The Steelers have locked up nine undrafted college free agents following the conclusion of the draft, the club announced. Here’s a list of the newest Pittsburgh players:
Colts DT David Parry, who was arrested in late February and charged with theft of a means of transportation and resisting arrest with physical force — both felonies — pleaded guilty to two lesser charges last week, per Stephen Holder of the Indianapolis Star. Holder writes that Parry pleaded guilty to attempted unlawful means of transportation, a low-level felony charge, and disorderly conduct, a misdemeanor, which will allow him to avoid jail time. Parry will be put on supervised probation at a sentencing hearing on May 31, but the length of the probation is currently unknown (presumably it will be at the judge’s discretion).
Parry was reportedly one of three passengers in a street-legal golf cart whose driver was ultimately the victim who contacted police. Per the victim, once the other two riders had been dropped off, Parry hit the driver in the head and stole the cart. Police later found the cart crashed into a gate, with Parry, apparently intoxicated, on the sidewalk.
The incident and subsequent court proceedings took place in Arizona, but the probation can be transferred to Indiana and as Holder writes, the guilty plea should have minimal effect on Parry’s ability to play in the NFL (though he could, of course, face a fine and suspension under the NFL’s personal conduct policy). However, Parry still faces a DUI charge as a result of the incident, which will be resolved in a different court.
Parry, 25, was selected by the Colts in the fifth round of the 2015 draft. Over the first two years of his NFL career, Parry has started every game and racked up four sacks. Last year, Parry graded as just the No. 110 interior defender among 127 qualifiers, per Pro Football Focus. Entering the third year of his rookie deal, Parry is set to make the minimum in 2017, with a cap charge of roughly $670K. And now that the club has added Johnathan Hankins, Margus Hunt, and fourth-round pick Grover Stewart, Parry could be on the outside looking in.
Colts GM Chris Ballard has suggested Parry’s place on the roster will be determined by his on-field performance, but his legal trouble certainly won’t help him.
The Browns were the club most frequently connected to new Bears’ QB Mitch Trubisky prior to the draft, but Chicago made the surprising decision to trade up to the No. 2 overall pick and nab the former UNC signal-caller, and then Patrick Mahomes came off the board before Cleveland could nab him with the No. 12 overall selection. So the Browns dealt that pick and waited until the the second round to get a quarterback, selecting Notre Dame’s DeShone Kizer, whose stock slipped over the last few months but who certainly has first-round ability.
As Tony Grossi of ESPN.com writes, the Browns are open to having Kizer start right away. Head coach Hue Jackson said, “If he can handle [starting], great. We are not going to say, ‘No, you can’t play,’ if he is ready to play.”
Now for more fallout from the 2017 draft:
Less than 24 hours after the 2017 draft wrapped up, the Bills announced that they have fired GM Doug Whaley. The move does not come as a major surprise, as we heard earlier this week that major changes could be coming to the Buffalo front office, and it was clear that Whaley was losing clout to new head coach Sean McDermott. Indeed, the Bills hadn’t allowed Whaley to speak to reporters since the Senior Bowl in January, and that did not change during the draft. As ESPN’s Adam Schefter tweets, McDermott “had taken over this team in every way. [Whaley] had been phased out, well before today. Now it’s just official.”
Whaley, who became the team’s GM prior to the 2013 season, did not have much success in that position, as the Bills’ best record during his tenure was 9-7, and they did not qualify for the playoffs in any of his four seasons at the helm. He also made several notable missteps, like the aggressive draft trade for Sammy Watkins and the ill-advised extension for Marcell Dareus, and he failed to identify a franchise quarterback. Nonetheless, Whaley was given the rare opportunity to hire his third different head coach after Rex Ryan was let go towards the end of the 2016 campaign (Whaley also had a hand in hiring Ryan’s predecessor, Doug Marrone). Team owner Terry Pegula also insisted several times over the course of the past several months that Whaley’s position was secure, which Mike Rodak of ESPN.com called an “awkward charade” that the Bills would have been better off avoiding.
Jason Fitzgerald of OverTheCap.com, though, feels differently. He believes, since the Bills clearly felt comfortable with McDermott running the show, it made sense for them to keep the spotlight off their rookie head coach during the draft and to bring in a new GM now to help clean up Whaley’s (and Ryan’s) messes and handle post-draft matters (Twitter links).
As Tom Pelissero of USA Today Sports tweets, multiple members of the Panthers’ front office could become candidates for the Bills’ GM position due to their connections with McDermott, including Carolina’s assistant GM, Brandon Beane. Joe Person of the Charlotte Observer expects McDermott to push for Beane, and while the Panthers will try to keep him, they cannot block him from accepting a GM job elsewhere (Twitter link).
Another potential candidate to replace Whaley is Chiefs’ co-director of player personnel Brett Veach, as suggested by former NFL exec Joe Banner (via Twitter). Veach worked with McDermott when both men were in Philadelphia and is highly-regarded in Kansas City.
Pegula issued the following statement on Whaley’s dismissal:
“After a thorough review of our football operations over the past several months, Kim [Pegula] and I informed Doug this morning that we will be moving in a new direction. We have enjoyed working with Doug. He is a good person and we want to thank him for his work and commitment to our football team. This was my decision. It was not an easy decision but I believe it’s the right one for the future of the Buffalo Bills. Our search for a new general manager will begin immediately.”
In addition to Whaley, the Bills also dismissed their entire scouting staff, as Rodak reports.
