HEADLINES

Month: November 2024

Patriots’ Jared Veldheer Retires From NFL

May 21st, 2019 at 11:22am CST by Zachary Links

Jared Veldheer signed with the Patriots just two weeks ago, but he’s had a change of heart. On Tuesday, the veteran offensive tackle informed the club that he plans to retire (Twitter link via ESPN.com’s Mike Reiss). 

Veldheer was set to play out the 2019 season on a one-year, $3.5MM deal with a maximum value of $6.5MM. That’s significant money to leave on the table, so it’s possible that he is retiring for health reasons.

Veldheer started 12 games in Denver last season and graded as Pro Football Focus’ No. 58-rated tackle. The veteran, 32 in June, profiled a swing option for the Patriots. Instead, he’ll leave the game after nine seasons with the Raiders, Cardinals, and Broncos.

Meanwhile, the Patriots are expected to scour the offensive line market once again for front five depth.

Bills TE Tyler Kroft Suffers Broken Foot

May 21st, 2019 at 10:24am CST by Zachary Links

Bills tight end Tyler Kroft suffered a broken foot during OTAs on Monday, coach Sean McDermott told reporters (Twitter link via Vic Carucci of SiriusXM). The Bills inked Kroft to a three-year deal in March with plans to use him as a starter right off of the bat. Kroft’s timeframe for recovery is 3-4 months, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (on Twitter) hears, which puts him right up against the start of the season and raises the possibility of beginning the season on the PUP list.

Kroft, 27 in October, injured the same foot early last year and wound up missing the rest of the season with the Bengals. The Bills are hoping he’ll bounce back quickly and provide production similar to his 42/404/7 line in 2017.

If Kroft misses time, the Bills will be left with a tight end group consisting of blocking specialist Lee Smith and rookies Moral Stephens and Tommy Sweeney. Meanwhile, veteran Jermaine Gresham stands as the best remaining free agent tight end.

Patriots, Julian Edelman Agree To Extension

May 21st, 2019 at 9:43am CST by Zachary Links

Julian Edelman has agreed to a two-year extension with the Patriots, according to Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (on Twitter). The new pact will potentially take the wide receiver through the end of his career and allow him to retire in New England. It also comes with a pay bump – Edelman will receive $18MM in new money over the course of the two-year add on, giving him $21MM throughout his remaining three years, according to Tom Curran of NBC Sports Boston.

The deal comes with $8MM signing bonus and $12MM guaranteed, Mike Reiss of ESPN.com (on Twitter) hears. All in all, Edelman will earn an average annual value of $7MM, which is a solid bargain for the Patriots. Even when calculating his extension via the “new money” average, Edelman’s $9MM puts him outside of the league’s top 20 highest-paid receivers.

Edelman, who turns 33 on Wednesday, had another productive season in 2018. After missing the first four games of the season due to a ban for PEDs, the veteran amassed 74 catches for 850 yards and six touchdowns. Had he produced at the same rate over the course of a full 16-game season, Edelman would have registered something close to a 93/1063/8 stat line, which is not far off from his best single season performances.

Edelman has spent his entire career with the Patriots since entering the league as a seventh-round pick (No. 232 overall) in 2009. He was quietly productive in his rookie season, but he truly broke out in 2013 with 105 grabs for 1,056 yards and six TDs. Over the years, Edelman has captured three Super Bowl rings with New England, including February’s 13-3 win over the Rams in which he took SB MVP honors.

Edelman’s career seemed to be in doubt just a couple of years ago – the wide receiver lost the entire 2017 season to a torn ACL and had to sit out the first month of the ’18 season due to his suspension. However, he came back strong and he now has a deal that should allow him to retire with the only NFL franchise he’s ever known.

AFC East Rumors: Jets, Manning, Dolphins

May 21st, 2019 at 9:38am CST by Zachary Links

The Jets reportedly want to hire Peyton Manning as their next GM, but it doesn’t sound like the retired quarterback is interested in the job. The latest word on that front comes from Ralph Vacchiano of SNY, who hears from a source close to Manning that the notion of him becoming the Jets’ GM is “unrealistic” and being an NFL GM is “not a job he seems to want.”

Even though the 43-year-old doesn’t have any official front office experience, this isn’t the first time that he has been connected to a top job. In 2017, it was said that Browns owner Jimmy Haslam had interest in hiring Manning to a prominent executive role. He’s also indicated in the past that he would be open to such opportunities.

“I like to listen in on any number of potential chapter two opportunities in my life,” Manning said in July of 2018. “I talked to some TV people and teams on the football side of it. I like listening, and it seems like people are reporting when I’m doing it.”

Meanwhile, there’s conflicting word on whether the Jets have Manning on their radar for the GM job in the first place. Ultimately, it seems unlikely that Manning will be tapped to replace Mike Maccagnan and be the man to remove the interim GM tag from Adam Gase‘s title.

