HEADLINES

Month: December 2024

Minor NFL Transactions: 12/29/22

December 29th, 2022 at 5:59pm CST by Ely Allen

Here are today’s minor moves from around the league, including the Cowboys’ and Titans’ standard gameday elevations for the season’s last Thursday Night game:

Buffalo Bills

Dallas Cowboys

Denver Broncos

Tennessee Titans

 

Badie is a rookie sixth-round pick that failed to make the Ravens initial 53-man roster. The 22-year-old had a breakout senior season at Mizzou that saw him rush for 1,604 yards and 14 touchdowns, adding 330 receiving yards and four receiving touchdowns, as well. After being waived in the team’s final roster cuts before the season, Badie signed to the Ravens practice squad, where he’s remained all season. Badie adds to the quantity of the Broncos’ room of running backs that currently holds Latavius Murray, Chase Edmonds, and Marlon Mack, as well as fullback Andrew Beck.

The three Titans’ signees are filling roster spots vacated by quarterback Ryan Tannehill and linebackers Bud Dupree and Zach Cunningham, all of whom were placed on injured reserve today.

NFL Practice Squad Updates: 12/29/22

December 29th, 2022 at 5:43pm CST by Ely Allen

Today’s taxi squad moves from around the NFL:

Atlanta Falcons

Detroit Lions

Indianapolis Colts

New York Jets

Free Agent Stock Watch: Daniel Jones

December 29th, 2022 at 5:05pm CST by Sam Robinson

Bounce-back seasons from Saquon Barkley and Daniel Jones represent the main on-field reason the Giants are close to becoming one of the more surprising playoff teams in recent memory. Injury issues have dogged the would-be rebuilding squad throughout, but the play of their now-two-time Pro Bowl running back and fourth-year quarterback has them at 8-6-1. The Giants hold a 92% chance, per FiveThirtyEight, of making the playoffs for the first time since 2016.

The subject of Barkley and Jones’ future looms, however. Both Giants offensive cornerstones are on track for free agency. This situation reminds of the Titans’ quandary in 2020, when they had both Derrick Henry and the resurgent Ryan Tannehill as UFAs-to-be. Tennessee franchise-tagged its All-Pro running back and re-signed its resurgent starting QB. Will the Giants try to play this the same way?

On the Barkley front, that would be the simplest solution. Next year’s running back tag is projected to come in at $10.1MM — a steep drop from the projected nonexclusive QB tag of $32.5MM. A $10.1MM tag, as a bridge to a top-market extension, would not clog New York’s cap. After needing to jettison veterans this year for cap purposes, with Barkley trade talks even emerging, the Giants are projected to hold nearly $60MM in cap space. That number sits in the top three for 2023.

The Giants already turned down Jones’ fifth-year option. This was before he showed considerable progress in Brian Daboll‘s offense, but still. A team that passed on a $22MM Jones option salary circling back to tag him for $10MM more would represent a strange path — and one that would hamstring Big Blue come free agency. But the Giants’ Jones situation, especially with the team on the brink of a wild-card spot, will be a key 2023 subplot.

The 2011 CBA introduced the fifth-year option for first-rounders, and the first batch of decisions arrived in 2014. From then until 2022, no team has passed on a quarterback’s fifth-year option and later re-signed him. Christian Ponder, Blaine Gabbert, Jake Locker, Brandon Weeden, Robert Griffin III, EJ Manuel, Teddy Bridgewater, Johnny Manziel, Paxton Lynch, Mitch Trubisky, Dwayne Haskins and Josh Rosen either played out their four-year rookie deals or were moved off the roster before those contracts expired. Jones’ efficient fourth season could break some new NFL ground, but the sides will need to come together on an atypical deal — one that may land in currently uninhabited QB salary territory.

