2021 June - Pro Football Rumors

Dolphins Sign First-Round DE Jaelan Phillips

June 9th, 2021 at 1:46pm CST by Andrew Ortenberg

The Dolphins have their other first-round pick under wraps. After quickly signing Jaylen Waddle in mid-May, they’ve now inked the 18th overall pick from that weekend.

Miami has signed defensive end Jaelan Phillips to his rookie contract, the team announced Wednesday. A Miami product, Phillips won’t have to move very far to start his pro career. A decorated recruit out of high school, Phillips started his college career at UCLA and was very highly regarded. Unfortunately concussions and other injuries caused him to medically retire from football in 2018, before he reversed course and returned to play at Miami last year.

Phillips was a second-team All-American for the Hurricanes last season, as he finished with 15.5 tackles for loss and eight sacks in 10 games. Scouts were very high on his talent, although there were naturally some concerns about his medicals.

Clearly teams felt comfortable enough, as he was a consensus first-rounder entering the draft. It’s often been stated that had it not been for his medical issues at UCLA, he would’ve been a top-ten pick.

The Dolphins don’t have a ton at edge rusher after cutting Kyle Van Noy this offseason, so Phillips should see a lot of immediate playing time if he’s ready. Miami now has four of their seven picks locked up.

Ravens’ Ja’Wuan James Could Play In 2021?

June 9th, 2021 at 12:47pm CST by Andrew Ortenberg

The Ravens recently signed Ja’Wuan James to a two-year deal worth around $9MM. It’ll pay him a minimum salary in 2021 with around $8MM coming in 2022, as James of course tore his Achilles earlier this offseason while working out away from the Broncos’ facility.

Denver then cut him while voiding his hefty salary. James has since filed a grievance looking to recover $10MM in 2021 salary and $5MM in 2022 salary, but in the meantime is a member of the Ravens. It was initially assumed Baltimore signed him as a long-term future investment, but it turns out he could return to play sooner than previously thought.

Ravens coach John Harbaugh said yesterday that James hasn’t been ruled out for 2021 and could return to the field in November of December, via Jamison Hensley of ESPN.com (Twitter link). That being said, Harbaugh added it’s not something they’re counting on, just that it’s a possibility.

The Ravens also signed Alejandro Villanueva to be their new starting tackle opposite Ronnie Stanley after trading Orlando Brown Jr., but it’s possible James will be viewed as an upgrade over Villanueva once he’s healthy.

James’ time in Denver was plagued by injuries, but he was a very solid starter for Miami before that.

Surgery For Falcons’ Calvin Ridley

June 9th, 2021 at 11:44am CST by Zachary Links

Falcons wide receiver Calvin Ridley recently underwent minor foot surgery (Twitter link via NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport). As a result, he’ll be unable to take the field during minicamp. Fortunately, it’s more of a cleanup than a serious operation, so Ridley should be good to go in time for training camp.

Ridley set new career watermarks last year with 90 grabs for 1,374 yards. The former No. 26 overall pick also found pay dirt nine times. In an otherwise trying year for the Falcons, Ridley was a bright spot. All in all, he’s got 217 catches, 3,061 yards, and 26 touchdowns to his credit.

Now, the Falcons will be counting on Ridley more than ever with Julio Jones out of the picture. And, with some the much needed cap relief that came from the Jones deal, the Falcons should be able to start extension talks with him in the near future. For now, the 2018 first-round pick is signed through 2022, thanks to his fifth-year option worth $11.116MM.

Chiefs Promote Mike Borgonzi To Asst. GM

June 9th, 2021 at 10:48am CST by Zachary Links

The Chiefs have promoted Mike Borgonzi to assistant GM, per a team press release. The club also elevated Brandt Tilis to Vice President of Football Operations and Ryan Poles to Executive Director of Player Personnel.

All three executives have been in the mix for GM jobs elsewhere. But, with Brett Veach installed as the Chiefs’ GM, that job won’t be available anytime soon.

The Panthers met with all three executives in this last cycle before ultimately landing on ex-Seahawks VP Scott Fitterer. It’s safe to say that they’ll garner consideration again in the 2022 cycle, but the Chiefs might be able to hang on to them for a while longer with these pay/title bumps.

Tilis has been a key cog in Chiefs contract matters since starting with them in 2010. Among his CV highlights: squeezing in extensions for Patrick Mahomes, Chris Jones, and Travis Kelce to keep one of the NFL’s strongest teams in tact. Poles, 36 in September, has served as the assistant player personnel director since May 2018.

