HEADLINES

Month: September 2024

Packers WR Randall Cobb Reworks Contract

July 31st, 2021 at 9:01am CST by Ben Levine

Randall Cobb is back in Green Bay, and the veteran receiver is taking a pay cut. ESPN’s Field Yates reports (via Twitter) that Cobb has restructured his contract.

Specifically, Cobb and the Packers converted $4.075MM of the player’s $5.25MM salary into a signing bonus. The team also added a 2023 void year to the contract, thus dropping Cobb’s 2021 cap hit to $2.68MM. While this move will provide the organization with some much-needed breathing room this season, it will also exacerbate the team’s future cap concerns.

Earlier this week, Cobb was traded back to Green Bay, where he previously played eight seasons for the Packers. Green Bay gave up a 2022 sixth-round pick to the Texans, and Houston also picked up $3MM of Cobb’s salary in 2021 (providing the organization with even more financial relief). Cobb is currently playing on a three-year, $27MM deal that he inked with Houston.

The trade came at the request/demand of MVP Aaron Rodgers, who agreed to return to the Packers earlier this week. Without Rodgers’ insistence, it’s unlikely that this trade would have ever materialized. Cobb never played for Matt LaFleur and third-round wide receiver Amari Rodgers was already ticketed for much of the team’s slot work. Still, Rodgers wanted his old pal back and the Packers weren’t about to say no to him, or Cobb’s wealth of experience. Now, Cobb will join Davante Adams, Marquez Valdes-Scantling, Allen Lazard, Devin Funchess, and the other A. Rodgers on the WR depth chart.

Raiders’ Theo Riddick Retires From NFL

July 30th, 2021 at 4:53pm CST by Zachary Links

Theo Riddick is calling it a career. On Friday, the Raiders placed the tailback on the reserved/retired list, marking the end of his NFL run.

Riddick, 30, played a small role in six Raiders games last season. The former Lions outlet option totaled 57 yards on eleven touches. That came after a year Riddick spent on the Broncos’ IR list.

Riddick made a lot of noise with Detroit from 2013-18, mostly as a pass-catching specialist and check down artist for Matthew Stafford. Before his retirement, he was set to slot somewhere behind Kenyan Drake and Josh Jacobs on the Raiders’ depth chart.

Riddick’s best season came in 2015, when he had 697 yards through the air to the delight of Lions fans and fantasy football owners. However, he hasn’t made much of a statistical impact since leaving the Motor City. We here at PFR wish him the best in retirement.

Colts’ Carson Wentz To Miss Time

July 30th, 2021 at 1:20pm CST by Zachary Links

Colts quarterback Carson Wentz has suffered a foot injury that will sideline him for an undetermined period of time (Twitter link via NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport and Mike Garafolo). Garafolo doesn’t sense that the Colts are panicking about it, but it’s definitely a situation to watch as the season draws near. 

“He’s with the docs, trying to figure what out the process is,” offensive coordinator Marcus Brady said on Friday (via ESPN.com). “Still evaluating what the next move is, how bad it is. Then we’ll go from there.”

It’s a frustrating setback for Wentz, who is looking to reboot his career under old pal Frank Reich. He is/was slated to be the Week 1 starter for the Colts and they no longer have Jacoby Brissett as a Plan B. Beyond Wentz, the Colts have second-year QB Jacob Eason and Sam Ehlinger — needless to say, they don’t offer the same level of experience or upside.

Wentz will hope for a speedy recovery as he looks to regain his 2017 Pro Bowl form. He was a far cry from that in his final year with the Eagles, before ceding the job to Jalen Hurts. Hurts went on to start in four of his 15 appearances, completing 52% of his passes for 1,061 yards, six touchdowns, and four interceptions. He also added another 354 rushing yards and three touchdowns on 63 carries, showcasing better mobility than the former No. 2 overall pick.

Jets’ Jarrad Davis Considered Retirement

July 30th, 2021 at 10:33am CST by Zachary Links

Jarrad Davis joined the Jets earlier this year on a one-year, $5.5MM deal. But, according to the outside linebacker, that almost didn’t happen. 

“I contemplated walking away,” Davis said (via Dennis Waszak Jr. of the Associated Press). “I really did, man. But at the end of the day, like, I wouldn’t have felt right doing something else, you know?”

Davis was the No. 21 overall pick in 2017 but didn’t quite live up to his draft status. Then he saw his role — and confidence — reduced under then-Lions head coach Matt Patricia. After starting at least eleven games in each of his first three pro seasons, Patricia started him just four times in 2020. Davis played on less than 30% of the defensive snaps and pondered life without football.

“The battle’s up here,” Davis said, pointing to his head. “And I was losing that battle every single day.”

Now he says he feels rejuvenated under new Jets coach Robert Saleh and his 4-3 defense. Davis fits in well as a 4-3 OLB, giving him a chance to show what made him such a highly-valued prospect just a few short years ago.

To date, he has 45 games to his credit across four years in Detroit. His most productive year came in 2018 when he started all 16 games and finished with 100 tackles, six sacks, and five passes defended.

Browns Hire Bob Quinn

July 30th, 2021 at 10:26am CST by Zachary Links

The Browns have hired former Lions GM Bob Quinn as a Senior Consultant (Twitter link via NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport). Quinn will act as a “sounding board” for GM Andrew Berry as he returns to football for the first time since November of last year. 

Quinn, a longtime scout/exec for the Patriots, was hired as the Lions’ GM in January of 2016. After inheriting Jim Caldwell, he made his first official head-coaching hire in Matt Patricia.

The Lions fired Quinn and Patricia shortly after their blowout Thanksgiving loss. It was a trying year for the Lions — they missed the playoffs for a fourth straight season and had just dropped back-to-back games against the Panthers and Texans in embarrassing fashion. And, in the (almost) three years leading up to Quinn’s firing, they posted a 13-29-1 record.

