HEADLINES

Month: September 2024

Packers Did Not Make Offer To Randall Cobb

June 30th, 2019 at 8:28am CST by Rory Parks

Randall Cobb, who signed with the Cowboys as a free agent in March after a long run with the Packers, appears to be feeling a bit resentful towards his old team. Cobb recently said during an interview with ESPN Wisconsin (h/t Jason Wilde of the Wisconsin State Journal), “It’s like the ex-girlfriend that broke up with you. When you see her five years later, you hope you’re in a better situation than you were before — married, with kids, and you’re able to say, ‘Yeah, I did better without you.'”

Despite a Green Bay tenure that saw him catch 517 passes for 6,120 yards and 46 touchdowns in 116 career games (including playoffs), and despite being a key figure in a number of memorable moments during that time, Cobb says the fact that the club never advanced to the Super Bowl while he was on the roster was a major disappointment, especially given how talented some of those rosters were. And he apparently wanted to come back to the Packers for another shot at helping to bring a championship to Title Town, but the interest was not mutual.

Cobb said the Packers never extended him an offer in free agency, and he even waited to see if Green Bay would change its mind after he started receiving offers from other teams, but that did not happen. So he ultimately accepted a one-year, $5MM pact to become the primary slot receiver for the Cowboys, who have lofty ambitions of their own in 2019.

The fact that Green Bay did not attempt to bring Cobb back is not terribly surprising, as he has dealt with a number of injuries since signing a four-year, $40MM contract with the club in March 2015, and he is clearly not the same player he was at the height of his career. He can still be serviceable, and the fact that the Packers are going into the season with Davante Adams and a host of mostly unproven talent at wide receiver may be irritating to him, but from an outsider’s perspective, it seems like the Packers may have made the right call.

Green Bay travels to Dallas on October 6, a date that Cobb surely has circled on his calendar.

Extra Points: Redskins, Supplemental Draft, Jets

June 29th, 2019 at 9:47pm CST by Andrew Ortenberg

The Redskins are going to be one of the more interesting teams to monitor during training camp. They have a bunch of interesting storylines, none bigger than the battle between rookie Dwayne Haskins and Case Keenum to be the team’s starting quarterback. Speaking to Steve Wyche of NFL Network recently, Redskins GM Doug Williams indicated that the front office and even ownership would play a role in determining when Haskins starts (Twitter link).

Williams specifically indicated the decision would not be head coach Jay Gruden’s alone, saying that he, Gruden, team president Bruce Allen, and owner Dan Snyder would come together to make a decision. That news is sure to rile up Redskins fans, who have mixed feelings on Snyder, to put it nicely. Williams said he was excited about Haskins’ development, but made sure to emphasize they wouldn’t just throw him out there if he wasn’t ready. That’s the language any team is going to speak, and the part about it being a collaborative process is the real eyebrow-raiser here. Gruden appears to be coaching for his job this season, and Washington won’t be able to keep Haskins on the bench too long unless Keenum looks lights out during the preseason.

Here’s a couple of other notes from around the league on a slow Saturday evening:

  • The supplemental draft got a lot more interesting earlier today when Washington State safety Jalen Thompson announced he’d be entering. The three previous players to enter July’s supplemental draft weren’t too noteworthy, but Thompson is intriguing. Thompson seems like a near-lock to get drafted, and Tony Pauline of DraftAnalyst.com tweets that scouts had given him a 3rd/4th round grade prior to last season. Pauline also notes that the three-year starter has scheduled a July 8th workout for NFL teams in Los Angeles. It’ll likely be heavily attended. While we don’t have the full details yet on why Thompson was ruled ineligible for the 2019 NCAA season and had to declare, Washington State did issue a statement, per Jessamyn McIntyre (Twitter link). In their statement, the Cougars simply said he lost his final season of eligibility “due to a violation of NCAA rules.”
  • The Jets took a gamble by drafting defensive lineman Nathan Shepherd in the third round last year, and so far it hasn’t paid off. Shepherd played at small-school Fort Hays State so he was a bit hard to scout, but the team banked on his upside when they took him 72nd overall. Shepherd played around 30 percent of the team’s defensive snaps as a rookie, but didn’t play particularly well and appears to be falling out of favor with the new coaching staff. While breaking down the team’s depth chart, Matt Stypulkoski of NJ.com writes that Shepherd’s stock has gone down so far this offseason, saying it “sure seems like it only took one season for Shepherd to turn into something of a forgotten man,” and adding that he “hasn’t proven enough.” There’s still a long way to go, so Shepherd could always find himself back in favor with Adam Gase, but right now things aren’t looking great.
  • In case you missed it, the Chiefs could reopen extension talks with Tyreek Hill now that it looks like he’ll emerge from the league’s investigation relatively cleanly.

