Morris Claiborne - Pro Football Rumors

Barry Church, Morris Claiborne To Miss Time

October 31st, 2016 at 8:24pm CST by Dallas Robinson

The Cowboys lost two important pieces of their secondary on Sunday, as both safety Barry Church and cornerback Morris Claiborne suffered injuries. Church fractured his arm and will miss three-to-five weeks, according to Jon Machota of the Dallas Morning News (Twitter link), while Claiborne may require surgery for a sports hernia and could be out indefinitely, reports Todd Archer of ESPN.com.

Church, who likely won’t undergo an operation, has played extremely well this season, grading as the league’s No. 17 safety, according to Pro Football Focus. In seven starts, Church has managed 34 tackles, two interceptions, two passes defensed, and one forced fumble. The 28-year-old Church’s contract is up at season’s end, so the injury puts a damper on his free agent prospects. J.J. Wilcox is likely to replace Church in the starting lineup, but Dallas also has Jeff Heath, Kavon Frazier, and Jameill Showers available at safety.

Claiborne, meanwhile has transformed from a former draft bust to a legitimate top corner in his fifth NFL season, ranking as PFF’s eighth-best corner on the year. Re-signed to a one-year deal worth only $3MM, Claiborne has started all seven games and posted one interception. Like Church, Claiborne is also head for unrestricted free agency after the season. For the time being, he’ll be replaced by Orlando Scandrick, who just returned to game action on Sunday. The Cowboys’ only other corner is Anthony Brown, so they could potentially make a move for another defensive back soon.

Extra Points: DeVito, Claiborne, Goodwin, Browns

July 3rd, 2016 at 8:59pm CST by Sam Robinson

Mike DeVito would have given strong consideration to playing another season in 2016 were it not for his family’s concern, the former Chiefs and Jets defensive end said on a Sirius XM Radio appearance with Alex Marvez and Rick Neuheisel on Sunday (Facebook link). The increasing data emerging on concussions led to DeVito making the decision to retire after nine seasons in April.

DeVito’s third season with the Chiefs brought two concussions, with those coming after he suffered a season-ending Achilles tear in Week 1 of the 2014 campaign.

“You see the new data coming out. That really changes who you are as a person. So it was a tough sell to my wife and, obviously, she’s a higher priority to me than football is. It made the decision easy, but it still was difficult,” the 32-year-old DeVito said.

DeVito enjoyed a solid 2013 season but couldn’t recapture his starting position full-time after the emergence of Jaye Howard, whom the Chiefs chose to re-sign during an offseason when both he and DeVito resided as UFAs. Although the Chiefs were reportedly interested in retaining DeVito, they moved on after he retired and drafted Chris Jones in the second round.

Here’s the latest from around the league.

Prior to Morris Claiborne re-signing with the Cowboys, the Vikings were among the “handful of teams” that showed interest in the fifth-year cornerback, Charean Williams of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports. A week after Claiborne re-upped with Dallas for one year and $3MM, the Vikings re-signed Terence Newman before selecting Mackensie Alexander in the second round a month later. Given the deal Claiborne ended up signing, it’s unlikely the now-cornerback-rich Vikings were offering much for his services.
The Bills will have their full assortment of wide receivers in training camp after Marquise Goodwin failed to complete a return bid to the Olympics. A London Olympian during his senior year at Texas, the 25-year-old finished seventh in the long jump finals at the USA Olympic Trials on Sunday with a 27-foot, 3/4-inch mark. A two-time NCAA champion while with the Longhorns and 2012 U.S. champion, Goodwin is entering a contract year with the Bills.
Contrary to the Lions, who we heard are looking at potential UFAs as training camp nears, the Browns aren’t likely to make any such efforts, Mary Kay Cabot of the Cleveland Plain Dealer writes. The rebuilding Browns jettisoned veterans like Donte Whitner, Karlos Dansby, Randy Starks and Brian Hartline and won’t be aiming to deprive their young contributors of reps, per Cabot.
After using Cecil Shorts and Jonathan Grimes in wildcat sets last season, the Texans have a better weapon for those looks this year in Braxton Miller, Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle notes. Although Shorts rushed 10 times for 47 yards last season, Miller earned Big Ten offensive player of the year acclaim twice as a dual-threat quarterback before moving to wide receiver, so he fits this niche role well.

