Tim Tebow has a new job and the hottest selling jersey in the NFL. What he doesn’t have, however, is guaranteed money in his new deal with the Jaguars (Twitter link via ESPN.com’s Field Yates).
Tebow’s one-year deal with Jacksonville is for $920K, the league’s minimum salary for a player with his experience level. And, if he doesn’t make the final cut in the fall, he’ll see $0 of that sum, because it’s completely non-guaranteed. That’s not necessarily a surprise – Tebow has bounced around from the broadcast booth to minor league baseball in recent years. Outside of pal Urban Meyer, it doesn’t sound like there were many coaches interested in signing him this year.
The one-time U of F star hasn’t played in a real NFL game since the 2012 season. His last stint was with the Eagles during the 2015 preseason. Despite his first-round pedigree, Tebow wasn’t up to snuff as an NFL quarterback. This time around, he’ll be trying his hand at tight end, practicing alongside Chris Manhertz, fifth-round rookie Luke Farrell, Tyler Davis, James O’Shaughnessy, and Ben Ellefson,
For what it’s worth, Meyer is pretty excited about what Tebow could bring to the table.
“[My assistants] said, ‘Wow, this guy’s ball skills, he’s a great athlete, he looks like he’s 18 years old, not 20-whatever-he-is, 33,’” Meyer told Cris Collinsworth (via The Ringer). “Guys, you don’t understand. Now this guy is, he’s the most competitive maniac you’re ever gonna talk to, and let’s give it a shot.”
Well, that was fast. On Friday, the 49ers released wide receiver Marqise Lee. In a related move, they’ve signed fellow wideout Bennie Fowler to take his place on the roster.
The one-time Jaguars notable signed with the Niners on May 17. A few short days later, he finds himself looking for work once again. Lee made a decent impression on coaches during the 49ers’ rookie minicamp practices and was hoping to stick. It appeared to be a good landing spot for him, especially since he grew up in California and played his college ball at USC.
Between 2016 and 2017, Lee averaged about 60 receptions and 776 receiving yards. He went on to land a four-year, $38MM extension from Jacksonville, but that deal was cut short. Between knee injuries and the COVID opt-out, he’s seen just six games since the end of ’17.
Fowler, meanwhile, has spent the last two years with the Giants. He wasn’t on the field much in 2020, snagging just two receptions before a season-ending shoulder injury.
This week, it was rumored that the Lions offered an eight-year, $68.5MM deal to Iowa State head coach Matt Campbell. But, according to Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press, the Lions never put an offer on the table.
Furthermore, Birkett hears that the Cyclones coach only spoke to the Lions once during the process. And, while other notable names were tied to the job, new HC Dan Campbell was the only candidate to ever receive an offer to be the Lions’ head coach.
It’s possible that something got lost in the game of telephone. Or, perhaps Matt Campbell’s camp is looking to increase the coach’s buzz. For what it’s worth, Dan said he sensed that the Lions were extremely bullish on Matt.
“Just in regards to the head coach search, how I ended up here, one of things would be that I told my agent, Rick Smith, I said make sure that they think I’m Matt Campbell, so I think that’s how this has really worked out great for me,” the Lions head coach said (via Birkett). “So now that I’m in the seat, I am Dan Campbell. But I do know this, you can’t go wrong with a Campbell.”
In addition to the Campbells, the Lions were also connected to Darrell Bevell, Eric Bieniemy, Todd Bowles, Marvin Lewis, Urban Meyer, Robert Saleh, and Arthur Smith.
On this date in 2018, the Bills moved on from their bizarre saga with Richie Incognito. They released the offensive lineman from the reserve/retired list, paving the way for him to play for another team. At the time, no one knew whether the veteran would get that opportunity.
Incognito, a four-time Pro Bowler and one of the league’s best guards, made headlines for all the wrong reasons throughout his career. In 2013, he was alleged to have bullied and disparaged Dolphins teammate Jonathan Martin, which prompted Martin to leave the team and the NFL to suspend Incognito. After missing half of ’13 and all of ’14, he returned to the league with the Bills.
