HEADLINES

Month: November 2024

Cardinals Interested In Everson Griffen

May 22nd, 2020 at 4:15pm CST by Sam Robinson

Everson Griffen has spent two months in free agency, but the longtime Vikings defensive end does have a market. Strong interest has emerged, with the Cardinals being a new team in the mix for Griffen, Jeremy Fowler of ESPN.com tweets.

Although a Vikings return cannot be ruled out, with the team not doing much to fill its need opposite Danielle Hunter, Griffen is not believed to be a good bet to return to Minnesota. While the 10-year Viking expressed interest in signing with the Seahawks, they may still be monitoring Jadeveon Clowney. Griffen is staying patient, Fowler indicates, and other teams are looking into the 32-year-old edge player.

The Cardinals did not draft an outside pass rusher this year. They signed Terrell Suggs to play opposite Chandler Jones last year but waived him late in the season. Arizona intended to give time to some of its younger edge defenders but may be eyeing a more proven option at this point. Griffen’s 74.5 career sacks are the fourth-most in Vikings history. He booked his fourth Pro Bowl invite last year after an eight-sack regular season.

Jones continued his dominance last season by registering 19.5 sacks. Suggs recorded 5.5 with the Cardinals. No other Cardinal recorded more than three sacks last year. The team did sign Jordan Phillips — who led the Bills with 9.5 sacks in 2019 — but he will operate as an interior pass rusher. The Cardinals have been busy fortifying their front seven this offseason, in also signing De’Vondre Campbell and then drafting Isaiah Simmons eighth overall, but are in the mix to continue adding to the group.

The Cards currently hold just less than $9MM in cap space — much of which will be needed to sign their draft class.

Seahawks Submit Final Offer To Devonta Freeman?

May 22nd, 2020 at 3:59pm CST by Sam Robinson

The Seahawks’ interest in Devonta Freeman may have hit a tipping point. They have submitted a final offer to the longtime Falcons running back, Bob Condotta of the Seattle Times reports.

Freeman, however, is not prepared to accept the proposal, Condotta adds. The Seahawks’ desire to add a veteran to their backfield remains, though, leading the team to potentially circle back to Carlos Hyde.

A potential Seahawks-Freeman partnership surfaced Wednesday. The team is believed to have offered the two-time Pro Bowler a one-year deal worth $3MM. Freeman has also generated interest from the Eagles and Jets, and the 28-year-old back may well be holding out for more money. The Falcons released Freeman earlier this offseason. He was previously attached to a deal worth more than $8MM per year.

The Seahawks appear prepared to move on to talks with Hyde, Condotta adds. The former 49ers second-round pick has bounced around the league but is coming off his first 1,000-yard season. Seahawks interest in Hyde emerged earlier this week as well. While the six-year veteran is coming off a much better season than Freeman, he may be a cheaper option.

Both of Seattle’s top backs — Chris Carson and Rashaad Penny — went down with injuries near season’s end, leading the team to bring back Marshawn Lynch. The Seahawks have not ruled out another Lynch contract. This running back interest stems from uncertainty surrounding Penny’s status. The third-year back is not certain to be ready for camp after suffering a knee injury late last season.

Russell Wilson Wants Seahawks To Sign Antonio Brown?

May 22nd, 2020 at 3:45pm CST by Sam Robinson

Russell Wilson expressed a desire for the Seahawks to add superstars this offseason, and although they signed Greg Olsen and Phillip Dorsett, each would fall varying degrees shy of that distinction. Wilson is aiming higher.

The Seahawks’ ninth-year quarterback “would love” if the Seahawks signed Antonio Brown, according to ESPN 710 Seattle’s John Clayton. This is not the first connection between Brown and the Seahawks, nor is it the first instance of Wilson pushing for such a move.

In November, a report surfaced indicating Wilson had lobbied for his team to sign the controversial wide receiver. The Seahawks did not, and Brown remained in free agency. He has been unattached since last September.

Although the Saints worked out Brown, even that produced controversy for a wideout who napalmed bridges over the past 18 months. The Steelers traded Brown in March 2019; the Raiders released him before last season; the Patriots cut him after less than two weeks. The former four-time All-Pro is now in legal trouble after an arrest earlier this year.

Brown is also close with Seahawks backup Geno Smith, per Clayton. Smith recently re-signed to be Seattle’s QB2. Nothing will happen with Brown this month, Clayton adds, noting that any deal between the Seahawks and the soon-to-be 32-year-old wideout would likely come to pass in July or August. That would give the NFL more time with its investigation of Brown, who will likely face a lengthy suspension.

