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NFC West Notes: Baldwin, Shields, 49ers

August 28th, 2018 at 9:51pm CST by Sam Robinson

Doug Baldwin is back at Seahawks practice after missing the preseason with a knee injury. As expected, Seattle’s top wide receiver plans on returning for Week 1, per the Associated Press. Baldwin may or may not have undergone a procedure for his sore left knee, the soon-to-be 30-year-old pass-catcher not denying an operation of some sort took place. The eighth-year Seahawk also expects to have to deal with knee pain this season, saying he’ll have to manage this issue throughout the year. The Seahawks are counting on Baldwin to reprise his role as Russell Wilson‘s favorite target, but while he was out, newcomers Jaron Brown and Brandon Marshall logged extensive first-team time. But Baldwin remains Seattle’s centerpiece receiver and a key veteran after so many on defense were jettisoned this offseason.

Here’s the latest from the NFC West:

  • Sam Shields‘ comeback attempt may clear a key barrier. The former Packers starter is on track to make the Rams‘ 53-man roster, Lindsay Thiry of ESPN.com writes. While he stands to be behind Los Angeles’ top three of Aqib Talib, Marcus Peters and Nickell Robey-Coleman, Shields making it back onto a roster would be a significant development considering how concussion issues nearly ended his career. The 30-year-old defender has not played since Week 1 of the 2016 season.
  • Under optimal circumstances, Mike Person may have been third in the running for the 49ers’ right guard job. Jonathan Cooper and Joshua Garnett are ex-first-rounders both are out-earning the 30-year-old UDFA who is attached to a league-minimum contract. But Person is the odds-on favorite to open the season with the starters, Kyle Shanahan said (via Matt Maiocco of NBC Sports Bay Area, on Twitter). Despite Cooper’s one-year, $4.95MM contract, Person is competing to hold off Garnett, per Matt Barrows of The Athletic (on Twitter).
  • One of the 49ers’ Reuben Foster insurance policies may not make the roster. A 16-game Chargers starter between the 2016 and ’17 seasons, linebacker Korey Toomer is on the bubble going into the 49ers’ final preseason game, Barrows writes (subscription required). Foster’s return induced the 49ers to move Mark Nzeocha to outside ‘backer, where he has a chance to start, and Elijah Lee is also competing for a roster spot. Toomer may make the team’s initial 53-man roster, because of Foster’s two-game suspension, but Barrows notes he’s not a lock to be one of San Francisco’s backups this season.
  • Arthur Moats probably won’t be ready for the Cardinals’ regular-season opener because of an MCL issue.

Minor NFL Transactions: 8/28/18

August 28th, 2018 at 9:09pm CST by Zachary Links

We’ll keep track of today’s minor moves here:

Arizona Cardinals

  • Signed: RB Darius Victor

Buffalo Bills

Cincinnati Bengals

Dallas Cowboys

Houston Texans

Jacksonville Jaguars

Los Angeles Chargers

Los Angeles Rams

  • Signed: RB Larry Rose

Philadelphia Eagles

San Francisco 49ers

Tennessee Titans

Brian Gutekunst On Aaron Rodgers, Deals, Front Office Setup

August 28th, 2018 at 9:00pm CST by Sam Robinson

As Brian Gutekunst prepares for his first season as Packers GM, he takes the reins of a team coming off its worst performance of the decade and one that is mired in contract negotiations with its cornerstone player.

The Aaron Rodgers extension buzz has picked up, but it’s not certain the Packers will have this deal done by the regular season. And Gutekunst doesn’t seem to believe that’s been a key deadline for a player with two years remaining on his contract.

“I don’t think there’s any timetable on it. it’s just a matter of getting to the point that both sides think it’s the best thing moving forward,” Gutekunst said in an interview with PackersNews.com’s Pete Dougherty. “The perception of when the deal was getting done is probably why people are anxious outside of this building. Inside the building it’s always one of those things that’s taken its normal course. From my perception it’s not something that’s dragged on longer than I thought it would.”

As for if the Packers — who may prefer a longer-term pact than Rodgers does — would push this well beyond this season and into a 2020 franchise tag, Gutekunst doesn’t envision it. The Packers’ party line throughout the offseason is the expectation Rodgers’ deal is finalized this year, and Gutekunst believes his quarterback is deserving of a contract that makes him the highest-paid NFL player in history.

