HEADLINES

Month: October 2024

Vikings WR Olabisi Johnson Suffers Torn ACL

August 28th, 2022 at 2:57pm CST by Adam La Rose

For the second consecutive year, Olabisi Johnson has suffered a season-ending knee injury. The Vikings wideout tore his ACL, as confirmed (on Twitter) by NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport. 

The injury occurred during Minnesota’s preseason finale, and affects the other knee than the one which caused him to miss the 2021 campaign. That comes as small consolation given the fact that the 25-year-old will have to begin the recovery process over again, after putting together an impressive training camp.

A seventh-round pick in 2019, Johnson started six games as a rookie. With a statline of 31/294/3, he showed plenty of potential, raising expectations for his second season. He remained healthy in 2020, but saw a drop in production. Nevertheless, last season’s injury was a major blow to his development, especially in the context of this latest one. The Colorado State alum will now head towards free agency at the end of his rookie contract having missed two full campaigns by the time it expires.

The Vikings will still have one of the league’s most dangerous WR duos in Justin Jefferson and Adam Thielen, of course; K.J. Osborn represents an intriguing third option at the position as well. Still, head coach Kevin O’Connell‘s impressions of Johnson will make his absence a notable one for the team’s offense.

Along with Johnson, defensive tackle T.Y. McGill suffered an injury last night. Ben Goessling of the Minneapolis Star Tribune tweets that the 29-year-old has a right ankle sprain, and will miss one or two weeks.

Dolphins To Sign Trey Flowers

August 28th, 2022 at 1:09pm CST by Adam La Rose

The Dolphins are adding another experienced player to their edge room. The team has reached agreement on a deal with Trey Flowers, reports ESPN’s Adam Schefter (on Twitter). NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport tweets that the contract is one year in length, and carries a base value of $2.1MM, which can reach $3MM via incentives. 

The 29-year-old visited Miami last week, so a deal being struck comes as little surprise. Flowers will return to the AFC East after three years spent with the Lions. He was a full-time starter in Detroit, but injuries marred the final two years of his tenure there. After the team couldn’t find a trade partner, they released him.

That left him on the open market without any reported interest until the Dolphins hosted him. Flowers will mark the second veteran free agent addition in the pass-rush department; Melvin Ingram signed in May despite having been the recipient of a UFA tender from the Chiefs. He is expected to operate as a rotational rusher, as Flowers likely will as well.

The Arkansas alum established himself as a consistent, disruptive presence during his time with the Patriots to start his career. After he made just one appearance as a rookie, Flowers totaled 21 sacks and five forced fumbles between 2016 and 2018. That led to his five-year deal with the Lions; despite failing to live up to that contract, he should be able to serve at least a backup function effectively with the Dolphins this year.

Miami re-signed Emmanuel Ogbah this offseason, and he is in line to start alongside 2021 first-rounder Jaelan Phillips. With Ingram, and now Flowers, behind them on the depth chart, however, a Dolphins defensive front which ranked sixth in the league in sacks last season has even more quality on the edge.

Browns DE Chris Odom Out For Season

August 28th, 2022 at 12:42pm CST by Rory Parks

Browns defensive end Chris Odom suffered a torn ACL during the team’s preseason finale against the Bears on Saturday, per head coach Kevin Stefanski (Twitter link via Jake Trotter of ESPN.com). Odom will miss the 2022 season as a result.

This is an especially difficult blow for Odom, who earned United States Football League Defensive Player of the Year honors following the rebooted league’s inaugural season this year. A second-round pick of the Houston Gamblers in the USFL draft in February, Odom went on to post 41 total tackles, 12.5 sacks, six forced fumbles, and four blocked field goals. He auditioned for the Bengals, Cardinals, Chiefs, Saints, and Texans this summer before finally signing with the Browns.

Now 27, Odom signed with the Falcons as a UDFA in 2017. He saw action in seven regular games with the Packers that year after being waived by Atlanta, and his performance with a different alternative league in 2018 — the now-defunct Alliance of American Football — led to another contract with the Falcons in 2019. But he was waived again during final cutdowns in August 2019 and subsequently hooked on with Washington’s practice squad. He ultimately appeared in four games for Washington.

A stint with the CFL’s Calgary Stampeders preceded his successful run with the Gamblers. His admirable perseverance in continuing his playing career will be tested yet again as a result of the ACL tear.

Of course, it is unclear if the Arkansas State product would have made the roster anyway, as the Browns’ edge rush contingent consists of two drafted rookies — Alex Wright and Isaiah Thomas — trade acquisition Chase Winovich, and others behind starters Myles Garrett and Jadeveon Clowney.

In 11 regular season NFL contests, Odom has 16 tackles and two sacks.

