HEADLINES

Month: October 2024

Broncos’ Aaron Burbridge Retires

July 17th, 2019 at 3:55pm CST by Zachary Links

Broncos wide receiver Aaron Burbridge is retiring, a source tells Field Yates of ESPN.com (on Twitter). Burbridge, once a standout player at Michigan State, was pushing to make the roster as a special teams player.

Burbidge notified the Broncos on Wednesday morning he planned to retire, and Mike Klis of 9News notes (via Twitter) the team waived him.

Unfortunately, injuries have marred the 25-year-old’s career. After entering the league as a sixth-round pick of the Niners, he was kept off the field for much of the last two years. In his rookie year, Burbridge managed seven catches for 88 yards.

Without the wide receiver, the Broncos have a vacant spot to fill on their 90-man roster.

NFL, NFLPA End Bargaining Session Early

July 17th, 2019 at 2:43pm CST by Zachary Links

The NFL and NFLPA were set to meet from Wednesday through Friday, but the get-together is already over, according to Tom Pelissero of NFL.com (on Twitter). The plan, for now, is for the two sides to reconvene on July 29.

One source described the meetings as “productive,” though the decision to cap the scheduled three-day meeting after just one day is curious, to say the least. There’s a lot of issues to be hammered out, including the idea of an 18-game season. The union opposes the idea, even though the NFL would like to institute a 16-game limit for each individual player.

“I don’t see an 18-game schedule — under any circumstance — being in the best interest of our players,” NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith said. “If somebody wants to make an 18-game proposal, we’ll look at it. I haven’t seen anything that makes me think that it would be good for the players.”

Of course, the union will also be after a larger share of the revenue, while owners are hoping that the players – in a roundabout way – will contribute money towards stadium projects and relocations.

Ravens Sign Miles Boykin

July 17th, 2019 at 12:32pm CST by Zachary Links

The Ravens’ rookies report for training camp on Wednesday and Miles Boykin will be among those in attendance. Per a club announcement, the Ravens have signed the third-round wide receiver to his rookie deal, putting a bow on their 2019 draft class. 

Boykin was dealing with a hamstring strain earlier this summer, but the hope is that he’ll be healed up for camp. The 6’4″ Notre Dame product offers tremendous size and and athleticism for the position and big things could be in store for him as one of Lamar Jackson‘s targets. Last year, Boykin set new collegiate career highs with 59 catches for 872 yards and eight touchdowns.

Here’s the full recap of the Ravens’ draft class, via PFR’s tracker:

Cardinals Sign Jalen Thompson

July 17th, 2019 at 10:30am CST by Zachary Links

The Cardinals have officially signed fifth-round supplemental draft pick Jalen Thompson, according to a team announcement. The Cardinals were at the 90-man roster maximum heading into Wednesday, but a spot opened up for the defensive back when the Cardinals dropped Desmond Harrison following his alleged assault of a woman.

[RELATED: Cardinals Release Desmond Harrison]

Thompson was far and away the best talent in this year’s supplemental draft class and wound up as the only player selected in the second-chance draft. The Packers and Texans also showed interest in the youngster, but the Cardinals won out. It’s not clear if the Packers or Texans placed bids on Thompson, but we do know that their draft priority (Nos. 10 and 26, respectively) was behind the Cardinals’ (No. 4).

Thompson attained freshman All-America status in 2016, was a first-team All-Pac-12 selection as a sophomore, and wrapped up his Cougars career with six INTs. In 2018, he picked off two passes, made 66 tackles and forced a fumble.

Some in the Cardinals organization believe that Jalen Thompson is a better safety prospect than Deionte Thompson, the club’s fifth-round pick in April. If J. Thompson can impress this summer, there could be big things in store for him in Arizona.

Cardinals Release Desmond Harrison

July 17th, 2019 at 10:27am CST by Zachary Links

Well, that was fast. Just moments after an arrest warrant was issued for offensive tackle Desmond Harrison, the Cardinals released him, per a team announcement.