Here’s more from the AFC East:

  • Gase says that he only wants to focus on being the Jets‘ head coach, but he fired Jets scout Bill Dekraker on Tuesday and told those around him that he wants to streamline the scouting department, Manish Mehta of the Daily News (on Twitter) hears.
  • The cap hits on cornerback Xavien Howard’s new six-year, $76.5MM deal are as follows (via Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald): $10.3MM this season, $13.3MM, $13.5MM, $14.4MM, $13.4MM, and $12.2MM. With his new deal, Howard is the only Dolphin under contract past 2022. But, even with that deal, the Dolphins are still in line to have more than $105MM in cap space next offseason.
  • Danny Shelton‘s deal with the Patriots is for one-year with a signing bonus of $75K, a base salary of $805K and bonuses/incentives worth up to $150K (Twitter link via Field Yates of ESPN.com). All in all, Shelton will carry a modest cap charge of just over $1MM.

Bills To Sign Jerry Hughes To Extension

May 21st, 2019 at 9:07am CST by Zachary Links

The Bills have agreed to sign defensive end Jerry Hughes to a two-year extension worth up to $23MM, according to Adam Schefter of ESPN.com (on Twitter). Of that sum, the deal includes a healthy $19.5MM guaranteed. 

Hughes disappointed in the early part of his career, but he has been solid for the Bills ever since coming over in a 2013 trade. The defensive end has not missed a single contest for Buffalo and has 47 sacks to his credit over the last six years. Last year, Hughes recorded seven sacks, a showing topped only by the ten sacks he put up in 2013 and 2014.

The Rams made a push to acquire Hughes before the trade deadline last year, but a deal could not be reached. Instead, the Rams pivoted towards Dante Fowler as a backup plan and Hughes finished out the year with Buffalo, where he impressed with seven sacks and three forced fumbles.

Prior to the extension, the former first-round pick was set to hit the open market after carrying a $10.4MM cap number in 2019. The new deal will keep him under contract through the 2021 season.

Adam Gase Denies Power Struggle Led To Mike Maccagnan’s Firing

May 20th, 2019 at 9:43pm CST by Sam Robinson

Barely four months after Mike Maccagnan hired Adam Gase, the Jets fired their GM. Gase now stands as the team’s interim GM and is helping with the search for Maccagnan’s successor.

It would appear, given the reports thus far, that the first-year Jets coach won a power struggle. He staunchly denied that Monday and that he will have control of the Jets’ 53-man roster after Maccagnan’s successor arrives.

“I disagree with that … as far as a power struggle,” Gase said, via Manish Mehta of the New York Daily News. “Whoever’s going to be hired is going to have the same control: Control of the roster. … I coach the football team. Nothing’s changing in that structure.”

Jets CEO Christopher Johnson said last week Gase would be in charge of the 53 in the interim, so it will be interesting to see how power is divided once a new GM arrives. Johnson, Gase and Jets VP of business affairs/general counsel Hymie Elhai will conduct the GM search, with Mehta adding it will be the team’s new HC that will play the lead role in selecting the next GM.

Eagles VP of player personnel Joe Douglas and NFL.com’s Daniel Jeremiah have been mentioned as candidates, though interviews have been requested with neither.

“That’s what it was,” Gase said (via NJ.com’s Darryl Slater), indicating he was surprised when Johnson told him of Maccagnan’s ouster. “He’s the owner. In this business, (expletive) like that happens all the time. It happened to me last year. I think that’s what it is. I mean, I work for (Johnson). That’s how we’re aligned, is the GM and the head coach both report to the owner.”

Over the weekend, Mehta reported Maccagnan heavily restricted Gase’s pre-draft input, leading to Gase moving his chair away from cameras during the draft and essentially letting the since-fired GM run that operation. Gase denied a large-scale rift existed.

“Since we’ve started, we just constantly were in communication, whether he’s coming down to my office or I’m going to his office,” Gase said of his work with Maccagnan. “That’s all we’re trying to do, is just make sure we’re on the same page all the time and making sure that we’re trying to put this thing together as well as we can in a short period of time.”

Cowboys Notes: Elliott, Frederick, Prescott

May 20th, 2019 at 8:29pm CST by Sam Robinson

Travis Frederick is tentatively on track to return to the Cowboys’ starting lineup after missing the 2018 season due to an illness discovered late last summer. The perennial Pro Bowl center has been present for Cowboys workouts thus far this offseason, but Guillain-Barré Syndrome and offseason shoulder surgery were not the only medical issues the seventh-year veteran has dealt with recently. He also had a procedure done to address a hernia issue, Calvin Watkins of The Athletic notes (subscription required). This was not as serious as a sports hernia, though, so it should not be too much of an impediment to a Frederick return. While Frederick has returned to partial work with his teammates this year, Watkins notes the Cowboys do not expect him to participate fully until training camp. In the event Frederick cannot recover in time, 2018 starter Joe Looney remains an insurance policy. Third-round rookie Connor McGovern has also received center time.

