HEADLINES

Month: December 2024

Broncos Add Seven UDFAs

April 26th, 2020 at 5:28pm CST by Sam Robinson

The Broncos made 10 draft picks and will, for now, go with a smaller UDFA group. Denver announced seven UDFA signings on Sunday; here is the full list:

Denver has a modern history of coaxing immense success from UDFAs, having identified All-Pros Chris Harris and Pro Bowlers Phillip Lindsay, C.J. Anderson and Shaquil Barrett since 2011. This year’s group interestingly includes two wide receivers after a three-wideout draft. Hinton started his college career at quarterback, while the 6-foot-2, 200-pound Manning dominated at the Division II level. He caught 68 passes for 1,462 yards and 22 touchdowns last season.

Neal started at Ball State before transferring to Vanderbilt for his senior season. Coleman’s eight interceptions ranked third in Division I-FBS last season. Watts stands 6-foot-8 and joins a team that has an uncertain left tackle situation, with Garett Bolles and Elijah Wilkinson set to vie for a spot that has lacked stability since Ryan Clady‘s 2016 departure. The Broncos did not draft a tackle.

The Broncos gave Bellamy a $25K signing bonus, per Mike Klis of 9News (on Twitter). Manning received $12.5K to sign, with Hinton receiving a $10K signing bonus.

Dolphins Waive RB Samaje Perine, Three Others

April 26th, 2020 at 5:12pm CST by Sam Robinson

The Dolphins signed a running back (Jordan Howard) and traded for one during the draft (Matt Breida). As a result, they waived Samaje Perine.

Miami waived Perine, long snapper Taybor Pepper, safety Montre Hartage and linebacker Terrill Hanks on Sunday.

Since coming into the league as a fourth-round Redskins pick in 2017, Perine has bounced around. His career started somewhat promisingly, with the Redskins using him frequently as a rookie. The Oklahoma product rushed for 603 yards in 2017. Since, he’s gained only 48 rushing yards.

Perine has spent time with the Bengals and Dolphins since his Redskins departure. He does not have vested-veteran status and will return to the waiver wire.

Pepper worked as the Dolphins’ long snapper throughout last season. However, Miami drafted a snapper — LSU’s Blake Ferguson — in the sixth round on Saturday.

Eagles Sign 12 UDFAs

April 26th, 2020 at 5:05pm CST by Sam Robinson

The Eagles are one of the first teams to finalize their priority free agent class after the virtual draft. Here is Philadelphia’s UDFA group:

Olson may have a decent path to the active roster or practice squad spots. Although the Eagles drafted two linebackers, their group remains uncertain. Olson comes in with quite a pedigree at the Division I-FCS level, winning the Buck Buchanan award — given to D-I-FCS’ best defensive player — last season. The Eagles lost Nigel Bradham this offseason.

Good-Jones started 49 games at Iowa State, setting a school record. A second-team All-American as a redshirt junior, Arnold played mostly in the slot at Baylor. He declared for the draft early. Bailey began his college career as a linebacker, making the odd transition to wide receiver. Killins goes only 5-foot-7, 162 pounds but earned first- or second-team All-American Athletic Conference acclaim in each of his three Central Florida seasons.

The Eagles guaranteed $116K of Juriga’s league-minimum salary, per the Houston Chronicle’s Aaron Wilson (on Twitter). This includes a $16K signing bonus. Togiai received $100K guaranteed, while Warren will be guaranteed $57.5K guaranteed, per Wilson (Twitter links).

Latest On Packers, Jordan Love

April 26th, 2020 at 3:44pm CST by Sam Robinson

In a big win for pre-draft rumors, the Packers’ interest in Jordan Love was quite real. But their trade-up to No. 26 did not fully illustrate how much the franchise coveted the Utah State product.

The Packers had a deal worked out with the Seahawks, who picked at No. 27, but decided to climb up to 26 (via the Dolphins) to make the pick, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com notes (video link). This was not a case of the Packers changing course to take a falling quarterback; they were “adamant” on taking one, per Rapoport.

While the Packers’ fascination with Love could have induced another team to trade ahead of them at No. 30, Rapoport adds that it does not look like anyone else was pursuing him in that range. The Colts did not make any calls to move up for Love, Rapoport notes. They ended up drafting Jacob Eason in Round 4. The Packers traded a fourth-round pick (No. 136) to climb up four spots for Love. The Seahawks ended up taking linebacker Jordyn Brooks at No. 27.

Green Bay being able to execute the ultra-rare years-long developmental program before — when Aaron Rodgers developed from 2005-07 behind Brett Favre — has the franchise confident this latest effort can work. Rodgers, however, has made it clearer than Favre did at that point that he wants to play many more seasons. The 36-year-old passer has said on multiple occasions he wants to play into his 40s. The Love addition opens the door to the future Hall of Famer finishing his career elsewhere.

