2018 April - Pro Football Rumors

Bears To Sign WR Marlon Brown

April 19th, 2018 at 4:23pm CST by Sam Robinson

While Marlon Brown won’t be as likely to make the Bears’ 53-man roster as the franchise’s other offseason additions at this spot, he reached an agreement to compete for a spot.

The Bears signed the former Ravens supporting-cast wideout on Thursday, Adam Caplan of ESPN.com tweets. Brown has not played in an NFL game since the 2015 season. Brown worked out for the Bears on Tuesday.

Brown joins Allen Robinson, Taylor Gabriel and Bennie Fowler as newcomer Bears wideouts. Still just 26, the 6-foot-5 receiver was out of football last season, last being affiliated with the Broncos during their 2017 training camp. Brown’s best season came in 2013, when he caught 49 passes for 524 yards and seven touchdowns. The Georgia product has not gotten into the end zone since his rookie season.

After losing RFA Cameron Meredith to the Saints, the Bears’ wide receiver group will look almost entirely new this season. Josh Bellamy and Kevin White remain on the roster, but the latter can’t exactly be counted on given his extensive injury past. Beyond Bellamy, 2017 UDFA Tanner Gentry s three catches last season were the most among the remaining receivers still on the Bears’ roster.

Dwight Freeney Retires From NFL

April 19th, 2018 at 3:56pm CST by Zachary Links

Dwight Freeney is calling it a career. After 16 seasons in the NFL, Freeney will sign a one-day contract with Indianapolis to retire as a member of the Colts.

Freeney entered the league as the No. 11 pick in the 2002 NFL Draft. Since then, he has racked up seven Pro Bowl nods, three first-team All-Pro selections, and a Super Bowl ring.

Freeney, 38, will be best remembered for his time in blue and white, where he amassed 107. 5 sacks across eleven seasons. All in all, he has 125.5 career sacks to his credit, tying him for 17th all-time in NFL history.

The Colts averaged 11 wins per year during Freeney’s run with the Colts and had 11 sacks in his 22 playoff games with the team. Many thought the Colts were reaching when they selected Freeney in ’02, but he turned out to be the perfect fit for first-year head coach Tony Dungy.

“Bill [Polian] had seen Dwight and thought he was exactly the guy I had been talking about,” Dungy said of Freeney. “We’re sitting at No. 11 in the first round and people looked at his size and thought it was too high to draft him. Bill, to his credit, said, ‘If this is going to be the big piece of the puzzle, let’s not worry about where we take Dwight and what other people think. Let’s get the guy who is going to be the perfect piece.’ Dwight was the straw that stirred the drink.”

The Syracuse product played in three Super Bowls — two with the Colts, one with the Falcons — and started in 19 postseason games. All seven of Freeney’s double-digit sack seasons came with the Colts.

Following his Colts run, which ran through the 2012 season, Freeney played with five more teams. His most notable post-Indianapolis season came with the 2015 Cardinals, for whom he registered eight sacks and helped to the NFC title game despite being an off-the-bench edge rusher. He recorded three sacks in each of the past two seasons, playing in Atlanta, Seattle and Detroit. Prior to Arizona, Freeney spent two seasons in San Diego.

Broncos Rumors: Elway, No. 5 Pick, Ray

April 19th, 2018 at 3:08pm CST by Zachary Links

The Broncos are open for business. In a presser on Thursday, GM John Elway announced that he is willing to trade the No. 5 overall pick for the right price. Elway also noted that Denver is open to all possibilities, which may mean standing pat to take a quarterback, moving back for the QB they want, or even selecting a non-QB.

The Bills, armed with the Nos. 12 and 22 selections in the draft, are expected to be among those with serious interest in moving up to the No. 5 pick.

Here’s more out of Denver:

Elway says the team hasn’t made a decision yet on picking up Shane Ray‘s fifth-year option (Twitter link via Nicki Jhabvala of The Athletic). Ray had a breakout season in 2016, recording 48 tackles and eight sacks in 664 snaps and placing 45th out of Pro Football Focus’ 110 qualified edge defenders. Unfortunately, Ray’s wrist kept him off the field until late October last year and he was shut down once again in December. As shown on PFR’s 2019 Fifth-Year Option Tracker, seven players have had their options exercised. The Broncos will have to think long and hard about whether to do the same for the former No. 23 overall pick.
Elway says the Broncos do not have more than four quarterbacks with first round grades (Twitter link via James Palmer of NFL.com), though he added that there is not a consensus in the building on ranking them.
Elway says that the production of Oklahoma quarterback Baker Mayfield over ” the last three years” is proof that his height – just over 6’0″ — should not be an issue in the NFL (Twitter link via Jeff Legwold of ESPN.com).

