NFC Notes: Goodwin, Saints, 49ers, Giants

The Saints may have landed their new starting center in free agency this week, and it’s a familiar face — Jonathan Goodwin, who is back for his second stint with the club, recognizes that it’s rare to return to a team later down the line, but had always hoped to retire as a Saint, tweets Larry Holder of the New Orleans Times-Picayune. According to Katherine Terrell of the Times-Picayune (Twitter link), head coach Sean Payton confirmed that the Saints waited until June to sign Goodwin in order to avoid him being linked to future draft pick compensation.

Here’s a little more on Goodwin, as well as several other updates from around the NFC:

  • Goodwin’s one-year deal with the Saints is a minimum salary benefit contract, but it includes $125K in guaranteed money, per Aaron Wilson of the Baltimore Sun (via Twitter). Goodwin received a $65K signing bonus in addition to $60K in guaranteed money on his base salary.
  • Before he signed a contract extension to remain in New Orleans, Pierre Thomas thought his days with the Saints were coming to an end, as he admits to Christopher Dabe of the Times-Picayune.
  • Investing heavily in Colin Kaepernick would’ve reduced the 49ers‘ leverage in contract negotiations with coach Jim Harbaugh, since the head coach played such a significant role in picking and developing Kaepernick, writes Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk. However, since San Francisco has some flexibility to get out of Kaepernick’s deal if need be, that should give the club some flexibility in regard to Harbaugh too.
  • Jason Fitzgerald of Over The Cap takes a closer look at Kaepernick’s extension and wonders if Robert Griffin III could eventually ink a similar contract, since the two signal-callers play a somewhat similar style of quarterback.
  • The latest Read Option column from Dan Pompei of Bleacher Report includes several interesting tidbits, including items on Greg Robinson‘s current and future position with the Rams and the Packers‘ reasoning for selecting Davante Adams in the second round over other available wideouts.
  • Addressing the team’s decision to cut safety Will Hill following his latest suspension, Giants head coach Tom Coughlin told reporters, including Ralph Vacchiano of the New York Daily News (Twitter link), “When you run a business you have to be able to rely on people to be there when you need them.”
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