HEADLINES

Month: November 2024

Patriots Release Julian Edelman

April 12th, 2021 at 3:20pm CST by Sam Robinson

After 12 seasons, the Patriots may well be cutting ties with Julian Edelman. They released their longtime slot receiver on Monday, according to the NFL’s transaction wire.

The Pats released Edelman with a failed-physical designation. Edelman has mulled retirement this offseason, Mike Reiss of ESPN.com tweets. Such an announcement may follow. The veteran wideout, who will turn 35 in May, has continued to battle knee trouble this year, Doug Kyed of NESN.com tweets.

Barring a reunion, this will close the book on one of the more interesting careers in the history of the Patriots and the receiver position. The 5-foot-10 wideout has not made a Pro Bowl and did not have much of a role on offense until his fifth season, but he has the second-most playoff receiving yards in NFL history (1,442) — behind only Jerry Rice‘s 2,245 — and was integral to the Pats’ passing game for the past several years.

Injuries, however, have limited Edelman in recent years. He missed 10 games last season and underwent knee surgery late in the year. The 12th-year receiver, who missed the 2017 season with a torn ACL, caught 21 passes for 315 yards and no touchdowns in the franchise’s first post-Tom Brady campaign.

Struggling for much of the Bill Belichick era to identify receiver talent early in drafts, the Patriots took a flier on a quarterback from Kent State in the 2009 seventh round. While All-Pro Wes Welker was still in the heart of his dominant run as New England’s primary slot weapon, Edelman took the reins ahead of his fifth season. Welker’s Denver defection began Edelman’s ascent, and he played a pivotal role in the second leg of New England’s dynasty.

Edelman earned MVP honors in Super Bowl LIII, has six 100-yard receiving games in the playoffs — including two such outings in Super Bowls — and made the defining catch of his career against the Falcons to help the Pats erase a 28-3 deficit to win their fifth championship. The former MAC passer/ball carrier produced three 1,000-yard seasons, with his most recent coming for an embattled Patriots passing attack in Brady’s final New England slate.

This release will tag the Pats with $2.7MM in dead money while also creating just more than $3MM in cap space. The team made changes to its receiver room this offseason, signing Nelson Agholor at a surprisingly high rate and adding Kendrick Bourne. The Patriots also signed tight ends Jonnu Smith and Hunter Henry and are likely set to deploy plenty of two-tight end sets. Even so, subtracting Edelman from this situation still leaves the team with somewhat of a need at the receiver position.

Bengals Claim TE Thaddeus Moss

April 12th, 2021 at 3:17pm CST by Sam Robinson

Thaddeus Moss did not advance too far down the waiver priority list. The Bengals placed a successful claim on the former UDFA tight end Monday, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets.

Washington waived the second-generation pass catcher last week, doing so after Moss spent his would-be rookie season on IR. Now, the former LSU tight end will reunite with Joe Burrow. Both played their final college seasons in 2019, when the current Bengals quarterback soared to the Heisman Trophy while piloting a passing attack that included Moss, Justin Jefferson, Ja’Marr Chase, Terrace Marshall Jr. and Clyde Edwards-Helaire.

The son of Randy Moss, Thaddeus has yet to play a regular-season down in the NFL. Washington waived him with an injury designation ahead of last season, and he passed through waivers to the team’s IR list.

A North Carolina State transfer, Thaddeus Moss contributed to Burrow’s 60-touchdown pass total in 2019. The 6-foot-3 junior caught 47 passes for 570 yards and four touchdowns. Two of those TDs came in LSU’s championship victory over Clemson. Moss declared for the draft after that season but was not selected in 2020.

This move proves interesting due to the Bengals’ tight end situation and the prospect of it preceding a full-on LSU passing-game reunion. The Bengals have been linked to Chase with their No. 5 overall pick. Burrow is believed to be in favor of a Chase reunion. Cincinnati has Drew Sample and C.J. Uzomah on its roster, but a flier on Moss makes sense.

Buccaneers To Sign Giovani Bernard

April 12th, 2021 at 3:07pm CST by Andrew Ortenberg

There’s been a lot of talk this offseason about what the Buccaneers’ backfield will look like between Ronald Jones and Leonard Fournette, but in the meantime they’ve added an outside option.

Tampa has agreed to a one-year deal with Giovani Bernard, Tom Pelissero of NFL Network tweets. Bernard was released by the Bengals just last week, and Pelissero reports that Tom Brady and Bruce Arians both helped recruit him to Tampa Bay. Patriots running back James White apparently had interest in joining the Bucs as their third-down back before ultimately re-signing in New England, Ian Rapoport of NFL Network tweets.

