2021 September - Pro Football Rumors

Saints’ Marshon Lattimore Set For Surgery

September 13th, 2021 at 8:59am CST by Zachary Links

What a day for Marshon Lattimore. The Saints’ star cornerback suffered a thumb injury against the Bucs on Monday night and will need surgery (via PFT). Of course, this all came hours after he agreed to a five-year, $97.6MM extension with New Orleans.

Lattimore mostly played through the pain with a cast on his right hand and finished with three tackles and one pass defensed. Still, he’ll need the issue corrected before he retakes the field. For now, he’s considered week-to-week, but the Saints could consider a short-term injured reserve stint pending the outcome. That would allow Lattimore to return after three missed games and retake the field in Week 5.

Fortunately, it’s a minor injury, and Lattimore has all the fiscal security he could ever ask for. His new five-year re-up furnishes him with $97.6MM and $44MM in full guarantees, a record for defensive backs. The deal also includes $68.3MM in overall guarantees and incentives that can take him up to $100MM.

Without Lattimore, the Saints will lean on recent pickup Desmond Trufant for support.

Ravens, Lamar Jackson Still In Talks

September 13th, 2021 at 8:48am CST by Zachary Links

The Ravens and Lamar Jackson are still in active discussions about a contract extension, sources tell ESPN.com’s Adam Schefter. However, no deal has materialized yet as Jackson remains focused on the season ahead.

Jackson does not have an agent representing him, which probably isn’t helping with the pace of negotiations. A deal could be struck during the season, Schefter hears, but that’ll probably happen at a juncture when the quarterback can devote more attention to the talks. Baltimore’s bye week falls on Week 8 this year, so we could see a deal come together in late October.

Bills QB Josh Allen has given the two sides a framework, at least. His six-year extension is worth $258MM with $150MM in overall guarantees and a record $100MM fully guaranteed at signing. Jackson could soon knock him off of his perch. For now, the 24-year-old superstar is due just $1.78MM in base salary this season.

Jackson has said he is not overly concerned if the extension becomes finalized this year or in 2022. Dak Prescott and Kirk Cousins played out their low-priced rookie deal fourth years, leading to franchise-tagged seasons. However, other young QBs like Russell Wilson and Ryan Tannehill (2015), Derek Carr(2017), Carson Wentz and Jared Goff (2019), Patrick Mahomes and Deshaun Watson (2020) opted against playing on their rookie pacts beyond Year 3.

Meanwhile, Jackson is all biz and focused on the task at hand. He’ll look to start 2021 with a win against the Raiders later today.

Hip Injury For WFT’s Ryan Fitzpatrick

September 12th, 2021 at 7:27pm CST by Zachary Links

Ryan Fitzpatrick is believed to have suffered a hip subluxation (Twitter link via NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport). The Washington quarterback will know more after a Monday morning MRI, but the training staff is hopeful that nothing was broken.

Fitzpatrick was forced out in the second quarter against the Chargers on Sunday. Taylor Heinicke took over in his stead, completing 11-for-15 passes for 122 yards and a touchdown. Ultimately, that wasn’t enough for the WFT — the Bolts walked away with a 20-16 win.

Heinicke hasn’t started a regular-season game since the end of 2018, but he’s on track to be first string in Week 2. Of course, he also managed 306 yards and a touchdown against the Bucs in the playoffs. They’ll be facing the Giants, who are coming off of a 27-13 loss to the Broncos.

Fitzpatrick, now 38, led the Dolphins to a 9-11 record in 20 starts between 2019 and 2020. He completed 64.2% of his passes in that span, throwing for 5,620 yards, 33 touchdowns, and 21 interceptions. He also continued to produce on the ground, finishing with 150 rushing yards for the 10th time in the past 13 seasons. Washington is hoping for more FitzMagic, pending tomorrow’s MRI.

Saints, Marshon Lattimore Agree To ~$100MM Deal

September 12th, 2021 at 7:07pm CST by Zachary Links

The Saints have locked up Marshon Lattimore. On Sunday, the Pro Bowl cornerback agreed to a five-year, $97.6MM extension including $44MM in full guarantees and $68.3MM in overall guarantees. Plus, through incentives, Lattimore can earn up to $100MM over the course of the contract.

With the new deal in hand, Lattimore has secured the most guaranteed cash of any cornerback or safety in NFL history. He was initially set to play out his fifth-year option — worth $10.2MM — before approaching free agency in the spring of 2022.

The 2017 first-round pick has started all 57 of his games as a pro, missing only seven possible contests on the whole. Meanwhile, he’s notched three Pro Bowl selections in four NFL seasons. That includes his debut year, when he earned Defensive Rookie of the Year honors.