Patriots OL Isaiah Wynn Expected To Be Ready For Training Camp

June 29th, 2019 at 7:56pm CST by Andrew Ortenberg

The Patriots are coming off yet another Super Bowl win, but they had a lot of turnover from last year’s roster. Notably, they lost left tackle Trent Brown in free agency, so they’ll have someone new protecting Tom Brady‘s blindside in 2019.

By all accounts, that’s supposed to be second-year player Isaiah Wynn. The Patriots drafted Wynn in the first round last year, but he missed his entire rookie season due to a torn Achilles he suffered during the preseason. He appears to be on track for the season, as sources told Jeff Howe of The Athletic that “is expected to be ready for training camp.” Achilles injuries can be very tricky, so that’s good to hear.

Howe also adds that Wynn has already begun running at full speed, which is another good sign. Recently we heard that the Patriots were preparing left guard Joe Thuney to play some tackle if Wynn wasn’t ready. It sounds like he will be though, and the Pats will need him. After Jared Veldheer retired during OTAs, New England was suddenly left very thin at tackle.

The 23rd overall pick of last year’s draft, Wynn was a standout at Georgia. He earned a first-team All-SEC selection in 2017, and had been competing for a starting job before going down with the Achilles injury. The Patriots have often shuffled around their offensive line in front of Brady, and this will be their third straight year with a new left tackle.

Nate Solder left in free agency following the 2017 season, which prompted them to bring in Brown. They have one of the league’s best offensive line coaches in Dante Scarnecchia, and things have always seemed to work out fine no matter who they throw in there. It’ll be very interesting to watch Wynn during preseason action to see how he holds up, although they may not want to push him too much.

Extra Points: Patriots, Caserio, XFL, Coaches

June 29th, 2019 at 6:12pm CST by Andrew Ortenberg

The prospect of the Patriots receiving compensation from the Texans for VP of player personnel Nick Caserio does not appear to be completely off the table, despite the recent Texans statement indicating they were no longer pursuing him. But the Patriots’ asking price might dissuade the Texans. The Patriots would likely demand a first-round pick from the Texans for Bill Belichick’s right-hand man, Tom Curran of NBC Sports Boston writes. This would be a steep price for an executive, especially one whose contract is up in 2020.

Conflicting reports have emerged about Caserio’s desire to leave New England, but the longtime Patriots exec seemingly has a great chance of becoming a GM after the contract that prevents him from doing so expires. Interestingly, Curran adds that Caserio and current Texans executive vice president Jack Easterby — a former Patriots staffer who has been in the middle of this story — share an agent. The Texans, however, admitted they were not aware of the clause in Caserio’s deal that prevented GM interviews.

Here’s more from around the football universe:

  • We’ve been hearing a lot about the XFL recently, as the upstart league has held a series of showcases across the country, with some big names showing up. Vince McMahon’s reboot is looking to pickup where the AAF left off, albeit more successfully, and they’ve been coming up with some creative new twists on the game. Oliver Luck, the league’s commissioner, said recently that the XFL is “considering an overtime format much like penalty kicks in soccer or shootout in hockey. Teams alternate plays from the 5-yard line, five tries each, to determine winner,” per Greg Auman of The Athletic (Twitter link). It’s certainly an interesting idea, and Auman adds that Luck said it should take less than ten minutes to wrap up.
  • There’s also been a lot of talk recently about the lack of diversity on NFL coaching staffs, particularly on the offensive side of the ball. The league is looking to address the issue, and recently held a minority coaches summit, per Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports. La Canfora writes that the “two-day seminar was put in place to shed light on the plight of minority coaches on the offensive side of the ball and to help identify and cultivate a pipeline of diverse coaches with a background coaching quarterbacks.” The whole piece is interesting and worth a read, as La Canfora breaks down everything that went down at the conference. The event was “punctuated by detailed and moving discussions” led by big-time NFL names like Jim Caldwell and Pep Hamilton.
  • In case you missed it, Eli Manning said he isn’t particularly worried about Daniel Jones coming for his job.

