HEADLINES

Month: November 2024

Broncos Sign RT Demar Dotson

August 12th, 2020 at 10:17am CST by Rory Parks

The Broncos have signed veteran RT Demar Dotson, as Ian Rapoport of NFL.com was first to report (via Twitter). Mike Klis of 9News.com says that it’s a one-year, $3MM pact with $400K in guarantees.

Dotson, 34, is a UDFA success story. After going undrafted in 2009, he hooked on with the Buccaneers and ultimately spent 11 years in Tampa. He had been the club’s full-time starter at right tackle since the 2012 season.

He just completed the second of two contract extensions he signed with the Bucs after his rookie deal, and though he missed 18 games across the 2015-17 seasons, he started 15 contests in both 2018 and 2019. He has never received a Pro Bowl nod and has yet to play in a playoff game, but with 106 career starts to his credit, he provides Denver with a steady and experienced option at RT.

According to Klis, the plan is for Dotson to back up Elijah Wilkinson, who started 12 games at RT last year in the wake of Ja’Wuan James‘ injury problems and who will reprise that role in 2020 now that James has elected to opt out of the season. Dotson could step in should Wilkinson underperform or suffer an injury, and Wilkinson could shift over to the left side if LT Garett Bolles continues to struggle or sustains an injury of his own. Such a development would also open up a starting job for Dotson.

Bengals Sign DT Mike Daniels

August 12th, 2020 at 9:24am CST by Sam Robinson

Aug. 12: It’s a done deal, per Mike Garafolo of the NFL Network (via Twitter). Daniels has signed a one-year pact worth up to $2.7MM.

Aug. 11: Mike Daniels‘ Bengals visit will likely lead to a contract. Second-year HC Zac Taylor said Tuesday he expects the team to sign the veteran defensive lineman.

The former Packers and Lions lineman visited Cincinnati over the weekend. The revised CBA restricts teams from conducting visits for exploratory reasons, so a Daniels Ohio trek meant he was squarely on the franchise’s radar. His signing would continue the Bengals’ uncharacteristic offseason.

A team usually cautious with outside free agents has used the market to reshape its defense. Daniels will follow D.J. Reader, Trae Waynes and Mackensie Alexander to Cincinnati. The Bengals look set to carry a seasoned D-tackle corps, with the team already employing Reader and perennial Pro Bowler Geno Atkins. This stands to help a defense that ranked 30th in DVOA last season.

A Daniels-Bengals agreement would also follow the Josh Tupou opt-out decision. The fourth-year contributor started seven games last season and played 467 defensive snaps. His choice to skip the 2020 campaign left the team lacking for depth on its defensive interior.

The Packers gave Daniels a high-end extension late during the 2015 season but released him last summer. The acclaimed inside pass rusher landed with the Lions and played but ended up playing just nine games and 18% of Detroit’s defensive snaps. The 31-year-old defender landed on IR in December. Overall, Daniels has 30 career sacks. He made the Pro Bowl in 2017.

Latest On Jets Owner Woody Johnson

August 12th, 2020 at 9:05am CST by Rory Parks

At the end of last month, we heard that Jets owner and current U.S. ambassador to Great Britain, Woody Johnson, was said to have made racist and sexist comments during his time as an ambassador. Those allegations triggered a State Department investigation, and as Rich Cimini of ESPN.com reports, the State Department thinks the matter requires a more thorough review (Twitter links 1, 2, 3, 4, 5).

The State Department’s report says that Johnson “sometimes made inappropriate or insensitive comments on topics generally considered Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO)-sensitive, such as religion, sex, or color.” Within the report is a statement from the Office of the Inspector General indicating that Johnson’s comments, gathered through interviews and questionnaires from employees at the U.S. Embassy in London, could represent a violation of EEO laws, which is why it’s pushing for a comprehensive inquiry.

Johnson’s comments are included in the report. He said, “[i]f I have unintentionally offended anyone in the execution of my duties, I deeply regret that, but I do not accept that I have treated employees with disrespect or discriminated in any way.” He added that, in order to address the “perceived or real” allegations in the report, he has reviewed courses on workplace discrimination and has asked his staff to do the same.

Even assuming an additional review is conducted, it seems unlikely that Johnson’s ownership will be seriously threatened. After all, Washington Football Team owner Dan Snyder will not be made to sell his club in the wake of sexual harassment allegations made against members of his staff, and as disappointing and offensive as racist or sexist comments might be, it would be surprising to see them trigger an ouster.

Johnson’s brother, Christopher Johnson, is Gang Green’s CEO and chairman and has been serving as the club’s operating head during Woody’s ambassadorship. When news of Woody’s alleged comments surfaced last month, Christopher called almost every player on the Jets roster to listen to their concerns.

