Seahawks Work Out Danny Isidora
The Seahawks are clearly on the verge of adding some interior line help. Yesterday we heard they were hosting former top ten pick Chance Warmack and Cody Wichmann, and those weren’t the only two guards brought in.
The team also brought in Danny Isidora for a workout, per the league’s transaction wire. Isidora entered the league as a fifth-round pick of the Vikings back in 2017. He spent his first two years in Minnesota, starting a few games. He was traded to the Dolphins in 2019 for a late pick, and entered the year as a starter for Miami. After starting three games he went down with an injury and missed the rest of the season.
He then spent time on the practice squads of the Chiefs and Steelers last season. The Miami product is still 26, so there’s some theoretical upside here. With the way they’ve been moving, it would be surprising if the Seahawks don’t sign a guard here imminently.
Chance Warmack Visiting Seahawks
Chance Warmack could be headed back to Seattle. The veteran guard is visiting with the Seahawks, sources told Jeremy Fowler of ESPN.com (Twitter link).
Fowler notes he’ll be getting a physical and that this is a “potential re-signing.” Warmack is most well-known for being the 10th overall pick of the 2013 draft by the Titans. He became an immediate starter in Tennessee but never lived up to his draft status, had his fifth-year option declined, and was allowed to walk after the 2016 season.
He spent the next two years with the Eagles as a reserve, making a few starts. He was out of football in 2019, then signed with Seattle in March of last year. He ultimately decided to opt out of 2020 due to COVID-19, and was released back in February. Now, he might end up back with the Seahawks for real. If he signs and makes the team it’ll be his first game action since 2018. He’ll turn 30 in September.
Bears Discussing Anthony Miller Trade
A potential big trade could be in the works. The Bears have been discussing a deal involving receiver Anthony Miller with a “number of teams,” Ian Rapoport of NFL Network tweets.
We heard a few weeks ago that the team was shopping him, and it sounds like they’re receiving some real interest. Chicago has franchise tagged Allen Robinson, and they had Darnell Mooney breakout last season, making Miller expendable. He’s heading into the final year of his rookie deal, and the team clearly wants to get something for him before he’d presumably walk in free agency.
The 51st overall pick of the 2018 draft, Miller has flashed plenty of big-time potential but has never been able to fully deliver on it. He’s only missed one pro game, but has dealt with serious shoulder issues that have limited him in the past. He caught seven touchdowns as a rookie, then had 52 catches for 652 yards in 2019.
This past season his production dipped, as he had 49 receptions for 485 yards and two touchdowns. The less than 10 yards a reception isn’t great, and his stock likely took a hit. Still he’s only 26, and signed very cheaply for 2021, so it’s not surprising that teams are engaging in discussions. He could be an intriguing flyer with some real upside for a team in need of pass-catching help.
Ravens To Re-Sign Anthony Levine
The Ravens are keeping a key piece of their locker room in the fold. Baltimore has agreed to terms with safety Anthony Levine on a new deal, his agent Dan Saffron announced on Twitter.
It’s a one-year contract, Jeff Zrebiec of The Athletic tweets. Levine is one of the longest-tenured members of the organization as well as a team captain, so he’s an important piece even though he doesn’t play much on defense. Levine has been with the team since originally signing to their practice squad back in 2012. He got his start in the league as an UDFA with the Packers in 2010.
A Tennessee State product, Levine played only a few percent of the defensive snaps last year, but is a core special teamer. As recently as 2019 though he played a sizable role on defense, logging 17 percent of the defensive snaps that season. He got $1.812MM on the one-year deal he signed in March of last year, so we can probably assume this new contract is worth somewhere around there. He turned 34 last month.ant
Falcons GM, HC Split On Drafting QB?
Earlier this morning, we heard that the Falcons were open to moving down from the fourth overall pick. Now, we have some more details on what’s happening inside the building.
Atlanta’s new GM Terry Fontenot apparently favors drafting a quarterback, while new head coach Arthur Smith does not, Chris Mortensen of ESPN reported recently, via Evan Birchfield of The Falcoholic. “What I’m hearing is that [Terry] Fontenot is more focused on quarterback, and Arthur Smith believes that Matt Ryan does have two or more years left,” Mortensen said.
