Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie - Pro Football Rumors

East Notes: Drake, DRC, Revis

September 25th, 2016 at 9:54am CST by Rory Parks

The Dolphins will treat rookie running back Kenyan Drake as the starter this week in place of the injured Arian Foster, according to Ian Rapoport of NFL.com. Rapoport, though, passes along more interesting news regarding Miami’s running back corps and head coach Adam Gase‘s attempts to instill discipline in his new club.

After Gase’s highly-publicized decision to leave Jay Ajayi off the team’s travel list prior to the Dolphins’ regular season opener in Seattle, there was another incident involving the team’s running backs the following week. Both Isaiah Pead and Damien Williams missed a meeting in advance of Miami’s Week 2 matchup against New England, which is why both were inactive for that contest. Drake, it appears, is the only back on the 53-man roster who is both healthy and has not had a lapse in maturity over the past several weeks.

As Rapoport notes, time will tell if more “messages” are necessary or if the Dolphins will begin to fall in line with Gase’s vision.

Now for more from the league’s east divisions:

Despite his team-friendly deal and his still considerable abilities, Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie is clearly not in the Giants‘ long-term plans, James Kratch of NJ.com writes. Janoris Jenkins and Eli Apple are entrenched as the team’s top two corners, and it would make no sense for New York to pay $6.5MM for a 30-year-old slot corner after this season (especially when the team could recoup the full $6.5MM by cutting DRC). But there are plenty of cornerback-needy teams for whom Rodgers-Cromartie would represent a significant upgrade, so Kratch opines that the Giants should look to trade DRC prior to this year’s deadline, and if that fails, then the team should release him before free agency begins next year.
Rich Cimini of ESPN.com believes the Jets and cornerback Darrelle Revis are set for a “contract staredown” after the season. Revis is scheduled to earn $15MM in 2017, including a non-guaranteed roster bonus of $2MM, which is due to be paid on the second day of the 2017 league year in March. Of course, if Revis begins to recapture his prior level of play, his contract may not be as much of an issue, but if he continues to struggle, the team will probably ask him to renegotiate, which Revis has never shown any inclination to do. As Cimini notes, the roster bonus puts a deadline on what could become one of the bigger storylines of the offseason.
Eagles head coach Doug Pederson expects Dorial Green-Beckham‘s role to increase as DGB continues to learn the offense and get healthy, as Jimmy Kempski of PhillyVoice.com writes. Through the first two games, Green-Beckham has had just six passes thrown his way, though Pederson says DGB was the primary target on several plays in the team’s Week 2 win over Chicago, but the defense dictated that the play go elsewhere.
If Eagles right tackle Lane Johnson is in fact suspended for PED use–his hearing is set for October 4–Marc Narducci of The Philadelphia Inquirer writes that the team will move left guard Allen Barbre to right tackle and promote Stefen Wisniewski to the starting lineup to take Barbre’s place.

East Notes: Eagles, DRC, Giants, Bills, Norman

May 23rd, 2016 at 8:31pm CST by Dallas Robinson

Only the Vikings and the Raiders will devote more cap space to their respective offensive lines than the Eagles, as Paul Domovitch of Philly.com details. Philadelphia has clearly made the decision to reinvest in its front five after a 2015 season that saw the club rank 20th in pass protection and 30th in adjusted line yards, both of which are Football Outsiders metrics. Guard, specifically, has been addressed, as former Texan Brandon Brooks scored a $40MM deal with the Eagles, while Stefen Wisniewski will compete to start on the interior, and will at worst act as a top reserve.

