HEADLINES

Month: November 2024

Ravens To Trade Joe Flacco To Broncos

February 13th, 2019 at 10:11am CST by Zachary Links

The Joe Flacco era is effectively over in Baltimore. The Ravens agreed to trade the quarterback to the Broncos, according to ESPN.com’s Adam Schefter (on Twitter). The Ravens will receive a fourth-round pick in return, Albert Breer of The MMQB tweets. Denver will send the selection it acquired in the Demaryius Thomas trade (No. 23 in the round) to Baltimore.

Technically, the trade cannot be processed until the new league year begins on Wednesday, March 13, but the two sides have a deal in principle. The Ravens will absorb a $16MM dead money hit from the trade and, as expected, move forward with Lamar Jackson as their top QB. Meanwhile, they’ll save roughly $10MM against the cap in 2019, enabling them to strengthen the rest of the offense by landing a playmaker or two in free agency.

The Broncos have yet to speak with Flacco about his contract, but they do not anticipate any issues if they keep his salary of $18.5MM unchanged for 2019, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com hears (on Twitter). Effectively, he’d move forward under a prove-it deal that the Broncos can either move on from in 2020 or re-work.

New Broncos head coach Vic Fangio spent a season in Baltimore, so he has some familiarity with the 34-year-old. Former Broncos executive Gary Kubiak was also a champion of Flacco, which may have influenced GM John Elway‘s decision to trade for him.

The Broncos signed Case Keenum to a lucrative contract last offseason, but the arrival of Flacco could put him out of work. Keenum has one year to go on his two-year, $36MM pact, but the Broncos can shed the deal if they are willing to take a $10MM dead money hit.

Flacco was overshadowed by Jackson last season, but he still more-than-serviceable in his nine games. The veteran signal-caller completed 61.2% of his passes for 2,465 yards, 12 touchdowns, and six interceptions. Coach John Harbaugh was also very complimentary of his skills.

“Joe Flacco is going to play really well in this league. Joe can still play — I think we saw that the first half of the season,” Harbaugh said in January. “Joe’s going to have a market. There’s going to be a lot of teams that are going to want Joe because they understand that. I’ll be in Joe’s corner wherever he’s at. He’s special. Joe Flacco is a great talent; he’s an even better person. He’s the best QB in the history of the Ravens without question…He’s going to do just fine.”

The Flacco deal will have ramifications elsewhere as one QB-needy team is no longer in the Nick Foles sweepstakes. The Giants, Dolphins, Jaguars, Redskins, and the incumbent Eagles all figure to kick the tires on Foles, but the Broncos are almost certainly out of the picture.

Bengals Zeroing In On Todd Grantham

February 13th, 2019 at 9:17am CST by Zachary Links

The Bengals have narrowed their defensive coordinator search to focus on University of Florida DC Todd Grantham, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets. Grantham returned to meet with the Bengals on Wednesday morning, but they still have their work cut out for them as they try to lure him away from UF, Rapoport reports. 

Grantham reportedly made $1.4MM last year with the Gators, so the Bengals will have to come with a competitive offer to lure him away from one of the nation’s top college programs. Still, the Bengals job clearly holds appeal for Grantham. With Cincinnati, Grantham can return to the NFL with a step up from his previous defensive line coach duties. He’ll also have a great degree of control over the defensive as new head coach Zac Taylor will be focused on the offense.

Over the last week or so, the Bengals have also looked into Rams cornerbacks coach Aubrey Pleasant, former Falcons defensive coordinator Marquand Manuel, Texas A&M DC Mike Elko, and Saints defensive backs coach Aaron Glenn for the role. Prior to that, the Bengals seemed close on deals with established vets Dom Capers and Jack Del Rio.

 

Details On Kareem Hunt’s Deal With Browns

February 13th, 2019 at 9:03am CST by Zachary Links

Kareem Hunt‘s one-year deal with the Browns includes a base salary of $645K, a $25K per-game roster bonus for each game that he is active, and a $55K offseason workout bonus, Field Yates of ESPN.com tweets. It’s not exactly a top of the market deal for a running back, but it’s actually a better deal that the one Hunt had with the Chiefs prior to his release. 

Hunt will be able to earn $420K more from the Browns on a new contract than he would under his his old contract, had he been claimed, as Jason Fitzgerald of Over The Cap notes (on Twitter). There’s also upside for next year – Hunt will have the ability to earn more as a restricted free agent in 2020 than he would have as a fourth-year rookie.

The Browns’ decision to sign Hunt has stirred up some controversy and the details of his new deal won’t help ease the criticism. Recently, GM John Dorsey admitted the Browns’ investigation into Hunt’s past did not include speaking with the victim of his hotel assault, which didn’t help matters.

