2020 February - Pro Football Rumors

Eagles Opinions: Jenkins, Backup QB, Ertz, Goedert

February 23rd, 2020 at 4:57pm CST by Marc Delucchi

The Eagles will pay for deciding to wait on signing defensive back Malcolm Jenkins to an extension last season, according to Eliot Shorr-Parks of 94 WIP. Philadelphia declined to restructure Jenkins’ very team-friendly deal last offseason, but now the team faces a cap crunch on the rest of the roster as well. At 32 years old, there is reason to be concerned about giving Jenkins a large contract, but his production over the past few seasons has been on par with some of the best in the league.

Here’s some more commentary on the Eagles offseason:

Few teams require a better backup quarterback than the Eagles and Shorr-Parks identifies six plausible targets for Philly. Obviously, starter Carson Wentz has shown he has the potential to be an elite quarterback, but an extensive injury history will always make fans and team officials nervous about the team’s prospects if there is not a strong backup behind him. The Eagles, of course, were eliminated from the playoffs when Josh McCown had to play under center after a series of injuries at quarterback.
Zach Ertz expressed some apprehension about his future with the Eagles organization at the end of the season. With two years left on his contract, many were caught off guard by his cautious comments. However, Jeff McLane of The Philadelphia Inquirer discusses the impact tight end Dallas Goedert could have on the Eagles (and Ertz’s) future. Goedert was selected in the 2nd round of the 2018 NFL Draft and has been an effective contributor for the Eagles. McLane points out that 49ers tight end George Kittle is set to reset the tight end market as well. The team’s confidence in Goedert combined with the increasing cost of tight ends could soon lead to Ertz’s departure.

AFC Injury Notes: Landry, Phillips, Beckham

February 23rd, 2020 at 4:10pm CST by Marc Delucchi

Browns wide receiver Jarvis Landry was unable to avoid offseason hip surgery, according to Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com. Landry had been hopeful that rest and rehab would be enough to deal with his injury during the offseason but instead opted to go under the knife. The news did not come as a huge surprise given the fact that Landry had previously mentioned he regretted not getting surgery sooner, but it remains noteworthy nonetheless.

The timetable for his return appears to be six-to-eight months, which would allow him back onto the field at some point during training camp.

Here’s some more injury notes from around the AFC:

Bills defensive tackle Harrison Phillips discussed the grueling recovery process from a torn ACL with Bills Insider Chris Brown. Phillips described his experience going through the “very long, slow process” working back to the field. On top of his original rehab, Phillips suffered a major setback in September, which delayed his recovery timetable even further. At this point, Phillips does not expect to be a full go until training camp.
Unlike teammate Jarvis Landry, Browns wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. should be back at full strength from surgery in less than a month, per Cabot. Beckham, who underwent core-muscle surgery in late January, is on pace to be recovered in time to participate in offseason minicamp. While he did not attend minicamp last offseason, the combination of a new head coach in Cleveland and his attempts to come back from an injury could make his attendance more likely.

Raiders Hope To Hold Minicamp In Nevada

February 23rd, 2020 at 3:02pm CST by Marc Delucchi

The Raiders move from Oakland to Las Vegas has been mired in dysfunction and mismanagement. While the team remains on schedule to play all of their home games in Las Vegas next season, the offseason plan remains up in the air. With training camp scheduled to take place in Napa, California, which is currently set to be their last action in the Bay Area, it was expected that offseason minicamps would likely be in California as well.

However, per Jerry McDonald of The Mercury News, Raiders head coach Jon Gruden told reporters that the team plans to hold minicamp at their Henderson, Nevada facility. Minicamp is scheduled for mid-June and the Henderson facility is still under construction. Furthermore, the Raiders have made no official announcement about a move to Nevada before the season starts. In fact, Gruden himself said the team would not move to Nevada until the conclusion of this year’s training camp.

It should not come as a huge surprise that the Raiders move is coming together rather sloppily. Given the massive undertaking of shifting an organization’s operations between states, delays are sure to happen. Of course, the Raiders reputation of organizational incompetence seems to leave an added layer of uncertainty.

