Extra Points: Mathieu, Strozier, Ravens
Cardinals GM Steve Keim says that he has not ruled out a Week 1 return for injured defensive back Tyrann Mathieu, according to Brent Sobleski of USA Today. After having an impactful start to his rookie campaign last season, Mathieu tore both his ACL and LCL in his left knee in a Week 14 matchup against the Rams. Lets look at a few other news bits from around the league:
- In a mailbag post, John Clayton of ESPN wrote that rookie wide receivers were impressive around the league during rookie mini-camps. He noted that Sammy Watkins of the Bills and John Brown of the Cardinals shined particularly brightly.
- The Ravens gave UDFA Jerry Rice Jr. good feedback following his workout with the team, according to Aaron Wilson of the Baltimore Sun (via Twitter). Although the UNLV product was not offered a deal, he is on the Ravens’ emergency list should they look further for additional receiving options.
- The Ravens also are impressed with former North Carolina tackle James Hurst. Matt Zenitz of the Carroll County Times, points out that Hurst, who plays left tackle, would join the likes of Justin Tucker and Priest Holmes if he were to catch on as a major contributor with the Ravens as an UDFA.
- Former BYU standout receiver Cody Hoffman is hoping to catch on with the Redskins, according to Tarik El-Bashir of CSNWashington.
Extra Points: Motta, Williams, West, Lewis-Moore, Steen
“There appears to be some doubt about Atlanta Falcons safety Zeke Motta‘s playing status this season as he continues to recover from neck surgery,” writes ESPN’s Vaughn McClure. Motta underwent surgery in December to repair a cervical fracture, but he hasn’t been medically cleared and won’t be participating in the team’s offseason program. William Moore is entrenched at one safety spot, but with Motta out of the picture, that leaves Dwight Lowery, Kemal Ishmael and rookie fifth-rounder Dez Southward battling for the other position.
More from around the league. . .
- Tom Crabtree has been released by the Buccaneers, as reported by. . .Tom Crabtree, formerly of the Buccaneers (via Twitter).
- Ryan Williams‘ workout for the Cowboys wasn’t your run-of-the-mill look-see, tweets Charean Williams of the Star-Telegram, as 24 scouts, coaches and staff were watching.
- Browns rookie running back Terrance West confirmed what most suspected immediately following his third-round selection (94th overall) — the Ravens texted his agent their intention to draft him 99th overall. Mary Kay Cabot of the Cleveland Plain Dealer shared the information (via Twitter).
- Ravens 2013 sixth-rounder Kapron Lewis-Moore, who missed last season while recovering from a torn ACL, is participating in the team’s rookie minicamp, and Aaron Wilson of the Baltimore Sun tweets that the big defensive lineman looks impressive.
- Undrafted free agent guard Anthony Steen of Alabama has a realistic chance of making the Cardinals, believes Josh Weinfuss of ESPN.com.
- Offensive tackle J’Marcus Webb tried out for the Panthers, but was not immediately extended a contract, according to Aaron Wilson at National Football Post. Webb was a much-maligned three-year starter for the Bears (2010-12) before appearing in eight games (one start) for the Vikings last year.
- Draftees are signing sooner than ever, writes BuffaloBills.com’s Chris Brown, who explains why: “Even though the salary cap went up more than eight percent, there is a freeze on signing bonuses so all this year’s picks will get the same signing bonus as the players did last year who were taken in their draft slot. . .The reason why bonuses are staying flat is because teams borrowed money from future rookie pools (2012, 2013) after the lockout in 2011 to make sure that rookies that year wouldn’t be paid less than the rookies from 2010 prior to the readjustment in salary cap and the rookie wage scale. . .So essentially the only increases the 2014 draft class is seeing is in their base salaries.”
Extra Points: Johnson, Williams, Green, Mack
Texans‘ star receiver Andre Johnson and head coach Bill O’Brien have spoken this offseason, writes Tania Ganguli of ESPN.com. “We’re going to continue to communicate and we’ve had good discussions, we’ve had good talks,” O’Brien said. “We’ve spoken quite a bit and will continue to do that.”
Johnson has voiced his frustration with the team’s direction. Despite his comments, O’Brien spoke highly of the franchise’s career leader in receiving yards, touchdowns, and receptions.
“I have a tremendous amount of respect for Andre and his career here in Houston. The conversations that Andre and I have had have been very positive about what we’re doing here as a team and, obviously offensively, what we’re doing here,” said O’Brien. “As far as what Andre said, I’ll let him speak for himself. I can only tell you from my end we’ve had good, positive communication.”
