2021 February - Pro Football Rumors

Latest On Jets, Sam Darnold

February 22nd, 2021 at 11:36am CST by Zachary Links

The Jets are planning to complete their evaluations of the top quarterbacks in the draft before making any decisions on Sam Darnold, according to sources who spoke with NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport (Twitter link). That process includes Pro Days and interviews, which means that Darnold won’t be shipped out anytime soon.

Rapoport hears that the Jets have received real interest in Darnold, so there is a market for the former USC standout. From here, the Jets have lots of options. They could trade Darnold and draft their next QB at No. 2 overall. Or, they could keep him and take the best player available at No. 2, regardless of position. The Jets could also stick with Darnold and trade down from No. 2 with a team targeting a signal caller.

In the Carson Wentz deal, the Eagles scored a second-rounder that can turn into a first-rounder, plus a third-round pick. It’s been said that Darnold could be had for little more than a Round 2 choice, though there’s reason to believe that the Jets could top the Eagles’ haul. After all, Darnold is younger, and still has time remaining on his lower-cost rookie deal.

Darnold hasn’t impressed as a pro, but he also hasn’t been the best of opportunities. The former No. 3 overall choice completed just 59.6% of his throws for 2,208 yards and nine touchdowns against eleven interceptions last year.

Steelers Rework Cameron Heyward’s Contract

February 22nd, 2021 at 10:30am CST by Zachary Links

The Steelers hammered out a basic conversion restructure on Cameron Heyward’s contract, as Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets. The move won’t change much for the defensive lineman, who is still set to earn $10.5MM in 2021. However, the Steelers will save $7MM on the books by shifting his roster bonus and base salary into a signing bonus.

Heyward inked a four-year, $71.4MM extension with the Steelers early in the 2020 season. Between the anticipated cap decrease and whispers of “Aaron Donald-money” for Heyward, there was doubt as to whether the Steelers would be able to retain him. Ultimately, their defensive captain agreed to stay put for $18MM/year, on average. Now, he’s helping the Steelers carve out some additional space as they head into a pivotal offseason.

Heyward, 32 in May, is set to enter his eleventh season with Pittsburgh. Fresh off of his fourth consecutive Pro Bowl nod, he has 58 career sacks to his credit.

The Steelers do have about $5MM in rollover, but they need all the flexibility they can get. The impending cap reduction has even put Ben Roethlisberger‘s name into the cap casualty conversation — releasing him before the final year of his deal would save approximately $19MM.

Panthers Owner “Obsessed” With Finding QB Solution

February 22nd, 2021 at 10:18am CST by Zachary Links

The Panthers’ pursuit of Deshaun Watson is no joke. Owner David Tepper is “obsessed” with finding a long-term quarterback solution this offseason, according to a well-placed source who spoke with Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated.

The Panthers thought they found their QB one year ago when they inked Teddy Bridgewater to a three-year, $63MM deal. They already have buyer’s remorse. Bridgewater showed his age and injury history last year, prompting the Panthers to look elsewhere. Of course, there’s still the matter of his contract — the Panthers are already locked in for $10MM in guaranteed base money this year. And, if Bridgewater remains on the roster, he’ll earn his full $17MM base salary, plus $1MM total in workout and per-game bonuses.

Tepper’s desire to upgrade could lead them to a Watson deal, even though it would be costly in terms of dollars and draft capital. The other option would be to trade up from the No. 8 overall pick to land one of this year’s top quarterbacks. Similar to the Broncos, the Panthers are in on Watson, though they were never all that keen on Carson Wentz. That’s a sign that the Panthers are looking to land a superstar, rather than a bridge QB (no pun intended).

It’s worth noting that the Panthers recently carved out significant cap space, with help from center Matt Paradis. That extra coin could give them the room necessary to land Watson and untangle themselves from Bridgewater.

WFT Looking To Extend Brandon Scherff

February 22nd, 2021 at 10:04am CST by Zachary Links

The Washington Football Team can keep Brandon Scherff from the open market with a second franchise tag. However, the team remains focused on ironing out a long-term extension with the standout offensive guard, according to Nicki Jhabvala of The Washington Post.

The franchise tag window runs from Tuesday through March 9. Washington, in theory, could tag Scherff and take the negotiations from there — the franchise tag extension period would give them roughly four months to work with, before the July 15 deadline. That second tag would come at a 20% increase from his previous one, making it an $18.04MM salary for 2021.

The NFL’s collective bargaining agreement still lumps guards, tackles, and centers into the same offensive lineman bucket, which effectively means that the tag pays Scherff as an elite tackle. Typically, the tag increases leverage for the team. In Scherff’s case, it gives him solid ground to stand on.

Washington does have the cap flexibility to re-up Scherff for one year, but they’d much rather lock him down through his prime years with a smoother cap hit from year to year. A brand new deal could reset the market for interior linemen, giving him $15MM+ per year to trump Brandon Brooks‘ $14.1MM average annual value.

