HEADLINES

Month: November 2024

Rodgers: Finishing Career With Packers May Not Be Realistic

May 15th, 2020 at 5:45pm CST by Sam Robinson

The Packers shocked the NFL world by trading up for Jordan Love. While Aaron Rodgers is under contract through 2023, his status with the Packers looks to have changed.

Although the two-time MVP understands Green Bay’s move, he now concedes he was “not thrilled” and that finishing his career with the Packers may no longer be in the cards. The 36-year-old quarterback still wants to play into his 40s.

“As much as I feel confident in my abilities and what I can accomplish and what we can accomplish, there are some new factors that are out of my control. And so my sincere desire to start and finish with the same organization, just as it has with many other players over the years, may not be a reality at this point,” Rodgers said, via ESPN.com’s Rob Demovsky, while adding that the Love pick did surprise him.

“And as much as I understand the organization’s future outlook and wanting to make sure they’re thinking about the team now and down the line — and I respect that — at the same time, I still believe in myself and have a strong desire to play into my 40s. And I’m just not sure how that all works together at this point.”

Brett Favre said recently he no longer expects Rodgers to finish his career in Green Bay. The Packers executed one of the best baton passes in NFL history when they gave Rodgers the reins in 2008, but they have been the exception. Since Rodgers was selected in the 2005 first round, only two first-round quarterbacks — Brady Quinn and Jake Locker — did not start games as rookies. Rodgers staying healthy this season would almost certainly add Love to that list, but if the Packers do not turn things over to Love at some point during his rookie contract, they would fail to reap perhaps the top roster-building benefit the modern NFL offers.

In his first season with Matt LaFleur, Rodgers’ QBR figure dropped to a career-low 50.4 — 20th in the league — but the Packers still advanced to the NFC championship game. Green Bay would absorb a $31.6MM in dead money by moving on from Rodgers after 2020. In 2022, that number drops to $17.2MM.

NFL To Allow Teams To Reopen Facilities

May 15th, 2020 at 5:11pm CST by Sam Robinson

The NFL released a plan for teams to reopen their facilities May 19. Several stipulations are involved, but if certain conditions are met and the respective teams’ states are not under any lockdown measures, select personnel may return to clubs’ facilities, the league announced.

One of the stipulations: players and coaches remain barred from team facilities. The NFL released a memo earlier this week extending the virtual offseason through the end of May. This latest memo indicates teams’ front office staffers, medical personnel and select others can report as soon as Tuesday.

Coaches are not allowed to return to team headquarters because of an NFL fair-play effort, thus minimizing the impact of Friday’s announcement. Many teams are located in states where COVID-19 lockdown measures remain. Several are discussing out-of-state training camps. It is not expected players will be back on site until training camp. Players undergoing medical treatment are permitted to be at team sites, however.

No team can exceed 75 staffers at facilities. If teams conduct on-site work at separate locations, Friday’s new guidelines will still cap the total number of staffers at 75.

Latest On Quinton Dunbar, DeAndre Baker

May 15th, 2020 at 4:43pm CST by Sam Robinson

An attorney representing Seahawks cornerback Quinton Dunbar said five witnesses signed sworn affidavits indicating his client is innocent, according to David Ovalle of the Miami Herald.

Dunbar is wanted on four counts of armed robbery, while Giants cornerback DeAndre Baker faces eight charges for their alleged involvement in a robbery that took place this week.

Neither of the South Florida natives has surrendered to Miramar, Fla., Police, as of Friday afternoon. Dunbar’s attorney did not indicate when his client would surrender, according to the Herald. Baker’s attorney has been in contact with detectives regarding the arrest warrant, according to the New York Post’s Paul Schwartz.

At a get-together in Florida on Wednesday, police say Baker held partiers at gunpoint while Dunbar looted them. Baker also directed a third man to shoot someone who entered the party during the robbery. That mystery third wheel did not shoot anyone, but the group made off with $7K in cash, plus a $25K Hublot watch, an $18K Rolex, and an Audemars Piguet.

TMZ reported Baker and Dunbar lost money in high-stakes games, including card games, days before the May 13 incident. Police indicated witnesses believe the May 13 incident was a planned robbery. Florida law indicates Baker could face a mandatory minimum of 15 years in prison if found guilty for any of the four armed robbery charges, and Schwartz writes it will be shocking if Baker ever plays for the Giants — or another NFL team — again. The Giants selected Baker in the first round of the 2019 draft.

