2022 April - Pro Football Rumors

Month: April 2022

Latest On Melvin Gordon

April 3rd, 2022 at 1:57pm CST by Adam La Rose

As one of the top remaining options at the running back position, Melvin Gordon is a name worth watching in the secondary waves of free agency. As Pro Football Network’s Mike Florio details, there has been a notable update with respect to his financial future.

Gordon has changed agents in the middle of the offseason. Instead of Fletcher Smith and Damarius Bilbo, he will now be represented by Brian Murphy and Joe Panos from Athletes First. It had been recently reported that the Broncos were one of multiple teams interested in Gordon, so the veteran does seem to have generated a market for himself. Regardless of where he lands next, though, he is likely to earn much less than he did on his previous contract.

Florio reports that the 28-year-old’s market “is believed to be in the range of $2.5MM on a one-year deal”. That would mark a steep pay cut compared to the two-year, $16MM deal he signed in Denver two seasons ago. The former Charger was productive in his time with the Broncos, posting over 1,100 scrimmage yards and exactly 10 touchdowns in each campaign. Given those numbers, it didn’t come as a surprise that there was said to be a mutual interest between he and the team for a new contract.

However, the presence of 2021 second-round pick Javonte Williams complicates the matter. Operating in a time share with Gordon, Williams flashed the potential to take over as an undisputed No. 1 back last season. Even if Gordon does re-sign, then, it would only make sense to do so at a significantly reduced rate and with – quite likely – a smaller workload. With new representation, a new deal (from Denver or another club) could be coming sooner rather than later.

Ravens Notes: Wagner, Dobbins, Edwards

April 3rd, 2022 at 12:53pm CST by Rory Parks

The Ravens tried to sign LB Bobby Wagner, the former Seahawks star who was released by Seattle last month. On March 28, we heard that Baltimore had submitted an offer that it believed was “very competitive” vis-à-vis the proposal that Wagner received from the Rams, and Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk reported yesterday that the Ravens had offered a two-year, $18MM contract.

At first blush, that looks to be a far cry from the five-year, $50MM deal Wagner ultimately signed with Los Angeles. But we are still awaiting details on the structure of that agreement, and Florio hears that Wagner will get paid $17MM over the first two years of the deal, with “small guarantees” in the second year. If that’s the case, then the Ravens’ offer — the structure of which is also unknown — may well have been as competitive as the team thought. Perhaps Wagner, an LA native, simply wanted to stay home and play for the defending champions.

Baltimore, meanwhile, has now had near misses with Wagner and Za’Darius Smith in recent weeks, leaving the club with plenty of work still to do in the front seven.

Now for several more items out of Charm City:

The Ravens’ 2021 fortunes were severely undermined by injury, including season-ending ACL tears suffered by running backs J.K. Dobbins and Gus Edwards before Week 1. Head coach John Harbaugh recently told reporters, including Jeff Zrebiec of The Athletic, that both players are making progress, but that they will likely start this year’s training camp on the active/PUP list (Twitter link). Given how important Dobbins and Edwards are to Baltimore’s run-oriented attack, it makes sense that the team would play it safe with the top two members of its RB depth chart.
The Ravens have hired Kerry Dixon as their assistant quarterbacks coach, per a team announcement. This will be Dixon’s first NFL gig. The former Baylor and Hampton quarterback spent the past 15 seasons as a collegiate assistant, and he served as Georgia Tech’s wide receivers coach from 2019-21. He will team with James Urban to get the most out of star passer Lamar Jackson, whose contract status remains one of the biggest storylines in Baltimore.
Even if Smith had followed through on his commitment to the Ravens, Baltimore may have been eyeing an edge rusher with its first-round pick (No. 14 overall) in this year’s draft. With Smith out of the picture, GM Eric DeCosta may be even more inclined to enhance his pass rush, and polarizing prospect Kayvon Thibodeaux is on the team’s radar.
Harbaugh, now the third-longest-tenured HC in the league, recently signed an extension that will keep him on the Ravens’ sidelines through the 2025 season.

