Lavonte David - Pro Football Rumors

NFC South Notes: Bennett, Bucs, Falcons

August 12th, 2015 at 1:24pm CST by Zachary Links

Here’s a look at the NFC South, where the newest member of the Buccaneers‘ defensive line could be recruiting a Seahawks notable to Tampa Bay..

New Buccaneers defensive tackle Tony McDaniel says that former teammate Michael Bennett wants to return to Tampa Bay, as JoeBucsFan.com writes. “I told him about, you know, I told him about some of the teams that were offering me and he said Tampa was a great place, and he even said he wishes he could come back down here. But yeah, he kind of helped sell me to come down here to Tampa and play,” said McDaniel, who also vowed to get Bennett back to the Bucs. Bennett is currently embroiled in a contract dispute with the Seahawks but he also has multiple years to go on his deal.
Joel Corry of CBSSports.com passes along a few details on the Buccaneers‘ new “pay-as-you-go” extension with Lavonte David, reporting that the deal increases David’s cap hit for 2015 due to a roster bonus that will be paid this week, and features annual escalators for Pro Bowl or first-team All-Pro nods (all Twitter links).
Former Missouri cornerback Kevin Rutland, a former Jaguars player, worked out for the Falcons, a source tells Aaron Wilson of the National Football Post (on Twitter).

Luke Adams contributed to this post.

Buccaneers, Lavonte David Agree To Extension

August 9th, 2015 at 4:43pm CST by Dallas Robinson

The Buccaneers have signed linebacker Lavonte David to a five-year, $50.25MM extension, the club announced. $25.56MM of the deal is guaranteed. David is now locked up through the 2020 season.

Talks between David and Tampa Bay had been heating up, but Getlin reported near the end of July that there was still a sizab le gap between the two sides. As of last Wednesday, David and the Bucs were said to be “not close” in negotiations, with reports indicating that fellow outside linebacker DeAndre Levy‘s recent extension with the Lions would play a large role in discussions.

Assuming that the $50.25MM figure is in reference to new money — and doesn’t include David’s 2015 compensation — David will the new high-earner among 4-3 outside linebackers. His $10.05MM average annual value will be more than $1.5MM larger per year than that of Levy, who was the top earner at the position for about a week.

Per Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (Twitter link), David’s target in contract talks was Patrick Willis‘ $10MM per year. David not only match that figure, but narrowly eclipsed it, and he’ll not only become the highest-paid among OLBs, but he’ll rank fourth among all linebackers, accounting even for 3-4 pass-rushers. Justin Houston, Clay Matthews, and Ryan Kerrigan are the only ‘backers with larger AAVs than David.

We’ll probably have to wait for the fully guaranteed portion of the deal — the $25.56MM number is likely guaranteed for injury only — but David figures to top Levy in that regard, as well. Levy received $13MM in full guarantees as a part of his $33.74MM extension. If David is able to match that percentage-wise, he should be looking at about $19.5MM in fully guaranteed money.

The 25-year-old David has been among the best linebackers in the league since being selected in the second round of the 2012 draft. The Nebraska alum has started 46 out of a possible 48 games for the Buccaneers, posting more than 100 tackles in each season. In 2014, David ranked as the No. 7 4-3 OLB in the NFL, according to Pro Football Focus (subscription required) — he finished sixth and second, respectively, in 2012 and 2013.

David becomes the second key member of Tampa’s defense to earn a long-term extension, joining defensive tackle Gerald McCoy, who was drafted two years ahead of David. McCoy agreed to a seven-year, $98MM deal last October, meaning that the two defensive stalwarts are both locked up for the foreseeable future: David through 2020, McCoy through 2021.

Rand Getlin of the NFL Network (Twitter link) reported that the two sides had a struck a deal, and indicated that the length of the pact. Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (Twitter link) reported the total value and the guarantee. Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

South Notes: Saints, David, Texans, Colts

August 6th, 2015 at 8:50am CST by Luke Adams

It’s been an eventful year for cornerback Alfonzo Dennard, who received a raise for 2015 and won a Super Bowl with the Patriots within the first few weeks of the year. However, since then, he’s been cut twice, by the Pats and Cardinals, negating that non-guaranteed raise that he earned back in January. Currently, Dennard is a free agent, and Josina Anderson of ESPN.com reports (via Twitter) that he’s working out for the Saints today.

Dennard missed 10 regular season contests in 2014, as he was plagued throughout the season by shoulder and hamstring issues. In New Orleans, he could help provide depth for a secondary that’s banged up early in training camp — cornerbacks Keenan Lewis and Delvin Breaux were among the players absent from the team’s walkthrough on Wednesday.

