HEADLINES

Andy Reid

AFC West Notes: Houston, Thomas, Weddle, L.A.

June 12th, 2015 at 8:30pm CST by Rob DiRe

The Chiefs will open their three-day mandatory minicamp on Tuesday, but will likely do so without star pass rusher Justin Houston, writes Terez Paylor of the Kansas City Star. Head coach Andy Reid was asked whether he expected to see Houston next week. “He probably won’t be,” said Reid. “We just move on. I don’t really get caught up in all that stuff.”

Here are some other notes from around the AFC West:

  • Peyton Manning lost tight end Julius Thomas and slot receiver Wes Welker, but is still looking to make another deep playoff run this season. However, he is unhappy that Demaryius Thomas has not received a new deal yet, writes Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk. While installing a new offense under Gary Kubiak and Rick Dennison, every day Thomas misses he falls behind on learning the offense.
  • Eric Weddle is another player who hasn’t been at team facilities amidst a contract dispute, and general manager Tom Telesco offered his thoughts on The Mighty 1090 in San Diego. Eric D. Williams of ESPN.com transcribed part of the conversation. “We said before the draft that we would talk after the draft. And we did. And we talked multiple times. We listened to their concerns about his current contract. We listened to their complaints about playing too much. And we read through their statistical analysis and their financial comparisons,” said Telesco. “We went through all of that stuff. We just decided that we’re just not at their numbers right now. It’s really as simple as that. There’s no sinister agenda there, nothing like that. Just right now it’s not there.”
  • The Rose Bowl and Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum have both emerged as possibilities to become temporary homes for any NFL team that agrees to move to Los Angeles, writes Brent Schrotenboer of USA Today. The league will soon discuss plans for temporary housing for teams to move to City of Angels ahead of a new stadium being built, and both the Chargers and Raiders are top candidates to relocate.

King On Rivers, Eagles, Mariota

May 1st, 2015 at 8:34am CST by Zachary Links

Philip Rivers was never in serious play for the Titans, Peter King of The MMQB writes. The Chargers made it clear they were not trading him from the get-go and that proved to be the truth. Here’s the latest from King..

  • The Eagles never offered players as part of a package to obtain Marcus Mariota. In fact, King says that Chip Kelly never offered the widely rumored packages of either three first-round picks or two first-round picks and Sam Bradford, in an attempt to obtain the No. 2 pick from the Titans. The Titans basically scared off suitors because they continually told teams they wanted to take Mariota and that would it would take a king’s ransom to obtain the pick. [It should be noted that King’s report doesn’t address the mammoth offer reportedly made to the Bucs for the No. 1 pick. Kelly has denied that story but Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk (on Twitter) stands by it.]
  • The Bears expressed some interest in moving up from No. 7 to No. 2 to pick Mariota, but the Bears weren’t all that desperate for him and the Titans had no interest in Jay Cutler.
  • Ken Whisenhunt, meanwhile, told King that he always wanted Mariota and any talk to the contrary was untrue. “I said it all along—he excited me. I really wanted him. In the end, it wasn’t a difficult decision to stay at two and pick Marcus,” the coach said.
  • King gets the sense that if Kelly had gone crazy and offered three ones and a couple of starting defensive players, the Titans brass would have had to sit down and consider it. However, that still probably wouldn’t have gotten it done as the Titans really wanted their quarterback of the future.
  • The Mariota pick might have been made possible in part by a conversation between Chiefs coach Andy Reid and Whisenhunt in which the ex-Eagles coach explained how he was glad that he took Donovan McNabb in 1999 rather than trading that pick to Mike Ditka‘s Saints, who were gunning for Ricky Williams.

Extra Points: Bowe, Bortles, Blue

August 15th, 2014 at 12:11pm CST by Matt Feminis

Chiefs receiver Dwayne Bowe will be suspended for the season opener as a result of his marijuana possession arrest last November, reports ESPN’s Adam Schefter (via Twitter). Meanwhile, Bowe is dealing with a “shot” finger, as Andy Reid told the KC Star’s Terez Paylor.

Here’s some more miscellaneous links from around the league:

      • Jaguars rookie quarterback Blake Bortles’ second preseason game was televised nationally last night, and praise is pouring in. “It was against the second- and third-team defenders for the Bears, but there was no question Blake Bortles looked the part of a viable NFL quarterback on Thursday night in Chicago,” said CBS’ Will Brinson. Bortles “showed why he’s the future of the franchise, and why the future just might be now,” said Bleacher Reports Ty Schalter. “Bortles has looked to be every bit of the future Pro Bowl quarterback a team expects to get with a top three draft pick,” said USA Today’s Chris Strauss, who calls for the Jags to name Bortles the starter immediately. And ESPN’s Michael DiRocco says Bortles needs first-team reps this week.
      • Could the Ravens be trying to sneak sixth-round quarterback Keith Wenning onto the practice squad? Backup Tyrod Taylor is scheduled for most of the work in tomorrow’s preseason game, and ESPN’s Jamison Hensley makes an “educated guess” the team will limit Wenning’s exposure to other teams who might want to poach him. “The presumed plan is to develop Wenning into the primary backup by next season, when Taylor is a free agent,” says Hensley.
      • Another rookie making waves is Texans sixth-round running back Alfred Blue. ESPN’s Tania Ganguli relayed praise for Blue from Bill O’Brien, who assessed the rookie’s skill set: “Good teammate, hardworking guy, football smart, three-down back — he’s got to continue to improve catching the football. But good runner, good vision, good on special teams, understands football, asks good questions. I see some good things from Alfred.” An ACL injury and crowded LSU backfield limited Blue’s college exposure — he carried just 209 times in 40 games — but scouts took notice of his physical ability once he declared for the draft, forgoing another year of eligibility. In his NFL Draft Preview book, Nolan Nawrocki described Blue as “A physically gifted runner who would have been the No. 1 back at most schools given his combination of size, speed, power and competitiveness.” Nawrocki added that Blue is a prime candidate to be a “far more productive pro than college player if he proves he can stay healthy.”
      • ESPN’s staff spotlighted each team’s most intriguing skill-position battle. Among the most notable capsules, Mike Reiss talks about the Patriots’ trio of running backs, saying Stevan Ridley, Shane Vereen or James White could be featured any given week.
      • Greg Toler and Donte Moncrief are among four standouts in Colts camp identified by IndyStar.com’s Stephen Holder. On Toler, Holder says, “Toler has been all over the field during camp, showing his superior ball skills and ability to play man coverage in the Colts defense. If he continues to perform like this heading into the regular season, the Colts won’t see much of a dropoff from franchise cornerback Vontae Davis to Toler.”
      • The Packers are deeper this season in the eyes of Journal Sentinel writer Bob McGinn, who analyzes the team’s projected roster position by position.

