HEADLINES

Month: December 2024

Cam Newton Looking For Starting Job

April 27th, 2020 at 10:21am CST by Zachary Links

Free agent Cam Newton is looking for a starting gig, NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport reports. Unfortunately for the one-time MVP, there aren’t many openings left after the draft. 

The Chargers likely took themselves out of the Newton sweepstakes by selecting Oregon’s Justin Herbert with the No. 6 overall pick. In theory, Newton could serve as a veteran bridge to a rookie – especially one as green as Herbert – but they already have Tyrod Taylor to occupy that role on a very reasonable contract. Meanwhile, the Dolphins have Tua Tagovailoa and the Jaguars seem prepared to roll with Gardner Minshew. In theory, that leaves the Patriots, though their level of interest in Newton is unclear. At the moment, their QB room includes veteran Brian Hoyer and newly signed UDFA Brian Lewerke, a Michigan State product who lobbed 17 touchdowns against 13 interceptions last year.

After the Panthers moved on from Newton, the QB’s camp has been preaching patience. The 30-year-old is out to prove himself all over again after a lost season, but there are no clear openings for him at present. Newton’s best bet – and perhaps only bet – would be to wait for QB injuries to pop up elsewhere. Even then, any team with interest in Newton will take a very close inspection of his foot and shoulder injuries.

Newton was limited to only two games in 2019, but he did make 14 starts in 2018. In that year, he completed a career-best 67.9% of his throws for 3,395 yards, 24 TDs, and 13 picks. He also showed that he can still make plays with his feet – he tallied 488 rushing yards and four scores on 101 carries.

AFC East Rumors: Dolphins, Wilson, Patriots, Jets

April 27th, 2020 at 9:56am CST by Zachary Links

After Day 3 of the draft, the Dolphins added some safety depth and special teams help by picking up Kavon Frazier. But, before that, the Dolphins chatted with ex-Patriots safety Tavon Wilson about a minimum salary contract, Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald (on Twitter) hears. Wilson, who is presumably gunning for a better deal, declined.

With that, Frazier will fight for his place in the Dolphins’ sardine-packed safety group. Meanwhile, the 30-year-old Wilson will look for his next opportunity. Last year, Wilson made 13 starts for Detroit and registered 98 tackles, five passes defensed, two fumble recoveries, and one sack. Meanwhile, Pro Football Focus ranked him as the No. 26 safety in the entire NFL. Still, he hasn’t been able to score an offer to his liking and he hasn’t heard much, if anything, from the incumbent Lions.

Here’s more from the AFC East:

  • The Jets‘ draft has drawn positive reviews from most in the football world, but ESPN.com’s Rich Cimini isn’t sure if they did enough to strengthen the cornerback position. Jets GM Joe Douglas waited until the fifth round to take a corner and, when they did, they tapped Virginia product Bryce Hall, is coming off of ankle surgery. As Hall heals up, the Jets may look to explore what’s left of the league’s free agent cornerbacks.
  • Did the Patriots reach with third-round tight ends Devin Asiasi (UCLA) and Dalton Keene (Virginia Tech) in the third round? Mel Kiper Jr. and one scout that spoke with ESPN.com’s Mike Reiss say that’s the case, though Reiss notes that they were both near the top of the Pats’ TE board heading into draft weekend. On the whole, this was viewed as a soft TE class, but that was one of the Pats’ biggest needs. Of course, they’d be in a much better spot if Rob Gronkowski opted to make his return with New England. Instead, Gronk will reunite with Tom Brady in Tampa Bay.
  • On draft week, the Bills picked up Tre’Davious White‘s fifth-year option, a no-brainer move that will keep him in the fold through the 2021 season.

Dalvin Cook To Join Vikings’ Virtual OTAs

April 27th, 2020 at 8:49am CST by Zachary Links

Vikings running back Dalvin Cook will be on hand (or, rather, online) for the Vikings’ virtual offseason program, as Tom Pelissero of NFL.com tweets. Cook has been pushing for a new deal as he enters his walk year, but that won’t stop him from participating in the club’s voluntary OTAs. 

[RELATED: Vikings Tried, Failed To Land Trent Williams] 

This could be a sign that things are trending in the right direction between the Vikes and their starting running back. Or, it could just mean that things are, generally, in a good place between the player and the club. Typically, players seeking new contracts are skittish about offseason activities because of the injury risk involved. Obviously, there’s no risk of injury when the OTAs consist of Zoom meetings.

So far, Cook and the Vikings have been on the same page.

“I definitely love Minnesota,” the 24-year-old (25 in August) said recently. “I love everything the state has to bring. Being a kid, I was drafted (in 2017) from Miami (his hometown), so I didn’t know what I was getting myself into. I actually am happy where I’m at, and I would like to be in Minnesota long term.” 