Here’s more from around the NFL’s two South divisions:

Buccaneers linebacker Lavonte David will likely be keeping a close eye on the financial terms for DeAndre Levy‘s new extension with the Lions, since David figures to surpass Levy’s deal. According to Anderson (via Twitter), the Bucs and David were “still not close” to working out a new contract as of Wednesday morning.
Pierre Thomas and the Texans could revisit a deal, even though there’s no pact at this time, writes Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle. Wilson, who says Houston offered Thomas a minimum-salary contract, indicates that the two sides will likely remain in touch, since the former Saint was “clearly” the Texans’ preferred choice of the backs that auditioned for the team.
Former Patriots and Rutgers linebacker Steve Beauharnais worked out for the Colts on Wednesday, a source tells Wilson (Twitter link). The 25-year-old saw a little regular season action with Washington in 2014.

Fallout From Bobby Wagner Extension

August 2nd, 2015 at 10:40am CST by Rory Parks

Let’s take a look at how Bobby Wagner‘s new four-year, $43MM deal impacts his club and several other teams with linebackers anticipating a new contract.

Seahawks

ESPN’s Andrew Brandt tweets that the Seahawks structured Russell Wilson‘s extension to give them maximum salary cap room for this season, thereby allowing them to sign Wagner to a long-term contract. As such, the team will probably need Wilson to restructure his deal a couple years from now.
Wagner made some waves on Friday when he tweeted “Can’t keep everyone.” As former NFL agent Joel Corry tweets, that message may end up applying to Seattle left tackle Russell Okung, whose contract expires at the end of this year. Bruce Irvin, who is also eligible for unrestricted free agency at the end of 2015, may also be playing his last year in a Seahawks uniform.
The Wagner extension has inevitably called attention to the contract situations of Kam Chancellor and Michael Bennett, who are both unhappy with their current deals (Chancellor, of course, has decided to hold out of training camp). Corry tweets that, if the Seahawks address Chancellor’s contract, it would “create an issue” with Bennett. Chancellor does have three years left on his contract, so should the Seahawks rework his deal in any way, Corry tweets that Richard Sherman and Earl Thomas will both expect the same treatment in 2016.
Bob Condotta of The Seattle Times believes the Seahawks will likely want to keep guard J.R. Sweezy, who is playing in the last year of his contract, but it is too early to say how the team will approach impending free agent punter Jon Ryan (Twitter links).

Buccaneers

Rand Getlin of the NFL Network tweets that the Wagner deal was “always going to inform the Lavonte David deal,” a sentiment shared by several other prominent scribes. Jason Fitzgerald of OverTheCap.com, though, is not so sure. Fitzgerald points out (via Twitter) that David and Wagner play completely different positions and that David, as a non-pass rushing outside linebacker, is likely to land around $3MM less per season than Wagner.
In any event, Getlin tweets that David and the Bucs will continue to talk over the coming days, and both sides are reportedly motivated to strike a deal.
Corry tweets that Tampa Bay prefers contracts longer than four years when it comes to extending its best players, so that may be what the team is aiming for with David.

Lions

DeAndre Levy, who is eligible for unrestricted free agency at the end of this season, saw Wagner’s deal and hopes to remain with the Lions, but he said he will leave all contract talk to his agent (Twitter link via Dave Birkett of The Detroit Free Press).

NFC South Notes: David, S. Hill, Saints

July 29th, 2015 at 10:51pm CST by Luke Adams

Let’s wrap up Wednesday evening by taking a look at a few items from out of the NFC South….

Buccaneers GM Jason Licht says that he’s having “some healthy talks” with linebacker Lavonte David regarding a new contract, Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times tweets. Licht said that a deal like this doesn’t get done overnight, but he’ll do “everything” he can “to make sure Lavonte is a [member of the Bucs] for a long time” (Twitter link).
Meanwhile, Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times classifies the David extension talks as “amicable but not fruitful” in his look at the Buccaneers linebacker.
Panthers wide receiver Stephen Hill was issued a citation for a drug paraphernalia charge during a traffic stop in Concord, North Carolina on Tuesday afternoon, as Kevin Patra of NFL.com writes. According to the incident report, Hill was charged for knowingly possessing with intent to use drug paraphernalia, including two grinders with marijuana residue and a marijuana bowl. Hill was already a long shot to get a spot on the team with a significant role, but this incident hurts his chances even more.
Speaking today to reporters, including ESPN.com’s Mike Triplett, Saints GM Mickey Loomis admitted that he’ll have to re-examine the steps that led him to locking up Junior Galette last fall. “I’ve got to say, ‘Hey, what could we have done differently? What were the red flags that we missed or that I missed?'” Loomis said. “I thought this was a player that’s had a lot of production for us and felt like the arrow was pointing up. At the time, I thought this was a good deal for us.”

Zach Links contributed to this post.