The league is investigating Brown for multiple allegations of sexual misconduct and folded in his three felony charges — stemming from an alleged January assault on a delivery driver — into the investigation. If the Seahawks were to sign Brown, the upside may be capped by limited availability. And it is not like the team would be adding a sure thing, given the volatility that has led Brown out of the league.

Seattle is set to roll out a pass-catching corps featuring Tyler Lockett, D.K. Metcalf, Olsen and Dorsett next season. The team has drafted four wideouts in the past two seasons, including Florida’s Freddie Swain in Round 6 this year.

Jets, Joe Flacco Agree To Deal

May 22nd, 2020 at 3:11pm CST by Sam Robinson

Although Joe Flacco is recovering from a neck surgery that is expected to keep him out of action for months, he agreed to terms with the Jets on Friday. The former Ravens and Broncos quarterback will sign a one-year deal, according to his agency (Twitter link).

This will add an experienced arm for a Jets team that previously featured a thin depth chart behind Sam Darnold. The Jets did re-sign David Fales and drafted James Morgan in Round 4 this offseason, but Flacco (if healthy) obviously offers a higher floor. After expressing interest in Andy Dalton, the Jets landed his longtime AFC North rival.

Flacco’s deal will be worth $1.5MM with incentives that could bring the price up to $4.5MM, per Adam Schefter of ESPN.com (on Twitter). The 12th-year veteran is also expected to be ready to participate in training camp, though Schefter tweets the former Super Bowl MVP likely will not be medically cleared until September.

Talks between Flacco and the Jets transpired for weeks, according to Sirius XM Radio’s Adam Caplan (on Twitter). The Eagles also showed interest earlier this offseason but backed off after the draft, Caplan adds. Philadelphia drafted Jalen Hurts in the second round.

A Flacco deal during the COVID-19 pandemic — when teams cannot have their medical staffs examine players — certainly proves interesting. Cam Newton remains in free agency. But the former certainly represents a cheaper option. Jets GM Joe Douglas has extensive familiarity with Flacco. Douglas was with the Ravens as their northeast area scout when they drafted Flacco out of Delaware in 2008. Douglas was still with Baltimore when Flacco turned in his career-defining playoff run that secured the franchise’s second Super Bowl title four years later.

The former Division I-FCS standout is now 35 and will arrive in the Big Apple after some injury-marred seasons. After a torn ACL ended his seven-plus-year start streak in 2015, Flacco battled back trouble in 2017. Though he played 16 games that year, the Delaware alum missed time with a hip malady in 2018 and saw Lamar Jackson take his job. Flacco’s Broncos season stalled after eight starts, and Denver subsequently pivoted to Drew Lock.

Gang Green has struggled at backup quarterback for years. They went 0-6 in games Darnold did not start over the past two years, and the previous regime’s investments in Bryce Petty and Christian Hackenberg — who backed up Ryan Fitzpatrick and then Josh McCown — did not work out.

Jets Do Not Plan To Trade Jamal Adams

May 22nd, 2020 at 1:32pm CST by Rory Parks

We heard yesterday that the Jets and star safety Jamal Adams have reached an impasse. Adams, who is now eligible for a contract extension, wants a new deal immediately, but New York — which has at least two years of club control left, not including a potential franchise tag in 2022 — wants to wait. As such, the two sides discussed the possibility of a trade earlier this week, but as Ralph Vacchiano of SNY.tv writes, the Jets have no intention of trading Adams.

According to Vacchiano’s source, the team has not engaged in trade talks with any club since last year’s deadline, though that has not stopped teams from calling. In yesterday’s report, Rich Cimini of ESPN.com noted that more than half of the teams in the league have reached out to the Jets to discuss Adams’ availability.

Per Vacchiano, GM Joe Douglas did contact Adams’ agents after the draft, just as he promised. But Douglas is fully aware that the team has all the leverage right now. It’s unclear whether Adams will stage a training camp holdout, but even if he does, he will have to report eventually if he wants to get paid, and even if he formally requests a trade, it’s unlikely the Jets will grant that request. Plus, with COVID-19 creating a potential financial crisis for all 32 teams in the league, it would be hard for the Jets to authorize a record-setting contract when they don’t have to.