Contract Details: Freeman, Sims, Claiborne

March 13th, 2016 at 8:08pm CST by Connor J. Byrne

Here are the latest contract details for players who have agreed to new deals and/or signed them in recent days. Unless otherwise specified, all links are courtesy of Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle…

NFC:

Jerrell Freeman, LB (Bears): Three years, $12MM. Deal maxes out at $14.25MM with incentives/escalators. $6MM guaranteed at signing (Twitter link via Tom Pelissero of USA Today).
Eugene Sims, DE (Rams): Three years, $10MM. $3.75MM in guarantees. $2.25MM salary for 2016 guaranteed. $750K roster bonus due this week. $500K roster bonuses due on the fifth day of the 2017 and 2018 league years. $750K annual incentives for sacks and playoffs (Twitter links).
Jon Ryan, P (Seahawks): Four years, $10MM. $3.4MM guaranteed. $2.4MM signing bonus. $1MM salary in 2016 guaranteed. $100K incentives for Pro Bowl and playoffs (Twitter link).
James Hanna, TE (Cowboys): Three years, $8.25MM. $2.25MM signing bonus (Twitter link).
Emmanuel Lamur, LB (Vikings): Two years, $5.5MM. $2MM guaranteed. $1MM roster bonus due Monday. $15,625 per-game active roster bonus in both seasons (Twitter link).
Gino Gradkowski, OL (Panthers): Three years, $3.15MM. $450K signing bonus. $25K annual workout bonus (Twitter link).
Morris Claiborne, CB (Cowboys): One year, $3MM. Deal maxes out at $3.375MM with incentives. $500K signing bonus. $1MM in per-game active bonuses (Twitter link via Pelissero).
Keenan Robinson, LB (Giants): One year, $2.6MM. $1MM roster bonus due on the 10th day of the 2016 league year. $21,500 per-game active bonus. Up to $900K in playing-time incentives (Twitter link).
Sean Weatherspoon, LB (Falcons): One year, $1.5MM. $500K in per-game active bonuses. $750K in playing-time incentives (Twitter link via Pelissero).
Travaris Cadet, RB (Saints): One year, $840K. $80K signing bonus (Twitter link)

AFC:

Eddie Pleasant, S (Texans): Two years, $2.15MM. $311K roster bonus for 2016. $36K roster bonus for 2017 (link).
Matt Cassel, QB (Titans): One year, $2MM. $750K signing bonus. $500K in incentives (Twitter link via Pelissero).
Shane Lechler, P (Texans): One year, $1.8MM. $500K signing bonus (link).
Nick Novak, K (Texans): One year, 965K. $80K roster bonus due Monday (link).

Cowboys To Re-Sign Morris Claiborne

March 11th, 2016 at 3:56pm CST by Luke Adams

The Cowboys will bring back Morris Claiborne for another season, reports Mike Garafolo of FOX Sports (via Twitter). According to Garafolo, the two sides have worked out a one-year contract for Claiborne to continue his career in Dallas. Todd Archer of ESPN.com tweets that the deal has a base value of $3MM, and can be worth up to $3.75MM.

The sixth overall pick in the 2012 draft, Claiborne hasn’t lived up to his draft billing. Since a rookie season in which he started 15 games, made 55 tackles, and recovered a pair of fumbles, the LSU product has made just 21 more starts for Dallas, having been plagued by injuries and underperformance.

In 2015, Claiborne started 11 games for Dallas, but he failed to grab even one interception for the first time in his career, and Pro Football Focus ranked him 104th out of 111 qualified cornerbacks.

As a 2012 first-round pick, Claiborne had been eligible for a fifth-year option for the 2016 season, but the Cowboys turned down that option last spring. Had they exercised it, Claiborne would have been on the books for $11MM+ in 2016, so the Cowboys got him back at a much less expensive rate.

With Claiborne locked up, the Cowboys aren’t necessarily done looking for cornerback help. They have been linked to Nolan Carroll, and Archer tweets that Carroll still could be in play, though nothing is imminent.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

East Notes: JPP, D. Jackson, Maccagnan

December 30th, 2015 at 3:58pm CST by Luke Adams

There were some frustrating moments for the Giants and Jason Pierre-Paul over the summer, when the standout defensive end – having received the franchise tag – refused to report to the team and its doctors for several weeks while he was recovering from a July 4th fireworks accident. The situation, which resulted in the two sides eventually agreeing to a reworked contract, had the potential to create some acrimony, but JPP doesn’t seem too phased by it.

According to Paul Schwartz of the New York Post (Twitter link), Pierre-Paul said today that he would like to continue playing for the Giants next year, despite the fact that his contract will expire this winter. “I would like to finish my career here,” the veteran pass rusher said.

Contract negotiations between JPP and the Giants – or any other team – should be fascinating, since it’s hard to know exactly how high his ceiling is now that he’ll have to deal with his right hand issue for the rest of the his career. As we look forward to seeing how the situation plays out, let’s explore some other East notes…

Washington likes wide receiver DeSean Jackson “a lot” and hopes to keep him around going forward, sources tell Josina Anderson of ESPN.com (Twitter link). Jackson will count against the cap for $9.25MM in 2016, the final year of his contract, though that figure could be reduced with an extension.
Darrelle Revis‘ pick for executive of the year is Jets general manager Mike Maccagnan, as Seth Walder of the New York Daily News writes. Revis, having received $39MM in guaranteed money from Maccagnan in March, might be a little biased, but he may not be the only one who picks the Jets GM. Within his annual contract awards, former agent Joel Corry of CBSSports.com identifies Brandon Marshall and Ryan Fitzpatrick as the top two acquisitions of the year.
After having to deal with health issues again in 2015, Cowboys cornerback Morris Claiborne will have a lengthy injury history on his résumé if and when he hits the open market this winter. For now, as Todd Archer of ESPN.com writes, Claiborne isn’t thinking about that, though the former first-round pick hopes to remain in Dallas.