NFC Notes: Bucs, David, Winston, JPP

July 23rd, 2015 at 9:38pm CST by Zachary Links

The Buccaneers and linebacker Lavonte David are working towards a long-term deal, but there’s still a sizable gap between the two sides, Rand Getlin of NFL.com tweets. David, 25, recorded 145 tackles, one sack, and four forced fumbles in 2014 for the Bucs. In 2013, he had even gaudier tackle numbers to go with 7.0 sacks and a First-Team All-Pro selection. GM Jason Licht, he adds (link), has stated publicly that keeping David in Tampa Bay is a franchise priority. Here’s more out of the NFC..

If the lawsuit brought against Buccaneers quarterback Jameis Winston by the woman who says he raped her goes to trial, it won’t be for quite a white. Winston’s reps and the accuser’s attorneys agreed to set a deadline of October 14, 2016, for discovery and a jury trial date of April 3, 2017, according to Brendan Sonnone of The Orlando Sentinel.
While acknowledging that the team’s current relationship with Jason Pierre-Paul is “complicated,” Giants owner Steve Tisch says that his main focus is seeing the defensive end make a full recovery. “It’s been printed and it’s very sincere: Above anything else I hope he’s healing,” Tisch said, according to Neil Best of Newsday. “I hope he will play great football in the future. I hope he’s getting the best medical care available to him and I really personally and from my position with the Giants wish him all the best and I look forward to seeing him sooner than later. It’s complicated, as you know, but [co-owner] John Mara and I, coach [Tom] Coughlin, [General Manager] Jerry Reese, all the team, his teammates, wish only the best for him.”
Justin Terranova of the New York Post spoke with former Giants offensive lineman Shaun O’Hara about a number of topics, including how he would play JPP if he lined up against him. “If I was playing against him, the thing I would want to figure out right away is: Is he scared to use the hand? I would be pretty aggressive with him, get my hands on him and see if he’s willing to use his hand or is favoring it. It’s going to take him time to be pain-free, but the biggest thing with him is to get in football shape because it’s going to take awhile. He hasn’t taken a football snap since the last game last year because he wasn’t there this spring,” O’Hara said.
Rich Tandler and Tarik El-Bashir of CSNWashington.com debated whether Washington kicker Kai Forbath could be pushed in camp by offseason pickup Ty Long, a Alabama-Birmingham product. Forbath is a clutch, accurate field goal kicker but he struggles on kickoffs and doesn’t offer a big leg. Long has shown that he can nail attempts from deep, but both seem to agree that Forbath is probably safe as long as he keeps booting the short field goals..
The 49ers‘ group of outside linebackers should be considerably stronger than it was a year ago, assuming Aldon Smith is on the field when the season begins and remains there, Matt Maiocco of CSNBayArea.com writes. Meanwhile, they’ll be going ahead without Dan Skuta, who signed with the Jaguars in free agency.

NFC Mailbags: David, Buccaneers, Stewart, Lions

June 13th, 2015 at 11:19am CST by Ben Levine

It’s Saturday morning, and that means ESPN.com’s NFL writers are opening their mailbags and answering questions from readers. Let take a look at some interesting notes out of the NFC…

There is an “open dialogue” between the Buccaneers and linebacker Lavonte David‘s camp regarding a contract extension, reports Pat Yasinskas. The writer notes that both sides would like to get a deal done quickly.
Looking at the Buccaneers offensive line, Yasinskas believes the team doesn’t have much of a need for recently-released Evan Mathis. The team would rather have their young players, including Ali Marpet and Kadeem Edwards, compile snaps. Meanwhile, Yasinskas says lineman Demar Dotson still wants a new contract, and the writer believes showing up for minicamp could improve the player’s chances.
Jonathan Stewart‘s deal runs through 2017, and David Newton could envision the Panthers getting out of that contract early. Considering general manager Dave Gettleman‘s willingness to part ways with veterans like DeAngelo Williams and Steve Smith, there’s no guarantee that Stewart sticks around.
If Lions defensive coordinator Teryl Austin can put together a top-five defense without Ndamukong Suh and Nick Fairley, Michael Rothstein says the 50-year-old will likely have his pick of heading coaching gigs next offseason.
Rothstein believes it could be a “tough road” for Mohammed Seisay to make the Lions 53-man roster. If the cornerback were to stick around, it’d have to be because of the 25-year-old’s contributions on special teams. The writer notes that the team has four “likely locks” to make the roster at cornerback: Rashean Mathis, Darius Slay, Alex Carter and Quandre Diggs.

