2020 January - Pro Football Rumors

Month: September 2024

Eric Bieniemy Still Eyeing HC Job

January 30th, 2020 at 1:01pm CST by Zachary Links

This year, Eric Bieniemy was in demand on the head coaching circuit once again. And, once again, Bieniemy did not emerge with a head coaching job. Still, the Chiefs offensive coordinator remains determined to eventually run his own ship.

“I mean, that’s everybody’s dream to be one of the 32 head coaches. That’s everybody’s dream,” Bieniemy said (via ESPN.com’s Adam Teicher). “Someday, possibly, it may happen. But right now, the only thing that matters is making sure our guys, our players and our coaching staff is focused on the goal — and that’s making sure we play to the end of that final echo of the whistle come Sunday.”

Bieniemy drew interest from the Browns, Giants, and Panthers this offseason. Last year, he met with the Buccaneers, Bengals, and Dolphins (and turned down an interview with the Cardinals). The offensive guru has been in the running for at least six HC jobs in the last two cycles, but came away with none.

Given that Ron Rivera was the only minority candidate to land a head coaching job in this cycle, many have called for a revamp to the league’s Rooney Rule. For his part, Bieniemy says he’s keeping the focus on himself and his Super Bowl-bound squad.

“Every coach may have a different gripe about whatever comes up in their own organization,” Bieniemy said when asked whether minority assistant coaches were being treated unfairly on the whole. “But we all have an opportunity to do what we do…I love my job. I have no complaints in what I do and how I do it. I know one thing: When it’s all said and done with, we get to line up and play football. And that’s what I’m going to do. I’m a football coach.”

Chiefs’ Sammy Watkins Won’t Rule Out Pay Cut

January 30th, 2020 at 10:57am CST by Zachary Links

Sammy Watkins has found a home with the Chiefs, and he doesn’t want to leave anytime soon. Staying on board for 2020 could require a pay cut – something that the wide receiver won’t rule out.

“I don’t want to say I will be (open to a pay cut). I don’t want to say I won’t,” he said. “I just think I’m a special player. I think I deserve all the things I deserve. If I’m at home and thinking about it, if I have to do it to pay [Patrick Mahomes], I maybe will. That’s a guy that we should pay, and he needs to get paid. But you never know, that’s a decision I’d have to go through.”

Watkins, of course, has bigger fish to fry this week. After the Super Bowl, both he and the Chiefs will have some decisions to make. The Chiefs have Watkins under contract for 2020 at a cap figure of $21MM with $13.75MM in base pay, but none of that money is guaranteed. It seems highly likely that the Chiefs will ask Watkins to take a pay cut, even as the timing of a Mahomes extension remains uncertain.

Watkins still poses a threat to opposing defenses, but his production doesn’t necessarily warrant that kind of money. In 2019, he had 52 catches for 673 yards – third on the team in both categories, behind Travis Kelce and Tyreek Hill.

“I don’t think numbers prove anything,” Watkins said in response to his stat line. “Numbers are just numbers to me. Numbers may mean a lot to the world, but I don’t think that proves what I do for this team. Me bringing the great energy every day, me being the person that I am…if you can value me off that, I think my value would be very high. I don’t think my value is all off scoring touchdowns or getting 1,000 yards receiving. I don’t think I’m valued like that. I’m valued off being around the guy, being positive, coming into work every day, being a professional. I think if you would judge me off that, you would give me the world.”

He’s also delivered in key moments, including the AFC Championship Game where he had seven catches for 114 yards, including the TD to ice the game.

If asked to take a pay cut, Watkins may or may not say yes. He also offered up a third possibility:

“Or I might just take off a year after we win the Super Bowl, you never know.”

This Date In Transactions History: Chiefs Trade Alex Smith To Redskins

January 30th, 2020 at 10:03am CST by Zachary Links

On this date in 2018, the Chiefs traded Alex Smith to the Redskins in blockbuster move that had wide-ranging implications across the entire NFL. The deal brought the Redskins a proven quarterback who was coming off of, arguably, the best season of his career. For the Chiefs, the trade gave them a 2018 third-round draft pick, a promising young cornerback in Kendall Fuller, and a clear path to elevate Patrick Mahomes to the starting lineup.

Even as Smith led the league in passer rating (104.7) and finished third in adjusted net yards per attempt, the football world was buzzing about the potential of Mahomes. The Chiefs didn’t see much of the youngster in live action, outside of some time in the meaningless 2017 regular season finale, but they saw enough of him on the practice field to know that he was special and that he was ready. Smith, meanwhile, had one year remaining on his deal. The Chiefs opted to turn his salary into draft capital, support for the secondary, and extra cash that they could spend elsewhere.