Browns WR Anthony Schwartz Not At Risk Of Being Cut

August 28th, 2022 at 12:06pm CST by Rory Parks

The Browns are not planning to cut wide receiver Anthony Schwartz. Head coach Kevin Stefanski confirmed as much to reporters, including Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com, after the team’s preseason loss to the Bears on Saturday.

Given that Schwartz was selected in the third round of the 2021 draft, Stefanski’s announcement should not come as much of a surprise. However, Schwartz was largely quiet in his rookie year, posting 10 catches for 135 yards and a score while playing one-third of the Browns’ offensive snaps, and he has struggled mightily this preseason.

In Saturday’s matchup with Chicago, the Auburn product dropped three passes, giving him a total of six drops through the club’s three preseason contests. His third drop elicited a chorus of boos from the crowd at FirstEnergy Stadium, and the social media reaction to his performance led to Stefanski’s being asked about the wideout’s job security.

“Respectfully, we’re going to make sure that we deal with things that are important, which are our players and how they respond to these things,” Stefanski said. When asked if Schwartz was at risk of being waived, Stefanski simply said, “no.”

In addition to his draft pedigree, the Browns’ collection of WR talent offers another reason for the team to retain Schwartz. After parting ways with Odell Beckham Jr., Jarvis Landry, and Rashard Higgins over the past 10 months, Cleveland’s receiver room boasts little by way of proven talent outside of trade acquisition Amari Cooper. The team has steadfastly maintained that it feels no pressure to acquire another veteran pass-catcher, and at present, the depth chart is topped by Cooper, 2020 sixth-rounder Donovan Peoples-Jones, and third-round rookie David Bell.

Schwartz slots in somewhere behind that trio, along with sixth-round rookie Michael Woods II. So while Schwartz might not see much more playing time in 2022 than he did in 2021, it seems he will at least have a roster spot.

Raiders TE Darren Waller Leaves Klutch Sports

August 28th, 2022 at 11:03am CST by Rory Parks

Per Adam Hill of the Las Vegas Review-Journal, Raiders tight end Darren Waller has left Klutch Sports, the agency founded by NBA superstar LeBron James and his close friend, Rich Paul. Waller signed with Klutch less than a year ago.

Waller’s decision is particularly notable because of his contract status. The soon-to-be 30-year-old is slated to earn non-guaranteed base salaries of $6.25MM in 2022 and ’23, and given his elite performance and his importance to the Raiders’ offense, he was naturally mentioned as a candidate for a new contract earlier this year.

Subsequent reports suggested that an extension for Waller is a “priority” for Las Vegas, and we heard in June that a deal was “imminent” (though that June report also indicated that the team may be trying to delay the matter to 2023, and as clubs generally do not like to negotiate contracts with players who have multiple years of club control remaining, that could well be the case).

Waller did report to training camp on time, but he has been dealing with a hamstring injury and has practiced just once since July 30. The fact that the ailment is considered a minor one has led to speculation that Waller’s absence is more a function of his contract situation than his health, though there is nothing to substantiate those rumors at this point.

Whatever the reason, the fact remains that Waller has decided to change representation at a time when he is looking to sign the most lucrative contract of his career. The extension he signed in October 2019 was something of a gamble on the Raiders’ part, as the former sixth-round pick of the Ravens was suspended multiple times during his stint in Baltimore for violations of the league’s substance-abuse policy, including a year-long ban in 2017. The Raiders plucked him off the Ravens’ taxi squad in November 2018, and they handed him his current deal, a ~$7.5MM/year accord, after a few encouraging performances to open the 2019 season.

Over the 2019-20 campaigns, Waller rewarded the team’s faith in him by averaging just under 100 catches for 1,170 yards. Although the 2021 season saw him miss time due to a knee injury, the Georgia Tech product ranks second among tight ends in catches and yards over the past three years, behind only Chiefs star Travis Kelce.

The remaining club control, along with last year’s knee injury and the current hamstring issue, could prevent a deal from getting done this summer. But assuming there are no long-term health concerns, Waller will undoubtedly be shooting for the top of the tight end market, which is currently paced by George Kittle‘s $15MM AAV and $40MM in practical guarantees. He must wait until Wednesday to hire a new agent, and Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk hears that the plan is to retain super agent Drew Rosenhaus.

Such a hire would seem to indicate that Waller has no intention of waiting until 2023 to see his name at or near the top of the TE pay scale.

Patriots Notes: Wynn, RBs, Thornton

August 28th, 2022 at 9:52am CST by Rory Parks

The Patriots are reportedly open to trading OT Isaiah Wynn, who has been moved from left tackle to right tackle this year after lining up exclusively on the blindside over his first few seasons in the NFL (aside from a 2020 cameo at LG and some training camp work at RT as a rookie). As expected, however, outside interest in the former first-rounder is limited at this point, as Jeff Howe of The Athletic tweets.