That would mean anything north of $30MM per year.

“I think Aaron is one of the more unique players that I’ve ever been around or seen. It’s a tough question, but I think he’s as deserving as anybody,” Gutekunst said of Rodgers’ potential place atop the NFL salary spectrum, as he was when he signed his current five-year, $110MM deal in 2013. “I don’t think it will ever come to (a tag situation). I think this is something that’s moving along at the right pace and should come to a conclusion at some point. I don’t think we’re looking at those things right now.”

Despite the Raiders currently employing Khalil Mack, the Packers are oddly the Las Vegas frontrunners to be the team signing his checks by season’s end. The Packers were notoriously stingy in pursuits of players outside the organization under Ted Thompson, but Gutekunst will be in the market for top-level talent in trades or free agency.

However, the Packers — factoring in an imminent Rodgers re-up — would be in a historic place in the event of a Mack trade. One team has never employed two $20MM-per-year players, and any team trading for Mack would almost certainly have to a $20MM-AAV-plus extension upon doing so.

“When you’re talking about unique players, there’s only so many of them out there,” Gutekunst said. “At the same time, the financial challenges may be difficult, but without players you can’t win. It’s like any significant player, they’re not inexpensive, but you have to have them to win.”

However, the first-year GM doesn’t have as much power as his predecessor. Gutekunst, Mike McCarthy and executive VP Russ Ball all report to Packers president Mark Murphy. Gutekunst, who maintained Thompson will still be in the picture from time to time, assessed this setup and the potential hurdles that will come with roster-building as a result.

“If we have differences (McCarthy) explains to me what he’s thinking. I explain to him what I’m thinking, and we usually kind of get to a common ground,” Gutekunst said. “But again, this is my first go-through with this, the 53, so we’ll see how it goes. I’ve had a relationship with Mike since he’s been here, even before that. I don’t anticipate any issues where it’s going to come to that.

“… I have no regrets about taking the job at all. It was clearly spelled out to me from the beginning by Mark. Again, it wasn’t something I’d worked under before. Mark has been very up front, if there’s any player I want to sign, I have all roster decisions that way. That’s never come up. I’ve never been prevented from signing a player if that’s what I wanted to do.”

Jets’ $30MM-AAV Kirk Cousins Offer Raised Vikings’ Price

August 28th, 2018 at 8:25pm CST by Sam Robinson

The best offer Kirk Cousins received this offseason indeed came from the Jets. Reports of a three-year, $90MM fully guaranteed Jets proposal turned out to be accurate. Cousins confirmed as much (video link via Vikings.com) in a multi-part series chronicling his unique free agency foray.

Cousins, however, hoped the Jets’ offer would convince the Vikings to raise their price to move closer to the ballpark New York established.

At free agency’s outset, the Vikings offered Cousins $25MM per year. Minnesota increasing its offer to $28MM AAV for three years cinched up the deal, although Cousins confirmed his two finalists were the Vikings and Jets. The Cardinals finished in third place.

Cousins said in January he was interested in signing with a team he could elevate to a Super Bowl. The Vikings are certainly closer to that realm than the Jets, who appear to have been Cousins’ contingency plan.

The twice-franchise-tagged quarterback said at that point during the process he wanted to sign a fully guaranteed, multiyear contract. But if that didn’t materialize, Cousins wanted to continue to play on one-year deals, as he had with Washington. Cousins collected more than $44MM in 2016-17 via the franchise tag.

During an expansive video, Cousins is seen Googling offensive coordinators — Jeremy Bates (Jets), Bill Musgrave (Broncos), Mike McCoy (Cardinals) and John DeFilippo (Vikings) are shown during this sequence — from his in-laws’ house. Cousins added that he was interested in returning to the Redskins, although this came after news of the Alex Smith trade emerged. Nothing to that point indicated the parties were interested in working together any longer, particularly after two failed July negotiations.

Unable to reach any family members by phone, Cousins broke the news of his intentions to sign with the Vikings, pre-Minneapolis visit, to a AAA employee who’d expressed interest in his financial pursuits.

