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Will Beatty

NFC Notes: Norman, Megatron, Seahawks

March 22nd, 2016 at 9:36pm CST by Rory Parks

We learned yesterday that Josh Norman and the Panthers are far apart in discussions on a new, multi-year contract, and if those negotiations do not start to gain traction, Norman could miss voluntary workouts and OTAs and possibly the mandatory June minicamp. But as David Newton of ESPN.com writes, Carolina GM Dave Gettleman downplayed that speculation, saying that he does not expect the Norman situation to create much of a distraction.

Said Gettleman, “Josh is a pro and I don’t think there’ll be any issues. He and I had a great conversation before I put the tag on him. He understands where I’m at. I understand where he’s at. We respect each other’s stance and we’ll just see if we can get [it] done.” Gettleman added that he and head coach Ron Rivera are “very comfortable” regardless of whether Norman signs a long-term deal with the Panthers prior to the July 15 deadline or whether he plays out the 2016 season under the franchise tag.  

Now let’s take a look at some more links from around the NFC:

  • There was some speculation earlier this month that Calvin Johnson wanted to retire as a free agent rather than under Lions control so that, in case he ever came out of retirement, he would be free to choose his next destination. Of course, Megatron ultimately retired as a member of the Lions, but according to Detroit president Rod Wood, it’s a moot point anyway, as he would be “very surprised” if Johnson ever expressed a desire to return to the NFL (video link via Dave Birkett of The Detroit Free Press).
  • Seahawks GM John Schneider and head coach Pete Carroll each signed three-year contract extensions in 2014 that take them through the 2016 season, which means they are both entering the final years of their respective deals. As Sheil Kapadia of ESPN.com writes, however, Schneider says his contract is a “non-story.” Schneider said, “Pete and I have a great relationship, and we are just in a really good spot. We are just going to keep staying together and keep doing what we are doing and see how long we can make it last.” Kapadia believes the most likely scenario is that both men will sign extensions in the coming months, and we know that the club has already been working on a new deal for Carroll.
  • The Seahawks‘ offensive line was the subject of a great deal of criticism in 2015, and it does not look like it will be much better in 2016. Per Bob Condotta of The Seattle Times, Schneider has indicated that if the season started today, last year’s right tackle, Garry Gilliam, would compete with the newly-acquired Bradley Sowell to be the club’s starting left tackle, with another free agent acquisition, J’Marcus Webb, penciled in at right tackle. In addition to losing Russell Okung in free agency, the Seahawks also lost right guard J.R. Sweezy, but Schneider offered no indication that the team would pursue any additional signings or trades to beef up its line.
  • Ralpha Vacchiano of The New York Daily News does not believe the Giants are done spending in free agency, and at the very least, he expects the team to pursue a veteran offensive lineman and a veteran safety. He does not, however, believe Big Blue will bring back Rueben Randle or Will Beatty.
  • The 49ers have not made a contract offer to free agent wideout Anquan Boldin, according to Matt Maiocco of CSNBayArea.com, and while GM Trent Baalke said he has by no means closed the door on a possible reunion, he did not sound especially optimistic that Boldin would return to San Francisco next season. As Baalke said, “A lot of it is going to depend whether he feels and we feel it’s a fit moving forward with what we’re trying to do offensively and what he’s looking for at this stage of his career.” Boldin has already stated his desire to play for a title contender in 2016, and it is currently difficult to imagine the 49ers fitting that description.

 

Giants Cut Schwartz, Beatty; Beason Retires

March 1st, 2016 at 5:10pm CST by Luke Adams

MARCH 1: The Giants have officially cut Schwartz, reports Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle (via Twitter).

FEBRUARY 17: The Giants have officially released Beatty, adding that he failed his physical, according to Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (Twitter link). Beatty is recovering from rotator cuff surgery.

FEBRUARY 10, 1:55pm: The Giants have officially announced Beason’s retirement, and confirmed the release of Schwartz and Beatty. Beason said that he wanted to continue playing, but after consulting with numerous doctors, those experts unanimously recommending that he retire because of his injured knee.

11:04am: Beason could end up announcing his retirement, tweets Graziano. As noted below, a report last month suggested the veteran linebacker was considering retirement due to ongoing injury issues. It probably makes sense for Beason to wait until after the Giants cut him though, to ensure there’s no risk of losing a portion of his signing bonus.

