Raiders To Sign Chimdi Chekwa
Chimdi Chekwa has signed a one-year deal to return the Raiders, agent Drew Rosenhaus tells Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (on Twitter). Chekwa was released by the Patriots on Monday to help make room for linebacker Brandon Spikes.
Chekwa signed with the Patriots after the Raiders declined to tender him an offer in March. The former fourth-round pick was brought in to give some depth to the team’s stable of cornerbacks following the departure of Darrelle Revis and Brandon Browner via free agency. Now, he’s back in Oakland, presumably at a lower price than his restricted free agent tender would have called for.
Last year, the 26-year-old (27 in September) appeared in ten games and made two starts for the Raiders. He totaled 16 total tackles and two pass deflections.
Saints Release Shayne Graham
The Saints announced that they have released kicker Shayne Graham. In a related move, wide receiver Lance Lewis has been added to the roster.
Graham is a 15-year NFL veteran who first joined New Orleans as a UDFA in 2000. The 37-year-old, who has played for nine clubs in total, ranks seventh in NFL record books in field goal accuracy (85.5%), having nailed 266-of-311 career attempts. Overall, in 173 games, he has scored 1,219 points, tied for 35th in NFL history. Last year, Graham connected on 19-of-22 field goal attempts and finished as the club’s leading scorer with 103 points.
Lewis, 27 in November, spent all of last season on the 49ers’ taxi squad. Originally signed by Washington as a UDFA in 2012, the East Carolina product appeared in three games for the club in 2013.
Joe Barksdale, Chargers Agree To Deal
1:23pm: Barksdale gets a one-year, minimum salary contract from the Chargers, with a $350K signing bonus and an additional $1MM available in incentives, tweets Ian Rapoport of NFL.com. Those incentives are very reachable, a source tells Michael Gehlken of the San Diego Union-Tribune (Twitter link), who adds that Barksdale will be rewarded if he starts.
12:40pm: The last unsigned player on PFR’s Top 50 Free Agents list has found a new home, according to Rand Getlin of Yahoo! Sports, who reports (via Twitter) that offensive tackle Joe Barksdale has agreed to terms with the Chargers. Years and dollars on Barksdale’s new deal aren’t yet known.
When I ranked Barksdale 36th overall among available players at the start of 2015’s free agent period, I observed that, given the lack of steady, reliable offensive tackles on the market, Barksdale looked like a decent bet to land a deal similar to the $6MM-per-year pacts signed by Austin Howard and Anthony Collins in 2014.
According to various reports, Barksdale was seeking a contract in that range, or close to it, at the start of free agency. However, many teams in need of offensive line help opted to roll the dice on more affordable alternatives, or ones with more upside, such as the Jaguars with Jermey Parnell. As such, Barksdale’s asking price has likely been reduced significantly.
As our Dallas Robinson observed when he examined Barksdale’s free agent stock, Pro Football Focus (subscription required) ranked the former Ram just 48th out of 84 qualified tackles. However, his +5.6 run-blocking grade placed him just outside the top 10 in that category.
Barksdale, who previously worked out for the Falcons and drew interest from the Titans and Rams, visited the Chargers this week before agreeing to terms with the team. Having re-signed King Dunlap to play left tackle and added Orlando Franklin as their probable starter at left guard, the Chargers are set on that side of the line, but have some question marks on the right side.
Although GM Tom Telesco suggested earlier in the offseason that he envisions D.J. Fluker playing right tackle in 2015, I’d expect Barksdale to challenge for the starting role at that spot, making Fluker a candidate to move inside.
Pats Won’t Appeal DeflateGate Penalties
1:00pm: A “high-ranking” NFL source tells Greg A. Bedard of SI.com (Twitter link) that Kraft’s decision not to appeal doesn’t come attached to any sort of deal for Brady.
12:17pm: While Tom Brady and the NFLPA continue to work through the appeal process for reducing Brady’s four-game suspension, the Patriots organization won’t fight the discipline handed down to the team by the NFL, owner Robert Kraft told reporters today. As Adam Schefter of ESPN.com tweets, Kraft said his club would “reluctantly” accept the penalties levied by the league.
Besides suspending Brady for four games, the NFL also fined the Patriots $1MM, and took away the team’s first-round pick in 2016 and its fourth-round pick in 2017. The franchise would have had until this coming Thursday to appeal those penalties, but Kraft eliminated any suspense with today’s announcement, after admitting that his only two options were to end the drama or to extend it (Twitter link via Peter Schrager of Fox Sports).
