Marcus Mariota - Pro Football Rumors

Extra Points: Cowboys, Wilkerson

September 12th, 2015 at 8:07pm CST by Connor J. Byrne

The Cowboys made the wise decision to select ex-Notre Dame offensive guard Zack Martin 16th overall in the 2014 draft, but they did so against owner Jerry Jones’ wishes, chief operating officer Stephen Jones – Jerry’s son – told David Moore of the Dallas Morning News.

“Let’s go over this quarterback thing one more time,” said Jerry Jones, despite hearing endorsements of Martin from Stephen Jones, senior director of college/pro personnel Will McClay, head coach Jason Garrett and offensive coordinator Scott Linehan.

The Cowboys then tried – and failed – to move down in the draft before settling on Martin.

“Son, if you want to do special things in life, you can’t keep picking and doing things down the middle,” Jerry said to Stephen afterward. “What we just did was down the middle.”

Martin did special things as a rookie, earning Pro Bowl and All-Pro honors. Quarterback Johnny Manziel, whom Dallas could have taken instead of Martin, had a poor first year both on and off the field and enters his second season backing up journeyman Josh McCown in Cleveland.

Here’s more from around the NFL:

CBS Sports’ Jason La Canfora reported earlier Saturday that the Jets and defensive lineman Muhammad Wilkerson are far apart on contract talks and unlikely to continue negotiating when the season starts Sunday. However, there is not – nor has there ever been – a hard Sunday deadline to get a deal done, according to Manish Mehta of the New York Daily News (Twitter link). That means the two sides could still hammer out a long-term extension during the season.
Titans head coach Ken Whisenhunt, speaking to SiriusXM NFL Radio (Twitter link), showered praise on rookie quarterback Marcus Mariota. “It was amazing how quickly our team bonded with Mariota. He has a businesslike professional approach. Doesn’t get rattled.” Mariota, the second overall pick in this year’s draft, will square off against the No. 1 selection, Bucs QB Jameis Winston, on Sunday.
The Browns won’t improve on their 7-9 record from 2014 without another big year from their defensive backfield, writes Tom Reed of Cleveland.com. The group includes three Pro Bowlers in Joe Haden, Tashaun Gipson and Donte Whitner. Gipson believes he’s part of the best secondary in the league. “Any time you get together this kind of talent nothing bad can go wrong in our eyes,” he said. “If we execute the game plan and play fast I feel there’s no better secondary out than us.”
The five-year, $45MM extension the Cowboys signed Tyrone Crawford to Saturday makes the Eagles’ recent four-year, $29MM pact with Mychal Kendricks look better, opines former Eagles and Browns executive Joe Banner. Kendricks’ deal is the best one any team has given out this year, Banner thinks (Twitter link).

Details On Marcus Mariota’s Partial Offsets

July 25th, 2015 at 6:26pm CST by Dallas Robinson

The Titans became the final team to come to terms with their first-round pick earlier this week, agreeing to a standard four-year deal with a fifth-year option with quarterback Marcus Mariota. The delay in negotiations was largely (if not entirely) due to haggling over offsets, and as such, the final contract reportedly contains partial offset language, the details of which we’ve learned today.

According to Tom Pelissero of USA Today (all Twitter links), the only portion of Mariota’s $24.214MM contract that would be subject to offsets are his base salaries, which total just $2.28MM. Mariota’s signing bonus, which is worth roughly $15.87MM, and his roster bonuses — $1.011MM in 2016, $2.021MM in 2017, and $3.032MM in 2018 — are protected. Additionally, Pelissero reports that those roster bonuses are due on the fifth day of training camp each year.

Speaking on the subject nearly two weeks ago, Titans CEO and president Steve Underwood seemed adamant that the club would not budge on the issue of offsets. “We’ve always had offset language in our player contracts. It’s nothing new,” Underwood said. “I think it is important where a high first-round draft pick is concerned, because it’s the precedent. Everything that we do is precedential for the next round of contracts.”

