Today’s minor moves:
Arizona Cardinals
- Waived: DB Sojourn Shelton
The Cardinals have agreed to sign Dylan Cantrell, according to Field Yates of ESPN.com (on Twitter). The wide receiver was a pupil of head coach Kliff Kingsbury at Texas Tech, which may bode well for his chances of making the roster.
Cantrell, who stands at 6’3″, is expected to also see some work at tight end. He first entered the league as a sixth-round choice of the Chargers in 2018 and they had him ticketed as a WR. He didn’t see the field for the Bolts, but he did spend some time on the active roster.
In college, Cantrell managed 1,873 yards across four seasons. Much of that production came in his final year on campus when he hauled in 71 catches for 816 yards and seven touchdowns.
Now, Cantrell will push to make the team behind a wide receiver group headlined by Larry Fitzgerald, DeAndre Hopkins, and Christian Kirk. Or, if he gets work at tight end, he’ll be auditioning alongside Maxx Williams, Darrell Daniels, Dan Arnold, and UDFA Ryan Becker.
There hasn’t been a lot of conversation between the Cardinals and Patrick Peterson on a new deal, the cornerback says (Twitter link via Darren Urban of the team website). Still, as he enters his walk year, P2 says he wants to continue and ultimately finish his career with the only team he’s ever known. 
Peterson is set to carry a $13.2MM charge against the 2020 salary cap. An extension could allow the Cardinals could tamp that number down a bit (though, probably not by much) while giving Peterson extra security as he enters his 30s.
Peterson, 30 in July, tallied 53 total tackles, two interceptions, and seven passes defensed in his shortened ten-game season. That marked the first campaign of his career without perfect attendance.
Last year, Peterson told the Cardinals that he wanted to be traded. Later, he was hit with a six-game ban for violating the league’s policy on performance-enhancing drugs. At that point, he changed course, telling the world that he wanted to spend the rest of his career in Arizona.
Despite all of the friction, Peterson has been phenomenal for the most part. Over the last nine years, he’s tallied 25 interceptions while blanketing some of the league’s most dangerous receivers. He didn’t deliver his finest work in 2019, but he believes that he can help launch the Cardinals into contention in 2020.
“It’s going to come down to us to manage the locker room, manage the egos and make sure everybody is on the same page and understand that we have to commit to one another, believe in one another and trust one another,” Peterson said. “If we do those three things, we can be in Tampa (for the Super Bowl) ready to face whoever, and ready to hopefully bring that Lombardi trophy, the first Lombardi trophy, home to Arizona.”
The 49ers already know that they want to keep George Kittle for the long haul, but they also know that it won’t come cheap. Kittle is on course to become the league’s highest-paid tight end of all-time. As Nick Wagoner of ESPN.com explains, Kittle’s value goes beyond the gaudy yardage and touchdown totals.
In Kittle’s 14 games last year, the Niners averaged 4.83 yards per carry and tallied 23 TDs on the ground. Without him? They averaged just 2.63 yards per carry with zero rushing scores.
“What’s amazing about him is what he does in the running game,” former NFL GM Mike Tannenbaum said. “He’s a dominant blocker and he’s been dynamic in the passing game. He’s a rare weapon that I think is more valuable than just a regular tight end because he can block so effectively.”
Then, of course, there are the obvious drivers behind Kittle’s value. Since 2017, Kittle has amassed 2,945 receiving yards, the most of any TE inside of their first three pro campaigns. in NFL history. And, in the past two seasons, he’s totaled 1,464 yards after the catch, good for No. 2 in the league.
It’s pretty much a given that Kittle will top Hunter Henry‘s $10.6MM average annual value, as well as Austin Hooper‘s four-year, $42MM watermark for the largest total contract among TEs. How much further will it go? Wagoner expects Kittle and the Niners to settle for a four-year deal in the range of $68MM-$72MM with roughly $40MM in guarantees.