Rodgers’ contract runs through 2023. His cap numbers spike beyond $36MM in 2021 and ’22. Although Love could be a star-in-training like Rodgers once was, the Packers keeping Rodgers during most of Love’s rookie contract will negate the potential benefit the organization would gain from that rookie deal. That has been a key roster-building tool for several Super Bowl teams since the 2011 CBA went into effect.

Dolphins To Sign S Kavon Frazier

April 26th, 2020 at 2:22pm CST by Sam Robinson

A four-year Cowboys contributor, Kavon Frazier will move on to a second team. The Dolphins are signing the free agent safety, according to his agency (Twitter link).

Frazier played in 44 games with the Cowboys, starting two, after Dallas drafted him in the 2016 sixth round out of Central Michigan. He primarily functioned as a special teams player during his time with the team. Frazier spent most of last season on the Cowboys’ IR list, landing there in late September.

The Dolphins have both Bobby McCain and Eric Rowe signed to long-term deals, and they used a third-round pick on Texas safety Brandon Jones. The Dolphins also brought back former 49ers starter Adrian Colbert. Frazier figures to compete for a depth spot and a role on Miami’s special teams units.

Miami will begin its virtual offseason program this week.

Colts Sign UDFA K Rodrigo Blankenship

April 26th, 2020 at 2:08pm CST by Sam Robinson

It looks like the Colts will hold a kicking competition. With second-year kicker Chase McLaughlin already signed, the Colts made one of college football’s best kickers part of their UDFA class.

Indianapolis will give Georgia kicker Rodrigo Blankenship a $20K bonus to sign, Joel Erickson of the Indianapolis Star tweets. Last season, Blankenship won the Lou Groza award, which is given annually to Division I-FBS’ best kicker.

The first-team All-American kicked for the Bulldogs for four straight seasons. In 2019, he hit 27 of 33 field goals. His 82.5% make rate over four years ranks as the best in Georgia history. Although college football has yet to move extra points back, Blankenship went 200-for-200 on PATs in college. He also recorded 65 touchbacks on 85 career kickoffs.

The Colts enjoyed kicker stability for most of this century, transitioning from Mike Vanderjagt to Adam Vinatieri in 2006 and seeing the latter become the NFL’s all-time leading scorer during his Indianapolis stay. But Vinatieri struggled mightily last season and is unsigned. McLaughlin, a 2019 UDFA, and Blankenship appear set to compete to be the Colts’ post-Vinatieri kicker.

No Realistic Trade Offers For O.J. Howard, Cameron Brate

April 26th, 2020 at 12:57pm CST by Rory Parks

The Buccaneers have about $20MM of salary cap space tied up at the tight end position between Rob Gronkowski, O.J. Howard, and Cameron Brate, and there was plenty of speculation that the club could look to deal either Howard or Brate now that Gronk is in the fold.

However, per Jeremy Fowler of ESPN.com, no realistic trade options presented themselves to Tampa (Twitter link). We heard a few days ago that the team nearly dealt Howard to the Redskins in exchange for Trent Williams back in February, so Fowler’s report may simply mean that no viable trade proposals surfaced after the Gronk acquisition on April 21 and throughout this weekend’s draft. In any event, it looks as if Tom Brady will have all three players at his disposal in 2020.

Fowler adds that the Bucs never felt the need to trade a tight end and that they are comfortable with their significant financial investment in the position. But it’s not as though they really have a choice. It’s much more likely that an opposing team would pursue Howard instead of Brate, and Howard carries a 2020 cap charge of just $3.5MM, $1.5MM of which would remain on the Bucs’ cap even if he were traded. One way or another, the overall TE cap hit is significant, so it makes sense to simply give Brady as many options as possible and to see if he can help Howard start to realize his potential. GM Jason Licht acknowledged as much several hours before this year’s draft got underway.

It remains unclear if the Bucs will pick up Howard’s fifth-year option for 2021. Though the option would be guaranteed for injury only since Howard was a 2017 draft choice, the Alabama product has not lived up to his status as a first-round selection, so his future in Tampa remains up in the air.

Saints Extend Taysom Hill

April 26th, 2020 at 11:32am CST by Rory Parks

The Saints have agreed to a two-year contract with quarterback Taysom Hill, per Adam Schefter of ESPN.com (via Twitter). According to Charles Robinson of Yahoo Sports, the deal is worth $21MM and includes $16MM in guarantees (Twitter link). It replaces the one-year RFA tender worth $4.6MM that the Saints had placed on Hill earlier this offseason.

The move comes immediately after the Saints agreed to sign free agent signal-caller Jameis Winston. Prior to the Hill extension, both players would have been eligible for unrestricted free agency at the end of the 2020 campaign, meaning that New Orleans could take the entire season to evaluate them, to decide which one was best-suited to serve as Drew Brees‘ successor, and to move on from the loser of the battle at season’s end.