Instead, it appears as though Tennessee caved on the issue; the club could point to the fact that some offsets were included as a win, but for the most part, this looks like a victory for Mariota and his camp. For what it’s worth, No. 1 overall pick Jameis Winston didn’t force the issue on offsets, choosing instead to agree to a contract with the Bucs the day after he was drafted. Only one player selected in the top 10 – third overall pick Dante Fowler Jr. – has a deal without any offset language.

As explained by Luke Adams of PFR last summer, offset language relates to what happens to a player’s salary if he’s cut during the first four years of his career, while he’s still playing on his rookie contract. For the top 15 to 20 picks in the draft, those four-year salaries will be fully guaranteed, even if a player is waived at some point during those four seasons. For example, if a player has $4MM in guaranteed money remaining on his contract and is cut, he’ll still be owed that $4MM.

However, if a team has written offset language into the contract, that club can save some money if and when the player signs with a new team. For example, if that player who had $4MM in guaranteed money left on his contract signs with a new club on a $1MM deal, his old team would only be on the hook for $3MM, with the new team making up the difference. If there’s no offset language on that first deal, the old team would continue to be on the hook for the full $4MM, and the player would simply earn an additional $1MM from his new club.

Titans Sign Marcus Mariota

July 21st, 2015 at 6:45pm CST by Zachary Links

6:45pm: The deal has partial offset language, according to Terry McCormick of TitanInsider.com (on Twitter).

6:35pm: Finally, it’s a done deal. The Titans announced on Tuesday night that they have signed rookie quarterback Marcus Mariota.

“We are glad to have the deal with Marcus done, and I’d like to thank both Marcus and his representatives for their diligence in working with us to finalize this contract,” said Titans Executive Vice President and General Manager Ruston Webster. “We were confident that Marcus would be under contract before training camp, and we look forward to him starting his career on time with his teammates when we open camp next week. This is an exciting time for the Tennessee Titans organization, and we look forward to a bright future.”

Negotiations between Tennessee and the No. 2 overall pick went on much, much longer than anyone anticipated. Eventually, it came to light that the dispute stemmed from whether the contract would include offset language. As explained by Luke Adams of PFR last summer, offset language relates to what happens to a player’s salary if he’s cut during the first four years of his career, while he’s still playing on his rookie contract. For the top 15 to 20 picks in the draft, those four-year salaries will be fully guaranteed, even if a player is waived at some point during those four seasons. For example, if a player has $4MM in guaranteed money remaining on his contract and is cut, he’ll still be owed that $4MM.

However, if a team has written offset language into the contract, that club can save some money if and when the player signs with a new team. For example, if that player who had $4MM in guaranteed money left on his contract signs with a new club on a $1MM deal, his old team would only be on the hook for $3MM, with the new team making up the difference. If there’s no offset language on that first deal, the old team would continue to be on the hook for the full $4MM, and the player would simply earn an additional $1MM from his new club.

No. 1 overall pick Jameis Winston didn’t force the issue on offsets, choosing instead to agree to a contract with the Bucs the day after he was drafted. Only one player selected in the top 10 – third overall pick Dante Fowler Jr. – has a deal without offset language.

In 2014, the Hawaii native directed the most efficient offense (23.5) in the country and led all quarterbacks nationally with a total quarterback rating of 90.9. Mariota finished the season ranked third among FBS quarterbacks with 4,454 passing yards and amassed 42 passing touchdowns, while rushing for 770 yards and 15 scores. The Oregon QB was regarded by some as the best signal caller in the draft, though the Bucs felt differently and selected Winston No. 1.

Now, only two draft picks remain unsigned: Colts cornerback D’Joun Smith and Colts defensive lineman Henry Anderson.

Titans Not Budging On Offsets For Mariota

July 14th, 2015 at 8:37pm CST by Zachary Links

For months, the Titans and No. 2 overall pick Marcus Mariota have been at an impasse over whether there would be offset language in his contract. Mariota remains unsigned, but Titans interim CEO and president Steve Underwood says that the team will not buckle on this issue, as ESPN.com’s Paul Kuharsky writes.