Sunday Roundup: Marrone, Martin, Keenum

November 29th, 2015 at 12:36pm CST by Rory Parks

As the afternoon games get underway, let’s take a look at some news and notes from around the league:

We heard earlier today that Jaguars OL coach Doug Marrone will be viewed as a top head coaching candidate this offseason, and Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk.com explains why. As Florio writes, Marrone, who became available after opting to terminate his relationship with Buffalo last year, came on the market “a little too unexpectedly” for teams to scrap their existing plans at the time. Now, however, with a high number of potential head coaching vacancies and a relatively small number of truly qualified candidates, Marrone will be an attractive option, especially given that the Bills are doing less (record-wise) with more talent under Rex Ryan than they did under Marrone.
Former NFL agent Joel Corry tweets that there is no need to speculate as to whether the Buccaneers will put the franchise tag on Doug Martin, as the nearly $12MM cap number for a franchised running back is too steep in today’s NFL. The last time the tag was used on an RB was in 2012, when the Ravens tagged Ray Rice and the Bears tagged Matt Forte. The cap number for a franchised RB at the time was $7.7MM.
ESPN’s Chris Mortensen tweets that, even though the NFL has apparently closed the book on whether the Rams should be penalized for last week’s concussion controversy surrounding Case Keenum, the NFL Players Association is continuing its own investigation.
In his latest mailbag, Tony Grossi of ESPNCleveland.com looks at what the Browns might expect to receive if they were to trade Johnny Manziel at this point, and he notes that the best the Browns could hope for is a future pick conditioned on Manziel’s active status and number of starts.
After the Lions promoted Isa Abdul-Quddus to a starting role and moved James Ihedigbo to the bench, they began to see a noticeable improvement from the back end of their defense, as Kyle Meinke of MLive.com observes. Abdul-Quddus is not as physical as Ihedigbo, but he covers much more ground and has established himself as a quality option in the team’s secondary, particularly in light of the recent injury to Glover Quin. Adbul-Quddus, who signed a one-year deal with Detroit last year, may be putting himself in line for a multi-year pact this offseason.
David Moore of The Dallas Morning News examines the futures for Cowboys defensive backs Byron Jones and Morris Claiborne, predicting that Dallas plans to move Jones to safety moving forward, thereby increasing the likelihood that the team retains Claiborne.
In a series of three articles, Jason Fitzgerald of OverTheCap.com reexamines the Eagles‘ offseason decisions, offers his thoughts on the Jets‘ rebuilding process, and previews the 2016 class of free agent tight ends.

NFC Links: Eagles, Mincey, Claiborne, 49ers

August 1st, 2015 at 12:38pm CST by Ben Levine

There have been a number of instances where Eagles coach Chip Kelly and agent Drew Rosenhaus haven’t necessarily seen eye to eye. It started when the organization shipped out Rosenhaus-client LeSean McCoy, and the Eagles followed that by releasing Evan Mathis. Later, Frank Gore, another of Rosenhaus’ players, spurned Philly to sign with the Colts.

Still, the agent told Geoff Mosher of CSNPhilly.com that he’s not at odds with Kelly or the Eagles organization.

“I get along fine with Chip,” Rosenhaus said. “We’ve had a real good line of communication. LeSean, I had nothing to do with their decision to trade him. That was their call. That was contract-related. The notion that he traded LeSean because of me is, that’s just ridiculous. There was no friction. LeSean was a football decision that he explained fairly well.”

Kelly echoed that sentiment.

“I don’t really deal with agents. We have a real good relationship with Drew, I can tell you that,” Kelly said. “I think Drew has been very professional, very detailed. I think he gets a bad rap to be honest with you in my dealings with him.

“I think he’s been above board, straight ahead, detail-oriented, very organized and you know exactly where you stand. I think anybody will tell you that when you deal with Drew you know exactly where you stand. Wish more people acted like that to be honest with you.”