Here are a few more notes to round out the day in the NFL:
- The Cowboys brought in former Cardinals‘ running back Ryan Williams for a workout, reports Carlos Mendez of the Star-Telegram.com. Williams was cut by the Cardinals after the draft. He was a second-round pick out of Virginia Tech in 2011, after being one of the top collegiate running backs in the nation. The Cowboys did not draft a running back in this past draft, but have two veterans on the roster behind starter DeMarco Murray, and brought in two undrafted free agent options to compete as well.
- Jets‘ running back Alex Green finds himself the odd man out in the team’s backfield, reports Brian Costello of the New York Post (via Twitter). The Jets claimed and were awarded Daryl Richardson after he was cut from the Rams. Green tweeted “Time to officially move on, life goes on regardless. #blessed.”
- Raiders‘ first-round pick Khalil Mack wanted to sign his rookie contract as quickly as possible so he could focus on football, writes Scott Bair of CSNBayArea.com. With the new rookie scale basically setting the terms in stone, Mack saw no reason to wait. “I’m only focused on football and being the best player I can be,” Mack said. “I’m glad that process is done, and I’m ready to go play football.”
- Embattled Oregon tight end Colt Lyerla has a tryout with the Packers, reports Chase Goodbread of NFL.com. He will be one of 58 rookie players that will be competing at the team’s rookie training camp this weekend. Lyerla fell off draft boards after a litany of off-the-field incidents, including a cocaine-related offense.
Cardinals Notes: Peterson, Thomas, Draft
Cardinals’ general manager Steve Keim spoke about Patrick Peterson‘s upcoming contract extension, saying “We’re hoping to try to get something done here in the near future,” reports Josh Weinfuss of ESPN.com (via Twitter). Weinfuss notes that Keim knows he has time to get the deal done.
Here are some other notes from the Cardinals organization:
- Cardinals’ fourth-round pick Logan Thomas believes he will sign sometime early next week, according to Weinfuss (via Twitter). The quarterback will likely serve as a backup to Carson Palmer this season, and could ultimately become head coach Bruce Arians’ big armed starter in the future.
- Keim had a favorite quarterback in the draft, but never had a chance to draft him because Blake Bortles was off the board with the third-overall pick, reports Ryan O’Halloran of Jacksonville.com. He had high praise for the quarterback out of Central Florida.“We liked Blake Bortles a lot … when you looked at his size, his athleticism, his ability to improvise. He doesn’t quite have the arm strength that Ben Roethlisberger had, but he has some of the same skill set with his foot speed and [the] athleticism to get out of the pocket and make plays with his feet as well as stand tall in the pocket and make some of the throws down the field,” said Keim. “And he’s a guy, being a junior coming out, he still had some developing to do … but we think his upside is really big.”
- Another player coveted by the Cardinals was linebacker Marcus Smith, according to the Eagles’ Insider Twitter Feed. Smith said he heard rumors that the Cardinals and Redskins were interested in him if the Eagles had let him fall past pick number 26.
Minor Moves: Eagles, Cards, Pats, Bengals
The Eagles have released wide receiver Arrelious Benn, the team announced today (via Twitter). The former second-round pick, who is returning from a torn ACL, had been set to earn a base salary of $1MM, so it’s not a real surprise that the club decided to cut him. However, multiple Eagles beat writers, including Zach Berman and Jeff McLane of the Philadelphia Inquirer (Twitter links) believe the former Buccaneer could be re-signed at a lesser salary.
Here are a few more of Friday’s minor transactions from around the NFL:
- The Cardinals have claimed defensive tackle Christian Tupou off waivers from the 49ers, tweets Brad Biggs of the Chicago Tribune.
- Another former Niner, linebacker Darius Fleming, has signed with the Patriots, according to Jeff Howe of the Boston Herald (via Twitter).
- A day after he was cut by the Jaguars, quarterback Matt Scott has been claimed off waivers by the Bengals, according to Aaron Wilson of the Baltimore Sun (via Twitter). Scott essentially takes the spot on the depth chart vacated by Josh Johnson, who was recently released by Cincinnati.
Earlier updates:
- Just days after signing him as a rookie free agent, the Dolphins have waived defensive end Gannon Conway, the club announced today (via Twitter).
- To make room on the roster for Okoye, whose signing is noted below, the Cowboys cut linebacker Jonathan Stewart, the team announced today.
- The Cowboys have agreed to terms on a two-year contract with defensive tackle Amobi Okoye, the veteran’s agents told ESPN’s Adam Caplan. The former 10th overall pick was a longtime starter for the Texans before joining the Bears for the 2011 season. Okoye saw limited action in Chicago during the 2012 season and missed the entire 2013 campaign due to health issues, but the Cowboys have long had interest in him, having checked in on him last summer.
- Shortly after he was signed by the Jets as an undrafted free agent out of Saginaw Valley State, offensive tackle Tevon Conrad has been waived, according to the team (via Twitter).