Here’s more from the NFL’s two East divisions…

Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie missed the Giants‘ voluntary workouts today while attending to a personal matter, but he’s expected to return to OTAs on Tuesday, a source tells Jordan Raanan of NJ.com. On its face, the item isn’t all that newsworthy, but DRC’s absence did give first-round cornerback Eli Apple the opportunity to take reps with the first-team defense.
The Bills could be a suitor for the recently-released Brian Hartline, opines Joe Buscaglia of WKBW (Twitter link). Hartline was cut loose by Cleveland on Monday in an effort to save roughly $3MM against the 2016 cap. Buffalo is in need of wide receiver depth, and recently met with free agent pass-catcher Andre Roberts. Hartline might come with an even more affordable price tag than Roberts, and would presumably act as the Bills’ No. 3 behind Sammy Watkins and Robert Woods.
The Redskins have a history of free agent flops, and Rich Tandler of CSNMidAtlantic.com fears that high-priced newcomer Josh Norman will be the next in that long line. Norman isn’t a true shutdown corner who can take the opposing team’s receiver out of the game, says Tandler, adding that Norman hasn’t posted a ton of interceptions in the past. Even though Norman can contribute, Tandler doesn’t see him putting up the kind of production that some fans are expecting.

Zach Links contributed to this post.

AFC West Links: Draft, Sumlin, Smith, Broncos

October 3rd, 2014 at 7:42pm CST by Rob DiRe

The league’s decision to hold the 2015 NFL Draft in Chicago dims the hope that Los Angeles will get a team in time for the 2015 season, writes Sam Farmer of the Baltimore Sun. Farmer notes that if the team was planning on relocating a team to Los Angeles, wisdom would dictate that they would pair that move with the relocation of the draft in order to create extra publicity for the team.

The Raiders and Chargers are both on a year-to-year lease with their current stadiums, and are unhappy with their situations. The Raiders have played in Los Angeles before, as have the Rams, who are also a candidate to move.

Here are some other notes from around the NFL:

The Raiders should go hard after Texas A&M coach Kevin Sumlin, opines Mark Whicker of USA Today Sports. Of course, he’s got a pretty good gig right now and he may not want to take on such a massive cleanup project.
Alex Smith‘s play with the Chiefs is proving that the 49ers got it wrong on the quarterback, writes Mike Freeman of Bleacher Report. Smith was regarded mostly as a “game-manager” in San Francisco, but many overlooked Smith’s explosive skill set. His potential, however, was likely buried by San Francisco’s conservative system at the time.
The Broncos had Brandon LaFell and Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie on their radar in free agency, but as the market settled they wound up with two different players at those positions, writes Albert Breer of NFL.com. As LaFell’s price tag rose, they realized they could sign Emmanuel Sanders away from the Steelers for only slightly more money. Sanders has far outperformed LaFell so far this season. As for Rodgers-Cromartie, we know that when he turned down the team’s initial offer the Broncos gave the deal to Aqib Talib instead.

Zach Links contributed to this post.

AFC East Notes: Dobson, Jets, Ryan, Dolphins

October 3rd, 2014 at 10:35am CST by Zachary Links

Second-year wide receiver Aaron Dobson has suited up just once for the Patriots this season and reports indicated that his benching stemmed from a run-in with offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels. When asked today if the decision to bench Dobson was football or disciplinary, coach Bill Belichick said it was the former, tweets Albert Breer of the NFL Network. When asked specifically if there was a confrontation between McDaniels and Dobson (link) he said, “No, and I’ll have a comment on that later.” Breer actually believes that the relationship between McDaniels and Dobson has been generally good for the last two years (link), so it’ll be interesting to find out what actually happened in New England. More out of the AFC East..

The Jets have the second-largest salary-cap surplus in the league at $24.3MM and the lowest total cash spending at $95.14MM, curious numbers given all their personnel needs this offseason, writes Manish Mehta of the New York Daily News. Their lack of spending has left them embarrassingly thin in the secondary, but owner Woody Johnson claims that he doesn’t regret the team’s lowball offer to Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie that led him to the Meadowlands’ other team.
Johnson’s frugal approach can work, but only if Jets GM John Idzik delivers, writes Rich Cimini of ESPNNewYork.com. Cimini points out that the slow and steady approach isn’t Johnson’s but rather Idzik’s. After former GM Mike Tannenbaum spent big and didn’t give Johnson a return on his investment, Idzik pitched himself to Johnson as someone who has the opposite philosophy.
Rex Ryan could conceivably miss the playoffs for a fourth straight season and still keep his job, writes Seth Walder of the New York Daily News. “We don’t look at it that way,” Johnson said of whether the Jets had to make the postseason in order for the outspoken coach to stay on board.
New Dolphins offensive coordinator Bill Lazor was brought to Miami primarily to fix the passing game but, somewhat surprisingly, it’s the rushing attack that has improved, writes ESPN.com’s James Walker. Miami is currently ranked sixth in the NFL in rushing at 142.3 yards per game.

