HEADLINES

Josh Brown

East Notes: Vick, Pats, Giants, Murray

August 6th, 2014 at 9:11pm CST by Zachary Links

Not every Jets fan will agree, but coach Rex Ryan made the right call to keep rising sophomore Geno Smith as his starter over veteran free agent addition Michael Vick, opines Bob Glauber of Newsday. It doesn’t guarantee that Smith will take a significant step forward after last year’s inconsistent campaign but it also doesn’t mean that Ryan and offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg can’t change their minds mid-season. More out of the AFC and NFC East..

  • Jason Fitzgerald of Over The Cap looked at the best and worst contracts on the Patriots‘ payroll. The best deal, he writes is the one they gave to offensive lineman Sebastian Vollmer as it’s a prime example of how how to handle a good, but injury prone, player. The worst, meanwhile, belongs to Logan Mankins, who edged out the oft-injured Danny Amendola for the dubious distinction. Mankins is the better player of the two, but he ended up being paid as the top interior lineman in the league at a time when he was not the best at his position. Mankins carries a $10.5MM cap charge this year, second highest among guards in the NFL.
  • The Jets are thrilled with the play of new right tackle Breno Giacomini, writes Brian Lewis of the New York Post. “He’s great, and he’s been going like this,’’ Ryan said while making the motion of a jet taking off. “I think getting used to the offense, there are new plays, new terminology, all that kind of stuff, playing with new teammates.“
  • Giants special teams coordinator Tom Quinn says the battle between kickers Josh Brown and Brandon McManus is still extremely close, writes Tom Rock of Newsday. “The thing about Josh is that he does have a strong leg,” Quinn said. “A lot of times, you have an older kicker and a young kicker and the young kicker has such a strong leg. But Brandon will really have to beat him out in all areas to win the job. And he knows that.”
  • Rick Gosselin and Barry Horn of the Dallas Morning News looked at several issues concerning the Cowboys, including whether running back DeMarco Murray could price the club out of re-signing him. Goesselin feels that in today’s pass-happy NFL, it’d be impossible for the 27-year-old to get too pricey for Dallas. Horn, meanwhile, isn’t so sure since owner Jerry Jones likes to dole out big deals.

East Links: Revis, Jets, Brown

August 3rd, 2014 at 10:16am CST by Rory Parks

As the Bills and Giants prepare to kick off the preseason in tonight’s Hall of Fame game, let’s take a look at some links from some of their fellow teams in the league’s east divisions:

  • It will be difficult for Dolphins‘ running back Daniel Thomas to stay on Miami’s roster, writes Armando Salguero of the Miami Herald. Thomas is, of course, behind Lamar Miller and Knowshon Moreno on the team’s depth chart, but he has also lost his biggest advocate in former GM Jeff Ireland and Mike Gillislee has been more active in training camp.
  • Rich Cimini of ESPNNewYork.com writes that the Jets received a $1.75MM salary cap credit this season as a result of an injury grievance settlement with former nose tackle Sione Po’uha. The team would have had a great deal of salary cap room even without the settlement, but now they have about $21MM of cap space.
  • In the same piece, Cimini notes that the recent deals for 2011 first-round selections Tyson Smith and Patrick Peterson will not hurry the Jets in extension talks with their own 2011 first-rounder, Muhammad Wilkerson. A new deal for the big defensive lineman may not happen until next year.
  • Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets that Jets‘ LB Jermaine Cunningham, who the team hoped would provide pass-rush help in 2014, is believed to have torn his ACL, thus ending his season.
  • The freshly-inked extensions for Tyson Smith and Patrick Peterson have proven to be useful fodder for beat writers from around the league. Ben Volin of the Boston Globe writes that those new deals have set the bar for key members of the Patriots‘ roster like Nate Solder and Darrelle Revis. Although Revis is technically under contract for the next two seasons, no one expects New England to pick up his $12.5MM option bonus for 2015, which would saddle the club with a $25MM cap hit. As such, Revis–assuming he stays healthy and productive–will be eyeing Peterson’s deal (as well as those recently signed by Richard Sherman and Joe Haden) as a benchmark for a new contract of his own. However, he will turn 30 next July and has a torn ACL in his past, so a “pay-as-you-go” deal like that signed by Sherman may be a more fitting option. Solder, meanwhile, is under contract for a more reasonable $7.44MM in 2015, so while an extension for him is not a top priority just yet, Smith’s new contract may guide negotiations if and when extension talks commence.
  • Giants kicker Josh Brown knows that his spot on the team’s roster is far from guaranteed, writes Mark Cannizzaro of the New York Post. His competition with Brandon McManus, who is 12 years his junior, begins in earnest tonight.
  • John Keim of ESPN.com examines the Redskins roster battle at inside linebacker.