Tannehill re-signed with the Titans on a four-year, $118.5MM deal just before the 2020 league year began. The former top-10 Dolphins draftee was coming off a stunning season in his first Titans campaign, piloting the Titans to the AFC championship game. Jones has rocketed from 22nd in QBR last season to 11th this year, but the Giants’ pass-catching cadre has capped his rise to a degree. Jones has 13 touchdown passes in 15 games. Despite a ransacked receiving arsenal, the former No. 6 overall pick has limited his turnovers. Jones’ 1.1 interception rate is the league’s best mark. He is completing 66.5% of his passes, albeit at just 6.8 yards per attempt, and has already established a new career rushing high (617 yards). This still would qualify as more workmanlike season than true breakthrough, but the Giants equipping Jones with better pass catchers could unlock another level for the oft-doubted Duke product.

Jones’ history, present production and ties to the Dave Gettleman regime complicate a potential Joe Schoen-led negotiation. The rookie GM said the Giants discussed a deal with Barkley but not Jones during their bye week, indicating a clear priority hierarchy. That would make sense, given the first-rounders’ accomplishments. Only one quarterback (Tom Brady, an outlier in just about every way) is tied to an average salary between $14MM and $29.5MM. That is a pretty wide range to explore.

Last week’s YouTube TV Sunday Ticket agreement should soon provide cap clarity, but teams are operating as if the cap will come in between $222MM and $225MM. That estimate is nearly $30MM north of where the cap was when Tannehill inked his deal, and Jones guiding this Giants team to the postseason could prompt him — his struggles from 2019-21 notwithstanding — to ask for a contract worth more than $30MM per year. Four passers (Kirk Cousins, Jared Goff, Carson Wentz, Matt Ryan) are tied to deals averaging between $30-$35MM per year; those deals sit 10th-13th on the quarterback salary spectrum. Such an ask would test the Giants.

If the Giants let Jones reach free agency, they will not be in a good position to draft his replacement. They are set to pick outside the top 10 for the first time since 2017. The past three offseasons have brought tremendous QB movement, opening new doors for teams seeking upgrades. The free agent market is tentatively slated to include Brady, Jimmy Garoppolo, Geno Smith, Jacoby Brissett and Mike White. Brady has not committed to 2023 and would not seem to line up with the Giants’ timeline, while the Seahawks want to keep Smith. UFA-to-be Lamar Jackson will not hit the market.

Tannehill and Derek Carr seem the two likeliest trade candidates of note; the Raiders look to have ignited the Carr market by benching him Wednesday. Both players have proven far more than Jones, but each is much older. The Titans passer will be 35 next season; the now-separated Raiders QB will be 32. Jones will turn 26 in 2023. Carr has obviously proven much more than Jones, and it will be interesting to see if the Giants are connected to him. But Jones has outplayed Carr (league-high 14 INTs) this season and almost certainly will not require a $40MM-per-year contract. How much will it ultimately take to keep him off the market?

The Giants eschewing the trade or free agency routes and focusing on Jones could produce another prove-it season — likely with better receivers — on a one-year deal. The team could also go through with a medium-term agreement, with CBS Sports’ Joel Corry comparing this situation to the Jaguars’ Blake Bortles talks in 2018. The Jags gave their shaky starter a three-year, $54MM deal that included $26.5MM fully guaranteed. With that contract occurring under a $177.2MM salary cap, a similar Jones arrangement would undoubtedly check in with a much higher value — likely north of $25MM AAV.

If the price escalates much further, the Giants might be inclined to examine other options. The Bortles re-signing did not age well, and Jacksonville took on dead money by cutting him a year later. That mid-tier investment shows the risks of betting on an inconsistent quarterback, but the Giants going in the other direction could disrupt the Daboll-, Jones- and Barkley-geared ascent this year’s team has made.

Whether the Giants’ new regime pays Jones or tries to acquire an upgrade, the team’s 2022 improvement and the Jones-Barkley free agency challenge will give Big Blue a much higher profile entering the 2023 offseason compared to where the franchise resided over the past several years.

Titans Place Ryan Tannehill, Bud Dupree, Zach Cunningham On IR

December 29th, 2022 at 3:02pm CST by Sam Robinson

While Ryan Tannehill had been attempting to find a way to come back from his nagging ankle injury this season, the Titans are effectively shutting that effort down.

Tennessee placed Tannehill on IR on Thursday, and linebackers Bud Dupree and Zach Cunningham will join him on the league’s most populated IR list. All three players must miss a minimum of four games. Given the direction of Tennessee’s season, each is almost certainly done.

