HEADLINES

Chris Gragg

NFC Notes: Bridgewater, Saints, 49ers, Gragg, Buccaneers

March 22nd, 2019 at 2:56pm CST by Andrew Ortenberg

Teddy Bridgewater had a dramatic free agency. He appeared all set to return to the Saints, when the Dolphins swooped in with a last second offer to be their starting quarterback. But in the end, he decided to return to New Orleans, potentially setting him up to take over for Drew Brees. In a recent interview with WWL Radio, Bridgewater elaborated on his decision to stay in the Big Easy, per Mike Triplett of ESPN.com. Bridgewater indicated it mostly had to do with how much he enjoyed his time in New Orleans, rather than about potential playing time.

“I told my agents every time that I talked to them that I haven’t stopped smiling since I arrived,” Bridgewater said. They made playing football fun, they made learning the game fun … and that’s something I appreciate. I was able to be part of that for 18 weeks last season, and it was nothing but positive things that occurred,” he continued. It sounds like Bridgewater has bought in to whatever the Saints are promising, and they clearly think very highly of him if they’re giving him $7.25MM to be their backup quarterback.

Here’s more from around the NFC:

  • The 49ers brought in tight end Chris Gragg for a workout, a source told Matt Maioccio of NBC Sports (Twitter link). An Arkansas product, Gragg was taken by the Bills in the seventh round of the 2013 draft. He spent the next four years in Buffalo, then was with the Jets during the 2017 offseason. Gragg has struggled with injuries, missing the entire 2016 and 2017 seasons while hurt. He spent all of last year out of the league, and this is the first we’ve heard of him in a while. Gragg had his most productive season in 2015, when he caught 12 passes for 150 yards. He’s unlikely to make much of an impact even if San Francisco does opt to sign him.
  • The Buccaneers are making a historic move. Tampa Bay is hiring Maral Javadifar and Lori Locust as the first full-time female assistant coaches in franchise history, the team announced in a release. Locust will be an assistant defensive line coach, while Javadifar will be an assistant strength and conditioning coach. The Bucs are now the first team in NFL history to have two women as full-time coaches. New Bucs coach Bruce Arians has emphasized the need for greater diversity on NFL coaching staffs, and is now practicing what he preaches. Arians had said he would do something like this, so it isn’t surprising.
  • The Saints are reportedly close to a deal that would bring Jared Cook to New Orleans, but they might not be done adding to their tight end group. The team is “paying close attention” to LSU tight end Foster Moreau today at his pro day, Larry Holder of The Athletic is told (Twitter link). Moreau caught 22 passes for 272 yards and two touchdowns at LSU last year.

 

Jets Cut 10, Place Quincy Enunwa On IR

September 1st, 2017 at 5:16pm CST by Dallas Robinson

The Jets have moved their roster to 76 players in advance of Saturday’s cutdown deadline. New York has announced the following transactions:

Waived:

Placed on IR:

Placed on reserve/NFI:

Minor NFL Transactions: 7/28/17

July 28th, 2017 at 8:39pm CST by Connor J. Byrne

Friday’s minor moves…

Atlanta Falcons

Carolina Panthers

  • Signed: OL Drew Iddings

Cleveland Browns

Dallas Cowboys

Kansas City Chiefs

Los Angeles Chargers

  • Waived: QB Eli Jenkins

Minnesota Vikings

New York Jets

Oakland Raiders

  • Signed: LS Andrew East

Seattle Seahawks

Tennessee Titans

Top 2017 Free Agents By Position 3.0: Offense

March 17th, 2017 at 12:19pm CST by Zachary Links

The initial wave of NFL free agency is now complete, and while many of the league’s top available players are now off the board, there are still plenty of quality options still on the open market.

Listed below are our rankings for the top 15 free agents at each offensive position. These rankings aren’t necessarily determined by the value of the contracts – or the amount of guaranteed money – that each player is expected to land in free agency. These are simply the players we like the most at each position, with both short- and long-term value taken into account.

Restricted and exclusive-rights free agents, as well as players who received the franchise tag, aren’t listed here, since the roadblocks in place to hinder another team from actually acquiring most of those players prevent them from being true free agents.