On the field, Incognito continued his excellence. He played every single snap for the Bills in 2015, earned a fresh ~$16MM deal prior to 2016, and graded out as one of the league’s best guards in 2017. The advanced metrics showed that Incognito was elite throughout those three years in Buffalo – he placed No. 2, No, 7, and No. 12 in the league in each of those seasons, according to Pro Football Focus.
Then, things turned once again. In March of 2018, Incognito agreed to rework the remainder of his contract, cutting his base salary in half. Weeks later, he fired his agent via Twitter. Then, Incognito retired, citing health issues and dissatisfaction with his deal.
“It pisses me the [expletive] off,” Incognito said. “The contract and all that pissed me [off] and all that, but (retiring) has nothing to do with that.”
The Bills placed Incognito on the retired list on April 12, 2018. On April 15, 2018, he requested his release. Then, on May 21, 2018 – about six weeks after Incognito announced that he was done with football – the Bills granted his request. Two days after that, Incognito caused a scene at a gym in Florida and told police that he believed he was being tracked by FBI agents for his possession of secret NSA documents. One psychiatric hold and a few months later, Incognito was arrested at an Arizona funeral parlor for threatening employees who refused to cut off his father’s head, which he wanted for research purposes.
Most in the football world figured that would mark the end of Incognito’s career, but Jon Gruden gave him another chance to play in 2019. Towards the end of another strong season, the Raiders inked the veteran to a new two-year, $14MM deal. Now, the veteran is in free agency limbo after missing all but two games last year due to injury. There was early chatter that the Raiders could bring him back, but that might not happen in the midst of their OL revamp. It’s not clear how much Incognito has left in the tank, but he’s not far removed from ’19 when he ranked as PFF’s 14th best guard.
The Browns have inked fourth-round pick Tommy Togiai, per a club announcement. With the defensive tackle in the fold, the Browns now have five of their 2021 selections under contract.
Togiai, a bit undersized at 6’1″ and 300 pounds, gets to stay local after wrapping up his career at Ohio State. In his final year on campus, Togiai notched 4.5 tackles for loss and three sacks. Those numbers don’t jump off the page, but he was one of the nation’s top-ranked DTs coming out of high school, so he has potential to outperform his draft slot.
Some college grads are eager to gas up the car and move somewhere new. That’s not the case for Togiai, who already feels at home.
“It’s great,” Togiai said (via Dan Labbe of Cleveland.com). “I love the state of Ohio, my time at Ohio State and Columbus, and now I get to go to another city in Cleveland. I’m excited to get up there. When I first made that decision to go to Ohio State, I never knew this would happen. I’m just excited to just get back to Ohio and get back to work.”
Nyheim Hines may be hitting free agency following the 2021 season, but the running back is making it clear that he wants to stay in Indy. Hines told Joel A. Erickson of the Indy Star that he wants to play with the Colts for his entire career.
“I hope to play there my entire career, and I hope to establish a legacy where Indianapolis is always going to have that slasher, scat-back, that little fast guy who’s so versatile,” Hines said.
“Contract talks will come when they come. Whatever happens with that happens. My goal is to be the best leader for this team, to be the best player for this team that I can be. I feel like last year I established myself as a leader. Maybe not as much of a vocal leader, but I’m definitely a leader on that team.”
The 2018 fourth-round pick seemed to take a step back in 2019 following a solid rookie campaign. The running back bounced back in 2020, finishing with career-highs across the board, including 862 yards from scrimmage, seven touchdowns, and a team-leading 63 receptions.
The Colts are absolutely loaded at running back, with Hines joining 2020 second-rounder Jonathan Taylor, former 1,000-yard rusher Marlon Mack, and fourth-year pro Jordan Wilkins. While Hines will probably never lead the team in carries, he now understands his role, and that explains his career season in 2020.
