Falcons Rumors: Maxwell, Thomas, Bryant
Earlier today, in our round-up of a few NFC South items, we passed along a couple of noteworthy Falcons-related tidbits — the team has yet to instigate negotiations on a contract extension for standout wide receiver Julio Jones, and new offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan received a three-year deal when he was hired by the club. We’ve had a few more Falcons updates trickle in since then, so let’s check those out:
- There’s “a lot of talk” that the Falcons will be a strong suitor for free agent cornerback Byron Maxwell, according to Mike Garafolo of Fox Sports (via Twitter). As Garafolo points out, Maxwell played under new Atlanta head coach Dan Quinn in Seattle, so there’s a logical connection there. Seahawks GM John Schneider also indicated earlier today that he expects the cornerback to reach the open market.
- The Falcons will likely be interested in Broncos tight end Julius Thomas, another prospective who looks poised to hit the open market, writes D. Orlando Ledbetter of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Atlanta has been looking for an upgrade at the position since Tony Gonzalez retired, but the club would likely have plenty of competition for Thomas, who will be the top tight end available this winter.
- There have been some talks between the Falcons and kicker Matt Bryant, but no substantial progress has been made so far, tweets Vaughn McClure of ESPN.com. The team will meet in Indianpolis with the agent for Bryant, who is eligible for free agency next month
South Notes: J. Jones, Titans, Hardy, Jags
Falcons owner Arthur Blank and new head coach Dan Quinn have both expressed in recent weeks how much Julio Jones means to the franchise, but the club has yet to start discussions with the wideout about a contract extension, a source tells Vaughn McClure of ESPN.com. Having exercised their fifth-year option on Jones last spring, the Falcons will have Jones under contract at least through the 2015 season, but he’s currently eligible to hit the open market in 2016, so the team figures to open extension talks at some point in the coming weeks or months.
Here’s a round-up of a few more items from around the NFL’s two South divisions:
- Per McClure (via Twitter), the contract that new offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan signed with the Falcons is a three-year deal.
- Former Bucs GM Mark Dominik told Alex Marvez of SiriusXM (on Twitter) that he gets the sense that the Titans are trying to generate interest for a trade of their No. 2 overall pick.
- Andrew Brandt of TheMMQB.com examines the Greg Hardy situation, which has become complicated despite the fact that his legal case has been resolved. The Panthers defensive end is a test case for the league’s new personal conduct policy, and the NFL’s decision on him could significantly impact his free agent stock next month.
- Tight end Julius Thomas makes total sense for the Jaguars and should be near the top of their Plan A list, even if he’ll cost more than Marcedes Lewis, opines Ryan O’Halloran of the Florida Times-Union. Besides Thomas, another Broncos free agent – free safety Rahim Moore – would be a solid fit for them in his view.
- Our preview of the Saints‘ offseason was published earlier this morning.
Luke Adams contributed to this post.
NFC Notes: Wilson, Gore, Vikes, Gholston
Former agent Joel Corry tells Bob Condotta of the Seattle Times that he can envision the Seahawks and Russell Wilson‘s camp coming to a creative compromise on a contract extension. A good halfway point for the two sides could be a deal that comes in at significantly less money than a top quarterback would receive, but with that money fully guaranteed. Corry throws out the idea of a possible five-year contract that would guarantee Wilson something like $75-$80MM.
Here’s more from around the NFC:
- Frank Gore doesn’t appear likely to re-sign with the 49ers this offseason, according to Matt Miller of Bleacher Report (video link), who identifies the Colts, the Dolphins, and Washington as probable suitors for the veteran running back. Based on the conversations Miller has had with executives around the league, he names Indianapolis as the most likely landing spot for Gore.
- The Vikings will meet with agent Hadley Engelhard in Indianapolis this week, according to Darren Wolfson of ESPN 1500 Twin Cities (via Twitter). Engelhard represents current Vikings cornerback Captain Munnerlyn as well as free agent wideout Mike Williams.
- Former sixth overall pick Vernon Gholston hasn’t appeared in a regular season NFL game since 2010, but the ex-Jets edge defender announced today on Twitter that he has a tryout with Washington on tap.
- Pass rushers will likely be atop the Falcons‘ list of priorities this winter, prompting Vaughn McClure of ESPN.com to explore just how much the team should be willing to invest in the position.
- After tackling the AFC last week, former agent Joel Corry focuses on one pressing offseason issue for each of the 16 NFC teams in a piece for CBSSports.com. The topics addressed by Corry include Larry Fitzgerald‘s future in Arizona, Jerry Jones‘ willingness to keep spending on the Cowboys, and the moves the Saints will make to get under the cap.