In the wake of Kraft’s decision and announcement, it’s possible that Brady will stand down when it comes to fighting his own suspension, perhaps agreeing to a deal with the NFL. NFLPA spokesman George Atallah has tweeted that Brady’s appeal won’t be affected by Kraft’s decision, though the quarterback himself could decide to withdraw it. So far, there’s been no indication that will happen, but it’s fair to wonder – as Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk did (via Twitter) – if those reported “back-channel” talks between the league and the Pats will result in a reduced suspension for Brady now that the team has accepted its punishment.
Prior to today, there had been some uncertainty about whether the Pats would challenge the league’s ruling. While Kraft originally released a statement earlier this month suggesting that he planned to accept the league’s findings and its decision, the team was reportedly surprised and angered by the severity of the penalties. As Albert Breer of the NFL Network tweets, Kraft admitted in today’s statement that, “If I made the decision last week, it would be different than it is today.”
Trade Rumors App For iOS/Android
With the 2015 draft in the books, it’s contract extension season in the NFL, and you can follow all the latest news and rumors with the Trade Rumors app for iOS and Android devices! Here are some of the features of the app:
- Customize your home screen. The app has feeds for Pro Football Rumors, MLB Trade Rumors, and Hoops Rumors by default, but if you’re more of a one- or two-sport person, you can easily remove and reorder feeds. You can also add a feed for any of the 92 NFL, MLB, or NBA teams, as well as the thousands of players in the archives of our three sites. Please note that the default ordering puts MLB Trade Rumors on your home screen, but you can easily go into Settings to reorder and add or remove feeds.
- In addition to customizing your feeds, you can also set up notifications at the sport, team, or even player level, and receive a notification as soon as a new article is posted on that topic.
- We’ve also allowed for filtering of all stories versus top stories, for what is shown on the home screen as well as for notifications. This allows you to limit yourself to just the most important news for a feed, if you prefer.
- Article sharing options are plentiful: choose Facebook, Twitter, email, and text message.
- Once you’ve clicked an article in a feed, you can swipe to read the next article in that feed.
Best of all? The Trade Rumors app is free! Download it today for iOS or Android.
Latest On Los Angeles Relocation
Momentum continues to built toward the NFL returning to Los Angeles for the 2016 season, multiple sources tell Albert Breer of the NFL Network. One of those sources tells Breer that the league is “confident” there will be multiple viable options on the table before year’s end to make relocation to L.A. a realistic possibility.
While no significant movements forward are expected to be announced this week, Los Angeles will be a topic of discussion at the NFL’s spring meetings in San Francisco. Here’s more on what to expect at those meetings, and going forward:
- The cities of St. Louis and San Diego have made progress toward new stadiums, but Oakland has moved backward since March, “losing time without making any progress,” writes Breer.
- Breer also notes that Rams owner Stan Kroenke‘s Inglewood project continues to maintain an “incremental lead” over the Carson project spearheaded by the Raiders and Chargers. An outcome is “unlikely to crystallize” until late 2015, perhaps in advance of the NFL’s December meetings.
- While NFL executive Eric Grubman appreciates the city of San Diego expediting the process by submitting a proposal to build a new stadium, he tells Eric D. Williams of ESPN.com that it still needs some work. “I don’t think they made a specific proposal that includes all the key elements of how they get entitled and so forth and so on,” Grubman said. “So first of all, I haven’t dug into it. And second of all, I don’t know what the timing of that proposal could be.”
- As Nick Wagoner of ESPN.com details, Grubman also indicated that the league will look into compressing the window for teams to formally apply for relocation, which currently runs annually from January 1 to February 15.
South Notes: Mettenberger, Luck, Newton
Shortly after the Titans used the second overall pick in this year’s draft on quarterback Marcus Mariota, a report surfaced suggesting that incumbent signal-caller Zach Mettenberger wanted to be traded out of Tennessee. Mettenberger and the Titans quickly denied that claim, and now the second-year QB has taken a more significant step to show that he’s happy in Tennessee.
According to Terry McCormick of TitanInsider.com (Twitter links), Mettenberger has changed agents, going from Joe Linta to CAA’s Tom Condon and Jimmy Sexton. Although Mettenberger hasn’t explicitly stated his motivation for the change, McCormick notes that the post-draft trade talk was pinned on Linta, while Sexton also represents Titans head coach Ken Whisenhunt.
Here’s more from around the NFL’s two South divisions:
- Ryan Tannehill belongs to the same draft class as Andrew Luck, but yesterday’s contract extension for the Dolphins quarterback means nothing for the former No. 1 pick, writes Mike Wells of ESPN.com. As Wells observes, Luck is in a “different bracket” than Tannehill, meaning their contracts almost certainly look all that similar when all is said and done.
- Joseph Person of the Charlotte Observer believes the Tannehill extension doesn’t mean much for Cam Newton‘s next contract either, though Person notes that it increases the floor for QBs around the league.