- The Bills have cut wide receiver Brandon Kaufman, the club announced today in a press release. Kaufman joined the Bills last summer, was waived before the regular season, then rejoined the team’s practice squad in December before inking a futures deal at season’s end.
Cards Sign Second-Round Pick Troy Niklas
The Cardinals announced that they have signed second-round pick Troy Niklas, according to Josh Weinfuss of ESPN.com (on Twitter). The club also announced officially the signings of third round picks Kareem Martin and John Brown.
Niklas, a tight end out of Notre Dame, is a solid blocker but he also had 32 catches for 498 yards and five touchdowns in 2013, so opposing defenses will have to respect his pass catching ability. The Cardinals used offensive tackle Bobby Massie in jumbo packages last season, but plugging Niklas in that role in 2014 will help keep defenses honest. Arizona General Manager Steve Keim feels like he has a hybrid in Niklas and believes that he has an incredibly high ceiling. “This, to me, is a guy who could really transcend into being one of the top all-around tight ends at some point in his career,” Keim said, according to Kyle Odegard of AZCardinals.com.
We learned earlier today that the Cards agreed to terms with Martin, a defensive end out of UNC. Division II Pittsburg State isn’t known as a football powerhouse, but Brown, taken with the No. 91 overall pick, showed that he was NFL material during his time there. A three-time Division II All-American, the wide receiver virtually re-wrote the record books, setting new watermarks in career catches (185), receiving yards (3,330), and touchdowns (32).
Draft Signings: Chiefs, Cards, Texans, Cowboys
We’ve already rounded up several draft pick signings a couple times today, but with teams and players motivated to hammer out deals, there are another handful of updates to pass along this afternoon. Let’s dive right in….
- The Chiefs have locked up third-round cornerback Phillip Gaines, his reps tell ESPN.com’s Adam Caplan (Twitter link). Meanwhile, ESPN.com’s James Walker reports (via Twitter) that fourth-rounder De’Anthony Thomas has also signed with Kansas City. According to Jason Fitzgerald of OverTheCap.com, Gaines should receive a signing bonus worth about $549K, while Thomas’ will be worth around $420K.
- The Cardinals have agreed to terms with third-round pick Kareem Martin, a source tells Caplan (Twitter link). That would make Martin the first Arizona draftee to sign so far.
- After signing Ben Gardner earlier today, the Cowboys have agreed to terms with two more draftees, according to Charean Williams of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, who writes that seventh-round linebacker Will Smith has agreed to his deal, and tweets that seventh-round cornerback Terrance Mitchell has done the same.
- The Texans have agreed to terms with quarterback Tom Savage, tweets John McClain of the Houston Chronicle. Houston’s fourth-round pick will be in line for a bonus of just over $300K, according to Fitzgerald.
- A couple agents broke their clients’ own news this afternoon, with Mike McCartney tweeting that Princeton DT Caraun Reid has signed his contract with the Lions, while Blake Baratz announced (via Twitter) that sixth-rounder Zach Moore is the first draftee to sign with the Patriots.
- The Colts have signed sixth-round linebacker Andrew Jackson, the team announced today in a press release.
- According to Aaron Wilson of the Baltimore Sun (via Twitter), the Packers have signed fifth-round pick Corey Linsley. Linsley’s signing bonus should be worth $185K, based on Fitzgerald’s figures at OTC.
- The Seahawks have signed Kiero Small to his rookie contract, a source tells Curtis Crabtree of KJR in Seattle. The seventh-round fullback is the second of nine Seahawks draft picks to sign.
- The Texans and Eagles have signed seventh-rounders, according to various reports. Mark Berman of Fox 26 Houston has the details on Texans cornerback Andre Hal, while Geoff Mosher of CSNPhilly.com tweets the new on Eagles defensive tackle Beau Allen.
Pompei’s Latest: McCarron, Browns, Pead
In his latest Read Option column for Bleacher Report, Dan Pompei leads off by examining the Bengals‘ selection of A.J. McCarron in last week’s draft. As head coach Marvin Lewis explains, the McCarron pick could allow the team to avoid changing its backup quarterback so frequently.
“Each and every year we have been in that one-year, two-year backup quarterback model,” Lewis said. “We kind of wanted to make sure we got somebody who could fit that role for a longer period of time if that’s what they ended up being, if that’s what their lease on life was…. We had [Ryan] Fitzpatrick here, [Jon] Kitna here, and nobody wants to be the backup. Everybody wants to go somewhere and start. The only way to get a backup quarterback for longer than a year or two is to draft one.”
Of course, things could change quickly in Cincinnati if the team can’t reach a long-team agreement with current starter Andy Dalton, or if McCarron pushes for a starting job of his own after a year or two. Here’s more from Pompei:
- The Bengals appear to have gotten good value with the McCarron pick, at the very least. Pompei says he polled 10 front office sources about the Alabama signal-caller prior to the draft, and all 10 gave him at least a third-round grade, including three who said he was a first-rounder.
