HEADLINES

Month: December 2024

Jags, Bucs Discussed Leonard Fournette Trade

April 26th, 2020 at 9:33am CST by Rory Parks

The Jaguars, who have been trying to trade RB Leonard Fournette, contacted the Bucs about a potential deal, per Jeremy Fowler of ESPN.com (via Twitter). Tampa Bay, however, added a running back via the draft when it selected Ke’Shawn Vaughn in the third round on Friday night. The Bucs also picked up Raymond Calais in the seventh round.

Fournette would have made some sense in Tampa Bay, as the club was said to be seeking a pass-catching back to complement Ronald Jones, and Fournette did haul in 76 passes for 522 yards in 2019. But the Bucs opted to go with younger (and cheaper) options in Vaughn and Calais.

The Jags, meanwhile, did not add an RB of their own with any of their 12 picks, so Fournette remains on the club as the undisputed RB1. He was drawing tepid interest on the trade market, and it remains to be seen if the team will continue seeking a trade now that the draft is over.

The LSU product is set to earn $4MM+ in 2020 with a fifth-year option for 2021, priced at more than $10MM. The Jaguars have until early May to exercise that option, which is guaranteed for injury only since Fournette was selected in the 2017 draft.

Jacksonville also discussed a deal with the Dolphins, but Miami acquired Matt Breida from the 49ers for this year’s No. 153 overall pick.

Saints To Sign QB Jameis Winston

April 26th, 2020 at 8:05am CST by Rory Parks

Jameis Winston is staying in the NFC South. Hours after the 2020 NFL Draft came to an end, the Saints agreed to sign the former Bucs passer, per Charles Robinson of Yahoo Sports. According to Ian Rapoport of NFL.com, it will be a one-year deal for Winston, who had more lucrative offers elsewhere but who saw a better opportunity in New Orleans (Twitter link).

Indeed, Winston will now have the chance to further develop his game under one of the best to ever play, Drew Brees, who may be hanging up the cleats after the 2020 campaign. The Saints have long indicated that they expect Taysom Hill to take over when Brees does decide to retire, and they tendered Hill, a restricted free agent, at the first-round level this offseason.

On the other hand, Hill will be 30 in August and has thrown all of 13 passes in his professional career, so New Orleans’ commitment to him has drawn some public skepticism. But Hill is undeniably a valuable gadget player, and having Winston on board will allow the club to continue deploying Hill in various roles without worrying too much about an injury.

Robinson’s sources indicated that Winston will not be guaranteed the backup job behind Brees. After all, head coach Sean Payton said just last month that Hill had earned that opportunity, but he also said the Saints would add another QB to be active on game days so that Hill could continue contributing as a passer and receiver.

So it seems now that Winston and Hill may be battling not just to be the Saints’ QB2 in 2020, but to be the team’s quarterback of the future in 2021 and beyond. That will create an interesting dynamic in the locker room, as Hill said earlier this year that he is open to leaving New Orleans if the club does not view him as the long-term answer under center.

From the Saints’ perspective, adding Winston on a one-year pact puts both him and Hill on track to be unrestricted free agents in 2021. They will have the entire 2020 season to evaluate the viability of both players as Brees’ successor, and they can re-sign or tag the winner of the year-long battle, or they can go in a completely different direction.

Just yesterday, the club traded back into the seventh round of the draft to select Mississippi State quarterback Tommy Stevens, but Stevens clearly profiles as a taxi squad candidate at this point.

Rams Sign 20 UDFAs

April 25th, 2020 at 10:13pm CST by Andrew Ortenberg

The Rams announced their undrafted free agent class Saturday night, and it’s a big one.

The biggest name on the list is Perkins the former Virginia quarterback, and we wrote about his signing in more detail here. The Rams previously only had John Wolford on the roster behind Jared Goff, so it makes sense they signed Perkins as well as Love the former San Jose State passer.

Los Angeles signed five receivers, with three of them coming from the FCS level. After previously having a career-high of 143 yards Jackson exploded out of nowhere to put up 1,023 yards and 11 touchdowns with Syracuse last year. NFL.com’s Lance Zierlein had him pegged as a fifth-rounder and most analysts had him getting drafted, so this could be a nice pickup for Sean McVay.

