HEADLINES

Month: November 2024

Colts, Ryan Kelly Discussing Extension

May 20th, 2020 at 3:22pm CST by Zachary Links

Ryan Kelly‘s camp is discussing an extension with Colts GM Chris Ballard, according to the center (Twitter link via Zak Keefer of The Athletic). As it stands, Kelly has one year left on his rookie deal, via the fifth-year option.

[RELATED: Colts Want To Bring Back Philip Rivers In 2021]

Kelly says that he wants to spend his “entire career in Indianapolis” and Ballard is likely on board with that plan. Last year, Kelly started in all 16 of the Colts’ regular season games and anchored one of the league’s best offensive lines. He earned his first ever Pro Bowl nod for that campaign and he’ll likely score a major contract to match.

For now, Kelly is slated to earn $10.35MM in 2020, up from about $3.3MM last year. A new pact would likely put him in the range of $10MM-$12MM, positioning him as one of the NFL’s highest-paid centers.

Connor McGovern scored the largest deal of any free agent center this year when he joined the Jets on a three-year, $27MM deal. Kelly will aim higher. Recent extensions for Bucs centers Ryan Jensen (four years, $42MM) and Bills center Mitch Morse (four years, $44.5MM) figure to be his comps. With a $10MM+ AAV, Kelly would join Jensen, Morse, Rodney Hudson, Maurkice Pouncey, Nick Martin, J.C. Tretter, Brandon Linder, and Cody Whitehair in the eight-figure centers club.

Extension Candidate: Rams CB Jalen Ramsey

May 20th, 2020 at 2:57pm CST by Zachary Links

Just before last year’s trade deadline, the Rams swung a blockbuster deal to land Jalen Ramsey. Now, they have some more negotiating to do as Ramsey enters the final year of his contract.

[RELATED: Will The Cardinals Trade Reddick?]

Ramsey, 26 in October, is set to earn $13.7MM in 2020, a figure dictated by his fifth-year option. The expected market will dictate his rate on this go ’round, which means that he’s probably due for a raise. Before Ramsey arrived in Los Angeles, he had his sights set on a deal that would reset the market. Despite an iffy year, Ramsey still figures to play in that ballpark.

Between his three games with the Jaguars and nine games with the Rams, Ramsey recorded just 50 tackles and one interception. The former No. 5 overall pick did not play up to his usual standards, but the fact remains that Ramsey is one of the league’s most talented cornerbacks and any team would be happy to back up a Brinks truck for him.

Currently, Darius Slay stands as the league’s highest-paid cornerback on a per-year basis with an average annual salary of $16.7MM. Meanwhile, Byron Jones of the Dolphins leads corners in full guarantees ($46MM) and effective guarantees ($54.4MM). It’s safe to say that Ramsey’s reps will have all of those numbers handy when it comes time to talk.

The Rams, meanwhile, would be willing to toss figures around in that ballpark, though their lack of cap room makes it a bit tricky. It would be tough for the Rams to tamp down Ramsey’s 2020 hit while also giving him $17MM/year to top Slay. Meanwhile, there isn’t a lot of fat left to trim. They could carve out another $3.6MM for Ramsey by releasing Troy Hill, but that would also leave ~$900K in dead money and little room for extra improvements. A restructuring of Aaron Donald‘s deal could give them more dollars to work with – similar to what Jared Goff did recently – but that would also create a snowball effect on future cap years.

Ramsey promised the team that he wouldn’t hold out in 2020 if he didn’t have a new deal in place, though he won’t necessarily cooperate with the Rams if he’s franchise tagged for 2021. Without that safety net in place, the Rams will have to find middle ground with their star cornerback sooner rather than later.

Longest-Tenured GMs In The NFL

May 20th, 2020 at 2:07pm CST by Zachary Links

When we ran down the longest-tenured head coaches in the NFL, we found that less than half of the league’s current coaches have been in their positions for more than three years. That’s not quite the case with general managers, but there have been plenty of changes in recent years.

A handful of general managers have gotten to take their coats off and stay for a long while. Among coaches, Bill Belichick had joined his team prior to 2003. Here, you’ll see that five GMs have been with their teams since before ’03 (Belichick, of course, is also on this list). Two of those five – Jerry Jones and Mike Brown – are outliers, since they’re team owners and serve as de facto GMs. But the Patriots, Steelers, and Saints, have all had the same general managers making their roster decisions for well over a decade.