Jets Owner Talks Smith, CBs, Ryan, Idzik

October 2nd, 2014 at 12:02pm CST by Luke Adams

Jets owner Woody Johnson spoke to reporters today, and while he didn’t have any significant updates to provide, the session acted as a sort of state of the union session, with Johnson addressing a number of Jets-related topics and issues. Rich Cimini of ESPN.com, Manish Mehta of the New York Daily News, Brian Costello of the New York Post, and Newsday’s Kimberly Martin were among the scribes providing updates, so we’ve rounded up the highlights from the Jets owner below (all links go to Twitter). Let’s dive in….

Asked about the team’s lack of a splash in free agency, Johnson said that the Jets would prefer to build through the draft. “We’ll do an occasional free agent, but the free agent market isn’t a panacea,” the owner added.
Despite Geno Smith‘s erratic player, Johnson still has plenty of confidence in the young signal-caller, suggesting that he continues to believe Smith can be a “franchise quarterback.”
According to Johnson, he doesn’t regret not signing free agent cornerback Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, and thinks the Jets adequately addressed the CB position in the offseason. The owner cited injuries as one reason the secondary may have underperformed so far, and said he expects the team to be fine now that Dee Milliner is returning.
Johnson on the Dimitri Patterson debacle, which resulted in the cornerback being suspended and then cut by the team prior to the regular season, after he signed as a free agent in the spring: “Just like any portfolio, we have a portfolio of players. Some are going to be good, some aren’t.”
Asked if Rex Ryan has to lead the Jets to the playoffs this season in order to keep his job, Idzik replied, “We don’t look at it that way,” and indicated that a decision on Ryan will be made at the end of the year.
The Jets still have about $20MM in cap space, but Johnson said he doesn’t put any constraints whatsoever on the club’s spending, and that GM John Idzik has full autonomy to use that cap room. Johnson also said that he believes GM John Idzik is fully invested in winning this year.
According to Johnson, Idzik’s deliberate approach to decision-making is one of the reasons he was hired.
Johnson was noncommittal when one reporter asked if he’s cut or keep a player who was found guilty of domestic violence.

Cap Work Remaining For Broncos

July 5th, 2014 at 8:59am CST by Matt Feminis

Until rosters are cut down to 53 players, teams are required to be under the $133MM salary cap with their top 51 salaries. In the wake of an aggressive offseason which included signing big-ticket free agents Aqib Talib, T.J. Ward, DeMarcus Ware and Emmanuel Sanders, the Broncos’ top 51 costs $132MM, meaning John Elway and Co. have some bookkeeping to do between now and the end of training camp, explains ESPN’s Jeff Legwold.

Key points:

The team is trying to lock up free agents-to-be Demaryius Thomas and Julius Thomas long-term.
Including rollover, the team has about $4.6MM of workable cap space.
“Quarterback Peyton Manning has the team’s highest cap figure, at $17.5 million and the Broncos have the biggest cap gap of any position between starter and backup with No. 2 Brock Osweiler, still on his rookie deal, coming in at $959,094 against the cap.”
The team has seven tight ends on the roster, five of which — including Thomas, Jacob Tamme and Joel Dreessen — are scheduled to be unrestricted free agents in 2015.
“Dead money” hits include Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie ($2.1MM), Chris Kuper ($1.83MM) and Willis McGahee ($500k).
Terrance Knighton‘s representatives were seeking a renegotiation of his contract which calls for him to make $2.75MM in 2014 before the big defensive lineman hits free agency, but the team did not acquiesce.
Kicker Matt Prater and punter Britton Colquitt will cost a combined $7.4MM against the cap this season.

