HEADLINES

Month: December 2024

Latest On Trade Market For Carson Wentz, Jimmy Garoppolo

February 24th, 2022 at 8:33pm CST by Ben Levine

Carson Wentz and Jimmy Garoppolo will be popular names on this website throughout the offseason, but their respective teams may have difficulties finding trade partners suitors. According to CBS Sports’ Jason La Canfora, interest in Wentz and Garoppolo has been “lukewarm as best.”

Wentz got the majority of the blame for the Colts ugly Week 18 loss to the Jaguars, and the quarterback’s decision to go through the season unvaccinated (which caused him to miss a week of practice leading up to the Colts’ Week 17 loss to the Raiders) drew the ire of some Colts decision makers, including owner Jim Irsay. Chris Ballard‘s noncommitment to Wentz exiting the season provided a fairly clear indication the team is not sold on its starter.

So, despite giving up a 2021 third-round pick and 2022 first to acquire the former Eagles QB, the Colts now have Wentz on the block. The Colts could save $13MM by cutting Wentz before March 19. Should Wentz stay a Colt, he will be attached to a $28MM cap number.

The writing was on the wall for Garoppolo in San Francisco when the organization gave up a haul to draft Trey Lance with the third-overall pick. Despite an uncertain future, the veteran still went 9-6 in his 15 starts this past season (plus a pair of postseason victories). We heard recently that the 49ers were seeking a Day 2 choice for the 30-year-old. Garoppolo’s contract includes a $24.2MM salary in 2022.

QB Rumors: 49ers, Wilson, Winston, Texans

February 24th, 2022 at 7:35pm CST by Sam Robinson

Of the starting quarterbacks mentioned in trade rumors, Jimmy Garoppolo looms as the likeliest candidate to move. The five-year 49ers starter saying as much and having talked to his general manager about a potential destination is a fairly clear indicator of a move. However, Garoppolo being dealt is not a certainty. Trey Lance has a long way to go in his climb toward being a reliable starter, Adam Schefter of ESPN.com said during an interview with Pro Football Focus’ Ari Meirov (via SI.com). The 21-year-old Division I-FCS alum was “further away than people realized” this past season, Schefter adds, noting Garoppolo remains well-liked in San Francisco’s locker room. While it would be a surprise if the 49ers kept Garoppolo, the prospect of him playing out his contract and keeping Lance in developmental mode in 2022 did surface last summer.

The statuses of Aaron Rodgers, Russell Wilson and Kirk Cousins may put the 49ers in a good spot regarding a Garoppolo trade offer, however. The QB trade market drying up would lead to more Garoppolo interest; as of now, the 49ers are seeking a Day 2 pick and change in a trade. They would need to weigh offers, Lance’s readiness and the prospect of a third-round 2024 compensatory pick — for Garoppolo’s 2023 free agency exit — in this equation.

Here is the latest from the quarterback rumor circuit:

  • Wilson has said he wants to stay with the Seahawks, but coming out of a disappointing season, the veteran quarterback has also been connected to exploring his options to see if another team could give him opportunities his current one cannot. For the time being, owner Jody Allen is behind keeping Wilson, Albert Breer of SI.com notes. It is unclear how much Allen supports ensuring the perennial Pro Bowler stays in Washington, and given Wilson’s value at age 33 and with two years left on his contract, Breer does expect a trade to eventually happen. After Rodgers makes his intentions known, this will be the top QB situation to monitor.
  • The Saints used four starting quarterbacks last season and have their preferred 2021 starter on track for free agency. Jameis Winston is coming off an ACL tear and might again need a prove-it season. Many around the league expect the Saints to again provide that opportunity, Jeremy Fowler of ESPN.com writes. New Orleans is once again in its own league for cap purposes, being more than $75MM over the projected 2022 cap. Winston coming back on a low salary would help the Saints, even if the seven-year veteran would represent another stopgap year post-Drew Brees.
  • The Texans are behind Davis Mills as their starter, but they are interested in keeping Tyrod Taylor around. Taylor impressed Houston’s coaching staff during his first Texans season, Fowler adds. Taylor signed a one-year, $5.5MM deal to work as a starter during Deshaun Watson‘s time away from the team. Mills supplanted Taylor, continuing a familiar routine for the ex-Bills starter, but it sounds like his relationship with new OC Pep Hamilton — Taylor’s position coach with the Chargers in 2020 — is solid enough it could well lead to another year of QB2 work in Houston.

