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Month: September 2024

This Date In Transactions History: Broncos Sign Jerry Rice

May 24th, 2019 at 1:51pm CST by Zachary Links

Jerry Rice is best remembered for his remarkable 16-year career with the Niners, in which he earned a dozen Pro Bowl nods and ten First-Team All-Pro selections. After that, Rice had some less remarkable – but still productive – seasons with the Raiders. His final NFL games were spent in a Seahawks uniform, but that wasn’t the original plan. On this date in 2005, Rice signed a one-year contract with the Broncos. 

“For so many years there was so much pressure on me,” Rice told Denver beat reporters on a conference call after signing his deal (via The Associated Press). “I had to set a certain standard and I still carry on that standard. But I had a lot of weight on my shoulders. I had blinders on. I couldn’t hear the crowd. I couldn’t hear them chanting my name and I couldn’t see little kids in the stands. I was so focused on what I had to do. The last couple of years, though, he has been more of a role player. The ball was not coming my way every down and I’m really enjoying the game and having fun.”

Rice was 42 years old at the time, meaning that his plans to continue playing were ambitious, even by Jon Gruden‘s standards today. In 2004, the legendary receiver totaled just 30 catches for 429 yards and three touchdowns. Even though he still averaged an impressive 14.3 yards per reception, he was no longer the player that he once was, and Denver head coach Mike Shanahan did not guarantee his place on the roster.

“I told Jerry that I don’t know if he’s lost a step or two steps, but you’re going to come here for one reason and that’s to compete with the other guys,” Shanahan said. “And if you’re one of our top five guys at the end of camp, then you’re going to be on our football team. If you’re not, I said I’d have one of the toughest jobs in the world.”

As the season drew near, Rice realized that he would be no higher than fourth or fifth on the Broncos’ depth chart. After serving as a role player in ’04, Rice decided in September that he would rather retire than be a role player in Denver.

The receiver left the game with remarkable league-record totals of 1,549 catches for 22,895 yards and 197 touchdowns – numbers that are in no danger of being eclipsed anytime soon, unless Larry Fitzgerald changes course and decides to play into his 40s.

So, Rice’s run with the Broncos never came to pass, but if you happen to have his replica orange-and-blue jersey hanging in your closet, you can probably fetch a nice price for it on eBay.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

East Notes: Jets, Gase, Bills, Eagles

May 24th, 2019 at 11:38am CST by Zachary Links

It has been widely reported that Adam Gase forced Mike Maccagnan out of the Jets’ front office, but the head coach/interim GM denied those accusations in a press conference on Thursday.

“Me and Mike had disagreements on a few things. There was no personal rift,” Gase said (Twitter link via Darryl Slater of NJ.com).

Gase claims that team CEO Christopher Johnson called and told him Maccagnan was gone, and did not ask Gase for input on the decision (Twitter link). Whether or not that’s really the case, we know that Gase will have input in the hiring of the team’s next GM.

Here’s more from the East divisions:

Browns Wrap Draft Class

May 24th, 2019 at 10:57am CST by Zachary Links

The Browns’ draft class is in the books. On Friday, the Browns inked third-round linebacker Sione Takitaki, which means that all of the following players are officially in the fold:

Last year, Takitaki led BYU with 118 tackles, but many teams had him low on the board due to his past off-the-field troubles. Takitaki got into a dorm fight in his freshman year, allegedly stole property on campus as a sophomore, and spent time away from the program in 2016 due to academic issues.

In spite of those red flags, the Browns are excited about Takitaki’s potential.

“Takitaki is a tough son of a gun,” Browns director of college scouting Steve Malin said during the draft. “I’m excited about having Takitaki because of his physical presence and what he brings to this organization. Obviously, there is a lot of exposure that all of us in the personnel department got on all these players.”

Adam Jones Retires From NFL

May 24th, 2019 at 10:51am CST by Zachary Links

This is the end of the line for Pacman. On Friday, cornerback Adam Jones took to social media to announce his retirement from football. 

Jones, 35, hooked on with the Broncos late in the 2018 preseason. At the time, the Broncos saw him as a strong No. 4 cornerback and punt returner, but he didn’t quite live up to expectations. After seven games and ten punt returns for just 25 yards in total, the Broncos released him in November. Jones was not on the NFL radar after that, so his retirement does not come as a shock.

