2019 September - Pro Football Rumors

Pats Have 2020 Option For Antonio Brown

September 9th, 2019 at 10:01am CST by Zachary Links

For many reasons, there’s no telling how long Antonio Brown‘s run with the Patriots will last. But, if things go well, the Patriots will have the option to keep the wide receiver through the 2020 season, Mike Florio of PFT (on Twitter) hears.

It was initially reported that Brown’s deal would be worth “up to” $15MM with $10MM guaranteed in total. As it turns out, Brown’s deal also includes a $20MM option for the 2020 campaign. The option serves two purposes. First, the obvious – the Patriots can keep the partnership for another year, if they choose to do so. Secondly, the additional year will help with cap proration for 2019, giving them extra flexibility this year.

It’s a potentially big win for Brown, as well. If he hits on his incentives this year and cashes in for $20MM next year, he’ll reel in even more than the ~$30MM guarantee that he was set to collect from Oakland. There’s also still an outside chance that he can walk away with some of that guaranteed cash from the Raiders, even though he never played a down of real football for them.

Dolphins’ Xavien Howard Not Seeking Trade

September 9th, 2019 at 8:15am CST by Zachary Links

After a brutal 59-10 pummeling at the hands of the Ravens, several Dolphins players have already requested trades. However, cornerback Xavien Howard is not one of the players looking to bail, Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald (on Twitter) hears.

Despite their rebuilding efforts, the Dolphins have told Howard that they value him. In turn, Howard has said he wants to stay, even though this figures to be a long season for a club that has traded left tackle Laremy Tunsil and jettisoned other key veterans.

This year, the Dolphins re-upped Howard on a five year, $75.25MM extension with $27.18MM fully guaranteed at signing and $46MM in total guarantees. That is to say – Howard might not win much with the Fins in 2019, but he’ll be paid handsomely.

Things won’t get much easier from here for the Dolphins. They’ve had success against the Patriots at home, but no one is anticipating an upset win in Miami on Sunday. After that, they’ll travel to Dallas to take on one of the league’s most dangerous offenses.

Jets Considering Kicker Change?

September 9th, 2019 at 8:02am CST by Zachary Links

Nothing has been decided just yet, but it sure sounds like the Jets are thinking about dumping their kicker. After Kaare Vedvik missed a PAT and 45-yard field goal in the first half in a 17-16 loss to the Bills, head coach Adam Gase didn’t exactly offer up a glowing endorsement of the kicker.

“We’ll see what happens on Monday,” Gase said when asked if he can trust Vedvik moving forward (via NJ.com). “I don’t know, I haven’t had a chance to have a conversation with the personnel guys, what they want to do. We’ll have more as we go.”

In August, the Vikings sent a fifth-round pick to the Ravens to acquire Vedvik. Then, just a few weeks later, the Vikings released him outright, leading him to the Jets. The Jets figured that their well-documented kicking woes were over – turns out, things are the same as ever. Vedvik’s miss from 45 yards out was hideous, and his missed extra point wound up being the difference-maker in the one-point loss.

By the end of the business day on Monday, Vedvik could be in search of his fourth NFL team in four weeks.

Devin Funchess Has Broken Collarbone

September 8th, 2019 at 10:05pm CST by Andrew Ortenberg

Somehow we have yet another big name with a serious clavicle injury. Nick Foles and Tyreek Hill will both miss time with clavicle injuries, and Colts receiver Devin Funchess will be joining them.

Funchess broke his collarbone during Sunday’ loss to the Chargers, a source told Tom Pelissero of NFL Network (Twitter link). In a follow-up tweet, Pelissero reports that Funchess will get a second opinion, but as of right now surgery seems likely. It’s unclear at this time exactly how long he’ll be out, but obviously he’s going to miss some regular season action. We’ll keep you updated as soon as we have a timetable. Funchess is in his first year with Indy after signing a one-year deal back in March.

The Colts gave Funchess $10MM in base money with another $3MM available in incentives, and they were hoping he could establish himself as the clear number two receiver they’d been missing behind T.Y. Hilton. The former Panthers second-round pick had three catches for 32 yards in his Colts debut before going down.

Funchess was up and down during his time with Carolina, although he was always clearly high on talent. His injury is the latest blow to a Colts offense that has had to deal with the sudden retirement of Andrew Luck. With Funchess on the shelf, the team will likely count on Deon Cain for a bigger role. Cain had 35 yards in the opener, the second-most on the team behind Hilton.