Zach Links contributed to this post.
NFC Links: Saints, Falcons, Eagles, Lions, Bears
Whether you are watching the NBA All-Star Game, SNL 40, or something else, here is a roundup of some NFC links you might have missed today:
- The Saints signed Senio Kelemete, Shayne Graham, Luke McCown, and Parys Haralson earlier this offseason, but the team still has 11 players on the roster set to hit free agency, writes Evan Woodbery of NOLA.com. The team could still attempt to sign deals for the following players before they reach free agency on March 10: Mark Ingram, Robert Meachem, Jonathan Goodwin, Brandon Deaderick, Ramon Humber, Moise Fokou, Patrick Robinson, Jamarca Sanford, Travaris Cadet, Bryce Harris, and Tyrunn Walker.
- The Falcons have their coaching staff in place, but now need to tighten up the roster. D. Orlando Ledbetter of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution goes through the roster playing “Stay or Go?” with each player. Notable guys who should stay (after the obvious) include Roddy White and Osi Umenyiora, while Ledbetter believes the team should move on from Steven Jackson, Tyson Jackson, and others.
- The Eagles‘ most pressing need is clearly cornerback, but Geoff Mosher of CSNPhilly.com also picks out some secondary needs, including inside linebacker, offensive line, quarterback, and wide receiver. Mosher writes that if the team fails to re-sign Jeremy Maclin, receiver would jump to the number one need, even over the secondary.
- As part of the Lions’ ongoing offseason, Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press profiles the free agency of offensive tackle Corey Hilliard. The 29-year old struggled with injuries in 2014, and his career s a backup tackle with the team is in jeopardy.
- John Fox will taking the helm in Chicago as the Bears’ head coach, looking to turn around a porous defense in a hurry. Lucky for Bears’ fans, Fox’s teams have a history of drafting well on defense, writes Adam Jahns of the Chicago Sun-Times. In Fox’s ten drafts as a head coach, his teams have selected seven defensive players, and Jahns writes that every single one of those picks has turned into a very good player who made an impact immediately.
Minor Moves: Friday
The Browns released offensive lineman Paul McQuistan earlier today, a notable transaction because the move leaves Cleveland with some dead money on its cap for the 2015 season. However, the following transactions aren’t quite as noteworthy, involving players who didn’t see the field much – or at all – in 2014, or players who won’t be receiving any guarantees on their new contracts. Here are today’s minor moves:
- The Falcons have signed former Seahawks linebacker Allen Bradford, the team announced today in a press release. Bradford has been well-traveled since entering the league as a sixth-round pick in 2011, spending time with the Buccaneers, Browns, Giants, and Jaguars, in addition to playing under new Atlanta head coach Dan Quinn in Seattle. However, the 26-year-old has only appeared in 13 career regular season contests.
- Per Jon Machota of the Dallas Morning News, the Cowboys have signed free agent defensive tackle Davon Coleman, who spent some time with the club during the 2014 season after signing as an undrafted free agent last spring. Machota adds that Dallas has also locked up one of its exclusive rights free agents, re-signing linebacker Cameron Lawrence. Both players figure to receive minimum-salary contracts.
- According to Adam Caplan of ESPN.com (via Twitter), the Cowboys made one more transaction today, waiving linebacker DeVonte Holloman with a failed physical designation. Holloman had been on the injured reserve list all season.
- Offensive tackle Xavier Nixon has been claimed off waivers by Washington, according to Caplan (via Twitter). Nixon, cut this week by the Colts, spent some time with Washington before heading to Indianapolis in 2013.
- The Falcons officially removed defensive lineman Peria Jerry from the reserve/left squad list today, tweets Caplan. This was a procedural move, since Jerry announced his retirement back in July.
NFC Notes: Falcons, Manning, Cowboys
The Falcons might not retain Steven Jackson, but they should strongly consider re-signing Antone Smith, Vaughn McClure of ESPN.com writes. Smith’s 2014 season ended prematurely due to a broken leg, but not before he scored five touchdowns off of just 36 touches. Smith has the ability to make one cut and take it to the house, and that would be a great fit in Kyle Shanahan‘s system. More out of the NFC…
- Eli Manning has one more new contract in him but it may behoove the Giants to allow their franchise quarterback to play out his current deal. On Tuesday, Paul Schwartz of the New York Post looked at the pros and cons of a new deal for Manning. Earlier this week I examined a potential deal for Manning and the possible ramifications in could have on the rest of the roster as a part of the Giants’ offseason outlook.
- Monte Kiffin, who served as the Cowboys‘ assistant head coach and defensive consultant in 2014, will not be returning to the team for the 2015 season, sources tell Todd Archer of ESPN.com. However, Archer hears from a source that Kiffin, who turns 75 at the end of the month, would like to continue his coaching career in some capacity.