We’ll almost certainly be higher or lower on some free agents than you are, so feel free to weigh in below in our comments section to let us know which players we’ve got wrong.

Here’s our breakdown of the current top 15 free agents by offensive position for 2017:

Quarterback:

  1. Jay Cutler
  2. Chase Daniel
  3. Ryan Fitzpatrick
  4. Colin Kaepernick
  5. Josh McCown
  6. Robert Griffin III
  7. Case Keenum
  8. Matt McGloin
  9. Mark Sanchez
  10. Christian Ponder
  11. Blaine Gabbert
  12. Ryan Nassib
  13. Shaun Hill
  14. Kellen Moore
  15. Austin Davis

Tony Romo is not a free agent…at least not yet. If the Cowboys do not find a suitable trade and release him, you’ll find him at the top of this list.

Laugh if you must, but Cutler is far and away the best quarterback available on the open market. While most of this year’s QB-needy teams are done with their free agent shopping, the Jets are still searching for their 2017 starter and no one would make more sense for them than Cutler. He’s not all that far removed from playing solid football and he’s a logical transitional option for the Jets until they can isolate a better, younger option for 2018. Jay Cutler (Vertical)

Kaepernick’s reps wisely told the press that he will be standing for the National Anthem this year. Still, Kaepernick is an outspoken guy who wants to use his platform to discuss hot button issues, so there’s no guarantee that the media circus around him will cease. Jets owner Woody Johnson loves seeing his team on the back pages of the New York tabloids, but even he has to have more sense than to entertain Kaepernick. McCown, who has been contact with the team, would be an okay choice if they can’t get something done with Cutler. Chase Daniel could be an option too, but there isn’t much game film on him.

Needless to say, the No. 3 ranked player on this list isn’t an option in New York.

Running back:

  1. Adrian Peterson
  2. LeGarrette Blount
  3. Jamaal Charles
  4. Rashad Jennings
  5. Tim Hightower
  6. DeAngelo Williams
  7. Chris Johnson
  8. Christine Michael
  9. Benny Cunningham
  10. Bobby Rainey
  11. Brandon Bolden
  12. Denard Robinson
  13. James Starks
  14. Matt Asiata
  15. Kenjon Barner

Honorable mention: DuJuan Harris, Antonio Andrews, Khiry Robinson

Adrian Peterson (vertical)The Vikings have moved on and Peterson will not be back in Minnesota. Where he goes from here is anyone’s guess. When Peterson’s option was declined by the Vikings earlier this month, there were tons of stories (likely sourced by Peterson’s camp) about interest from a litany of contenders. Since then, each team – through anonymous sources – has denied being in the mix for the veteran. It would be easy to doubt Peterson at this juncture, but he has come back from serious injuries multiple times in his career and he is only one year removed from his stellar 2015 campaign. He gets the top spot over the bruising Blount as well as Charles, who hasn’t been healthy in a long while.

Jennings was brought to New York with the idea that he would be the team’s workhorse. Unfortunately, two of his three seasons with the G-Men were marred by injury. Jennings is currently putting his agility to good use on Dancing With The Stars and it remains to be seen how committed he is to football. After that, we have a trio of vets (Hightower, Williams, CJ2K) who could still advance the ball in limited spurts.

In case you’re wondering – Mike Gillislee is not listed here because he is a restricted free agent.

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FA Rumors: Poe, Seahawks, Steelers, Jaguars

March 15th, 2017 at 9:38pm CST by Dallas Robinson

Now that free agent defensive tackle Dontari Poe has concluded his visits with the Dolphins, he’ll head home to consider offers, tweets Jason La Canfora of CBSSports.com. Poe has met with the Colts, Falcons, and Jaguars in addition to Miami, and will presumably sign with one of the clubs. Poe is PFR’s No. 2 free agent interior defender on the market, just behind Johnathan Hankins.

