2020 July - Pro Football Rumors

49ers Mulling Kendrick Bourne, Raheem Mostert Extensions

July 2nd, 2020 at 9:54am CST by Zachary Links

The 49ers have discussed extensions for running back Raheem Mostert and wide receiver Kendrick Bourne, according to Matt Barrows of The Athletic. It’s not immediately clear whether the Niners have engaged in serious talks with either player, but, at minimum, the front office has been planning internally.

Mostert is under club control through 2021 thanks to the three-year extension he signed last year. The Niners don’t necessarily have to rush things, but Mostert is clearly underpaid – that deal pays him less than $3MM per year on average. At the time, Mostert was mostly a special teams player, but now, after posting 772 yards and eight touchdowns, he finds himself as the team’s RB1. As veteran NFL reporter Josina Anderson says, Mostert requested a pay raise earlier this offseason to reflect his heightened status, although his current deal does include certain rushing incentives (Twitter link). Mostert is 28 and is well aware of the shelf life of RBs, so his request makes plenty of sense.

Bourne, meanwhile, has one year to go before he hits the open market. The Niners cuffed him with the restricted free agent tender at the second-round level, retaining him for a cool $3.27MM in 2020. The 24-year-old (25 in August) has spent the last three years with SF and has been a key part of the offense over the last two. Between 2018 and 2019, Bourne has totaled 72 catches for 845 yards and nine touchdowns. This year, he has a prime opportunity to take things up a notch. With Emmanuel Sanders out of the picture and Deebo Samuel nursing a broken foot, Bourne could open the year as one of Jimmy Garoppolo‘s top targets.

Cam Newton Gets $550K Guaranteed From Patriots

July 2nd, 2020 at 9:42am CST by Zachary Links

The details on Cam Newton‘s contract are in. And they’re not all that favorable for the former MVP. Newton’s one-year deal guarantees him just $550K with a base salary of $1.05MM, according to Jason La Canfora of CBSSports.com (on Twitter).

Newton can earn up to $5.75MM in incentives and $700K in per game roster bonuses, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (Twitter link) adds, bringing the contract’s total potential value to ~$7.5MM. The deal does not include a clause restricting the Patriots’ ability to franchise tag him either, so Newton’s post-2020 upside is somewhat limited.

The Browns also kicked the tires on Newton, but the Patriots were the only team to offer him a deal this offseason. Not long ago, Newton was one of the game’s most electrifying players and one of the league’s most dangerous threats under center. Three years and three surgeries later, he’s gone from an exclamation point to a question mark. Newton has missed 16 of his last 18 games and no one knows exactly what he has to offer in 2020.

Any way you slice it, Newton’s deal is as low-risk/high-reward as it gets. Newton, meanwhile, will have an opportunity to silence the critics and reclaim his status as one of the game’s best quarterbacks.

East Notes: Newton, Williams, Giants

July 1st, 2020 at 5:52pm CST by Sam Robinson

Most of Cam Newton‘s 2020 earning potential will be through incentives. As for base salary, the Patriots landed a former MVP for the league minimum. Newton will earn just $1.05MM in 2020 base salary, Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports reports (on Twitter). The Pats entered the week with the least cap space in the NFL. New England guaranteed Newton just $550K, which is notable given the veteran passer’s injury issues in recent years. Newton underwent foot surgery in December and has rehabbed that Lisfranc issue for several months. The 31-year-old standout can collect $6.45MM through incentives and pre-game roster bonuses, La Canfora adds. The contract does not prevent the Pats from franchise-tagging Newton next year.

Here is the latest from the NFC East:

The Giants and Leonard Williams discussed a new deal late last season and before the March franchise tag deadline, but the sides were not especially close on terms. Now franchise-tagged at $16.1MM, Williams wants a deal that will pay him between $18-$20MM per year, SNY’s Ralph Vacchiano notes. The Giants did not want to go there. Although Dave Gettleman traded for Williams in a contract year, Vacchiano adds the ex-Jet may have less support among Giants brass. While Williams is a former top-10 pick, he has 17.5 sacks in five seasons — including a half-sack last year. That sack total ranks 84th since 2015, though the interior defender’s 101 QB hits rank 12th in that span. This massive gap, along with the tag, creates an interesting negotiation.
Evan Engram may have missed Giants team activities in a normal offseason; the fourth-year tight end underwent foot surgery late last year. But New York’s top tight end recently posted a video featuring him running and cutting, via the New York Post. While Engram is far from a safe bet, given his injury propensity as a pro, this represents a good sign for a Giants team that did not use its top skill-position configuration — Engram-Saquon Barkley–Sterling Shepard–Golden Tate–Darius Slayton — once last season.
Despite the Patriots waiting until late June to add their likely starting quarterback, their QB situation now looks better than the Redskins‘. Ron Rivera discussed a Newton deal earlier this offseason but said this week the fit was not right in Washington. “If the circumstances had allowed us, I would not have had an issue with that,” Rivera said during an interview with 670 The Score (via NBC Sports Washington). “I would’ve been very confident and comfortable going after him and bringing him to be part of what we’re doing here.” The Redskins are set to enter training camp with Dwayne Haskins and Kyle Allen as their top healthy QBs, though Alex Smith remains on the roster.

Jason Pierre-Paul Undergoes Surgery

July 1st, 2020 at 5:47pm CST by Sam Robinson

Jason Pierre-Paul will be on the mend for a bit. The Buccaneers edge defender underwent knee surgery recently, Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times tweets.

This was an arthroscopic procedure, and while it may sideline JPP for the start of Bucs training camp — should camps begin later this month as scheduled — he should be expected to recover in around a month.

The 31-year-old edge rusher has dealt with extensive injury trouble but has persisted to play 10 NFL seasons. He managed to rebound from the 2015 fireworks accident, which left permanent damage to his right hand, to record 15.5 sacks between the 2016-17 seasons. Despite playing just 10 games last season due to a fractured neck sustained in May 2019, JPP returned to post 8.5 sacks. He has 21 in two Tampa Bay slates.

The Bucs re-signed Pierre-Paul in March, giving him a two-year, $25MM deal to return alongside the franchise-tagged Shaquil Barrett. Tampa Bay is scheduled to begin camp July 28.

NFL To Cut Preseason Schedule In Half

July 1st, 2020 at 3:18pm CST by Sam Robinson

The rumors of the NFL eliminating half its preseason slate produced action Wednesday afternoon. The league is planning to slash its preseason slate, according to Pro Football Talk (on Twitter).

This comes shortly after the league nixed the Hall of Fame Game. Now, teams’ August schedules will be trimmed from four games to two. This will open the door for the long-rumored acclimation period — which will allow for increased conditioning after the virtual offseason. This process will stand to help prevent some injuries players could sustain after spending the offseason working out on their own.

Weeks 1 and 4 will be cut, according to PFT (via Twitter). Every team’s two-game slate will feature one home game and one away tilt, Armando Salguero of the Miami Herald tweets. Instead of locking in every team’s Week 2 and Week 3 preseason opponents, the league is in favor of keeping short-travel games on the docket, SNY’s Ralph Vacchiano tweets. The new schedule is expected to be released later this week.

Teams’ preseason openers will be played between Aug. 20-24, Kevin Seifert of ESPN.com reports. This will give teams an extra week to prepare players amid the pandemic. This year’s preseason was scheduled to begin a bit later than usual, with the original schedule wrapping up Sept. 3. But instead of eliminating Weeks 1-2 from the preseason slate, the NFL will trim that Sept. 3 game. This will give teams more time in between the preseason and regular season.

Although the preseason has continued to mean less and less, with some teams opting to rest starters throughout, Wednesday’s decision will mean limited game action for rookies hoping to make impressions. The virtual offseason prevented young players from key onsite work, and a truncated preseason will reduce the opportunities they’ll have to stand out on film for other teams considering waiver claims. No joint practices will cut down on those chances as well.

Today’s news could well mean the end of the four-game preseason. The new CBA gives the NFL the option of transitioning to the 17-game regular-season schedule as soon as 2021. Considering the revenue that is at risk of being lost because of what could be a fanless season, it would not surprise if the league moved to 17 games as soon as possible. That format calls for a three-game preseason.

The actual games being canceled prove less significant than the overall decision, as it’s the latest major change to the NFL’s 2020 calendar. The league has thus far canceled pre-draft visits, prevented free agent visits, barred non-injured players from team facilities, made its draft a virtual event, did the same with its offseason program, canceled the Hall of Fame Game and did the same to the supplemental draft minutes ago. Nothing concrete has emerged regarding the regular season — beyond the elimination of the five international games — but the league has built in some contingencies in case the virus forces that to be altered.