Mike Vrabel had attempted to go week to week with his starting quarterback, but a report last week indicated the ankle aggravation Tannehill suffered in Los Angeles was set to end his season. Tannehill, who missed two games with the ankle ailment earlier this year, went down again against the Chargers in Week 15 and needed to be carted off the field. He somehow managed to come back against the Bolts, scoring a game-tying touchdown late in the fourth quarter.

Tannehill, 34, underwent ankle surgery last week but had maintained efforts to potentially come back again. Instead, it will be Joshua Dobbs — signed last week off the Lions’ practice squad — taking the reins against the Cowboys tonight. It is uncertain if the Titans are merely going to Dobbs because of a conservation effort for a do-or-die Week 18 matchup against the Jaguars or if Malik Willis has indeed been benched. Willis has made three starts in relief of Tannehill but has struggled throughout his rookie year.

The Titans have Tannehill signed to a four-year, $118MM extension that runs through next season. The former Dolphins top-10 pick is due a $27MM base salary and is set to count more than $36MM against Tennessee’s cap. Tannehill is attached to a $38.6MM 2022 cap hit and has played with a far worse receiving situation compared to his previous Titans slates. Over the past two offseasons, the Titans have let Corey Davis walk and traded A.J. Brown. Ready replacements — a concern at this season’s outset — have not emerged, playing a major role in the team’s five-game losing streak.

Tennessee would save nearly $19MM by trading or releasing Tannehill next year, with that number rising with a post-June 1 release designation. Then again, the Titans have not exactly seen much from Willis — a third-round pick this year — to indicate he would be ready to take over. This season has marked Tannehill’s first injury-marred campaign with Tennessee. Knee injuries hounded the Texas A&M product in Miami, but since replacing Marcus Mariota in October 2019, Tannehill did not miss a game as a Titan until this season.

Dupree has been unable to escape injuries as a Titan. Signed to a lucrative deal despite coming off a November 2020 ACL tear, Dupree has missed 10 games with Tennessee. The former first-round pick has totaled just seven sacks in two seasons with the Titans, who needed more from the ex-Steeler after Harold Landry went down with an ACL tear just before the season. A chest injury will lead Dupree to IR this time.

The Titans just activated Cunningham from IR last week, bringing him back after he missed time with an elbow injury. He will head back to the injured list with an elbow injury. Tennessee claimed Dupree off waivers from Houston late last season and has used him exclusively as a starter. Injuries, however, will limit Cunningham to six games this season. The former second-round pick will likely become a cap-casualty candidate; the Titans could save more than $9MM by releasing the 28-year-old defender next year.

In addition to Tannehill, Dupree and Cunningham, Tennessee’s IR contingent includes the following players: Landry, Taylor Lewan, Ben Jones, Nate Davis, David Long, Elijah Molden, Caleb Farley, Dillon Radunz and Terrance Mitchell. Amy Adams Strunk cited the team’s recent injury problems as a reason for GM Jon Robinson‘s ouster months after his extension. After using an NFL-record 91 players last season, the Titans will end this one approaching that mark.

J.J. Watt Addresses Retirement Decision

December 29th, 2022 at 2:27pm CST by Sam Robinson

After surprising the sports world by indicating he would retire at season’s end, J.J. Watt addressed the choice. Watt will retire as one of the most accomplished defenders in NFL history and represents a safe bet for 2028 Hall of Fame enshrinement, but he has returned to a high level of play after missing much of last season.

Despite his quality season for a down Cardinals team, Watt will pass on the opportunity to join a contender in free agency next year. His performance this season reinforced his decision.

“I’d much rather go out playing good football, knowing that I could still play and knowing that hopefully people will remember me playing good football, then to go out limping out and being forced out and knowing that I probably should have done it earlier,” Watt said (via the Arizona Republic’s Bob McManamon), regarding a chance to re-sign with the Cardinals or join a third team in free agency next year.