Here’s more from the NFC West:
- The 49ers have the most dynamic tight end in the NFC West – and the entire NFL – in Kittle, but they don’t necessarily have the division’s best receiver group. That mantle belongs to the Cardinals thanks to their DeAndre Hopkins pickup, Dalton Johnson of NBC Sports Bay Area writes. However, Johnson notes that SF’s depth makes it a closer call than you might think. Deebo Samuel and Kendrick Bourne profile as the Niners’ top receiving options and they’re backed by loads of potential – first-round pick Brandon Aiyuk, plus Trent Taylor and Jalen Hurd.
- Earlier this month, the Seahawks brought back Geno Smith on a one-year deal to serve as a backup to Russell Wilson. It wasn’t a costly deal, as Brady Henderson of ESPN.com tweets. Smith will make just $1.2MM with his $137K signing bonus representing the only guaranteed portion of the deal. Meanwhile, he’ll count for just $887K on the cap, thanks to the minimum-salary benefit.
- As the Niners prepare to back up a Brinks truck for Kittle, the Rams are making similar plans for cornerback Jalen Ramsey. Here’s a look at what it might take to keep the superstar cornerback in LA.
Everson Griffen has spent two months in free agency, but the longtime Vikings defensive end does have a market. Strong interest has emerged, with the Cardinals being a new team in the mix for Griffen, Jeremy Fowler of ESPN.com tweets.
Although a Vikings return cannot be ruled out, with the team not doing much to fill its need opposite Danielle Hunter, Griffen is not believed to be a good bet to return to Minnesota. While the 10-year Viking expressed interest in signing with the Seahawks, they may still be monitoring Jadeveon Clowney. Griffen is staying patient, Fowler indicates, and other teams are looking into the 32-year-old edge player.
The Cardinals did not draft an outside pass rusher this year. They signed Terrell Suggs to play opposite Chandler Jones last year but waived him late in the season. Arizona intended to give time to some of its younger edge defenders but may be eyeing a more proven option at this point. Griffen’s 74.5 career sacks are the fourth-most in Vikings history. He booked his fourth Pro Bowl invite last year after an eight-sack regular season.
Jones continued his dominance last season by registering 19.5 sacks. Suggs recorded 5.5 with the Cardinals. No other Cardinal recorded more than three sacks last year. The team did sign Jordan Phillips — who led the Bills with 9.5 sacks in 2019 — but he will operate as an interior pass rusher. The Cardinals have been busy fortifying their front seven this offseason, in also signing De’Vondre Campbell and then drafting Isaiah Simmons eighth overall, but are in the mix to continue adding to the group.
The Cards currently hold just less than $9MM in cap space — much of which will be needed to sign their draft class.
When we ran down the longest-tenured head coaches in the NFL, we found that less than half of the league’s current coaches have been in their positions for more than three years. That’s not quite the case with general managers, but there have been plenty of changes in recent years.
A handful of general managers have gotten to take their coats off and stay for a long while. Among coaches, Bill Belichick had joined his team prior to 2003. Here, you’ll see that five GMs have been with their teams since before ’03 (Belichick, of course, is also on this list). Two of those five – Jerry Jones and Mike Brown – are outliers, since they’re team owners and serve as de facto GMs. But the Patriots, Steelers, and Saints, have all had the same general managers making their roster decisions for well over a decade.