Now, however, that’s not necessarily the case. If Hill should prove himself worthy of the QB1 title in 2021, then the Saints will have him under contract at a very modest rate for starting quarterbacks and can bid Winston farewell. But if Winston should win out and if New Orleans should retain him, then the team will owe a ton of money to its QB2/gadget player, even by its standards of commitment to backup signal-callers. The whole affair could become even more complicated if Brees wants to return, and it suggests that the team really is committed to Hill — as it has stated for some time — and views Winston as a highly-experienced insurance policy in 2020 but not as a potential future option.

Per Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times, the Saints won’t officially sign Winston until after 3pm ET tomorrow in order to avoid having him against their 2021 compensatory pick formula (Twitter link).

Bill Belichick On Not Adding QB In Draft

April 26th, 2020 at 10:50am CST by Rory Parks

We heard last month that Jarrett Stidham, a fourth-round pick in the 2019 draft, is in the driver’s seat to open the 2020 season as the Patriots’ starting QB. But we also heard that New England was all but certain to select a rookie passer in this year’s draft in either the first round or with a mid-round choice, and that did not happen.

The Pats had the opportunity to select Utah State QB Jordan Love with the No. 23 overall pick, but they shipped that selection to the Chargers. They also had multiple chances to select passers like Jacob Eason and Jake Fromm, but they instead chose to address their defense and their thin TE depth chart.

So one of the big winners on draft night was Stidham, whom many believe is better than Love and the other QBs in this year’s class outside of the consensus top-three. Still, the fact that New England completely avoided the quarterback position until it agreed to sign UDFA J’Mar Smith came as a surprise to many, and head coach Bill Belichick was asked about the team’s approach in that regard.

“If we feel like we find the right situation, we’ll certainly draft [quarterbacks],” Belichick said (via Mike Reiss of ESPN.com). “We’ve drafted them in multiple years, multiple points in the draft. Didn’t work out the last three days. That wasn’t by design. We just tried to do the best we could with what we had this weekend.”

Belichick stopped short of anointing Stidham the starter, however. “Jarrett had a good year last year,” the legendary HC said. “He improved a lot. We’ll see where that takes him.”

Per Reiss, Belichick also expressed confidence in veteran Brian Hoyer, who may be more suited to start at least the early stages of the 2020 season if Stidham is unable to get the necessary training camp reps due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The club could theoretically pursue a player like Cam Newton or Andy Dalton, but rumors connecting those two to Foxborough have generally been shot down.

Another speculative fit, Jameis Winston, came off the board earlier today.

Packers HC, GM On Aaron Rodgers, Jordan Love

April 26th, 2020 at 10:25am CST by Rory Parks

The Packers caused quite a stir on Thursday night when they traded up to the No. 26 overall pick to select polarizing Utah State QB Jordan Love. Right away, the NFL world was buzzing about what the move means for Aaron Rodgers‘ future and — perhaps just as importantly — how Rodgers would react.

Head coach Matt LaFleur was asked about those issues on Saturday, and as expected, he tried to downplay the drama as much as possible.

“Aaron is a pro, and he’s the leader of our football team, and I anticipate that for a really long time,” LaFleur said (via Rob Demovsky of ESPN.com). “I have so much respect for him not only as a player but the person, and some of the stuff that nobody sees. So I can’t tell you how much I like working with him.”

LaFleur, though, declined to say what he meant by “a really long time.” Rodgers, 36, is under contract through the 2023 season, and while he experienced something of a decrease in production in 2019, he was still effective and continues to look the part of a top-tier signal-caller. He has yet to speak publicly on the Love pick, but given that Green Bay made an aggressive move to select his potential successor and did little to upgrade his cadre of pass catching weapons, you can be sure that he is none too pleased.

Of course, Love is now in a very similar situation to the one that Rodgers was in when A-Rod was selected in the first round of the 2005 draft: a surprise pick who will be groomed behind a curmudgeonly legend with the unenviable task of ultimately replacing said legend. It obviously worked out for Rodgers, but we probably won’t know how it will work out for Love for a couple of years.

Packers GM Brian Gutekunst was also asked about a potential Rodgers-to-Love succession. “The reason that back when we moved from Brett [Favre] to Aaron was because of what Aaron had done his first three years here, and that’s got to happen with Jordan,” Gutekunst said. “He has to be able to do the work and he has to do that for us to make us believe that he can be a starting quarterback in the National Football League. We drafted him in the first round, we certainly think he has that kind of talent. But that’s not enough in the National Football League. You’ve got to work, you’ve got to earn it, you’ve got to become a good enough player.”

Rodgers is scheduled to carry a cap charge of over $39MM in 2022. Although Green Bay would have to absorb a significant dead money hit by releasing him prior to that season, it would also save about $22MM of cap space by doing so. So if Love progresses as the Packers hope, it would not be surprising to see them make the same difficult, but possibly necessary, transition at that time.

“Again, we have one of the best to ever lace them up, and we’re shooting for championships for as long as he’s here, and we expect him to be here for quite a while,” Gutekunst said. His definition of “quite a while,” and LaFleur’s definition of “a long time,” may be about the same: two years.

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