Jones legacy may be clouded by his string of off-the-field incidents, but he was a force while on the field in his prime. After being selected with the No. 6 overall pick in the 2005 draft by the Titans, Jones made some head-turning plays, including three punt return touchdowns in his sophomore year.

Years after being ID’d as a suspect in the now-infamous Atlanta shooting incident, Jones found his second wind with the Bengals. Jones spent eight years in the Bengals’ secondary and put together three straight seasons with three interceptions in each. In 2014, Jones earned his first ever First-Team All-Pro nod and received a Pro Bowl selection in 2015.

Jones leaves the game after 12 NFL seasons (he was out of football for the ’07 and ’09 campaigns), 146 games played, and nearly $40MM in career earnings.

Gerald McCoy Draws $11MM/Year Offer

May 24th, 2019 at 9:41am CST by Zachary Links

Gerald McCoy has drawn offers as high as $11MM per season, according to Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times (on Twitter). Furthermore, Stroud hears that McCoy has garnered interest from ten teams since his release from Tampa. 

So far, McCoy has been connected to the Browns, Ravens, Falcons, Saints, Colts, Bengals, and Panthers. The Patriots were also said to have interest in the defensive tackle, but on Thursday night we learned that they are no longer in the mix.

It’s unlikely that McCoy will be able to match his previous $13MM/year salary, but he might get something close to that from one of these clubs. Of course, in some of these cases, negotiating will be a bit like trying to extract blood from a stone since clubs like the Falcons and Saints have little in the way of available cap space.

First up for McCoy is a Friday visit with the Browns.

Latest On CBA Negotiations

May 23rd, 2019 at 9:43pm CST by Dallas Robinson

The tone around the NFL and NFLPA’s collective bargaining agreement negotiations has been “amicable” enough that the possibility of a lockout may have decreased, according to Ian Rapoport of NFL.com.

The likeliest scenario seems to envision the league and the union hammering out a new CBA after the 2019 season concludes. While there is a chance a new deal could come together in advance of the 2019 campaign, talks would need to “ramp up considerably” for such a timeline to be met, per Rapoport.

Discussions between the two parties have been described as “cordial”, and previous reports have echoed those sentiments. As RapSheet notes, multiple factors could have led to a thawing in negotiations. Not only has the national anthem issue been (for the most part) resolved, but the NFL’s rising salary cap means both owners and players are earning a fair bit of cash.

Of course, issues still exist in the ongoing deliberations, but there aren’t any questions that figure to “blow up” the talks, per Rapoport. Among the topics that could still be discussed? A DirecTV contract that expires after the 2019 season and stadium credits (money used for stadium improvements that isn’t counted when calculating the NFL’s salary cap).

NFC North Notes: Vikings, Lions, Bears

May 23rd, 2019 at 8:55pm CST by Dallas Robinson

Tight end Kyle Rudolph confirmed that he’s attempting to negotiate a new deal withe Vikings, but also said he’s been told there are “plenty of other teams” that would have interest in acquiring him, as Courtney Cronin of ESPN.com writes. Rudolph, who is scheduled to earn $7.275MM in the final year of his contract, has already stated he won’t accept a pay cut. Minnesota has the second-least cap space in the NFL, and also drafted tight end Irv Smith Jr. in the second round of last month’s draft.

Here’s more from the NFC North:

  • Graham Glasgow could be on the move again. The Lions deployed Glasgow — who played center on nearly every offensive snap in 2018 — at right guard at organized team activities, according to Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press. Glasgow’s position change will allow Detroit to move 2018 first-round pick Frank Ragnow from left guard to center, his more natural position. Glasgow, for his part, split time between left guard and center in both 2017 and 2017 before moving to center full-time last season.
  • The Bears are listing former offensive tackle Bradley Sowell as a tight end, per Adam Jahns of The Athletic (Twitter link). as Brad Biggs of the Chicago Tribune notes (via Twitter), Chicago doesn’t necessarily have an in-line tight end on its roster, and Sowell played that role in 2018. Per Pro Football Focus, Sowell lined up as an tight end for 30 snaps last season, and spent another eight plays in the backfield. Memorably, Sowell caught a touchdown pass on a trick play against the Rams in December.
  • Former AAF quarterback Luis Perez recently worked out for the Lions, tweets Adam Caplan of SiriusXM NFL Radio. Perez, who signed with the Rams after going undrafted in 2018 and just spent a month on the Eagles’ roster, tossed five touchdowns against six interceptions for the AAF’s Birmingham Iron. Detroit currently has Tom Savage and Connor Cook behind starter Matthew Stafford.