NFL Bracing For 2021 Salary Cap Decrease?

May 15th, 2020 at 4:24pm CST by Sam Robinson

The scenario of teams playing games in fan-less venues this season has opened the door to a possibility of the salary cap being reduced, and just all NFL parties — teams, players, agents, etc. — are bracing for this scenario, Jonathan Jones of CBS Sports notes.

The cap has not dropped since 2011. In 2009, the NFL’s salary ceiling resided at $123MM. That preceded 2010’s uncapped year, which gave way to a $120MM cap in the first season of the 2011 CBA. The cap did not climb north of $123MM until 2014, when it steadily began to increase by approximately $10MM each year. The 2020 CBA was believed to be set to produce cap spikes greater than $10MM per year, but the COVID-19 pandemic has hijacked this reality.

No force majeure provision exists in the CBA, meaning the league cannot unilaterally cut players’ pay. The NFL and NFLPA will need to collectively determine a solution, in the event the coronavirus forces games to be cut or played without fans. A fan-less season would result in the league losing approximately $2.3 billion. A cap decrease of around $50MM could be on the table for 2021, but the league and union would almost certainly make moves to avoid that considering the era-altering ramifications such an unprecedented decrease would induce.

So far, Jones notes the most common expected solution would be to borrow against future earnings. The NFL has already agreed to raise teams’ debt limits. Taking away from future earnings would lead to a flat cap for a period before perhaps a smaller increase commences at some point in a few years.

This would certainly change the way teams would proceed financially, with the cap having not endured such a lull since the early 2010s. But such a scenario would certainly be preferable to the cap cratering to nearly $140MM from its $198MM 2020 perch. Since the salary cap became the law of the land in 1994, it has only decreased once. But the strangest offseason in modern NFL history may alter the league for much of the early 2020s.

Saints Sign RB Ty Montgomery

May 15th, 2020 at 3:16pm CST by Sam Robinson

The Saints will add to their running back room by signing Ty Montgomery. The former Packers, Ravens and Jets back agreed to a deal with New Orleans on Friday, Nick Underhill of New Orleans.Football tweets. The Saints announced the move.

Montgomery has experience as a wide receiver and running back and operated as the Jets’ kick returner last season. He will join Alvin Kamara and Latavius Murray with the Saints.

Being permitted to wear No. 88 despite switching to running back years ago, Montgomery profiles as an interesting utility piece for a team that has gotten considerable mileage from this type of player in recent years. The former third-round pick out of Stanford moved to running back in 2016 — his second NFL season — and averaged 5.9 yards per carry that year. He also caught 44 passes for 348 yards in 2016. However, Montgomery has not contributed much statistically beyond that season.

The Packers interestingly opened the 2017 season with Montgomery starting ahead of then-rookies Aaron Jones and Jamaal Williams but traded Montgomery to the Ravens after a fumble on a kick return led to a Green Bay loss to the Rams. And he saw little time with Baltimore. Last year, the Jets gave him 32 carries.

That said, Montgomery is still just 27, has a career 4.6 yards-per-carry average and posted a 900-plus-yard receiving season in college. Montgomery compiled back-to-back 61-reception seasons to close his Cardinal career. The Saints, who also did not draft a wideout, are listing Montgomery as a running back.

It would seem likely New Orleans views Montgomery as more of an offensive weapon, considering the team just saw Deonte Harris become an All-Pro returner last season. Harris, whom the Associated Press named as its All-Pro punt returner, functioned as the Saints’ kick returner as well.

In a corresponding move, the Saints waived tight end Mitchell Loewen.

Contract Details: Tunsil, Texans, Fales, Jets

May 15th, 2020 at 2:59pm CST by Zachary Links

Details on a couple of recent NFL deals:

  • Laremy Tunsil‘s three-year, $66MM extension with the Texans has been officially processed, as Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle tweets. The add-on starts in 2021 and takes him through the 2024 season. All together, it comes out to a $76.35MM arrangement with $40MM fully guaranteed and $50MM effectively guaranteed. The deal also calls for an escalation in cap hits, giving Houston more short-term flexibility – Tunsil is set to count for cap hits of $14.1MM, $19.4MM, $21.1MM, and $21.75MM in each of the next four seasons.
  • The Jets‘ one-year deal with quarterback David Fales is worth $910K – the veteran’s minimum – with just $100K guaranteed (Twitter link via Connor Hughes of The Athletic). It’s a low-cost deal that will allow the Jets to keep Fales on the 53-man roster if they wish, or drop him this summer without much of a cap penalty. For now, he’ll fight for a spot behind Sam Darnold, alongside fourth-round pick James Morgan.