The Jets do, however, have every intention of making Adams the highest-paid safety in league history at some point. As Connor Hughes of The Athletic notes (via Twitter), the current stalemate is only about timing. The two sides have not even discussed dollar amounts yet, but the Jets know they will have to cough up a deal paying at least $15MM per year with at least $40MM or so in guarantees. The only question is when that will happen.

AFC East Notes: O’Shea, Warford, Ryan

May 22nd, 2020 at 12:57pm CST by Rory Parks

The Dolphins fired former OC Chad O’Shea after just one season in his post, and the move surprised many at the time. After all, Miami’s offense wasn’t exactly brimming with talent, but O’Shea’s unit actually ranked in the top-10 in passing offense and top-15 in scoring offense after QB Ryan Fitzpatrick reentered the starting lineup in Week 7.

We had previously heard that O’Shea’s offense was overly complex for the young Dolphins talent, but as Barry Jackson, Adam H. Beasley, and Armando Salguero of the Miami Herald write, the term “overly complex” may not be strong enough.

O’Shea, who brought in elements of the Patriots’ notoriously difficult offensive system after spending 10 years as New England’s WRs coach, tried to install especially advanced and complicated portions of the Pats’ scheme, which went over the heads of his new charges in Miami. And though he can’t be faulted for trying to replicate an offense that has thrived for years, players complained that he was a terrible teacher to boot, with one player calling his instruction during film study a “disaster.”

Head coach Brian Flores had O’Shea pulled out of his exit meeting with Fitzpatrick to advise him of his dismissal. O’Shea was reportedly blindsided by the news, and Fitzpatrick was apparently taken aback as well. It’s unknown if Flores asked Fitzpatrick about Chan Gailey — who was immediately hired as O’Shea’s replacement — prior to O’Shea’s firing. Fitzpatrick has played under Gailey for five seasons.

Let’s round up several more items from the AFC East:

  • In his most recent mailbag, Connor Hughes of The Athletic says the Jets should pursue former Saints guard Larry Warford, who was released by New Orleans earlier this month. Hughes believes Warford would represent an upgrade over incumbent RG Brian Winters — whose release would create a cap savings of $7MM — but he does not get the sense the Jets are interested. Warford does not fit the mold of the athletic, quick O-linemen that head coach Adam Gase wants in his system.
  • Hughes also notes that while the Jets are definitely interested in free agent corner Logan Ryan, Ryan will have to come off his current $10MM/year ask in order to reach an accord with Gang Green. We recently heard that New York believes it will sign Ryan, and it seems as if no team is willing to touch the $10MM sticker price at this point.
  • The Patriots have a talented crop of undrafted free agents, and their UDFA wideouts are particularly intriguing. Doug Kyed of NESN.com believes Miami product Jeff Thomas has the best chance to make the team, though Will Hastings — who received a salary guarantee of $57.5K and who served as Jarrett Stidham‘s slot receiver at Auburn — also has a good shot.

Packers DT Montravius Adams Arrested

May 22nd, 2020 at 11:17am CST by Rory Parks

Packers defensive tackle Montravius Adams was arrested in his home state of Georgia on Tuesday, per Tom Green of AL.com. Unlike the NFL players that have been booked over the past week or so, however, Adams is facing fairly minor charges.

According to the Associated Press, Adams was pulled over on suspicion of driving with a suspended registration and no insurance. Upon approaching the car, the officer smelled marijuana, and Adams was ultimately charged with three misdemeanors: possession of less than an ounce of marijuana, driving with a suspended registration, and driving without insurance.

The new collective bargaining agreement says players cannot be suspended for marijuana-related offenses, so Adams will presumably avoid league discipline and is unlikely to face any notable legal consequences. He was released on less than $3K bond.

However, the Auburn product is entering a contract year and may not see a second deal with Green Bay (or any other team, for that matter). A third-round pick in the 2017 draft, Adams has started just three of the 37 games in which he has appeared, and he has yet to play more than 20% of the Packers’ defensive snaps in a season. Advanced metrics have not been particularly fond of his play either. In 2019, Pro Football Focus gave him below-average marks for his work against both the pass and the run.

Adams has 33 tackles and 1.5 sacks in his career.

NFL To Vote On Changes To IR Rules

May 22nd, 2020 at 10:46am CST by Rory Parks

League owners will vote next week on two major proposed changes to injured reserve rules, per Albert Breer of SI.com (Twitter link). The first would allow up to three players who have been placed on IR to return later in the season (currently, only two IR’d players are permitted to return). The second would make players who are placed on IR prior to final roster cutdowns eligible to return.

