Brandon Shell

Broncos To Meet With T Brandon Shell

Russell Wilson‘s most recent right tackle in Seattle will head to Denver for a visit. The Broncos plan to meet with Brandon Shell on Tuesday, Aaron Wilson of ProFootballNetwork.com tweets.

The Broncos have not had right tackle stability since Orlando Franklin‘s early-2010s tenure, having started a different player at this position from 2013-2021. With Bobby Massie unlikely to return, that streak should reach 10 years come September. Denver signed Tom Compton as a possible option, but the team is still looking for help here.

A former Jets draftee, Shell signed with the Seahawks in 2020 — on a two-year, $9MM deal — and made 21 starts for the team. Pro Football Focus gave Shell a middling 2021 grade, but he has 61 career starts on his resume. Shell, who saw injuries limit him in both Seattle seasons, is going into his age-30 season. Compton graded higher than Shell last year, filling in for Mike McGlinchey after the latter’s season-ending injury, but he will turn 33 soon and has seen action for six teams since entering the league in 2013.

Denver traded its first- and second-round picks for Wilson but still holds a second-round choice (the Rams’ No. 64 pick, obtained in the Von Miller trade) and two third-rounders. While the team has filled some of its need spots, its near-decade-long drought for right tackle stability remains.

Minor NFL Transactions: 1/8/22

Here are Saturday’s minor moves:

Arizona Cardinals

Atlanta Falcons

Baltimore Ravens

Carolina Panthers

Chicago Bears

Cincinnati Bengals

Cleveland Browns

Dallas Cowboys

Detroit Lions

Green Bay Packers

Houston Texans

Indianapolis Colts

Jacksonville Jaguars

Las Vegas Raiders

Los Angeles Chargers

Los Angeles Rams

Minnesota Vikings

New England Patriots

New Orleans Saints

New York Giants

New York Jets

Philadelphia Eagles

Pittsburgh Steelers

San Francisco 49ers

Seattle Seahawks

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Tennessee Titans

Washington Football Team

NFL COVID List Updates: 12/20/21

A long list of players were placed on the reserve/COVID-19 list. We listed the players who landed on the list today, as well as those who were activated off the list:

Atlanta Falcons

Baltimore Ravens

Buffalo Bills

Chicago Bears

Cleveland Browns

Detroit Lions

Houston Texans

Kansas City Chiefs

Los Angeles Chargers

Los Angeles Rams

Las Vegas Raiders

Miami Dolphins

New England Patriots

New York Giants

New York Jets

  • Placed on reserve/COVID-19 list: DE John Franklin-Myers, DB Sharrod Neasman

Philadelphia Eagles

Seattle Seahawks

Tennessee Titans

Washington Football Team

Seahawks Place RB Rashaad Penny On IR

Some Seahawks Saturday roster reshuffling will bring in multiple reinforcements but move former first-round pick Rashaad Penny back to a familiar place. Penny is back on IR, Bob Condotta of the Seattle Times tweets.

Penny’s contract year is off to a rough start, with the former San Diego State standout having played just seven snaps — all in Week 1 — before going down with a calf injury. He is now out for Seattle’s next three games.

While the Penny pick surprised most at the time, he has impressed at points. But he has not overtaken former seventh-round pick Chris Carson in Seattle’s lineup and has run into extensive injury misfortune. Penny tore an ACL late in the 2019 season and did not return until December 2020. He underwent another knee surgery this offseason. The Seahawks declined Penny’s fifth-year option in May.

Better news comes at other positions for the 1-2 Seahawks. They activated tackle Cedric Ogbuehi and tight end Colby Parkinson off IR. Parkinson suffered a foot fracture for the second straight summer. His return will help a team that has Gerald Everett on its reserve/COVID-19 list. Everett tested positive for the coronavirus this week and has not submitted a negative test yet. Ogbuehi’s return to work comes at a key juncture, with starting right tackle Brandon Shell ruled out for Week 4 with an ankle injury.

A fourth-round pick out of Stanford last year, Parkinson has played in just six games as a pro. But this year’s foot fracture was not as serious as the injury he suffered in 2020. Parkinson’s return stands to help a Seahawks team that has seen extensive tight end unavailability over the past few seasons.