The Jets were trying to trade Sheldon Richardson during the draft, and now that the draft is over, they are still trying to move the big defensive lineman. Manish Mehta of the New York Daily News reports that New York had conversations with several teams over the past couple of days about a potential trade, and that the Redskins were one of those teams (the Cowboys also expressed some interest in Richardson before last year’s trade deadline).
Of course, the Jets have been trying to deal Richardson for some time, but one of the major roadblocks to a trade is Richardson’s salary. He is owed a a fully-guaranteed $8.1MM this season, and no one wants to absorb that hit for a player who, for all his promise, has seen his production slip over the past two seasons and who has two separate suspensions to his name. Mehta says that, if Richardson were amenable to a pay cut, he would have been traded during the draft.
Nonetheless, one of Mehta’s sources said that there is a “50-50” chance that Richardson is traded over the coming months, and Mehta reports that the team’s asking price has dropped. After all, the Jets don’t have a ton of leverage, as rival clubs know that New York has already committed major dollars to Muhammad Wilkerson and has a rising star in Leonard Williams at the other bookend, so keeping Richardson long-term isn’t really viable.
Whether or not the asking price has dropped enough for another team to pull the trigger is unclear, but a change of scenery is clearly best for both Richardson and the Jets. Even though Richardson does not have a great deal of incentive to accept a pay cut at this point, perhaps he will concede to enough of a reduction to force someone to take on the former Defensive Rookie of the Year.
The Jets were said to be looking for a Calvin Pryor buyer, but the team now may be backing off that pursuit. GM Mike Maccagnan said he “doesn’t see any reason” why the Jets can’t retain Pryor, despite having selected safeties in each of the first two rounds of this draft (Twitter link, via Manish Mehta of the New York Daily News). Pryor is entering his fourth season and the Jets have until Wednesday to decide if they will pick up his fifth-year option. The selections of Jamal Adams and Marcus Maye certainly make that unlikely. A 2014 first-rounder, the hard-hitting safety is set to make a guaranteed $2.74MM this season.
Here’s more from around the NFL:
Zach Links contributed to this post.
No surprise here, but GM Ryan Pace says the Bears will decline cornerback Kyle Fuller‘s fifth-year option (Twitter link via Adam Jahns of the Chicago Sun-Times). The Bears technically had until May 3 to make the call, but this isn’t a decision they were really struggling with. 
[RELATED: 2018 Fifth-Year Option Tracker]
Fuller underwent arthroscopic knee surgery in August and spent the entire season on IR. At one point, the team designated him for return, but he never made it back to the field. The former first-round pick started in 30 of 32 games in 2014 and 2015 and actually intercepted six passes, but Fuller didn’t quite live up to what Chicago had in mind when selecting him No. 14 overall.
There’s still time for Fuller to get back on track, but the Bears did not want to risk being on the hook for $8.526MM in the case of an injury. While he looks to prove himself, he’ll play out the year at a reasonable $3.08MM cap number.
After the conclusion of the draft, GM John Lynch confirmed to beat reporters that the 49ers explored options for a Vance McDonald trade. They were unable to find a suitable deal, however. 
“That’s the reality of new regimes coming in, new schemes,” Lynch said Saturday (via Cam Inman of the Mercury News). “That’s not to say he can’t fit into our scheme. Frankly we received some interest from other people, then we did explore some options throughout the league with Vance. And nothing ended up happening, so Vance will come back and have an opportunity to compete.”
Lynch went on to say the 49ers will welcome back McDonald “with open arms.” Coach Kyle Shanahan added that “we want Vance here.” The Niners drafted tight end George Kittle in Saturday’s fifth round, but the GM says that’s not an indication that McDonald is being shipped out. For now, it sounds like McDonald is staying, but one has to wonder if he’ll remain on the block.
Just months ago, McDonald signed a five-year, $35MM extension. Three days after signing, he suffered a season-ending injury and was placed on IR. The 26-year-old (27 in June) had 24 catches and 391 yards in eleven games last year.
This year’s final selection in the NFL Draft can hardly be nicknamed “Mr. Irrelevant.” The Broncos have taken Ole Miss quarterback Chad Kelly with the No. 253 overall pick. 
During the draft process, Kelly met with several teams, including the Seahawks and Chiefs. Kelly, the nephew of Bills legend Jim Kelly, was once considered to be a top QB in the 2017 class. However, a injury concerns and off-the-field issues dropped him down to a Day 3 prospect and nearly pushed him out of the draft altogether.
After recovering quickly from a ACL tear, Kelly was forced to undergo wrist surgery in early April, so he won’t be able to throw for a few months. There’s also major questions about his maturity between his ouster from Clemson years ago and his recent participation in a brawl at a high school football game.
When he is healthy, the Broncos are hoping that they might have themselves a high-potential developmental quarterback.
Awful news for Jets wide receiver Devin Smith. Smith tore his ACL in the first team workout of the year, GM Mike Maccagnan told reporters moments ago. He already had surgery for the tear and will miss the entire 2017 season. 
Smith, 25, suffered an ACL tear in the same knee in his rookie season. All in all, the 2015 second round pick has seen just 3 games of action in total since entering the league. Smith was one of Maccagnan’s first draft picks as Jets GM and we’ll have to wait another year to find out whether he can bring anything to the table in New York.
The Jets now have seven wide receivers on the roster as they look ahead to the 2017 season. Eric Decker, Quincy Enunwa, and Robby Anderson lead the way with free agent pickup Quinton Patton, third round rookie ArDarius Stewart, Charone Peake, and Jalin Marshall in support. One has to imagine that Smith’s injury and Marshall’s four-game ban played into the team’s decision to draft Stewart.