“I talked to a lot of people (but) I didn’t get a chance to talk to that victim,” Dorsey said, via Mary Kay Cabot of cleveland.com. “That’s probably part of her privacy stuff.”

Hunt won the 2017 rushing title with 1,327 yards on the ground. Prior to his Kansas City departure last year, he compiled 1,202 yards from scrimmage and scored 14 total touchdowns in eleven games.

Patriots Re-Sign Brian Schwenke

February 13th, 2019 at 8:40am CST by Zachary Links

The Patriots have re-signed center/guard Brian Schwenke, according to Field Yates of ESPN.com (on Twitter). The new one-year deal will pay $895K and should keep him with the defending champs in 2019. 

Schwenke, 28 in March, spent his entire career with the Titans until he hooked on with the Pats last summer. His first season in New England, unfortunately, did not go as planned. Schwenke was active for just three games and played in just four offensive snaps before a foot injury landed him on IR in November.

Before signing with the Pats as a free agent, Schwenke appeared in 60 games for the Titans with 30 starts. He’s no longer an NFL starter, but the new deal will give him an opportunity to support interior starters Joe Thuney, David Andrews, and Shaq Mason.

Given Schwenke’s injury history and the timing of the deal, it’s unlikely that there’s much in the way of guarantees. He’ll have to prove his health over the next several months in order to secure his spot on the Patriots for Week 1.

NFC Notes: Clark, Tate, Rosen, Alexander

February 12th, 2019 at 9:33pm CST by Rory Parks

The Seahawks started talking contract with star defensive end and free agent-to-be Frank Clark last month, and Bob Condotta of the Seattle Times says the Seahawks will not let Clark get away. If the two sides cannot work out a long-term deal in the next couple of weeks, Seattle will put the franchise tag — valued at roughly $18MM for defensive ends — on the 25-year-old. That will at least buy them until July to come to terms on a multiyear pact, which could have a total value of up to $90MM. Clark, though, appears perfectly willing to play out the 2019 campaign on the one-year franchise tender, which would make him eligible for free agency again next year.

Let’s round up a few more items from the NFC:

  • It does not appear that the Eagles will re-sign Golden Tate before free agency opens next month, Josh Alper of Pro Football Talk opines. Alper does not cite a source, but a recent tweet from Tate himself and executive vice president of football operations Howie Roseman‘s silence on the matter suggest that Tate will be looking for a new home soon. Tate has indicated he would like to be back in Philly, but given the Eagles’ tight salary cap situation, that could be a tall order, especially if Tate is still seeking a Jarvis Landry-type deal.
  • Cardinals head coach Kliff Kingsbury continues to dismiss the speculation connecting Kyler Murray to Arizona. Many pundits believe Murray would thrive in Kingsbury’s offense, but Kingsbury insists that the team is committed to last year’s first-round pick, Josh Rosen (Twitter link via Darren Urban of AZCardinals.com). Kent Somers of the Arizona Republic tweets that team president Michael Bidwill is also adamant that his club will not pursue Murray (at least not with the No. 1 overall pick).
  • Budda Baker has functioned as the Cardinals‘ slot corner, but new DC Vance Joseph said that Baker will be moved back to his natural safety position in 2019 (Twitter link via Mike Jurecki of AZCardinals.com).
  • Despite the torn ACL that ended Kwon Alexander‘s season in October, Jenna Laine of ESPN.com believes Alexander will cash in, though it may not be with the Buccaneers. Laine says that Tampa Bay was not willing to pay $10MM per year for Alexander even before the ACL tear, though she believes that other teams will be happy to hit that figure. Given that Alexander appears to be progressing well in his recovery, Laine thinks his market will be robust (Twitter links).

Packers’ Cole Madison May Not Return To NFL

February 12th, 2019 at 8:36pm CST by Rory Parks

The Packers drafted Washington State guard Cole Madison in the fifth-round of the 2018 draft, but he stayed away from the team after mandatory minicamp in mid-June and was placed on the reserve/did not report list at the start of training camp. The last report we heard on the matter came in August, when GM Brian Gutekunst indicated that Madison was dealing with a personal issue but that he was expected to eventually contribute to the team.

Michael Cohen of The Athletic has now provided some answers, but they are not pleasant. Cohen reports that Madison has been deeply affected by the death of former Washington State quarterback Tyler Hilinski, who committed suicide two weeks after playing in the 2018 Holiday Bowl. Madison and Hilinski were close friends, and a source close to Madison said, “[t]he death of Tyler is in his head. I don’t think he’s coming back. At least he’s not showing signs of it right now.”