North Carolina authorities have charged Harrison with assault on a person by strangulation and assault on a female by a male. Not much is known about the incident outside of that, but the Cardinals wasted little time in showing the 25-year-old the door.

Harrison, 25, opened the 2018 season as the starter at left tackle before Greg Robinson took over in the second half of the season. This year, Harrison was expected to be a key sub in Cleveland, but the Browns waived him after he missed multiple team meetings. The Cardinals claimed him with the hope that they could get him on the right track, but things clearly did not work out.

Harrison routinely found himself in trouble throughout college and his reputation kept him from being drafted last year. Even though there’s a dearth of quality tackles throughout the league, the Redskins were the only other known team to have placed a claim on him.

Harrison will now be subject to waivers, but it would be a surprise to see any team place a claim on him in the next 24 hours.

Cardinals’ Harrison Charged With Assault

July 17th, 2019 at 10:18am CST by Zachary Links

Cardinals offensive tackle Desmond Harrison has been charged with assault on a person by strangulation and assault on a female by a male, as Eric Edholm of Yahoo Sports writes. North Carolina police have issued a felony arrest warrant for the 25-year-old, who just recently joined his new team.

The Browns waived Harrison in June after he repeatedly missed team meetings and left coaches with the impression that he was unreliable. It was a surprising release given that Harrison spent the first half of 2018 as the team’s starting left tackle.

Harrison’s talent is undeniable, but off-the-field trouble has been an issue throughout his career. He was suspended at the University of Texas three times before transferring to West Georgia and went undrafted despite solid pre-draft workouts.

Just last month, Harrison told the Cardinals’ website that he was ready to turn over a new leaf.

“I’ll just show that with my actions,” Harrison said. “My guys are going to hold me accountable, as well as the coaches.”

Eight NFL Draft Picks Remain Unsigned

July 17th, 2019 at 9:41am CST by Zachary Links

With training camp on the horizon, there are still eight unsigned NFL draft picks left, as shown in PFR’s tracker: So far, 244 of this year’s 254 selections have inked their deals.

Here’s the complete breakdown, sorted by round:

First Round (5)

Second Round (1)

Third Round (1)

Seventh Round (1)

As expected, the first round (five) leads the way in stragglers. It’s also worth noting that four of the five remaining unsigned first-round picks are repped by CAA: Bosa, White, Jones, and Burns. Last July, CAA had five of the seven unsigned players in the top 10, so it’s clear that the power agency is driving a hard bargain over key issues such as offset language.

The Broncos seemed to have a logjam earlier this week when Drew Lock (No. 42) overall pushed for a quarterback premium while guard Dalton Risner (No. 41 overall) refused to take less money than the player drafted behind him. They slashed this list from 11 to nine by agreeing to terms with their second-rounders on back-to-back days.

Cutting, meanwhile, is now allowed to defer his military service while he plays professional football, so a deal should be signed any day now.

West Notes: C. Jones, Gould, Lindsay

July 16th, 2019 at 9:28pm CST by Rory Parks

The Chiefs and Chris Jones have made no recent progress towards a long-term deal, which means that Kansas City can, if it wants, have Jones play out the 2019 season for a bargain $1.2MM salary (Jones, after all, has to report to the club by August 6 to receive an accrued season toward free agency). However, if the Chiefs want to keep Jones in the fold for the long haul, it will have to pony up some cash soon.

And as Joel Corry of CBS Sports relays in a series of tweets, Jones is not going to come cheap. Corry suggests that Jones is already a $20MM+/year player, and if he performs as well in 2019 as he did in his breakout 2018 campaign, it will be hard to keep him for less than Aaron Donald‘s six-year, $135MM pact with the Rams. And if the Chiefs put the franchise tag on Jones next year and he plays the 2020 season under the tag while still performing at a high level, Khalil Mack money (six years, $141MM) won’t be enough.