Here’s the complete list of the NFL’s longest-tenured GMs, along with the date they took over the job:
- Jerry Jones (Dallas Cowboys): April 18, 1989[1]
- Mike Brown (Cincinnati Bengals): August 5, 1991[2]
- Bill Belichick (New England Patriots): January 27, 2000[3]
- Kevin Colbert (Pittsburgh Steelers): February 18, 2000[4]
- Mickey Loomis (New Orleans Saints): May 14, 2002
- Rick Spielman (Minnesota Vikings): May 30, 2006[5]
- Thomas Dimitroff (Atlanta Falcons): January 13, 2008
- John Schneider (Seattle Seahawks): January 19, 2010[6]
- Howie Roseman (Philadelphia Eagles): January 29, 2010
- John Elway (Denver Broncos): January 5, 2011[7]
- Les Snead (St. Louis Rams): February 10, 2012
- David Caldwell (Jacksonville Jaguars): January 8, 2013
- Steve Keim (Arizona Cardinals): January 8, 2013
- Tom Telesco (San Diego Chargers): January 9, 2013
- Jason Licht (Tampa Bay Buccaneers): January 21, 2014
- Ryan Pace (Chicago Bears): January 8, 2015
- Chris Grier (Miami Dolphins): January 4, 2016
- Bob Quinn (Detroit Lions): January 8, 2016
- Jon Robinson (Tennessee Titans): January 14, 2016
- John Lynch (San Francisco 49ers): January 29, 2017
- Chris Ballard (Indianapolis Colts): January 30, 2017
- Brandon Beane (Buffalo Bills): May 9, 2017
- Brett Veach (Kansas City Chiefs): July 11, 2017
- Marty Hurney (Carolina Panthers): July 19, 2017
- Dave Gettleman (New York Giants): December 28, 2017
- Brian Gutekunst (Green Bay Packers): January 7, 2018
- Mike Mayock (Oakland Raiders): December 31, 2018
- Joe Douglas (New York Jets): June 7, 2019
- Eric DeCosta (Baltimore Ravens): January 7, 2019[8]
- Ron Rivera (Washington Redskins): January 1, 2020[9]
- Andrew Berry (Cleveland Browns): January 27, 2020
- Bill O’Brien (Houston Texans): January 28, 2020
Footnotes:
- Jones has been the Cowboys’ de facto general manager since former GM Tex Schramm resigned in April 1989.
- Brown has been the Bengals’ de facto GM since taking over as the team’s owner in August 1991.
- Belichick has been the Patriots’ de facto GM since shortly after being hired as the team’s head coach in January 2000.
- Colbert was initially hired as the team’s director of football operations and received the newly-created general manager title in 2011.
- Spielman was initially hired as the team’s VP of player personnel and received the GM title in 2012.
- While Schneider holds the title of GM, head coach Pete Carroll has the final say on roster moves for the Seahawks.
- Elway was initially hired as the team’s executive VP of football operations and received the GM title in 2014.
- In 2018, the Ravens announced that DeCosta would replace Ozzie Newsome as GM for Ozzie Newsome after the conclusion of the season. The Ravens’ ’18 season ended with their Wild Card loss to the Chargers on 1/6/19.
- Technically, the Redskins do not have a GM, as of this writing. Rivera is, effectively, their GM, working in tandem with Vice President of Player Personnel Kyle Smith. Smith may receive the GM title in the near future.
In early May, the Cardinals declined the fifth-year option on Haason Reddick‘s contract. The linebacker isn’t on their books for 2021, he’s not a big part of their plans for 2020, and he’s almost certainly on the trade block. 
A few years ago, scouts saw Reddick as a versatile prospect with the ability to play multiple spots on the front seven. But, so far, he hasn’t been consistent as an edge rusher or an inside linebacker. Last fall, they gave him a shot to start at ILB. After five weeks, they turned the job over to Joe Walker. Walker left this offseason, but the Cardinals drafted Isaiah Simmons (another versatile, jack-of-all-trades type) and added De’Vondre Campbell and Devon Kennard to the mix, leaving Reddick without a clear role.
After three years, three head coaches, and 7.5 cumulative sacks, Reddick is left with zero job security in Arizona. Last year, he finished out with just six tackles for loss and one sack and graded out as Pro Football Focus’ lowest ranked linebacker out of 63 qualified players. His stock has cooled considerably, but other teams should be willing to take a small gamble on him and his remaining $2.3MM in salary.
The Panthers would be one logical destination for him. New Carolina head coach Matt Rhule coached Reddick at Temple and saw him at his absolute best. Reddick worked his way up across four years on campus and closed out his collegiate career in 2016 with 9.5 sacks as a senior. Thanks in part to Reddick’s performance, Rhule scored new job and bigger bucks with Baylor. The Giants would also make some sense – they’ve yet to re-sign edge rusher Markus Golden and GM Dave Gettleman was supposedly high on Reddick in his draft year.
Reddick has been here before. In 2018, he was rumored to be on the block before the trade deadline, though GM Steve Keim denied shopping him. This time around, we’d wager that Keim is willing to listen.