After Smith set career-highs in completion percentage (67.5), yards (4,042), and touchdowns (26), the Redskins saw him as a fitting replacement for Kirk Cousins, who was on his way out after years of friction and botched extension talks. The acquisition of Smith ruled out any possibility of a reconciliation and officially set Cousins on course for free agency, where he found a fully-guaranteed multi-year deal with the Vikings.

The Chiefs’ side of the swap made total sense – they were parlaying their surplus into extra ammunition. For the Redskins, the deal raised some eyebrows. Even after Smith posted a career-low interception rate of 1%, many doubted that he would be an improvement over Cousins. Keeping Cousins would have been more costly in terms of guaranteed dollars (and would have required a whole lot of fence-mending), but there was plenty of cost that came with Smith – Fuller, valuable draft capital, and the four-year extension given to him the day after the trade. That deal, taking Smith through 2022, gave Smith $23.5MM per year, making him the sixth-highest paid QB in the NFL at the time of signing.

Two years later, it’s hard to get a true read on the Redskins’ end of this blockbuster deal. Smith led the club to a 6-3 start in his first season with the Redskins, but a gruesome leg injury in Week 11 changed everything. The compound and spiral fracture to his tibia and fibula required complicated surgery, and the post-surgery infection that he developed led to 17 more operations. Smith missed all of 2019 and no one knows when, or if, he’ll return to football. For his part, Smith says he still wants to play.

“I still have dreams of getting back to where I was and getting back out there,” Smith said in January. “This has been a crazy ride with a lot of unforeseen turns, but without a doubt, that’s still my goal.”

Smith, now 35, is set to count $21.4MM against the Redskins’ cap this year. No cap savings can be gained by releasing him until 2021.

In Kansas City, Mahomes lit the NFL on fire, leading the league with 50 passing touchdowns against just 12 interceptions. He was unstoppable again in 2019 – even a fairly serious knee injury could only limit him for a few weeks. This week, he’ll lead the Chiefs into the Super Bowl, where they’ll aim for their first championship since 1970.

Robby Anderson: Jets “Want Me Back”

January 30th, 2020 at 7:59am CST by Zachary Links

Robby Anderson is scheduled to reach free agency this offseason, but the wide receiver isn’t so sure that the Jets will let him get there.

“I know they’ve communicated that they do want me back,” Anderson said this week (via Bob Glauber of Newsday). “So, we’ve just got to see how it plays out.”

Anderson, 27 in May, indicated that talks are still preliminary and that numbers have yet to be exchanged. But, on his end, he expressed a desire to return to the only pro team he’s ever known.

In 2019, Anderson hauled in 52 receptions for 779 yards and five touchdowns. Those numbers don’t jump off of the page, but Anderson believes that he would have had a much stronger year if not for Sam Darnold‘s extended absence.

Anderson, who made the Jets as a UDFA out of Temple in 2016, has already expressed a desire to see what else is out there. The Jets will have to make a strong offer to keep him from testing the waters, but, either way, he stands to see a nice bump over his $3.095MM salary in 2019.

The Jets should have enough flexibility to keep Anderson on a multi-year pact – they enter the offseason with a projected $51MM in cap room and they can clear out more by shedding some veteran deals. That list includes Darryl Roberts, whose salaries of $6MM and $7MM in 2020 and 2021 are completely non-guaranteed. Guard Brian Winters also seems likely to get the heave-ho – the final year of his deal can be scrubbed without penalty, saving the Jets $7.28MM.

Across four seasons, Anderson has averaged 14.8 yards per catch. His best year, statistically, came in 2017 when he posted a 63/941/7 line.

Coaching Notes: Titans, Lions, Browns, Panthers

January 29th, 2020 at 9:50pm CST by Ben Levine

The Titans have fired linebackers coach Tyrone McKenzie, according to veteran reporter Paul Kuharsky (via Twitter). The 2009 third-rounder will be moving on to a role on the Lions staff (via Charean Williams of ProFootballTalk.com).

Following an underwhelming playing career, McKenzie joined the Rams as an assistant special teams coach during the 2017 season. He joined the Tennessee coaching staff prior to the 2018 campaign, and he’s been in the role for the past two seasons.

The 45-year-old has plenty of familiarity with Lions head coach Matt Patricia, as Patricia served as the Patriots linebackers coach during McKenzie’s stint as a player in New England. He’ll presumably take on a role with the linebackers in Detroit.