Watt, 33, joins Lawrence Taylor and Aaron Donald as the league’s only three-time Defensive Player of the Year honorees. He is also the only player in the sack era (1982-present) to record two 20-plus-sack seasons, getting there in 2012 and 2014. Watt seasons rank as the top three tackles-for-loss campaigns in the 21st century. This includes his 2012 season, which featured a staggering 39 TFLs — 10 more than anyone else has recorded in a season since 2000.

The Cardinals gave Watt a two-year, $28MM deal in 2021, signing him shortly after a Texans release — which Watt requested, as Houston was embarking on what has turned out to be a lengthy rebuild — led to a bidding war ahead of unrestricted free agency. The Browns and Colts were in the mix until the end. Watt has 9.5 sacks this season — his most since 2018 — and has tallied 14 TFLs and six pass batdowns.

Although injuries have affected the second half of Watt’s career, he certainly would have been a coveted free agent in 2023. Kliff Kingsbury said he did not know about the imminent retirement, but Cardinals DC Vance Joseph said Thursday that Watt told him of his plans in September.

“There’s some people in the building that have known for a long time,” Watt said of his retirement decision. “Maybe they thought I was joking, but I told people for a long time, ‘This is my last year.’ … Some people tried to convince me to stay.”

Watt finished his third DPOY season (2015) playing through multiple injuries and underwent back surgery the following offseason. He later underwent a second 2016 back surgery, which knocked him out for 13 games that year. A tibial plateau fracture cost him 11 in 2017. The Texans did not bail on the six-year, $100MM extension, as Watt’s 2018 season — a 16-sack slate in which he led the league with seven forced fumbles — led to two more years in Houston. One of them (2019) featured an eight-game absence due to a torn pec. Last season, a play against the Texans led to a litany of upper-body injuries. Watt returned in time to play in Arizona’s wild-card game.

This year, Watt went into atrial fibrillation and underwent a procedure. Although the 12th-year vet played days after that operation, he cited the heart issue as part of the reason for the earlier-than-expected exit.

“It just feels like the right time,” Watt said. “I put so much into the game and the wins and the losses, the mental stress and passion that comes with it, it just weighs on you. It’s just really heavy. Losses are very tough to take. You live with the highs and the lows and I’ve always said I would way rather lives with the highs and the lows than never know the middle. I don’t want to just be ‘blah.’

“But I’ve got a son now, obviously I had a heart scare earlier in the year, so there’s certainly some of that that played into it. But I’m very happy and I’m very at peace with it.”

Titans To Start Joshua Dobbs Vs. Cowboys

December 29th, 2022 at 11:44am CST by Sam Robinson

The Titans are not exactly going into Thursday night’s Cowboys game with a clear intent to win. The injury-plagued team is planning to rest numerous starters, with a Week 18 date against the Jaguars set to determine its playoff fate.

But Tennessee will make an interesting change at quarterback. Rather than give Malik Willis more reps in his rookie season, the Titans are preparing to start recent acquisition Joshua Dobbs, Justin Melo of The Draft Network tweets. Tennessee brought in Dobbs on Dec. 21, with Ryan Tannehill out with an ankle injury. Tannehill is not expected to return this season, though the starter has not shut it down just yet.

A former Tennessee Volunteer, Dobbs has bounced around in the pros. The sixth-year backup has been with three teams just this year, moving from Cleveland to Detroit to Nashville over the past month. The former fourth-round pick has not thrown any regular-season passes this season; his most recent game work came in 2020 with the Steelers. The Browns signed Dobbs this offseason and used him as Jacoby Brissett‘s backup for much of the year, but once Deshaun Watson was eligible to play, Cleveland cut bait. Dobbs landed in Detroit, but Tennessee poached him from the Lions’ practice squad.

Dobbs has seen most of his NFL work come in the preseason, and the Titans’ Week 17 lineup will have the look of an August matchup. Tennessee placed O-line starters Nate Davis and Ben Jones on IR last week, and the team will be without right tackle starter Nicholas Petit-Frere against Dallas. With Taylor Lewan out of the picture, the Titans will deploy basically a second-string O-line tonight. While Willis’ early work points to extensive development being needed, the Titans may be leery of putting the third-round pick behind this set of blockers against a top-tier Cowboys pass rush.