- Although the Browns quickly shot down a report that suggested they were ready to draft Teddy Bridgewater at No. 22 before tearing up the card and replacing him with Johnny Manziel at the very last minute, Pompei hears from another team’s source that the Browns had two cards filled out prior to the pick, and that one was torn up.
- Had the Steelers not drafted linebacker Ryan Shazier at No. 15, he likely would have been the Cowboys‘ pick at No. 16. The Cardinals were also trying to trade up and were believed to be targeting Shazier, according to Pompei, though he says the club may also have been interested in grabbing C.J. Mosley or Calvin Pryor. All three players were gone when Arizona’s No. 20 pick rolled around, prompting the Cards to trade down.
- The Rams‘ drafting of Tre Mason may signal the end of Isaiah Pead‘s time in St. Louis — the 2012 second-round pick was the subject of some trade talks during the draft, according to Pompei.
- While Timmy Jernigan provided a diluted sample at his combine draft test, he took another test within a couple weeks of the combine and passed it, which may have contributed to his not falling too far in the draft, says Pompei. The Florida State defensive tackle went 48th overall to the Ravens.
NFC West Rumors: Sam, Crabtree, Williams
The Oprah Winfrey Network announced today (h/t Michael David Smith of Pro Football Talk) that it is working with Rams draft pick Michael Sam on a reality TV project that will show his life as the first openly gay player in the NFL. The Rams have met with the OWN people about the show over the last few days, tweets Albert Breer of NFL Network, and there won’t be Hard Knocks-type access for the program. The Rams, he tweets, want to treat Sam like any other seventh-round pick, so accommodating the show wouldn’t be a part of that. Tonight’s look at the NFC West..
- Matt Maiocco of CSNBayArea.com looks at the 49ers‘ draft and the needs that were filled. Maiocco also touches on what the arrival of Stevie Johnson could mean for Michael Crabtree, who can hit the open market after this season.
- Maiocco (on Twitter) notes that the 49ers have had 12 quarterbacks under contract since 2011 but only three have attempted passes in the regular season. Earlier today, San Francisco added another QB to their stable when they inked Josh Johnson.
- The 49ers cut defensive tackle Christian Tupou, according to Aaron Wilson of the Baltimore Sun (on Twitter). The defensive end out of USC has been previously under contract with the Colts and Bears. Tupou was displaced today to make room for Johnson.
- Ryan Williams was caught off guard when the Cardinals released him on Monday, writes Josh Weinfuss of ESPN.com. Williams, who has struggled with knee issues, didn’t dress or see the field in 2013.
Minor Moves: Saints, Cardinals, Packers
We’ll round up today’s minor transactions below, including waiver claims and signings and cuts of players who don’t have much NFL experience. Any additional moves will be added to the top of the page throughout the evening:
- According to Aaron Wilson of the Baltimore Sun (via Twitter), the Saints have signed offensive lineman Manase Foketi, who went undrafted out of West Texas A&M a year ago. Foketi signed with the Broncos last April and joined the Bills’ practice squad during the season.
- The Cardinals have waived wide receiver Javone Lawson with a non-football injury designation, tweets Wilson.
- Cornerback James Nixon has been cut by the Packers with a failed physical designation, according to Wes Hodkiewicz of the Green Bay Press-Gazette (via Twitter).
- Josh Samuda, who was cut by the Vikings yesterday, was done so with the failed physical designation and moved to injured reserve today, tweets Matt Vensel of the Star Tribune.
Earlier updates:
- The Raiders have waived safety Tony Dye, linebacker Eric Harper and defensive end Chris McCoy, according to the team (via Twitter). Like the Texans (mentioned below), Oakland appears to finally be gearing up to announce its UDFA signings.
- The Texans have yet to announce their undrafted free agent class, but it looks like they’re preparing to do so, having made a series of cuts today. According to John McClain of the Houston Chronicle (via Twitter), the team has parted ways with running back Ray Graham, tight end Phillip Supernaw, wideout Rico Richardson, cornerback Loyce Means, fullback Chad Spann and safety Steven Terrell. Graham had four carries and a reception for the Texans last season.
- The Buccaneers have re-signed long snapper Andrew DePaola and cut cornerback Anthony Gaitor, tweets Scott Smith of Buccaneers.com. Neither player saw any regular-season action for the team in 2013.
- Cut by the Bills earlier this week, offensive lineman Jamaal Johnson-Webb has been claimed off waivers by the Giants, the club announced today (via Twitter). It’s been a whirlwind year for the Alabama A&M product, who has also spent time on the Cardinals’, Bills’, and Bears’ rosters or practice squads since going undrafted last April.