Here’s more from the free agent period:

  • Although Adrian Peterson visited the Seahawks earlier this week, he never entered into negotiations with the club, reports Jason La Canfora of CBSSports.com. Seattle was eyeing a younger back, and it found one in former Packer Eddie Lacy, whom the team signed to a one-year deal on Tuesday. Through six days of free agency, the key story around Peterson has been the number of clubs who aren’t interested in the ex-Vikings RB, who turns 32 next week. The Texans, Patriots, Raiders have all indicated they they’re not in contact with future Hall of Famer.
  • The Seahawks may have not been all that interested in Peterson, but the club might have a different opinion on free agent linebacker Michael Wilhoite, whom they will host on a visit, tweets NFL reporter Howard Balzer. Wilhoite, 30, was a full-time starter for the 49ers from 2014-15, but only started six games last year (despite appearing in all 16 contests). In that time, Wilhoite put up 46 tackles, a half-sack, and a forced fumble.
  • While the Steelers has “mild interest” in re-signing linebacker Jarvis Jones, the club never made a real effort to retain the former first-round pick before he inked a one-year deal with the Cardinals on Monday, per Jeremy Fowler of ESPN.com. Jones, 27, never lived up to his draft billing, but did provide solid run defense over 35 starts in Pittsburgh. The Steelers will now roll with Arthur Moats and Anthony Chickillo behind James Harrison and Bud Dupree on the edge.
  • Tight end Chris Gragg visited the Jaguars but did not agree to a contract, as Gragg himself announced (Twitter link). Jacksonville head coach Doug Marrone was in Buffalo when Gragg was made a seventh-round pick in 2013, so he should have some level of familiarity with the 26-year-old. Gragg missed the entire 2016 campaign with a torn ACL.

Bills Cut 9, Down To 75

August 30th, 2016 at 3:26pm CST by Zachary Links

The Bills released nine players on their way to the 75-man limit. Here’s the full rundown.

Released:

Reserve/PUP:

Waived/Injured:

Reserve/NFI:

  • WR Kolby Listenbee

Reserve/Injured:

  • LB Reggie Ragland

Bills’ Chris Gragg Out For Season

August 27th, 2016 at 2:53pm CST by Sam Robinson

Chris Gragg will miss the season due to the knee injury he suffered Friday night, Mike Rodak of ESPN.com tweets. The fourth-year Bills tight end announced he would be out for the duration of the 2016 campaign in an Instagram post.

Rex Ryan said earlier today the injury looked like a torn ACL, via Rodak (on Twitter), so the news isn’t surprising. For the Bills, it’s yet another unavailable talent during a summer that’s deprived Buffalo of several cogs.

A seventh-round Bills selection in 2013, Gragg has started 10 games over the past three seasons with Buffalo. After making 12 catches for 150 yards last season, Gragg was set to be Charles Clay‘s backup again as he entered his contract year.

Beyond Gragg, the Bills, as Roster Resource shows, have seventh-year veteran Jim Dray — whom they signed this offseason — and 2015 sixth-rounder Nick O’Leary. Dray caught 43 passes for 457 yards between 2013-14 for the Cardinals and Browns, respectively.

The Bills’ defense has endured the brunt of the offseason blows, having lost Reggie Ragland for the season and Shaq Lawson for an undetermined portion of it. Marcell Dareus faces a four-game suspension, and IK Enemkpali tore an ACL that led to a waived/injured transaction. However, the offense has endured damage as well. Buffalo cut Karlos Williams and saw Sammy Watkins miss several weeks this year with a foot injury. Gragg just represents the latest setback.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

AFC East Notes: Williams, Thomas, Johnson, Kelly

July 19th, 2014 at 3:06pm CST by Ben Levine

Bills newcomer Mike Williams sat out portions of minicamp to rest his troubled hamstring, but the veteran wideout has no worries heading into training camp.

“I’m fully ready to go,” Williams told Mark Gaughan of the Buffalo News. “I trained this whole offseason. There was really no offseason for me. I kinda had to get my leg better. I had to get back to feeling like Mike again, like my mom always tells me. Today running that conditioning test made me feel like I was Mike again.

“At the start of camp, just did the conditioning test and I feel real good. I feel great. I feel I got an A-plus, if there was a grade for it. I feel I’m ready to go.”

Williams finished 2013 with 22 catches for 216 yards and two touchdowns – all career lows. The Buccaneers traded the wideout to the Bills in early April for a sixth-round pick.

Let’s look at some more notes from the AFC East…