East Notes: Cowboys, Jernigan, Giants, Bills

May 21st, 2014 at 10:01am CST by Luke Adams

First-round pick Zack Martin is expected to start his NFL career as a guard for the Cowboys, but as Todd Archer of ESPN.com notes, the assumption has been that Martin will shift over to right tackle in 2015, since Doug Free is in the last year of his contract. Still, Archer wonders if it might be more beneficial for the club to keep Martin on the interior a little longer and extend Free’s deal beyond this season, since he had a solid 2013 season and only just turned 30.

Here’s more from Archer on the Cowboys, along with some update on a couple other East teams:

Within the same piece, Archer explores the possibility of the Cowboys carrying four tailbacks on their regular-season roster now that they’ve added Ryan Williams, and wonders if players like Henry Melton and Anthony Spencer can even come close to reaching playing-time incentives, given Dallas’ depth on the defensive line.
Although this month’s selection of wideout Odell Beckham Jr. fortified the Giants‘ receiving corps, it raised question marks about the role Jerrel Jernigan will have in New York going forward, writes Jordan Raanan of NJ.com. In Raanan’s view, Jernigan’s best chance for consistent playing time may come with another team, barring an injury to Beckham, Victor Cruz, or Rueben Randle.
In the NFL, signing a five-year contract with a team doesn’t assure a player of a long-term stay with that club, but Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie is hoping to stick with the Giants for several years, as Ebenezer Samuel of the New York Daily News writes. DRC also noted that the decision to sign with the Giants rather than the Jets in free agency was “very difficult.”
According to Tim Graham of the Buffalo News (Twitter link), the NFL expects the sale of the Bills to take a little longer than usual. The league wants to intensify the vetting process after what happened with Browns owner Jimmy Haslam, whose business was investigated by the FBI and IRS just a few months after he was approved as the team’s majority owner.

AFC Notes: Jets, Contract Details, Titans

March 20th, 2014 at 9:54am CST by Zachary Links

We heard on Tuesday, shortly after the Giants had officially signed Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, that the Jets had increased their offer at the 11th hour in an effort to land the free agent cornerback. In his latest piece for TheMMQB.com, former NFL exec Andrew Brandt offers some additional insight on that story, suggesting that the Jets’ initial offer had a one-year, $6MM structure, with options beyond that for future seasons. When it became clear that the Giants were closing in on a deal, GM John Idzik, attending Teddy Bridgewater‘s Pro Day, scrambled to change the structure of the Jets’ offer, but it was too late by that point.

Here’s more from around the AFC:

Paul Kuharsky of ESPN (Twitter links) has the goods on Charlie Whitehurst‘s two-year deal with the Titans. The quarterback gets a $1MM signing bonus, a $1MM guaranteed base, a $250K roster bonus on the fifth day of the 2015 league year, and a $2.25MM base in ’15. In short, the Titans can get out of the deal after 2014 without much penalty.
Aaron Wilson of the Baltimore Sun (via Twitter) reports that nose tackle Jerrell Powe gets a $645K split salary from the Texans on his one-year deal.
The Titans, who cut kicker Rob Bironas yesterday, called Old Dominion kicker Jarod Brown, tweets Aaron Wilson of the Baltimore Sun. The 49ers and Colts also worked Brown out at his Pro Day.
Offensive tackle Donald Penn says reuniting with former Bucs assistant Greg Olson was a big factor in his decision to signing with the Raiders, tweets Vic Tafur of the San Francisco Chronicle.
Although Rich Cimini of ESPNNewYork.com reported yesterday that the Jets had reworked Mike Goodson‘s contract to clear his 2014 roster bonus from the team’s cap, Manish Mehta of the New York Daily News says (via Twitter) says that actually happened at the start of the 2013 season.

Luke Adams contributed to this post.

Contract Details: DRC, Hauschka, Edelman

March 18th, 2014 at 2:48pm CST by Luke Adams

We’ve got plenty more contract details to round up, so let’s dive right in….

