2020 March - Pro Football Rumors

“Zero Communication” From NFL On Coronavirus Plans

March 12th, 2020 at 12:33pm CST by Zachary Links

There has been “zero communication” between the league office and teams regarding COVID-19 procedure, according to a team source who spoke with Ben Fischer of the Sports Business Journal (on Twitter). Individual teams have moved to restrict or eliminate travel, but the NFL has yet to announce any league-wide moves or changes to the offseason.

Instead, the NFL has decided to proceed with the upcoming offseason schedule in place. The league has no plans to move the start of the league year (and the beginning of free agency) on Wednesday, March 18.

Meanwhile, the rest of the sporting world has acted quickly this week to limit exposure to the pandemic. In North America:

The NBA season has been suspended indefinitely.
The NHL season has been suspended indefinitely.
Major League Baseball is set to suspend spring training.
The Major League Soccer season has been suspended, for at least 30 days.
Multiple college basketball conference tournaments – including the Big Ten and SEC tournaments – have been cancelled.

A cancellation of March Madness also seems likely. At minimum, those games will be played without fans in attendance.

Although the NFL season doesn’t start until September, the league’s offseason is in full swing and it calls for a great deal of travel, conferences, and face-to-face interaction. The league is said to be considering adjustments to April’s NFL Draft, but many are calling for Roger Goodell to take immediate measures to protect the game’s players, executives, and prospective rookies in the interim.

Titans To Release Dion Lewis

March 12th, 2020 at 12:25pm CST by Zachary Links

The Titans are moving on from Dion Lewis. The running back has been released from his contract, according to NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport (on Twitter).

This was an expected move. The Titans are intent on bringing Derrick Henry back, either with a tag or a brand new deal to keep him from free agency.

Lewis, meanwhile, is no longer worth the remainder of the four-year, $20MM deal he signed with the team in the 2018 offseason. After averaging 5.0 yards per carry in the Patriots’ varied backfield, he’s averaged just 3.5 yards per tote for the Titans across the last two seasons with an increasingly smaller role. Last year, he appeared in every game, but carried the ball just 54 times for 209 yards.

Henry, meanwhile, has been sensational. Last year, he turned in a 1,540-yard season – that’s not counting his 446 postseason rushing yards, the most by any player whose team did not reach the a Super Bowl.

NFL Has “No Plans” To Move Free Agency

March 12th, 2020 at 11:27am CST by Zachary Links

The NFL announced that it still plans to begin its league year on March 18. Barring any change, this means that pro football’s free agency will kick off on Wednesday.

In the last 24 hours, we’ve seen the NBA put its season on hiatus and the NCAA progress towards a likely cancellation of March Madness. The NFL, meanwhile, has been mulling different measures to prevent league officials and players from catching the coronavirus while keeping the offseason schedule in tact.

More and more teams are cancelling travel – the Jets, Redskins, and Giants are among the latest – but the NFL has yet to put the kibosh on all travel league-wide. But, according to agent Erik Burkhardt (on Twitter), the league has cancelled all draftee facility visits.

The situation, of course, is fluid, but this is the slated schedule for events in the NFL and labor talks right now (h/t ESPN.com’s Field Yates, via Twitter):

Saturday, 11:59pm ET: Deadline for players to vote on proposed CBA
Monday, 11:59am ET: Deadline to apply a franchise or transition tag
Monday, 12pm ET: Legal tampering window opens
Wednesday, 4pm ET: Free agency begins

Latest On NFL’s CBA Talks

March 12th, 2020 at 10:14am CST by Zachary Links

The deadline for the NFLPA’s CBA vote has not been changed, as Tom Pelissero of NFL.com tweets. The union is still asking for all votes to be submitted by 11:59 pm ET on Saturday. And, on Thursday morning, the NFLPA sent out an email to agents everywhere with the following message: “Please encourage your player clients to exercise their right to vote.”

Meanwhile, offseason plans have been thrown into flux. The league is discussing potential changes to the NFL Draft, slated to take place on April 23-25 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The NFLPA is also doing its due diligence – they’ll have a conference call with medical experts on Friday to assess the situation and determine what steps need to be taken on their end (via Mike Florio of PFT). So far, no announcements have been made regarding restrictions on the travel, workouts, and conferences that are scheduled to take place in the offseason. And, in the midst of everything, the two sides are working to hammer out a brand new CBA that will ensure labor peace for another decade.

On the union side, the NFLPA recently elected Browns center J.C. Tretter as its new president. Tretter was one of four players in the running to take over for Eric Winston and that field was basically whittled down to three when Russell Okung – entangled in some other issues – backed out.

Bucs Unlikely To Trade For David Johnson

March 12th, 2020 at 9:50am CST by Zachary Links

Some have speculated that Bucs head coach Bruce Arians could make a play for his old pal David Johnson. However, if the Cardinals try to trade the running back, it’s unlikely that the Bucs will be in the mix, Josh Weinfuss of ESPN.com (on Twitter) hears.

The Cardinals have gone on the record to say that cutting Johnson is “not an option.” The running back is due $13MM/year on his monster contract and releasing him would saddle the team with a $16.2MM dead money hit. If he remains on the team, he’d carry a $14.1MM cap charge for the 2020 season.

Johnson’s was once one of the league’s very best running backs. But, thanks to ankle and back injuries, he’s looked nothing like his old self. Last year, the Cardinals limited his carries and acquired Kenyan Drake via trade before the deadline, further downsizing his role. Drake, meanwhile, is on course to be a free agent later this month.

Even if Drake returns, the Cardinals have not discounted the possibility of keeping Johnson as backfield reinforcement. Then again, they don’t have a whole lot of options. Johnson, simply put, is not the player he used to be, and his contract is an anchor.

