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk.com. Florio speculates that the team may be more likely to move on from Winston if they decide to fire Licht and/or Koetter at the end of the 2018 season.
Koetter reportedly came very close to being fired at the end of the 2017 season, but was ultimately given another year by ownership. Florio thinks it would be easier for the franchise to move on from Winston if they cleaned house completely, and had a front office with no ties to Winston make the decision to release him. Winston is set to make $20.9MM under his fifth-year option in 2019. It’s guaranteed only for injury, meaning the Bucs could release him after this season and not have to pay him anything, assuming he stays healthy. Whatever ends up happening, it looks like it could be a tumultuous year in Tampa Bay.
Here’s more from around the league:
Undrafted rookie tight end Deon Yelder has a “good shot” at making the Saints, according to Nick Underhill of the New Orleans Advocate. Due to the Saints’ lack of depth at tight end, Underhill thinks the position “appears primed for a UDFA to rise and claim a job.” The Saints recently releasedCoby Fleener, leaving them a bit thin at the position.
Former Pro Bowl cornerback Brandon Browner pled no contest to domestic battery charges, according to Nathan Fenno of the Los Angeles Times. Browner, who won back to back Super Bowls with the Patriots and Seahawks, spent 2017 out of the league after a short sting with Seattle in 2016.
This year’s Supplemental Draft is shaping up as the best in recent memory. There are several draft-able players, and the most intriguing prospect for teams might be Virginia Tech cornerback Adonis Alexander. Alexander was kicked off the Hokies’ team due to academic issues and announced his intention to enter the Supplemental Draft a few weeks ago.
Any team can select Alexander, but whatever round they take him in, they’ll forfeit that round’s selection in the regular 2019 draft. The Browns notably used a second round pick in the Supplemental Draft to take Josh Gordon in 2012. Alexander recently held his Pro Day, which was attended by 26 teams.
A few of those teams showed additional interest in Alexander and met with him separately. Alexander met with representatives from the Jets, Saints, Chiefs, and Colts, according to Tony Pauline of DraftAnalyst.com. All four teams could use help on their defense and are strong candidates to take a flyer on Alexander. Pauline currently projects Alexander as going in the third round of the Supplemental Draft.
Pauline thinks Alexander’s “length, balls skills and arm size (over 32 inches) will be very attractive to NFL teams” and noted that had Alexander returned to Virginia Tech for his senior season, he would’ve been graded by scouts as one of the top cornerback prospects in the nation.
Alexander isn’t the only talented secondary player eligible for the draft. He’s joined by safety Brandon Bryant from Mississippi State, and cornerback Sam Beal from Western Michigan. Although there’s only been two players selected in the past six years, this year’s Supplemental Draft has the potential to be very active.
While defensive end Brandon Graham is set to be a free agent at the end of the year, it doesn’t appear the Eagles are in any rush to lock him up, writes Eliot Shorr-Parks of NJ.com. Shorr-Parks thinks it’s “unlikely that Graham gets a new deal before the season.” He adds that the ankle injury Graham is currently recovering from may play into the team’s reluctance to get something done this offseason.
Graham has been with the Eagles since he was drafted in the first round by the team back in 2010. Since then, he’s racked up 38.5 sacks, including 9.5 last season. He notably strip sacked Tom Brady in this year’s Super Bowl to help seal the Eagles’ win. Despite his Super Bowl heroics, Shorr-Parks say “all indications still point to Graham becoming a free agent next offseason” rather than receiving an extension.
Here’s more from Philadelphia:
Speaking of Graham, his status for week one remains unclear, according to Shorr-Parks. He had ankle surgery in April and is “still walking in a boot and using crutches to get around.” Teammate Alshon Jeffery, who is recovering from shoulder surgery, “seems to be a much safer bet to play in Week 1” writes Shorr-Parks, who adds “all indications are that he will be ready.”