NFC Mailbags: Rams, Bucs, Vikings, Panthers, Cardinals

May 30th, 2015 at 12:16pm CST by Ben Levine

It’s Saturday, and that means ESPN.com’s NFL writers are opening their mailbags and answering questions from readers. Let’s start with notes from the NFC…

Considering Benny Cunningham‘s role as a third-down blocker and kick returner, Nick Wagoner doesn’t believe it’s realistic for the Rams to pay Isaiah Pead just to be the fourth running back.
Pat Yasinskas wouldn’t be surprised if the Buccaneers and linebacker Lavonte David agree to a longterm extension prior to training camp. The writer guesses an annual value of about $8MM for the former second-round pick.
The Vikings and Adrian Peterson haven’t made any progress towards a restructured deal, according to Ben Goessling. The writer assumes that the organization would prefer to get Peterson in for a meeting before they sign him to a new deal. Goessling also notes that most of the team’s moves are with an eye towards 2016, when they move into a new stadium. If the team didn’t have plans for Peterson to be on the roster during that season, they wouldn’t be “bothering” with this current back-and-forth.
If the Panthers offense struggles in 2015, David Newton believes the blame will be attributed to offensive coordinator Mike Shula. However, the writer would caution declaring this a “make-or-break” season for Shula.
Unless Joe Webb can prove his value as a wideout or special-teams player, Newton has a tough time envisioning the quarterback making the Panthers roster.
The competition for the Cardinals third quarterback job is Logan Thomas‘ to lose, says Josh Weinfuss. Phillip Sims or Chandler Harnish could ultimately prove to be better options, but Weinfuss believes the competition is coach Bruce Arians‘ way of motivating Thomas.

NFC Notes: Washington, Forte, David

April 28th, 2015 at 12:25pm CST by Luke Adams

Washington owner Daniel Snyder may have finally gotten it right with his hiring of GM Scot McCloughan, Jarrett Bell of USA Today Sports writes. The 44-year-old McCloughan made none of the splashy, high-dollar moves that had become a franchise trademark in his first offseason. Instead, he signed Terrance Knighton, Stephen Paea and Ricky Jean-Francois to fortify the defensive line at reasonable rates while obtaining Pro Bowl safety Dashon Goldson for next to nothing.

As we wait to see what McCloughan has up his sleeve in the draft, let’s round up some more items from across the NFC….

Bears head coach John Fox said today that he doesn’t believe running back Matt Forte is present at the team’s voluntary minicamp, tweets Brad Biggs of the Chicago Tribune. Forte is heading into a contract year, and figures to be seeking an extension.
Vikings linebacker Chad Greenway is returning to the Vikings for at least one more season, but he’s not sure yet whether 2015 will be his final year in the NFL, writes Chris Tomasson of the St. Paul Pioneer Press.
Speaking today to reporters, Buccaneers linebacker Lavonte David said he’s not thinking about contract negotiations. Roy Cummings of the Tampa Tribune tweets that the team intends to begin extension talks with David following the draft.
Defensive end Adam Carriker, who was cut by Washington a year ago, is trying out for the Falcons during the club’s minicamp this week, per Jay Adams of AtlantaFalcons.com (Twitter link).
Nebraska’s Randy Gregory would be a gift from the gods if the Cowboys could land him, Rick Gosselin of The Dallas Morning News writes. If Gregory somehow falls all the way to No 27 and Dallas doesn’t take him, Gosselin would be shocked.
Matt Maiocco of CSNBayArea.com ranked the 49ers‘ top five draft needs, starting with inside linebacker. San Francisco won’t necessarily take an inside linebacker in the first or second round, but at some point the team will add depth at the position.

Zach Links contributed to this post.

South Notes: Winston, Titans, David, Draft

April 9th, 2015 at 6:42pm CST by Dallas Robinson

Florida State quarterback Jameis Winston is expected to be selected by the Buccaneers with the draft’s first overall pick, but the Titans, owners of the No. 2 pick, are covering all their bases. According to Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (Twitter link), Winston will be in Nashville on Monday to meet with Titans. Tennessee met with Oregon QB Marcus Mariota today, so the club is certainly exploring every avenue when it comes to signal-callers.

Let’s take a look at more from the South divisions…

One of the top outside linebackers in the NFL, Lavonte David isn’t tied to a fifth-year option given that he was selected in the second round. Now that David is entering the final year of his rookie deal, Buccaneers general manager Jason Licht says extending the star OLB will be a top priority for the club following the draft (Twitter link via Roy Cummings of the Tampa Tribune).
Licht also allowed that the Buccaneers will probably look to select offensive lineman in the draft, noting that scheme fit will be a key concern, per Cummings (on Twitter).
Like the Bucs, the Panthers are in need of offensive line help, and Carolina native D.J. Humphries could be available at the end of the first round. The Florida product seems excited about the possibility of returning home, telling reporters, including David Newton of ESPN.com, that “being in Charlotte would be awesome.”
Given that the Titans already re-signed Derrick Morgan and brought in Brian Orakpo, Paul Kuharsky of ESPN.com examines whether it makes sense for the club to target an edge rusher in the draft.