10:53am: In addition to releasing Schwartz and Beason, the Giants are also cutting veteran tackle Will Beatty, tweets Mike Garafolo of FOX Sports. Like his two teammates, Beatty has had to deal with health problems as of late — he missed the entire 2015 campaign due to pectoral and rotator cuff injuries.

Releasing Beatty will leave $5MM in dead money on the Giants’ 2015 cap, but the move will also clear $4.175MM in space. Overall, the three cuts will create more than $12.2MM in cap savings for GM Jerry Reese and the Giants.

10:37am: The Giants are releasing a veteran player on either side of the ball, according to Dan Graziano of ESPN.com (Twitter links), who reports that the team is parting ways with offensive lineman Geoff Schwartz and linebacker Jon Beason.Jon Beason

Both Schwartz and Beason signed contracts with the Giants in March of 2014, with Schwartz inking a four-year pact while Beason agreed to a three-year deal. Since then, injuries have plagued both players, with Schwartz appearing in 13 games over the last two seasons for New York, while Beason has played in just nine.

Schwartz, 29, started 11 games for the Giants in 2015, but his seasons was cut short when he fractured a bone in his left leg in late November, forcing the team to place him on injured reserve. By releasing him, the Giants will avoid paying him $3.925MM annual salaries this year and next year, taking on a hit of about $1.917MM in dead money for 2016. The move creates nearly $3MM in cap savings for the club, while Schwartz – like his brother Mitchell Schwartz – could be on the lookout for a new home.

As for Beason, according to Over the Cap, he would have been owed a $1MM roster bonus if he were still on the Giants’ roster on the fifth day of the 2016 league year. Instead, the Giants’ will clear that bonus, $1.2MM in per-game roster bonuses, a $100K workout bonus, and his $2.8MM base salary from their cap, creating a total of $5.1MM in cap savings.

While Schwartz and Beason didn’t provide the Giants with much value over the last two years, both players were effective for other teams earlier in their careers. Schwartz started 26 total games for the Panthers and Chiefs, and Beason was even more impressive, earning three Pro Bowl nods during his years in Carolina.

If the two veterans show they’re healthy heading into 2016, they could be intriguing buy-low candidates. However, that depends on whether they both want to continue their careers. A report last month indicated that Beason was considering retirement.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

NFC East Notes: Beatty, Cowboys, Crawford

November 12th, 2015 at 1:15pm CST by Zachary Links

The Giants approached Will Beatty about a position change on the offensive line that might have allowed him to play in 2015, Mike Garafolo of FOX Sports tweets. However, rather than moving to guard or right tackle for the remainder of the season, Beatty opted to have season-ending surgery. The Giants’ thinking was that Beatty’s inside shoulder strength would have been compromised had he returned to left tackle, but he wasn’t on board with that plan.

Here’s more from the NFC East:

  • After the Cowboys worked to upgrade their pass rush in the offseason, Brandon George of The Dallas Morning News wonders where the improved sack and turnover totals are. Despite the addition of Pro Bowl defensive end Greg Hardy and using a second-round pick on end Randy Gregory, the Cowboys rank 25th in the NFL with 14 sacks. That’s nearly identical to 2014 when they finished 28th in the league with 28 sacks.
  • Only time will tell if the Cowboys jumped the gun by giving Tyrone Crawford a hefty contract extension, George writes, though it’s clear that he hasn’t been living up to that deal so far this season. In September, the Cowboys inked Crawford to a five-year, $45MM pact that includes $17.5MM in fully guaranteed cash. At the time, the 25-year-old (26 in a few weeks) was coming off a year where he rated as Pro Football Focus’ 15th-best defensive tackle out of 81 graded.
  • By accepting his behavior, the Cowboys have given Hardy absolutely no reason to change, Christine Brennan of USA Today writes. While the world wants to see Hardy be contrite and change, Brennan is less than optimistic.

Giants Won’t Activate Will Beatty

November 12th, 2015 at 10:08am CST by Zachary Links

The Giants were hoping to get a boost on the offensive line this season by welcoming tackle Will Beatty back into the fold. Unfortunately, that will not happen. Coach Tom Coughlin told reporters that Will Beatty will remain on the PUP list and have rotator cuff surgery, ending his season before it could begin (Twitter link via Dan Graziano of ESPN.com). The rotator cuff issue is a different injury than the one which initially kept him sidelined, but it’s possible that one problem triggered the other.