While that big split between a GM and head coach in their first year together might not be ideal, it doesn’t sound like the situation has turned toxic or anything. The fact that Atlanta is open to moving the pick would seem to indicate that Smith’s view might be winning out.
“He has no real medical history, he hasn’t missed many games in his career and there hasn’t been a big drop off in his play,” Mortensen said of Smith’s view of Ryan. Interestingly, Mortensen also had some info on who the Falcons might pick if Fontenot gets his way.
“One thing I do hear though is that if they do go quarterback at No. 4, then Trey Lance is probably the guy,” he said. It sounds like there’s a real possibility that Trevor Lawrence, Zach Wilson, Mac Jones, and Lance go 1-4. Ryan, 36 next month, is signed through the 2023 season.
Broncos To Sign Shamar Stephen
The Broncos have already made several moves in the secondary this offseason, and now they’re addressing the defensive front. Denver has agreed to terms on a deal with defensive tackle Shamar Stephen, a source told Ryan O’Halloran of the Denver Post (Twitter link).
There’s some familiarity here, as new Broncos GM George Paton came over from Minnesota, where Stephen has spent most of his career. Stephen was drafted in the seventh-round back in 2014, and was with the Vikings for his first four seasons. He signed a one-year deal with the Seahawks in 2018 before returning home in 2019 with a three-year, $12.45MM contract from the Vikings.
He made it through two years of that pact before being released last month. He started all 16 games for Minnesota last year, racking up 34 tackles and a half sack while playing just over 60 percent of the defensive snaps. He’s started 65 games in his seven-year career, including at least 14 in each of the past three.
Dre’Mont Jones, Shelby Harris, and nose tackle Mike Purcell currently slot in as the three starters up front in Denver’s 3-4 defense. Stephen could play either outside or inside and will presumably fill a rotational role behind those three guys.
Jets GM Joe Douglas On Draft, QBs, Darnold
The Jets made one of the biggest moves of the offseason on Monday, trading Sam Darnold to the Panthers. Rather than shying away from the splashy deal, New York GM Joe Douglas gave a press conference on Tuesday to update the media. At that press conference, he made several interesting revelations. You can read most of those revelations in full courtesy of this Twitter thread from Ralph Vacchiano of SNY.
Perhaps most interestingly, Douglas said that the Jets weren’t looking to move on from Darnold at all costs. In fact, he said if they didn’t have the second overall pick, Darnold would’ve been returning for a fourth year in New York. “Having the No. 2 pick, I think it’s safe to say if our pick was a little bit later we wouldn’t be having this discussion right now. We’d be comfortable moving ahead with Sam,” he explained.
When asked if the team was locked in on taking a quarterback at number two, he didn’t try to obfuscate too much. “I think that’s a fair assessment to say,” he replied. Douglas said the team did consider keeping both Darnold and a rookie on the roster, like Josh McCown and others floated recently, but ultimately decided it wouldn’t have been good for the locker room.
Douglas declined to name a specific quarterback the team is after, although they’re now widely expected to take BYU’s Zach Wilson. He also seemed to indicate that Darnold’s impending price tag (the Panthers will pay him $18.9MM in 2022 by picking up his fifth-year option) was a factor.
“We felt ultimately at the end of the day this was an opportunity to hit the reset button financially, so to speak,” Douglas said. Wilson will be pretty cheap for a handful of years on a rookie deal. While he didn’t explicitly confirm that’s where the team is looking, he may as well have. He was asked about Steve Young recently saying the team was committed to taking Wilson. To that, Douglas replied “Steve’s plugged in to BYU pretty well.”
He also said the team is “very excited” about 2020 fourth-round pick James Morgan, who could potentially backup Wilson. It sounds like the Jets could forego a veteran backup and roll with a very young quarterback room in 2021.
Panthers To Sign OL Martez Ivey
The Panthers made the big splash of the week by acquiring Sam Darnold from the Jets, but that isn’t the only move they’re making. Carolina is also signing offensive lineman Martez Ivey, his agents told Adam Schefter of ESPN.com (Twitter link).