Here’s the complete list of the NFL’s longest-tenured GMs, along with the date they took over the job:

  1. Jerry Jones (Dallas Cowboys): April 18, 1989[1]
  2. Mike Brown (Cincinnati Bengals): August 5, 1991[2]
  3. Bill Belichick (New England Patriots): January 27, 2000[3]
  4. Kevin Colbert (Pittsburgh Steelers): February 18, 2000[4]
  5. Mickey Loomis (New Orleans Saints): May 14, 2002
  6. Rick Spielman (Minnesota Vikings): May 30, 2006[5]
  7. Thomas Dimitroff (Atlanta Falcons): January 13, 2008
  8. John Schneider (Seattle Seahawks): January 19, 2010[6]
  9. Howie Roseman (Philadelphia Eagles): January 29, 2010
  10. John Elway (Denver Broncos): January 5, 2011[7]
  11. Les Snead (St. Louis Rams): February 10, 2012
  12. David Caldwell (Jacksonville Jaguars): January 8, 2013
  13. Steve Keim (Arizona Cardinals): January 8, 2013
  14. Tom Telesco (San Diego Chargers): January 9, 2013
  15. Jason Licht (Tampa Bay Buccaneers): January 21, 2014
  16. Ryan Pace (Chicago Bears): January 8, 2015
  17. Chris Grier (Miami Dolphins): January 4, 2016
  18. Bob Quinn (Detroit Lions): January 8, 2016
  19. Jon Robinson (Tennessee Titans): January 14, 2016
  20. John Lynch (San Francisco 49ers): January 29, 2017
  21. Chris Ballard (Indianapolis Colts): January 30, 2017
  22. Brandon Beane (Buffalo Bills): May 9, 2017
  23. Brett Veach (Kansas City Chiefs): July 11, 2017
  24. Marty Hurney (Carolina Panthers): July 19, 2017
  25. Dave Gettleman (New York Giants): December 28, 2017
  26. Brian Gutekunst (Green Bay Packers): January 7, 2018
  27. Mike Mayock (Oakland Raiders): December 31, 2018
  28. Joe Douglas (New York Jets): June 7, 2019
  29. Eric DeCosta (Baltimore Ravens): January 7, 2019[8]
  30. Ron Rivera (Washington Redskins): January 1, 2020[9]
  31. Andrew Berry (Cleveland Browns): January 27, 2020
  32. Bill O’Brien (Houston Texans): January 28, 2020

Footnotes:

  1. Jones has been the Cowboys’ de facto general manager since former GM Tex Schramm resigned in April 1989.
  2. Brown has been the Bengals’ de facto GM since taking over as the team’s owner in August 1991.
  3. Belichick has been the Patriots’ de facto GM since shortly after being hired as the team’s head coach in January 2000.
  4. Colbert was initially hired as the team’s director of football operations and received the newly-created general manager title in 2011.
  5. Spielman was initially hired as the team’s VP of player personnel and received the GM title in 2012.
  6. While Schneider holds the title of GM, head coach Pete Carroll has the final say on roster moves for the Seahawks.
  7. Elway was initially hired as the team’s executive VP of football operations and received the GM title in 2014.
  8. In 2018, the Ravens announced that DeCosta would replace Ozzie Newsome as GM for Ozzie Newsome after the conclusion of the season. The Ravens’ ’18 season ended with their Wild Card loss to the Chargers on 1/6/19.
  9. Technically, the Redskins do not have a GM, as of this writing. Rivera is, effectively, their GM, working in tandem with Vice President of Player Personnel Kyle Smith. Smith may receive the GM title in the near future.

Trade Candidate: Cardinals LB Haason Reddick

May 20th, 2020 at 1:23pm CST by Zachary Links

In early May, the Cardinals declined the fifth-year option on Haason Reddick‘s contract. The linebacker isn’t on their books for 2021, he’s not a big part of their plans for 2020, and he’s almost certainly on the trade block. 

A few years ago, scouts saw Reddick as a versatile prospect with the ability to play multiple spots on the front seven. But, so far, he hasn’t been consistent as an edge rusher or an inside linebacker. Last fall, they gave him a shot to start at ILB. After five weeks, they turned the job over to Joe Walker. Walker left this offseason, but the Cardinals drafted Isaiah Simmons (another versatile, jack-of-all-trades type) and added De’Vondre Campbell and Devon Kennard to the mix, leaving Reddick without a clear role.

After three years, three head coaches, and 7.5 cumulative sacks, Reddick is left with zero job security in Arizona. Last year, he finished out with just six tackles for loss and one sack and graded out as Pro Football Focus’ lowest ranked linebacker out of 63 qualified players. His stock has cooled considerably, but other teams should be willing to take a small gamble on him and his remaining $2.3MM in salary.