“We’ve always had offset language in our player contracts. It’s nothing new,” Underwood said. “I think it is important where a high first-round draft pick is concerned, because it’s the precedent. Everything that we do is precedential for the next round of contracts. “So keeping the offset in place is something we want to be able to do going forward. And the minute you back away from the contract principle then you no longer are able to assert it going forward.”

Underwood went on to explain that if he made an exception in Mariota’s case, it would “echo into eternity with player contracts.” Fearful of setting a player-friendly precedent going forward, Underwood says he’s willing to continue this standoff. Underwood also indicated that while missed time at the start of camp isn’t ideal, it also wouldn’t be the end of the world.

The good news for Titans fans is that Underwood says offset language is the last real sticking point in negotiations, so this should be a done deal once that issue is resolved. It’s surprising that the Titans are this adamant about offsets since the odds of it becoming relevant before the end of Mariota’s deal are slim, but the team is apparently more concerned about how it will affect future dealings than how it will affect the No. 2 overall pick.

As explained by Luke Adams of PFR last summer, offset language relates to what happens to a player’s salary if he’s cut during the first four years of his career, while he’s still playing on his rookie contract. For the top 15 to 20 picks in the draft, those four-year salaries will be fully guaranteed, even if a player is waived at some point during those four seasons. For example, if a player has $4MM in guaranteed money remaining on his contract and is cut, he’ll still be owed that $4MM.

However, if a team has written offset language into the contract, that club can save some money if and when the player signs with a new team. For example, if that player who had $4MM in guaranteed money left on his contract signs with a new club on a $1MM deal, his old team would only be on the hook for $3MM, with the new team making up the difference. If there’s no offset language on that first deal, the old team would continue to be on the hook for the full $4MM, and the player would simply earn an additional $1MM from his new club.

No. 1 overall pick Jameis Winston didn’t force the issue on offsets, choosing instead to agree to a contract with the Bucs the day after he was drafted. Only one player selected in the top 10 – third overall pick Dante Fowler Jr. – has a deal without offset language.

Mariota passed for more than 4,000 yards and 40 touchdowns, leading Oregon to the National Championship Game against Ohio State.

Extra Points: Rice, Mariota, McQuillan

July 6th, 2015 at 2:33pm CST by Luke Adams

The July 4th holiday weekend is behind us, which means we’re inching slightly closer to the start of NFL training camps. As we continue to count down the days until the 2015 preseason gets underway, let’s round up a few odds and ends from around the league….

Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk checks in on Ray Rice, noting that the running back still hasn’t drawn interest from NFL teams, eight months after his indefinite suspension was overturned.
As Michael David Smith of Pro Football Talk observes, it’s odd that offsets are the holdup between the Titans and unsigned first-rounder Marcus Mariota, since the chances of offsets becoming relevant before the end of Mariota’s rookie contract are extremely slim.
Most players who enter the supplemental draft don’t get picked, but former UConn tight end Sean McQuillan – one of seven prospects eligible for this Thursday’s draft – isn’t lacking for confidence, writes Desmond Conner of the Hartford Courant. “First of all, I’m going to make it, and second of all, there isn’t a backup plan,” McQuillan said. “I’m confident I’m going to be able to do this thing. I’m prepared for this. I’m going to show them I’m athletic, I’m versatile, I can do a bunch of different things. I’m confident and I’m ready for this next step, so I haven’t thought about anything else.”
In his list of the three most team-friendly veteran wide receiver contracts in the NFL, Jason Fitzgerald of Over the Cap lists all AFC players: Julian Edelman of the Patriots, Emmanuel Sanders of the Broncos, and Antonio Brown of the Steelers.
Former Auburn running back Onterio McCalebb started his career with the Bengals as a cornerback, but the team is trying him at wide receiver this summer, as Mark Inabinett of AL.com details.

