HEADLINES

Month: September 2024

Vikings Place Mike Hughes On IR

January 3rd, 2020 at 12:52pm CST by Zachary Links

The Vikings will head into the playoffs without the services of Mike Hughes. On Friday, the Vikes placed the cornerback on injured reserve with a neck injury.

Hughes, a 2018 first-round pick, figured to see an increased role against the Saints in the Wild Card round as Mackensie Alexander nurses a knee injury. Now, the Vikings are without both corners for the big game on Sunday.

Hughes played in 14 games (three starts) in 2019, logging one interception, two forced fumbles, and 43 total tackles. The Vikings already had their work cut out for them with Michael Thomas & Co., but things are looking extra bleak for them at this moment.

To fill in at cornerback, the Vikings re-signed old friend Marcus Sherels. Sherels, a Minnesota native, spent nine straight seasons with the Vikings. From 2011-18, Sherels returned 231 punts for 2,447 yards (10.6 average) and five touchdowns, setting franchise records in all three categories.

Chase Young Enters NFL Draft

January 3rd, 2020 at 12:11pm CST by Zachary Links

Ohio State star Chase Young has officially declared for the 2020 NFL Draft. The superstar edge rusher figures to be one of the very first players selected in April. 

Young is widely regarded as the top overall talent in this year’s class. If the Bengals select Joe Burrow or another quarterback at No. 1, he’ll be there for the Redskins and new head coach Ron Rivera at No. 2.

Young, listed at 6’5″ and 265 pounds, has been on an absolute tear at Ohio State. This year, he finished out with 16.5 sacks and 21 tackles for a loss in just 12 games. He was suspended for two games by the NCAA after he was found to have taken a loan from a family friend that he later paid back, but that didn’t slow him down much. That incident won’t have any bearing on his draft stock, either.

Talent evaluators have been salivating over Young for years. He arrived on campus in 2017 as a top recruit out of DeMatha Catholic High School and made noise right off the bat. Then, in 2018, he broke out with 10.5 sacks and major stops against some of Ohio State’s biggest rivals.

The Lions, Giants, and Dolphins round out the top five in the draft.

Bears Sign Eddie Jackson To Extension

January 3rd, 2020 at 11:05am CST by Zachary Links

The Bears have locked down star safety Eddie Jackson for years to come. On Friday, his agents announced the signing of a four-year add-on worth $58.4MM.

The new deal includes $33MM in overall guarantees and $22MM fully guaranteed. The $14.6MM average annual value of the deal ranks as the highest of any safety in the NFL.

Jackson, 27, still had one year to go on his paltry four-year, $3.065MM rookie deal. But, after back-to-back Pro Bowl nods, the Bears didn’t want to wait until the asking price jumped even further.

The Bears were somewhat limited on cap space for 2020, but thanks to some help from Kyle Fuller, they were able to carve out enough room to extend Jackson through the 2024 campaign.

Jackson entered the league as a fourth-round pick of the Bears in 2017. Since then, he’s started in 100% of his games and solidified himself as one of the league’s premier safeties. Over the last three seasons, he’s notched ten interceptions and returned three of those picks for touchdowns.

The advanced metrics back up the traditional stats, too. In 2018, Jackson earned an eye-popping 93.2 score from Pro Football Focus, tying him for the highest grade ever given to a safety. He wasn’t quite as sharp in 2019, but the Bears believe that he’ll bounce back in 2020, along with the rest of the team’s high-priced defense.

Before Jackson’s deal, Titans safety Kevin Byard had the highest AAV at the position ($14.1MM) thanks to the five-year, $70.5MM extension he signed last summer. In terms of overall compensation, Redskins standout Landon Collins still reins supreme at safety with his six-year, $84MM deal.

Alex Leatherwood To Stay In School

January 3rd, 2020 at 9:38am CST by Zachary Links

Alex Leatherwood could have been a first-round pick in this year’s draft. Instead, the left tackle will return to Alabama in order to earn his degree. 