Things move fast in today’s NFL and the old adage of “coaches are hired to be fired” has seemingly never been more true. For the most part, teams change their coaches like they change their underwear. 
A head coach can take his team to the Super Bowl, or win the Super Bowl, or win multiple Super Bowls, but they’re never immune to scrutiny. Just ask Tom Coughlin, who captured his second ring with the Giants after the 2011 season, only to receive his pink slip after the 2015 campaign.
There are also exceptions. Just look at Bill Belichick, who just wrapped up his 20th season at the helm in New England. You’ll also see a few others on this list, but, for the most part, most of today’s NFL head coaches are relatively new to their respective clubs. And, history dictates that many of them will be elsewhere when we check in on this list in 2022.
Over one-third (12) of the NFL’s head coaches have coached no more than one season with their respective teams. Meanwhile, less than half (15) have been with their current clubs for more than three years. It seems like just yesterday that the Cardinals hired Kliff Kingsbury, right? It sort of was – Kingsbury signed on with the Cardinals in January of 2019. Today, he’s practically a veteran.
Here’s the list of the current head coaches in the NFL, ordered by tenure, along with their respective start dates:
- Bill Belichick (New England Patriots): January 27, 2000
- Sean Payton (New Orleans Saints): January 18, 2006
- Mike Tomlin (Pittsburgh Steelers): January 27, 2007
- John Harbaugh (Baltimore Ravens): January 19, 2008
- Pete Carroll (Seattle Seahawks): January 9, 2010
- Andy Reid (Kansas City Chiefs): January 4, 2013
- Bill O’Brien (Houston Texans): January 2, 2014
- Mike Zimmer (Minnesota Vikings): January 15, 2014
- Dan Quinn (Atlanta Falcons): February 2, 2015
- Doug Pederson (Philadelphia Eagles): January 18, 2016
- Sean McDermott (Buffalo Bills): January 11, 2017
- Doug Marrone (Jacksonville Jaguars): December 19, 2016 (interim; permanent since 2017)
- Anthony Lynn (Los Angeles Chargers): January 12, 2017
- Sean McVay (Los Angeles Rams): January 12, 2017
- Kyle Shanahan (San Francisco 49ers): February 6, 2017
- Matt Nagy (Chicago Bears): January 7, 2018
- Matt Patricia (Detroit Lions): February 5, 2018
- Frank Reich (Indianapolis Colts): February 11, 2018
- Jon Gruden (Las Vegas Raiders): January 6, 2018
- Mike Vrabel (Tennessee Titans): January 20, 2018
- Kliff Kingsbury (Arizona Cardinals): January 8, 2019
- Zac Taylor (Cincinnati Bengals): February 4, 2019
- Vic Fangio (Denver Broncos): January 10, 2019
- Matt LaFleur (Green Bay Packers): January 8, 2019
- Brian Flores (Miami Dolphins): February 4, 2019
- Adam Gase (New York Jets): January 11, 2019
- Bruce Arians (Tampa Bay Buccaneers): January 8, 2019
- Ron Rivera (Washington Redskins): January 1, 2020
- Matt Rhule (Carolina Panthers): January 7, 2020
- Mike McCarthy (Dallas Cowboys): January 7, 2020
- Joe Judge (New York Giants): January 8, 2020
- Kevin Stefanski (Cleveland Browns): January 13, 2020
- While Clemson may have capitalized on Isaiah Simmons’ versatility, it sounds like the Cardinals have other plans. Head coach Kliff Kingsbury will allow the eighth-overall pick to solely focus on one position. “His ability to play so many positions and not really having a chance to focus on one, we just think the sky could be the limit for what he can be if we really lock him in one position for the majority of the time,” Kingsbury said (via Josh Alper of ProFootballTalk.com). Cardinals defensive coordinator Vance Joseph previously hinted that Simmons could end up spending most of his time at linebacker.
Here are Tuesday’s minor moves, with the list being updated throughout the day:
Baltimore Ravens
- Waived: WR Sean Modster
Arizona Cardinals
- Re-signed: CB Kevin Peterson
- Waived: CB Andre Chachere