Sunday Roundup: Borland, Saints, Mariota

July 5th, 2015 at 12:43pm CST by Rory Parks

Chris Borland surprised the football world when he announced his retirement in March on the heels of a promising rookie campaign. Perhaps even more surprising was that he agreed to return three-quarters of his signing bonus to the 49ers, a sum of over $460,000. Speaking at the 2015 Legends of Wisconsin Golf Classic last week, Borland was asked about his decisions and emphasized that his choice to retire was motivated by health concerns. As Jeff Potrykus of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel writes, Borland said he decided to walk away based on “a combination of my own experience, along with a lot of data that is out there regarding long-term health effects of head injuries. And I play a position and a style of play where I was susceptible to the worst of it. I played a physical brand of football and played through some things where it makes sense for me.”

When asked about why he returned a large portion of the signing bonus, Borland said simply, “I signed a contract. I was living by the contract.” As for his future plans, Borland said a trip to Europe is next on his agenda, but otherwise, “I’ve got a few pretty decent options. I’m not going to hurry up and start a career. I’m going to take my time.”

Now for a few more links from around the league:

We cited this mailbag from ESPN.com’s Mike Triplett yesterday to provide a surprising stat on Drew Brees, but it also made sense to pass along Triplett’s thoughts on the Saints‘ cornerback situation. Triplett writes that the top four spots are probably reserved for Keenan Lewis, Brandon Browner, P.J. Williams, and Damian Swann. After that, he sees Delvin Breaux and Stanley Jean-Baptiste as the frontrunners for what may be the final two cornerback openings on the roster, leaving veterans Kyle Wilson, Terrence Frederick, and Brian Dixon on the outside.
Paul Kuharsky of ESPN.com thinks Marcus Mariota is determined to be present at Titans training camp, though it is possible his agents could convince him to stay away. The holdup in the team’s contract negotiations with its potential quarterback of the future is offset language, and Kuharsky writes that GM Ruston Webster simply needs to get Mariota to camp, either by convincing him the Titans are not going to move off their offset philosophy or by coming off their offset philosophy.
Mary Kay Cabot of The Cleveland Plain Dealer believes the Browns are pretty pleased with their current tight end situation, and she does not foresee the team adding to its TE corps. She also says Cleveland is hopeful that one of its talented young running backs will ultimately separate himself from the pack, but that the Browns will distribute the rushing duties fairly evenly to open the season.
Mike Klis of 9News.com examines the impact newly-acquired safety Darian Stewart will have on the Broncos and whether the former Ram and Raven will represent an upgrade over Rahim Moore, who departed in free agency.

AFC Notes: Mariota, Bowe, Manuel, Raiders

July 4th, 2015 at 4:27pm CST by Sam Robinson

Offset language continues to represent why Marcus Mariota hasn’t come to terms with the Titans on his rookie contract, the last such holdout. Whether or not Mariota would draw two salaries if cut by the Titans — a highly unlikely event considering Jake Locker finished his four-year deal in Tennessee — and signed by another team is slowing down the process, writes John Glennon of the Tennesseean.

No. 1 pick Jameis Winston‘s contract does contain offset language, which determines whether or not a second team’s payment would help the Titans offset the amount owed to 2015’s No. 2 selection in this scenario, but No. 3 choice Dante Fowler Jr.‘s does not, Glennon reports.

In a decade that’s featured far fewer first-round contract issues than the last due to the clearer structure of the new CBA on rookie salaries, the Titans have been the last team to sign their first-rounder in each of the past three seasons, with Chance Warmack and Taylor Lewan coming to terms late in the summer on their respective deals in 2013 and 2014. First-rounder Kendall Wright missed three days of training camp in 2012 after becoming the second-to-last player to sign that year.

Glennon views Mariota’s camp as holding the leverage in these talks, with the Titans coming off a 2-14 season and ready to have the face of their franchise and advertising campaign suit up.

Here are some more items being mentioned across the AFC as Independence Day winds into the afternoon. We’ll continue with a couple of quarterback assessments.