Despite all of that, some believed that Quinn would still garner serious consideration in the early 2021 GM cycle. That didn’t happen, so he’ll spend the year with the Browns’ FO.

Giants Work Out OL Evan Boehm

July 29th, 2021 at 10:26pm CST by Ben Levine

The Giants are looking for some offensive line help. Veteran NFL reporter Aaron Wilson reports (via Twitter) that the team recently met with veteran offensive lineman Evan Boehm.

Boehm has played both center and offensive guard throughout his career, a pair of positions that appear to be accounted for on the Giants. Nick Gates and Jonotthan Harrison lead the depth chart at center, while Shane Lemieux and Will Hernandez are in line to start at guard. However, Harrison is currently on the team’s active/PUP list, and Lemieux was carted off the field during Giants practice today. While it was apparent that the 25-year-old suffered some kind of knee injury, we haven’t learned of an official diagnosis, and there’s a chance he could be sidelined for some time.

So, it appears that the Giants are hunting for some reinforcement at the position, even if it’s temporary. Boehm would certainly be a worthy candidate despite his journeyman status. The offensive lineman has spent time with six different teams through five seasons, but he’s also managed to see time in 55 career games (21 starts). That included a 2019 campaign where he started eight of his 13 games for the Dolphins.

The 27-year-old joined the Bills last offseason, and he spent the first month-plus of the season on the team’s practice squad. He later caught on with the Jaguars practice squad, where he’d remain for the rest of the season.

Jets Work Out WR/TE Jordan Matthews

July 29th, 2021 at 8:23pm CST by Ben Levine

The Jordan Matthews audition tour is heading to New York. The veteran wideout (and perhaps future tight end) had a tryout with the Jets today, per NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero (via Twitter).

Matthews, a former second-round pick, had at least 800 receiving yards in each of his first three NFL seasons, but he’s struggled to match that production over the past few years. Since 2017, Matthews has hauled in only 49 receptions for 615 yards and three scores. He saw time in the 49ers’ final two games of the 2020 season, appearing on 14 offensive snaps without recording a catch.

We learned earlier this offseason that the veteran was hoping to reinvent his career as a tight end. The 29-year-old has added 30 pounds this offseason; standing at 6-foot-3, Matthews always had the height to play tight end. Now tipping the scales at somewhere above 230 pounds, he has the bulk too. Matthews also spent time working out with NFL tight ends like George Kittle and Robert Tonyan, and he visited the University of Louisville to train with wide receivers coach Gunter Brewer and assistant tight ends coach Stu Holt.

We heard that a handful of teams had their eye on the veteran, but the only team that’s been definitively connected to Matthews was the Titans. We can now add the Jets to that list, and it makes sense that the team would consider some depth at the position. Besides Chris Herndon, the team has a number of uninspiring options like Ryan Griffin, Tyler Kroft, Trevon Wesco, Daniel Brown, and rookie Kenny Yeboah.

Details On Aaron Rodgers’ Reworked Contract

July 29th, 2021 at 7:37pm CST by Ben Levine

The recent compromise between the Packers and quarterback Aaron Rodgers included a decision to void the player’s contract for the 2023 season. NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero (via Twitter) provided some new details on the terms of that agreement.

The timing of the voided contract in 2023 makes Rodgers “untaggable after 2022,” meaning he’ll hit free agency after two more seasons in Green Bay. There’s no new money in the deal, and the reworked contract will provide the organization with an extra $10MM in cap space in 2021. If the organization trades him at some point before next June, they’d be left with a whopping $26.8MM in dead money.

Further, if Rodgers makes the unexpected decision to retire after this season, the Packers will no longer have the ability to take back $11.5MM in prorated signing bonus money. This was negotiated into the reworked contract, and it makes it much easier for the quarterback to simply walk about if he desires. As Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk.com notes, this also provides Rodgers with some leverage, as we could threaten retirement and see if the organization trades or releases him.

Finally, as Jonathan Jones of CBS Sports notes (on Twitter), the reworked contract all but assures that Rodgers won’t be in Green Bay in 2022. The reporter opines that “something truly momentous” would need to happen for the quarterback to stick around beyond the 2021 campaign.

WR Tommylee Lewis Visits Vikings, Saints

July 29th, 2021 at 6:34pm CST by Sam Robinson

A Saints return man in four of the past five seasons, Tommylee Lewis remains on the team’s radar. Lewis visited the Saints on Thursday, Tom Pelissero of NFL.com tweets.

This meeting comes days after the Vikings brought in the 5-foot-7 return man/occasional wideout for a visit, according to SI.com’s Howard Balzer (on Twitter). That workout, however, came along with Dede Westbrook‘s. The Vikings agreed to terms with Westbrook last weekend, seemingly signaling Lewis would need to look elsewhere to land a 2021 gig.

The Saints have already agreed to multiple reunions with Lewis, whom they initially signed as a UDFA back in 2016. The team did not tender him a contract as an RFA in 2019, and Lewis signed with the Lions. However, he made his way back to New Orleans via reserve/futures deal in January 2020. The Saints cut him last August, but after the Panthers did the same, Lewis migrated back to the Saints and played five games in 2020. Lewis, 28, has only suited up for the Saints in a regular-season game.

The Lewis-Saints meeting comes after news surfaced of Deonte Harris‘ DWI arrest. New Orleans’ incumbent return man was arrested July 16 in Maryland, Katherine Terrell of The Athletic tweets. Harris, 23, was booked on multiple charges. The ex-UDFA has been with the Saints since 2019, when he broke out for an All-Pro season as a rookie return man.

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