The Eagles moved on from punter Donnie Jones this offseason and replaced him with second-year player Cameron Johnston. While the Eagles are happy with Johnston, who hasn’t attempted a regular season punt in his career, Shorr-Parks thinks it “wouldn’t be surprising” if the Eagles had a veteran punter on standby that they could sign in case Johnston falters this preseason.
When the Patriots drafted Matt Cassel in the seventh round of the 2005 draft, nobody would’ve guessed that Cassel would go on to have a lengthy and significant NFL career. Cassel never started a game in college, he was a backup all four years at USC, but landed himself on NFL teams’ radars with a strong Pro Day performance. On this day 13 years ago, Cassel signed his rookie contract with the Patriots.
It was a surprise when Cassel even made the Patriots’ initial 53-man roster in 2005, and even more of a shock that he continued to stick around. Eventually he worked his way from third string into being Tom Brady‘s primary backup. Cassel would entrench himself in NFL and Patriots history when Brady went down with a torn ACL in the first game of the 2008 season. Cassel stepped in and ended up starting the next 15 games for New England.
He led the Patriots to an 11-5 record while throwing for 3,693 yards, 21 touchdowns, and 11 interceptions. Although the Patriots became the first team since the NFL switched to their current playoff format to go 11-5 and not make the playoffs, it was an incredible season for Cassell. Just a couple months earlier beat writers had been predicting he would be cut from the team.
At the end of the year, the Patriots franchised tagged him and ended up trading him to the Chiefs for an early second round pick. Cassel would go on to make the Pro Bowl with the Chiefs in 2010, but flamed out soon after that and has bounced around the league as a backup ever since. He’s spent time with the Chiefs, Vikings, Bills, Cowboys, and Titans since his magical season in New England. This past April, he signed a one-year deal with the Lions.
The seventh round pick who hadn’t started a game in high school somehow saw himself quarterbacking the Patriots to an 11-5 record and earned himself a spot in the NFL for the next decade. It was a great pick by the Patriots, who ended up getting a season of stellar quarterback play and a second round pick for the 230th pick in the 2005 draft. And it all started on this day, 13 years ago.
Aaron Donald and Khalil Mack are two of the best defensive players in the league. They are also both heading into the final year of their contracts. They’re both angling for new deals and they’ve both threatened to holdout at various times to get those new deals. But, as Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk.com points out, there is a key difference in the two All-Pro’s situations.
Donald held out of training camp last year while Mack didn’t. Donald showed up just before the start of the regular season and ended up missing the first game before returning to form and easily winning the league’s defensive player of the year award. Since Donald missed all of training camp last year, due to an NFL rule, if he were to miss it again this year he wouldn’t be eligible to be an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season. Instead he would become a restricted free agent and the Rams would be able to match any offer Donald were to receive on the open market. As such, it appears Mack has much more leverage in his contract negotiations as Donald will be more or less forced to show up for training camp whether a deal gets done or not.
Here’s more from the football universe:
The upstart new football league the Alliance of American Football continues to make waves as they ramp up operations. The team recently announced San Antonio as the final city for their inaugural season, and St. Louis was apparently hoping to get the spot, according to Jim Thomas of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. St. Louis was apparently passed over due to issues with the proposed stadium for the team.
In more AAF news, legendary coach Steve Spurrier, who will be coaching the Orlando AAF team, is recruiting Tim Tebow to be his team’s quarterback. Spurrier reached out to Tebow privately, according to Florio, but Tebow plans on continuing to play baseball for now.
Over the past couple weeks, we’ve asked you which teams from the AFC North, AFC East, AFC West, and NFC West had the best offseasons. Today we’ll be looking at the offseason each team from the NFC North had, another division that was quite active.