Last year, Cook ran for 1,135 yards and 13 touchdowns last season. He also added another 519 yards through the air, giving him more than 1,600 all-purpose yards on the year. Meanwhile, he’s slated to earn a base salary of just $1.33MM in 2020.

The Florida State product fell to the second round in 2017, which means that the Vikings do not have the luxury of the fifth-year option. There’s a sense of urgency on both sides here – Cook wants security and the Vikings, ideally, would like to keep Cook under control at a reasonable rate.

Minor NFL Transactions: 4/26/20

April 26th, 2020 at 8:57pm CST by Andrew Ortenberg

Today’s minor moves:

Green Bay Packers

Houston Texans

  • Signed: LS Anthony Kukwa

New England Patriots

Pittsburgh Steelers

Davis signed with the Patriots as an undrafted free agent in 2017, and spent two of the past three seasons on injured reserve. He played a significant role on the 2018 team, starting three out of the six games he appeared in and winning Super Bowl LIII with the team. He was just re-signed last month, but didn’t last long.

All three of the players Pittsburgh cut spent time on their practice squad last year, but none of them have appeared in a regular season game yet.

Seahawks To Release Justin Britt

April 26th, 2020 at 8:09pm CST by Andrew Ortenberg

The Seahawks continue to overhaul their offensive line. Just a couple hours after we heard that the team was releasing guard D.J. Fluker, they’ll also be cutting center Justin Britt, Bob Condotta of the Seattle Times confirmed (Twitter link).

Aaron Fentress of The Athletic was the first to report the news on Twitter. Britt spent the past six seasons in Seattle, and was a full-time starter for all of them. Originally a tackle and then a guard his first two years in the league, he made the switch to center in 2016. Britt was heading into the final year of his contract and the team will save $8.5MM in cap space by cutting him, although they will incur a $2.9MM dead cap hit, Condotta notes in the Times.

The release of Fluker saved about $3.7MM, so the Seahawks cleared a significant amount of space today. They’ve been making moves on the offensive line all offseason, and the unit is going to look considerably different in 2020. Joey Hunt, who started the second half of last season, former second-round pick Ethan Pocic, and B.J. Finney are all candidates to start at center. Finney was signed to a two-year, $8MM pact this offseason.

Britt started the first eight games of last season before tearing an ACL in an October game against the Falcons. Britt will turn 29 in May, and we haven’t heard much about his recovery, although Sirius XM NFL insider Adam Caplan did tweet that he hasn’t had any setbacks. Coming off the devastating injury he’ll likely have to settle for a prove-it deal despite playing at a high level in the past.

It’s possible the Seahawks are attempting to clear space for a bigger move like re-signing the still-available Jadeveon Clowney, but that’s far from definite.

Lions Sign UDFA TE Hunter Bryant

April 26th, 2020 at 6:34pm CST by Andrew Ortenberg

Hunter Bryant was one of the biggest surprise undrafted players, but he’s got a home now. The tight end has signed a free agent contract with the Lions, a source told Tom Pelissero of NFL Network (Twitter link).

Bryant got $60K in guaranteed cash from Detroit which includes a $20K signing bonus, Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle tweets. Bryant was seen as one of the better tight ends in the class by many, and was universally expected to get drafted. He went toward the top of the fourth-round in Matt Miller of Bleacher Report’s final mock draft.

Apparently medical concerns caused Bryant to slip, and given his knee-injury history that’s not too surprising. He was limited to nine games as a freshman and only five as a sophomore. In his junior season in 2019 he exploded and racked up 825 yards, the third-most of any tight end in the country.

Detroit currently has 2019 first-round pick T.J. Hockenson and veteran Jesse James at the position, but Bryant should have a good chance at becoming the team’s third tight end.

Seahawks To Sign QB Anthony Gordon

April 26th, 2020 at 6:03pm CST by Sam Robinson

The Seahawks exited the draft with one quarterback on their roster. Over the past few years, they have not poured much in the way of resources into the spot. But they now have two QBs, as of Sunday afternoon.

Washington State product Anthony Gordon will sign with the Seahawks as a UDFA, Tom Pelissero of NFL.com tweets.

A one-year starter with the Cougars, Gordon took over for Gardner Minshew after he became a sixth-round Jaguars pick in 2019. In Mike Leach’s final Washington State offense, Gordon put up monster numbers and surpassed Minshew statistically. Among Division I-FBS passers, only Joe Burrow bettered Gordon’s 5,579 yards and 48 touchdown passes — accomplished in 13 games compared to Burrow’s 15. Gordon completed 72% of his throws last season and played in the Senior Bowl.