Back in May, Beatty suffered a torn pectoral muscle which instantly ruled him out for the first half of the 2015 season. Beatty’s injury was a huge blow for the Giants, who used their first-round pick in this year’s draft on a tackle in an effort to solidify their offensive line. Beatty was one of the league’s more effective left tackles in 2014, grading as a positive contributor as both a run- and pass-blocker, according to Pro Football Focus. PFF ranked him 14th overall out of 84 qualified players at the position.

With Beatty out for the year, the Giants will continue to use first-round pick Ereck Flowers at left tackle. This offseason, the Giants will have to figure out whether they want to retain Beatty given his health struggles in 2015. Beatty is set to earn $5.5MM in 2016 and Big Blue can clear out roughly ~$4MM in cap space by letting him go. By the same token, Beatty has been a strong presence on the Giants’ O-Line for years now and he did not miss a game from 2012-2014.

East Notes: Bradford, Wake, Harvin

October 25th, 2015 at 9:49am CST by Rory Parks

As part of the trade that sent Nick Foles to St. Louis and Sam Bradford to Philadelphia, the Eagles had a chance to acquire a 2016 draft choice from the Rams if certain conditions were met, conditions that the clubs did not reveal when the trade was consummated. According to Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports, those conditions pertain only to Bradford’s playing time. Once he plays 50% of the Eagles’ offensive snaps, Philadelphia will receive no compensation. If he plays fewer than 50% of the team’s snaps, the Eagles would garner a fourth-round pick in 2016 (had he played no snaps, the team would have been in line for a third-round selection in 2016).

With the season’s midway point fast approaching, it is becoming increasingly clear that the Eagles will not recover a 2016 draft choice from the Rams. Despite Bradford’s struggles this season, head coach Chip Kelly has remained steadfast in his support of his signal-caller, and although he could acquire an additional draft pick by reverting to Mark Sanchez now, all indications are that Bradford will remain under center for the foreseeable future.

Now for some more notes from the league’s east divisions:

  • When former Dolphins defensive coordinator Kevin Coyle was fired, a great number of the schematic complexities that had handcuffed some of the club’s best defensive players went with him. Relying more on individual matchups than scheme, Miami’s defense enjoyed its best game of the season last week, and defensive end Cameron Wake led the way with a whopping four sacks after recording zero in the team’s first four games. Of course, Wake won’t put up that kind of production every week, but if he goes on the type of tear he is capable of, he could be in for a big payday. Wake is scheduled to make $8.4MM in 2016, the final year of his contract, but he has significant escalators tied to his sack production. As La Canfora writes, “If [Wake] achieves 10-12 sacks he earns $750,000 more in base salary next year, while 13-14 sacks nets him an additional $1.75MM and 15 sacks earns him $3MM. Should he lead the league in sacks, the defensive lineman receives $5MM in additional base salary.”
  • In keeping with reports from earlier this week, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets that Percy Harvin is not contemplating retirement at the moment. If his hip is healthy enough to allow him, Harvin will play for the Bills this season. Vic Carucci of The Buffalo News adds (via Twitter) that Buffalo wants Harvin to play and that the team does not want to place him on IR, as Harvin would then keep his $3MM signing bonus plus the remainder of his base pay.
  • Giants tackle Will Beatty began practicing on Wednesday, which means he now has a little less than three weeks to be activated from the team’s PUP list or be placed on season-ending injured reserve. Per Jordan Raanan of NJ.com, Beatty appears to be in good physical shape and is trending towards a return. He could suit up for the Giants when they take on the Saints next week, and with rookie Ereck Flowers just settling in to the left tackle position, the team could ask Beatty to shift to right tackle, especially since current right tackle Marshall Newhouse has been inconsistent in 2015. Beatty, who last played right tackle in his rookie season in 2009, has been receptive to the possibility.

Giants Notes: JPP, Beatty, Coughlin

October 21st, 2015 at 6:44pm CST by Zachary Links

Here’s a quick look at the Giants and an update on the status of their star defensive end..