The Vikings made the biggest splash in the entire league when they signedKirk Cousins to the NFL’s first ever multi-year fully guaranteed deal for a quarterback. They let three of their quarterbacks from last year, Case Keenum, Teddy Bridgewater, and Sam Bradford walk in free agency. Their offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur left to be the head coach of the Giants and they replaced him with Eagles quarterbacks coach John DeFilippo. They signed a pair of players away from the division rival Bears, guard Tom Compton and receiver Kendall Wright, and added Pro Bowl defensive lineman Sheldon Richardson from the Seahawks. They lost running back Jerick McKinnon to the 49ers but will return Dalvin Cook who was lost to a torn ACL early last season. They added cornerback Mike Hughes from Central Florida with their first round pick. Overall, there was a lot of turnover from last year’s team that made the NFC Championship game, and the Vikings will be counting on a lot of new faces to help them get back there.
The Bears started their offseason off by firingJohn Fox, and hiringMatt Nagy to replace him. They looked to bolster last year’s woeful receiving corp by signing Allen Robinson and Taylor Gabriel in free agency. They also added tight end Trey Burton as another pass-catcher for Mitchell Trubisky. They used the eighth overall pick on Roquan Smith, the linebacker from Georgia. The team cut Mike Glennon after his short four-game tenure as the starting quarterback last year and signed Chase Daniel to be Trubisky’s new veteran mentor backup. The team retained defensive coordinator Vic Fangio after a lot of speculation about his potential departure and matched a large offer sheet that cornerback Kyle Fuller signed with the Packers. Overall, the offseason was all about offense for the Bears, from Nagy’s hiring to the signing of Robinson and Burton. Chicago is looking to set up Trubisky for as much success as possible in his second year, and tangible progress from him will be the most important thing for the team this season.
The Lions also changed coaches, firing Jim Caldwell and hiring Matt Patricia. Patricia, formerly the Patriots defensive coordinator, was a hot name in head coaching searches the past few seasons but no one was able to lure him away until finally Detroit did this spring. They didn’t make many major moves in free agency, but did sign a handful of defensive role players like defensive lineman Sylvester Williams and cornerback DeShawn Shead. They let their former first round pick, tight end Eric Ebron walk in free agency to the Colts. They also let defensive tackle Haloti Ngata sign with the Eagles. They took center Frank Ragnow from Arkansas in the first round of this year’s draft to strengthen the offensive line. They added running back Kerryon Johnson in the second round, who they hope will become the three-down back they’ve been lacking for many years. Overall, besides the coaching change it was a relatively quiet offseason for the Lions. They’ll look to stay the course and hope Matthew Stafford can carry the team to the playoffs yet again.
The Packers made some rare coaching changes. They didn’t retain longtime defensive coordinator Dom Capers and replaced him with Mike Pettine. They also fired offensive coordinator Edgar Bennett and quarterbacks coach Alex Van Pelt, who was reportedly close with Aaron Rodgers. They hired former Dolphins head coach Joe Philbin to be the new offensive coordinator. They cut former star receiver Jordy Nelson and signed defensive lineman Muhammad Wilkerson, tight end Jimmy Graham, and cornerback Tramon Williams. They traded cornerback Damarious Randall to the Browns for quarterback DeShone Kizer, and drafted cornerback Jaire Alexander in the first round. The focus was clearly on addressing the defense, the team’s achilles heel in recent years, and particularly the secondary. Overall, it was an offseason of change, as the team said goodbye to several former staples. Aaron Rodgers will return from the injury that cost him most of the 2017 season, and will once again need to carry the load if the Packers 2018 season is going to be successful.
Which team do you think had the best offseason in the NFC North? Vote in PFR’s poll below and weigh in with your thoughts in the comments section!
Before the draft, new Ravens quarterback Lamar Jacksonrefuted reports that multiple teams wanted to him to work out as a wide receiver. Perhaps that was simply because Jackson, who represents himself, wanted to downplay the notion that his quarterback skills will not translate to the professional level, because now that he is officially a first-round pick and is on a team that is committed to his future as a QB, Jackson’s story is a little different.
Jackson said in a recent interview with the Ravens’ official website (video link) that the Chargers were the first team to approach him about running routes during the combine. The 2016 Heisman Trophy winner was taken aback by the request, which triggered his decision to not run the 40-yard dash and to rely on his game film instead.