Minor NFL Transactions: 1/2/21

Here are Saturday’s minor moves:

Arizona Cardinals

Atlanta Falcons

Baltimore Ravens

Buffalo Bills

Carolina Panthers

Chicago Bears

Cincinnati Bengals

Cleveland Browns

  • Signed off Jets’ practice squad: G Blake Hance
  • Activated from reserve/COVID-19 list: S Karl Joseph
  • Promoted: G Cordell Iwuagwu, LB Montrel Meander, T Alex Taylor

Dallas Cowboys

Denver Broncos

Detroit Lions

Green Bay Packers

Houston Texans

Indianapolis Colts

Jacksonville Jaguars

Las Vegas Raiders

Los Angeles Chargers

  • Promoted: DB John Brannon

Los Angeles Rams

Miami Dolphins

Minnesota Vikings

New England Patriots

New Orleans Saints

New York Giants

New York Jets

Philadelphia Eagles

Pittsburgh Steelers

San Francisco 49ers

Seattle Seahawks

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Tennessee Titans

Washington Football Team

NFC Contract Details: Zuerlein, Poe, Shell, Vikings

We’ve got a bunch of contract details to pass along, all out of the NFC:

Seahawks Reach Agreement With Brandon Shell

The Seahawks have come to terms on a contract with free-agent offensive tackle Brandon Shell, according to Adam Schefter of ESPN, the deal spans two-years and is worth up to $11MM. Following Schefter’s report, ESPN’s Rich Cimini added that Seattle had been narrowing its focus on Shell for the past few days.

Seattle needed to find a replacement for Germain Ifedi, who signed with the Jets earlier in the day. It seems that the Seahawks and Jets will essentially be swapping tackles.

The Jets selected Shell in the 5th round of the 2016 draft (127 picks after the Seahawks selected Ifedi). In his four years with Gang Green, Shell started 40 games, appearing at both tackle spots and at right guard. Shell graded as the 51st best tackle last season out of 81 qualified players (Ifedi ranked 64th), per Pro Football Focus.

 

AFC Notes: Ramsey, Texans, Dolphins, Jets

Jaguars cornerback Jalen Ramsey is going to miss his second straight game with back issues. Many have questioned the timing of his back injury, since it has coincided with his public demands to be traded. But speaking on The Uninterrupted’s “17 Weeks” podcast this week, Ramsey revealed the injury isn’t anything new. “My body was banged up, my back being extremely tight. Having back issues is something I’ve had to deal with over the course of my NFL career. At times I’ve played through extreme pain or not practiced for weeks and tried to go out there and play. It’s something I’ve dealt with,” Ramsey said, via Michael DiRocco of ESPN.com.

DiRocco notes that Ramsey appeared on Jacksonville’s injury report with a back issue a couple of times back in 2017. As for his trade request, there isn’t much new on that front. The Jaguars’ ownership is reportedly fighting hard for Ramsey and trying to convince him to stay, but so far the Florida State product hasn’t wavered. Meanwhile, the Jags have apparently turned down an offer of two first-rounders.

Here’s more from around the AFC:

  • The Texans signed veteran safety Mike Adams last week, and now we have details on his contract. Adams will receive $787K for the rest of the season, which prorates from $1.03MM if he had been on the roster for all 16 games, per Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle. Adams will only count for $553K against the Texans’ cap, and he received a $60K signing bonus. Adams is a longtime veteran who is entering his 16th season, and he’s appeared in 222 games during his lengthy career.
  • The Dolphins are worried that a day-two pick in the 2020 NFL Draft they’d been banking on might get downgraded, according to Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald. Miami was projected to receive a third-round compensatory pick for losing tackle Ja’Wuan James to the Broncos in free agency, but that’s now in danger of becoming a fourth-rounder. Jackson cites Nick Korte of Overthecap.com’s analysis, who notes that because James has now missed a handful of games with a knee injury, his contract might be deemed less valuable in the NFL’s complex compensatory pick formula. James signed a massive four-year, $52MM deal this offseason, but he’s been sidelined since Week 1 with a knee injury. He appears to be nearing a return, but if he misses much more time it could have negative implications for his former team. The Dolphins have been stockpiling draft assets as they tank, and they’ve been counting on having four day-two picks next April.
  • The Jets have started off the Adam Gase era 0-3, and they’re massive underdogs against the Eagles this week. Unfortunately they’ll be without Sam Darnold for at least one more game, but they are making a shakeup on their offensive line. Rookie Chuma Edoga is going to replace Brandon Shell in the lineup at right tackle, sources told Manish Mehta of the New York Daily News. New York drafted Edoga 92nd overall out of USC back in April. The Jets drafted Shell in the fifth-round back in 2016, and Mehta writes that the team is likely to let him walk in free agency this spring. Their offensive line has been a mess so far this season, so it isn’t surprising they’re making a move.

