2021 April - Pro Football Rumors

Dolphins Pay $6MM Of Ereck Flowers’ 2021 Salary

April 27th, 2021 at 2:21pm CST by Zachary Links

Following Tuesday’s trade, the Washington Football Team has Ereck Flowers back in the fold. Meanwhile, $6MM of his $9MM salary has already been paid for by the Dolphins, according to agent Drew Rosenhaus (Twitter link via ESPN.com’s Adam Schefter).

Flowers and the ‘Fins agreed to restructure the contract just prior to the trade. Previously, the Dolphins were on the hook for about $20MM over the next two seasons, per the terms of his three-year, $30MM contract. Now, they’ll take about half of that total commitment off of their books, while moving up in the seventh round with a swap of draft picks. The trade will see WFT get Flowers and pick No. 258 while Miami receives No. 244 (Twitter link via NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport).

Meanwhile, the Dolphins are moving Robert Hunt to right guard, according to Adam Beasley of the Miami Herald (on Twitter). The decision is yet another signal that Penei Sewell could be a possibility for them at No. 6 overall as they look for a new starting right tackle. For his part, Sewell says he’s comfortable at playing on either side.

Minor NFL Transactions: 4/27/21

April 27th, 2021 at 12:23pm CST by Zachary Links

Today’s minor moves:

Buffalo Bills

Re-signed: G Ike Boettger (RFA)

Dolphins Trade Ereck Flowers To WFT

April 27th, 2021 at 9:51am CST by Zachary Links

The Dolphins have agreed to trade Ereck Flowers to the Washington Football Team (Twitter link via NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport). The guard will head to D.C. in a swap of late-round picks.

The deal frees up cap room for the Dolphins, who will have to allocate lots of dollars to their oversized draft class. On Thursday, they’ll start things off with two first-round choices at No. 6 and No. 18 overall.

Meanwhile, Washington gets to reunite with a familiar face. Flowers couldn’t hack it as an offensive tackle in the NFL, but he has reinvented himself as a guard. In 2019, he parlayed a strong showing as Washington’s LG into a three-year, $30MM contract with the Dolphins last year. It was more money than anyone expected for Flowers, though there weren’t many quality lineman on the board. After the Redskins locked down Brandon Scherff and the Patriots took Joe Thuney off of the market with a surprise franchise tag, Flowers was looking better than ever to teams in need of interior help.

Flowers stayed on the interior in Miami, serving as their starting LG in all 14 of his games. He earned decent marks from Pro Football Focus — his 65.9 overall score had him tied as the No. 32 guard in the NFL.

With two years to go on his deal, the former first-round pick is set to earn $9MM in 2021.

Drew Rosenhaus: Caleb Farley Won’t Last Beyond No. 20

April 27th, 2021 at 9:44am CST by Zachary Links

If it weren’t for his back issues, Virginia Tech cornerback Caleb Farley would likely be a top 10 prospect in this week’s draft. But, despite the medical risk, agent Drew Rosenhaus insists that his client will be taken somewhere in the top 20.

“I’ve had multiple teams tell me that in the middle of the draft, they are going to draft him,” Rosenhaus told NFL.com’s Tom Pelissero and Ian Rapoport (Twitter link). “I don’t expect him to make it to pick No. 20. I’m convinced, based on my discussions, that he’ll go in the first 20 picks.”

Farley hasn’t played since 2019 and he’s gone under the knife twice since then. His most recent operation came in March, but his surgeon has told clubs that Farley should be cleared before training camp in late July. Even though Rosenhaus’ estimation should be taken with a grain of salt, that’s excellent news for Farley in advance of Thursday night.

Originally a quarterback in high school, Farley committed to the Hokies in 2017 as a wide receiver. After an ACL tear wiped out his true freshman season, he was asked to change positions again — this time, he moved to cornerback. By 2019, he was a star for Virginia Tech, racking up four interceptions and 12 passes defensed en route to First-Team All-ACC honors. He also allowed a completion rate of less than 50% on passes thrown in his direction.