“My three years at Alabama have been some of the best of my life,” Leatherwood said. “I’ve used my time in Tuscaloosa to grow significantly as a player and as a person, but I believe that I have more left to learn. When I decided to come to Alabama it was always important to me to win football games, but it was equally as important that I earn my degree. I realize that my career on the field will not last forever and walking across that stage has always been a goal of mine.”

There’s some risk involved here, but Leatherwood figures to be one of the top prospects in the 2021 NFL Draft after he gets some additional seasoning with the national powerhouse. Evaluators were already salivating over Leatherwood’s skillset after he successfully shifted from playing right guard in 2018 to manning LT in 2019.

Other top tackles in this year’s class include Alabama’s Jedrick Wills Jr., Georgia’s Andrew Thomas, Iowa’s Tristan Wirfs, and USC’s Austin Jackson.

Bears Adjust Kyle Fuller’s Contract

January 3rd, 2020 at 9:32am CST by Zachary Links

The Bears carved out some cap room, with a little help from Kyle Fuller. The team added two voidable years to the cornerback’s contract, creating some fiscal flexibility in 2020, as Brad Biggs of the Chicago Tribune writes. 

Fuller’s original contract ran through 2021 with $13MM coming in 2020 and a cap hit of $17.5MM. In the revised pact, he’ll get a $7.5MM option bonus, prorated over five years. Meanwhile, his base salary for 2020 will go down to $4.5MM, lowering his cap hit to $11.5MM. All in all, it means $6MM in additional cap room for the Bears as they retool their roster in the spring. Then, in 2021, Fuller’s cap hit will jump from $18.5MM to $20MM.

As of this writing, the Bears have about $16MM in cap space. They’ll likely shed some other veteran contracts between now and the start of free agency, giving them more room to work with.

Fuller, 28 in February, earned Pro Bowl and First-Team All-Pro nods for his work in 2018, including a league-leading seven interceptions. In 2019, he started in all 16 games and came away with three INTs.

Browns To Interview Eric Bieniemy

January 3rd, 2020 at 8:49am CST by Zachary Links

Eric Bieniemy turned down the Cardinals, but he’s open to joining the Browns. The Chiefs offensive coordinator will sit down with Cleveland brass on Friday afternoon, per a club announcement.

Bieniemy will be the third candidate to meet with the Browns regarding their HC vacancy. On Thursday, the club chatted with former Packers head coach Mike McCarthy and Ravens offensive coordinator Greg Roman.

He won’t be the last to chat with the team, either. Per PFR’s 2020 Head Coaching Search Tracker, there are upwards of ten candidates on the Browns’ radar:

Redskins To Interview Scott Turner

January 3rd, 2020 at 8:44am CST by Zachary Links

Panthers offensive coordinator Scott Turner will interview with the Redskins for their OC vacancy, according to Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (on Twitter). Incumbent Kevin O’Connell remains the frontrunner for the job, but Rapoport hears that Turner could wind up as the team’s quarterbacks coach if he doesn’t land the OC post. 

The Redskins wasted little time in hiring new head coach Ron Rivera and, in turn, Rivera started building out his staff immediately. On New Year’s Day, Rivera tapped Jack Del Rio as his new defensive coordinator.

Rivera is already familiar with Turner’s skillset – Turner served as Rivera’s QB coach in Carolina, up until Rivera’s dismissal. After Rivera was ousted, Turner was bumped up to OC as his father, Norv Turner, was transitioned to a different role.

The Turner family, of course, also has history with the Redskins. Norv served as the Redskins’ head coach from 1994-2000.

Latest On Cowboys, Jason Garrett

January 3rd, 2020 at 8:27am CST by Zachary Links

There’s no official word on Jason Garrett‘s status, but it sounds like the Cowboys will be moving on from their longtime head coach. The saga is “expected to conclude soon” with Garrett’s dismissal, ESPN.com’s Ed Werder (on Twitter) hears. After that, the Cowboys will move on quickly and begin interviewing candidates for the job. 