NFL Lifts Prohibition On FA Tryouts

August 12th, 2020 at 8:34am CST by Rory Parks

We may finally start to see some of the high-profile free agents still on the market land with new teams. As Tom Pelissero of the NFL Network reports (via Twitter), the league has lifted its prohibition on free agent tryouts. Unsigned players can now come into a team’s facility to be fully evaluated.

Of course, the COVID-19 pandemic had forced the NFL to ban clubs from hosting free agents, though an exception was recently made for players to take a physical with an interested team (as with Mike Daniels and the Bengals, for instance). Now, however, players like Jadeveon Clowney and Everson Griffen, who have languished on the open market, can visit a facility to try and alleviate any concerns teams might have about them.

Per Pelissero, there are a number of safety precautions the league is putting in place (Twitter link). All signed players must undergo COVID-19 entry screening, and street free agents must test negative three consecutive times before participating in team activities. Players acquired from another club (e.g., a player who had been cut the previous day) must test negative two consecutive times. All tests will be 24 hours apart.

Signed players may participate in virtual meetings while awaiting test results, and teams will receive a roster exemption for a player acquired from another club until his second negative tests comes back (Twitter link via Pelissero). All new players will be tested for six consecutive days after arriving at the facility.

So there are still a number of hoops for FAs and other new players to jump through, but this is a key development that will shift free agent activity to a much more familiar format.

Sony Michel Uncertain For Week 1?

August 11th, 2020 at 4:34pm CST by Sam Robinson

The Patriots agreed to terms with Lamar Miller on Monday. Part of the reasoning may stem from Sony Michel‘s status.

Michel underwent foot surgery earlier this offseason, and Jeff Howe of The Athletic notes the former first-round pick is not certain to be ready in time for Week 1 (subscription required). The Patriots have Michel on their active/PUP list, and Howe adds his recovery does not appear to have a near-future end date.

This marks the third straight offseason in which Michel has undergone surgery. Knee operations transpired in 2018 and ’19. Michel’s foot procedure came after a somewhat disappointing season. While Michel surpassed 900 rushing yards for the second straight season and was far and away the Patriots’ rushing leader, he received 38 more carries in 2019 and averaged just 3.7 yards per tote — down from 4.5 as a rookie.

Were Michel not to practice during training camp, the Pats could place him on their reserve/PUP list — which would shelve him for the season’s first six weeks. But it is not clear if the Georgia product needs that long to recover.

The Patriots lost Brandon Bolden to an opt-out choice but still roster Miller, James White, Rex Burkhead and Damien Harris. Were Michel to land on the reserve/PUP list, this quartet would be in line to make New England’s 53-man roster.

Minor NFL Transactions: 8/11/20

August 11th, 2020 at 4:05pm CST by Sam Robinson

Here are Tuesday’s minor moves, with the list being updated throughout the afternoon.

Chicago Bears

Cincinnati Bengals

Los Angeles Rams

New England Patriots

  • Signed: C Tyler Gauthier

New York Giants

Seattle Seahawks

Tennessee Titans

Logan Ryan Preparing To Play Safety

August 11th, 2020 at 3:37pm CST by Sam Robinson

A free agent for nearly five months, Logan Ryan is now making a versatility-based pitch in hopes of securing the kind of contract he has sought this offseason.

The unattached cornerback now views himself as a safety, with Ian Rapoport of NFL.com noting Ryan’s agent emailed all 32 teams stats comparing his client to the top NFL safeties (Twitter link).

Ryan indeed led all corners — by a significant margin — in tackles last season, racking up 113 combined. No other corner topped 82. The then-Titans slot defender also paced corners with 73 solo stops. Ryan’s tackling prowess extended to his New England days as well, with the former Patriots starter registering 74 solo stops in 2016.

Ryan, however, only played 22 snaps at safety — compared to 855 in the slot and 243 at outside corner — last season. Earlier this summer, teams were reportedly viewing Ryan as a nickel corner. This could be an 11th-hour attempt for the 29-year-old defender to pitch himself as a defensive chess piece.

Nearly three months have passed since Ryan appeared squarely on the Jets’ radar. They have a greater need at corner than safety, despite the Jamal Adams trade. The Dolphins expressed interest at multiple junctures, but that also has cooled. Ryan sought a $10MM-per-year deal earlier this offseason. That no longer seems realistic, and with the cap likely set to drop in 2021, the seven-year veteran may need to reduce his expectations. But he is making another effort to secure a respectable deal ahead of the 2020 season.

Pac-12 To Postpone Season

August 11th, 2020 at 3:07pm CST by Sam Robinson

Not long after the Big Ten revealed it would try spring football to navigate the COVID-19 pandemic, the Pac-12 will follow suit. The conference will soon announce it will not play football this fall, Stadium’s Brett McMurphy reports (on Twitter).