This Date In Transactions History: Rams Sign Jared Goff

June 9th, 2021 at 9:17am CST by Zachary Links

Five years ago today, the Rams officially signed No. 1 overall pick Jared Goff. The Rams were happy to sign the promising young Cal product to a four-year, $28MM deal in accordance with his slot, though they paid a hefty price for the right to draft him in the first place.

After a classic Jeff Fisher middle-of-the-pack season, the Rams came into the offseason with the No. 15 overall pick and a major crush on Goff. A couple weeks before the draft, they pried the top choice away from the Titans with a Godfather offer, a package that included two 2016 second-round picks, plus 2017 first- and third-round choices.

Goff wasn’t everyone’s preferred quarterback in that class, but the Rams saw Goff as a more polished passer than North Dakota State’s Carson Wentz. It was hard to argue with Goff’s potential – he threw for nearly 8,700 combined yards and 78 touchdowns during his final two college seasons. And, in his final year, he established new personal watermarks by completing 64.5% of his passes and throwing for 4,714 yards and 43 TDs.

In keeping with team tradition, the Rams also signed the rest of their entire 2016 draft class on this same day. Thanks to the blockbuster deal to get Goff, the Rams’ next pick didn’t come until the fourth round at No. 110 overall, when they selected the troubled-yet-talented Tyler Higbee, a tight end out of Western Kentucky. Higbee panned out — the rest of the class was spotty, including Goff.

With Goff under center, the Rams reached the Super Bowl following the 2018 season. After Goff threw for 4,688 yards, 32 touchdowns, and 12 interceptions in the regular season and brought them to a snoozer of a championship game, the Rams rewarded him with a four-year, $134MM deal with $110MM guaranteed. That’s when things went south — Goff finished 22nd in Total QBR in 2019 and 23rd in 2020. Then, in January of 2021, the Rams swapped him — and a ton of draft capital — for Lions QB Matthew Stafford.

Eagles Sign JaCoby Stevens

June 9th, 2021 at 8:56am CST by Zachary Links

The Eagles announced that they’ve officially signed sixth-round safety JaCoby Stevens. Per the terms of his slot, the former LSU safety will earn $3.6MM on his four-year deal.

Stevens was a three-year starter for the Tigers, helping the program capture the 2019 National Championship. In total, Stevens notched 190 tackles, 21.5 tackles for loss, 9.5 sacks, and four interceptions across 42 games. Stevens struggled at times in his final year on campus, but scouts say he has the potential to play multiple positions in the secondary with occasional cameos at linebacker. He certainly has the size and athleticism to pull it off — the 6’1″ prospect weighs in at ~215 pounds and notched a 42” vertical jump at LSU’s pro day.

No matter where the Eagles slot him, Stevens says he’s ready to perform and outplay his No. 224 overall slot.

“I know that’s one of the things people are questioning because I’m playing linebacker here for the Eagles and I played safety at LSU,” said Stevens last month. “And that’s one thing that I said, I basically played linebacker at LSU as well. It’s just a position title.”

With Stevens signed, the Eagles have the majority of their draft class wrapped up. At the time of this writing, econd-round center Landon Dickerson stands as the last straggler.

Packers To Sign De’Vondre Campbell

June 9th, 2021 at 8:42am CST by Zachary Links

The Packers are set to sign inside linebacker De’Vondre Campbell (Twitter link via ESPN.com’s Rob Demovsky). The deal could become official by the end of the business day on Wednesday, if everything checks out with his physical.

Green Bay has been on the lookout for ILB support ever since moving on from Christian Kirksey. Campbell, who previously started for the Falcons and Cardinals, overlapped with Packers head coach Matt LaFleur in Atlanta. They’ll reunite in Wisconsin as Campbell tests his veteran experience against Krys Barnes, Kamal Martin, and Ty Summers.

The Packers were also connected to Campbell last offseason, but they chose to sign Kirksey instead. This time around, they held off on signing Campbell until after the May deadline, so this pickup won’t impact their compensatory pick calculation for 2022.

Campbell first entered the league a fourth-round pick in 2016, the year he played for LaFleur. All in all, he’s appeared in 75 career games, including 70 starts. He was also first-string for all 16 games of his games last year with the Cardinals. Campbell’s best work arguably came in 2019, when he notched 129 stops for the Falcons.