[RELATED: 2020 NFL Head Coaching Search Tracker]

Werder’s report stops just short of saying that a final determination has been made, but it sure sounds like the two sides are headed for divorce. The Cowboys, reportedly, were only planning to retain Garrett if the Cowboys made a deep playoff run. Unfortunately for the Princeton grad, the Cowboys finished 8-8, missed the playoffs, and ceded the division to the rival Eagles.

The Cowboys were scheduled to meet with Garrett at The Star on Thursday, but that meeting was scrapped. Before the 86’d sit-down, the Cowboys were rumored to be considering a middle-ground scenario in which Garrett would remain with the organization in a different role. At this moment, a clean break seems more likely.

If this is the end of the line for Garrett, he’ll leave the Cowboys as their second-winningest coach of all time and an overall record of 85-67. Only Tom Landry won more games for the franchise, but Garrett has just career two playoff wins to his credit. Under Garrett’s guidance, the Cowboys have never advanced beyond the divisional round.

O-Line Will Be Jets’ Top Offseason Priority

January 2nd, 2020 at 9:40pm CST by Sam Robinson

The Jets have deployed one of the league’s worst offensive lines in recent years, and their new-look front office plans to address that issue this offseason. The Jets will make their O-line their top priority, Ralph Vacchiano of SNY notes.

Gang Green has four of its five starters set for free agency, and Brian Winters looms as a prospective cap casualty. The Jets are projected to hold more than $59MM in cap space, prior to any cuts. While the team has big needs at cornerback and edge defender, the Jets are expected to devote key resources to addressing its front.

Kelvin Beachum, Alex Lewis, Ryan Kalil and Brandon Shell are UFAs-to-be. The Jets would save $7.3MM by releasing Winters, their longest-tenured lineman. Winters, 28, missed seven games this season after going on IR in November. Should the Jets opt to let tackles Beachum and Shell walk, a Winters cut would give the team zero starters from its Week 1 lineup. Kalil is not expected to return, and the Jets cut Kelechi Osemele during the season. Considering the Jets benched Shell at one point this season, he would be a good bet to depart. Acquired by the current Jets regime, Lewis may be a candidate to stay.

New York dealt with injuries across its front and ended up ranking 31st in Football Outsiders’ adjusted line yards metric. This contributed to Le’Veon Bell‘s rough season. The Jets ranked last in that metric in 2018.

Former top-10 picks Brandon Scherff and Jack Conklin are set to be free agents, and the Patriots have Joe Thuney in a walk year. Productive Lions guard Graham Glasgow may be eager to test the market as well. The Jets may well have been linked to many top linemen in the past, considering ex-GM Mike Maccagnan‘s penchant for big March spending. It’s unknown how new GM Joe Douglas will approach this. But it’s likely the team will devote free agency and draft resources to fixing its front.

Cowboys Expected To Part Ways With Jason Garrett

January 2nd, 2020 at 8:25pm CST by Sam Robinson

Another Jason Garrett role with the Cowboys does not look to be the plan. While the Cowboys have still not fired their head coach, that is expected to commence soon, Ed Werder of ESPN.com reports (on Twitter).

Earlier Thursday, Werder reported some in the organization wondered if this lengthy delay stemmed from Garrett being set to take another role with the franchise. But coaching interviews are expected soon, which should (in theory) come after the Cowboys announce they’ve fired the incumbent.

Garrett was slated to meet with Jerry and Stephen Jones on Thursday, but Calvin Watkins of the Dallas Morning News adds that did not happen (Twitter link). Final clarity remains elusive, and the Cowboys remain days behind the other coach-needy teams. Some with the Cowboys have not seen a defined process or timeline take shape on this front, per Yahoo.com’s Charles Robinson.

The team has interest in outside candidates, including Ravens OC Greg Roman. But the Cowboys have not moved on this, with Garrett still employed. While it appears the Cowboys are heading in the direction of firing Garrett, after weeks of rumors, this process is dragging due to the “abundance of care and respect” team brass has for its 10-year head coach, Werder adds.

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