NFL May Revise Rooney Rule

May 15th, 2020 at 2:32pm CST by Zachary Links

The NFL will consider significant changes to the Rooney Rule, as Jim Trotter of NFL.com writes. On Tuesday, the league will present two resolutions in hopes of further leveling the playing field for minority coaches and GMs. 

The first proposal would nix the league’s anti-tampering measure that allows teams to prevent assistant coaches from interviewing for other coordinator positions. Between the end of the regular season and March 1, teams would not have any right to block an interview. An offensive or defensive coordinator job is a stepping stone to becoming a head coach, so the NFL’s hope is that this would lead to more minority HCs around the league.

The other proposal would give “improved draft slots” to teams that hire minority HCs or “primary football executives,” Trotter hears. This, too, would be a major revamp to the Rooney Rule. As currently constructed, the Rooney Rule penalizes teams who do not interview minority candidates for their key positions. If ratified, this would incentivize teams to hire minority head coaches with a six-spot jump from their slotted third-round pick. Meanwhile, a team hiring a minority GM would move up ten spots. A team that does both would move up 16 spots in the third, potentially allowing an early third-round pick to turn into a mid-second-rounder.

Furthermore, a team’s fourth-round pick would climb up five spots if that coach or GM reaches Year 3. As Trotter notes, Steve Wilks was fired by the Cardinals after one year and Vance Joseph was fired after two years. They represent two of the four African-American head coaches hired in the last three years. Meanwhile, the league has just two GMs of color out of a possible 32.

The proposed rule changes could be beneficial for Chiefs offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy, Bucs offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich, and many more minority coaches across the pro and collegiate ranks. The Rooney Rule has been in place since 2003, but Steelers owner Art Rooney II has been dissatisfied with the “10 or 12 minority coaches” hired in the last ~17 years.

In addition to the aforementioned proposals, the league will also pitch the following on Tuesday, per Trotter:

  • If a minority assistant accepts an OC/DC/ST coordinator job elsewhere, his former club would receive a Round 5 compensatory pick
  • If a minority coach or exec leaves to become a HC or GM, his previous team would receive a Round 3 comp pick
  • Any team that hires a minority QB coach would receive a fourth-round comp pick, if that coach is retained for more than one year.
  • The NFL may also require at least two minority candidates to be interviewed for HC vacancies while expanding the rule to include coordinator positions.

“I think where we are right now, is not where we want to be, not where we need to be,” Rooney said earlier this year. “We need to take a step back and look at what’s happening with our hiring processes.”

Currently, the league has just four minority head coaches: Mike Tomlin (Steelers), Anthony Lynn (Chargers), Brian Flores (Dolphins), and Ron Rivera (Redskins). Out of five vacancies in the last cycle, Rivera was the only minority candidate to land an HC job. The Browns also hired Andrew Berry this past offseason; Berry and Chris Grier (Dolphins) represent the league’s only two black GMs.

After Tuesday’s meeting, the hiring process could change dramatically. Teams frequently prevent their best assistants and executives from pursuing outside opportunities; presumably, coaches and front office personnel of all backgrounds would be permitted to seek outside opportunities during the January–March 1 window.

Lions’ Matthew Stafford Says He’s Staying

May 15th, 2020 at 2:03pm CST by Zachary Links

The Lions checked in with Justin Herbert and Tua Tagovailoa before the draft, fueling some speculation about Matthew Stafford‘s future. Meanwhile, the Staffords have put their Detroit-area home up for sale. This week, the quarterback and his wife shot down any talk of a job-related relocation.

[RELATED: Lions To Play In Empty Stadium?]

“I pay less attention to (the trade rumors) than my wife does,” Stafford said Thursday (via Michael Rothstein of ESPN.com). “But it’s something that doesn’t bother me. Listen, I’m here, I want to be here. I love being a Detroit Lion, I love leading this team.”

The Stafford family put their five-bedroom, seven-bathroom home on the market. The lakefront home features an infinity swimming pool and an indoor basketball court partially fashioned with the Pistons’ original hardwood floor at the Pontiac Silverdome. In case you’re interested in this little fixer-upper of a summer shack, the asking price is $6.5MM. And, don’t worry, the Staffords aren’t looking to leave Michigan.