Latest On Jets’ GM Search Process

May 23rd, 2019 at 8:21pm CST by Dallas Robinson

The Jets’ search for a new general manager will likely ramp up after the upcoming holiday weekend, as Charles Robinson of Yahoo Sports indicates in a series of tweets. As the process unfolds, key questions could involve the potential return of Jets owner Woody Johnson (currently serving as a U.S. Ambassador to the United Kingdom) and the willingness of head coach Adam Gase to surrender control of the 53-man roster, per Robinson.

Johnson’s brother Christopher is currently running the Jets and made the decision to fire ex-GM Mike Maccagnan and install Gase in an acting personnel capacity. But prospective GM candidates are, perhaps rightly, concerned at the prospect of Woody Johnson returning to helm the franchise in the near future.

Eagles executive Joe Douglas is still Gase’s top choice for general manager, according to Robinson, but he’d probably be the No. 1 option for any number of GM openings. Douglas is expected to be choosy when it comes to his next opportunity, and Robinson invokes Colts GM Chris Ballard — who was picky before ending up in Indianapolis — as a comparison.

There are reportedly a number of candidates whom Gase would accept as GM, per Robinson, including the 49ers’ Adam Peters, the Bears’ Champ Kelly, and the Lions’ Lance Newmark. Additionally, Jets ownership is believed to “think highly” of Vikings exec George Paton. None of those names have been officially linked to the New York job as of yet.

Latest On Bengals WR Tyler Boyd

May 23rd, 2019 at 7:47pm CST by Dallas Robinson

Bengals wide receivers A.J. Green and Tyler Boyd are both entering contract years, and Cincinnati has expressed an interest in the pair of pass-catchers. Boyd, for his part, doesn’t plan to hold out in an attempt to get a new deal, as he explained to Paul Dehner Jr. of The Athletic.

“I’m just trying to do what’s right,” Boyd said. “I’m going to be a team player and go out there and work my tail off. I’m not going to try to skip out on reps or miss a day. That’s the best approach to it. Typically, a guy trying to come out to a season saying, ‘you have to pay me,’ it shows where the care is going.”

Boyd, the Bengals’ second-round pick in 2016, posted a breakout season in 2018 with career-highs in receptions (76), yards (1,028), and touchdowns (seven). He did all that while playing in only 14 games, as a late-season MCL sprain knocked him out for the year’s final two contests. Under new head coach Zac Taylor, Boyd will start in two-wide sets and move to the slot in three-wide receiver looks. He played 552 of his 773 offensive snaps in the slot in 2018.

“I definitely look at the market and see where guys is at,” said Boyd. “A great example is Sterling Shepard. I feel like our game is kind of similar, kind of close. He got four for $40MM. I kind of feel like I’m in that area. Hopefully, they come like that or a little bit more or around that way.”

If Boyd is willing to accept Shepard’s contract — which was actually for $41MM and contained $16.2MM in guarantees — the Bengals should probably work to close the deal. Boyd topped Shepard in every offensive category and finished higher than the Giants wideout in both Pro Football Focus‘ positional grades and Football Outsiders’ receiving metrics.

Patriots Out On Gerald McCoy?

May 23rd, 2019 at 6:46pm CST by Dallas Robinson

Although the Patriots had been previously mentioned as a possible suitor for Gerald McCoy, New England is not currently in the mix for the free agent defensive tackle, according to Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com. Additionally, the Browns are not considered the frontrunners to land McCoy, per Cabot.

Roughly a quarter of the NFL has reportedly expressed interest in McCoy since he was released by the Buccaneers earlier this week. The Browns, Ravens, Falcons, Saints, Colts, Bengals, and Panthers have all at least considered reaching out to the veteran interior defender, but the only team known to have actually scheduled a visit with McCoy is the Browns.

McCoy was under contract for $13MM in Tampa Bay, and it still seems unlikely he’ll be able to match that total on the open market. (If a team had been willing to pay that salary, the Buccaneers likely could have found a trade partner). But given the level of interest in him, McCoy could push for a lucrative one-year pact. For reference, fellow defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh, who just replaced McCoy in Tampa Bay, landed one year and $9.25MM.

McCoy, 31, ranked fourth among defensive tackles with 21 quarterback hits in 2018 and finished as the NFL’s No. 28 interior defender, per Pro Football Focus.

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