Giants Have Done “A Ton Of Work” On OT Charles Cross

April 3rd, 2022 at 12:05pm CST by Rory Parks

The Giants, who hold the No. 5 and No. 7 overall selections in this month’s draft, are well-positioned to address two of their biggest needs — offensive tackle and edge rusher — with a top collegiate prospect. Per Ryan Dunleavy of the New York Post, Big Blue has done “a ton of work” on Mississippi State tackle Charles Cross, one of the top OTs in the class.

Cross is not considered to be on the same level as Alabama tackle Evan Neal or NC State blocker Ikem Ekwonu in terms of overall talent, but one scouting source told Dunleavy that Neal and Cross are the best pure left tackles in the class. While all three prospects project well at right tackle, Ekwonu is better-suited to the right side, and he also has the ceiling of an elite guard.

There is a chance that Neal and Ekwonu, or at least one of the pair, will be available for the Giants when they are on the clock with the No. 5 pick. In that scenario, New York could take the highest-rated OL on its board, or it could simply opt to fill a different need, secure in the knowledge that one of those two players and/or Cross will still be there for the taking at No. 7 (assuming, of course, that a club with a Top-4 selection does not nab Cross). But if the first four picks skew towards O-linemen rather than, say, pass rushers, then new GM Joe Schoen may need to pounce on a protector for QB Daniel Jones.

If he ends up with Cross, an accomplished pass blocker who would complete a strong bookend with 2020 first-rounder Andrew Thomas, Schoen should be happy, regardless of which pick he uses. In 719 pass-blocking snaps in 2021, Cross allowed just 16 pressures.

Schoen recently passed along several injury updates on two starting-caliber players already on the roster. LB Blake Martinez (ACL) and WR Sterling Shepard (Achilles), both of whom recently accepted pay cuts, will hopefully be back in action by August, per Schoen (Twitter link via Jordan Raanan of ESPN.com). OL Nick Gates, who started all 16 games for the Giants in 2020 but who suffered a career-threatening leg fracture in Week 2 of the 2021 season, may be ready for training camp, as Raanan tweets.

Panthers WR Shi Smith Arrested

April 3rd, 2022 at 10:59am CST by Rory Parks

Panthers WR Shi Smith was arrested in South Carolina at the end of March and charged with possession with intent to distribute marijuana, unlawful carrying of a handgun, and speeding, as Joshua Kuhn of WSPA.com reported.

The current collective bargaining agreement is not nearly as harsh as its predecessor with respect to marijuana usage, though if the intent to distribute charge is substantiated, that would obviously be a very different story. The unlawful carrying of a handgun could also lead to league discipline.

Smith, 23, was selected by Carolina in the sixth round of the 2021 draft. Like many Day 3 choices, his rookie-year contributions were fairly limited, as he appeared in just 85 offensive snaps and 24 special teams snaps. In six games, Smith caught six passes for 104 yards, including a 63-yard reception. Assuming the Panthers elect to retain him, he may be hard-pressed to see more action in 2022, as the club is already rostering D.J. Moore, Robby Anderson, and 2021 second-rounder Terrace Marshall, and recently added Rashard Higgins in free agency.

As David Newton of ESPN.com writes, Smith was released on a total of $6K bond ($5K for the drug charge and $1K for the gun charge). His first court appearance is set for June 13, the second day of the Panthers’ mandatory four-day minicamp.

A team spokesperson declined to comment on the situation since it is a pending legal matter.

Deshaun Watson Could Be Suspended For Only Four Games; “No Market” For Baker Mayfield

April 3rd, 2022 at 10:36am CST by Rory Parks

We recently heard that new Browns QB Deshaun Watson would not end up on the Commissioner’s Exempt list since he will not be criminally charged in connection with the sexual assault allegations for which he is still facing 22 civil suits. And, as Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com writes, the absence of criminal charges may also help Watson avoid a lengthy suspension.