Let’s check out some more coaching notes from around the NFL…

The Browns are hiring Jeff Howard as their passing game coordinator/defensive backs coach, reports NFL.com’s Tom Pelissero (via Twitter). Howard, who spent the previous seven seasons with the Vikings organization, has worked with head coach Kevin Stefanski. He’ll be joining a defensive coaching staff that’s expected to be helmed by 49ers defensive backs coach Joe Woods, who’s expected to be named defensive coordinator.
After spending the past three seasons as the defensive coordinator at Baylor, Phil Snow recently joined the Panthers in the same position. The veteran coach spoke with media members yesterday, and he discussed the role that new Panthers head coach (and former Baylor head coach) Matt Rhule played in his hiring. “Well, I’ve known Coach Rhule since 2001, and our roles have completely changed,” Snow said (via the team’s website). “He was my graduate assistant when I was a defensive coordinator at UCLA, and now I’m working for him. We’ve got great respect for each other, he’s really a good football man, really a good head football coach. Players like him, he gets to know them, but we’ve just had a great relationship. When he took the Carolina job, he asked me if I’d come as a coordinator and I said yes, so here we are.”
We learned yesterday that veteran Patriots offensive line coach Dante Scarnecchia had decided to retire.

Browns To Hire Alex Van Pelt As OC

January 29th, 2020 at 8:00pm CST by Ben Levine

Kevin Stefanski‘s staff is starting to take shape. The Browns will hire Alex Van Pelt as their offensive coordinator, according to Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com (via Twitter). The Athletic’s Zac Jackson was first with the news (on Twitter).

Van Pelt had an 11-year career as a quarterback before joining the coaching ranks in 2005. He spent four seasons with the Bills, working his way from quarterbacks coach to offensive coordinator. He spent two seasons coaching quarterbacks in Tampa Bay before making his way to Green Bay in 2012. After serving as the Packers running backs coach for two seasons, Van Pelt took on the role of quarterbacks coach in 2014. He’d spend three seasons coaching Aaron Rodgers, but he wasn’t retained following the 2017 campaign.

He took on the quarterbacks-coach post with Cincy in 2018, and he’s spent the past two years toying with the likes of Andy Dalton, Jeff Driskel, and Ryan Finley. Despite the uncertainty at the position, Van Pelt earned praise during his time in Cincinnati. ESPN’s Ben Baby tweets that Bengals head coach Zac Taylor constantly lauded his quarterbacks coach this past season.

There’s a chance that Stefanski could end up retaining play-calling duties in Cleveland, but he previously expressed willingness in handing over the duty to his offensive coordinator. Van Pelt will likely be joined on the staff by 49ers defensive backs coach Joe Woods, who’s expected to be named defensive coordinator.

This will also open up a spot on the Cincy staff, but Paul Dehner Jr. of The Athletic expects Dan Pitcher to get promoted to quarterbacks coach (Twitter link). Pitcher has been the assistant quarterbacks coach for some time, but he took on more responsibilities this past season.

This Date In Transactions History: Travis Kelce Signs Extension

January 29th, 2020 at 7:54pm CST by Ben Levine

Travis Kelce will check off another career milestone this weekend when he makes his first Super Bowl appearance. Four years ago today, he achieved one of the first major accomplishments, inking a five-year extension with the Chiefs.

Back when the deal was signed in 2016, Kelce was an up-and-comer at the tight end position. The former third-rounder had compiled 850-plus receiving yards and five touchdowns for the second-straight season, and he earned his first Pro Bowl nod. Despite the production, Kelce was still working to endear himself to the organization. Kelce missed his entire rookie season recovering from knee surgery, and coach Andy Reid referred to him as “immature” following an incident during his sophomore campaign.

Still, the organization believed in him enough to give him a market-setting five-year, $46MM extension (with a bit more than $20MM guaranteed). In hindsight, that deal ended up working out brilliantly for the Chiefs. Kelce has evolved into the league’s premier tight end, averaging 92 receptions, 1,182 receiving yards, and 6.75 touchdowns over the past four seasons.

That extension is set to expire following the 2020 season, and assuming Kelce remains relatively healthy, he should earn another lucrative payday. The $46MM deal is still the highest at the position, but the veteran has predictably been surpassed in guaranteed money (where Trey Burton, Jordan Reed, and Zach Ertz top Kelce) and average value (Jimmy Graham is the leader).

Austin Hooper, Hunter Henry, and Eric Ebron are among the players hitting free agency this offseason, so there’s a chance the market could reset. Kelce will surely have his eye on those various deals as he prepared for the 2021 offseason. For now, the tight end is going to prepare for the biggest game of his life, although he may briefly think back to four years ago today when he inked his extension with the Chiefs.

Cowboys’ Dak Prescott “Confident” In Talks

January 29th, 2020 at 5:58pm CST by Zachary Links

Will all the posturing between the Cowboys and Dak Prescott result in a long-term deal before the start of free agency? Dallas’ star quarterback seems to think so.

“I’ve got confidence something will get done,” Prescott told NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport. “We’ll just leave it there. Obviously being the Cowboys quarterback is second to none. There are very few positions in all of sports that are comparable to it. So when you put that in perspective, my mindset is to be in Dallas. And I’ve got the confidence in my team to get something done and the confidence in the Cowboys that we’ll be able to.”