- The Cowboys should plan on keeping Joseph Randle for now, but they should cut bait if evidence from the pending legal investigation doesn’t go in his favor, Tim Cowlishaw of The Dallas Morning News writes.
NFC South Notes: Benson, S-Jax, Falcons
A court in San Antonio ruled yesterday that Saints owner Tom Benson needs help in managing his assets in Texas, as Katherine Sayre of The Times-Picayune writes. Meanwhile, Benson’s daughter Renee is seeking to overthrow Tom as trustee in the Texas trust, arguing he has mismanaged assets and is in declining health.
Benson, who owns the NBA’s Pelicans in addition to the Saints, suffered another loss in court today, when a New Orleans judge ruled that the 87-year-old must undergo evaluations by three different doctors to determine whether he remains competent to control his NFL and NBA franchises. As Andy Grimm of the Times-Picayune details, one doctor will be appointed by Benson, one by his daughter Renee, and the third will be named by those first two physicians.
Here’s more on the Benson story, along with a couple other notes out of the NFC South:
- Saints owner Tom Benson issued a statement regarding his current situation and it sounds like he has no intention of backing down. “I have instructed my attorneys to spare no effort in defending my rights and the decisions I have made. The decisions I have made are well within my rights to make at any point in my life, and rest assured that I am making sound decisions. I need not look any further than to read the allegations made against me in these multiple lawsuits to rest easy that I have made the correct decisions,” Benson said in the statement (via Saints VP of communications Greg Bensel on Twitter).
- Vaughn McClure of ESPN.com (on Twitter) doesn’t expect Steven Jackson to be back with the Falcons next season. McClure notes that Falcons offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan declined to address Jackson’s future with the team, though that would ultimately be more in the court of head coach Dan Quinn. Jackson, 32 in July, appeared in 15 games for the Falcons last season, running for 707 yards off of 190 carries with 6 TDs. Cutting Jackson would save Atlanta $3.75MM against the cap.
- The Falcons officially announced the rest of their coaching staff for the upcoming season. Atlanta hired Keith Carter as assistant offensive line coach, Matt LaFleur as quarterbacks coach, Doug Mallory as defensive assistant/linebackers coach, Marquand Manuel as secondary coach/senior defensive assistant, Mike McDaniel as offensive assistant, Chris Morgan as offensive line coach, Jeff Ulbrich as linebackers coach, and Chad Walker as defensive assistant/defensive backs.
Luke Adams contributed to this post.
South Notes: Suh, Falcons, K. Jackson
The financial component of Ndamukong Suh‘s next deal has been discussed at length in recent months, but Gregg Doyel of the Indianapolis Star takes a closer look at the nature of Suh’s game and describes it as something of a double-edged sword. Doyel writes that Suh is exactly the type of player the Colts have tried to avoid in recent years: a violent, cruel, and dirty player who violates the team’s mantra of winning with decency. And yet, it is those traits that, when combined with Suh’s undeniable talent, could lift the Colts from a playoff-caliber team to a Super Bowl team.
Doyel notes that the Colts have a number of talented players on the defensive side of the ball, but no great players, and no players with the type of nasty streak that can lift an entire unit. As has been proven time and time again, big-ticket free agents are rarely the answer in today’s NFL, and the negatives of their salary cap charges often outweigh their on-field contributions. But Doyel believes Suh is the exception to that rule, writing that the Colts can afford Suh even when they say they cannot, and he says the club should do everything it can to bring Suh to Indianapolis.
Now let’s take a look at a few other links from the league’s south divisions:
- Mike Wells of ESPN.com has a look at a few questions facing the Colts this offseason, predicting that Greg Toler will return to the team but that LaRon Landry will not. In addition to safety, Wells identifies the running game and the pass rush as areas in clear need of improvement.
- D. Orlando Ledbetter of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution looks at the timeline on which Falcons head coach Dan Quinn and GM Thomas Dimitroff will be operating this offseason and the challenges they will face. Ledbetter also names the defensive and offensive lines and linebacking corps as areas of need.
- In a separate piece, Ledbetter looks at the mixed track record of Korn Ferry, the search firm that the Falcons used in its head coaching search that culminated in Quinn’s hiring.
- In a pair of articles, Ryan O’Halloran and Gene Frenette of the Florida Times-Union look at how the Jaguars‘ new offensive coaches will coexist.
- In the wake of the Titans‘ recent hire of Dick LeBeau, Jim Wyatt of the Tennessean looks at the mixed results the team has had when making “splashy” hires in the past.