Green Bay Has Not Been Named Host of 2022 NFL Draft

February 23rd, 2020 at 2:04pm CST by Marc Delucchi

An erroneous report yesterday began circling around various media outlets that Green Bay, Wisconsin would host the 2022 NFL Draft. While the city of Green Bay still hopes to host the event, Packers chief operating officer Ed Policy tells Richard Ryman of the Green Bay Press-Gazette that no decision has been made by the league at this point.

The draft was hosted in New York from 1965 to 2014, but the league decided to allow the event to rove between cities. Since the league’s decision, the most popular event of the offseason has been hosted in Philadelphia (PA), Dallas (TX), Nashville (TN), and Chicago (IL) twice. Las Vegas will host this offseason’s draft and the 2021 draft will take place in Cleveland (OH).

Green Bay is obviously one of the most historic cities in NFL history, but it also would be a stark contrast from the large cities that have played host over the event’s history. Ryman writes that Green Bay has had its eyes on the draft for some time with a number of recent developments in the city’s downtown.

Since no announcement has been made, and Green Bay seems to be in the running, it’s still plausible that the 2022 NFL Draft could be in Wisconsin, but for now, no decision is final.

Latest On Browns’ DE Olivier Vernon

February 23rd, 2020 at 12:18pm CST by Rory Parks

Browns defensive end Olivier Vernon came to the team last year as part of the trade that brought WR Odell Beckham to Cleveland. Vernon is under contract through 2020, but his future with the Browns is uncertain at the moment.

Advanced metrics were reasonably fond of Vernon’s play during his first year with the Browns — though he posted just 3.5 sacks — but he is due a hefty $15.25MM salary next season. Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com says the Browns are not going to pay him that much, so he will either be released or asked to take a pay cut.

And the Browns do have plenty of leverage to demand a pay reduction. Vernon will almost certainly not fetch a deal on the open market that would pay him $15.25MM next year, and Cleveland can clear that entire figure off its books with no dead money penalty by cutting him. Plus, although Vernon did earn a Pro Bowl nod with the Giants in 2018, he has not played a full 16-game slate since 2016. He has missed at least four games in each of the past three years due to various injuries.

But cutting Vernon would leave a noticeable void in the team’s front seven, so a reworked deal may be the best course of action for both sides. If the Browns do part ways with the Miami product, Cabot says Everson Griffen, who recently opted out of his deal with the Vikings, could be a potential replacement. Griffen and new Cleveland HC Kevin Stefanski are obviously familiar with each other from their time in Minnesota.

In other Browns news, Cabot says she expects new GM Andrew Berry to use his extra draft capital to pursue trades for big-name players and that the team will scour the trade and free agent markets for offensive tackles.

CBA Notes: 2/23/20

February 23rd, 2020 at 11:53am CST by Rory Parks

Here are today’s reports concerning the current CBA negotiations:

Players are still “majorly divided” over the prospect of a 17-game season, per Jeremy Fowler of ESPN.com. We previously heard that NFL ownership has agreed to meet with the union at the Combine on the evening of February 25, and Fowler says player reps could vote as early as February 26. However, a source told Fowler that “[a]nything is possible at this point.”
Fowler reiterates that players want to go back to owners and continue negotiating, but the owners have said that no more negotiations will take place and that the current iteration of the CBA is the owners’ best and final offer.
Ben Volin of the Boston Globe does a nice job of breaking down the major tenets of the current proposal, and he suggests the owners may not be merely posturing when they say the CBA is not going to get any better for the players. Indeed, players have historically folded under the prospect of a lockout, and if a new agreement is not in place by the time the current one expires in March 2021, the owners will have even more leverage than they currently do.
Plus, as Volin points out, the average NFL career is three years, so while the league’s elite can perhaps afford to drive a hard bargain, the middle- and lower-classes want the new CBA and the immediate raises for younger players that it provides. On the other hand, Volin believes the owners did not really make any significant concessions in terms of major financial battlegrounds like the franchise tag formula or a quicker path to free agency, so the union’s reluctance to pull the trigger is understandable.
The 17-game schedule is obviously the major sticking point, but the expanded playoff field is also a part of the equation. League owners believe that they don’t need player approval for the expansion, which they intend to move forward with in 2020 even if the players don’t ratify a new CBA, as Mark Maske of the Washington Post tweets. However, as Pro Football Talk notes (via Twitter), unless owners already have the right to expand the playoffs under the current CBA, it seems as if that issue would be one that needs to be collectively bargained.
Under the proposed version of the new CBA, players would be capped at $250K for their 17th game check, as Tom Pelissero of the NFL Network tweets. Therefore, many players would play that game for less than they would usually make — a player with a $4.25MM annual salary earns $250K per week — which is obviously problematic.
One of the benefits of getting a deal done quickly is the fact that it would help facilitate new broadcast deals, thereby allowing the league (and its players) to capitalize on the NFL’s recent ratings rise and avoid the possibility of networks getting cold feet over labor unrest. Charles Robinson of Yahoo Sports says salary cap projections are already being made for as far out as the 2027 season, which suggests that broadcasting rights negotiations are already quite far along or the owners have agreeable proposals in front of them (Twitter link).