Here is the latest out of Dallas:

  • Ezekiel Elliott was involved in an incident with a security guard in Las Vegas over the weekend. Las Vegas police officers observed the Cowboys running back push a security staffer to the ground at approximately 3 a.m. Sunday, Kate Hairopoulos of the Dallas Morning News tweets. Officers then placed Elliott in handcuffs, but the victim did not press charges, Hairopoulos adds (via Twitter). Elliott was released without being arrested. The incident will not play into the Cowboys’ extension discussions, whenever they begin, executive VP Stephen Jones said (via Todd Archer of ESPN.com, on Twitter). The team is gathering information.
  • Despite Jaylon Smith being mentioned as a player the Cowboys would like to lock up long-term, no extension discussions between the Cowboys and the fourth-year linebacker have begun, Clarence Hill of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram tweets. Unlike Dak Prescott, Amari Cooper and Byron Jones, Smith can be controlled via RFA tender in 2020. The Cowboys would be expected to place a second-round tender on the linebacker, Hill adds. Smith’s stay on the NFI list as a rookie created this path to restricted free agency, rather than unrestricted free agency, after four seasons.
  • Stephen Jones brought up the prospect of some of his team’s extension candidates taking less money because of the endorsement opportunities that come with playing for the Cowboys. But Watkins adds Prescott is not expected to do a team-friendly deal. “It’s not their job to manage the cap; I understand that,” Jones said. “But it is my job and Jerry’s job, so they will understand why we’re negotiating hard to make the very best deal we can, because the money, if we can talk them into not maxing out – doing well, but not maxed – then that allows us to have other good football players around them.” Watkins estimates Prescott soon signing the richest contract in Cowboys history, projecting a deal worth between $120-$130MM — which would make it a likely four-year pact — containing north of $70MM in guarantees. This jibes with what we’ve heard about Prescott’s potential price.

Cowboys’ Amari Cooper Talks At Stalemate

May 20th, 2019 at 6:29pm CST by Sam Robinson

The talks between Amari Cooper and the Cowboys are not progressing at this juncture, according to Clarence Hill of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram (on Twitter). Cooper and the Cowboys are at a stalemate, Hill notes. This news comes less than two weeks after progress in the sides’ negotiation.

While the team remains confident a deal will be finalized, Cooper’s camp continues to study the market, Hill adds (Twitter link). This market could also change fairly soon, if/when Julio Jones signs his third Falcons contract.

Cooper has obviously not proven to be on Jones’ level, his past two seasons rife with inconsistency. Even after arriving in Dallas, Cooper posted four games of 40 or fewer receiving yards. However, his two 180-plus-yard games (and 106-yard playoff showing against the Seahawks) have surely inflated his asking price. So does the cost of the Cowboys’ initial Cooper investment.

The Cowboys have placed a priority on extending Cooper since trading their most recent first-round pick for him, viewing this as a better investment than taking a receiver in a draft featuring plenty of uncertainty at this spot. Dallas began re-up talks with Cooper and Dak Prescott, putting an Ezekiel Elliott deal on the back-burner for now.

Cooper is attached to a $13.9MM fifth-year option price in 2019. Entering his age-25 season, the former top-five pick is in line for a big contract — one that did not look certain when he was struggling with the Raiders for a second straight season. With seven receivers earning at least $16MM per year, including Sammy Watkins (one 1,000-yard season compared to Cooper’s three), it seems likely the Cowboys will end up going north of that threshold. How far north represents one of the many components in the Cowboys’ complex offseason.

Buccaneers Release Gerald McCoy

May 20th, 2019 at 5:45pm CST by Sam Robinson

Gerald McCoy‘s time in Buccaneers limbo will end with a release. The nine-year veteran has been informed he will be cut soon, according to Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times (on Twitter). The Bucs announced the release.

This has been a consideration for a while, but the team has finally decided on a course of action. The Bucs did not want to pay McCoy his $13MM 2019 salary, per Stroud, and did not find a trade partner. Trade talks commenced for two months, Adam Schefter of ESPN.com tweets. The team did not ask McCoy to take a pay cut.

McCoy will become one of the most attractive free agents on the market. Although, being released in mid-May does not do the longtime Bucs stalwart any favors. He will join fellow 2010 top-five defensive tackle pick Ndamukong Suh as a top-caliber free agent.

Though McCoy failed to make the Pro Bowl last season — his first such omission since 2011 — he still recorded six sacks and rated as one of Pro Football Focus’ upper-echelon interior defenders. McCoy also has avoided serious injuries, the six-time Pro Bowler having played in at least 14 games in each of the past seven seasons.

The signing bonus-averse Bucs will create $13MM in cap space; McCoy had three years remaining on a seven-year, $95.2MM contract. The Bucs currently possess barely $1MM and needed to make a move in order to finish up signing draft picks.

Of course, a Tampa Bay defense that was one of the NFL’s worst in 2018 now will be without its top two pass rushers. Jason Pierre-Paul will be out for a while after sustaining a neck injury in a recent car accident, and McCoy (54.5 career sacks; at least six in six straight seasons) will almost certainly sign elsewhere soon in advance of his age-31 season.

The Bucs used a 2018 first-round pick on Vita Vea and are moving to a 3-4 look after using a 4-3 scheme throughout McCoy’s career. Still, this now profiles as one of the NFL’s most pass rush-needy teams.

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