Lattimore, 25, has 55 passes defensed and ten interceptions over the course of his career. He stands as one of the most feared young CBs in the league but, in the interest of equal time, it’s worth noting that the advanced metrics have soured on him somewhat. Pro Football Focus pegged him at a stellar 86.1 as a rookie, followed by scores of 77.5 (2018), 65.6 (2019) and 59.1 (2020).

Still, the Saints recognize his value and had no interest in letting him get away. Now, after helping the team to rank No. 5 in 2020 pass defense, he’s locked in for years to come.

49ers Fear Torn ACL For Jason Verrett

September 12th, 2021 at 5:08pm CST by Zachary Links

49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan believes that Jason Verrett has a torn ACL (Twitter link via NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport). This marks yet another frustrating setback for the cornerback who has missed a significant portion of his career with injuries.

A first-round pick of the Chargers back in 2014, Verrett initially looked like a star in the making and made the Pro Bowl in 2015. Then a torn ACL limited him to four games in 2016. After that, he saw one game in 2017, zero in 2018, and one more game in 2019.

Then, last year, Verrett was one of the best stories in the NFL last season. He was finally able to stay healthy as he started 13 games, racked up seven passes defensed, and notched two interceptions. In March, the Niners brought him back on a one-year, $5.5MM deal with incentives.

Running back Raheem Mostert was also forced out of Sunday’s game with a knee injury, so the Niners may be searching for support on both sides of the ball. On the plus side, the 49ers won their season opener, beating the Lions 41-33.

Jets’ Mekhi Becton Suffers Injury

September 12th, 2021 at 5:00pm CST by Zachary Links

Jets left tackle Mekhi Becton is believed to have suffered an MCL sprain during Sunday’s game (Twitter link via NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport). A forthcoming MRI will tell doctors more, but Becton’s probably looking at a short-term IR stint in a best case scenario.

This is not the first time Becton has run into trouble on the health front since coming to the Jets. The Louisville alum missed two games with a shoulder injury last season and exited another because of a chest ailment that affected his breathing. Then, this summer, he was slowed by a foot issue.

At 6-foot-7, 364 pounds, Becton is one of the largest players in NFL history. He’s playing at a lower weight in his second pro season, but no amount of conditioning can totally safeguard a player against injury.

The 2020 first-round pick got his right leg caught between teammate Greg Van Roten and Panthers defensive tackle Daviyon Nixon in the third quarter. The Panthers, and old pal Sam Darnold, went on to win 19-14.

Becton was still one of the league’s most impressive rookies last year and still profiles as a promising long-term option for the Jets — they haven’t had a stellar tackle since D’Brickashaw Ferguson retired years ago. But, in the short term, it sounds like they’ll have to look elsewhere.

Torn Achilles For Lions’ Jeff Okudah?

September 12th, 2021 at 4:54pm CST by Zachary Links

The Lions fear that cornerback Jeff Okudah has suffered an Achilles injury (Twitter link via NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport). That’s the word from head coach Dan Campbell who added that Okudah will undergo an MRI tomorrow to determine the severity of the tear.

Groin and shoulder injuries limited Okudah’s rookie season to just nine games. This time around, it’s a new malady, suffered midway through the season opener against the 49ers. Even before the injury, it wasn’t a banner day for Okudah, who surrendered a 79-yard score to Deebo Samuel.

“I don’t want to make excuses [for Okudah],” Campbell said. “But at the same time he’s in Year Two. He made some young errors — that’s what he did.”

Okudah — the No. 3 overall pick in 2020 — was the highest cornerback selected since Shawn Springs 20+ years ago. The Lions are still waiting to see him at his best. As a rookie, he allowed a 77% completion rate on passes thrown his way for a 118 QB rating figure on such throws.

No matter the outcome of the MRI, the Lions will be without Okudah’s services for a while. They’ll try and get to the .500 mark on Monday 9/20 when they face the rival Packers.

49ers Were Concerned Patriots Would Jump Them To Select Mac Jones

September 12th, 2021 at 12:29pm CST by Rory Parks

The 49ers became the talk of the pre-draft portion of the offseason when they engineered a trade up to the No. 3 overall pick. It was immediately clear that San Francisco was going to draft a QB with that selection, and for a time, the rumor was that the club had its eye on Alabama passer Mac Jones. Ultimately, of course, the team drafted North Dakota State signal-caller Trey Lance.