Giants Re-Sign Josh Brown

March 12th, 2014 at 11:18am CST by Zachary Links

WEDNESDAY, 11:18am: The Giants gave kicker Josh Brown a two-year deal with a $2.5MM base and another $500K in incentives, tweets Mike Garafolo of FOX Sports. That’s a step up from the veteran’s minimum that he earned last year.

TUESDAY, 5:42pm: Kicker Josh Brown announced via Twitter that he has re-signed with the Giants. We learned yesterday that Big Blue and Brown were close to an agreement.

Brown, 35 next month, only missed three field goals in 2013. Terms of the pact are not yet known but other kickers have inked new deals with annual salaries exceeding $3MM so far this offseason.

Earlier today, the other Meadowlands tenant took care of their placekicker when they inked Nick Folk to a multi-year deal.

Giants To Cut Baas, Close To Re-Signing Brown

March 10th, 2014 at 3:43pm CST by Luke Adams

The Giants are cutting David Baas, multiple sources tell Jordan Raanan of NJ.com. The team had approached the veteran center about accepting a pay cut to reduce his 2014 cap number, but it seems the two sides couldn’t reach an agreement.

Baas, who was limited to three games last season due to knee injuries, was slated to have a cap hit of $8.225MM in 2014. Because the final two seasons of his deal carry large prorated bonus numbers, cutting him will only create $1.775MM in cap savings for the Giants. Nonetheless, the team won’t designate him as a post-June 1 cut.

Meanwhile, Conor Orr of the Star-Ledger reports that the Giants are also close to wrapping up a new contract for kicker Josh Brown. Years and dollars on that agreement aren’t yet known. While Brown’s age (35 next month) may limit his earnings, other kickers have inked new deals with annual salaries exceeding $3MM so far this offseason, and Brown only missed three field goals in 2013.

Giants Likely To Re-Sign Josh Brown

January 30th, 2014 at 8:42am CST by Luke Adams

With the Giants struggling to a 7-9 record during the 2013 season, kicker Josh Brown perhaps didn’t get as many scoring opportunities as he would’ve liked in his first year with the club. However, it sounds like he’ll get another chance to rack up points for the team next season. According to Jordan Ranaan of NJ.com, a new deal between Brown and the Giants appears to be “imminent and likely.”

“I absolutely would love to be back with the Giants. I conveyed that with them,” Brown told Ranaan. “I was picking up that they were feeling the same exact way.”

After spending the first 10 years of his career kicking for the Seahawks, Rams, and the Bengals, Brown inked a one-year, minimum-salary contract with the Giants last March. The 34-year-old converted all 31 extra-point attempts and 23 of 26 field goals (88.5%) for New York. Of the dozen or so other kickers set to hit the open market, only Phil Dawson, Dan Carpenter, Nick Folk, and Steven Hauschka had higher 2013 field goal conversion rates than Brown.

While Ranaan writes that the Giants seem to be “on the verge” of re-signing Brown, the veteran kicker himself indicates that he’s looking forward to talking to the team, which indicates that negotiations have yet to occur. Still, given Brown’s success in 2013 and his insistence that he’s “not looking to make it rain” with his next deal, the two sides could reach an agreement quickly.