Being the leverage team in the Cousins talks led to the Jets trading up to No. 3 and moving into a spot that turned out to be high enough to draft Sam Darnold, a possible Day 1 starter. Darnold’s at least in position to be Gang Green’s quarterback longer than the now-30-year-old Cousins probably would have.

Finish Line In Sight For Rams, Aaron Donald?

August 28th, 2018 at 7:10pm CST by Sam Robinson

Sean McVay seems confident he’ll have his best player available soon, continuing the momentum that’s been building as August’s progressed.

Addressing the Aaron Donald situation, the second-year Rams HC said (via ESPN.com’s Lindsay Thiry, on Twitter), “We are very optimistic. Seriously, we are.” McVay said a lot has changed the past few days on this front and believes the finish line is finally in sight, per Vincent Bonsignore of The Athletic (on Twitter).

The Rams are prepared to finalize this deal soon, with the end of this week being a reasonable target date, Bonsignore tweets. He adds the drama no longer centers around the prospect of the Rams refusing to meet Donald’s demands. Instead, the suspense here will be this contract’s numbers and how far in front of other NFL defenders they will be.

As Khalil Mack‘s talks with the Raiders remain at a standstill, Donald steam’s picked up to the point he appears likely to be with the Rams when they face the Raiders in Week 1. He missed the first two games last season because of a holdout but still earned defensive player of the year acclaim. Nothing’s emerged indicating a Mack deal is imminent, but it’s possible the Donald saga concluding will help bridge the gap between the 2016 defensive player of the year and his team.

Steelers Restructure Vance McDonald’s Deal

August 28th, 2018 at 6:10pm CST by Sam Robinson

A franchise big on reworking contracts made another cap space-clearing move on Tuesday. The Steelers adjusted Vance McDonald‘s deal, Adam Schefter of ESPN.com tweets.

The Steelers tight end agreed to convert $3MM of his base salary into a signing bonus, Schefter reports. This move will free up more than $2MM in cap room. The Steelers came into Tuesday with $3.6MM in cap space — the second-lowest total in the league — and frequently utilize this tactic.

Both Vince Williams and Chris Boswell agreed to extensions last week, and Le’Veon Bell is attached to a $14.5MM salary this season. The Steelers restructured Stephon Tuitt and David DeCastro‘s deals earlier this year. They’ve been big on base-to-bonus conversions in recent years, with VP of football and business administration Omar Khan convincing ownership this strategy would benefit the team as the salary cap continues to rise by approximately $10MM annually.

McDonald is attached to a five-year, $32.5MM extension he signed with the 49ers in late 2016. The new San Francisco regime traded the tight end to Pittsburgh last year.

49ers Inquired About Tom Brady Trade

August 28th, 2018 at 5:52pm CST by Sam Robinson

Before being given the green light on a seminal Jimmy Garoppolo trade, John Lynch discussed the Patriots’ other prominent quarterback with Bill Belichick. It was not a long conversation.

The then-first-year 49ers GM did not receive the answer he wanted regarding a Garoppolo deal when he spoke will Belichick early in the 2017 offseason, and he said he then asked if the Patriots would trade Tom Brady.

“Yeah, we were calling about Jimmy and we did have that conversation and got quickly rebuffed,” Lynch said of the Brady trade inquiry during an appearance on Barstool Sports’ Pardon My Take podcast (via the San Francisco Chronicle). “I figured what the heck, you gotta take your shot right? You can’t score if you don’t shoot, so I had to summon up the courage. Bill laughed at me and basically hung up on me. But hey, I took my shot.”

Kyle Shanahan was told at the 2017 Combine Garoppolo wasn’t available, but at the trade deadline, he received a phone call from Belichick and quickly agreed to send the Patriots a second-rounder for the player who is now entrenched as the 49ers’ quarterback of the future. Shanahan had Kirk Cousins on his radar prior to that move.

Brady enters his 19th season with the Patriots and is set to start Week 1 for a 17th straight season. This figures to be an amusing footnote associated with Lynch’s GM legacy.

Alshon Jeffery To Return By Week 3?

August 28th, 2018 at 4:08pm CST by Sam Robinson

While it’s uncertain when Carson Wentz will be ready to return for the Eagles, his top wide receiver’s timetable is becoming clearer.