Injury Updates: Mixon, Mayfield, Mahomes

September 8th, 2019 at 9:18pm CST by Andrew Ortenberg

Week 1 of the NFL season unfortunately saw a bunch of big names go down. Nick Foles is out indefinitely after breaking his clavicle, and Tyreek Hill will miss a few games with a shoulder issue. They weren’t the only ones to suffer potentially significant injuries, and we’ve got all the latest updates down below:

The 49ers already suffered a blow to their deep backfield when they placed Jerick McKinnon on IR prior to the start of the season, and now they’re down another member of the group. Tevin Coleman was knocked out of their Week 1 game against the Bucs by an ankle injury, and he left the locker room with a boot on his foot, according to Matt Maiocco of NBC Sports (Twitter link). Maiocco notes he’ll have an MRI on Monday. Head coach Kyle Shanahan said after the game he was “concerned” about Coleman’s ankle, Matt Barrows of the Athletic tweeted. Shanahan also implied the team will promote Jeff Wilson Jr. from the practice squad, and said the team will look at adding outside running back help. Matt Breida figures to take on a more prominent role in the meantime while Coleman is sidelined.
Speaking of running backs with ankle injuries, Joe Mixon suffered one of his own. The Bengals’ runner is “believed to have just an ankle sprain,” according to Tom Pelissero of NFL Network, who tweets that “early reports [are] optimistic.” It’s unclear how sever the ankle sprain is, although fortunately it doesn’t sound like it’s going to be a longterm absence for the Oklahoma product.
Baker Mayfield had a rough game in his highly anticipated 2019 debut. He threw three interceptions, and to make matters worse also hurt his hand. Mayfield had his wrist and hand wrapped and went for an X-Ray after the Browns’ to the Titans, sparking some concern. Fortunately he suffered only a bruise and the injury is “not considered serious,” a source told Ian Rapoport of NFL Network (Twitter link).
Fans were also left holding their breath when Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes went limping off the field. Mahomes returned to Kansas City’s win over the Jaguars, but Chiefs coach Andy Reid said after the game Mahomes had a sprained ankle, according to Terez Paylor of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link). It doesn’t sound like Mahomes will miss any games, although his mobility may be limited moving forward.
The Falcons got blown out by the Vikings, and they also lost a key piece. The team fears that rookie first-round pick Chris Lindstrom fractured his foot, according to Jay Glazer of The Athletic (Twitter link). Lindstrom won the competition to start at right guard, and the organization thinks very highly of the 14th overall pick. Lindstrom’s rookie year could be over, as former NFL team doctor David Chao tweets the type of fracture “will determine if part of the season can be salvaged.” Even if he does make it back, it won’t be for a while.

Jerry Jones Says Dak Prescott Extension Is ‘Imminent’

September 8th, 2019 at 8:05pm CST by Andrew Ortenberg

Everything continues to point toward Dak Prescott getting his long-awaited extension from the Cowboys any day now. Speaking to the media after Dallas’ season-opening win over the Giants, owner Jerry Jones hinted that an agreement is right around the corner.

Jones said after the game that an extension is “imminent,” according to Charean Williams of ProFootballTalk.com. “What’s imminent? Well, days. Days. Or something like that.” In our most recent update earlier this morning, Prescott insisted he wasn’t concerned about talks and everything seemed to be progressing nicely. Jones’ comments today are the latest indicator of that. Prescott had one of the best games of his career against New York, throwing for 405 yards on only 32 attempts while tossing four touchdowns.

Performances like that are sure to embolden Prescott’s representatives, who are likely seeking record money. Jared Goff just got the largest guarantee in NFL history from the Rams, and Prescott could be seeking to eclipse that. The Mississippi State product is set to be a free agent at the end of the year, but there hasn’t ever been much panic since the Cowboys could control him through the franchise tag if worst came to worst.

Dallas has been locking up players left and right, and Prescott could be the final domino to fall this season if talks continue to stay stalled between the team and Amari Cooper. If Prescott is going to keep playing like he did in Week 1, it’s definitely in Jones’ best interest to get something done quickly before the price gets even higher.

Raiders Sign WR Keelan Doss

September 8th, 2019 at 7:14pm CST by Andrew Ortenberg

Keelan Doss is headed back to Oakland after all. Doss became a breakout star on HBO’s ‘Hard Knocks’, but was released by the Raiders at final cuts and ended up signing to the Jaguars’ practice squad.

When the Raiders cut Antonio Brown, they tried to sign Doss back. Jacksonville then agreed to pay him a rookie minimum salary while on the practice squad in order to keep him. But now the Raiders have upped their offer to something he simply couldn’t refuse, and Doss is signing back with the team, according to Mike Garafolo of NFL Network (Twitter link). To lure him back, Oakland is giving Doss a whopping $300K signing bonus and $495K fully guaranteed base salary.