Ravens Re-Sign S Tony Jefferson

February 24th, 2022 at 4:42pm CST by Sam Robinson

After being out of game action for nearly two years, Tony Jefferson resurfaced in 2021. The 49ers and Ravens signed Jefferson last year, and he will end up sticking with the latter organization in the offseason.

The Ravens re-signed Jefferson on Thursday. He is now under contract for the 2022 season, which would be his ninth. Jefferson, 30, returned to play in four games with the Ravens last season.

Jefferson worked as a starter for the Ravens from 2017-19, following his free agent agreement with the team. An ACL tear in October 2019 led to the Ravens releasing him in 2020. Jefferson missed the 2020 season and did not land with a team again until the 49ers signed him last summer. Groin and hamstring injuries led him to San Francisco’s IR, but he returned to play in two games with the team. San Francisco cut Jefferson early in the season, however.

The former Cardinals UDFA caught on with the Ravens via a practice squad signing in October. He made 17 tackles and recorded a sack in his short run back in Baltimore. Jefferson will have a chance to play a fifth season with the Ravens in 2022.

Baltimore has starter Chuck Clark under contract for next season and used a third-round pick on Brandon Stephens last year. DeShon Elliott, whose injury opened the door for 11 Stephens starts, is on track for free agency. So is veteran hybrid Jimmy Smith.

Jessie Bates Wants To Stay With Bengals, Avoid Franchise Tag

February 24th, 2022 at 4:23pm CST by Sam Robinson

After a substandard regular season, Jessie Bates delivered for the Bengals in the playoffs. The four-year veteran stands to be one of this year’s top free agents. But the Bengals are not expected to let the standout safety get that far.

Cincinnati is expected to keep Bates off the market. While the sides still have nearly two weeks to work out a long-term extension before the franchise tag window closes, the Bengals would have nearly five more months to finalize a deal if they applied the tag.

“Hopefully I’m not under a franchise tag. That’s something that needs to be discussed as NFLPA a little bit,” Bates said during an NFL Network appearance (via NFL.com). “Some of the top guys got hurt under a franchise tag. It’s tough; you only get one shot at this. You just got to play your cards right, I guess you could say.”

The safety tag is expected to come in just north of $13MM. Being tagged would prevent the former second-round pick from parlaying his strong playoff performance into a monster safety pact. That said, the Wake Forest alum is two days from his 25th birthday. The Broncos tagged Justin Simmons in each of the past two offseasons but still wound up with a market-setting deal. Simmons became the NFL’s highest-paid safety when he signed an extension last year, at age 27. Bates should still have a chance to cash in, even if he plays the 2022 season on the tag.

Jamal Adams‘ four-year, $70MM extension is the current bar, but Bates said he is not overly concerned with “the ego part of being the highest-paid safety.” Still, Bates accepting a deal that paid him less than Simmons’ $15.25MM-per-year accord is unlikely.

Although Bates expressed disappointment in the Bengals not extending him ahead of last season, he would prefer to remain with the franchise. Bates graded as Pro Football Focus’ No. 1 overall safety in 2020. While he slipped in 2021, Bates helped the Bengals make a surprise Super Bowl run by logging six pass breakups and two interceptions in the playoffs.

“I know what type of men are in that locker room, along with the guys that are leading us. We have awesome coaches. I look forward to being a Cincinnati Bengal, but we’ll see what happens,” Bates said, while also noting Cincinnati’s proximity to his hometown (Fort Wayne, Ind.) factors into his aim to remain a Bengal.

Chiefs To Retain OC Eric Bieniemy

February 24th, 2022 at 3:43pm CST by Sam Robinson

Eric Bieniemy‘s status with the Chiefs briefly entered murky territory, with the longtime Kansas City offensive coordinator’s contract expiring. The sides will continue to work together, according to NFL.com’s Jeffri Chadiha, who tweets Bieniemy will be back for a fifth season as Chiefs OC.

Bieniemy agreed to a one-year extension with the Chiefs, Tom Pelissero of NFL.com tweets. A Chiefs assistant throughout Andy Reid‘s nine-year tenure, Bieniemy has been the team’s OC throughout Patrick Mahomes‘ QB1 run.