In an arrangement that will surely test Al Michaels’ patience, Titans will also sit Jeffery Simmons, Denico Autry, Amani Hooker, Bud Dupree and Zach Cunningham. Oh, and they are unlikely to deploy Derrick Henry, who is doubtful with a hip injury. This sets up an unusual Week 17 and an odd Week 18 plan. The Titans look like they will be trying to salvage their season in Jacksonville next week on the heels of a six-game losing streak. Even if the Titans drop to 7-9 tonight, the AFC South will be on the line next week.

Willis has shown some promise in the run game but has looked woefully overmatched through the air. The mid-major product has not eclipsed 100 passing yards in any of his three pro starts and has a 0-3 TD-INT ratio on 61 pass attempts. It will be interesting if the Titans turn back to Willis or go with Dobbs (17 career attempts) against the Jaguars, when they reconvene for relevant football, next week.

Derek Carr To Step Away From Raiders To Close Regular Season

December 28th, 2022 at 10:03pm CST by Sam Robinson

In a development that certainly points to the Raiders exploring a separation, Derek Carr will not be with the team to finish the regular season.

Carr will step away from the Raiders for their final two weeks of the season, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets. Discussions between Carr and Raiders brass led to this outcome, per Rapoport, and the ninth-year passer will not attend practices or the team’s final two games.

Themed around preventing distractions, this latest Carr news is not exactly in stride with a team merely making a performance-based change at quarterback. This will allow Carr to avoid answering questions about his Raiders status, and that status figures to come up often between now and the critical February window his new contract created.

The Raiders will start offseason pickup Jarrett Stidham for the final two games. Practice squad arm Chase Garbers will back up the former Patriots draft choice. Stidham has thrown 61 career passes — 13 as a Raider — and has never started a game. With the fourth-year passer not exactly a live candidate to vie for Las Vegas’ 2023 starting job, this benching opens the door to a Carr trade or release.

Carr’s contract calls for a $40.4MM payment due three days after Super Bowl LVII, giving the Raiders a chance to arrange a trade. A trade will be complicated by Carr’s no-trade clause and the prospect of a snafu scuttling a deal in the month between an agreed-upon swap and the start of the 2023 league year, the first date trades can become official. Still, recent winter QB trades have occurred, providing a blueprint of sorts for the new Raiders regime. The Lions sent Matthew Stafford to Los Angeles, and the Chiefs dealt Alex Smith to Washington; each trade occurred in January. But a deal falling through would put the Raiders on the hook for the $40.5MM guarantee.

A team that agrees to acquire Carr via trade would inherit a through-2025 contract that contains base salaries of $32.9MM (2023), $41.9MM (2024) and $41.2MM (2025). The Raiders agreeing to trade Carr before that February vesting date would put the acquiring team on the hook for that 2023 salary and $7.5MM of the 2024 payment. Carr, 31, would be an upgrade for many teams, but the bonus does add a wrinkle here. The Colts-Falcons Matt Ryan swap this year only involved Indianapolis picking up a $7.5MM roster bonus.

It will be interesting to see how the Raiders navigate any potential Davante Adams complications, though the receiver is under contract through 2026. The longtime Packers standout sought a trade to reunite with his college teammate and signed a five-year, $140MM extension upon being dealt in March. Aaron Rodgers‘ year-to-year status in Green Bay impacted Adams’ trade ask, and he will now work with Stidham to close his first Raiders season.

Carr trade rumors — once an offseason fixture — may actually produce a deal next year. With McDaniels once rumored to be on the hot seat, moving on from a proven veteran at this rather important position runs the risk of the Raiders downgrading at QB for 2023. But viable options — like ex-McDaniels pupils Tom Brady and Jimmy Garoppolo, who will probably be linked to the Raiders a time or two in the coming weeks — stand to be available, as the 2020s have brought continued high-action QB offseasons.

Texans LT Laremy Tunsil Eyeing Market-Setting Extension

December 28th, 2022 at 9:45pm CST by Adam La Rose

One of the few bright spots for the Texans this season has been the continued high-level play of their top offensive lineman. Left tackle Laremy Tunsil plans to turn his 2022 performance into a noteworthy raise during the coming offseason.