In 2020, Farley opted out due to the pandemic. Then, while preparing for the draft, he irritated a joint at the base of his spine. Rosenhaus seems to think that Farley’s potential will vault him into the top half of the first round, but it’s not hard to imagine him sliding to Day 2.

Falcons GM: “We Have To Listen” To Julio Jones Offers

April 27th, 2021 at 9:31am CST by Zachary Links

Earlier this week, we learned that the Falcons have been receiving trade inquiries on Julio Jones. When asked about the possibility of trading the star wide receiver, Falcons GM Terry Fontenot didn’t rule it out.

“That’s one of those things when you’re doing things the right way as an organization, you have to listen if people call on any player,” Fontenot told Justin Felder of FOX 5 (Twitter link). “We are in a difficult cap situation. That’s just the circumstance…Our administration has done an excellent job up to this point getting us in position to be able to manage the cap. Yet, we still have more work to do.”

“So, when teams call about any players, we have to listen, and we have to weigh it and we have to determine what’s best for the organization, and we have to handle everything with class. Obviously, that particular player [Jones] — we hold him in high regard. He’s special…but we have to consider [listening on] any player if it’s right for the team, because we have to do what’s right for the team.”

Jones, 32, is still a difference maker when he’s healthy and on the field, though he missed roughly half of the 2020 season due to hamstring issues. Now, the Falcons have an opportunity to give themselves some breathing room on the cap by trading Jones sometime after June 1. It’s not clear which teams have called on Jones, though Peter King of NBC Sports speculated that the Patriots, Titans, Ravens, and Raiders could be among the suitors.

Packers To Pick Up CB Jaire Alexander’s Fifth-Year Option

April 26th, 2021 at 6:51pm CST by Ben Levine

No surprise on this one. The Packers are expected to pick up the fifth-year option on cornerback Jaire Alexander, general manager Brian Gutekunst told reporters (via ESPN’s Rob Demovsky on Twitter).

As the reporter notes, the only question is if the team can sign their All-Pro to a contract extension. Alexander’s fifth-year option is valued at $13.294MM thanks to him making the Pro Bowl in 2020, and the defensive back will surely see a pay raise (along with long-term security) in any extension.

Alexander, the 18th-overall pick in the 2018 draft, was more than solid through his first two years in the NFL, including a 2018 campaign where he received All-Rookie team honors. The cornerback started earning some league-wide accolades in 2020, including a Pro Bowl nod and second-team All-Pro recognition. The 24-year-old ultimately finished the campaign having compiled 51 tackles, 13 passes defended, one interception, one sack, and one forced fumble in 15 starts. He also came up big during the postseason, snagging a pair of interceptions in two games.

The Packers have been busy retaining their cornerbacks corps this offseaosn. They re-signed starter Kevin King, and they also brought back restricted free agent Chandon Sullivan. This trio will join former second-rounder Josh Jackson and perhaps a rookie on the Packers depth chart.

Washington Exercises DT Daron Payne’s Fifth-Year Option

April 26th, 2021 at 6:13pm CST by Ben Levine

Washington is committing to Daron Payne for the 2022 season. The team has exercised the fifth-year option on the defensive tackle, reports Nicki Jhabvala of the Washington Post (via Twitter). The option is valued at $8.529MM.

The former 13th-overall pick started all 16 games and earned All-Rookie Team honors in 2018, but he had an up-and-down sophomore campaign in 2019, starting only nine of his 15 contests. He rebounded this past year, starting all 16 games and finishing with 54 tackles, three sacks, and three forced fumbles. Payne was also a standout during Washington’s playoff loss to the Buccaneers, finishing with a pair of sacks and a forced fumble.

In total, the 23-year-old (24 in May) has collected 166 tackles, 10 sacks, and 20 QB hits in 47 career game (41 starts).

Washington has been busy adding to their defensive line in recent years; they’ve used a first-round pick on a defensive lineman in each of the past four drafts. Payne will start alongside 2017 first-round pick Jonathan Allen, with the likes of Matt Ioannidis and Tim Settle competing for backup reps.