A fixture on head-coaching carousels in recent years, Bieniemy has been unable to land a top job. This year, interest was not as widespread; only the Broncos and Saints interviewed the veteran Reid lieutenant. Bieniemy, 52, was not a finalist for the Denver job, and New Orleans went with an in-house promotion (Dennis Allen). As a result, the Chiefs will once again ensure continuity.

For the first time in Bieniemy’s Kansas City OC stint, some doubt surfaced about his role. A report indicated the 2021 season was somewhat trying for Bieniemy mentally and the prospect of sitting out 2022 or returning to the college ranks emerged. Bieniemy’s inability to secure a head-coaching job has been a lightning-rod topic for a bit now. Given the Chiefs’ performance on offense over the past four seasons, Bieniemy should not have been expected to be readying for a fifth year as K.C.’s OC. Reid promoted Bieniemy from running backs coach to OC in 2018, after Matt Nagy became the Bears’ head coach. Nagy followed Doug Pederson in being a Reid OC to land a coaching job.

The Reid-Mahomes-Bieniemy partnership has delivered one of the NFL’s all-time great aerial attacks, with Travis Kelce and Tyreek Hill having a significant say in the Chiefs’ success as well. Kansas City’s offense hit a bit of a road block this year around the midseason point, but the team still ended the season in the top five in total offense and points scored.

The Chiefs have boasted a top-six offense in each year of Bieniemy’s OC stay, though Reid being the team’s primary play-caller has undoubtedly affected Bieniemy’s chances of being hired as a head coach elsewhere. Kansas City is also coming off a shocking ending to its season, which featured Cincinnati erase an 18-point deficit in the AFC championship game.

Falcons Add Ryan Pace To Front Office

February 24th, 2022 at 1:42pm CST by Adam La Rose

Ryan Pace wasn’t out of work for long. The former general manager of the Bears has been hired by the Falcons under the title of senior personnel executive, per NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero (Twitter link). 

At 37, Pace was the youngest GM in the NFL when he was hired in 2015, taking over for Phil Emery. His first major move was hiring John Fox as the team’s new head coach, beginning a three-year stretch that saw the team finish in the basement of the NFC North each campaign and produced the second-lowest winning percentage (.292) in franchise history. Fox was fired, but Pace received a two-year extension.

The 2018 season was a different story, as new HC Matt Nagy led the team to a 12-4 record and a division title, helped in large part by 2017 draftee quarterback Mitch Trubisky and offseason trade acquisition Khalil Mack. Pace was named Executive of the Year as a result of the team’s success. Things started to go south from that point on, though, as another playoff appearance in 2020 couldn’t outweigh Trubisky’s shortcomings. Speculation steadily increased that he and Nagy were on the hot seat heading into 2021.

As deep into this past season as November, it was believed that Pace’s job in Chicago could be safe. However, Pace was indeed fired, along with Nagy, after the regular season ended with the team going 6-11, albeit with promise in the form of rookie QB Justin Fields. The pair have been supplanted by highly-regarded replacements in GM Ryan Poles and HC Matt Eberflus.

By joining the Falcons, Pace will reunite with GM Terry Fontenot. The two worked together in New Orleans, the only franchise either had worked for prior to their respective GM hires. That familiarity will help them re-shape a roster facing numerous cap troubles and, sometime as early as this offseason, the need for a new QB. Pace could play a significant role in helping Atlanta get back in contention in what could be a wide-open NFC South.

Latest On Chiefs’ Frank Clark

February 24th, 2022 at 12:01pm CST by Adam La Rose

There are likely to be a number of changes to the Chiefs’ defense this offseason. One of the biggest factors in their process of reshaping that unit is defensive end Frank Clark. With plenty of cap-related manoeuvring to do, ESPN’s Adam Teicher identifies Clark as a cut candidate. 

[Related: Chiefs Release LB Anthony Hitchens]

The process of shedding costs has already begun, with the team moving on from veteran linebacker Anthony Hitchens. Clark could be next in line, Teicher notes, as the Chiefs “appear headed for a rebuild of their defensive line” not unlike the o-line overhaul of last year. The 28-year-old has another two years left on his contract, with cap hits of $26MM and $27MM upcoming.