Aaron Wilson of the Baltimore Sun and Albert Breer of the NFL Network pass along several key details on Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie‘s contract with the Giants, which seems to include $12MM in fully guaranteed money, and a little more in salary guaranteed for injury only. Here are the relevant Twitter links to read up on all the specifics.
Wilson also shares the specifics on Steven Hauschka‘s three-year contract with the Seahawks (Twitter link), Walter Thurmond‘s one-year deal with the Giants (Twitter link), and Dane Fletcher‘s one-year deal with the Bucs (Twitter link).
Jason Fitzgerald of OverTheCap.com has been doing a great job all week getting finalized contract details up in his database, and he passed along several new entries today. Among them: The Raiders‘ two-year deals for LaMarr Woodley and Justin Tuck, the Eagles‘ extension for Darren Sproles, and the Saints‘ five-year pact with Zach Strief.
Julian Edelman received a $5MM signing bonus from the Patriots on his new contract, tweets Jeff Howe of the Boston Herald.
John Keim of ESPN.com has the details on Santana Moss‘ minimum salary benefit contract and Clifton Geathers‘ two-year deal with the Redskins.
Although Michael Oher‘s four-year deal with the Titans was initially reported as including $9.5MM in guaranteed money, it’s actually a little less than that, and only $6MM is fully guaranteed, with another $3.35MM guaranteed for injury only. Paul Kuharsky of ESPN.com has the details.
Emmanuel Sanders‘ three-year, $15MM contract with the Broncos features $6MM in guaranteed money and cap hits of $6MM (2014), $4MM (2015), and $5MM (2016), tweets Albert Breer of the NFL Network.
Updating his earlier report on Charles Tillman‘s contract with the Bears, Brad Biggs of the Chicago Tribune tweets that the deal includes $150K in performance incentives (based on total interceptions), so it could max out at $3.4MM instead of $3.25MM.
Frank Zombo‘s two-year deal with the Chiefs is worth $1.6MM and includes a $100K signing bonus, tweets Terez A. Paylor of the Kansas City Star. A minimum-salary deal for Zombo with a $100K bonus would work out to $1.575MM, so either that $1.6MM figure is rounded up, or the linebacker received slightly more than the minimum.

Extra Points: DRC, Miller, Sanders, Saffold

March 18th, 2014 at 10:11am CST by Luke Adams

Following up on a piece he wrote about Jets GM John Idzik‘s deliberate – and perhaps questionable – approach to free agency, Manish Mehta of the New York Daily News tweets that, after an initial low-ball offer, the Jets made an “11th hour” pitch to Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie. However, the Giants had essentially locked up the free agent cornerback by that point.

Here are a few more Tuesday updates from around the NFL:

In a series of tweets, Tom Pelissero of USA Today breaks down the details on Zach Miller‘s pay cut with the Seahawks, which will reduce the tight end’s 2014 compensation by $3MM and his 2015 pay by $2MM.
After missing out on Emmanuel Sanders, the Chiefs continue to target younger wide receivers in free agency, which rules out some of the older veterans on the market, tweets Terez A. Paylor of the Kansas City Star.
Speaking of Sanders, his agents issued a lengthy statement suggesting that there was never an agreement in place with the Chiefs before the receiver agreed to sign with the Broncos, as Aaron Wilson of the National Football Post details.
In the wake of the Sanders controversy, former agent Joel Corry points out in a piece for CBSSports.com that both agents and teams can be guilty of reneging on deals.
Aaron Wilson (Twitter links) passes along the specifics of the Rodger Saffold contract with the Rams, which includes a $5MM signing bonus, a $3MM roster bonus for 2015, and a $3MM guaranteed base salary in 2014. As Joel Corry tweets, the Raiders‘ decision to void their agreement with Saffold will cost the offensive lineman a significant sum.
Daryl Smith‘s contract with the Ravens includes a $3.5MM signing bonus, and that appears to be the only guaranteed money in the deal, as Aaron Wilson details in a pair of tweets. According to Wilson, the four-year pact can be worth up to $16.1MM, as initially reported, but it has a base value of just $13.6MM.
Jack Bechta of the National Football Post identifies the Colts‘ signing of Hakeem Nicks and the Buccaneers‘ deal with Alterraun Verner as two of the best bargains in free agency so far. Among our top 25 free agents of 2014, Nicks and Verner are two who will earn markedly less than I anticipated.