5 Key NFL Stories: 1/27/19 – 2/3/19

Eagles making Nick Foles preparations. Philadelphia is expected to pick up Foles’ $20MM option, but he”ll have the ability to “buy back” his free agency by giving the Eagles $2MM. Once that happens, the Eagles are expected to deploy the franchise tag and attempt to trade Foles. At that point, Philadelphia will be seeking at least a third-round pick in exchange for Foles. Additionally, they’re hoping to keep him out of the NFC East, meaning the Giants and Redskins are not likely destinations for Foles.

Redskins don’t expect Alex Smith for 2019. Smith suffered a brutal leg injury midway through last season, and Washington isn’t likely to have him back for any point of the 2019 campaign. Scheduled to take up a large chunk of the Redskins’ salary cap over the next four seasons, Smith is not a viable candidate to be released any time soon. As such, Washington will likely be in the market for a signal-caller in the upcoming months, either via the draft or in free agency.

Julius Peppers hangs up his cleats. Peppers, 39, announced his retirement last week following 17 seasons in the NFL. He’ll leave the league fourth all-time in sacks (159.5), and he could have moved into third place by playing in 2019. As recently as 2017, Peppers generated 11 sacks, and he was productive in 2018 despite his reduced sack total. He’ll go down as the NFL’s highest-paid defensive player of all time, and he’s a lock for Hall of Fame enshrinement when his time comes.

Three teams make OC promotions. A number of young offensive minds earned new jobs last week, as the Redskins, Cowboys, and Texans made internal promotions at the offensive coordinator position. Washington moved Matt Cavanaugh to an advisory role and installed former NFL quarterback Kevin O’Connell as OC, while Dallas promoted ex-QBs coach Kellen Moore after firing Scott Linehan. Houston, meanwhile, didn’t have a formal offensive coordinator in place before naming tight ends coach Tim Kelly for the role.

Antonio Brown reiterates trade demand. Although recent reports have indicated a cooling of tensions between Brown and the Steeers, Jason La Canfora of CBSSports.com indicated this morning that Brown has in fact doubled down on his trade demand. If Brown is cut or traded before June 1, the Steelers will incur more than $21MM in dead money on their salary cap and gain just over $1MM in new space. If he’s designated as a post-June 1 cut or traded after that date, Pittsburgh will take on roughly $7MM in dead money in 2019 and ~$14MM in 2020.

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