  • When asked for an update on Jason Pierre-Paul, Giants coach Tom Coughlin told reporters, “I wish I knew,” according to Mike Garafolo of FOX Sports (on Twitter). When asked if he’d be coming in today (Wednesday), Coughlin said “Not that I know of.”
  • Despite previous indications to the contrary, JPP did not come to the tri-state area on Wednesday, according to ESPN.com’s Dan Graziano (on Twitter). The defensive end is still expected to meet with Giants doctors at some point this week, however.
  • Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (on Twitter) hears that there are no set plans for a JPP visit with the Giants yet. It may happen, but it may not be this week and it could drag on until next week.
  • Coughlin told reporters, including Ralph Vacchiano of the New York Daily News (on Twitter), that tackle Will Beatty (PUP) practiced on Wednesday. The Giants now have three weeks from now to activate him or put him on injured reserve.

Giants Notes: JPP, Beatty, Fells

October 19th, 2015 at 7:03pm CST by Zachary Links

The latest on Big Blue before the Giants take on the Eagles tonight..

  • Jason Pierre-Paul will report back to the Giants on Tuesday and allow his hand to be re-examined by team doctors, sources tell Ralph Vacchiano of the New York Daily News. However, there are some in the organization who doubt JPP’s hand has healed enough for him to be cleared to return to the field, another team source tells the Daily News. When the Giants looked at JPP’s hand on September 7th, the damage was much worse than expected, so some team officials aren’t all that optimistic about the upcoming evaluation.
  • Giants left tackle Will Beatty, who has yet to play this season due to a torn pectoral muscle, could practice early this week, according to NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport (on Twitter). Beatty’s injury was a huge blow for the Giants, who used their first-round pick in this year’s draft on a tackle in an effort to solidify their offensive line. Beatty was one of the league’s more effective left tackles in 2014, grading as a positive contributor as both a run- and pass-blocker, according to Pro Football Focus. PFF ranked him 14th overall out of 84 qualified players at the position.
  • Giants tight end Daniel Fells has now been given an optimistic prognosis, as Rapoport writes. After nearly three weeks in the hospital battling an aggressive MRSA infection, sources say his scans and cultures have come back “looking good” and there is a real chance he’s released from the hospital this week. Furthermore, doctors now believe that they’ll be able to save Fells’ foot. Still, he’s unlikely to ever return to football given the damage his foot has sustained.

PUP, NFI Players Soon Eligible To Practice

October 19th, 2015 at 10:30am CST by Luke Adams

Week 6 of the NFL season will come to an end after Monday night’s game between the Giants and Eagles, and when teams begin preparing for Week 7, many clubs could be welcoming injured players back to practice. Six weeks into the NFL season, players who were placed on the physically unable to perform list or the non-football injury list prior to Week 1’s games will be eligible to return to the practice field.

Of course, just because those players are able to return to practice doesn’t necessarily mean they’ll be healthy enough to do so. Players on the PUP list have a five-week window to begin practicing. Once they return to practice, they have three weeks to be added to their respective teams’ active rosters. In other words, a player currently on the PUP list could return to the field for his team’s Week 7 game, or could return as late as for his team’s Week 15 contest.

The rules for NFI players are similar to those for PUP players. If a player on either reserve list doesn’t return to practice or game action in time, his 2015 season will officially be over.

Here are the players currently on the physically unable to perform (PUP) list who can begin practicing as soon as this Tuesday:

And here are the players currently on their teams’ non-football injury or illness lists, who are also eligible to begin practicing this Tuesday:

  • Arizona Cardinals: WR Damond Powell
  • Buffalo Bills: CB Leodis McKelvin
  • Cincinnati Bengals: T Cedric Ogbuehi
  • Cleveland Browns: DB Ifo Ekpre-Olomu, TE Randall Telfer, RB Glenn Winston
  • Dallas Cowboys: LB Mark Nzeocha
  • Houston Texans: T David Quessenberry
  • Kansas City Chiefs: QB Tyler Bray
  • San Francisco 49ers: WR DeAndre Smelter
  • Seattle Seahawks: DT Jesse Williams

In addition to monitoring players on the PUP and NFI lists, it’s worth keeping an eye on players who have been placed on the injured reserve list with the designation to return. Teams can use this IR-DTR spot on one player per season, placing him on the injured reserve list without necessarily ruling him out for the season. As we explained in an earlier post, players given this designation can begin practicing after six weeks and can return after eight weeks.

That means that a player who was placed on IR-DTR prior to Week 1 can begin practicing on Tuesday, though he won’t be eligible to return to game action until Week 9. A player who was placed on IR-DTR after Week 1 will have to wait until next Tuesday – October 27 – to return to practice, while other IR-DTR players will have to wait until November to practice.