The Panthers would be one logical destination for him. New Carolina head coach Matt Rhule coached Reddick at Temple and saw him at his absolute best. Reddick worked his way up across four years on campus and closed out his collegiate career in 2016 with 9.5 sacks as a senior. Thanks in part to Reddick’s performance, Rhule scored new job and bigger bucks with Baylor. The Giants would also make some sense – they’ve yet to re-sign edge rusher Markus Golden and GM Dave Gettleman was supposedly high on Reddick in his draft year.

Reddick has been here before. In 2018, he was rumored to be on the block before the trade deadline, though GM Steve Keim denied shopping him. This time around, we’d wager that Keim is willing to listen.

AFC East Notes: Dolphins, Tua, Fitz, Jets

May 20th, 2020 at 11:53am CST by Zachary Links

Ryan Fitzpatrick is “really excited” to have Tua Tagovailoa in the Dolphins‘ locker room, as Armando Salguero of the Miami Herald writes. He gushed about the Alabama product in a chat with former Bills teammate Eric Woods, though he’s not quite ready to pass the torch as the team’s starting quarterback.

“I also want to be out there playing,” Fitzpatrick said. “I also want to be on the field. And that’s why I’m still doing it, because I still enjoy playing the game. Hopefully some of the lessons I’m able to teach him are from him watching me play. But if it’s the other way around, I’m going to do my best to help him succeed in the best way he can.”

Ultimately, the Dolphins will do what’s best for business, but Fitzpatrick may have a leg up on the rookie, thanks to his relationship with new offensive coordinator Chan Gailey.

“Chan and I have worked together for three years … He’s the guy who has given me the longest leash in my career in terms of being able to do things,” Fitzpatrick said. “And I trust him completely, and he has ultimate trust in me as well. This will be a little bit different in that if I’m out there playing there’s going to be a little bit longer leash because of the history we have together.”

Here’s more from the AFC East:

Patriots, S Patrick Chung Agree To Extension

May 20th, 2020 at 10:07am CST by Rory Parks

The Patriots and safety Patrick Chung have agreed to an extension, as ESPN’s Field Yates reports (via Twitter). Chung had been signed through the 2021 season, and the extension will keep him under club control through 2023.

As part of the new deal, the 32-year-old will land a $3MM signing bonus and can earn up to $12.8MM over the next four seasons. As Mike Reiss of ESPN.com notes, however, New England’s primary motivation was to obtain some cap relief. The Pats squeezed out just $925K of cap room, but they were working with just $600K before. And it should be enough to get their top draft pick from this year’s class, Kyle Dugger, under contract.

The Patriots selected Chung in the second round of the 2009 draft, and he has spent all but one year of his career with New England, starting 112 of a possible 141 regular season games and collecting three Super Bowl rings. Though he has never made the Pro Bowl, he and fellow safety Devin McCourty have brought stability and cohesiveness to the back end of New England’s defense, and head coach Bill Belichick has often expressed his appreciation for Chung’s play. And Chung has said Belichick is the only coach he will ever play for.

Today’s move marks the fifth straight year in which the Pats have given Chung a pay raise, as Ben Volin of the Boston Globe observes (Twitter link). But while the Patriots’ defense as a whole was rock solid in 2019, the advanced metrics indicated that Chung’s personal performance declined from his 2018 levels, and the Oregon product may cede some snaps to Dugger in 2020. As such, it’s far from certain that Chung makes it to 2021 with New England, let alone 2023, but after contemplating retirement — as Jeremy Fowler of ESPN.com tweets — Chung will definitely be back in Foxborough this season.

In the piece linked above, Reiss passes along details of the extension. In addition to his signing bonus, Chung will earn a $1.1MM base salary in 2020 and will be able to earn up to $800K in per-game roster bonuses and a $100K workout bonus. In the subsequent three seasons, he stands to take home a base salary of $1.9MM with $400K in per-game roster bonuses, $200K in incentives, and a $100K annual workout bonus.

Chung was indicted for felony drug possession in August, but those charges were later dropped. He could still face discipline from the league, but there have been no reports on that front as of today’s date.