Cutting Clark before June 1st would save the team $12.7MM, clearing a piece of the team’s third-highest cap charge off the books. If the team is able to wait until after that date, though, the savings would climb to $19.5MM. Kansas City could use the added flexibility to re-tool their defensive front, as fellow edge rushers Melvin Ingram and Alex Okafor, along with defensive tackles Derrick Nnadi and Jarran Reed are all pending free agents. There appears to be mutual interest for Ingram to remain, but several moves will likely be needed along the defensive front.

The other benefit to moving on from Clark is that it would free up cap space to try and retain at least one of the team’s top two free agents: left tackle Orlando Brown Jr. and safety Tyrann Mathieu. With the latter recently suggesting that he is headed elsewhere, priority could be placed on Brown, especially considering the draft capital invested in acquiring him from Baltimore last offseason.

Clark totalled eight sacks, three forced fumbles and an interception in 2019, his first year in Kansas City. Since then, though, he has combined to produce 10.5 sacks and two forced fumbles; despite three straight Pro Bowl selections, then, the Chiefs could find his recent production insufficient to justify his large contract.

Jets Eyeing S Kyle Hamilton At No. 4?

February 24th, 2022 at 10:53am CST by Adam La Rose

Defense is thought to be the top priority for the Jets this offseason, in part because of the team’s struggles on that side of the ball in 2021, but also due to the particular strengths of the upcoming draft class. According to ESPN’s Rich Cimini, the team has a strong interest in Notre Dame safety Kyle Hamilton with the first of their two top-ten picks. 

The Jets’ first selection is No. 4, which will give them plenty of options to choose from. As Cimini writes, though, the team is said to “like Hamilton a lot”. The six-foot-four, 219 pound Golden Domer is seen by some as the top overall prospect in the class, and has already been linked to New York in the run-up to the draft.

In only seven games in his final college season, Hamilton recorded three interceptions and four pass deflections. Overall, his three years saw him total 138 tackles, eight picks and 16 pass breakups in 31 contests. His combination of production, size, versatility and football IQ have him in line to be one of the most impactful rookies in 2022, especially if he does end up in the Big Apple, considering the Jets ranked second-last in the NFL with seven interceptions last year.

The Jets could experience some trepidation regarding the selection of a safety, given they took the since-departed Jamal Adams sixth overall in 2017. The memory of that process, coupled with the general devaluation of the position, could alternatively steer general manager Joe Douglas towards an edge rusher like Kayvon Thibodeaux to help a pass rush that produced 33 sacks last campaign. A cornerback such as Cincinnati’s Ahmad Gardner could be another option in the secondary. The other prospects, it seems, could have ground to make up behind Hamilton from the Jets’ perspective.

Texans Don’t Expect To Re-Sign S Justin Reid

February 24th, 2022 at 9:53am CST by Adam La Rose

The safety class could feature quite a few notable names in free agency. One of those is Justin Reid, who, as Sarah Barshop of ESPN notes, is likely to head elsewhere on the open market. 

Specifically, Barshop writes that “the Texans don’t expect Reid to be back in 2022”, as his rookie contract is set to expire. The team couldn’t agree on a new deal at any point with the 25-year-old, who was benched in a violation of team rules following a disagreement with then-head coach David Culley this past season.

Injuries have been a constant in Reid’s NFL career up to this point. He has undergone offseason surgery twice – most recently in 2020 to repair a torn labrum – and finished the 2021 campaign on IR with a wrist injury, though he has mostly been able to play through pain, earning the Ed Block Courage Award in 2019. In four seasons, Reid has suited up for 57 of a possible 65 games, demonstrating his value along the way.

Since becoming a starter shortly into his rookie season, Reid has been on the field for no less than 90% of the Texans’ defensive snaps. While it was cut short, 2021 did also see an improvement from him in pass coverage, as he allowed a completion percentage of 53%. Overall, Reid has packed the stat sheet with a total of 315 tackles, seven interceptions and 23 pass breakups with the Texans.

Reid likely won’t garner the attention or salary of the likes of Tyrann Mathieu, Jessie Bates and Quandre Diggs in the coming weeks, but he would represent a quality addition to the back end of almost any defense in the league.

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