Last year, Johnson missed time and averaged just 3.7 yards on 94 totes. His last big year came in 2016, when he earned Pro Bowl and First-Team All-Pro nods as he ran for 1,239 yards. Before that, he put his name on the map as a rookie by averaging 4.6 yards per carry.

Dolphins To Decline Daniel Kilgore’s Option

March 12th, 2020 at 9:30am CST by Zachary Links

The Dolphins won’t pick up the option on center Daniel Kilgore, as Cameron Wolfe of ESPN.com tweets. With that, the veteran will become a free agent when the league year begins on March 18.

Kilgore has made 17 starts in the middle since joining the Dolphins in 2018. By turning down the option on the final year in his contract, the Dolphins will save $4MM against the 2020 cap.

The Dolphins have been exploring Kilgore alternatives throughout the offseason and their replacement could come in either free agency or the draft. They’re well-stocked with both cash and picks, so there will be plenty of avenues to explore.

After dropping Kilgore, the Dolphins have about $127.9MM in committments for the coming year. They could trim that number even further, too. If they stand pat, they’ll enter free agency with upwards of $91.5MM to burn.

Packers To Meet With Christian Kirksey

March 12th, 2020 at 9:22am CST by Zachary Links

The Packers are set to meet with free agent linebacker Christian Kirksey on Thursday, according to Mike Garafolo of NFL.com (on Twitter). Kirksey left his Raiders visit without a deal this week, though Garafolo hears that a deal is still possible with Las Vegas.

Kirksey, 27, was cut by the Browns earlier this month. In Cleveland, he was equally known for his tenacious play and his charitable work. On the field, he appeared in 73 career games and made 54 starts over the course of six seasons. Recently, however, he has has been slowed by injuries. In 2018, a hamstring injury kept him out for more than half of the season. Last year, he only played in two games thanks to a pec tear.

The Browns re-upped Kirksey to a four-year, $38MM extension before the 2017 season. Even before the injuries started, Kirksey’s performance was dipping off a bit, as shown by the advanced metrics in ’18. It was a sharp contrast from 2017, when he tallied 148 total stops.

Kirksey would be a logical fit for both the Raiders and Packers, and he’d come at a much cheaper rate than his previous contract.

In Response To COVID-19, NFL Discussing Adjustments To Draft

March 12th, 2020 at 8:47am CST by Zachary Links

In the wake of the global COVID-19 pandemic, the NFL is considering potential changes to the upcoming NFL Draft, as Michael Gehlken of the Dallas News writes. As of this writing, the draft is slated to take place in Las Vegas from April 23-25.

On Wednesday night, the NBA suspended its season shortly after learning that Jazz center Rudy Gobert had tested positive for the coronavirus. The unprecedented move has many calling for the NFL to take similar measures with the draft, free agency, and other major league milestones on the horizon.

“The league office, the players association and the city and the state are working together,” Raiders owner Mark Davis told Gehlken in a phone interview on Wednesday. “They’re making a measured decision. Health and safety will always be No. 1.”

The draft is one of many face-to-face large scale conferences on the league’s calendar. In just a few weeks, for example, the annual owners meetings are set to take place. Beyond that, the NFL offseason calls for countless flights, meetings, and workouts. Hours after the NBA paused its season and the United States announced a ban on most travel to Europe, it’s hard to imagine the NFL going about business as usual.

For the draft, the NFL may scale back or eliminate fan attendance entirely. There has also been speculation that the draft could take place entirely via teleconference

“They’ll make the correct decision,” Davis told Gehlken. “They won’t put anyone in jeopardy over it.”

Patriots Pick Up Jason McCourty’s Option

March 12th, 2020 at 8:31am CST by Zachary Links

The Patriots have officially exercised Jason McCourty‘s option for the 2020 season, according to ESPN.com’s Field Yates (on Twitter). The cornerback will earn nearly $4MM as a result and the move may help the Patriots retain his twin brother Devin McCourty.

The twins, 33 in August, previously said that they plan to continue playing in the NFL. However, Devin is slated to reach free agency in a couple of weeks, where he could fetch some big money offers. The Patriots want to keep him, but they’re also not inclined to pay open market money to their own FAs.

Last year, Jason appeared in 12 games (ten starts) and registered 39 tackles and one interception. His performance earned him a 74.4 grade from Pro Football Focus, ranking him 17th among all qualified cornerbacks. Despite his advanced age, that makes his 2020 salary a tremendous value for the Pats. Meanwhile, Bill Belichick & Co. are hoping that this leads to a new deal with Devin, who has been a mainstay in their secondary at multiple spots since 2010.

Devin, for his part, has voiced concern about quarterback Tom Brady potentially leaving the team. But regardless of where Brady and the standout safety wind up, the Patriots will hold the rights to Jason.

Giants Re-Sign FB Eli Penny

March 11th, 2020 at 9:09pm CST by Ben Levine

Eli Penny is sticking with the Giants. The organization agreed to a two-year deal with the fullback, according to ESPN’s Jordan Raanan (via Twitter). The 26-year-old was set to become a restricted free agent.

Penny, the older brother of Seahawks running back Rashaad Penny, was an undrafted free agent out of Idaho in 2016. After serving as a running back in college, he spent the first two-plus seasons of his career as a fullback with the Cardinals. He got into 16 games with Arizona in 2017, compiling 124 rushing yards and two scores on 31 attempts. He also added two receptions and 12 special teams tackles.

He joined the Giants during the 2018 campaign, and he’s spent the past season-plus with the organization. That includes a 2019 campaign where he appeared in 16 games and contributed 39 rushing yards.

Penny will once again be serving as the lead blocker for Saquon Barkley and Wayne Gallman in 2020.