La Canfora On Chiefs, 2011 Draftees, Smith

August 4th, 2014 at 10:59pm CST by Matt Feminis

In his latest edition of training camp notes, CBS’ Jason La Canfora provided an update on negotiations between the Chiefs and Alex Smith, saying talks “are ongoing, with the dialogue maintaining on a regular basis and the team looking for creative ways to secure him for the future, according to several sources. To this point, however, they haven’t been able to bridge a few gaps, but the Chiefs are willing to cut into their considerable cap space to strike a deal, and there are no plans to stop exchanging proposals.”

La Canfora adds talks have “remained cordial” and there is mutual desire to find common ground. Common ground would seem to be a “middle-tier” deal that would place Smith’s contract somewhere between the elite passers and the lower-paid, “bridge starters” group. From the team perspective, the Chiefs don’t want to overpay for Smith in the event a younger QB is ready to vie for the job, especially given Andy Reid‘s ability to develop quarterbacks.

More tidbits from La Canfora:

  • The Chiefs have revived talks with Justin Houston, who is also a priority. La Canfora does not expect a deal to get hammered out before the season, however, since the sides are far apart financially playing out the season could make the most sense for Houston.
  • La Canfora publicized first-year tight end Demetrius Harris as a “deep sleeper” and potentially “the next college basketball player to make the jump to tight end.”
  • Do not expect many more 2011 first-rounders to be extended for a while. This group includes Cam Newton, J.J. Watt, Robert Quinn, Cameron Jordan and Muhammad Wilkerson, among others. La Canfora quoted an agent for one prominent pass rusher, who said, “The money is going to be so high, these teams don’t really have an incentive to do it now. I’m not sure any of these guys get new deals this year. If there’s any movement going on I’m not aware of it.”
  • Some agents are outraged over the Cowboys’ eight-year extension to Tyron Smith because “he essentially gave the Cowboys two contracts for the price of one, locked up until age 32.” Those agents believe Jerry Jones might have used his “father figure” relationship with the young Smith to take advantage of him in negotiations.

 

Extra Points: 49ers, Sanchez, Saints

March 22nd, 2014 at 6:01pm CST by Peter Sowards

The other side of the coin to being a team that drafts talent well is that all that talent must be compensated appropriately. This is the conundrum examined by CSNBayArea.com’s Matt Maiocco, responding to a reader who questioned the 49ers‘ cap situation. “Teams that do a good job of acquiring talent will always have a difficult time holding onto that talent for future contracts,” Maiocco writes, citing Michael Crabtree and Mike Iupati as players in line for blockbuster deals after their contracts expire next offseason.

Rounding up some more links from today in the NFL…

  • ESPNNewYork.com’s Rich Cimini looks at what’s next for former Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez, including a top-five list of potential landing spots: the Rams, Bears, Browns, Bills and Seahawks.
  • Sanchez deserved better from the Jets, writes Mark Cannizzaro of the New York Post. Cannizzaro contends that the Jets knew their plans for Sanchez — releasing him — long ago, but waited only until right before his $2MM roster bonus was due, and thus decreased the amount of potential landing spots for 2009 fifth overall pick.
  • Mike Triplett of ESPN.com expects Saints head coach Sean Payton to be “more committed than ever to running the ball successfully” next season, Triplett writes in his latest mailbag. But he still takes the “over” on 4,800 passing yards.
  • Can Brian Hoyer be “The Guy” for the Browns? ESPNCleveland.com’s Tony Grossi doesn’t know, but he wants to find out.
  • With electrifying wide receiver DeSean Jackson potentially on his way out of Philadelphia, he could potentially find a home with Andy Reid and the Chiefs, but don’t expect Kansas City to trade for him, writes Terez A. Paylor of The Kansas City Star. As Paylor notes, the Chiefs don’t have the necessary cap space to make the move — just $4.8MM — and the team is light on draft picks after the Alex Smith trade.

Extra Points: Benton, Dolphins, Amendola

March 1st, 2014 at 8:01pm CST by Peter Sowards

The Dolphins have promoted John Benton to offensive line coach and named Jack Bicknell Jr. the team’s assistant offensive line coach, the team announced today.

Benton was originally hired by the Dolphins on January 29. He replaces Jim Turner, who was fired earlier this month for his involvement in the Richie Incognito–Jonathan Martin bullying scandal.

Bicknell spent the 2013 season as the Steelers‘ offensive line coach. Before that, he had NFL stops with the Chiefs and Giants, and 24 seasons coaching at the collegiate level.

Here are some more bits and pieces from a relatively slow Saturday night…