In the same tweet, Rapsheet notes that Bernard also had interest from the Chiefs, so he had his pick of last season’s Super Bowl teams. The Bucs have mostly prioritized locking up all of their own guys, and this is their first significant outside free agent signing of the spring.

He had been set to earn right around $4MM in Cincy in 2021, so it’ll be interesting to see if he beat that when we get the financial terms. A pass-catching specialist who ended up carrying the ball a lot this past year in the wake of Joe Mixon‘s injury, Bernard has 342 receptions for 2,867 yards since entering the league as a second-round pick in 2013.

The North Carolina product spent his first eight seasons with the Bengals. He’ll turn 30 in November, and he should see a lot of targets from Brady, who loves to check down to his ‘backs.

Latest On Broncos’ QB Plans

April 12th, 2021 at 2:43pm CST by Andrew Ortenberg

Several teams have already made big splashes under center this offseason, but the Broncos have been mostly quiet. That could change soon.

Denver “isn’t sitting still at the position,” Albert Breer of SI.com writes. Breer lays out details of the Broncos’ pursuits we haven’t heard before, including the previously unreported full offer they made for Matthew Stafford. The Broncos apparently did in fact offer the ninth overall pick to the Lions, but they wanted a second-rounder back in return which quelled those talks.

Breer thinks they’ll add competition for Drew Lock in one form or another, and he mentions the Panthers’ Teddy Bridgewater as a potential option. As he points out, new Broncos GM George Paton was in Minnesota when the Vikings drafted Bridgewater in the first-round. On that note, Breer has some interesting thoughts on the makeup of Denver’s new front office.

The fact that the team isn’t committing to Lock is “a pretty decent sign that John Elway has truly moved into the background,” Breer writes. He also thinks Denver’s lack of real interest in Sam Darnold is a telling sign that Elway isn’t calling the shots, since Elway was infatuated with Darnold coming out of college in 2018.

The team hired Paton to be GM earlier this offseason, with Elway getting elevated to President of Football Operations. At the time there were murmurs about how much power Elway would actually be ceding and how much he would still control the organization, but it sounds like he truly has relinquished the reins.

Britt Reid Charged With DWI

April 12th, 2021 at 1:41pm CST by Andrew Ortenberg

Britt Reid has been charged with DWI stemming from his February car crash, according to Dia Wall of KSHB Kansas City.

Reid is the son of Chiefs head coach Andy Reid, and was their outside linebackers coach last season before his contract wasn’t renewed following the accident. A five-year old girl, Ariel Young, was tragically seriously injured in the crash, which occurred right before the Super Bowl. Wall writes that the charge for Reid is “a class D felony with a potential jail sentence of one to seven years.”

The Chiefs released a statement following news of the charge, saying “the Kansas City Chiefs organization remains steadfast in our concern for all who have been impacted by this tragic accident. Our prayers are focused on Ariel’s continued healing and recovery. The Chiefs are regularly in contact with the family’s designated representative during this challenging time.”

As of a family update on March 27th, Ariel was still in the hospital but was recovering. Blood tests on Reid revealed he had a .113 BAC, well above the legal limit, per a document tweeted by Mike Garafolo of NFL Network.

As Charles Robinson of Yahoo Sports tweets, Reid’s claim to police that he was coming back from work at the time of the crash could entangle the Chiefs in the ensuing legal proceedings. All of our thoughts here at PFR are with the most important thing, the full and continued recovery of Ariel.

Latest On Jadeveon Clowney

April 12th, 2021 at 1:08pm CST by Andrew Ortenberg

Last night, we heard that the Browns were hoping to host Jadeveon Clowney for a second time today, and that a deal was looking likely. We may need to pump the brakes there just a little bit.

Cleveland is going to host Clowney on Wednesday now, and “nothing is imminent” on the contract front, Ian Rapoport of NFL Network reports (Twitter video link). We heard this morning that the Ravens and Colts are also pursuing the edge rusher, so they’ve got competition. Interestingly, Rapsheet says that the Browns want to see Clowney pass a physical on Wednesday. They’re apparently at least a bit concerned about the former first overall pick’s knee.

Clowney who has had multiple knee injuries in his career, is coming off surgery for a torn meniscus that limited him to just eight games with the Titans in 2020. Cleveland has made finding an edge rusher to pair opposite Myles Garrett, and replace Olivier Vernon, a priority this offseason.