“No speculation is needed. We’re about to have our fourth child and I personally do not want to live on a lake or have a pool with four children [under the age of 4],” Kelly Stafford said on Instagram (h/t Rothstein). “So that is the reason that it is on the market.”

The Lions front office has also repeatedly shot down the possibility of moving on from Stafford. Yes, he’s 32 and, yes, he did miss half of the 2019 season, but he enjoyed a 136-game streak of consecutive starts before the back problems surfaced. And, in his eight starts, he threw for nearly 2,500 yards, 19 touchdowns, and five interceptions while ranking No. 8 in ESPN’s Total QB Rating.

This year, he’s set to be on the Lions’ payroll for $21.3MM. After that, his cap number moves to $33MM in 2021. They may have liked Herbert, Tagovailoa, and some of the other QBs in this year’s draft class, but Stafford is the quarterback who gives them the best chance to win in 2020. For his part, Stafford says the speculation doesn’t bother him very much.

“I really don’t pay too much attention to ’em,” Stafford said of the talk. “I pay less attention to them than my wife does. But it’s something that doesn’t bother me. I’m here. I want to be here. I love being a Detroit Lion. I love leading this team. So all that kind of stuff is just kind of out there to be out there. It’s a slow news month at that point, and I’m just happy to be where I am and ready to deal with this offseason the way it is and try to make the best of the season that I hope happens.”

Steelers Notes: Harrison, Tomlin, Ebron

May 15th, 2020 at 11:40am CST by Rory Parks

Notorious cheap-shot artist and Steelers icon James Harrison last set foot on the field in 2017, but he is back in the headlines today. In an interview on Barstool Sports’ “Going Deep” podcast, Harrison said that Pittsburgh head coach Mike Tomlin handed him an envelope after Harrison laid a brutal hit on Browns receiver Mohamed Massaquoi in October 2010 (story via TMZ).

“And, I ain’t gonna lie to you, when that happened, right? [T]he G-est thing Mike Tomlin ever did, he handed me an envelope after that,” Harrison said. “I ain’t gonna say what, but he handed me an envelope after that.”

The clear implication, of course, is that the alleged envelope contained money, either as a “reward” for the hit or to help Harrison pay the ensuing $75K fine from the league. One way or another, it could spell trouble for Tomlin if the league chooses to investigate (though since the alleged incident took place prior to sanctions being levied in the Saints’ Bountygate scandal, that may not happen).

Team president Art Rooney II, of course, denies the allegation (via Mike Florio of PFT), and so does Harrison’s agent, Bill Parise (via Joe Rutter of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review). After the public tied Harrison’s comments to Bountygate, Harrison himself took to social media to deny that Tomlin gave him a “bounty,” but he notably did not deny that the envelope helped offset his fine. Most likely, this will all be forgotten in short order, but it will be interesting to see if the NFL does decide to launch some sort of investigation.

Now for more from the Steel City:

  • New Steelers tight end Eric Ebron has passed his physical, as Ebron himself announced (via Twitter). An ankle injury wiped out his 2019 season almost completely, but he still managed to land a two-year, $12MM pact with Pittsburgh, thanks in large part to his Pro Bowl performance in 2018. He will join fellow tight end Vance McDonald as a seam-stretching target and red zone threat for Ben Roethlisberger.
  • After a promising 2018 campaign, Steelers RB James Conner was limited by injuries in 2019, and he averaged a full five fewer runs per game last season than he did the year before. But Tomlin prefers having a bell-cow in his backfield, and he hopes Conner can return to that role in 2020. “James is a featured guy and proven runner when healthy,” Tomlin said (via Rutter). “We’re excited about him getting back to health and displaying that in 2020.” Conner is entering a contract year, so a return to form as the Steelers’ RB1 could also land him a nice payday.
  • The Steelers may be in the market for a nose tackle after losing Javon Hargrave to the Eagles in free agency, as Mark Kaboly of The Athletic writes. While pure nose tackles are going the way of the dodo, Hargrave was so valuable because of his ability to generate pass rush from the interior while also serving as a traditional NT against power-running teams, but those players are tough to find on the open market. If the club makes a move to add a veteran via free agency or trade, Kaboly believes it will not happen until after training camp. Until then, Daniel McCullers and seventh-round rookie Carlos Davis will attempt to fill the void left by Hargrave.
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