LeSean McCoy Wants To Keep Playing
Prior to the Super Bowl, veteran running back LeSean McCoy said that if he won his second ring in as many seasons, he’d consider hanging up his cleats and walking away from the game. McCoy easily picked up his second championship with the Bucs’ win over the Chiefs, but it didn’t take him very long to decide retirement isn’t what he wants.
On a recent appearance on NFL Network’s ‘Good Morning Football,’ McCoy said he’d like to keep playing and that he’s already had conversations with his agent about finding a new team, via Chris Franklin of Lehigh Valley Live.
“The only thing is it has to be the right team,” McCoy said. “I can’t go from two Super Bowls to playing with BA (Bruce Arians), Andy Reid, Tom Brady, and (Patrick) Mahomes to not even having a team that’s competing. I’m still a competitor. To bring me back, I have to play for a team that is a contender, or with some young guys I could help out. I still want to be effective and get a shot to play and showcase my talent. I still have some more highlights to give out.”
It sounds like after 12 seasons in the league he has no interest in playing for any random team, which is understandable. McCoy played sparingly for Tampa this season, getting only 10 carries and 15 receptions in 10 games. He’ll turn 33 in July, and if any team wants him it’ll be more as a veteran locker room presence than on-field contributor. He was on a one-year minimum deal with the Bucs, and likely won’t be brought back considering they’ve already got Ronald Jones and Lombardi Lenny Fournette in the fold.
One of the most accomplished running backs of the past decade, McCoy made six Pro Bowls in seven seasons from 2011-17. As recently as 2019 with the Chiefs he had 129 touches, so maybe he’s still got a little bit left in the tank. If nothing else he can claim to be good luck for whatever team signs him after the way his past two campaigns have gone.
Jimmy Garoppolo Still To Be Available For Trade?
Every time it seems like the 49ers have put the Jimmy Garoppolo story to rest, it takes another twist. GM John Lynch recently made headlines by saying there was “no doubt” Garoppolo would be the team’s 2021 starter, but there apparently is some doubt after all. 
“Many around the league still expect Garoppolo to be available” in trade talks, Ben Volin of the Boston Globe writes. Garoppolo is one of only a handful of players around the league with a no-trade clause, so he’d have to give his approval for any potential destination. Lynch’s comments always rang a bit hollow considering the team reportedly inquired about Matthew Stafford before balking at the asking price.
Head coach Kyle Shanahan has also waffled at various points about how committed to Garoppolo he is. Regardless of whether he’s good enough to be their long-term starter, there are also questions about Jimmy G’s health issues, which Lynch acknowledged recently.
He played all 16 games in San Francisco’s 2019 NFC Championship season, but played in only three in 2018 and just six this past year. Although his status as the 49ers’ starter is apparently not as set in stone as we may have believed earlier this week, Volin does say that he thinks the team “would have to be bowled over by a trade offer” to move Garoppolo.
In his latest ‘Football Morning in America’ column, Peter King of NBC Sports wrote that if the 49ers can convince Garoppolo to waive his no-trade clause he could see them being ‘all in’ on Deshaun Watson. Just for entertainment he floated a couple of hypothetical trade scenarios, including a fun one where the Vikings send Kirk Cousins to San Francisco and the 49ers send Garoppolo to Houston in a three-team deal that ends with Watson in Minnesota. Obviously Shanahan and Cousins have a long history dating back to their time in Washington together.
If Garoppolo were to be traded eventually, the Patriots would have to be considered as a potential suitor given that it was Bill Belichick who brought him into the league with a second-round pick back in 2014.
A.J. Green Very Unlikely To Be Back With Bengals?
When he last spoke about his future, A.J. Green made it clear he knew there was a chance he was playing his last games in Cincinnati. It sounds like it’s no longer just a chance, it’s a foregone conclusion.
While going through the Bengals’ upcoming free agent class, Paul Dehner Jr. of The Athletic writes that there’s just a ‘one percent’ chance of Green coming back. “The hope for all involved is Green can resurrect his remarkable career. It just won’t be in Cincinnati,” he writes. This isn’t exactly a shock, as this has been the direction things have been trending, and there was even some speculation back in October that he wanted to be traded although the wideout denied it.
If it is indeed the end, the fourth overall pick of the 2011 draft had an incredible run in Cincy. He’s set all sorts of franchise records while making seven Pro Bowls and three All-Pro teams. He had a reduced role this past season, catching only 47 passes for 523 yards in 16 games. Now 32, it’ll be interesting to see what kind of interest he gets on the open market.