Buccaneers Interested In Tom Brady?

February 23rd, 2020 at 10:17am CST by Rory Parks

He may be 42, but Tom Brady is the linchpin of this year’s quarterback market, as Ben Volin of the Boston Globe writes. Volin says he recently spoke with a source closely connected to a QB (not Brady) who is eligible for free agency, and the source said that every team who is looking for a signal-caller wants to know what Brady is doing before moving on to other options.

That doesn’t necessarily mean that every QB-needy team is interested in Brady, but he is in high demand. And the same source indicated that three teams continue to get mentioned in connection with the six-time Super Bowl champ: the Chargers, the Raiders, and the Buccaneers.

The Chargers’ and Raiders’ interest in Brady has been well-documented, but the rumored Buccaneers interest is a new development. Of course, Tampa Bay has plenty of talent at the skill positions and a highly-respected head coach in Bruce Arians, so there is some logic to a Bucs-Brady partnership.

On the other hand, Tampa does not seem to be one aging QB away from a Super Bowl, so it may be looking for more of a long-term fix. The team is reportedly considering a two-year pact for Jekyll-and-Hyde passer Jameis Winston, and on the surface, it still feels like the Patriots or Chargers are the front-runners for Brady’s services.

Indeed, Mike Reiss of ESPN.com believes the Patriots remain the favorites, because the culture Brady has helped create in New England over the past 20 years is meaningful to him and it may be hard for him to walk away if the Pats come to him with emotion and the sincere intention of re-signing him. ESPN NFL Insider Jeff Darlington recently said Brady likes the idea of perhaps going to a different organization and helping to create a similar culture there — which could help the Bucs if they do pursue Brady — but according to Reiss, those intangible considerations could slant even more heavily in New England’s favor.

In any event, Volin says Brady is relishing his status as the top free agent on the market and his newfound leverage in negotiations with the Patriots, which are expected to begin during or immediately after the upcoming Combine. If the Patriots are inclined to add voidable years to a new deal for Brady like they did last August, they cannot do so unless a new CBA is agreed upon in short order. As Reiss points out, teams cannot use voidable years in the final year of a collective bargaining agreement.

Ravens Expected To Franchise Tag LB Matt Judon

February 23rd, 2020 at 9:16am CST by Rory Parks

In retweeting a report from ESPN’s Adam Schefter indicating that the NFL and NFLPA have agreed to push back the franchise and transition tag windows, Jamison Hensley of ESPN.com made a seemingly offhand, but still important, observation. Hensley tweeted that the new window is relevant to the Ravens, who are expected to tag linebacker Matt Judon.

We heard back in December that Baltimore is prepared to hit Judon with the franchise tag if the two sides cannot work out a long-term pact, but then head coach John Harbaugh conceded that it would be difficult to retain the team’s top pass rusher. Shortly thereafter, reports surfaced indicating that the Ravens may explore tag-and-trade scenarios with Judon.