“I think I’ve grown the most, just by my mindset,” Hines said. “Going out there, knowing that we have a lot of good players, not knowing when I’m going to touch the ball but just knowing I’m going to be ready. That’s really why I played a lot better last year, I think.”
Julio Jones remains on the trade block. We learned earlier today that the star receiver is still available, and the Falcons would like to trade the future Hall of Famer.
While Jones missed a handful of games in 2020, these trade rumors aren’t based on his production…there are few wideouts in the NFL who can compare to Jones’ consistent receiving numbers. Rather, the Falcons are shopping the veteran for financial reasons. The front office is currently sitting with around only $500K in cap space, and they still need to sign their draft class. With Jones earning an AAV around $22MM on his last extension, he’s always seemed like the likeliest cap casualty. GM TerryFontenot even acknowledged that the team has to consider trading the seven-timer Pro Bowler.
“We are in a difficult cap situation,” Fontenot said. “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.”
There are some hurdles with a trade, particularly Jones $15.3MM salary for 2021. At this point of the offseason, it’s going to be tough for teams to find the cap room to afford the receiver…and, similar to the Falcons, few teams will want to renegotiate with Jones and pile money onto the later seasons of his contract. As a result, the Falcons reportedly aren’t seeking a first-round pick for the 32-year-old.
So, considering Jones’ talent and the Falcons asking price, a long list of teams have been mentioned as potential suitors for the receiver. So, that leads us to today’s question: who will Jones be playing for come Week 1 of the 2021 season? We provided a handful of candidates below.
Tennessee Titans
The Titans have been mentioned as a potential suitor for Jones ever since the wideout hit the block, and the connection makes plenty of sense. The team hasn’t really filled the hole on their depth chart left by Corey Davis, who signed with the Jets. If the Titans want to continue their postseason momentum, pairing A.J. Brown with Jones would make for one of the best receiver tandems in the league. Plus, new Falcons head coach ArthurSmith had spent the previous decade in Tennessee, so he’d certainly have some good words about the organization if Jones tries to control his own fate.
For what it’s worth, running back Derrick Henry made it abundantly clear on Twitter today that he’d welcome the future Hall-of-Fame receiver to Tennessee.
The downside? The Titans don’t have a whole lot of cap space, so it’d be tough to fit Jones’ massive contract on their books.
Las Vegas Raiders
Jon Gruden has been hunting for a big-name wide receiver since he joined the Raiders organization. He played a role in the infamous acquisition of Antonio Brown, and they used their 2020 first-round pick on Henry Ruggs III. In other words, the head coach would undoubtedly be a supporter of a Jones acquisition. Besides Gruden’s apparent attraction to top wideouts, the team also kind of needs help at the position; their top-three options are currently Ruggs, John Brown, and Hunter Renfrow.
The Raiders still have around $10MM in cap space, so while they’d have to overcome a few financial hurdles to acquire Jones, it certainly wouldn’t be impossible.
New England Patriots
The Patriots have made headlines for revamping their offense this offseason. The team added the two top free agent tight ends in Hunter Henry and Jonnu Smith, they acquired Trent Brown to solidify the offensive line, and they drafted Mac Jones to compete with Cam Newton at quarterback. However, the team’s wide receivers are still a bit underwhelming. The team dished out some money on Nelson Agholor and Kendrick Bourne, but neither of those players really profile as top-end receivers.
BillBelichick has seemingly had a love-hate relationship with receiver acquisitions over the years, as he often provided Tom Brady with too many receivers or not enough receivers. The Patriots currently have a clear need for a receiver, and Jones would certainly help their quest to return to the postseason. Plus, the Patriots are currently sitting with $15MM in cap space, which would be almost enough to acquire Jones without any funny cap machinations.