It’s a massive step-up for Doss. In just a couple of days, he went from making a non-guaranteed practice squad salary to getting $795K guaranteed. Giving a player a multi-hundred thousand dollar signing bonus to come off another team’s practice squad is nearly unprecedented, and shows how badly the Raiders wanted receiver help after Brown’s departure.

Doss is an undrafted rookie from UC Davis. A native of the Bay Area, he’ll be completing a homecoming that was widely documented on the popular HBO series. Doss shined at times during the preseason, and set school records for touchdowns and all-purpose yards.

Multiple Dolphins Players Request Trades

September 8th, 2019 at 5:46pm CST by Andrew Ortenberg

The Dolphins’ season got off to a disastrous start as they were pummeled by the Ravens 59-10. The loss was ugly, but things apparently got even worse after the game.

Multiple Dolphins players reached out to their agents following the loss and asked them to get them traded out of Miami, a source told Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk.com. It’s the last thing this Dolphins team needed, as the organization is going through a tumultuous time. We had heard there would be a “revolt” in the locker room if the team traded away left tackle Laremy Tunsil, and that appears to be materializing now that Tunsil has been moved.

Just about everybody has accused the Dolphins of intentionally tanking the 2019 season, although rookie head coach Brian Flores has been steadfast in his denials. Florio writes that “the players believe that the coaching staff, despite claiming that they intend to try to win, aren’t serious about competing and winning.” It’s unclear which players are involved, although it’d presumably be the team’s few remaining veterans. For what it’s worth, the Dolphins told Florio that they haven’t heard of any trade requests, yet.

Miami has been sending their older players packing at a rapid rate, and they’re now the youngest team in the league. They started Ryan Fitzpatrick at quarterback, but he was replaced in the second half by Josh Rosen. However, after the game, Flores said he’ll be starting Fitzpatrick again next week at home against the Patriots. The Dolphins have had a ton of success at home against New England in recent years, but they’ll clearly need to figure out their internal issues before they can get things sorted on the field.

Latest On Chiefs’ Tyreek Hill

September 8th, 2019 at 4:25pm CST by Andrew Ortenberg

Potentially scary situation out of Jacksonville, as Chiefs receiver Tyreek Hill was transported to a local hospital after suffering what looks like a serious injury during the team’s game against the Jaguars.

The Chiefs released a statement that might raise more questions than it answers, which you can read courtesy of this tweet from Ian Rapoport of NFL Network. The statement is vague, but it makes it sound like Hill came close to something very serious as his “clavicle came into [his] sternum,” but ultimately dislocated his shoulder. In a separate tweet, Rapoport notes that it’s a “rare” injury, and that Packers receiver Jake Kumerow missed about two months with the same issue last year.

Fortunately, Hill seems to have dodged a bullet. He won’t require surgery and will “miss a couple of weeks,” a source told Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk.com (Twitter link). Adam Schefter of ESPN.com tweets that it’ll be a “few” weeks. Mike Garafolo of NFL Network tweets that it sounds similar to an injury Danny Amendola suffered years ago, which the Rams treated as a “potential life-threatening situation.”

Details are still scarce, but the language in the Chiefs’ statement makes it seem like Hill came very close to having a serious medical issue. It looks like Kansas City’s offense will be without its best weapon for the next few games, although it likely won’t slow them down too much. The Chiefs put up 40 points today and continued to click even after Hill left the game, with number two receiver Sammy Watkins going off for 198 yards and three touchdowns.

Jaguars’ Nick Foles Out Indefinitely

September 8th, 2019 at 3:30pm CST by Zachary Links

Jaguars quarterback Nick Foles suffered a broken left clavicle against the Chiefs, the team announced. There’s no timetable for his return, but this figures to be a lengthy absence for the club’s new signal caller. He’ll go under the knife on Monday and, after the operation, doctors should know more about his status moving forward.

Foles’ debut wound up lasting less than one quarter. Early on, Chiefs defensive tackle Chris Jones broke through the O-Line and slammed Foles to the ground, where he suffered the injury. Foles’ ball was caught by DJ Chark for a touchdown, but the club was forced to turn to sixth-rounder Gardner Minshew on the next drive. The Jaguars went on to lose 40-26 without Foles, and it didn’t help that they also lost linebacker Myles Jack along the way following his ejection.

For now, Minshew projects as the club’s starter for next week’s game against the Texans, as he is the only QB on the active roster. His backup, in all likelihood, will be practice squad member Chase Litton.

The Jaguars inked Foles to a four-year, $88MM deal in March, including $50MM+ in guarantees. The club, of course, still has high hopes for the 30-year-old and one-time Super Bowl MVP.