Of course, Jackson may be deployed as a wide receiver on occasion this year. Joe Flacco remains the Ravens’ starter, but Baltimore wants to take advantage of Jackson’s elite athleticism, so the team is designing packages that will put both players on the field at the same time.
Now let’s take a look at several more AFC items:
Bengals WR A.J. Green is entering the fourth year of the five-year pact he signed in September 2015, which made him the highest-paid receiver in the league at the time. In terms of average annual value, Green is now the sixth-highest paid wideout in the game, and if Julio Jones and Odell Beckham Jr. get their way, he will be the eighth-highest paid by the time the regular season rolls around. But as Paul Dehner Jr. and Jim Owczarski of the Cincinnati Enquirer write, it does not sound as if Green will be asking for more money until the expiration of his current deal at the end of the 2019 season. Green supports his colleagues’ efforts to rework their existing contracts, but as for himself, he said, “I don’t really get caught up in what’s the money like because I signed my deal and it was the highest paid at that point. It’s going to always go up. So you can’t keep up with that. At the end of the day [owner Mike Brown] took care of me. I’m still under contract for the next two years and we’ll go from there.”
Yesterday, Rich Cimini of ESPN.com suggested that the Jets could flip TeddyBridgewater to a QB-needy team for a pass rusher, and he named the Jaguars‘ DanteFowler as one potential target. However, Florida Football Insiders does not buy the fact that Fowler will be on the move this offseason. 2018 is a critical year for Fowler, who is set for unrestricted free agency in 2019 since the Jags declined his fifth-year option last month. But Jacksonville believes he is an ascending player, and he did put up eight sacks last season, so the club is hoping for continued strong production from him in his platform campaign.
We rounded up a series of Patriots-related notes earlier today, and we asked you yesterday what team you think poses the biggest threat to the Pats’ hopes of repeating as AFC champs in 2018. Thus far, PFR readers believe the Steelers have the best chance.
The Jameis Winston saga will continue to dominate NFL headlines for the foreseeable future, but life goes on for the Buccaneers, who need to determine who will give them the best chance to win in Winston’s expected absence. The team is currently rostering veteran Ryan Fitzpatrick, career reserve Ryan Griffin, and 2018 UDFA Austin Allen.
That is not a particularly inspiring group, and though Fitzpatrick is expected to run the offense while Winston serves his suspension, it would make sense for the team to consider a veteran backup for the 35-year-old (36 in November) Harvard product. However, Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times does not believe the Bucs will go that route (Twitter link).
Of course, the free agent crop of signal-callers does not engender much confidence either, as it features the likes of Derek Anderson, Matt Moore, and Mark Sanchez. Plus, as Florida Football Insiders observes, the team seems to have plenty of faith in Griffin, who is entering his sixth year in the league but who has yet to attempt a regular season pass.
Griffin, a former UDFA out of Tulane, has spent the last three years with Tampa Bay and therefore is plenty familiar with head coach Dirk Koetter‘s system. The team intended to give him a thorough evaluation last summer, but he got hurt early in the preseason schedule and was not fully healthy until after the first month of the regular season.
Nonetheless, the Bucs carried Griffin through to their initial 53-man roster before placing him on IR, and the fact that they have kept him around for three seasons has to mean something. Indeed, the above Florida Football Insiders piece suggests that he could challenge Fitzpatrick as Winston’s placeholder in training camp.
The Giants and star receiver Odell Beckham Jr.are far apart in extension talks, and Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk believes Beckham should stage a holdout. After all, if Beckham reports for training camp — as he said he will do — but does not get the deal he’s looking for, then he would essentially be foreclosed from holding out. As Florio notes, a player who reports and then leaves subjects himself to a “five-day letter,” in which a team advises such player that, if he does not return within five days, he will be put on the reserve/left squad list, thereby tolling his contract for a full year. And, if Beckham reports but does not practice with the team until he gets a new deal, he could be subject to fines and suspension for conduct detrimental to the team.