This could be the typical preseason hype before any negatives come to light, a time-honored tradition across sports, but Dwayne Bowe had an interesting observation as he prepares for his first training camp with the Browns. “With Alex Mack and Joe Thomas, we’re going to have a lot of time to hit that deep ball even in the red zone,” Bowe told Mary Kay Cabot of the Cleveland Plain Dealer in a piece centered on the ex-Chiefs wideout’s 17-game span without a touchdown. “I never had a quarterback like Josh (McCown) that was that tall and could see the mismatch and really go to it. He’s got my confidence level high right now.” It’s true Bowe hasn’t exactly had the best passers throwing to him in Brodie Croyle, Matt Cassel and Alex Smith, but the latter duo are 6-foot-5 and 6-4, respectively, while McCown also stands 6-4. Perhaps it’s a sign McCown has shown a penchant to take more risks than the two checkdown-based artists displayed during Bowe’s time in Kansas City.
In analyzing Winston, former Buccaneers Pro Bowler and current FOX analyst Ronde Barber made his presumptive stance on the Bills‘ starting quarterback battle known. “The guy that preceded (Winston) at Florida State, EJ Manuel, I did a couple of games of Buffalo over these two years that I’ve been working at FOX, and he is the other way. He’s timid. He holds the ball. He’s scared to deliver it when he needs to,” Barber told Kevin Patra of NFL.com. “This guy is the complete opposite, maybe to a detriment at times; he throws a lot of interceptions. But he has that “it,” that bravado, that gunslinger mentality, if I could use that (tired) cliché, to be a great quarterback in this league.”
Elvis Dumervil collected an extra $1MM in incentive cash with his 12th sack last season, and the 10th-year pass-rusher can earn an additional $3MM by hitting that plateau again this season for the Ravens, reports Aaron Wilson of the Baltimore Sun. The two-time first-team All-Pro matched his career high with 17 sacks last season, and in doing so began a push for his contract signed before the 2013 season to inflate to its full value of $33MM over five years.
Behind Latavius Murray, who will receive the first chance to start and build on the momentum he showed at the end of his second season, in the Raiders backfield are Trent Richardson and Roy Helu. The latter has a clearer path to steady playing time, with a proven track record as a passing-down back, writes Steve Corkran of Raiderbeat.com. Marcel Reece, however, may not despite the seventh-year fullback coming off three consecutive Pro Bowl campaigns. As is the case in many NFL attacks today, the fullback does not make frequent cameos in Bill Musgrave‘s system.

Extra Points: Battle, Sam, Bills, Browns

June 25th, 2015 at 2:38pm CST by Luke Adams

A pair of NFL sources tell Charles Robinson of Yahoo! Sports (Twitter link) that Clemson offensive tackle Isaiah Battle could be a third-round value in this year’s supplemental draft. We learned earlier today that Battle would be eligible for the supplemental draft, and Robinson suggests that a strong 2015 season at Clemson might have pushed Battle into the top five prospects at his position for the 2016 draft. The young lineman is still raw, so it will be interesting to see which teams, if any, are willing to part with one of their 2016 picks to land him.

Here are a few more odds and ends from around the NFL:

The NFL’s rookie salary structure needs to be overhauled again, in the view of Jason Reid of ESPN.com, who makes the case that young players – especially non-first-rounders – who play well during their first three or four seasons are undercompensated.
Jim Popp, the general manager of the CFL’s Montreal Alouettes, tells Les Carpenter of The Guardian that he thinks Michael Sam will eventually return to the team, and that the Missouri alum “needed a break.” Popp also revealed that the Alouettes were close to adding both Sam and Tim Tebow last fall, and added that a few NFL teams have called him since Sam left Montreal, asking if he knows why the edge defender departed and whether or not he’ll be back.
After spending the majority of the 2014 season on injured reserve, Bills safety Jonathan Meeks finds himself on the team’s roster bubble, with Mike Rodak of ESPN.com giving him a 55% chance of earning a spot on the 53-man squad.
The Browns may not have had pre-draft contact with Marcus Mariota, but that doesn’t mean the team didn’t have any interest in the Oregon quarterback, writes Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk, pointing out that new Cleveland quarterbacks coach Kevin O’Connell worked extensively with Mariota before joining the Browns.
ESPN’s NFL Nation reporters have assigned offseason grades to each of the league’s 32 teams, with links to all 32 stories and videos right here.