San Francisco 49ers
The 49ers are clearly all-in on this current iteration of this team, as they’ve sacrificed their first-round picks through 2023 in order to snag Trey Lance with the third-overall pick. With that in mind, giving up a handful of non-firsts for a star receiver doesn’t seem like a huge risk when the cupboard is already a bit empty.
Plus, while it remains unseen if Lance or Jimmy Garoppolo will be under center for Week 1, the 49ers could use a player of Jones’ caliber. The team hasn’t had a 1,000-yard receiver since Anquan Boldin in 2014, and Jones would provide the starting quarterback with another Pro Bowl talent alongside tight end George Kittle.
The 49ers have more than $17MM in cap space, and they could carve out even more space if they decide to move on from Jimmy G. If any suitor has the financial flexibility to add Jones, it’s San Francisco.
Atlanta Falcons
Financial ramifications aside, keeping Jones in Atlanta also makes plenty of sense. The wideout has established himself as one of the top players in franchise history, he’s been incredibly productive throughout his career, and he’s only played in fewer than 10 games twice (of course, one of those seasons came in 2020). Plus, if the Falcons have any hope of returning to the Super Bowl with Matt Ryan as their starting quarterback, a loaded offense would certainly help. Jones would just be one of the many talented targets in Atlanta, along with former first-round receiver Calvin Ridley and the No. 4 pick in the 2021 draft, tight end Kyle Pitts.
We could have listed at least a handful of other teams on this list: the Chargers, Ravens, Colts, and Packers have also been listed as potential suitors (by both pundits and bookies). But for the sake of a tidy poll, we’ll group each of those teams into the “other category.”
So, with all that said, who do you think Julio Jones will be playing with to begin the 2021 campaign? Vote in the accompanying poll, and let us know your thoughts in the comments!
Despite Julian Edelman announcing his retirement last month, rumors will continue to persist about a potential reunion with Tom Brady. This theory has always seemed unlikely, but it certainly isn’t impossible. After all, Brady managed to coax Rob Gronkowski out of retirement to join Tampa Bay, and he also recruited Antonio Brown despite the team already having Chris Godwin and Mike Evans on the roster.
So, would anyone really be shocked if Edelman ultimately joined the Buccaneers? Probably not. However, the long-time Patriots receiver did his best to quiet the rumblings during a recent appearance on the Michael Irvin Podcast, stating that he’s a “one-team guy.”
“My knees breaking down, I’m not gonna sit here, you know, I got everything I wanted,” Edelman explained (via NFL.com’s Nick Shook). “I got three rings, played in a magical dynasty, with an unbelievable franchise coach, best quarterback of all time, like, yo, I’m not a greedy guy. I played to win, I played to compete, I don’t need anything else to prove. I’m good with what I did, I left it all out on the field.”
Edelman was limited to only six games this past season as he dealt with a knee injury, so a potential return would obviously hang on the wideout’s health. Plus, as the 34-year-old noted, there’s not much more he can do to add to his resume; Edelman won three rings and a Super Bowl MVP, and he ranks second all-time in receiving yards and receptions. Assuming his career has come to an end, the former seventh-round pick finished his career with 36 regular-season touchdowns, all via Brady. The future Hall of Famer quarterback has tossed 581 touchdowns during his career, with Edelman ranking third among Brady’s all-time touchdown connections (behind Gronkowski and Randy Moss).
Considering those accolades, will Edelman eventually find him in the Hall of Fame? That’s not a concern to the retired receiver, who noted he’s focused on his new gig as a member of Inside the NFL.
“I’m not here to make a case, man,” Edelman said. “I didn’t play the game to be in the Hall. … It’s an honor to even be mentioned. You know and if something happens, something happens, you know I’m not gonna be worrying about that, I’mma be worrying about my new job here on Inside the NFL.”
Despite theKyle Pittsselection giving the Falcons the chance to pair him with Julio Jones and emerging standout Calvin Ridley, the team’s cap situation may be at a point where this trio will never take the field together. The Jones trade buzz is not going away.