The first of those proposed changes is fairly self-explanatory, though it wasn’t that long ago that a player who was put on injured reserve was automatically ruled out for the rest of the season. In 2012, clubs were permitted to return one player from IR during the season, but they had to designate a specific player as a return candidate. In 2016, the rules were modified so that teams did not have to slap a “DTR” label on a specific player and could instead return any IR’d player they wanted. And in 2017, the league began allowing teams to bring back two players from injured reserve.

Throughout those changes, however, one thing has remained constant: in order to be eligible to return from IR, a player had to make his team’s final 53-man preseason roster. So we frequently saw situations like that of Kurt Coleman last year, who was cut by the Bills prior to final cutdowns just so that Buffalo could carry tight end Jason Croom on the 53-man and then place him on IR (thereby making him eligible to return later in the season). Buffalo re-signed Coleman the next day.

That type of borderline senseless roster maneuvering may soon be a thing of the past. Still, a player on IR will not be permitted to practice until six weeks after landing on injured reserve and cannot return to game action until his team has played eight games after he was put on IR.

Latest On College Football’s Plans

May 22nd, 2020 at 10:10am CST by Rory Parks

Some important news on the college football front. Per Pete Thamel of Yahoo Sports, the NCAA Division I Council has voted to approve voluntary athletic activities in football, as well as men’s and women’s college basketball (Twitter link).

Those activities can begin on June 1 and can run through June 30. This is the first step in attempting to forge ahead with a college football season, which will obviously play a major role in the 2021 NFL draft (the NFL has already said that it will not open up this summer’s supplemental draft to collegiate players who are facing the prospect of a shortened or canceled season).

Of course, some states remain in full lockdown mode, and others are in various stages of reopening, which will presumably impact these voluntary activities. The NFL has expressed optimism that COVID-19 testing will be widespread by August, which may allow the league to largely proceed as it otherwise would. College football, which is itself a massively lucrative industry, is clearly hoping for the same.

After all, according to a report from Syracuse University, only the athletic departments of Georgia and Texas A&M could be self-sustaining without college football ticket sales (Twitter link via Mark Passwaters of Rivals.com). So expect the NCAA to continue doing everything in its power to make sure games are played in front of fans in 2020.

NCAA president Mark Emmert recently said that there would be no college football if college campuses are not open (story via Zach Braziller of the New York Post). But as Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk opined, the definition of “open campus” is likely to be a malleable one so that football can be played even if traditional classes aren’t in session.

Chiefs, Patrick Mahomes Have Not Begun Negotiations

May 22nd, 2020 at 9:04am CST by Rory Parks

At some point, the Chiefs and star quarterback Patrick Mahomes are going to agree to a long-term extension that will make Mahomes the highest-paid player in NFL history. But while we heard back in February that the two sides could finalize something after the draft, negotiations have not yet gotten underway.

In a Facebook Live event with Dallas radio station 105.3 The Fan yesterday, Kansas City chairman and CEO Clark Hunt spoke about contract discussions with the face of his franchise (story via Jelani Scott of NFL.com).

“The negotiations are something we’ll be getting into this summer,” Hunt said. “But what he has said and what we’ve said, both sides is, he wants to be a Kansas City Chief for life, and that’s our mentality as well. We want him to play his entire career in Kansas City, and that’s what we’re going to be shooting for.”

Hunt had indicated before this year’s Super Bowl that a Mahomes extension would not necessarily get done prior to the end of the 2020 season, but it appears that his timeline has been accelerated (it’s amazing what a Lombardi Trophy can do for someone’s goodwill). At the same time, it also makes sense from the team’s perspective to make sure that there will be a 2020 season before paying a player — even a player like Mahomes — tens of millions of dollars in upfront cash. Perhaps that’s why negotiations have been pushed back to the summer.

Mahomes was hampered a bit by a knee injury in 2019, so his regular season performance was not quite as otherworldly as it was in his MVP romp in 2018. But he was brilliant in the Chiefs’ title run, which culminated in Super Bowl MVP honors.

For his part, the 24-year-old sensation says he has no intentions of going anywhere. “I want to make sure I do [my next contract] the smart way and do it the right way, and so I don’t know exactly which way that is, yet,” Mahomes recently said. “I know that my people and the Chiefs’ people will talk about it, and will do it at the right time and for the betterment for the team. But I’m excited to be a Kansas City Chief for a very long time, and I know that’s going to be handled the right way because of the people the Kansas City Chiefs have in their organization

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