- Zach Strief doesn’t have any misconceptions about Andrus Peat‘s future role with the Saints, telling Mike Triplett of ESPN.com that the 13th overall pick is going to be “taking my job eventually.” With Peat preparing to play right tackle, Strief also shot down the idea that he could transition to left guard. “[Tim Lelito and Senio Kelemete] are two excellent football players, and two guys I’m never gonna beat out as a guard,” Strief said. “So it’ll be one of those two.”
- The Titans are looking for their rookie running backs to lose some weight and get in better shape, writes Paul Kuharsky of ESPN.com.
Extra Points: Tebow, Smith, Falcons
Can Tim Tebow find success with the Eagles? Former teammate Eric Decker seems to think so. “Chip’s been doing a lot of stuff this year, so I think anything’s possible,” Decker, now with the Jets, told Manish Mehta of the Daily News. “Really, (Tebow) can create his own role. I know he wants to be head quarterback, but he can create a role for himself that can help a team in many ways (whether it’s) the two-point conversion if it’s moved up or a goal-line package. He has the athletic ability to be a personal punt protector… and can play other positions. They’ll figure out a way to utilize him if it’s going to help them be a better football team.” Here’s more from the NFC..
- Justin Smith told reporters, including Cam Inman of the Bay Area News Group (on Twitter), that the left side of his body hasn’t been responding well as of late. “If you don’t have the tools, you can’t do the job. It’s time to go,” said the 49ers defensive end, who walked away from the game of football earlier today.
- The Falcons rearranged their front office this winter, giving more responsibility to new head coach Dan Quinn and assistant GM Scott Pioli while taking some duties away from GM Thomas Dimitroff. So far, owner Arthur Blank is happy with how things have worked out, Vaughn McClure of ESPN.com writes. “I think it’s working great,” Blank said. “There is tremendous respect both ways. They’re working off each other; playing off each other’s strengths. They’re both good listeners to each other and to others. And I think the dynamic has worked out as well as anybody could have possibly thought. I think Thomas and Scott have worked beautifully together as well. So I’m very happy with all of that.”
- Buccaneers defensive tackle Clinton McDonald says fellow DT Henry Melton is a great addition to the defense and will help the Bucs get to the quarterback, Scott Smith of Buccaneers.com tweets.
AFC North Notes: Browns, Sandusky, Ravens
A quick look at the AFC North..
- Duke Johnson was just a third-round pick for the Browns but he’s already impressing and could wind up as the starter, Steve Doerschuk of CantonRep.com writes. At Miami last season, he recorded 242 carries for 1,631 yards at 6.8 per carry with 38 catches for 421 yards. Now, he has a very real chance to push 2014 rookies Terrance West and Isaiah Crowell.
- The Browns have “parted ways” with player personnel associate Jon Sandusky, according to Mary Kay Cabot of the Cleveland Plain Dealer (on Twitter). Sandusky, the son of former Penn State assistant coach Jerry Sandusky, was demoted from director of player personnel in 2014. Adam Caplan of ESPN.com (on Twitter) finds it odd that the Browns are making this move now rather than immediately after the draft.
- Under new offensive coordinator Marc Trestman, Clifton Brown of CSNBaltimore.com wonders if the Ravens will run the ball more or less this season. The Ravens had 448 rushing attempts in 2014, the most for them since 2011. Meanwhile, in the two seasons that Trestman was the Bears’ head coach, they didn’t run the ball nearly as often as the Ravens. The Bears ranked 30th in the NFL in rushing attempts 2014 and 24th in 2013.
Chargers Notes: Policy, Barksdale, Spanos
The Chargers and Raiders have hired Carmen Policy to oversee the potential football project the two teams would share, according to Daniel Kaplan of the Sports Business Journal (on Twitter). Policy, who held senior roles with the 49ers and Browns and has been out of the NFL for over a decade, believes that the NFL will put the project “on the fast track.” Since leaving the NFL, Policy’s main occupation has been his winery in Napa, but he says he’s excited to be back in football in some capacity. Here’s more on the Chargers..
- Right tackle Joe Barksdale is visiting the Chargers, as Michael Gehlken of U-T San Diego writes. The veteran started 29 games the past two seasons, all at right tackle, for the Rams.
- Chargers Chairman of the Board Dean Spanos announced that his two sons will be elevated to President-level roles. A.G. Spanos has been named President – Business Operations and John Spanos has assumed the role of President – Football Operations. John held the position of executive vice president of football operations for the past two seasons.
- Dean Spanos will now focus on the Chargers’ stadium situation, Jim Trotter of ESPN.com writes.