Giants Release WR Brandon Marshall

April 19th, 2018 at 1:50pm CST by Zachary Links

The Giants released wide receiver Brandon Marshall with a failed physical designation, GM Dave Gettleman announced. Marshall was set to enter the final year of a two-year, $12MM contract signed in 2017.

By releasing the veteran, the G-Men will save $5.1MM against the salary cap. Marshall, 34, feels that he has multiple seasons left in the tank, but the Giants do not concur. At least, they did not feel that Marshall had enough juice to justify his salary.

“I’m all-in on football. I’ve rebuilt my body,” Marshall said in December. “I think I’m two great years away from — and I’ll say it, I want to be a Hall of Famer, and I think I got two great years to go to be mentioned with some of the greats. I’m not just playing this game just to be a guy; I want to be remembered for the product that I put out on the field.”

Marshall was one of several Giants receivers to succumb to injury in 2017 as he missed the bulk of the year after undergoing ankle surgery. He topped 1,500 yards in his 2015 season with the Jets, but he has not been able to reprise that production. In 2016, he had just 59 catches for 788 yards and three touchdowns, a big step back from the previous year in which he had a league-leading 14 TDs.

Earlier this week, Marshall took to social media to inform free agent Dez Bryant that there is “no room” for him in New York. The Giants now have the necessary space – from both financial and football perspectives – to add Bryant, if they wish. For his part, Bryant is eager to join up with the Giants and exact revenge on his former employers.

Eagles Open To Trading First Round Pick

April 19th, 2018 at 1:10pm CST by Zachary Links

The Eagles have traded out of the first round just twice since 1999, but they’re not ruling it out in this year’s draft. When speaking with reporters this week, Eagles GM Howie Roseman indicated that the No. 32 pick could be for sale.

“I would say overall we’re open for business,” said Roseman (via Jimmy Kempski of the Philly Voice). “We’re open for business in every round if it’s something that we think makes sense for our team, we’re going to do it. But at the same time, we’re ready to pick. We have 32 guys we feel really good about. We can’t operate under the assumption that we’re going to bail out, so we’re ready to roll.”

The final pick in the first round has been traded in three of the last four drafts. The No. 32 pick may not seem sexy, but it holds value over the first pick in the second round since those players can be controlled for an extra year through the fifth-year option.

Most GMs like to say they are “open for business” at this time in the offseason, so it’s hard to tell how serious the Eagles are about the prospect of moving back from No. 32. However, as Kempski notes, the Eagles have moved out of their original draft slot in nine of the last 19 drafts, so, historically speaking, they are willing to deal.

Browns Re-Sign DL Jamie Meder

April 19th, 2018 at 12:49pm CST by Zachary Links

The Browns announced that they have re-signed defensive lineman Jamie Meder. Meder was a restricted free agent who was tendered at the lowest level this offseason. Per the terms of the tender, Meder will earn $1.907MM in 2018.

Meder, 26, first entered the league with the Ravens as an undrafted free agent out of Ashland in 2014. He found his way to the Browns in 2015 and has been with the team ever since. In 2016, he started most of the season on a thinned out Browns defensive line.

Last year, he appeared in ten games (two starts) for the Browns before landing on IR with an ankle sprain. In a limited sample of 178 snaps, the advanced metrics at Pro Football Focus gave him an average grade with a 74.8 overall score.

Cardinals To Sign CB Marcus Williams

April 19th, 2018 at 12:37pm CST by Zachary Links

The Cardinals have signed cornerback Marcus Williams, according to Kent Somers of The Arizona Republic (on Twitter). Williams finished the 2017 season with the Texans.

Williams started 15 games in three seasons with the Jets, but did not start a contest in 2017. The Jets shopped him last summer and later waived him in October, leading him to Houston. With the Texans, he appeared in ten games as a reserve and totaled 12 tackles, four pass deflections, and came up with an interception against the Seahawks in a late October game. His most notable season came in 2015 when he tallied six interceptions in 13 games with Gang Green.

Williams will now fight for a reserve job on a cornerback depth chart that is presently headlined by Patrick Peterson and Brandon Williams. If the Cardinals can land an impact cornerback early in the draft, they’ll likely have a rookie starting opposite of P2. Other reserve corners in Arizona include C.J. Goodwin, Ronald Zamort, Jonathan Moxey, Jarell Carter, and free agent pickups Bene Benwikere and Louis Young.

Bucs’ Kendell Beckwith Injured In Car Crash

April 19th, 2018 at 12:19pm CST by Zachary Links

Buccaneers strongside linebacker Kendell Beckwith was involved in a car accident last week in Louisiana, Bucs GM Jason Licht told reporters (Twitter link via Jenna Laine of ESPN.com). Beckwith suffered a fractured ankle in the crash and had to undergo surgery. He will miss a significant portion of the offseason as a result and it’s not clear whether he’ll be ready to go in Week 1.

“We’re very fortunate that it wasn’t life-threatening,” Licht said (via Greg Auman of the Tampa Bay Times). “He’ll be out of OTAs and in training camp, we’ll have a better idea of how far along he is.”