Steelers Sign 10 UDFAs

April 25th, 2020 at 9:52pm CST by Andrew Ortenberg

The same night the draft ended, the Steelers officially announced their initial 10-man undrafted free agent class:

Pittsburgh went very heavy on defense. None of these guys are huge name, although a few are notable. Lewis was a four-year starter in the SEC which is always impressive, and Houston was a team captain at USC.

Rams Were In On Trent Williams; Latest On Williams’ Contract

April 25th, 2020 at 8:28pm CST by Andrew Ortenberg

Earlier today the Trent Williams saga finally came to an end, when the Redskins traded the left tackle to the 49ers. Right at the end we heard the Rams could emerge as a suitor, and apparently Los Angeles did in fact kick the tires.

The Rams, who currently have 38-year-old Andrew Whitworth at left tackle and Rob Havenstein at right tackle, were in the race, and head coach Sean McVay “dabbled” with reuniting with Williams as a guard, Mike Garafolo of NFL Network tweets. McVay previously coached Williams when he was Washington’s offensive coordinator. McVay didn’t sound too happy about losing out to his division rival, saying, “thanks for reminding me. I need to go drink a couple of more beers,” when asked about the deal, via Andrew Siciliano of NFL Network (Twitter link).

A proposed trade to the Vikings apparently would’ve come with an extension, but Williams torpedoed that deal earlier this morning. Now, it doesn’t sound like he’s getting an extension anytime soon. 49ers GM John Lynch said the team will let 2020 play out “and see what happens after the season,” per Matt Maiocco of NBC Sports (Twitter link). Indeed, head coach Kyle Shanahan said that Williams himself made it clear that he wanted to wait on an extension and to earn a new, lucrative pact.

“Trent has been out of football for a year and a half, and Trent made it clear to everyone he wants to come back and didn’t want to do a deal right away,” Shanahan said (via Nick Wagoner of ESPN.com). “He wanted to play and try to get back into it and see where he was at with the rest of the league and pick up where he left off.”

Of course, that’s quite a contrast from earlier reports suggesting that Williams not only wanted out of Washington, he also wanted a brand new contract that puts him at the top of the LT market. But perhaps the opportunity to leave the Redskins and to get a fresh start with the defending NFC champs mitigated his financial demands for the time being.

Williams sat out all of last season due to his dispute with the Redskins, but before that he was one of the league’s best tackles. He’ll slide in as an excellent replacement for Joe Staley, who elected to hang up his cleats earlier today.

Rams Sign Virginia QB Bryce Perkins As UDFA

April 25th, 2020 at 8:02pm CST by Andrew Ortenberg

We’ll be bringing you most of the undrafted free agent signings in batches when they’re officially announced, but for now we’re covering a few of the biggest names. Another one familiar to college football fans is Virginia quarterback Bryce Perkins, who just agreed to sign with the Rams, via Tom Pelissero of NFL Network (Twitter link).

Perkins started his college career at Arizona State in 2015, before transferring to Virginia. He started for the Cavaliers the past two seasons, and was electric at times. As a junior in 2018 he passed for 2,680 yards, 25 touchdowns and nine interceptions. An elite dual-threat, he added another 923 yards and nine touchdowns rushing.

After that campaign he was the subject of a lot of offseason hype, and there was even some darkhorse Heisman buzz going around. He wasn’t able to fully deliver on that hype unfortunately, and was less efficient in 2019. Still his mobility is well-suited for today’s NFL, and the Rams have virtually nothing at quarterback behind Jared Goff.

Los Angeles hasn’t yet re-signed Blake Bortles, Goff’s 2019 backup, and the only other passer on the roster is 2018 UDFA John Wolford. If the Rams don’t add a veteran, Perkins should have a good chance at the backup job.

Patriots Sign Louisiana Tech QB J’Mar Smith

April 25th, 2020 at 7:04pm CST by Andrew Ortenberg

The Patriots finally added a quarterback. After surprisingly opting not to pick a passer during the draft, New England has signed former Louisiana Tech quarterback J’Mar Smith as an undrafted free agent, per Tom Pelissero of NFL Network (Twitter link).

It was widely reported that the Patriots would be drafting a quarterback at some point, but that never materialized. It’s still unclear what exactly Bill Belichick is planning on doing to replace Tom Brady, and Smith certainly isn’t going to be the solution. As a redshirt senior and three-year starter at Louisiana Tech, he’ll at least bring plenty of experience. Smith had his best statistical campaign this past season, when he passed for 2,977 yards with 18 touchdowns and five interceptions.

