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Bob McNair

AFC Notes: Allen, DeCastro, Osweiler, RG3

September 11th, 2016 at 7:51pm CST by Sam Robinson

The Chargers are not yet ready to confirm a torn-ACL diagnosis for Keenan Allen, but Mike McCoy acknowledged there is speculation about that likely season-ending injury, Michael Gehlken of the San Diego Union-Tribune tweets.

The fourth-year wideout who signed a four-year, $45MM extension this summer will have an MRI done on Monday. But the widespread notion remains the Bolts’ No. 1 target will join Stevie Johnson on IR.

San Diego, which has two wideouts on its practice squad, could opt to bring back James Jones, whom the team cut after signing him following the Johnson injury. Or, as Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk points out, the Chargers could look at other available wideouts like Roddy White, Brian Hartline or Aaron Dobson. Florio also posits the Chargers could attempt to trade for Josh Gordon, given that they’ve lost two of their top four targets over the past several weeks.

Here’s the latest from around the AFC as Week 1 moves into its Sunday-night game.

  • Signed to a five-year, $50MM deal earlier this week, Steelers All-Pro guard David DeCastro called the commitment “a weight off his shoulders,” according to Ralph Paulk of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. The fifth-year guard who was previously entering a contract year also said he would have considered other options had the Steelers and his camp not come together on the extension. “I tried not to think about it early on, but I was really hoping I could stay here,” he said. “Obviously, when we were getting close, it was harder to push back. Now we can move forward and worry about what’s important.”
  • Robert Griffin III said he sprained his shoulder during the Browns‘ 29-10 loss to the Eagles today. “I can move my left arm. I’m in pain, but it will be OK, just have to monitor it,” Griffin said, via Mary Kay Cabot of the Cleveland Plain Dealer. “We’ll see more tomorrow and see how my shoulder is feeling and just move on from there.” Griffin, who made his first start since 2014 on Sunday, finished the game and expects to play in Week 2.
  • Texans owner Bob McNair gave new starter Brock Osweiler a glowing endorsement today after the Texans’ Week 1 win over the Bears. “I think he’s everything we thought he would be,” McNair said via Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle. “He performed under pressure. Several times he escaped. He completed some passes after getting pressure. He has good composure and he’s poised.” The fifth-year passer and recipient of a four-year, $72MM deal completed 22-of-35 passes for 235 yards, two touchdowns and an interception in his Houston debut.
  • The Patriots‘ clearing out $2.8MM in cap space thanks to Devin McCourty‘s restructure will help them retain their key defenders playing on expiring contracts, Doug Kyed of NESN.com writes. An in-season extension for impending UFA Dont’a Hightower, thus lowering his $7.75MM 2016 cap hit, would be a way to help the Patriots sign both 2017 UFA Jamie Collins and RFA Malcolm Butler, Kyed offers. New England possesses more than $11MM in cap space for 2016 and stands to possess more than $60MM come 2017. Jabaal Sheard, Logan Ryan and Sebastian Vollmer join Hightower and Collins as key UFAs for the seven-time defending AFC East champions.

Latest On St. Louis Stadium, L.A. Relocation

December 16th, 2015 at 1:50pm CST by Luke Adams

The St. Louis Board of Alderman approved a modified plan for a new riverfront football stadium in the city this week, setting the issue up for another vote on Friday, as David Hunn and Nicholas Pistor of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch outline. The latest development moves the possibility of a new St. Louis stadium slightly forward, but there are still plenty of roadblocks to overcome.

The most notable new detail of the stadium proposal includes a commitment from the NFL for an extra $100MM toward the construction of the building. However, this $100MM, which Daniel Kaplan of SportsBusiness Journal notes isn’t guaranteed yet, would come at a cost. Per the Post-Dispatch report, the St. Louis stadium task force would agree to rebate city ticket taxes back to the team in this scenario, which would cost about $3MM per year.

Some St. Louis decision-makers seem apprehensive about the last-minute changes to the proposal, expressing concern about adhering to the NFL’s schedule rather than taking more time to review the plan. Alderman Scott Ogilvie asked, “Were we elected to write checks to the NFL without understanding what we are doing?”

Even if the stadium proposal is ultimately approved by St. Louis officials, it still must receive approval from the NFL as well. However, it certainly seems as if the St. Louis stadium plan is much further along than the ones in San Diego or Oakland, which may make NFL owners increasingly motivated to make things work in St. Louis.