Although Wynn did play in 16 regular season contests in 2021, he comes with an extensive injury history. He is also tethered to a $10.4MM salary for 2022 since New England exercised the fifth-year option on his rookie deal, and at least some teams consider him a tackle-guard “tweener.” All of that suggests that the Pats — who must also consider the injury history of LT Trent Brown and the underwhelming training camp performances of backups Justin Herron and Yodny Cajuste — may not fetch a high enough return to pull the trigger.

Now for more out of Foxborough:

  • Per Mike Giardi of the NFL Network, Brown was not told he would be lining up at left tackle when he re-signed with the Patriots this offseason (Twitter link). The 29-year-old has taken all of his snaps on the right side of the line since 2019, and one wonders if he would have signed the contract, which pays him $6.5MM per year over the next two years, if he had known he would be playing a premium position. Giardi also tweets that Wynn — perhaps as a result of a position switch in his platform year — is not a “happy camper,” so there is plenty of intrigue surrounding the team’s OL bookends in 2022.
  • As Mike Reiss of ESPN.com writes, Patriots running backs Rhamondre Stevenson and Damien Harris will be part of a timeshare this year, but as opposed to 2021, they are more likely to remain on the field on third downs. In light of James White‘s retirement, New England is unlikely to have a defined “passing down back,” and that is especially true in the wake of the ankle injury that Ty Montgomery suffered during the team’s preseason finale on Friday. Reiss notes in a separate piece that Montgomery seemed like a roster lock as a third option behind Stevenson and Harris, and the Pats are still awaiting word on the severity of his injury.
  • On Monday, rookie receiver Tyquan Thornton underwent surgery to repair his fractured clavicle, as Jeremy Fowler of ESPN.com tweets. It was previously reported that Thornton is expected to return to the field sometime in October, and the six-to-eight-week recovery timeline that Fowler provides jibes with that report.
  • The injury that landed rookie OL Andrew Stueber on the reserve/NFI list is a torn hamstring, as Aaron Wilson of Pro Football Network reports (via Twitter). Stueber sustained the injury while training after the draft, and it could sideline him for his entire rookie season.

Steelers To Consider Extension For CB Cameron Sutton

August 28th, 2022 at 8:31am CST by Rory Parks

Steelers cornerback Cameron Sutton, who is under club control through 2022, recently indicated that he does not expect to sign a new contract before the 2023 league year. Although a report from earlier this month confirmed that no extension talks had taken place between player and team, Gerry Dulac of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette believes that a new deal for Sutton remains “a very real possibility.”

Dulac does not say whether contract discussions have commenced, so it is difficult to handicap the likelihood of an agreement at this point. Still, newly-promoted GM Omar Khan has extended three contract-year players — Minkah Fitzpatrick, Chris Boswell, and Diontae Johnson — in recent weeks, and a Sutton extension would certainly not be as costly as the Fitzpatrick and Johnson deals. As such, there should still be time to get something done before the start of the regular season on September 11.

Sutton, 27, was selected by the Steelers in the third round of the 2017 draft. He worked as a rotational player throughout his first three years in the league, finally exceeding 50% of the team’s defensive snaps in the fourth and final year of his rookie deal in 2020. His performance that season was enough to land him a two-year, $9MM contract last March, and in the 2021 campaign, he started all 16 games in which he appeared and logged 99% of Pittsburgh’s defensive snaps.

That increased playing time exposed some weaknesses in Sutton’s game. He allowed a 104.9 passer rating as the closest defender and 8.6 yards per target — numbers well north of his 2019 and ’20 marks — and graded outside Pro Football Focus’ top-75 at the position (PFF considered Sutton a top-30 corner in 2020).

Nonetheless, the Tennessee product is in line for another significant role in 2022. The expectation is that he will line up on the boundaries in base sets and then move to the slot in sub-packages, meaning that he will rarely leave the field.

Sutton, Levi Wallace, and Ahkello Witherspoon are the top three players on the Steelers’ CB depth chart, and none of them are playing on contracts with an AAV in excess of $5MM. Pittsburgh presently has just shy of $10MM in cap space, so there is room for a Sutton extension, both from a salary cap standpoint and when considering the team’s other commitments to the cornerback position.

Colts S Armani Watts Out For Season

August 27th, 2022 at 10:05pm CST by Adam La Rose

The Colts have received some significant (and unfortunate) news on the injury front. Safety Armani Watts has suffered an ankle injury which will keep him sidelined for the entire 2022 season, as announced by head coach Frank Reich (and passed along, on Twitter, by Joel A. Erickson of the Indianapolis Star). 

Watts, 26, began his career with the Chiefs in 2018. He played primarily on special teams during his four-year tenure there, logging just one start on defense in 53 appearances. He has 58 tackles and two pass defections to his name, and joined fellow safeties Tyrann Mathieu and Daniel Sorensen in departing Kansas City this offseason.