“I’ve always said I want to stay where I got drafted,” the Pro Bowler said recently. “And I’ve been here for six years, and I absolutely love it here. … We are building something here to absolutely make a run for it in the future.”

Scherff, who just turned 29 in December, has started in all 78 of his games for Washington.

Latest On Jets, Sam Darnold

February 21st, 2021 at 10:00pm CST by Andrew Ortenberg

With Carson Wentz now a member of the Colts, the next quarterback domino to fall could be Sam Darnold. The former second overall pick’s status is up in the air, and it wouldn’t be surprising if he’s starting for the Jets next season or if he’s shipped out for whatever trade compensation New York can get. In a recent piece, Rich Cimini of ESPN.com runs through all the plausible scenarios for Darnold.

Trade him and draft a quarterback, keep him and take the best player available at number two, or keep him and trade down with a team looking for a passer. Cimini writes that “there are some who believe” the Jets could get more for Darnold than the Eagles got for Wentz. Philly, of course, got a third-round pick and a second-rounder that can turn into a first-rounder if Wentz plays 75 percent of the snaps for Indy this season. We heard just yesterday that potential compensation for Darnold would be a second-rounder, but apparently others in league circles think it would take more.

One league source highlighted to Cimini that Darnold is under team control relatively cheaply for the next two years as a reason why. If the Jets do decide to throw in the towel on Darnold and start over, Cimini writes that his “hunch” is that it would be for BYU’s Zach Wilson with the second pick.

Interestingly, Cimini says that a source from one team that had inquired with the Jets about trading for the former USC star “came away with the impression Darnold won’t be dealt.” We heard a couple weeks ago that multiple teams had called about Darnold, and it doesn’t sound like those calls were too productive.

Many have treated it like a foregone conclusion that Darnold will be dumped this offseason, but that sentiment is probably misguided. If he is dealt, one hypothetical trade that Cimini floats is between the Jets and Washington, with the teams swapping first-round picks (19 & 23), and Washington sending their second-rounder this year and their third-rounder next year.

If they stand pat at number two and don’t trade Darnold or trade down, Cimini currently projects them to take LSU receiver Ja’Marr Chase as the best player available. We should hear a lot more about Darnold in the coming weeks and months, so stay tuned.

COVID-19 Offseason, Roster Changes To Become Permanent?

February 21st, 2021 at 8:45pm CST by Andrew Ortenberg

Needless to say, the COVID-19 pandemic changed things radically in the NFL. While everyone is hopeful that many things will get back to normal for the 2021 season, like fans in the stands of course, it appears that some of the changes are here to stay.

In an interesting article earlier this week, Lindsay Jones of The Athletic (subscription required) took a look at what we can expect moving forward in terms of offseasons and roster rules. One of the biggest changes in 2020 were practice squad rules, with those units being increased from 10 to 16 players, and vested veterans being allowed to be on them. The other biggest change was the altering of injured reserve rules, which reduced the amount of games a player needed to miss on IR from six to three, and eliminated the cap of two players being allowed to return.

Those matters will be discussed at offseason competition committee meetings, and the two issues mentioned above are both expected to “receive overwhelmingly positive reviews from coaches and general managers,” a source told Jones. It makes a ton of sense, and at this point it would be surprising if the NFL went back to pre-2020 procedures for practice squads and IR.

Jones also notes that 2020 changes like the “reduction of the number of people allowed in the team’s bench area during games and road-game travel protocols” could become permanent as well. As for the offseason, there was a dramatic reduction in training camp practice time this past year, which could be the new norm.

Jones writes that players union head J.C. Tretter is planning on pounding the table for reduced OTAs and minicamps to stay. While changes to the offseason program would need to be collectively bargained, a source told her that there “appears to be enough support from both sides for such a change to be possible.”

Tretter said he’s heard from players who feel like they finished the season in better physical and mental shape because of the limited practice time. “Change is always scary, but we’ve come out on the other side in a much better position. And now, it’s the point of getting down with the league, talking to them about which of these changes we should move forward, because they are better for everybody involved,” the Browns’ center said.

Salary Cap To Be Between $182-183MM?

February 21st, 2021 at 7:24pm CST by Andrew Ortenberg

We heard earlier this week that the lowest the salary cap would be was $180MM. The initial minimum cap had been reported to be $175MM, so that increase led to some speculation that the actual salary cap could end up being $190MM+.

That would’ve meant there wouldn’t have been that dramatic of a decrease from last year’s cap of $198.2MM, but that speculation looks to have been a bit optimistic. The number most likely won’t reach $185MM and could end up between $182-183MM, a source told Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk.com.

The cap had been steadily increasing in recent years, but obviously the COVID-19 pandemic halted that. Revenue loss as a result of the pandemic was always going to send the cap down for 2021, it was only a question of how much, and now we appear to more or less have our answer.

It looks like teams will each have around $15MM less to play with this season, which will give some squads some headaches. While there will still be a lot of shuffling required for teams to get under the number, it sounds like a true disaster was averted.