 

Washington State S Jalen Thompson Entering Supplemental Draft

June 29th, 2019 at 4:32pm CST by Sam Robinson

The 2019 supplemental draft now has four entrants, and the latest may have a good chance of enticing a team to sacrifice a 2020 draft pick.

Washington State safety Jalen Thompson will enter the July draft, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com reports (on Twitter). The three-year Cougars starter learned Friday he would be ineligible for the 2019 season, which would have been his senior year at the Pac-12 program.

Thompson attained freshman All-America status in 2016 and was a first-team All-Pac-12 selection as a sophomore. In 2018, he picked off two passes, made 66 tackles and forced a fumble. Thompson wrapped up his Cougars career with six INTs. The Downey, Calif., native, per Rapoport, has a good chance of being selected next month. Should a team do so, it must forfeit its corresponding pick in next year’s standard draft.

A former three-star recruit as a cornerback, Thompson is the second defender to enter this year’s summer event. He joins less heralded Syracuse linebacker Shyheim Cullen. West Virginia wide receiver Marcus Simms and one-time Texas tight end commit Devonaire Clarington have also put their names in the supplemental pool.

Amari Cooper: Raiders Weren’t ‘Good Fit’

June 29th, 2019 at 3:05pm CST by Sam Robinson

After his first two seasons, Amari Cooper looked like one of the league’s most promising young wide receivers. But inconsistency followed, and the former No. 5 overall pick was never able to recapture his status as a reliable target in Oakland.

Although the up-and-down pattern Cooper set in Oakland persisted during his initial run as a Cowboy, he averaged 80.6 yards per game in his Dallas games after posting posting 46.7 per contest in six 2018 Raider games. Cooper, during an appearance on PFT Live (via the Dallas Morning News), called last season’s scenery change “necessary” for him to reach the heights he did in Dallas.

“I don’t think it was a good fit for me,” Cooper said of his time in Oakland, adding that he reached this conclusion early last season. “I don’t think I was really able to showcase my skills there for whatever reasons. I’ll call it extenuating circumstances. But for whatever reason, I wasn’t able to reach my heights and I kind of knew that I needed to be gone in order to do some of the things that I wanted to do as an NFL player.”

“I felt like there are things that I wanted to do out there on the field during the games, certain plays that I wanted to be called and certain routes that I wanted to run that just weren’t a part of the game plan.”

The Raiders employed three offensive coordinators during Cooper’s three-plus-season stay. Cooper put together back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons under Bill Musgrave in 2015-16 but just 680 in 14 games in Todd Downing‘s offense in 2017. He was on a similar pace in Jon Gruden‘s attack last season, with 10-, nine- and zero-yard outings clouding his two 100-plus-yard showings to start the year.

Cooper has previously said he believed Mark Davis wanted him gone, and although a contradictory report emerged on that topic, the 25-year-old wideout said Khalil Mack‘s trade made him feel less secure about his standing with the Raiders. Cooper and Mack share an agent, Joel Segal. The Raiders drafted safety Johnathan Abram with the pick acquired in the midseason Cooper trade.

“After the Khalil trade, it was like here’s a guy who’s a very dominant player in this league and he’s proven that he’s one of the best players in the entire league and they traded him away,” Cooper said, “so what makes anyone else feel like they’re safe and they’re not tradable? That was kind of the sense in the locker room.”

The Cowboys and Cooper are currently working on an extension, though talks hit a stalemate last month and may be on hold until Julio Jones (and possibly Michael Thomas) help clear up what figures to be a new-look receiver market. Cooper has said he would be comfortable playing this season without an extension in place.

