2020 September - Pro Football Rumors

Rams’ Travin Howard Done For Year

September 1st, 2020 at 1:48pm CST by Zachary Links

Travin Howard will miss the 2020 season with a torn meniscus, as Jordan Rodrigue of The Athletic tweets. The Rams will make it official this week by placing the linebacker on injured reserve.

Howard, a 2018 seventh-round pick, spent the early part of his career as a practice squad and special teams player. In 2019, he made the most of his opportunity and closed strong with 13 tackles and three pass breakups over the final five weeks of the season. This summer, he was in the midst of an impressive camp and potentially in the conversation to start. Now, he’ll have to wait until 2021 to potentially take his next big leap forward.

Even before the injury, the Rams were concerned about their lack of depth at inside linebacker. Troy Reeder – who is hardly a household name – leads the team’s ILBs in career starts with eight. Former Raven Kenny Young stands as the only other ILB on the roster with starting experience.

Vikings, Riley Reiff Agree To New Deal

September 1st, 2020 at 1:00pm CST by Zachary Links

Riley Reiff is staying put. The Vikings are on the verge of finalizing a restructured contract that will keep the starting left tackle in Minnesota, as Field Yates of ESPN.com tweets.

Earlier this week, we heard that Reiff was expecting to be released by the cap-crunched Vikings. Thanks to the recent addition of Yannick Ngakoue, the Vikes were skittish about paying Reiff his scheduled $10.9MM in base pay and thinking about dropping him for $8.8MM in cap space. Heading into Tuesday morning, the Vikings had just $1.2MM in cap room, the lowest total in the league. The Vikings asked Reiff to decide on whether to take a pay cut or be cut by today, and he’s rendered his verdict.

Per Ian Rapoport of NFL.com, Reiff has agreed to drop his salary from $10.9MM to $6MM (Twitter link). He can earn $2MM of that back via playing time incentives, with Mike Garafolo of the NFL Network tweeting that Reiff will earn an additional $1MM if he plays in 86% of the team’s snaps in 2020 and another $1MM if he plays in 93.75% of snaps. Reiff was on the field of 85.7% of Minnesota’s offensive snaps in 2019, so the incentives are reachable but will be considered not likely to be earned for cap purposes, meaning that they will not count as a cap charge.

Reiff, 31, signed with the Vikings in 2017. Since then, he’s made 43 regular season starts at left tackle, though the Vikings were once thinking about moving him to the interior. In April, the Vikes tapped versatile lineman Ezra Cleveland in the second round, but they believe that he’s still too green for significant playing time. With quality tackles in short supply, the Vikings are glad to have struck middle ground with Reiff.

Jaguars To Meet With Kayvon Webster

September 1st, 2020 at 12:51pm CST by Zachary Links

The Jaguars are set to meet with cornerback Kayvon Webster on Wednesday, according to a source who spoke with Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (on Twitter). Webster, who was released by Washington in March, has spent most of the offseason looking for work.

Webster originally signed on with the Saints last year, but narrowly missed the cut. He garnered buzz early in his career as a talented cornerback with the Broncos who was buried on the depth chart behind more established names. Many expected him to break out upon signing with the Rams in 2017 and reuniting with Wade Phillips, but he didn’t do much in his injury-shortened season. In 2018, injuries hampered him yet again as he tried to reestablish himself with the Texans.

Now, at the age of 29, Webster is looking to prove himself all over again. He may have a good chance to shine in Jacksonville’s reformed secondary, a unit that parted ways with Jalen Ramsey and A.J. Bouye in a short span. This year, they brought in Rashaan Melvin to start opposite of D.J. Hayden, but his opt out has left them with a major gap to fill. If signed, Webster will push for a spot behind Hayden and promising first-round rookie C.J. Henderson.

Chiefs To Sign Andy Reid, Brett Veach To Six-Year Deals

September 1st, 2020 at 9:29am CST by Zachary Links

The Chiefs are nearing new six-year deals with head coach Andy Reid and GM Brett Veach, according to Tom Pelissero of NFL.com (on Twitter). Once finalized, the Chiefs will have their chief architects under contract through the 2025 season.

The Chiefs dazzled the league last year en route to capturing the championship trophy. Reid and Veach have been laying the groundwork ever since they joined the organization in 2013. Reid has led to the Chiefs to the postseason in six of his seven seasons on the sideline and Veach has been a key part of the front office for that entire stretch. Starting out as a scout, Veach climbed the ranks to GM in 2017.

There’s no guarantee that Reid, 62, will finish out his new contract, though he says that he has no immediate plans to retire. He’s gone 77-35 across seven seasons with the Chiefs and another seven wins this season would move him past Paul Brown for sixth on the all-time wins list. Reid is currently the NFL’s fifth-oldest active HC — behind Pete Carroll, Bill Belichick, Bruce Arians and Mike Zimmer. This will be Reid’s 22nd season as a head coach, and it won’t be his last.

Buccaneers Sign Ryan Succop

September 1st, 2020 at 9:20am CST by Zachary Links

The Buccaneers have signed Ryan Succop, as Tom Pelissero of NFL.com tweets. To make room, they’ve dropped fellow kicker Elliott Fry.

Succop will now compete with incumbent Matt Gay for the top (and only) placekicking job. As a rookie, Gay struggled from close range, something that frustrated head coach Bruce Arians.

“Competition is the baseline of the NFL,” Arians said recently. “Everybody’s fighting for a job, and if you don’t perform, someone’s right there ready behind you, ready to take your spot. It’s no news to me that guys are in here competing for a shot and they’re going to bring competition in. Competition is going to breed success, and I think the potential of our team this year is super-high, and I think the kicking position is very important.”

Succop made just 1 of 6 field goals in his final Titans season, which began and ended on IR. But, before that, Succop played in every game for the Titans from 2014-18 and made at least 83% of his field goals in each of those seasons.

Chargers’ Derwin James Out For Year

September 1st, 2020 at 9:13am CST by Zachary Links

Derwin James‘ season is over. The Chargers safety will need 6-8 months of recovery time following meniscus surgery, as Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets. On Wednesday morning, the Chargers made it official by placing James on injured reserve.

James went down with a knee injury during Sunday’s practice and the Bolts knew immediately that it was serious. There was some hope that James could have gotten by with a trim of the meniscus, which would have kept him out until October. Unfortunately, he’ll require a full repair, which will necessitate a full season on the sidelines.

James, the No. 17 overall pick in the 2018 draft, registered three interceptions, 13 passes defensed, and 3.5 sacks as a rookie in 2018. Since that debut – which earned him a First-Team All-Pro nod – James has been plagued by injuries. Last year, a stress fracture to the fifth metatarsal of his right foot limited him to just five games. Now, James has lost his entire would-be third season.

The Chargers will now evaluate their in-house options to replace James, a group that includes Desmond King, Alohi Gilman, and 2019 second-round pick Nasir Adderly. Naturally, the Bolts were instantly connected to free agent Earl Thomas on Sunday afternoon, but head coach Anthony Lynn says he’s not interested. On the plus side, the Chargers still have plenty of talent in their secondary thanks to Casey Hayward, Desmond King, and new arrival Chris Harris.