As such, Florio believes Beckham’s only chance to get the contract he deserves this year is to hold out and put a little pressure on the Giants, which none of his other alternatives would do. Beckham, though, appears to be sensitive to the stigma associated with holdouts, so this will remain a fascinating case to monitor.
Now for more from the league’s east divisions:
Matt Lombardo of NJ.com names the secondary as perhaps the biggest weakness on the Giants‘ roster, though he says UDFA cornerback Grant Haley — who reportedly received a whopping $100K in guaranteed money from Big Blue — could be a solid slot corner in his rookie season. Lombardo also says the team could reunite with Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, which grows more likely the longer DRC lingers on the open market.
Eagles cornerback Sidney Jones had a strong offseason, but as Eliot Shorr-Parks of NJ.com observes, Jones spent the last three practices of the spring on the sideline with soreness in his lower body. Philadelphia has said that soreness is wholly unrelated to the Achilles injury that forced Jones to miss almost all of his rookie season, but Shorr-Parks says the fact that the Washington product was forced to miss the most important practices of the spring with a vague injury is noteworthy. The team needs Jones to live up to his collegiate potential, which would have a positive trickle-down effect on the rest of a secondary that needs to replace Patrick Robinson (as of now, Shorr-Parks says, Jalen Mills is the favorite to serve as the Eagles’ nickel corner, a role that Robinson filled so admirably last year).
Free agent WR Eric Decker indicated earlier this week that the Patriots would be a good fit for him, and while no team — including the Patriots – has publicly expressed interest in Decker in nearly three months, Mike Reiss of ESPN.com says New England could be interested once it has had the opportunity to fully evaluate its receiving corps in training camp.
One potentially key member of the Patriots‘ receiving corps, Malcolm Mitchell, is unsure if he will be ready for the start of training camp. Per Stephen Hewitt of the Boston Herald, Mitchell — who missed all of the 2017 campaign with a knee injury after a promising rookie season — simply said “we’ll see” when asked if he would be ready to go when camp opens next month. New England would love to have a healthy Mitchell, especially in light of Julian Edelman‘s impending four-game suspension.
Reiss says that Patriots‘ UDFA punter Corey Bojorquez is a legitimate threat to incumbent Ryan Allen.
According to Bill Voth of Panthers.com, longtime Panther Charles Johnson is planning to retire, he just hasn’t made it official yet. However, Voth says that if the team were to make overtures to Johnson, the Georgia product would not hesitate to come back.
Not too long ago, Johnson was one of the better pass rushers in the league. Selected by the Panthers in the third round of the 2007 draft, Johnson showed flashes of promise during his first three years in the pros and finally broke out when he was given the chance to be a full-time starter in 2010. During the 2010 season, Johnson put up 11.5 sacks and landed a six-year, $72MM extension from Carolina the following offseason.
He mostly lived up to that payday over the early stages of the contract, as he posted 32.5 sacks during the 2011-13 seasons. He added 8.5 sacks in the 2014 campaign and, although he missed some of the 2015 season due to injury, he notched three sacks during the Panthers’ playoff run that year, including one in Super Bowl 50. Carolina released him following the Super Bowl to get out of the last year of his mega-extension but quickly re-signed him to a one-year pact. He then signed a new two-year deal with the Panthers last offseason.
2017, though, was a bad year for Johnson. He failed to produce a sack in 11 games, and he was hit with a PED suspension in December. Carolina cut him earlier this year, and there has been no reported interest in him since. He did indicate before his release that he would like to play in 2018, so perhaps he will get another chance if a club decides it could use a veteran pass rusher later this summer.
If Johnson’s career is, in fact, over, he will have nothing to be ashamed of. He has accumulated 72.5 sacks between the regular season and playoffs, he has earned a pile of money, and he got to play in a Super Bowl. He also spent all 11 years of his career with one team, a rare feat in sports today.