At the 2019 Senior Bowl last month, Gutekunst neither confirmed nor denied that Hilinski’s death was the source of Madison’s decision to step away from football. Like all other members of Green Bay brass that have been contacted about the matter, he simply said that Madison is dealing with a personal issue and that the team supports him.

Madison was reportedly in good spirits during the draft and all the way through minicamp, but something changed during the interlude between minicamp and training camp. Cohen suggests that Madison’s mindset may have changed when he learned that Hilinski had been suffering from CTE, which was reported in late June.

Green Bay had hoped that Madison could contribute right away and believe he has the potential to be a starting guard. The Packers will not receive a compensatory draft pick if Madison retires or never plays for them. They have paid out a $324K signing bonus — the only guaranteed money in Madison’s standard four-year, $2.78MM rookie contract — and they have made no effort to recoup that bonus at this point.

The Packers could use some help on their O-line, but they will not press the issue. Gutekunst said of Madison’s potential return, “If that happens, it’s great. And if it doesn’t, it doesn’t.”

Chiefs DB Coach Emmitt Thomas Retires

February 12th, 2019 at 7:30pm CST by Rory Parks

We normally don’t devote full-length posts to position coaches here at PFR, but there is an exception to every rule. The Chiefs have announced that Emmitt Thomas, who worked as an NFL coach for 38 seasons after a Hall-of-Fame career as a player, is retiring.

Thomas will end his football career in the same place it started. He joined the Chiefs in 1966 as an undrafted free agent and parlayed those nondescript beginnings into a 13-year playing career in which he tallied 58 interceptions as Kansas City’s star cornerback. He was an integral part of the club’s only Super Bowl championship, and those 58 picks remain a franchise record (and is the 12th-highest all-time mark). He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2008.

He began his NFL coaching career in 1981 as an assistant with the then-St.Louis Cardinals, and he won two more Super Bowl rings as a position coach with the Redskins from 1986-94. He also served as a defensive coordinator for the Packers, Vikings, and Falcons, and he got a brief shot as a head coach (on an interim basis) when Bobby Petrino abandoned the Falcons near the end of the 2007 season.

Thomas joined the Chiefs as defensive backs coach in 2010 and remained in that post through the 2018 campaign. His full remarks, as well as statements from Chiefs chairman and CEO Clark Hunt and head coach Andy Reid, can be found here.

We here at PFR congratulate Thomas on a remarkable career as a player and coach at the game’s highest level and wish him the best in retirement.

Steelers Unlikely To Get First-Round Pick For Antonio Brown?

February 12th, 2019 at 7:02pm CST by Rory Parks

Steelers star wideout Antonio Brown tweeted a farewell to Pittsburgh fans today, which once again worked the football world into a frenzy. Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network, though, says that outside of the tweet, there have been no major developments in this saga (video link). Indeed, a report earlier this month indicated that Brown had reiterated his prior trade demand, and the substance of that report remains valid. Brown’s camp has not gone back to the Steelers to yet again reaffirm his desire for a fresh start, and the Steelers have still not given Brown and his agent, Drew Rosenhaus, permission to seek a trade on their own.

But Brown’s goodbye certainly seems to suggest that there is no going back now, and that Pittsburgh will end up trading him and giving him the fresh start he is seeking (although Rapoport is clear that the Steelers continue to hold all the cards and do not have to cede to Brown’s demands). But assuming the Steelers do end up moving him, what can they expect in return?

The team understandably wants to net at least a first-round draft pick in any Brown trade, but in a separate interview, Rapoport suggests that a second-round pick may be more plausible (video link). After all, the acquiring team would probably need to give Brown a new contract, which will surely be an expensive proposition, and his alleged involvement in a domestic dispute — not to mention the fact that he does not look like a positive clubhouse presence at the moment — could impact the Steelers’ return.

Jeremy Fowler of ESPN.com, who describes Brown’s deteriorating relationship with the Steelers in excellent detail, also said Pittsburgh may have to settle for a second- or third-round selection (or even a fourth-rounder, depending on the results of the league’s investigation into the domestic dispute).

Veteran NFL reporter Ed Werder believes the Steelers — assuming they have comparable offers from multiple clubs on the table — will deal Brown to the team that he is least likely to succeed with and that cannot hurt the Steelers, which would be reminiscent of what the Packers did when they traded Brett Favre to the Jets (Twitter link). At the very least, Pittsburgh wants to ship Brown to the NFC, and NBC Sports Bay Area’s Matt Maiocco says that the 49ers — who are apparently Brown’s preferred destination — have internally discussed the idea of acquiring him.