The initial plan of $175MM was ditched after some “aggressive lobbying” from teams, Florio writes. A source told him that had it been $175MM, it would’ve been chaos as teams would have “flooded the market” with veteran players they cut to get down under the cap.s

Coaching Notes: Giants, Rams, Ravens

February 21st, 2021 at 5:33pm CST by Andrew Ortenberg

The Giants have added a big name to Joe Judge’s second staff. New York has officially hired Jeremy Pruitt to be a defensive assistant, the team announced. Pruitt is coming off a high profile job after serving as the head coach at Tennessee the past three seasons. He was fired by the University last month as part of a housecleaning after an investigation found major recruiting violations took place. A former Nick Saban protege who was the defensive coordinator at Alabama before taking the Tennessee job, Pruitt has never coached in the NFL before. Judge was a special teams assistant at Alabama from 2009-11 while Pruitt was on staff, so there’s some familiarity here.

Here’s more from the coaching ranks on a quiet Sunday:

The Rams parted ways with highly regarded offensive line coach and run game coordinator Aaron Kromer a few days ago, and they aren’t wasting any time replacing him. Los Angeles will hire Kevin Carberry to be their new O-line coach, a source told Tom Pelissero of NFL Network (Twitter link). The speed with which Sean McVay made this move would seem to indicate it had been in the works for a while. Carberry was the run game coordinator at Stanford before taking this gig. As Pelissero points out, Carberry was on staff in Washington with McVay. He was Washington’s assistant O-line coach under OC McVay in 2016.
Those two coaches are leaving the college ranks for the pros, but we’ve also got a pro to college to pass along. Ravens running backs coach Matt Weiss is leaving to become the quarterbacks coach at Michigan, Ian Rapoport of NFL Network tweets. Weiss will go from coaching under John Harbaugh to his brother Jim Harbaugh at Michigan. As running backs coach in Baltimore the past two years, Weiss helped orchestrate one of the best ground games in the league.
The Steelers are undergoing a lot of change this offseason, including to Mike Tomlin’s staff. He’ll have a new secondary coach in 2021, as the team has hired Grady Brown to fill that role, they announced. He’s been the defensive coordinator at small schools McNeese State and Old Dominion in recent years. This is his first full-time coaching gig in the NFL.

This Date In Transactions History: Panthers Release Mike Tolbert

February 21st, 2021 at 3:10pm CST by Zachary Links

After making a name for himself in San Diego, Mike Tolbert moved on to the Panthers and became an integral part of their offense. But, after the 2016 season, the Panthers released the multiple-time Pro Bowler in a cost-cutting move.

Tolbert wasn’t the fastest guy in the NFL, but he was a wrecking ball who knew how to move the pile. In 2016, he collected the third Pro Bowl selection of his career, adding to a resume that also included two First Team All-Pro nods (2013, 2015).

However, there were some signs of decline and he had slipped in the Panthers’ pecking order. Historically, the Panthers gave Tolbert a decent amount of work. In 2016, he had just 35 carries – the lowest total of his Panthers stretch. He was still an adept lead blocker with goal line ability, but the Panthers opted to save $1.725MM against the books while carrying a $2.075MM cap charge.

Tolbert, entering his age-32 season, landed with the Bills in free agency. Other teams — like the Jets — considered the veteran, but other fullbacks with sharper run blocking skills like Patrick DiMarco received more attention. Tolbert made the cut, opened the year behind LeSean McCoy on the depth chart, and averaged 3.7 yards per carry in a limited sample. That would prove to be his final year in the NFL — fullbacks had mostly gone the way of the dinosaur in the 2018 offseason, and Tolbert did not sign another NFL deal.

Deshaun Watson Wasn’t Promised GM Search Input

February 21st, 2021 at 2:53pm CST by Zachary Links

Deshaun Watson has been frustrated with the Texans for a number of reasons. Among those reasons: His lack of input in the team’s GM search. However, the quarterback was never promised that he’d be included in that decision, according to a league source who spoke with Ben Volin of The Boston Globe.

The Texans did tell Watson that he could be involved in the head coaching search. Reportedly, Watson had a strong preference for Chiefs offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy. Ultimately, they went with David Culley, a veteran assistant who wasn’t on the radar for most teams. Eventually, the Texans, interviewed Bieniemy, but he wasn’t seriously considered for the role. On the GM side, the Texans went with Nick Caserio, their longtime target for the job.

At last check, Watson has yet to communicate with Culley or Caserio. Meanwhile, his personal coach Quincy Avery is passing along notes via social media.

“What’s the criteria for a quarterback asking to get traded, then actually getting traded?,” Avery tweeted recently. “Asking for a friend.”

Avery’s friend has been heavily linked to the Panthers, who have recently carved out significant cap space. The Dolphins continue to circle around him, too, which means that a blockbuster trade involving Tua Tagovailoa could be on the table. Other potential suitors include the Jets, Broncos, and 49ers, but the Texans continue to say that he’s staying put.