AFC Notes: Butler, Brady, Mariota, Ravens

June 25th, 2015 at 11:30am CST by Luke Adams

It didn’t take long for Super Bowl hero Malcolm Butler to come back down to earth this spring. The Patriots cornerback was reportedly benched by Bill Belichick for a handful of the team’s on-field practices during OTAs after he missed the first voluntary session due to a travel issue.

Now, sources tell ESPN.com that the NFL Players Association has filed a complaint against the Patriots on Butler’s behalf, though the complaint was filed without the cornerback’s approval or involvement. Within the complaint, the union cited Article 21 of the CBA, which states that a player’s absence from a voluntary activity can’t result in “adverse consequences affecting his working conditions.”

While we wait to see what comes of the latest case involving the Patriots, let’s round up a few more items from across the AFC….

Marc Ganis, who is the president of SportsCorp consulting firm and is close with many NFL owners, thinks a decision on Tom Brady‘s suspension appeal will come “sooner rather than later,” writes Howard Ulman of The Associated Press. Ganis points out that the league has already been criticized for the way the DeflateGate situation has dragged on, though I think the NFL is unlikely to speed things along now after moving deliberately for months. I don’t expect we’ll hear a ruling on Brady’s appeal until at least mid-July.
Titans GM Ruston Webster recently suggested that it wouldn’t be a big deal if unsigned first-round pick Marcus Mariota missed a few days of training camp, but the QB tells NFL Media’s Tiffany Blackmon that training camp is still a “long ways off,” as Gregg Rosenthal of NFL.com details. “It’s the furthest thing from my mind,” Mariota said. “My agent is going to do his job. He’s going to do whatever it takes. It’s a business deal it takes some time. I’m happy to be a part of the organization and I’m sure it will work out.” I’d be very surprised if Mariota still didn’t have a contract in place by the time Tennessee’s training camp begins.
In his latest piece for Over The Cap, Jason Fitzgerald identifies Joe Flacco‘s contract with the Ravens as the least team-friendly quarterback deal in the NFL.
Taking into account the Ravens‘ roster patterns from recent seasons, Jeff Zrebiec of the Baltimore Sun predicts what this year’s squad might look like.

AFC Notes: Browns, Mariota, Gordon

June 24th, 2015 at 9:10pm CST by Zachary Links

Troy E. Renck of The Denver Post looked at five big issues facing the Broncos in 2015. Chief among them, he says, is Peyton Manning‘s age. No quarterback has won the Super Bowl at age 39 and only five have played a full season at his age. This season he has a better ground game than before, but it remains to be seen if he can succeed with the schemes of Denver’s new regime. Here’s more from the AFC..

Prior to the draft, there was buzz that the Browns could make a play for Oregon quarterback Marcus Mariota. Recently, the No. 2 overall pick, now property of the Titans, confirmed that there was no conversation between him and Cleveland. “There was a lot of scenarios,” Mariota said, according to Mary Kay Cabot of The Plain Dealer. “I never had any contact with the Browns. Um, so, yeah.” Cabot wonders if the Browns will come to regret that.
A Browns official has corresponded with suspended wide receiver Josh Gordon this offseason, according to a source who spoke with Jeremy Fowler of ESPN.com. Gordon is serving a one-year suspension for multiple violation of the league’s substance abuse policy, but it would seem that Cleveland hasn’t totally washed its hands of him. Despite all his problems, Gordon stands as one of the most naturally talented wide receivers in the NFL. In 2013, Gordon hauled in 87 catches for 1,646 yards and nine touchdowns.
Ryan O’Halloran of The Florida Times-Union took his best stab at predicting the Jaguars‘ initial 53-man roster. At running back, he believes that Corey Grant will edge Storm Johnson, who saw significant playing time in 2014, and NFL notable Bernard Pierce. Ultimately, he feels that Jacksonville won’t keep a fullback, but it also won’t hold on to five tailbacks.