Terms of the deal are not yet known, but Campbell likely signed for less than last year’s one-year, $6MM pact with Arizona.

Cardinals LB Chandler Jones Skipping Minicamp

June 8th, 2021 at 10:23pm CST by Ben Levine

The Cardinals kicked off their mandatory three-day minicamp today, but one of their top players wasn’t in attendance. Darren Urban of the team’s website reports that Chandler Jones was a no-show at practice today. Coach Kliff Kingsbury said that Jones (along with linebacker Jordan Hicks) isn’t expected to be in attendance at all this week.

“We’ve been in communication with both guys, we know the situations and I’ll leave that dialogue between us,” Kingsbury said. “Nothing else to report on that.”

It’s not too difficult to connect the dots here. Jones is entering the final year of his contract, and the 31-year-old is likely putting some pressure on the front office as he pursues a new pact. As Urban notes, the veteran’s absence is especially notable since Jones had earned a reputation of “a player who showed up to everything in the offseason, including all voluntary work.”

Fortunately, Jones was in attendance during Monday’s media day, so the three-time Pro Bowler clearly doesn’t expect his pseudo-holdout to get out of hand.

Jones was traded to Arizona from the Patriots in 2016, and the Cardinals gave him a five-year, $82.5MM deal a year later. During his first four seasons in Arizona, Jones didn’t miss a game while averaging 15 sacks per season. He appeared in the first five games of 2020, collecting 11 tackles, one sack, and seven QB hits. However, a torn bicep forced him to miss the rest of the season.

TE Jake Butt Worked Out For Cardinals

June 8th, 2021 at 8:53pm CST by Ben Levine

Jake Butt could be switching conferences. The veteran tight end worked out for the Cardinals this week, according to ESPN’s Field Yates (via Twitter).

Butt’s plight is well known. Since suffering a torn ACL during the 2016 Orange Bowl, the Michigan product hasn’t been able to stay healthy. The Broncos still selected the tight end in the fifth round of the 2017 draft, but the six-foot-six target has been limited to only eight games in four seasons.

After returning from his ACL tear in 2018, Butt sustained another torn ACL, ending that season prematurely. Complications from his injury forced him to sit out the 2019 campaign, and his 2020 season was cut short thanks to a hamstring injury.

In total, the 25-year-old has hauled in 10 receptions for 90 yards in eight games (four starts). Five of those games came this past season, with Butt appearing in 11-percent of Denver’s offensive snaps.

The Cardinals have a crowded tight end depth chart at the moment. Maxx Williams and Darrell Daniels are projected to lead the depth chart in 2021, but Butt could compete with the likes of Ian Bunting, Cary Angeline, Ross Travis, and Bruno Labelle for leftover snaps.

Cardinals Sign First-Round LB Zaven Collins

June 8th, 2021 at 7:14pm CST by Ben Levine

The Cardinals have signed their top draft pick. ESPN’s Adam Schefter reports (via Twitter) that first-round linebacker Zaven Collins has signed his rookie deal. The deal is worth more than $14MM (per ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler on Twitter).

“It’s special,” Collins said (via the team’s website). “You know it’s coming, but until it’s here, you don’t know how you’re going to feel. It’s still a big milestone.”

After finishing with four sacks and 7.5 tackles for loss, the Tulsa product earned a long list of awards in 2020, including an unanimous All-American nod. This performance established him as one of the top prospects at his position in the draft, and the Cardinals made Collins the second linebacker off the board after selecting him with the No. 16 pick.

Despite the first-rounder checking in at 270 pounds, the team isn’t planning to use him as a Chandler Jones complementary pass rusher. The second hybrid linebacker to join the Cards as a first-round pick in the past two years, Collins is ticketed for an inside linebacker role alongside 2020 first-rounder Isaiah Simmons.

With the signing, the Cardinals have now inked the majority of their draft class:

Round 1: No. 16 Zaven Collins, LB (Tulsa) (signed)
Round 2: No. 49 Rondale Moore, WR (Purdue)
Round 4: No. 136 (from Ravens) Marco Wilson, CB (Florida) (signed)
Round 6: No. 210 (from Ravens) Victor Dimukeje, LB (Duke) (signed)
Round 6: No. 223 (from Vikings) Tay Gowan, CB (Central Florida) (signed)
Round 7: No. 243 James Wiggins, S (Cincinnati) (signed)
Round 7: No. 247 (from Bears through Raiders) Michal Menet, C (Penn State) (signed)