- Nate Davis of USA Today provides a brief offseason outlook for each team in the AFC South, noting that the Texans will be in real need of cornerback help if Kareem Jackson leaves in free agency and that the team could use an upgrade at tight end.
Coaching Notes: Steelers, Falcons, Raiders
Former Steelers linebackers coach Keith Butler is now the club’s defensive coordinator, so a pair of assistants have received promotions to fill the hole on the staff. The Steelers announced today that Jerry Olsavsky will coach the team’s inside linebackers, while Joey Porter will coach the outside linebackers, according to Steelers.com. Both coaches played linebacker for the Steelers before coming back to coach with the organization.
Here are some other coaching notes from around the NFL:
- We heard earlier this week that Seahawks assistant Marquand Manuel was expected to follow Dan Quinn to Atlanta, and Vaughn McClure of ESPN.com confirms that news today, tweeting that Manuel signed his two-year deal to join the Falcons. He’ll serve as the club’s defensive backs coach and senior defensive consultant. McClure gives credit to his colleague Josina Anderson for the report.
- After announcing earlier today that Ken Norton Jr. would be their new defensive coordinator, the Raiders are filling out the defensive staff under Norton. University of Miami defensive line coach Jethro Franklin will be headed to Oakland to accept the same job with the Raiders, reports Thayer Evans of SI.com (via Twitter).
- Central Michigan University has hired Lions special teams coach John Bonamego to be their new head coach, reports Hondo Carter of SpartanNation.com (via Twitter). It will be Bonamego’s first head coaching opportunity.
Luke Adams contributed to this post.
2015 NFL Franchise Tag Candidates: NFC South
The deadline for assigning a franchise or transition tag on a 2015 free-agent-to-be is less than a month away, and we’re in the process of taking a look at players who are candidates to be tagged this year. Last week, we examined all four AFC divisions, covering the East, North, South, and West. This week, we’ve shifted our focus to the NFC — we kicked things off on Tuesday with the East and tackled the North on Wednesday. Today, we’ll turn to the South. While there are fewer candidates to be tagged in this division than perhaps any other division in the league, here’s a breakdown of the possible franchise and transition tag candidates for the Falcons, Panthers, Saints, and Buccaneers:
Atlanta Falcons:
- Candidates: Matt Bryant
- Odds of being used: Possible
- There are many Falcons regulars eligible for free agency, but the list isn’t particularly inspiring. Among a group that includes Dwight Lowery, Kroy Biermann, Osi Umenyiora, Corey Peters, Josh Wilson, Robert McClain, Antone Smith, and Jacquizz Rodgers, there are no real candidates for the franchise tag, but Bryant could qualify. He currently falls just outside of the league’s top 10 highest-paid kickers, but he has been a model of consistency for Atlanta in recent years. In his past two seasons with the team, he has missed six total field goals, and five of those came from 50+ yards. The Falcons will want him back, so tagging him could be an option if the two sides don’t work anything out before March 3.
Carolina Panthers:
- Candidates: None
- Odds of being used: Extremely unlikely
- When examining other divisions and other teams, I’ve generally listed players as candidates to be tagged if their teams used a tag on them a year ago. But it’s hard to argue the case for Greg Hardy to get the franchise tag again. A domestic violence charge relegated Hardy to the exempt list all season, and the defensive end may be facing an additional suspension for the 2015 season. There’s no question he’s talented, and if he makes it to the open market, Hardy should draw interest from teams willing to look past his off-field troubles. But Carolina certainly shouldn’t need to commit to another eight-digit salary to bring him back. The club’s only other conceivable candidate is Byron Bell, but that’s only because he played an important position in 2014. Bell’s trial run at left tackle wasn’t a real success story — Pro Football Focus (subscription required) ranked him 83rd out of 84 qualified tackles.
New Orleans Saints:
- Candidates: Shayne Graham
- Odds of being used: Unlikely
- Like the Falcons, the Saints’ top candidate for a tag is their kicker. In New Orleans’ case, however, it’s more of a long shot. Graham performed passably for the team in 2014, but it certainly wasn’t the sort of season that warrants paying the 37-year-old like one of the league’s best kickers. Mark Ingram is another intriguing name among the Saints’ list of free-agents-to-be, but given the cost of the franchise tag for running backs compared to what most backs are actually being paid these days, it wouldn’t make much sense to tag him.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers:
- Candidates: None
- Odds of being used: Extremely unlikely
- Safety Major Wright and linebacker Mason Foster are perhaps the Buccaneers’ most notable prospective free agents, and neither player was a core player — both guys only played about half the team’s defensive snaps. There’s no viable franchise tag candidate in Tampa Bay.