A pretty mobile quarterback, he added 264 yards and another four scores on the ground. Smith is now only the third signal-caller on the Pats’ offseason roster behind Jarrett Stidham and Brian Hoyer. If they don’t add another veteran, he should have a decent chance of making the team or practice squad. The real question now is whether Belichick will go after a high-profile free agent vet like Cam Newton, trade for one like Andy Dalton, or stick with the in-house options.

Redskins Sign Thaddeus Moss As UDFA

April 25th, 2020 at 6:45pm CST by Andrew Ortenberg

One of the biggest-name players to go undrafted is off the market. The Redskins have signed former LSU tight end Thaddeus Moss, according to Adam Schefter of ESPN.com (Twitter link).

Moss, of course, is the son of Hall of Famer Randy Moss. The younger Moss declared early for the draft back in January, and for a while it looked like he had a chance to be a middle-round pick. He apparently was dealing with an unfortunate medical situation, as Tom Pelissero of NFL Network tweets that a Jones fracture in his right foot was discovered at the combine.

That fracture required surgery, and since Moss wasn’t able to visit with teams due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, there were lingering questions about his health that caused him to fall out of the draft. Assuming everything is alright with his foot, this could prove to be a nice no-risk flyer for the Redskins.

Moss has some physical tools and showed plenty of flashes in his one year with LSU, catching 47 passes for 570 yards and four touchdowns. Washington hasn’t had anything consistent at the position since Jordan Reed was last healthy years ago, and their tight end depth chart is pretty thin. Jeremy Sprinkle, Logan Thomas, and Richard Rodgers aren’t the most inspiring options, so Moss should have the chance to compete for playing time right away if he makes the team.

Meet Mr. Irrelevant: Giants Select Tae Crowder To Wrap 2020 NFL Draft

April 25th, 2020 at 6:06pm CST by Zachary Links

The 2020 NFL Draft is in the books. With the final pick – No. 225 overall – the Giants selected Georgia linebacker Tae Crowder to wrap up the weekend.

Crowder – a 6’3″, 245 pound athlete – came to campus as a running back in 2015 and switched to linebacker midway through his redshirt freshman season. As time wore on, he got more and more burn with the Bulldogs. Last year, he set a new single-game career high with 12 stops against South Carolina and also managed a 60-yard fumble return against Tennessee.

All told last season he had 62 tackles, four for a loss, and four passes defended. As this year’s Mr. Irrelevant, Crowder will have his name down as a footnote regardless of how his pro career turns out.

Here’s the complete rundown of the Giants’ draft, courtesy of PFR’s draft results tracker:

1-4: Andrew Thomas, T (Georgia)
2-36: Xavier McKinney, S (Alabama)
3-99: Matt Peart, OT (Connecticut)
4-110: Darnay Holmes, CB (UCLA)
5-150: Shane Lemieux, G (Oregon)
6-183: Cameron Brown, LB (Penn State)
7-218: Carter Coughlin, LB (Minnesota)
7-238: T.J. Brunson LB (South Carolina)
7-247: Chris Williamson, CB (Minnesota)
7-255: Tae Crowder, LB (Georgia)

Saints Trade Up For QB Tommy Stevens

April 25th, 2020 at 5:34pm CST by Andrew Ortenberg

As the draft comes to a close, the Saints are making an interesting selection. New Orleans traded back up into the seventh-round to take Mississippi State quarterback Tommy Stevens with the 240th pick.

The Saints gave the Texans a sixth-rounder in the 2021 draft to get the pick. The Saints are reportedly planning on having Taysom Hill take over for Drew Brees, and Stevens could take over for Hill. He’s a similar type of swiss army knife player who reportedly impressed scouts in workouts earlier this offseason. Stevens entered Penn State as a highly-recruited passer, but got blocked on the depth chart behind Trace McSorely.

While serving as McSorely’s backup he also played a large role on offense, as Penn State had a package of plays where he’d line up in the backfield or as a receiver. In the 2017 season, he had 250 yards from scrimmage and six touchdowns. Before last season he transferred to MSU, and initially became their starting quarterback.

He struggled with injuries and was benched at times, finishing the season with 1,155 yards and 11 touchdowns with five interceptions. It’ll be interesting to see if he can carve out a Hill-like role in the pros.

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