As such, the fact that Baltimore plans to tag the Grand Valley State product is not surprising. The Ravens could look for trade partners for Judon once he’s tagged — the tag-and-trade market for edge rushers was rather robust last season — and they will certainly continue to negotiate their own contract with him.

The problem is that Judon has proven himself to be a good player, but not necessarily a player worthy of a deal that could approach an AAV of $20MM. He can dominate a game but does not do so routinely, and though he earned his first Pro Bowl nod in 2019, that largely seemed to be a function of the team’s overall success.

On the other hand, the Ravens need a proven commodity at pass rusher, and beyond Judon, they don’t have one. They have high hopes for 2019 third-rounder Jaylon Ferguson, but the jury is still out on him, and it’s unlikely that any of the league’s other top edge rushers eligible for free agency will actually hit the open market. And Baltimore did let Za’Darius Smith walk in free agency last year because it deemed his price tag too rich, only to see Smith break out for the Packers.

So where Judon will play in 2020 is still an open question, but it sounds as if the franchise tag is all but a done deal.

Ben Roethlisberger Resumes Throwing

February 22nd, 2020 at 9:19pm CST by Andrew Ortenberg

Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger has insisted he’s going to come back and play, and he took a big step in the right direction this week. Big Ben has resumed throwing footballs, as you can see in this video the team tweeted out.

Pittsburgh’s leader underwent surgery for a season-ending elbow injury back in September. Roethlisberger had “a significant checkup on the elbow Friday in Los Angeles” according to Brooke Pryor of ESPN.com, and apparently that checkup went pretty well. There were some rumblings a couple of months ago that Roethlisberger might never play again, but the passer quickly issued a statement to shoot down those results.

Ever since then everything has been trending in the right direction, and all signs seem to point toward Roethlisberger taking the field in 2020. Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin just expressed confidence in his availability, and GM Kevin Colbert made similar comments a couple of weeks ago. The Steelers had high hopes for last season, but they were quickly dashed when Roethlisberger went down with his injury.

The defense became one of the league’s best units which kept them afloat for a while, but ultimately shaky quarterback play from Mason Rudolph and Devlin Hodges brought them down. There seems to have been hope within the organization that Rudolph would be the heir to Roethlisberger, but the Oklahoma State product certainly didn’t show anything last year to inspire much confidence. Even assuming Roethlisberger makes a full recovery he’s turning 38 next month, and the Steelers will likely have to address the position at some point in the near future.

NFL Pushes Back Franchise Tag Window + Latest On CBA

February 22nd, 2020 at 7:40pm CST by Andrew Ortenberg

A significant development in the CBA negotiations was announced Saturday evening. The NFL and NFLPA have agreed to push back the franchise and transition tag windows, sources told Tom Pelissero and Ian Rapoport of NFL Network (Twitter link). The tag window was supposed to be from February 25th to March 10th, but it’ll now be from February 27th to March 12th.

In a follow-up tweet, Pelissero noted that if no new CBA is agreed upon by then, teams will be able to use both the franchise and transition tags instead of the usual one tag per team. As he points out that’s potentially good news for teams like the Cowboys, who have more than one impending free agent they want control over. The push moves the window to after the full NFLPA vote on the proposed CBA is expected, so teams will be able to know where things stand before deciding who to tag.

Momentum toward a new CBA took a significant blow yesterday, although the two sides agreed to meet at this week’s combine to further negotiate. This is a move designed to give the sides a little bit more time to talk as deadlines rapidly approach, and to see if the Tuesday summit at the combine moves things in the right direction. The decision has many implications, and Jason Fitzgerald of Overthecap.com tweets that he thinks the union will now have to “indicate a pretty strong yes by the 26th” or else there won’t be new CBA rules this year.

It also gives teams like the Cowboys two extra days to negotiate long-term deals for players like Dak Prescott before they have to decide whether or not to use a tag. Interestingly, if progress is made on talks and it looks like there’s a deal to be reached, there is still a chance that the start of free agency is pushed back to accommodate the talks, Ralph Vacchiano of SNY hears (Twitter link). These next few days are going to be pivotal, and we should know a lot more soon.