Wilson and Gordon are the Seahawks’ only QBs for the time being. Wilson has never missed a start in his eight-season run as Seattle’s quarterback. Geno Smith spent 2019 as Wilson’s backup, but he remains in free agency. While it’s likely the team will add a third quarterback before training camp, another two-QB setup in Seattle will be likely for the 2020 regular season.

Seahawks Release D.J. Fluker

April 26th, 2020 at 6:03pm CST by Andrew Ortenberg

The Seahawks are making a big change on their offensive line. Seattle released guard D.J. Fluker Sunday, the lineman announced himself on Twitter.

Fluker has been with the Seahawks the past two years, starting all 14 games that he appeared in last season. Fluker had been set to enter the final season of the two-year, $6MM pact he signed with the Seahawks last offseason. As Brady Henderson of ESPN.com pointed out in a tweet, the Seahawks’ recent drafting of guard Damien Lewis out of LSU in the third-round might’ve been the nail in the coffin for Fluker.

Fluker entered the league as the 11th overall pick of the Chargers back in 2013. He started at least 12 games in all four years with San Diego, but never quite lived up to his draft status. A tackle in college and his first couple of pro seasons, Fluker moved to guard in 2015 and has stayed there ever since.

After a pit stop with the Giants in 2017, he landed in Seattle. The Seahawks have Mike Iupati at left guard, and Lewis can now be considered the likely favorite to start on the right side if everything goes according to plan. Still only 29, Fluker should resurface somewhere before too long.

Patriots Sign Brian Lewerke

April 26th, 2020 at 5:49pm CST by Andrew Ortenberg

The Patriots surprisingly opted not to draft a quarterback this weekend, but they’ve now signed a pair of passers who went undrafted. New England has inked former Michigan State quarterback Brian Lewerke to a free agent deal, his agent Mike McCartney tweeted.

The Patriots agreed to terms with former Louisiana Tech signal-caller J’Mar Smith last night. Lewerke had a bumpy career in the Big Ten, to say the least. He showed flashes of brilliance as a sophomore and was buzzed about as a potential future early draft pick, leading to a lot of excitement heading into 2018. A shoulder injury derailed that campaign, and his stats were awful when he was on the field as he threw 11 interceptions and only eight touchdowns while completing just 54.3 percent of his passes.

He bounced back a bit this past season but still wasn’t great, finishing with 17 touchdowns and 13 interceptions. He finished with a career 57.7 percent completion percentage, and never had a year above 59.6. He’s pretty mobile however, as he finished last year with 363 rushing yards and another three scores.

Another thing working in Lewerke’s favor is that he at least had the largest hands of any quarterback at the combine, clocking in at 10 5/8 inches. The Pats have very little certainty at the position, with Jarrett Stidham, Brian Hoyer, Smith, and now Lewerke on the roster. If they don’t add an established veteran like Andy Dalton or Cam Newton soon, it’s going to be a free for all whenever training camp gets underway.

Chiefs Sign 18 UDFAs

April 26th, 2020 at 5:33pm CST by Andrew Ortenberg

The Chiefs became the latest team to announce their undrafted free agent class:

  • Andre Baccellia, WR (Washington)
  • Maurice French, WR (Pittsburgh)
  • Aleva Hifo, WR (BYU)
  • Kalija Lipscomb, WR (Vanderbilt)
  • Justice Shelton‐Mosley, WR (Vanderbilt)
  • Cody White, WR (Michigan State)
  • Yasir Durant, T (Missouri)
  • Jovahn Fair, G (Temple)
  • Darryl Williams, C (Miss St.)
  • Tershawn Wharton, DT (Missouri S&T)
  • Omari Cobb, LB (Marshall)
  • Bryan Wright, LB (Cincinnati)
  • Rodney Clemons, S (SMU)
  • Jalen Julius, S (Ole Miss)
  • Hakeem Bailey, CB (West Virginia)
  • Javaris Davis, CB (Auburn)
  • Lavert Hill, CB (Michigan)
  • Tommy Townsend, P (Florida)

The Chiefs had to spend relatively big to get a couple of these guys. Lipscomb got $110K guaranteed and a $10K signing bonus, while Williams got $107K guaranteed and a $7K signing bonus (Twitter links via Tom Pelissero of NFL Network). This was regarded as an epic receiver class with plenty of draftable players going un-selected due to the surplus, so it’s not surprising guys like Lipscomb are landing big bonuses.

As a junior at Vandy he had 916 yards and nine touchdowns, although he took a step back last season. Williams was a three-year starter at MSU who can play guard and center.

All told, the Chiefs inked a whopping six undrafted receivers. White declared early after racking up 922 yards and six touchdowns as a senior at Michigan State. Davis was widely expected to get drafted, with NFL.com’s Lance Zierlein projecting him as a fifth-rounder and Bleacher Report’s Matt Miller having him go at the top of the sixth, so he’s a nice get as well.

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