NFL Cancels Supplemental Draft

July 1st, 2020 at 2:59pm CST by Zachary Links

The 2020 NFL Supplemental Draft officially been canceled, per a memo from the league office to all 32 teams. As Tom Pelissero of NFL.com (Twitter link) explains, the CBA leaves the decision to the NFL. After discussions with the NFL Management Council Executive Committee, the league has opted against having one in 2020.

This marks the NFL’s latest concession to the ongoing pandemic. In June, the league 86’d the Hall Of Fame Game, the annual start to the NFL preseason in early August. Now, it has taken the supplemental event off of the calendar, even though it’s historically conducted remotely.

In existence for players whose eligibility statuses have changed in the offseason, the NFL opted against making this supplemental draft a game-changer amid the pandemic. The coronavirus has threatened the college football season, but the NFL nixed the idea of allowing potential 2021 draft prospects whose seasons run the risk of being postponed or canceled to enter the supplemental draft.

Players whose eligibility statuses changed this year will not be free agents, per Tom Pelissero of NFL.com (on Twitter). They would need to enter the league through the 2021 draft.

This cancellation does not move the needle too much, but it does add to a lengthy list of changes the NFL has made in 2020. Few players go in supplemental drafts. While the likes of Bernie Kosar, Cris Carter, Brian Bosworth and Rob Moore have gone in the summer draft, its relevance has faded in the modern game. No team has used a first-round supplemental pick since the Giants took Duke quarterback Dave Brown in 1992. Josh Gordon became most notable supplemental pick over the past decade, and only eight players were supplemental picks during the 2010s.

Packers Sign QB Jordan Love

July 1st, 2020 at 2:47pm CST by Zachary Links

Aaron Rodgers‘ heir apparent is officially in the fold. On Wednesday, the Packers officially announced the signing of quarterback Jordan Love.

[RELATED: Packers Sign A.J. Dillon]

The Packers were rumored to be interested in the Utah State QB before the draft, but it was still a surprise to see them trade up to take Love in the first round. The Packers gave up pick No. 136 in the fourth-round to move up four spots, grabbing the promising youngster at No. 26 overall. In accordance with his slot, Love will earn $12.38MM over the full life of the four-year contract and collect a $5.56MM signing bonus.

Opinions were split on Love heading into the draft. He was viewed as a potential top pick after a dominant sophomore season where he averaged 8.6 yards per attempt with 32 touchdowns and six interceptions. Then, in 2019, Love regressed – he averaged just 7.2 yards per attempt with 20 touchdowns against 17 interceptions.

Meanwhile, no one’s quite sure of what this means for Rodgers.

“I’m not going to talk about all that we talked about, but he was … let’s just say surprised that they went in that direction,” Rodgers’ predecessor Brett Favre said in May. “I think he’ll play somewhere else.”

Favre’s “gut” tells him that Rodgers won’t finish his career in Green Bay. For now, he’s under contract through 2023 with cap numbers in excess of $36MM in 2021 and ’22.

With Love signed, the Packers have just three stragglers to go. Here’s the full rundown of their draft class, via PFR’s tracker:

1-26: Jordan Love, QB (Utah State): Signed
2-62: A.J. Dillon, RB (Boston College): Signed
3-94: Josiah Deguara, TE (Cincinnati)
5-175: Kamal Martin, LB (Minnesota)
6-192: Jon Runyan, G (Michigan): Signed
6-208: Jake Hanson, C (Oregon)
6-209: Simon Stepaniak, T (Indiana): Signed
7-236: Vernon Scott, S (TCU): Signed
7-242: Jonathan Garvin, DE (Miami): Signed

Jaguars’ Yannick Ngakoue Still Wants Trade

July 1st, 2020 at 2:37pm CST by Zachary Links

They say that time heals all wounds. Unfortunately for the Jaguars, that doesn’t apply to their ongoing saga with Yannick Ngakoue. With two weeks to go before the franchise tag extension deadline, Ngakoue’s stance remains unchanged (Twitter link via Jeremy Fowler of ESPN.com). The defensive end still wants a trade and still doesn’t want to sign the one-year tag.