Per Cabot, league investigators will view the grand jury non-indictments as “mitigating factors” when it comes to doling out punishment to the embattled passer. A suspension may not be put in place until the civil matter is resolved — and Cleveland will not pressure Watson to settle the suits — but when the NFL’s investigation concludes and a decision is made, Cabot hears that Watson could be hit with a six-game ban that gets reduced to four games.

That would obviously count as a huge victory for the Browns, who gave up a bounty of draft capital and a market-altering contract to acquire Watson in a move that many pundits have classified as desperate. Winning, though, has a way of rewriting history, and if Watson escapes all of his legal troubles with only a four-game suspension (at least as far as on-field ramifications are concerned), Cleveland will have a very good chance of winning in 2022 and beyond.

Of course, the Browns are still rostering Baker Mayfield, an awkward reality that would become even more awkward if they are forced to retain him throughout the 2022 season. GM Andrew Berry recently said he would be willing to do so, but that surely is just a bit of posturing. Berry obviously wants to trade the former No. 1 overall pick, and he is content to wait until a starting quarterback on another club suffers an injury and creates a QB need for that club. According to Cabot, Berry may need to do just that, because there is “no market” for Mayfield at this point.

Still, Cabot says Berry does not want to give Mayfield away or include one of his own draft picks in a trade to entice another team to assume Mayfield’s contract. She writes that the plan remains to have newly-signed QB Jacoby Brissett, and not Mayfield, operate as the starting signal-caller in the event of a Watson suspension. The one-year deal that Brissett signed with the Browns last month has a base value of $4.65MM, almost all of which ($4.5MM) is guaranteed, as Tom Pelissero of the NFL Network tweets. Brissett will have a chance to earn more via incentives, including, perhaps, play-time incentives that could be realized if/when Brissett stands in for Watson.

One more item on Mayfield: his disenchantment with the Browns was intensified in the wake of a report that surfaced prior to the Watson trade indicating that the team was looking for “an adult” at the quarterback position (thus implying that Mayfield is not, in fact, an adult). Per team owner Jimmy Haslam, that comment did not come from the Cleveland front office (Twitter link via Jeff Schudel of the News-Herald).

Frank Gore To Retire

April 3rd, 2022 at 7:37am CST by Rory Parks

Ageless running back Frank Gore has decided to call it a career. In an interview on TheSFNiners podcast (video link), Gore said that, within the next several months, he will sign a one-day contract with the 49ers and officially announce his retirement.

San Francisco selected Gore in the third round of the 2005 draft, and though he appeared in 14 games in his rookie campaign, he started just one, operating as part of an RB tandem with Kevan Barlow. Prior to the 2006 season, the Niners traded Barlow to the Jets, thereby clearing the way for Gore to take over as a full-time starter, a role he held for nine seasons in the Bay Area.

During that time, the Miami product established himself as one of the best, and most consistent, backs in the league. He racked up all five of his Pro Bowl nominations, and he averaged over 1,160 yards per season on a robust 4.5 yards-per-carry average. That stretch included eight seasons of 1,000+ yards, and the only year in which he did not hit that benchmark was 2010, when he appeared in just 11 games due to a hip injury.

Gore, who will turn 39 in May, was also an effective receiver out of the backfield, particularly in the early days of his career. From 2006-10, he averaged 51 catches and just over 430 receiving yards per season, which, when added to his rushing output, made him a true dual threat. The 2006 season was especially productive, as he generated 2,180 all-purpose yards and nine total TDs. Though he was never a prolific touchdown producer — just one season of 10 or more combined rushing and receiving scores — he did find paydirt an even 100 times in his regular season career (81 on the ground, 18 through the air, and one fumble recovery).

After Gore’s tremendous run with the 49ers — he is now the franchise’s all-team leading rusher by a wide margin — he began the second chapter of his career by signing a three-year, $12MM deal with the Colts in March 2015. He was still productive during his three years in Indianapolis, as he did not miss a game and averaged nearly 1,000 rushing yards per season to go along with 263 rushing yards per year, but he did not post a YPC rate above 3.9.