But Gerry Dulac of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette suggests (via Twitter) that Brown has not done himself any favors by saying he wants a new deal if traded. As indicated above, his contract demands could scare some teams away, as part of the appeal in trading for Brown is his cap-friendly deal.

One way or another, we should have a resolution by March 17, when Brown is due a $2.5MM roster bonus. If he is still on the Steelers’ roster on March 18, then he is likely to still be on it come Week 1.

Raiders Increasingly Likely To Play 2019 Season In Oakland

February 12th, 2019 at 6:00pm CST by Rory Parks

There has been a great deal of chatter in recent weeks as to where the Raiders will play next season, but it looks increasingly likely that they will remain in Oakland for one more year. The Raiders had previously agreed to pay $7.5MM in rent to the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum to play their 2019 homes games at the Coliseum, but they began looking for alternate sites when the city of Oakland filed a federal antitrust lawsuit against the NFL.

However, we heard just last week that the Coliseum is willing to honor the prior agreement, and today, Michael Gehlken of the Las Vegas Review-Journal reports that the two sides have engaged in productive talks. Scott McKibben, executive director of the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum Authority, said, “I will confirm that we, late last week, started sitting down and talking with the Raiders about the potential of a 2019 season deal. In my view, the discussions have been meaningful and productive.”

Ian Rapoport of NFL.com confirms (on Twitter) that the Raiders do appear to be focused on playing the 2019 season in Oakland, and he says the club must make every attempt to work out a deal with the Coliseum before moving on to other options. Nonetheless, a report from NBC Sports Bay Area’s Alex Pavlovic last week indicated that, while the 49ers have thus far refused to give up their territorial rights to allow the Raiders play in San Francisco’s Oracle Park — home of Major League Baseball’s San Francisco Giants — it is believed that the NFL will be the party making the final call in that regard. As such, there is still an outside chance that Oracle Park could be hosting Raiders games next season.

And other cities want in on the action as well. In an odd bit of news, NBC Sports Bay Area’s Dalton Johnson reports that Birmingham, Alabama, and Tucson, Arizona are trying to team up to share the Raiders next season. Birmingham city councilor William Parker said, “[t]he fans in Alabama love football. Obviously, the people in San Francisco and Oakland don’t want them and there’s a fan base here for the Raiders.”

Parker’s city, though, looks like it may have to content itself with the AAF’s Birmingham Iron for the time being, as it currently appears that the Raiders will have one last hurrah in Oakland before heading to Las Vegas in 2020.

Lions Willing To Draft QB In First Round?

February 12th, 2019 at 5:26pm CST by Rory Parks

Matthew Stafford was not particularly good in 2018, as he threw for fewer than 4,000 yards for the first time since an injury-shortened 2010 campaign, and he tossed just 21 TDs against 11 interceptions. His pedestrian numbers, when coupled with the Lions’ disappointing 2018 season, have led to plenty of speculation that Detroit could be looking for a new QB sooner rather than later.

As we detailed in late December, Stafford’s contract situation makes cutting or trading him this offseason a dubious proposition at best. But he did just turn 31, and while he has put together some nice statistical seasons, he has not guided his team to a single playoff win in his 10 seasons under center. The blame for the Lions’ playoff shortcomings by no means falls squarely on Stafford’s shoulders, but as a quarterback with a $135MM contract to his name, he is subject to some scrutiny.

The odds are that the Lions will retain Stafford for at least one more season, especially now that they have a new offensive coordinator in Darrell Bevell. But GM Bob Quinn said yesterday that he is open to drafting a quarterback with the No. 8 overall selection in this year’s draft, even if Stafford will almost certainly be on the roster at that point (via Michael Rothstein of ESPN.com).

Quinn said, “We’ll consider any position in the draft at any point in time, whether it’s the eighth overall pick or we have multiple picks later in the draft. We’re in a position now with the eighth overall pick that the whole draft board is really wide open to us. We’re not going to really eliminate any prospects.”

Of course, no general manager is going to explicitly rule out a position or player in advance of the draft and needlessly give away a competitive advantage, no matter how slight. On the other hand, it is interesting that Quinn’s statement comes just a few weeks after Quinn said Stafford was, and would continue to be, the Lions’ quarterback.

Although this year’s class of rookie QBs is considered to be weak relative to the 2018 group, it did get an injection of intriguing talent yesterday, when Heisman Trophy winner Kyler Murray announced his intention to pursue an NFL career. Ohio State’s Dwayne Haskins is viewed as 2019’s other top collegiate signal-caller, and either player could be available when the Lions are on the clock in the first round. Haskins and Murray have decidedly different styles than Stafford, but both would benefit from his tutelage and from serving as his backup in 2019.

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