Jared Veldheer On Retirement Decision

June 29th, 2019 at 2:27pm CST by Sam Robinson

In a two-week span this May, Jared Veldheer went from the free agent market to the Patriots to retirement. A starter in each of his nine NFL seasons, Veldheer called it quits — largely because of a previous injury.

Serving as the Broncos’ right tackle last season, Veldheer dealt with a knee malady that shelved him for four games. But that was not the health-related concern that drove him to backtrack on his decision to sign with the Patriots.

“My hips, particularly my left one, was in pretty bad shape (after the season),” Veldheer said, via MLive.com’s Peter Wallner. “When March rolled around I thought I could give it a go, but once I went out there to do actual football stuff, the hip felt exactly how it did at the end of the season. There was just no way I was going to put my body through that. I couldn’t conceive even trying to make my body do that.”

Stem cell therapy and other treatments did not do the trick, Veldheer added. In addition to this hip trouble, the 32-year-old tackle dealt with a litany of injuries late in his career. An ankle problem ended his 2017 season and lingered into 2018, and early last season Veldheer suffered a concussion. A partially torn triceps muscle ended his 2016 campaign with the Cardinals.

Veldheer signed a one-year, $3.5MM deal with the Patriots, to serve potentially as insurance for Isaiah Wynn. The second-year Patriots left tackle is recovering from the torn Achilles’ tendon that erased his rookie season. After one OTA practice, Veldheer said he informed Bill Belichick of his decision.

“(Deciding to retire) was easy because of knowing what my body was telling me, but it was hard because I was leaving a very good situation being with the Patriots,” Veldheer said. “(Belichick) understood, and everyone in the NFL building understands that the sport can do a number on your body and different guys have different timelines on how long they can make it through.”

Extra Points: Bears, XFL, NFL Salaries

June 29th, 2019 at 12:48pm CST by Ben Levine

The Bears had some “inside information” on undrafted lineman Alex Bars, leading to the rookie’s signing. As Adam Jahns of The Athletic writes, Bears offensive line coach Harry Hiestand was Bars’ position coach at Notre Dame.

The talented lineman suffered both a torn ACL and MCL this past September, leading to him missing the season and going undrafted. The organization believes Bars was a draftable talent, and Hiestand was able to vouch for the six-foot-six, 315-pound lineman.

“There is no question he would had been [drafted] — there is no question,” Hiestand said. “We benefited from that. I personally know the guy that did the surgery. His son plays sports with my son back there. And he was like super confident on what was done. People are playing with what he had done all over the place.”

The Bears brought Bars along slowly during their offseason workouts. However, assuming he gets fully healthy, the lineman will have a chance to earn a roster spot.

“He’ll have the chance because he’s smart,” Hiestand said. “He understands the technique. He knows what to do. … But when we put the pads on that’s when you make or don’t make the team.”

Some more notes from the football world:

  • The XFL’s salary structure will be different than that of the defunct Alliance of American Football, tweets Greg Auman of The Athletic. The standard salary will be around $60K, while the top-tier quarterbacks could earn up to six figures. The AAF generally handed out non-guaranteed, three-year deals worth $250K. We recently heard that this paid gig could be enticing to players who are not yet eligible for the NFL Draft. Players who are forced to wait three years until after leaving high school could jump to Vince McMahon‘s football experiment 2.0 to jumpstart their professional career rather than play for free in college while risking injury.
  • With NBA free agency starting this Sunday, Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk.com prepares for the pundits who will compare the impending deals to those in the NFL. Outside of each league’s respective salary caps, Florio points to a variety of reasons why basketball players tend to earn more than football players, noting that the NBA has more games and smaller rosters. Most notably, Florio believes the NFL’s top players “don’t squeeze teams for top dollars the way they could or should,” and he focused on the deals signed by Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers, and Russell Wilson. Finally, Florio defends the NFL’s non-guaranteed contracts, noting that NFL deals would be significantly shorter if they were guaranteed.
  • How much money will Bengals wideout Tyler Boyd make on his next contract? One writer believes he should be eyeing deals signed by Giants receiver Sterling Shepard and Raiders wideout Tyrell Williams.

Extension Candidate: Tyler Boyd

June 29th, 2019 at 11:45am CST by Ben Levine

When it comes to extension talk in Cincinnati, much of the focus is understandably on wide receiver A.J. Green. However, the player who follows Green on the depth chart is also eligible for a sizable raise.