They were in on J.J. Watt, and signed fellow former first-rounder Takkarist McKinley. It appeared a Clowney signing was likely to happen to day, but now it looks like we’re going to have to wait at least a couple of days.

Clowney waited until the first week of September to sign last year, so this is actually an expedited process for him. 2020 was somewhat of a lost season, as he finished with no sacks in that injury-plagued half campaign.

Cardinals Meet With James Conner

April 12th, 2021 at 11:54am CST by Zachary Links

The Cardinals will meet with James Conner today, as Jay Glazer of FOX Sports tweets. This marks Conner’s first known visit of the offseason. 

Conner made his mark in 2018, after emerging from Le’Veon Bell‘s shadow. That year, he rushed for 973 yards on the ground with 12 touchdowns, plus 55 catches for 497 yards. Then, in 2019, he was limited to just 464 yards on the ground and six games, thanks in part to knee and shoulder trouble.

This past year, he was on pace for a 1,000-yard season up until he tested positive for COVID-19 in November. It was a scary situation for the cancer survivor, but, fortunately, he was okay. Ultimately, he finished 2020 with 721 yards on the ground and six scores, plus 35 grabs for 215 yards. The Steelers haven’t shown a ton of interest in re-signing Conner and he remains available for the league’s other 31 teams.

“My goal is to win,” Conner said last year when asked about the possibility of a Pittsburgh extension. “I have the opportunity to do that. The special team we got, pieces that were out last year coming back healthy. I’m not playing for a contract or playing not to get hurt. I’m playing to win, that’s what it’s about, to be part of Super Bowl No. 7 for the organization.”

With the Cardinals, he could help replace the production of Kenyan Drake, who has since left to join up with the Raiders. Currently, the Cardinals have Chase Edmonds, Eno Benjamin, Jonathan Ward, and Khalfani Muhammad on the RB depth chart.

Details On A.J. Bouye’s Panthers Deal

April 12th, 2021 at 11:12am CST by Zachary Links

At this point, A.J. Bouye is best known for signing an ill-fated five-year, $67.5MM deal with the Jaguars back in 2017. When the Panthers picked him up earlier this month, it cost them a whole lot less. Bouye’s two-year deal is worth just $7MM, according to NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport (Twitter link).

[RELATED: Broncos Expressed Interest In Sam Darnold]

Bouye, 30 in August, profiles as low-risk, high reward signing for the Panthers. He didn’t find much of a market this year after suffering a dislocated shoulder to start 2020. Bouye returned to action for the Broncos and started in seven games, but a six-game PED suspension in December brought his season to an end. He still has two games to go on that ban, so the Panthers won’t see him in live action until Week 3.

The Raiders were the only other known suitor for Bouye, which allowed the Panthers to get him on an affordable contract. In Carolina, he’ll support a young group headlined by Donte Jackson and Troy Pride Jr.

In other Panthers news, we recently learned that the Broncos were in on Sam Darnold before he landed in Carolina. Meanwhile, ex-starter Teddy Bridgewater has been given permission to seek trades.

PFR Originals: NFL Draft, Garoppolo, Romo

April 12th, 2021 at 11:04am CST by Zachary Links

In case you missed it, here’s a look back at the best of our original content over the last week:

Texans Distancing From Deshaun Watson?

April 12th, 2021 at 10:47am CST by Zachary Links

Deshaun Watson has been removed from the intro video to the team’s online TV show (Twitter link via Rivers McCown of The Athletic). Though it may seem trivial, it’s another indication that the Texans are preparing for a future without the embattled quarterback.

[RELATED: Deshaun Watson Accusers To Be Identified]

At last check, 22 lawsuits have been filed against Watson this offseason. In addition to the civil cases, Watson will also face an investigation from the league office. Criminal charges could also be in play now that authorities have been contacted by some of the accusers. The allegations from massage therapists range from sexual misconduct to assault.

The Texans spent the early part of the year trying to convince Watson to stay, rather than demand a trade out of Houston. Now, things are far more complicated. The Panthers were said to be Watson’s most fervent suitor — last week, they acquired Sam Darnold from the Jets, taking them out of the running. From a football perspective, plenty of teams would want Watson, but the ongoing situation means that he’s probably untradeable.

As the lawsuits and investigations continue to play out, it seems increasingly likely that Watson will wind up on the Commissioner’s Exempt list, which would bar him from taking the field while still collecting his salary.

Watson, 26 in September, led the league with 4,823 passing yards in 2020 — a new career-high. He also set new personal bests with 33 passing touchdowns and a 70.2% completion rate.

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