The Redskins are expected to pick up their fifth-year option on outside linebacker Ryan Kerrigan, league sources tell Jason La Canfora of CBSSports.com. Washington GM Bruce Allen made comments earlier this week that I thought strongly hinted the club would be formally exercising that option in advance of Saturday’s deadline, so the report doesn’t come as a huge surprise.
More interestingly, La Canfora writes in the same piece that several league sources believe the 49ers will ultimately decide to exercise their 2015 option on linebacker Aldon Smith. Multiple reports in April suggested the club was leaning against picking up Smith’s fifth-year option due to off-field incidents, but as I wrote yesterday when examining the outstanding options, the decision is perhaps the trickiest of the bunch, since Smith has contributed so much for San Francisco on the field. For what it’s worth, Can Inman of the Bay Area News Group also hears from a front office executive that he expects the Niners to pick up the option (Twitter link).
May 3 represents the deadline for teams to make their decisions on whether or not to exercise fifth-year option on 2011’s first-round picks. Bill Williamson of ESPN.com tweeted earlier today that those decisions must be formally made by the time the calendar turns from Friday to Saturday in the Eastern time zone tomorrow night, so we can expect resolution soon on Kerrigan, Smith, and the rest of the players whose options haven’t been picked up yet.
You can keep tabs on all of those decisions using our fifth-year option tracker, which shows that Kerrigan’s 2015 option is worth $7.038MM, while Smith’s is worth $9.754MM.