Texans owner Bob McNair – one of six owners on the league’s Los Angeles committee – spoke to Brian T. Smith of the Houston Chronicle about St. Louis, Los Angeles, and the teams vying to relocate to L.A., and offered up a few interesting nuggets. Here are some of the highlights from that conversation:

On the support the stadium plan is receiving in St. Louis and what that could mean for an NFL vote:

“One of the teams would not be able to move if we approve two. So they’d have to stay in their home market. And one of our concerns is what level of support are they receiving in their home market? And if they’re receiving a reasonable amount of support, my personal feeling and most owners’ is we don’t think people should move.

“St. Louis, they have come up with a proposal that is getting pretty close, in my opinion, to being an attractive proposal. And if they do come up with an attractive proposal, then in my view, my personal opinion, I don’t think the Rams will receive the approval to relocate. So that would mean then you’d have two teams, San Diego and Oakland, that would be going into Carson. They have a partnership to build a stadium.”

On the possibility of a new stadium getting built in San Diego or Oakland:

“In San Diego, they’ve been trying for about 15 years. They’ve had all kinds of political problems there. At one time, half the council went to jail or something. It’s been pretty bad. It’s hard to negotiate when you’ve got to go to the jail to negotiate. So they haven’t accomplished anything. They’re saying they’re going to do something now. But in order to do it, they’d have to have a referendum and the referendum isn’t until next June. Well, we can’t have these teams in limbo. You need to have certainty and you don’t know if the referendum would pass or fail. We can’t take what they’re saying very seriously.

“Oakland is basically saying, ‘We don’t have any money. We’re going to take care of the baseball team and we’re not going to do anything for the football team.’ So that’s where they are. And those are the two worst stadiums in the league.”

On the likelihood of a team – or two teams – relocating to L.A. for 2016:

“It’s the second-largest market in the country and certainly we should be there. On the other hand, we’ve done very well not being there. So it’s not the end of the world [if no team moves there].”

La Canfora’s Latest: Colts, Texans, Trades

November 1st, 2015 at 9:02am CST by Sam Robinson

With 2015 shaping up to be Chuck Pagano‘s last in Indianapolis, as Jason La Canfora of CBSSports.com writes, the Miami Hurricanes job could be in play for the fourth-year coach.

The rest of the Colts‘ staffers are set for an uncertain future, with Jim Irsay considering changes after the thus-far-underwhelming team’s Week 10 bye.

Offensive coordinator Pep Hamilton‘s job is on the line. Pagano, per La Canfora, wanted associate head coach Rob Chudzinski to run the offense, and longtime organizational staffer Clyde Christensen also looms as an OC candidate in the event Pagano’s preferences are no longer relevant.

Pagano’s Miami connection stems from being the Hurricanes’ secondary coach from 1995-2000.

Irsay hopes to lure a top head-coaching candidate to Indianapolis next year, and that would mean GM Ryan Grigson would almost certainly be shown the door, the CBS reporter notes.

Here are some additional notes from La Canfora on Week 8 Sunday.

  • The schism that formed in Houston recently between Bill O’Brien and GM Rick Smith regarding now-ex-Texans quarterback Ryan Mallett will lead to a change in the organization’s power structure, La Canfora reports. The ninth-year GM could see a reassignment if O’Brien is to assume more control, as he’s used to the head coach having from his years with the Patriots. The present setup involves both O’Brien and Smith reporting to owner Bob McNair separately, and McNair doesn’t see that as a sustainable model in light of the Mallett incident. It’s caused a divide within the organization, sources told La Canfora. “It’s gone from a slow drip to a waterfall,” a team source told the CBS scribe, describing the rift that’s become off-putting for McNair.
  • Matt Forte and Brian Cushing are available for trades, La Canfora notes, mentioning the Bears, Texans and 49ers as the teams most likely to operate as sellers in advance of the Nov. 3 trade deadline. The 49ers have also entertained teams’ interest on offensive lineman Alex Boone and have fielded calls on Vernon Davis. The Seahawks are a team that is willing to trade a depth piece to acquire an offensive lineman to help fix their biggest issue, La Canfora reports. The Ravens and Chargers, despite carrying 11 losses between them, are viewed as being more hesitant to sell off veterans.