The Chiefs learned with Justin Houston that waiting to extend an elite player can become overly costly, and Corry suggests KC should not go that route with Jones.

Now for more from the league’s west divisions:

  • The 49ers and K Robbie Gould agreed to a four-year, $19MM pact yesterday, and San Francisco bucked tradition a bit by fully guaranteeing the first two years of the deal (a total of $10.5MM). And, as Gould said (via ESPN.com), that guarantee was a deal-breaker. He had requested a trade in April, and given the Bears’ desperate need for a kicker, a trade to Chicago made sense, especially since Gould — the Bears’ all-time leading scorer — lives in the Windy City and plans to continue living there forever. He told the 49ers that in order for him to return to the team, he would need two fully-guaranteed years, and he got it.
  • Kyle Fredrickson of the Denver Post says that Broncos RB Phillip Lindsay believes he is ready to fully participate in training camp, which opens next week, after recovering from a wrist injury he suffered late last season. That is in keeping with what we heard in June, but Lindsay concedes that it’s not his decision. It’s still possible that he will remain a limited participant just as he was throughout offseason workouts, at least for awhile. Denver obviously wants to get him on the field as soon as possible, especially since he will be adjusting to a new offense, but the club also does not want to needlessly rush one of its most promising youngsters.
  • The Broncos signed No. 41 overall pick Dalton Risner earlier today, which leaves QB Drew Lock as the club’s only unsigned 2019 draft pick. Lock, the No. 42 overall pick, is looking for an overslot contract, but Denver does not plan to give him one.
  • Yesterday, the Raiders added some guard depth by signing Jonathan Cooper.

Fritz Pollard Alliance Concerned By Texans’ GM Search

July 16th, 2019 at 7:40pm CST by Rory Parks

The Texans clearly wanted to hire Patriots executive Nick Caserio as their next GM, but they abandoned their pursuit shortly after New England filed tampering charges against them. Now, it seems that Houston will go through the 2019 season and the 2020 draft without a GM and renew its pursuit of Caserio after next year’s draft, when Caserio’s contract with the Pats expires.

However, after the Texans fired one-year GM Brian Gaine and before they stopped pursuing Caserio, they interviewed Ray Farmer and Martin Mayhew for the job. Both Farmer and Mayhew are minority candidates, but because the team chose not to fill the position after it could not land its first choice, the Fritz Pollard Alliance’s new executive director, Rod Graves, believes Houston may have violated the spirit of the Rooney Rule.

Graves said, via Michael David Smith of Pro Football Talk, “[t]he fact that [the Texans] interviewed two outstanding candidates and chose not to make a decision after not being able to get their first choice, to me is a concern in the fact that it does circumvent the spirit of the Rooney Rule. And if there are other reasons why those candidates are not appealing, then we’d like to know how we can help to possibly bring others to the table. I think there are many others out there who are qualified and who deserve an opportunity to be interviewed.”

To call Mayhew and Farmer “outstanding candidates” is a bit of a stretch, as both men come with plenty of question marks given their spotty track record as general managers with the Lions and Browns, respectively (and in the case of Farmer, the track record is not spotty; it’s just one big spot). Caserio, meanwhile, is unproven, but he is well-regarded around the league and is seen as the type of young and progressive mind that clubs are targeting for their coaching staffs and front offices these days, so it makes sense that Houston would want to bring him aboard.

As such, the debate concerning the Rooney Rule rages on. Should a team be penalized for aggressively pursuing and hiring its top target if the top target isn’t a minority? In this case, should the Texans be compelled to hire a Plan B if they still have a legitimate chance to land their Plan A? The answer to both of those questions would seem to be “no,” but then again, it also doesn’t seem right to interview minority candidates when the interviewing team has no intention of hiring them.

If you have a resolution to this debate, feel free to leave it in the comments.

Load More Posts