The 28-year-old made it clear that he intends to become the league’s highest-paid left tackle, as detailed by ESPN’s DJ Bien-Aime. That position has consistently been the top-ranked amongst all offensive linemen, with only Colts guard Quenton Nelson joining three blindside blockers at the $20MM-per-year mark. Tunsil is already one of them, owing to his three-year, $66MM extension signed in the spring of 2020.

“I don’t know who’s the highest right now, maybe Trent [Williams] at $23 [million], but I want to top that,” the former first-rounder said. “[I] always want to reset the market. Perfect opportunity to reset the market. Everything is lining up as far as my contract to how I’m playing. Everything lining up perfectly.”

Tunsil has been named a Pro Bowler for the third time in his four seasons spent in Houston. He has played every snap this year, an encouraging sign of durability which comes after he was limited to just five games played in 2021 by a thumb injury. The former Dolphin had strung together three nearly identical campaigns before that in terms of PFF grades, and he has taken a step forward in that regard in 2022.

Tunsil has posted an overall grade of 79.9 this year, the highest mark of his career. That rating places him 12th amongst all qualifying tackles, but his pass protection grade (91.8) is the highest at the position. He has allowed just one sack and 12 pressures this year, though penalties (10 accepted) have once again been an unwanted factor in his performance.

The Ole Miss product has one year remaining on his big-ticket deal, but no guaranteed money remains after this season. Tunsil’s cap hit is scheduled to reach $35.2MM in 2023, and Houston would see $18.5MM in relief by cutting or trading him. Long-term security – along with a figure which sets him ahead of both Williams and David Bakhtiari in terms of annual compensation- will therefore be his target in the spring. The rebuilding Texans are currently projected to have just under $47MM in cap space next year, which should afford them more flexibility than most teams.

Minor NFL Transactions: 12/28/22

December 28th, 2022 at 8:50pm CST by Adam La Rose

Here are Wednesday’s minor moves around the league:

Arizona Cardinals

Atlanta Falcons

Baltimore Ravens

Detroit Lions

Indianapolis Colts

Jacksonville Jaguars

Las Vegas Raiders

New York Giants

Pittsburgh Steelers

Seattle Seahawks

Tennessee Titans

Washington Commanders 

Vikings Designate TE Irv Smith Jr. For Return, Activate RB Ty Chandler

December 28th, 2022 at 7:00pm CST by Adam La Rose

The Vikings pulled off one of the more notable trades during this year’s deadline to help offset the loss of Irv Smith Jr. The fourth-year tight end could be back in the fold, soon however.

Smith was designated for return from IR on Wednesday, per a team announcement. That opened up the 24-year-old’s three-week window to be activated and allowed him to practice for the first time since October. Smith suffered a high ankle sprain in Week 8, leading to his extended absence.

That represented the latest in a long line of availability concerns for the former second-rounder, who missed the entire 2021 campaign due to a meniscus tear. It also dealt another blow to his free agent value, something of particular concern as he is a pending free agent. Most importantly, though, it drove Minnesota to swing a midseason deal with Detroit for two-time Pro Bowler T.J. Hockenson to replace him.

Hockenson has been as advertised since his arrival in Minnesota. The former top-ten pick has racked up 52 catches, 444 yards and three touchdowns in eight games with his new NFC North employer. Given that level of production, not to mention to presence of wideouts Justin Jefferson, Adam Thielen and K.J. Osborn as competition for targets, it will be interesting to see how much of a role Smith is able to carve out down the stretch.

The Vikings will also have more depth in the backfield to close out the regular season. Minnesota activated rookie running back Ty Chandler; they needed to do so today to avoid having him revert to season-ending IR. The fifth-rounder has played in two games this season, both of which came in October. He has exclusively seen time on special teams so far, but could provide insurance behind Dalvin Cook and Alexander Mattison if necessary.

The Vikings have five IR activations remaining on the year, though Smith will account for one of those in the near future. His return will give a boost to what is already the league’s fifth-ranked passing offense as Minnesota looks to turn their relatively healthy roster into a deep playoff run.

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