Jets’ Brandon Shell Underwent Knee Surgery

Jets right tackle Brandon Shell has a chance to earn himself a lucrative contract based on his play next season. However, he’ll first have to prove that he’s fully recovered from a knee injury. As Brian Costello of the New York Post writes, the 27-year-old underwent surgery on his left knee this past offseason.

The exact injury hasn’t been reported, but we learned back in December that it had nothing to do with the lineman’s ACL or MCL. It also sounds like the operation was a success, as Costello writes that Shell was practicing fully during OTAs and didn’t show any issues with his knee.

If Shell is indeed healthy, it’d be ideal timing. After all, the 2016 fifth-rounder is set to hit free agency following the 2019 campaign. While Shell has started 29 of his 34 career games (including 16 starts over the past two seasons), he’s now playing for a new head coach and GM. As Costello writes, 2019 will be Shell’s opportunity to show both Adam Gase and Joe Douglas that he should be considered a foundational piece of the Jets’ offensive line.

While Shell didn’t have a standout 2018 season protecting rookie Sam Darnold, he showed improvements over his 2017 season. Pro Football Focus ultimately ranked Shell 56th among 80 eligible tackles, and he allowed only 1.5 sacks throughout the year. The lineman will predictably have a lot more pressure on him in 2019, as he’ll now be blocking for an All-Pro running back in Le’Veon Bell.

2019 Proven Performance Escalators

According to the NFL’s contractual bargaining agreement, players drafted in rounds three though seven are entitled to raises during the fourth year of their respective rookie contracts. The pay bumps are tied to playing time — a player must have played in 35% of his team’s offensive or defensive snaps in two of his first three seasons, or averaged 35% playing time cumulatively during that period.

If one of these thresholds is met, the player’s salary is elevated to the level of that year’s lowest restricted free agent tender — that figure should be around $2MM in 2019. Players selected in the first or second round, undrafted free agents, and kickers/punters are ineligible for the proven performance escalator.

Here are the players who will see their salary rise in 2019 courtesy of the proven performance escalator:

Bears: RB Jordan Howard, LB Nick Kwiatkoski

Bengals: LB Nick Vigil

Broncos: G Connor McGovern, S Will Parks, S Justin Simmons

Browns: S Derrick Kindred, LB Joe Schobert

Buccaneers: G Caleb Benenoch, DE Carl Nassib, CB Ryan Smith

Chargers: LB Jatavis Brown

Chiefs: CB Kendall Fuller, WR Tyreek Hill, S Eric Murray, WR Demarcus Robinson

Colts: QB Jacoby Brissett, T Joe Haeg

Cowboys: CB Anthony Brown, DT Maliek Collins, QB Dak Prescott

Dolphins: RB Kenyan Drake

Eagles: CB Jalen Mills, T Halapoulivaati Vaitai

Falcons: LB De’Vondre Campbell, TE Austin Hooper, G Wes Schweitzer

Jaguars: DE Yannick Ngakoue

Jets: LB Jordan Jenkins, CB Rashard Robinson, T Brandon Shell

Lions: C Graham Glasgow

Packers: LB Kyler Fackrell, DE Dean Lowry, LB Blake Martinez, LB Antonio Morrison

Patriots: G Joe Thuney, LB Elandon Roberts

Rams: G Austin Blythe, TE Tyler Higbee

Ravens: DE Matt Judon, OL Alex Lewis, CB Tavon Young

Saints: DT David Onyemata

Steelers: DT Javon Hargrave

Texans: DT D.J. Reader

Titans: S Kevin Byard, WR Tajae Sharpe

OverTheCap.com was essential in the creation of this post. Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.