The expectation is the Pac-12 will also attempt a spring season, though The Athletic’s Bruce Feldman tweets the conference’s medical experts are not currently optimistic college football will be viable then either. Regardless, Tuesday now serves as one of the most pivotal days in NCAA history.

Two of the Power 5 conferences have declared they are done for 2020, leaving the ACC, Big 12 and SEC left to decide when their seasons will occur (if they are to occur). The Pac-12 had discussed a spring-season scenario for several weeks. Should the latter three leagues decide to go ahead with fall slates — as each did upon releasing schedules just days ago — a historic split season would stand to take place.

Pac-12 draft prospects are set to join their Big Ten brethren, however, with most surely set to skip a spring season in order to avoid risk. In between the Big Ten and Pac-12 season postponements, NFL.com’s Mike Garafolo noted the NFL remained on track to hold its draft in late April (video link).

With two Power 5 leagues now on track to try spring football, that will put the NFL to a test. Teams will want as much intel on prospects as possible, so it would behoove the league to postpone the draft until the end of the new spring seasons. The NFL can delay its draft until June 2, per the CBA. Any later and another NFL-NFLPA bargaining session would need to commence.

Big Ten To Pursue Spring Football Season

August 11th, 2020 at 2:00pm CST by Sam Robinson

The rumors about the Big Ten nixing fall football preceded the conference following through with a landmark change. One week after it finalized a fall 2020 schedule, the conference voted to not play that slate, David Jesse, Chris Solari and Chris Thomas of the Detroit Free Press report. The Big Ten announced the decision Tuesday.

While the Big Ten has become the first of the Power 5 conferences to call off football in 2020, it plans to pursue a spring football season, NJ.com’s James Kratch reports. This would be an axis-shifting move, though other smaller conferences have put such plans in place already.

The NFL has yet to budge on its annual draft window. Earlier this summer, the league was not expected to move the draft from its traditional late-April date. But with the Big Ten producing dozens of draftees annually, the NFL will now have a dilemma.

One of the major conferences’ seasons may not be completed by the time the draft happens — a scenario that has not occurred since the 1960s. The CBA allows the NFL the power to push the draft back as far as June 2. Any additional delay would require another NFL-NFLPA bargaining session.

A few first-round prospects from Big Ten schools have opted out of the season to prepare for the draft. Tuesday’s announcement will induce many others to do so, with a spring season presenting immense risk to players on track to play NFL football in fall 2021. Prospects who were hoping to use the 2020 season as a springboard to better draft status may also be forced to skip a spring slate.

Other college conferences may follow the Big Ten’s lead. The Pac-12 was the second league to announce it would only play conference games. With COVID-19 still wreaking havoc on the NCAA landscape, it would certainly not be a surprise to see the Pac-12 — which also discussed a spring setup earlier this summer — follow the Big Ten in postponing its season. This would put the ACC, Big 12 and SEC to seminal decisions.

As far as the coronavirus-reshaped 2020 NFL season, that remains on course. While the Big Ten pulling the plug on fall football could be interpreted as an ominous sign for the league, the NFL has fewer obstacles to navigate than college conferences en route to Week 1.

Yannick Ngakoue Checks In With Jaguars

August 11th, 2020 at 9:35am CST by Zachary Links

Yannick Ngakoue has yet to report to the Jaguars, but this is at least a step in the right direction. Jags GM Dave Caldwell says that he has spoken to the defensive end in recent days (Twitter link via NFL.com’s Mike Garafolo). Still, Caldwell isn’t sure whether he’ll actually show up to camp. 

[RELATED: Jaguars’ Ngakoue Fires Agent]

“That’s for [Ngakoue] to discuss,” Caldwell said.

Ngakoue canned his agent on Monday, signaling his dissatisfaction with the way the offseason has played out. Presumably, Ngakoue is mostly frustrated with the Jaguars, but he also expected his reps to help facilitate a trade that would take him elsewhere.

Ngakoue spent months pushing for a lucrative long-term extension. Then, he pivoted to a trade demand. Shortly before the franchise tag extension deadline, Ngakoue let the rest of the NFL know that he would be willing to table contract talks and play on his one-year, $17.88MM tender. Still, nothing came of that concession. The Jaguars still wanted something significant in exchange for the 25-year-old and no one was willing to pay sticker price.

Evaluators are split on Ngakoue’s true value. On one hand, he’s a young talent at a premium position who has notched at least eight sacks in each of his four NFL seasons. On the other hand, his pressures-to-sacks ratio doesn’t add up. Trading for Ngakoue means coughing up draft capital for a rather expensive rental and waiting until next offseason to discuss a new deal. Meanwhile, plenty of proven edge rushers remain on the market, and can likely be had for less. Jadeveon Clowney, for example, would probably take less than ~$18MM at this point.

The Jaguars still have the ability to trade Ngakoue, and he doesn’t have to join the team until he inks his tender. But, at this point, it might make sense for Ngakoue to bury the axe.

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