AFC Rumors: Chargers, Gore, Broncos, Browns

October 3rd, 2015 at 7:30pm CST by Sam Robinson

San Diego mayor Kevin Faulconer did some scouting before this week’s critical Los Angeles-related owners’ meeting, in paying visits to three owners and commissioner Roger Goodell, according to David Garrick of the San Diego Union-Tribune.

Along with Goodell, Faulconer met with John Mara (Giants), Robert Kraft (Patriots) and Jerry Richardson (Panthers) — each a member of the six-owner committee in charge of assessing Los Angeles’ feasibility as the Chargers, Raiders and Rams vie for relocation — and has requested summits with the committee’s other members, Clark Hunt (Chiefs), Bob McNair (Texans) and Art Rooney II (Steelers).

The prior trio of owners, however, did not say to Faulconer which way they were leaning, or if they did, Faulconer is not communicating that sentiment to the media. Per Garrick, the mayor’s expressing confidence thanks to a joint-county $1.1 billion stadium plan that would call for the prospective new Chargers’ home to be built over Qualcomm Stadium.

No votes are expected on Los Angeles at this week’s meeting, with a final decision likely coming around Super Bowl week, according to Garrick.

Here is some news from the facilities of the Chargers’ AFC brethren.

  • Due to Ty Sambrailo‘s shoulder injury, Peyton Manning will have another first-time blocker Sunday when Michael Schofield joins the Broncos‘ starting offensive line, per Arnie Stapleton of the Associated Press. A third-round pick in 2014, Schofield’s been deactivated for each of the 20 games he’s been on the active roster, counting Denver’s divisional playoff loss last season, and he will take Ryan Harris‘ place at right tackle as Harris shifts to the left side.
  • Colts running back Frank Gore remains miffed 49ers GM Trent Baalke didn’t communicate with him this offseason he left the team after 10 years this winter, Matt Maiocco of CSNBayArea.com writes. “The only thing I was hurt by was that I thought we could have (separated) better,” Gore told the Indianapolis Star’s Stephen Holder. “I don’t know if I even wanted to go back. But I would have felt better if we would have sat down and had a conversation. I mean, I was going to test the market no matter what. Me and the head coach talked and he basically told me I’d be in a certain situation. But I wanted to hear it from the GM.“
  • In addressing the issues with the Browns‘ offensive line, Terry Pluto of cleveland.com doesn’t think Joel Bitonio and Alex Mack are performing to the level they did at this point last year. The Browns rank 26th in rushing yards, and Football Outsiders grades the Cleveland front as the 27th-best power-blocking quintet thus far.

FA Notes: Moss, Copeland, Lloyd, Bishop

March 28th, 2015 at 12:48pm CST by Ben Levine

As we heard yesterday, Washington coach Jay Gruden wouldn’t hesitate in bringing back veteran wideout Santana Moss. The 35-year-old has played in Washington for the past ten seasons, and he finished last season with ten catches for 116 yards. If he returns, Moss can expect to continue to contribute at a reduced role, considering the presence of fellow receivers DeSean Jackson, Pierre Garcon, and Andre Roberts. Still, Gruden appreciates the veteran’s role on the field and in the locker room:

“You know what? I could always play with Santana,” Gruden told Mike Jones of the Washington Post. “Santana’s a great person. He’s great in the locker room for us. He knows all the positions. I know he’s going to be in great shape, and I would not hesitate one bit to call him.”

“We’ve talked about everybody. It’s just about when, how. We don’t want — we’ll wait until the draft to see what we have as far as numbers at every position and go from there. You know, that’s something that we know where Santana is, and he knows where we are, and something may work out down the road.”

Some more assorted notes from around the NFL…

  • As we previously heard, linebacker Brandon Copeland has received interest from multiple teams following his performance at the Veteran Combine. “My phone’s been ringing,” he told Aaron Wilson of The Baltimore Sun. “It’s been pretty good so far. I’m not going to say what teams, but four teams have offered me contracts so far. It was definitely successful for me to go to the veteran combine.” Among the teams showing interest in Copeland are the Lions, Eagles, Bengals, Chiefs, Colts, Giants and Titans.
  • Meanwhile, Eric Branch of the San Francisco Chronicle tweets that the 49ers are not among the estimated 13 teams to have shown some level of interest in Copeland.
  • ESPN.com’s Paul Gutierrez says the 49ers haven’t had any conversations with wideout Brandon Lloyd. He notes that the team previously has little interest in bringing back linebacker Desmond Bishop, but he acknowledges that the mindset may have changed following the roster overhaul.
  • Some have drawn comparisons between the Texans signing of Ed Reed last offseason and their addition of free agent Vince Wilfork this year. Texans owner Bob McNair recognizes the difference, however. “I think the difference is when you have someone at a position where they have to be able to run, then age is more of a consideration,” McNair told ESPN.com’s Tania Ganguli. “We thought Ed was in good shape and was going to be able to come down and play and he was a big disappointment. At nose tackle, you don’t have to run that much. He’s got to be strong. So there’s some positions you can play for more years and you aren’t taking as much risk.