The Texas A&M alum signed with the Colts in April, giving the team a third phase boost and some defensive insurance. He was in line to remain a backup at the time of his arrival, but Indy was left without a key member of the position group when Khari Willis surprisingly retired. His absence pushed Watts up the depth chart, though the latter still likely wouldn’t have been a first-teamer had he avoided this injury, sustained during the team’s preseason finale.

With Willis, and now Watts, unavailable, the Colts still have Julian Blackmon to lean on, and a noteworthy pair of options to pair him with. The team signed veteran Rodney McLeod in free agency, and traded up to secure Nick Cross in the third round of this year’s draft. Outside of those three, however, the team is now thin on the backend, and could be active in signing at least one free agent as roster cuts loom.

Latest On Colts’ Shaquille Leonard

August 27th, 2022 at 8:17pm CST by Adam La Rose

With the regular season now less than two weeks away, the Colts face an important decision regarding linebacker Shaquille Leonard. The team has the option to move him to the reserve/PUP list, but Joel A. Erickson of the Indianapolis Star notes that they are looking to avoid doing so. 

Moving the 27-year-old to the reserve list would make him ineligible for the first four weeks of the season, hence the club’s hesitancy to do so. Leonard has still yet to practice this offseason, as he continues to rehab from back surgery. He was never at 100% health last season either, dealing with an ankle injury.

Team officials have been increasingly open about the possibility that Leonard won’t be able to suit up for the regular season opener. Head coach Frank Reich recently said, though, that Leonard was “preparing like he’s playing Week 1.” However, he also admitted that the three-time All-Pro would need to adjust when back on the field, as he will likely still not have recovered in full by September.

“[GM] Chris Ballard and I have not had that exact conversation yet,” Reich said, when asked about placing Leonard on the reserve/PUP list. “Based on the fact that he’s really not out there yet, I guess you’d have to say that’s a possibility, but I’m not assuming that’s the case.”

Leonard had another hugely productive season in 2021, and his absence for any length would of course be a massive blow for the Colts’ defense. The lingering back issue still clouds his readiness for the regular season opener, but Reich pointed to practice time as a reason the team could avoid sidelining him for a month.

“From our standpoint, we really want to get him back out there when he’s cleared, but even if he’s not ready to play, get him out there,” he said. “You can’t get out there if you’re on PUP. You can’t participate in anything. We want to get [Leonard] participating, so at some point, even if he’s not ready to play, we’ve got to get him off PUP and get him taking reps, even if it’s going to take him however many weeks to get ready.”

The Colts have until Tuesday to decide on Leonard’s immediate future, something which will have significant implications for himself personally and the team generally.

Bills To Waive P Matt Araiza

August 27th, 2022 at 6:52pm CST by Adam La Rose

Bills rookie punter Matt Araiza has been told by the team that he is being released, reports ESPN’s Adam Schefter (on Twitter). The move will be effective immediately.

The news comes in the wake of a recent lawsuit alleging that the San Diego State alum was involved in the gang rape of a minor last season. Araiza was one of three players named in the suit, the only one currently in the NFL. Since the alleged incident took place while he was in college, any discipline he faced would need to have come from the Bills, rather than the NFL itself.

Araiza’s attorney called the lawsuit a “shakedown” as a result of his status as the team’s top punter. The sixth-rounder had won the job when Buffalo cut veteran Matt Haack. Expectations had been high for Araiza, who earned the nickname ‘Punt God’ for his powerful leg showcased during his college career.

Signs were pointing to his release, however. Araiza did not dress during the Bills’ preseason finale, and the team used third-string QB Matt Barkley to handle punting duties. Not long after, Araiza issued a statement indicating that “the facts of the incident are not what they are portrayed in the lawsuit or in the press.”

Nevertheless, the team began putting together a list of available punters earlier today, as noted by Tim Graham of The Athletic (on Twitter). With Haack having already signed in Indianapolis, the Bills will now be without a punter on the roster.

General manager Brandon Beane said that the team – which issued a statement immediately following the lawsuit saying that they were recently made aware of the incident and had conducted a “thorough investigation” – had difficulty obtaining details on the matter. He added that “there are many things that we could not get our hands on” and that “this was about letting Matt go handle his situation” (Twitter link via Schefter).

“We tried to be thorough and thoughtful and not rush to judgment, and I would say it’s not easy. You’re trying to put facts around a legal situation sometimes with limited information… We reached out to double-digit teams and no one had anything on teams. Yes, if we had this… Anything that would’ve been lingering, he would’ve been off our [draft] board” (Twitter links via the Washington Post’s Nicki Jhabvala).

Buffalo will now be active on the free agent market to look for a replacement punter, either amongst current available options or players released during Tuesday’s final round of roster cuts.

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