Former second-round receiver Tyler Boyd is set to hit free agency following the 2019 season, and Paul Dehner Jr. of The Athletic wrote last month that the Bengals want to extend the 24-year-old. This doesn’t come as much of a surprise, as the wideout broke onto the scene last year.

Following a pair of underwhelming seasons to begin his career, Boyd had a breakout campaign in 2018, hauling in 76 receptions for 1,028 yards and seven touchdowns in 14 games. Part of his production could be attributed to the fact that Green missed seven games, placing Boyd atop the depth chart. On the flip side, the receiver also established a career-high catch percentage and yards-per-target.

Furthermore, Boyd adds a bit of toughness and personality to the Bengals, indicated by his decision to attend voluntary OTAs. As Dehner wrote, many extension-eligible players bypass these workouts in fear of an avoidable injury that could vicariously cost them millions. Boyd showed up anyway, stating that a pseudo-holdout would be an unnecessary distraction.

“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. He is a ‘me’ guy. Or, you are still working and going to be a team guy. I am not trying to strategize and make it seem like I’m just trying to do what’s right (to get a deal done), that’s just the way I am.”

So Boyd seems to be saying and doing all the right things, and he’s shown plenty of improvements on the field. So what kind of money will Boyd be eyeing on his next contract? The business-savvy receiver actually pointed to receiver Sterling Shepard‘s contract with the Giants, which was a four-year deal worth $41MM ($21.3MM guaranteed). Dehner suggested that Boyd could also focus on the deal that Tyrell Williams signed with the Raiders (four years, $44MM ($22MM guaranteed)).

As our own Dallas Robinson previously pointed out, Boyd topped Shepard in every offensive category this past season, and he finished higher than the Giants wideout in both Pro Football Focus‘ positional grades and Football Outsiders’ receiving metrics. Boyd’s 2019 season was comparable to Williams’ 2016 campaign, although Williams was older and coming off a pair of subpar seasons when he signed his recent deal with Oakland.

In other words, don’t be shocked if Boyd pushes for a contract that exceeds $11MM annually. Considering the receiver’s apparent affinity for Cincy, the guess here would be a four-year contract worth around $46MM (with a bit more than half guaranteed).

Of course, Boyd’s extension may be partly dependent on how the Bengals handle Green’s next deal. Regardless, expect Boyd’s superstar teammate to receive the first extension, at which time the front office will surely turn their focus to their fourth-year receiver.

QBs Mallett, Daniels To Work Out For XFL

June 29th, 2019 at 10:02am CST by Ben Levine

Ryan Mallett and B.J. Daniels are eyeing another shot at professional football. The two former NFL quarterbacks (along with a long list of hopefuls) are participating at this weekend’s XFL Summer Showcase in Tampa Bay (full list via Emoy Hunt of The Athletic on Twitter).

The XFL Summer Showcase will take place in eight major cities through June and July. The invite-only workout is for players who recently completed their college eligibility, previously participated in the NFL, or played in an “alternate football league.” The event, which operates similarly to the combine, is intended for those seeking “potential XFL opportunities.”

Mallett, a 2011 third-round pick out of Arkansas, was once considered to be the heir apparent to Tom Brady in New England. That didn’t end up being the case, and the quarterback ultimately bounced between the Texans and Ravens. In 21 career NFL games, Mallett completed 55.1-percent of his passes for 1,835 yards, nine touchdowns, and 10 interceptions. His last NFL appearance came in 2017 with Baltimore.

Following a standout career at South Florida, Daniels was selected by the 49ers in the seventh-round of the 2013 draft. The former signal-caller was a practice squad mainstay until 2017, although the Seahawks gave him a handful of appearances in 2015. That season, Daniels earned snaps at wideout, and assuming his NFL career has come to an end, he’ll have finished with as many career receptions as pass attempts.

Other notable participants include running back Matt Jones, who had 950 rushing yards with the Redskins between 2015 and 2016. Former Colts linebacker Antonio Morrison, former first-round safety Matt Elam, and former Buccaneers defensive end George Johnson will also be in attendance.

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