Gore ended his career with a tour of the AFC East, hooking on with the Dolphins in 2018, the Bills in 2019, and the Jets in 2020. The 2018 season in Miami was a bit of a throwback, as he played in 14 games (all starts) and rushed for 722 yards on 156 totes, good for a 4.6 YPC average.

Despite all of his individual successes, Gore was not fortunate enough to play for many championship contenders. In 16 NFL seasons, he suited up for just four playoff outfits (the 49ers from 2011-13 and the Bills in 2019). He did get to participate in Super Bowl XLVII with San Francisco at the end of the 2012 season, but the Niners came out on the losing end of that contest. Gore at least held up his end of the bargain, rushing for 319 yards and four TDs on 63 carries in the team’s three-game postseason run.

In all, Gore rushed for exactly 16,000 yards in the regular season, which gives him a beautifully round 1,000 yards/season average and positions him behind only Emmitt Smith and Walter Payton on the all-time list. He supported that total with a 4.3 YPC mark, thereby demonstrating that his production was not driven just by his remarkable longevity.

Per Spotrac, Gore earned over $63MM in his playing career, and he indicated on the podcast that he hopes to move into a front office role. He said, “I told [49ers CEO] Jed York that I always wanted to be a Niner, so we’re working on [the one-day contract] right now, and then we’re going to also sit down with me and my agent to talk about me working in the front office. I love looking at talent, and I love evaluating talent, and I love ball.”

We here at PFR congratulate Gore on a terrific career — which may ultimately end with a Hall of Fame bust in Canton — and wish him all the best in his front office endeavors.

Panthers Keeping Christian McCaffrey At RB

April 2nd, 2022 at 9:57pm CST by Adam La Rose

When healthy, Christian McCaffrey has proven himself to be one of the most productive players in the league. Staying on the field has been an issue during the past two seasons, though, leading some to think that he would be better suited to line up as a slot receiver more frequently. McCaffrey himself has rebuffed such suggestions; head coach Matt Rhule recently did the same.

As detailed by ESPN’s David Newton, Rhule confirmed that the team plans to keep the 25-year-old in his familiar running back spot, in spite of the workload he has shouldered and the injuries he has dealt with in recent years. McCaffrey has received 1,138 touches in his five seasons in the NFL – an average of 228 per season. With a full season in 2020 and 2021, those figures would have been significantly higher.

“We can always move him around and utilize him, but at the end of the day, he’s a back”, Rhule said. “You can do a lot of things with Christian, but to take him out of the backfield, to me, is taking him out of what he does best. We’ll keep him at tailback.”

The Panthers leaned heavily on rookie Chuba Hubbard in McCaffrey’s absence last season, and signed former Titan D’Onta Foreman in free agency. If healthy, though, the former All-Pro will of course take over as the starter again. Newton notes that new offensive coordinator Ben McAdoo could use more two-RB formations, lending itself to McCaffrey being put in motion and/or the slot – something which he has very rarely done, despite his abilities as a pass-catcher.

Regardless of McAdoo’s scheme, or whom the Panthers’ QB will be in 2022, the team will carry on with the focal point of their offense in essentially the same way as they have for the rest of his career to date.

Steelers Heavily Scouting QB Prospects

April 2nd, 2022 at 8:00pm CST by Adam La Rose

In need of a new franchise quarterback for the first time in almost two decades, the Steelers have already been active in the free agent market at the position. Despite the addition of Mitch Trubisky, however, they remain – not surprisingly – very much involved in the scouting process of this year’s QB prospects.

[RELATED: Steelers Sign Trubisky]

ESPN draft analyst Jordan Reid noted the presence of Steelers personnel (from head coach Mike Tomlin to outgoing general manager Kevin Colbert to pro scouting coordinator Brandon Hunt) at the pro days of each top signal-caller. The fact that Pittsburgh has been “doing an extensive amount of work on the entire QB class” was one of the top storylines throughout the post-combine evaluation process.