Jones remains available, according to The Athletic’s Jeff Schultz, who notes the Falcons would like to trade the future Hall of Fame wideout (subscription required). Although the 32-year-old wideout made the Pro Bowl each season from 2014-19 and missed four total games during that span, he is signed to a receiver-record contract and missed seven games in 2020. New GM Terry Fontenot confirmed the Falcons are listening to offers on their all-time great.
The Falcons have made a number of restructures this offseason — from Deion Jones to Jake Matthews to Matt Ryan, with Schultz adding the team did not want to restructure its quarterback’s deal — but still have less than $500K in cap space. Atlanta obviously needs to sign its draft class, and although losing Jones for that purpose would mark a sobering conclusion to his Falcons run, the team views only he and Grady Jarrett as candidates to fix its cap problem, Schultz adds. The Falcons, however, want to keep Jarrett long-term; 10 years may be it for Jones in Atlanta.
The Thomas Dimitroff regime gave Jones his $22MM-per-year extension during the same summer Jarrett received his payday. Jarrett has two seasons left on his deal; Jones has three. A Jones restructure is not out of the question, but that would mean the Falcons moving a lot of money into Jones’ age-33 season and beyond. Atlanta, per Schultz, does not want to go this route, one that would involve considerably more dead money down the line. It is a non-starter for the Falcons to move Jones before June 1, but were they to trade him after that date, they would create more than $15MM in cap space.
Numerous teams could use Jones, but most would need to carve out cap space to absorb his $15.3MM salary. Some expect teams to ask the Falcons to eat a portion of Jones’ salary to help facilitate a trade, per Schultz, who also notes the Titans have come up as a potential suitor. Tennessee has a noticeable hole at receiver opposite A.J. Brown, with Corey Davis heading to New York, but the team has barely $3MM in cap space before its top draft salaries are accounted for. A first-round pick is not expected in a Jones deal, though Ian Rapoport of NFL.com would not expect Fontenot to move Jones unless a strong offer emerges (video link via the Pat McAfee Show).
Losing Jones would certainly affect the Falcons, who can count the seven-time Pro Bowler as a top-three player (comfortably) in franchise history. From 2014-19, Jones amassed 9,388 receiving yards — the most in a six-season span in NFL annals. But the Falcons’ new regime does not appear to view 2021 as a season in which Super Bowl contention is realistic, Schultz notes. Atlanta hopes to benefit from a bidding war involving teams that do.
Days after Tim Patrick signed his restricted free agent tender, the other RFA the Broncos tendered at the second-round level followed suit. Alexander Johnson signed his tender Thursday.
Like Patrick, the middle linebacker is set to earn $3.384MM on the tender. Only one restricted free agent received a first-round tender this year — Rams cornerback Darious Williams — but several commanded the second-round price. Johnson is now signed for the 2021 season. Barring an extension, he will play for the tender amount. He is due to be an unrestricted free agent in 2022.
An unusual RFA, seeing as he will turn 30 later this year, Johnson has been a starter in Denver for most of Vic Fangio‘s two-season tenure. The Broncos signed the ex-Tennessee Volunteer in 2018 but did not deploy him as a starter until October 2019. Johnson immediately impacted the team’s run defense and kept the first-string gig throughout 2020 as well. Johnson made 124 tackles and forced two fumbles last season. Pro Football Focus viewed the 255-pound defender as a top-25 off-ball linebacker in 2020.
This figures to be a notable stretch for the Broncos at linebacker. After parting ways with Brandon Marshall in 2019, the Broncos have made Johnson and Josey Jewell their primary off-ball ‘backers. Both are going into contract years. The team also drafted Ohio State’s Baron Browningin Round 3 this year, but it would make sense if either Jewell or Johnson emerged on the team’s extension radar.
Johnson’s late NFL start may well work against him regarding earning potential, but a solid 2021 season would put him in line for at least a decent medium-length deal — be it via a Broncos extension or as an unrestricted free agent next year.