Let’s take a look at some more notes from around the NFC…

As defensive end Jeremy Mincey holds out for a new contract, the Cowboys have continued to fine him, writes David Moore of The Dallas Morning News. “There have been some discussions back and forth,” said coach Jason Garrett. “I don’t want to share much about them…We’re focused on the players that we have here in camp and trying to build our football team.”
Brandon George of the Dallas Morning News believes that Morris Claiborne will make the Cowboys roster, but 2015 will likely be the cornerback’s final season with the organization. George adds that the 25-year-old will have to produce if he has any hope of staying in Dallas.
Vernon Davis told Janie McCauley of the Associated Press that he fired an advisor who urged the tight end to get pushy with the 49ers regarding a new contract.“Last year I had a lot of people in my ear, particularly an adviser who kept telling me, ‘Hey, you should try to get another contract,'” Davis said. “As my fiduciary, he was right about a lot of things, so I listened to him, I took his advice. But during the course of that season, I had a chance to really think about it, like: ‘What am I doing? I don’t play this game for money. That’s not why I play.’ It’s good, it’s good to have that, to get rewarded and things, but what am I doing?”

Cowboys Decline Morris Claiborne’s Option

May 4th, 2015 at 12:09pm CST by Luke Adams

The Cowboys have decided not to pick up their 2016 option for cornerback Morris Claiborne, according to David Helman of DallasCowboys.com. The decision comes on the heels of the team drafting defensive back Byron Jones with its first-round pick on Thursday.

Claiborne, 25, saw his 2014 campaign cut short by a torn patellar tendon, and was able to play only four games for the Cowboys, bringing his three-year total to just 29 contests. When he has been able to see the field, Claiborne has been shaky — according to Pro Football Focus’ data, opposing quarterbacks have accumulated passer ratings of 107.8 (2012), 94.3 (2013), and 121.5 (2014) when throwing into Claiborne’s coverage.

While the Cowboys are unwilling to commit to an $11.082MM 2016 salary for Clairborne, he’ll be on the team’s cap for a hit of $5.175MM in 2015. Taking into account Brandon Carr‘s $12.717MM cap number, that’s a lot of cap room committed to two players at a position where Jones and Orlando Scandrick may be the long-term answers.

Cowboys Yet To Talk Paycut With Carr

May 3rd, 2015 at 11:09pm CST by Sam Robinson

Cowboys cornerback Brandon Carr told Todd Archer of ESPN.com the team hasn’t approached him about taking a paycut yet (Twitter link). The highly paid defender declined to comment on whether he’d play for the Cowboys for less money, according to David Moore of the Dallas Morning News on Twitter.

Carr, who is amid a five-year, $50MM contract iterated desire to remain with the team, but doing so at that price may be a non-starter. Due a massive 2015 salary that’s not commensurate with what he’s shown on the field lately, Carr has previously refused to accept a salary slash. His cap figure is $12.7MM, a number third on the team behind Tony Romo and Dez Bryant and fourth among all corners.

The seventh-year player didn’t record an interception last year and rated 90th among the 108 corners Pro Football Focus graded last season. PFF had him as a middle-of-the-pack player in 2013.

The Cowboys’ cornerback spot remains in flux after the team selected Byron Jones in the first round. Dallas has also not yet officially announced whether it will pick up Morris Claiborne‘s fifth-year option. Although Jerry Jones has stated previously the former No. 6 overall pick’s done enough to warrant it despite the $11.1MM price tag, Moore reported earlier this week the team doesn’t intend to give Claiborne a fifth season.

Cowboys Notes: Dez, Claiborne, Peterson

April 12th, 2015 at 11:06pm CST by Sam Robinson

The Dallas Morning News’ mailbags touched on some Cowboys news on Sunday night. Here are some of the highlights …

Tim Cowlishaw does not envision a Dez Bryant extension being completed this offseason, even with the nearly $13MM the Cowboys freed up in cap space from Tony Romo‘s restructuring. The Cowboys reportedly intend to use it on the draft. Bryant has a $12.8MM cap figure this season and could be re-franchised next offseason if the sides can’t come to a agreement on a long-term contract.
The Cowboys don’t have plans of picking up Morris Claiborne‘s fifth-year option, reports staff writer Brandon George, giving 2015 a make-or-break aura for the injury-plagued cornerback. The former first-rounder out of LSU who missed most of last year with a torn patellar tendon, hasn’t graded positively on Pro Football Focus’ metrics in three seasons. Claiborne, who hasn’t started more than seven games in a season since his rookie year of 2012, will make just more than $5MM this season — sixth on the team.
Brandon Carr could be a post-June 1 cut if he doesn’t take a pay reduction, reports George. The Cowboys won’t offer the high-priced corner an extension to lower his $12.7MM cap number (third-most on the team), either. George, however, doesn’t think Carr will have a hard-line stance on this matter.
The Adrian Peterson-to-Dallas connection remains a discussed topic. Jon Machota doesn’t see a trade occurring after the draft, narrowing the Cowboys’ window to land the player they’ve long coveted. The second round is the ideal place for the Cowboys to land DeMarco Murray‘s long-term successor, opines Machota.