Colbert recently addressed the time being invested in draft options despite having signed Trubisky to a two-year deal. “We’ve been at top quarterback pro days for the first time in a long time because we may be in a position where we have [a need]“, he said (Twitter link via ESPN’s Brooke Pryor). “Does that mean we’re taking one? Possibly.”

The Steelers currently have not only the former Bears first-rounder, but also Mason Rudolph and Dwayne Haskins on the roster. They hold the 20th overall pick in April’s draft, meaning Malik Willis and Kenny Pickett would likely only be available if they trade up in the first round. Other options include Sam Howell, Matt Corral and Desmond Ridder. The team made it clear they were aiming to have four quarterbacks on their 2022 roster, with a relatively open competition ensuing amongst them. Selecting one later this month would bring them to that total, while beginning the long-term process of replacing Ben Roethlisberger.

Lamar Jackson Not Currently Focused On New Contract?

April 2nd, 2022 at 6:57pm CST by Adam La Rose

Much has been talked about recently regarding Lamar Jackson and the lack of traction on a new contract being worked on between him and the Ravens. As many have noted, the former MVP himself is seen as the main reason an extension doesn’t appear to be forthcoming in the immediate future.

Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio reports that Jackson may not be eyeing a new deal at any point leading up to or during the upcoming campaign. As he writes, the 25-year-old “has told the Ravens that he’s currently too focused on having his best possible year and that he doesn’t want to do a deal until the 2022 season is over”. That would shed further light on the growing sense within the front office that a new contract isn’t on the horizon.

Adding to the comments recently made by owner Steve Bisciotti, Aaron Wilson of Pro Football Network further details the perception of Jackson’s current priorities. The former’s thoughts on the matter echo the source Florio references above.

“It’s unique as hell because everybody expects you to say, ‘I’ve got to get mine now.’ The kid is so obsessed with winning a Super Bowl that I think, deep down, he doesn’t think he’s worthy” of a lucrative second contract, Bisciotti said. “I don’t think he is turned on by money that much, and he knows it’s coming one way or the other.”

Jackson made a public response to the speculation swirling around his future earlier this week. The two-time Pro Bowler is scheduled to make $23MM this year, and would be in line for sizeable raises after that if he were to play on the franchise tag. While it’s rare for franchise QBs to go that long without a long-term pact, Kirk Cousins represents a recent example of that being the case.

While the Ravens have repeatedly made it clear they are willing to put together a new contract whenever Jackson is ready to do so, putting a healthy return to the field and both individual and team success first would seem to be his top priority at this time. If that remains the case, one of the league’s most unique contract situations may remain in a holding pattern for quite some time.

Lions Discussing Amani Oruwariye Extension

April 2nd, 2022 at 5:52pm CST by Adam La Rose

There were few bright spots in the 2021 season for the Lions. One of the them was the breakout campaign enjoyed by cornerback Amani Oruwariye, which may have earned him a new deal. According to Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press, the team is considering offering him a contract extension.

General manager Brad Holmes confirmed that the Lions “have had internal discussions” regarding Oruwariye. The 26-year-old was a fifth-round pick of Detroit in 2019. He took on starting role in his second season, and progressed a step further this past year, becoming one of the team’s most important defenders. In 14 contests, he made a team-leading six interceptions, doubling his previous career total. He also showed statistical improvement in terms of pass coverage.

“Obviously, with Amani, with the ball production that he had, and just being a good teammate – he’s really developed as a leader”, Holmes said. “He’s still a young guy, as often said sometimes, still has meat left on the bone. There’s still upside in him.”

The Lions had the second-worst scoring defense in the league in 2021, but the play of Oruwariye himself stood out relative to the unit’s overall performance. While Holmes didn’t specify how far along contract talks are at the moment, it wouldn’t come as a surprise if an extension is in his future down the road.

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