Beckwith, a third round pick in the 2017 draft, fell to the Bucs after suffering a torn ACL. It’s presently unknown whether his broken ankle is on the same leg.

Last year, the Bucs used Beckwith at all three linebacker spots as he appeared in all 16 games with eleven starts. The 23-year-old had 73 total tackles on the year, including a huge 14-tackle game against the Patriots in the first month of the season. Beckwith wasn’t originally ticketed for a starting role, but he wound up playing on 847 snaps as a rookie.

Beckwith’s injury could prompt the Bucs to take a closer look at linebackers in the later rounds of next week’s draft. The team may also lean more heavily on linebacker Adarius Glanton, though he is recovering from an injury of his own after breaking a leg in December (a side note – Glanton recently took on his father’s surname, so he will take the field as Adarius Taylor in the fall).

NFL Draft Rumors: Bengals, Ragnow, Browns

April 19th, 2018 at 11:40am CST by Zachary Links

It increasingly sounds like Arkansas center/guard Frank Ragnow has a good chance to be drafted in Round 1, Tom Pelissero of NFL.com hears. The Bengals got a last minute meeting in with Ragnow and it’s possible that they could consider him with the No. 21 overall pick. Pelissero wonders if we could be in for a run on interior linemen towards the back of the first round, with guys like Ragnow, Iowa center James Daniels, Georgia guard Isaiah Wynn and Ohio State center Billy Price (despite his partially torn pec) coming off of the board sooner than expected.

“Those guys are just safe. They’re steady. The bust factor is very low on those guys,” an AFC executive said. “Maybe they’re not the sexiest picks, but worst-case scenario, you’re going to end up with a solid player who can step in and contribute pretty early.”

Here’s the latest NFL Draft buzz:

Most people believe the Browns are zeroed in on a quarterback, but GM John Dorsey isn’t publicly ruling out Penn State running back Saquon Barkley at No. 1 overall (Twitter link via NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport). Of course, draft season is full of smokescreens, so we shouldn’t necessarily take Dorsey’s comments at face value. In all likelihood, the Browns will be selecting their QB of the future with the top pick while considering other players at No. 4.
Draft visits are officially over, but the Seahawks are still doing their homework. On Thursday night, they’ll dine with Washington defensive tackle Vita Vea, Rapoport tweets. The Seahawks pick at No. 18, so they may have to trade up if they want him. It will be interesting to see if they go in that direction since they have opted to trade down in recent drafts.

Breer On NFL Draft, Dolphins, Moore

April 19th, 2018 at 11:21am CST by Zachary Links

Have pre-draft workouts gotten out of control? Many in the football world believe that is the case, Albert Breer of The MMQB writes.

“I worked out a guy who was dead because he got smoked by the team that worked him out two days before,” said one NFC assistant coach. “I had some questions about his toughness coming in, but I had to give him a pass on the whole thing. And it’s on the coaches for doing that.”

After a workout season that saw Wisconsin cornerback Nick Nelson tear his meniscus while working out for the Lions and N.C. State defensive tackle Kentavius Street tear his ACL while with the Giants, it may be time to bring some reform to the way teams conduct auditions with prospects.

Here’s more from Breer:

The Dolphins say they have the ammo to get into the Top 6 of the draft if there is a player they like, but Breer gets the sense that Miami probably won’t deal up for any of this year’s top quarterbacks. If they stand pat at No. 11, Breer believes that UCLA’s Josh Rosen is the most likely signal caller to fall to them. Of course, Miami has holes to fill elsewhere, so a Ryan Tannehill successor/alternative isn’t necessarily their top priority.
The Cardinals seem unlikely to make a big play to land one of the best four QBs. However, if a QB they like slips into the bottom part of the Top 10, Breer could see them making a move.
More than one team prefers Maryland’s D.J Moore to Alabama’s Calvin Ridley, Breer hears. This is consistent with recent buzz we’ve heard about the rise of Moore. Recently, NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport categorized Moore as a firm first-round prospect, which is a change from what we were hearing just a couple of weeks ago. Still, Breer thinks Ridley will be the first WR off of the board and pegs the Cowboys as a likely destination since they have a clear need after cutting Dez Bryant.
Overall, this draft has depth that will lead to better-than-usual quality into the fourth round, Breer writes. However, the feeling is that this group isn’t stocked with blue-chippers, which means that teams in the 20s feel that they essentially have high second-round picks. “(Picks) 20 and 55 may wind up being the same,” one exec said. “The guy in the last third of the first round, you might be paying a first-round premium on him and he’s no different than the guy at 35 to 40. And those guys in the last third of first round, top half of the second, they’re the same not only in ability but value of their role in the game.” Breer wonders if this could hamper the Bills in their efforts to trade up using the No. 22 pick.