The Jaguars claim that they’ve tried to mend fences with the 25-year-old. GM Dave Caldwell has also claimed that they haven’t received any offers for Ngakoue. Translated, that probably means that they haven’t been offered enough to part with the young edge rusher.

Ngakoue has registered at least eight sacks in each of his four pro seasons, including a career-high 12.5 sacks in 2017. Plenty of teams would surely like to add Ngakoue, but they’ll only part with so much in the way of draft capital, because acquiring Ngakoue also means giving him a lucrative long-term deal in line with the market.

Ngakoue wants to join the $20MM+ defensive lineman club, but he doesn’t want his induction to come in Jacksonville. For now, he’s facing a one-year, $17.788MM tender that he also says he doesn’t want. If they can’t work things out by the deadline, Ngakoue figures to hold out through training camp at the very least. The threat of a holdout could extend into September as well, but that would be costly in the short-term and the long-term. A full-season holdout would delay Ngakoue’s potential free agency by another year and recreate the same problem in 2021.

The Eagles, Seahawks, and Browns have been keeping their eyes peeled for DEs, but no team wants to commit mega dollars to players with the possibility of major cap restrictions after this year. Besides, the Eagles’ 2021 cap situation is cramped as is, and the Seahawks are running low on available funds for the current year.

Packers Sign A.J. Dillon

July 1st, 2020 at 1:15pm CST by Zachary Links

The Packers have formally signed second-round pick A.J. Dillon, per a club announcement. The running back out of Boston College is set to earn $5.29MM over the course of his four-year deal, per the terms of his slot at No. 62 overall. That sum includes a $1.404MM signing bonus.

Dillon dazzled as a frosh, running for 1,589 yards and 14 touchdowns. He was slowed a bit by a leg injury in 2018, but he came roaring back last year. In his final year at BC, Dillon posted 1,685 rushing yards and 14 touchdowns while putting together one heck of a highlight reel. Among his brightest moments – a pair of 200-yard games, against NC State and Syracuse.

Dillon, who once thought his football future was at linebacker, stands at nearly 6’0″ and weighs roughly 250 pounds. The powerful runner will now look to make a dent as a pro, playing alongside incumbent starter Aaron Jones.

Here’s the full rundown of the Packers’ 2020 NFL Draft class, courtesy of PFR’s tracker:

1-26: Jordan Love, QB (Utah State)
2-62: A.J. Dillon, RB (Boston College): Signed
3-94: Josiah Deguara, TE (Cincinnati)
5-175: Kamal Martin, LB (Minnesota)
6-192: Jon Runyan, G (Michigan): Signed
6-208: Jake Hanson, C (Oregon)
6-209: Simon Stepaniak, T (Indiana): Signed
7-236: Vernon Scott, S (TCU): Signed
7-242: Jonathan Garvin, DE (Miami): Signed

Latest On Dolphins, Raekwon McMillan

July 1st, 2020 at 10:49am CST by Zachary Links

The Dolphins haven’t ruled out an extension for Raekwon McMillan, Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald hears. It’s likely that the linebacker’s negotiations – like many around the NFL – have been held up due to the pandemic and uncertainty about the 2021 salary cap. However, the Jackson hears that the Dolphins appreciate what McMillan brings to the table and they’d be interested in continuing his stay.

In 2019, McMillan ranked as the Dolphins’ best defensive player, according to Pro Football Focus. The Dolphins have already extended players like DeVante Parker, Jesse Davis, Allen Hurns, and Jakeem Grant, so it stands to reason that they would want to lock down McMillan.

On the flipside, McMillan isn’t great in pass coverage. The Dolphins recognize his limitations, which is why he’s expected to be used mostly on run downs this year. That’s not exactly a great platform for a free agent linebacker, so McMillan would probably like to secure the bag before the season starts.

Jackson hears that the Dolphins are in a similar place with defensive tackle Davon Godchaux, who has one year remaining on his original rookie deal. Last year, the former fifth-round pick made more stops within 2 yards of the line than any other defensive tackle in the NFL. This year, he’s set to earn $2.1MM before reaching the open market.

In both cases, the potential cap decrease is a major factor. Before the pandemic, the Dolphins expected to have ~$60MM in cap room for 2021. Now, that space could be completely wiped out.