Top Remaining Free Agents

May 20th, 2020 at 9:34am CST by Rory Parks

While most of the top free agents in this year’s cycle have long since signed with new clubs, there are plenty of potential difference-makers still available. Those players remain on the market for various reasons — price tag, injury concerns, etc. — but they all could be a key factor in the fortunes of whatever team they ultimately join. Let’s take a look at the best of who’s still out there:

  1. Jadeveon Clowney: If you think you’ve been reading a lot about Clowney over the past couple of months, you’re right. That’s what happens when a former No. 1 overall pick and a young dynamic talent is still up for grabs this late in the offseason. Clowney’s high asking price, originally said to be $20MM per year, certainly scared some teams off, as did his recent core muscle surgery. Some will also point to his relatively low sack totals as evidence that he is not the dynamic pass rushing force that he believes himself to be. But he undeniably has the chops to be a game-changer against the run and pass, and he is content to wait for the right situation to come along. Once teams have the opportunity to evaluate him themselves, his market should heat up rapidly.
  2. Cam Newton: Here’s another former No. 1 overall pick that we have written a great deal about recently. Like Clowney, the 2015 MVP may be signed by now if interested teams could have their own doctors examine him, and Newton is willing to be patient and wait for that to happen if waiting will allow him to secure a starting gig somewhere. But at this point, it looks like only an injury or major underpeformance will open the door for a QB1 role in 2020, so he may have to settle for a top backup job for now and hit the free agent market again in 2021. He is reportedly warming to that idea.
  3. Everson Griffen: Like Clowney, Griffen is a talented pass rusher, but unlike Clowney, Griffen has multiple double-digit sack campaigns under his belt. The 32-year-old posted eight QB takedowns in 2019, and it is a little surprising to see him unsigned this late in the process. A reunion with the Vikings may be in the cards, and the Seahawks are the only other club to be connected to Griffen at this point.
  4. Jason Peters: The only reason Peters isn’t signed yet is because of his age (38). He turned in a typically terrific season in 2019, and he has been connected to a number of clubs over the past couple of months. The problem is, many of those teams have filled their needs at the offensive tackle spots, so even though Peters has said that he is willing to play on the left or the right side, his options are now more limited. The Chargers could still be in play, and another year with the Eagles may also be a reality.
  5. Logan Ryan: Unlike several of the players ahead of him on this list, Ryan doesn’t have any notable health concerns, but his asking price — he’s seeking around $10MM per year — could be depressing his market. He turned in a productive 2019 season with the Titans and has the versatility to move around the defensive backfield, which has apparently led to multi-year offers. Given the need for quality corners in today’s game, Ryan will likely land a lucrative deal soon, it just may not be as lucrative as he wants. The Jets and Dolphins are involved in the bidding.
  6. Markus Golden: Golden enjoyed what appeared to be a breakout season with the Cardinals in 2016, posting 12.5 sacks in just his second year in the league. But injuries limited the edge rusher over the 2017-18 seasons, and he had to settle for a one-year prove-it deal with the Giants in 2019. He perhaps thought that he proved it, recording 10 sacks for Big Blue, but those 10 sacks came from just 26 total pressures, which is probably an unsustainable conversion rate. So far, only the Giants — who put the rarely-used UFA tender on Golden — have been publicly connected to him.
  7. Devonta Freeman: We haven’t heard a peep about the two-time Pro Bowl running back since the Falcons released him in March. The fact that Atlanta replaced him with Todd Gurley and his frightening injury concerns isn’t a good sign, and Freeman’s 3.6 YPC average in 2019 certainly isn’t helping matters either. Freeman’s own injury problems limited him to two games in 2018, so he is now two years removed from his last effective season. It’s nonetheless a bit of a surprise that there have been no rumors of interest in his services.
  8. Delanie Walker: The best tight end left on the market, Walker has battled injuries over the past two seasons and will turn 36 in August, so it makes sense that we haven’t heard too much about him lately. But while he may not be a TE1 anymore, he could still be a useful weapon in the passing game, and he also has a history of being a strong blocker. The Colts, Packers, and Redskins were said to be interested in him in March, and those teams continue to look like good fits even after the draft. The Ravens, who rely heavily on TEs and who traded Hayden Hurst to the Falcons this offseason, also make some sense.
  9. Eric Reid: The 28-year-old safety turned in what appeared to be a strong year in 2019, starting all 16 games for the Panthers and posting a career-best 130 tackles. The problem is, he may have had so many tackle opportunities because he allowed over 77% of throws in his vicinity to be completed. Still, he is an experienced and generally solid back-end defender, and the Texans — who employ his brother, Justin Reid — seem like a logical fit.
  10. Darqueze Dennard: Dennard, a former first-round pick of the Bengals, thought he had a deal with the Jaguars in March. But Jacksonville backed out of the deal, and while there was no word on why that happened, it could be that health concerns made the Jags skittish. Dennard missed the first few weeks of the 2019 season due to a knee procedure, but he did play every game from Week 10 forward and graded out well in terms of Pro Football Focus’ advanced metrics. He has been Cincinnati’s primary slot corner over the past several seasons, but there has been no reported interest in him since the failed Jaguars pact.

