PFR’s Ben Levine assessed some of the Aldon Smith fallout this morning, and now the conversation shifts to which team will take a chance on him.
Whichever franchise takes this PR plunge, Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk notes said team should insist the deal for the former All-Pro pass-rusher is for at least two years, with at least part or all of the fifth-year veteran’s 2015 set to be erased via suspension. That way, Florio notes, the team that acquires Smith’s rights would be able to play him in 2016 and ’17.
While general managers will be careful, with Smith being a repeat offender who shows no signs of slowing down, there will be considerable interest in a refocused Smith’s services, Florio writes.
Among the teams referenced as potential landing spots are the Seahawks, Cowboys, Cardinals, and Giants in the NFC, with the Patriots, Steelers and Colts serving as theoretical destinations in the AFC. Some of these teams would place Smith at defensive end in a 4-3 scheme, but with
With Junior Galette signing so quickly after video of him striking a woman surfaced, a Smith signing soon isn’t out of the question.
Here are some more items from around the league as we continue in the last Saturday before game action commences.
- A TMZ report alleging Smith and Colin Kaepernick and another naming the car that Smith is being charged with vandalizing as Kaepernick’s are being debunked by the fourth-year quarterback, via Cam Inman of the San Jose Mercury News. With TMZ reporting a fight between the two took place Tuesday, Inman reports no fights have taken place in the 49ers‘ five practices. “I don’t drive a Mercedes. Let’s put it that way,” Kaepernick told media in his denial of the report.
- Russell Wilson‘s new Seahawks contract does not include a no-baseball clause like Jameis Winston‘s does with the Buccaneers, Florio reports. Johnny Manziel has a similar clause.
- Bruce Arians doesn’t know when Michael Floyd will be able to return due to having never witnessed a sequence like the one that ended with the wideout dislocating three of his fingers this week in 40 years in football, according to Bob McManaman of the Arizona Republic. “There really is no timetable because it really is such a different type of injury,” Arians told McManaman. Arians said the Cardinals will now break camp with six receivers, since Floyd is not viewed as a short-term IR candidate, after saying there was a chance they would have anyway.
In our post yesterday, a GM said Smith won’t be signed this season, but Florio seems to think Smith’s talent will win out. It’ll be interesting to see who’s right.