AFC Links: Texans, Jaguars, Dolphins, Browns

March 23rd, 2015 at 9:16pm CST by Ben Levine

The Texans current batch of quarterbacks would never be confused with Tom Brady or Peyton Manning. Ryan Mallett, Brian Hoyer and Tom Savage don’t evoke fear, but that doesn’t mean their team can’t be successful. Owner Bob McNair is a supporter of that sentiment, as he told Tania Ganguli of ESPN.com that he believes his team could contend for a Super Bowl:

“Teams have done that. Look at Baltimore back in 2000. They had an outstanding defense. They could run the ball and they had a quarterback that didn’t turn it over that much. I think that is a plan that can bring you great success. Look what we did last year playing four quarterbacks. We didn’t have that consistent play at quarterback and yet look how close we came. We’ve improved our defense this year.”

Let’s take a look at some more notes from around the AFC…

  • Jaguars general manager David Caldwell told Ryan O’Halloran of the Florida Times-Union that his team has interest in free agent wideout Greg Jennings, but he warns that they haven’t scheduled a visit (Twitter link).
  • While appearing on SiriusXM NFL Radio, Dolphins executive Mike Tannenbaum said his team also hasn’t scheduled a visit with Jennings (via Alex Marvez of Fox Sports on Twitter). However, Tannenbaum noted that Miami could pursue the veteran wideout later in free agency.
  • Following news earlier today that Browns owner Jimmy Haslam could be a candidate to purchase the Titans, a Browns spokesman told Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com that the Tennessee native is devoted to Cleveland. “It’s 100% false,” the spokesman said. “There is no truth to the careless speculation from the reporter.”
  • Browns general manager Ray Farmer said the organization would continue to monitor potential quarterback additions, tweets Nate Ulrich of Ohio.com.
  • Farmer would not reveal whether the Browns offered a first-round pick to the Rams for Sam Bradford, but he did comment that the current Eagles signal-caller likely isn’t available (via Ulrich on Twitter).

Extra Points: Texans, Steelers, Browns, Vikings

March 20th, 2015 at 10:38pm CST by Rob DiRe

Texans owner Bob McNair is happy with what his front office was able to accomplish in free agency, write John McClain of the Houston Chronicle, particularly with the acquisitions of Brian Hoyer, Vince Wilfork, Rahim Moore, and Cecil Shorts.

“I’ve been quite pleased with free agency. We’ve accomplished what we set out to do. We signed a quarterback and got help in the defensive line. We wanted a free safety with range, more of a centerfielder, and we wanted to add some speed at receiver,” McNair said. “And we were able to retain Kareem, Derek and Mallett. We did it within the cap, and we didn’t sacrifice our future.”

Here are some other notes from around the NFL:

  • Steelers team president Art Rooney II has been overseeing a much different offseason, but does not expect the team to be extremely active late in the offseaon, writes Mark Kaboly of TribLive.com. “We’re still looking at what the options are, and we’ll continue to do that,” Rooney said. “I think we’re at this point not expecting that there’s going to be a lot more activity out there, but we’re certainly continuing to look. If there’s a player that makes sense for us to pursue, we’ll do that.”
  • The Browns have been spending their money and assets on the defensive side of the ball recently, and their commitment on that side of the ball is evident when analyzing the salary cap numbers by position, writes Pat McManamon of ESPN.com. The Browns are spending a large amount of money on their secondary, both in terms of cornerbacks and safeties, and are also spending significantly at linebacker. However, they are in saving money at quarterback, and more significantly at running back.
  • The Vikings have had lukewarm interest in inside linebacker Brandon Spikes, according to Darren Wolfson of 5 Eyewitness News (via Twitter). Wolfson hasn’t heard anything about the team’s interest in fellow linebackers Mason Foster and Rolando McClain, but infers that they might be similarly uninspiring options for the Vikings.