James Conner: It’d Be Hard To Leave Steelers

May 19th, 2020 at 7:11pm CST by Zachary Links

Steelers running back James Conner is scheduled to be a free agent following the 2020 season. Still, he says it “would be hard” to play for another NFL team.

[RELATED: Mike Tomlin Stands As NFL’s Third Longest-Tenured Head Coach]

“It would be hard, it would be hard to put another helmet on. Just because of everything and what this city means to me,” Conner told ESPN’s Adam Schefter. “The city I played my college ball in, the city I had my life saved in, became healthy. The city I got drafted to, and I want to be able to say the city I brought a championship to…It would be hard. I’m Pittsburgh through and through.”

Conner’s loyalty to the Steelers hasn’t wavered. However, his stock has. In 2018, he shined as the team’s new replacement for Le’Veon Bell, posting 973 rushing yards, a per carry average of 4.5 yards, and 497 receiving yards. However, he slumped last year along with the rest of the Steelers’ offense. Conner had just 464 yards on the ground and played in just six games.

This year, the Steelers expect the University of Pittsburgh product to come back strong and healthy. It’s not easy to rehab from knee and shoulder injuries, but no one is counting Conner out after he bounced back from Hodgkin’s Lymphoma.

This year, Conner will be supported by Benny Snell, fourth-round rookie Anthony McFarland Jr., and Jaylen Samuels. If he’s able to reprise his 2018 performance, he should be in line for a nice pay bump in 2021, and he’ll probably get that deal from the Steelers.

NFL Draft Signings: 5/19/20

May 19th, 2020 at 6:46pm CST by Zachary Links

We’ll keep track of today’s draft signings here:

  • The Eagles signed sixth-round offensive tackle Prince Tega Wanogho, per a club announcement. He grew up in Nigeria with hopes of coming to the United States to play basketball at a high level. Now, the Auburn product has a four-year deal to play professional football. Wanogho was unable to show his stuff at the combine due to a knee injury and didn’t get a chance to showcase at his pro day due to the COVID-19 pandemic. That likely hurt his stock, but it worked out just fine for the Eagles, who scored a promising 6’5″, 300-pound lineman at No. 210 overall.

NFC East Notes: Vander Esch, Eagles, Solder

May 19th, 2020 at 4:53pm CST by Sam Robinson

Some positive Cowboys news emerged this week. Third-year linebacker Leighton Vander Esch has fully recovered from the offseason neck surgery he underwent. The former first-round pick told NFL.com’s Jane Slater he has been training full-go for multiple months (video link). Vander Esch was projected to be ready for OTAs, so it does not come as a major surprise he has moved past the injury that sidelined him for much of last season. However, Vander Esch’s cervical spinal stenosis condition — diagnosed while he was at Boise State — would make future neck surgeries problematic. So his transition back to the field will be a key part of Cowboys training camp.

Here is the latest from the NFC East, shifting to some of the division’s offensive lines:

  • Doug Pederson confirmed the Eagles have engaged in talks with 11-year left tackle starter Jason Peters, whom they let hit the market in March. However, the fifth-year Eagles coach expects 2019 first-rounder Andre Dillard to start at left tackle in 2020. “With Jason Peters, listen, we’ve always said we’d stay in touch with him during the offseason and we have,” Pederson said, via NBC Sports Philadelphia’s Reuben Frank. “I have a lot of respect for a guy like Jason Peters who played that left tackle position for so many years at a high level. But as we move forward, Andre Dillard was a guy we drafted to be that left tackle for us. The way Andre played last year kind of propels him into this offseason where he’s taken command of that role.”
  • Shifting to the Giants‘ left tackle situation, Nate Solder‘s contract makes it likely he will keep that job for a third season. But this will almost certainly be Solder’s last as a Giant, Dan Duggan of The Athletic writes (subscription required). Thanks to a September 2019 restructure, Solder carries a monster $19.5MM cap hit this season. The Giants can save $14MM by shedding his contract in 2021, which is the final season of the ex-Patriot’s four-year agreement. Big Blue drafted Andrew Thomas No. 4 overall, and it would be logical for the Georgia product to move from right to left tackle next year. New York used a third-round pick on UConn tackle Matt Peart, potentially planning a Thomas-Peart starting lineup in 2021.
  • The Redskins brought back veteran cornerback Aaron Colvin, whom they initially signed during the 2019 season.
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