Here’s the list of players currently on IR-DTR who can begin practicing as soon as Tuesday:

East Notes: Cowboys, Kelly, Mathis

August 2nd, 2015 at 12:37pm CST by Rory Parks

Jeremy Mincey is expected to end his holdout pending a meeting with Cowboys executive VP Stephen Jones and head coach Jason Garrett today, according to Tom Pelissero of USA Today (via Twitter). Per Brandon George of The Dallas Morning News, Mincey arrived in Oxnard on Saturday night and will discuss a new two-year deal with the club. If the two sides strike a deal, Mincey can join his teammates later today for the fourth day of training camp practices.

Now let’s take a look at some more links from the league’s east divisions:

  • The Cowboys will be on the lookout for more linebacker depth, as Justin Jackson tore his ACL in a special teams walkthrough (Twitter link to ESPN’s Todd Archer).
  • Brandon Boykin, who was dealt from the Eagles to the Steelers last night, is the latest to take a racially-related jab at Eagles head coach Chip Kelly. Per Geoff Mosher of CSNPhilly.com, Boykin said Kelly is “uncomfortable around grown men of our culture…He can’t relate and that makes him uncomfortable. Players excel when you let them naturally be who they are, and in my experience that hasn’t been important to him, but you guys have heard this before me.” Former Eagles LeSean McCoy and Tra Thomas have made similar comments about Kelly in the past, and although there is plenty of evidence to suggest that sentiments like those expressed by Boykin are a bit misguided, it will be interesting to see what, if any, impact this will have on Kelly’s control of his locker room.
  • Mychal Kendricks, who was rumored to be on the trading block, will likely remain with the Eagles as an insurance policy for DeMeco Ryans, according to Andy Schwartz of CSNPhilly.com.
  • Citing GM Jerry Reese, Ralph Vacchiano of The New York Daily News tweets that Giants left tackle Will Beatty will return at some point this season, and the team has not closed the door on free agent tackle Jake Long.
  • The Jets, who have a hole at right guard, have spoken with free agent Evan Mathis, per Justin Tasch of The New York Daily News. However, Mathis’ asking price appears to be out of New York’s range at the moment.
  • We learned several days ago that Jets rookie wideout Devin Smith suffered broken ribs in Friday’s practice, and Rich Cimini of ESPNNewYork.com reports that Smith also has a partially punctured lung. Smith will be sidelined for four to six weeks.
  • Joe Buscaglia of WKBW tweets that Bills head coach Rex Ryan has declared Richie Incognito the team’s starting left guard and Cordy Glenn the team’s starting left tackle.

La Canfora On WR Extensions, Colts, JPP, Jets

July 27th, 2015 at 11:37am CST by Luke Adams

After addressing a few burning questions on DeflateGate, the Marcus Mariota contract negotiations, and Junior Galette‘s release, Jason La Canfora of CBSSports.com takes a look around the rest of the NFL, passing along several noteworthy tidbits from all over the league. Let’s dive right in and check out a few of the highlights from La Canfora’s newest piece…

  • La Canfora expects both Julio Jones and A.J. Green to sign new deals before the 2015 season begins, and estimates that both deals will fall in the range of $13MM per year. I’m guessing that figure takes into account their current $10.176MM salaries for 2015, so the annual average of the new money would be closer to the $14MM per year that Dez Bryant and Demaryius Thomas received.
  • Several executives around the league believe that Andrew Luck‘s price tag may end up being so high that it puts the Colts in a bind with T.Y. Hilton. La Canfora thinks Hilton’s extension could come in at close to $12MM per year, and some observers aren’t convinced Indianapolis would go that high.
  • Jason Pierre-Paul and the Giants will likely come to terms on a one-year contract agreement that features per-game roster bonuses, says La Canfora, adding that New York also hopes to get something out of Will Beatty in the season’s second half.
  • La Canfora suggests that Muhammad Wilkerson and the Jets should consider working out a short-term extension – perhaps for two or three years – that gives the standout defensive lineman a nice chunk of guaranteed money and buys the team some time to make long-term decisions on Sheldon Richardson and Leonard Williams. Wilkerson would be “very open” to the idea, per La Canfora.
  • Some team executives around the league raised an eyebrow at the Steelers‘ big-money extension for Cameron Heyward. However, Pittsburgh likes Heyward more than a lot of clubs do and was willing to take a “calculated gamble” on his upside, writes La Canfora.
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