The Cowboys are equally eager to iron out a deal. Publicly, Stephen Jones has acknowledged that a new deal for Prescott is his top priority this season, followed closely by hashing out a new deal with Amari Cooper.

The Cowboys have the franchise tag as a failsafe, so it’s hard to see Prescott reaching the open market this year under any circumstance. If, somehow, he does get to test the open waters, he could be joined by QBs Tom Brady, Drew Brees, Philip Rivers, Ryan Tannehill, and Jameis Winston.

Prescott went on to say that he’s “excited” to play under new head coach Mike McCarthy and made note of his Super Bowl pedigree. In four years as the Cowboys QB, Prescott has made just two playoff appearances and has only one postseason W.

Jets, Jamal Adams Begin Contract Talks

January 29th, 2020 at 4:46pm CST by Zachary Links

The Jets and Jamal Adams have begun preliminary talks about a new contract, the safety tells Brian Costello of the New York Post. Still, the discussions are in their nascent stages – Adams says there have been “no numbers” exchanged just yet.

“I’d be lying if I said I don’t expect to be extended,” Adams said. “I do because of not for what I’ve just done on the field, but even off the field for what I’ve done for the organization. I’ve done everything they’ve asked me to do. I’ve done it at a high level each and every year. I’ve proven that I’m the best safety doing it right now.”

As it stands, Adams is set to earn just $3.5MM in 2020. Meanwhile, he’s coming off of his first First-Team All-Pro selection and his second straight Pro Bowl nod.

“I’m not trying to be paid just to be the highest-paid whatever,” Adams said. “I’m trying to get paid for my status and what I’ve done. That’s what I’m about.”

A deal in line with his production would indeed make him one of the league’s highest-paid safeties, however. Eddie Jackson‘s recent four-year, $58.4MM deal ($33MM guaranteed) with the Bears set the new watermark for safeties at an average of $14.6MM per year. Meanwhile, Landon Collins‘ six-year, $84MM deal represents the largest overall payout to any NFL safety.

The Jets will have to figure out whether they’re willing to make that sort of commitment to Adams and assess whether they can get past their recent friction. The Jets infuriated Adams by shopping him at the deadline, leading to widespread speculation that he would be traded this offseason. That still remains a very real possibility, but the talks between Gang Green and Adams’ camp could be a promising sign.

Before all that drama, Adams spent the early part of the 2019 offseason recruiting free agents on behalf of the Jets and he helped lure longtime rival Le’Veon Bell to New Jersey. Interestingly, Adams says he won’t be doing the same this time around.

“You’ve got to realize you can only recruit so much,” Adams said. “At the end of the day I don’t have too much say-so into it. That’s not really my job. But obviously I want to bring players in. We’ve got to bring some big names in to help us get over the hump, but the main thing is staying healthy.”

Patriots Rumors: Videotaping, Brady, Gronk

January 29th, 2020 at 4:33pm CST by Zachary Links

The league’s investigation into the Patriots’ videotaping incident is still ongoing, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell confirmed on Wednesday. The process has already taken roughly two months and Goodell says he won’t rush things along.

“Our responsibility is to make sure we’re being extremely thorough,” Goodell said (via Ryan Hannable of WEEI). “We have a responsibility to 31 other clubs, we have a responsibility to partners, we have a responsibility to fans understand all of what happened, and to make sure that something that we don’t know happened didn’t happen. And so, from our standpoint we want to make sure we are being thorough. Our team has been on it. We have been focused on this. I think it has not been that lengthy of time. We obviously put the focus on it, but we are going to get it right. When we come to a conclusion, we’ll certainly make sure that people are aware of it.”

When the investigation finally wraps, the Patriots may face fines and/or the forfeiture of a draft pick.

Here’s more from New England:

During his Super Bowl week media availability, Rob Gronkowski was, predictably, asked about the possibility of returning to football. The longtime Patriots tight end, in turn, gave a predictable answer that won’t do much to silence the speculation. “Oh, man, I don’t know,” Gronkowski said when asked if he’ll ever come out of retirement. “I’m a young guy — 30 years old. I still love to workout, stay in shape. Like I said, I’ve answered this question many, many times. I will never say complete no, because I love playing sports. I love competing.”
Meanwhile, Gronk says he supports Tom Brady‘s desire to explore free agency this offseason (via Nick Goss of NBC Sports). “He’s going to be a free agent for the first time ever. Good for him,” Gronk said. “Test out the market, and then do what’s best for himself. That’s the decision he has to make — what’s best for himself, what’s best for his family, what he feels like he’s going to love.”
Patriots offensive line coach Dante Scarnecchia announced that he will retire this offseason. Scarnecchia spent 34 years on the Pats’ staff and served as an assistant for ten of their eleven Super Bowl appearances.

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