No financial terms were immediately revealed, but it’s a one-year deal for Ivey. A two-time All-SEC player at Florida, Ivey signed with the Patriots as an UDFA back in 2019. He failed to crack New England’s roster, and then spent some time in the XFL in 2020. He wasn’t able to land an NFL job during the pandemic, but is now getting another shot.
The Panthers have been busy with their offensive line this offseason, already signing new projected starters Cameron Erving and Pat Elflein, franchise-tagging Taylor Moton, and re-signing John Miller. Ivey will be another dart throw for a team making low-risk signings to shore up the O-line.
Aaron Rodgers On Packers Future
Aaron Rodgers was vague about his future when appearing on SportsCenter over the weekend, and during a Monday appearance on the ‘Pat McAfee Show,’ he elaborated more on his situation with the Packers (Twitter video link).
Rodgers certainly didn’t sound like someone expecting to be a Packer for life, saying “my future, is really, a lot of it’s out of my control.” He added that it’s “quite uncertain which directions things are going to go.” Any eyebrows that weren’t already raised around the league certainly are now.
“All I can do is play my best and I feel like last year I did do that,” the reigning NFL MVP explained. The real kicker came next, when Rodgers said he “may have thrown a wrench into some timelines that may have been thought about or desired” with his stellar 2020 season.
He clearly was referring to the fact that Packers brass drafted Jordan Love in the first-round in 2020, and may have been planning to put him out to pasture sooner rather than later. His dominant campaign and run to the NFC Championship Game obviously made things a lot more difficult for Green Bay.
Rodgers is reportedly seeking a new contract this offseason, and some rival execs and coaches think he wants a fresh start elsewhere. The Rams apparently made a push for Rodgers before dealing for Matthew Stafford, although the Packers have insisted for now that he isn’t available. Interestingly Rodgers said the adjustments he made to his mentality and general life outlook, which he’s discussed heavily over the past year, happened before the drafting of Love.
“The change was before that. The perspective adjustments and the course corrections with my own life, personal life, headspace,” all came prior to that, and “the draft was just an opportunity for those to play out in real time where I had an opportunity to respond using the tools that I’ve tried to cultivate and the habits I was trying to form and adjust in real time. And so I got a great opportunity to show where I was at mentally and to grow and to just be myself.”
Rodgers seems content not knowing if he’ll be in Green Bay long-term, and it’s a very interesting dynamic for a team with Super Bowl aspirations to have coming off a 13-3 season. Things could come to a head sometime in the near future, but for now all we’ve got is cryptic comments.
Latest On Sam Darnold
Things have been trending toward the Jets taking BYU quarterback Zach Wilson second overall for a while now, and if that happens it’s been widely assumed Sam Darnold would be traded somewhere. But is it possible the Jets could draft Wilson and keep Darnold around as well? Maybe so.
“Can it be done? Absolutely,” Darnold’s former teammate and mentor Josh McCown, who has stayed close with the USC product, told Rich Cimini of ESPN.com. “In my mind, if you can’t get the value now for him, that’s absolutely how you go about it. I wouldn’t even call it a competition. I would just say, ‘We’re going to go with Sam as the guy and bring Zach along.’ If Sam knocks it out of the park, we’ll re-evaluate where we are a year from now.”
McCown doesn’t think Darnold would shy away from the drama. “Sam would embrace it and be helpful, but he’d also go out and work hard and try to make the most of the opportunity to play this year — and put it back on them and make them have to make a tough decision at the end of the year. I think, if that happens, really and truly, everybody wins.”
While that’s fun to think about, it might be wishful thinking on McCown’s part. McCown’s scenario isn’t “crazy,” Ian Rapoport of NFL Network says (Twitter video link), but most people he’s spoken to still believe Darnold will be traded.
That being said, Rapoport does believe it’s realistic the Jets could keep Darnold to try to get a better draft pick for him later, rather than settle for something now when his value isn’t at its highest. Rapoport doubts New York could get a first-rounder for him, which isn’t surprising considering there was a report earlier that suggested they might not even be able to get a second-rounder for him. We already know the Broncos don’t view him as worth a second-rounder.
We had heard back in February that the Panthers weren’t overly interested in Darnold, but after striking out on other options Rapsheet interestingly highlights them as a team to watch here. With the draft rapidly approaching, we should know a lot more soon so stay tuned.