However, as Adam Schefter of ESPN.com reports, one of the reasons the Niners made the deal was because they believed the Patriots had identified Jones as their quarterback of the future and wanted to beat New England to the punch. That suggests that the 49ers did initially favor Jones — who was seen as an ideal fit for Shanahan’s scheme — and were only later persuaded to take Lance. The Niners said all along that they viewed multiple passers as legitimate candidates for the No. 3 pick, so blocking the Pats and assuring themselves of the chance to select Jones was not the only motivation for the deal, but it was certainly a perk.

As Tom E. Curran of NBC Sports Boston tweets, there may have been another benefit to the trade as it relates to New England. Even if Lance was the 49ers’ target all along, floating the possibility that they were going to nab Jones might have prompted the Pats to swing a deal for Jimmy Garoppolo.

In the end, Jones fell to the Patriots at No. 15 overall, and he will be under center for the club’s regular season opener against the Dolphins today. Meanwhile, Garoppolo is still starting for the 49ers, and Lance will operate as his backup.

That arrangement may not last long. As Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports writes, Shanahan has already installed plays for Lance, who will see the field in certain packages right away. And one source says Lance will assume more and more responsibilities as the early part of the season goes on while Garoppolo showcases his talents for teams that might be interested in trading for him prior to the November 2 deadline.

Raiders Notes: Ruggs, Key, Joyner

September 12th, 2021 at 11:34am CST by Rory Parks

The Raiders will kick off their regular season on Monday Night Football against the Ravens tomorrow. In the meantime, let’s round up a few recent items on the Silver-and-Black:

The 2020 wide receiver draft class was absolutely loaded, and plenty of pundits believed Jerry Jeudy was the cream of the crop. Although no WR had been selected by the time the Raiders were on the board with the No. 12 overall pick, Las Vegas ultimately chose Henry Ruggs over Jeudy and CeeDee Lamb. As Vic Tafur of The Athletic writes, there were Jeudy supporters in the Raiders’ war room, but head coach Jon Gruden wanted his own version of Tyreek Hill, and he saw Ruggs as a player who fit that bill.
The Raiders selected DE Arden Key, who was once believed to be a first-round talent, in the third round of the 2018 draft. But the LSU product posted just three sacks in three seasons, and Vegas deemed him surplus to requirements in April. He was quickly scooped up by the 49ers, and he did not mince words when asked about his time with the Raiders. “To be honest, I wanted to get out of there,” Key said (via Jacob Hutchinson of KNBR.com). “I been wanting to get out of there. I wasn’t surprised. I was more happy than surprised. I wish it happened a little earlier but, hey, I got what I wanted and I’m good.” Key went on to say that the Raiders’ defensive scheme was a poor fit for him, and while he did not explicitly say so, it seems he is happy to be away from Gruden.
Count Lamarcus Joyner as another ex-Raider who is happy to be away from the club. The Raiders deployed Joyner — who primarily played safety with the Rams before signing a big-money free agent contract with Vegas — as a nickelback over the past several seasons, and he struggled in that role. The Raiders released him in March, and he signed with the Jets 10 days later. Gang Green will deploy him as single-high safety, and he is pleased with how things turned out. “I’m pretty sure the whole world knows that (I’m happy to be away from the Raiders),” he said. “I made that known. I’m so happy it’s over and I’m here with coach [Robert] Saleh right now” (via Rich Cimini of ESPN.com). Joyner was clear that he didn’t have an issue with Gruden personally.

Matthew Stafford Nixed Trade To Panthers

September 12th, 2021 at 10:40am CST by Rory Parks

Shortly after the Rams acquired quarterback Matthew Stafford via trade from the Lions, Stafford admitted that there were teams he did not want to play for. We recently heard that one of those teams was the Panthers, but we did not know how close Detroit and Carolina came to a deal.

As Ian Rapoport of NFL.com reports, many believed that the Panthers — who were aggressive in their pursuit and who offered their first-round pick (No. 8 overall), a fifth-rounder, and Teddy Bridgewater — would be the ones to land Stafford. Indeed, the deal was reportedly just about done. But when Stafford learned of his would-be new home, he consulted with his family and told Lions brass that he did not want to go to Carolina.

Though the No. 1 overall pick of the 2009 draft did not have a no-trade clause, the Lions heeded his wishes. The 49ers and Colts were also said to be on Stafford’s list of approved destinations, but Rapoport hears that he would have tried to veto any trade that would have sent him anywhere other than the Rams. If Los Angeles’ offer did not compare with those of other suitors, Detroit probably would not have been able to accommodate the former face of its franchise, but ultimately the Rams ponied up two future first-rounders, a third-rounder, and Jared Goff, which the Lions determined was a good enough return.

By all accounts, Stafford had a terrific training camp, and his first season with his new team kicks off tonight against the Bears (who also pursued a trade for their longtime division rival).