Alshon Jeffery is not expected to make it back by the time the defending Super Bowl champions begin their title-defense campaign, with Adam Schefter and Chris Mortensen of ESPN.com reporting (via Twitter) the seventh-year wideout is set to miss at least the first two games of the season. However, optimism exists around a Week 3 return for Jeffery, the duo adds.

Jeffery’s been shelved throughout the offseason because of shoulder surgery. He played last season with a torn rotator cuff. The Eagles plan to activate Jeffery from the PUP list this weekend, and it looks like he’ll avoid the Reserve/PUP list to start the regular season. A Reserve/PUP distinction would mean the Eagles would have to operate without their No. 1 wideout for the first six regular-season weeks.

Doug Pederson said Tuesday no Jeffery decision will be made until next week, per Jeff McLane of Philly.com (on Twitter), but it looks like the Eagles have a late-September Jeffery re-emergence tentatively scheduled. However, it’s not certain that will happen. Jeffery has not practiced in 2018.

Jeffery can return to practice once being activated from the PUP list, but Eagles doctors believe it’s best for Jeffery to miss at least the first two games of the season as he finishes up a recovery from February surgery, Schefter and Mortensen report. The 28-year-old target’s caught passes on a side practice field steadily, and Eagles medical personnel have advised team brass Jeffery’s “significant” progress should allow him to avoid the Reserve/PUP list, the ESPN duo adds.

The Eagles signed Jeffery to a four-year extension late last season. His Philadelphia debut (789 receiving yards, nine touchdowns) was not as successful as some of his top Bears seasons, but the 6-foot-3 pass-catcher still caught three playoff TDs and was a vital presence during the Nick Foles-led Super Bowl march. Philly returns Zach Ertz and Nelson Agholor as key receiving presences from its Super Bowl run and added Mike Wallace and Dallas Goedert to the mix. The Eagles added Markus Wheaton and Kamar Aiken as well, but neither is a lock to made the 53-man roster. They might pursue an outside upgrade via the trade market or waiver wire, Philly.com’s Zach Berman tweets.

Jeffery’s injury looks set to delay his 2018 debut, and it’s possible Wentz will be on the sideline with him when the Eagles host the Falcons to kick off this season.

Bell To Report To Steelers On Labor Day?

August 28th, 2018 at 3:52pm CST by Zachary Links

Le’Veon Bell has told some of his teammates that he will report to the Steelers on Labor Day, Gerry Dulac of the Post-Gazette hears. If Bell is in the building on Sept. 3, he’ll be able to participate in the team’s first day of practice before the season opener. 

Bell has abstained from training camp after receiving a second consecutive franchise tag which is worth $14.5MM this time around. Last year, Bell also held out from camp, but officially reported on Sept. 4.

It remains to be seen how the Steelers will use Bell in the season opener. Offensive coordinator Randy Fichtner could give Bell his typical workload, or he could start the year by splitting the carries between Bell and backup James Conner.

“That’s a hard question because it’s Le’Veon,” Fichtner said recently. “You’d like to think that he’ll be in good shape. But we’ll have to evaluate where he’s at — conditioning, health, things like that. Using him in the best way to help us win early will be the most important thing. There will be some things he can do that quite frankly most people who play his position can’t do. But that’s not anything against the running backs that have gone through training camp with us because they’ve done a heck of a job, including James.”

Despite his dissatisfaction with the team and his contract, it sounds like Bell will show up for work as scheduled. However, this may be his final season in black and yellow.

Browns Waive Kicker Ross Martin

August 28th, 2018 at 3:21pm CST by Zachary Links

The Browns’ kicking job appears to belong to Zane Gonzalez. On Tuesday, the Browns waived kicker Ross Martin, along with five others.

Gonzalez nailed a 54-yard field goal in Thursday night’s preseason win over the Eagles, and that may have given him the leg up. Despite some misses in Sunday’s practice, Gonzalez edged out Martin.

“Obviously, Gonzo kicked a 54-yarder” coach Hue Jackson said this week (via Nate Ulrich of the Beacon Journal). “That was huge. Today, he missed a couple. We will go back and watch the tape. I still think that he is in the lead.”

In addition to Martin, wide receiver Evan Berry, defensive lineman Marcell Frazier, and offensive linemen Kevin Bowen and Geoff Gray. The Browns also released tight end Julian Allen from injured reserve.

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