49ers To Pick Up OT Mike McGlinchey’s Fifth-Year Option

April 26th, 2021 at 5:10pm CST by Ben Levine

Mike McGlinchey will be sticking around San Francisco through at least the 2022 season. The 49ers will be picking up the offensive tackle’s fifth year option, confirmed general manager John Lynch (via Matt Maiocco of NBC Sports Bay Area). This will lock McGlinchey into a guaranteed $10.88MM salary for the 2022 campaign.

Following a standout career at Notre Dame, Mike McGlinchey was selected by the 49ers with the No. 9 pick in the 2018 draft. The lineman contributed right away, starting all 16 games en route an All-Rookie Team nod. He was limited to only 12 games due to a knee injury in 2019, but he returned to appear in 100-percent of his team’s offensive snaps in 2020.

As Maiocco writes, McGlinchey earned high marks this past season for his run-blocking prowess, and Pro Football Focus was fond of his overall performance. However, the lineman also had the worst pass-protection grade of his career.

With this move, the 49ers have locked in their offensive tackles for at least the next two years. The team re-signed Trent Williams to a massive six-year extension earlier this offseason.

Latest On 49ers QB Jimmy Garoppolo

April 26th, 2021 at 4:39pm CST by Ben Levine

Is Jimmy Garoppolo guaranteed to be on the 49ers roster next week? Kyle Shanahan made it clear that he couldn’t guarantee the fate of humanity, much less the roster status of his starting quarterback. However, the 49ers head coach later provided a thoughtful response that seemed to hint that the organization would be content with keeping the veteran.

“The biggest thing with Jimmy is his injuries,” Shanahan said (via David Lombardi of The Athletic on Twitter). “It’s been very tough for us when he’s been hurt. This happened two of these three years. That’s where it starts. Jimmy knows that. I’ve been very up front with him with everything.

“Excited to get him in here coming up, especially when this draft is over. But I feel very fortunate taking a rookie quarterback that we do have a guy like Jimmy. We didn’t sign a guy who’s capable or has the history of being a starter right away. We have a guy, every time he’s been a starter, he’s played at a high level. So to have that with Jimmy with having a rookie quarterback gives us a lot of leeway into this. I’m not going to set anything into stone, but I know that’s the situation that would be hard to get rid of. When you take a rookie quarterback and you take a veteran like Jimmy who we know we can win with, just to move on from that is something that’s not easy to do. That is a good situation for us and I think that is something that’ll be important to us this year.”

We heard that the 49ers may be holding out for a first-round pick for Garoppolo, and the organization would obviously trade the veteran in the right deal. However, Shanahan’s argument for keeping his starting quarterback does have plenty of merit, and the organization has made it abundantly clear that they won’t simply give Garoppolo away.

So who are the 49ers going to take? The head coach wouldn’t provide any answers, but he noted that the organization still feels good about five prospects at the No. 3 spot.

“We could have sat there at 12, and waited which one came to us, if one did,” Shanhan said (via ESPN’s Adam Schefter on Twitter). “But we made a decision that we felt we needed to get a starting QB. We wanted to dicatate it. We’ll get the one that we feel is best for us.”

Seahawks Audition D’Onta Foreman

April 26th, 2021 at 4:07pm CST by Zachary Links

The Seahawks are set to work out D’Onta Foreman, as ESPN.com’s Field Yates tweets. Foreman, a 2017 third-round pick, spent time with the Titans last season.

The Texans tapped Foreman after an impressive run at UT. He saw time in ten games as a rookie, compiling 327 rushing yards and two scores on 78 carries. A torn Achilles suffered towards the end of that 2017 campaign limited him to only a single appearance in 2018, however, leading to his release. He had a cup of coffee with the Colts, but sat as a free agent for all of 2019. It was a frustrating stretch for Foreman, who was once on track to take over for Lamar Miller in Houston.

In 2020, he caught on with the Titans and tallied 22 totes for 95 yards. For his career, Foreman has 421 yards rushing and a decent 3.9 ypc average in a limited sample.

The Seahawks lost Carlos Hyde to the Jaguars, but they did manage to retain Chris Carson. They’re also anticipating that former first-round pick Rashaad Penny will return healthy. If signed, Foreman can help to fortify that group if he can outperform the likes of Alex Collins, Travis Homer, and DeeJay Dallas.