Although he doesn’t treat it with nearly as much certainty, Dehner also doesn’t think cornerback William Jackson III is too likely to return. He thinks one or more teams will be willing to give him a big contract and “the Bengals won’t be one of them.” Jackson has started at least 13 games in each of the past three seasons, and had 11 pass breakups in 2020.
JuJu Smith-Schuster Wants To Stay With Steelers
This has been an offseason of change for the Steelers as the Ben Roethlisberger era starts to wind down, with Maurkice Pouncey retiring and several other shufflings.
One of the biggest questions Pittsburgh faces this offseason is the future of receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster, who is set to be a free agent. Smith-Schuster has liked some tweets encouraging to sign in various places, and there has been some speculation that the USC product could want to return home to Los Angeles to play for either the Chargers or Rams. However, the young wideout made clear in recent comments to TMZ Sports that he’d prefer to stay in Pittsburgh if possible.
“At the end of the day, I want to have my legacy in Pittsburgh and retire there,” Smith-Schuster said. “I don’t want to leave.” He was asked about the Rams and Chargers, and he rebuffed the notion, saying “not right now. Until I actually get let go, other than that, I’m Pittsburgh for life.”
It sounds like if the Steelers are willing to pay him his market value, he’ll be back catching passes from Roethlisberger in 2021. Smith-Schuster is a very interesting free agency case. On the one hand his production has dropped the past two seasons, but it’s also extremely rare for a 24-year-old with his level of accomplishments to hit the open market.
In 2018 he looked like one of the top receivers in the league, racking up 1,426 yards. This past season he finished with only 831 in the same number of games as the Steelers’ passing attack lacked explosiveness.
He did still score nine touchdowns in 2020, and was competing with a host of other receivers for targets. We heard recently that the Raiders are “very interested” in signing Smith-Schuster, so there will be something of a bidding war for his services. He won’t get top of the receiver market money, but he could land something in the $15MM annually range.
Despite his comments today, it still wouldn’t be surprising if he ends up getting priced out of the Steelers’ range. The team doesn’t have the best cap situation, as they continue to work through the problems posed by Roethlisberger’s hefty contract.
OL Nick Easton Has Spoken With 4 Teams, Including Saints
Offensive lineman Nick Easton became one of the first veteran cap casualties of the offseason when the Saints released him nine days ago, but the cut could end up working to his advantage as he’s now been able to get a head start on free agency. 
Easton has had discussions with at least four teams already, Josina Anderson of ESPN tweets. Interestingly, one of those teams is New Orleans, who apparently has interest in bringing him back. Anderson writes the team is open to having him return for 2021 “after the club maneuvers through cap gymnastics.” She adds that Easton himself “is not in a huge hurry to sign,” so it sounds like the Saints can take their time figuring out their cap issues.
New Orleans is currently dealing with one of the worst cap situations in the league, and they saved $5.87MM by releasing him. Easton entered the league as an UDFA out of Harvard back in 2015, and after bouncing around a couple teams found a home with the Vikings.
He started 12 games for Minnesota in 2017, and after a neck injury costed him the whole 2018 season he landed a four-year, $24MM deal from the Saints in 2019. This past season he appeared in 12 games and started nine for Sean Payton’s offense. Still only 28, it’s not surprising there’s significant interest from teams looking for guard help, and he should be able to land at least a few million in guaranteed money.
Ben Roethlisberger Meets With Art Rooney II
Plenty of eyebrows were raised last week when Steelers GM Kevin Colbert sounded unenthused (to put it kindly) about the prospect of Ben Roethlisberger returning in 2021. Colbert gave the classic GM-speak kiss of death of “as we sit here today, Ben Roethlisberger is a member of the Pittsburgh Steelers,” and also said “quite frankly, we need to look at the situation.”
Then adding further fuel to the fire, Aditi Kinkhabwala of ESPN.com tweeted that the team still hadn’t reached out to Big Ben to set up a time to talk about his contract. Either it’s just funny timing, or someone within the building was reading Kinkhabwala’s tweets, because that’s no longer the case. Roethlisberger has met with Steelers owner Art Rooney II, Gerry Dulac of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazzette tweets.
He doesn’t have many details, but sources told Dulac that the meeting “went well.” Of course, we’ve heard all offseason that Pittsburgh isn’t interested in bringing Roethlisberger back at his $40MM+ cap charge, and that he’ll need to restructure his deal to return for one more ride.
To his credit Roethlisberger has said that’s fine by him, and that he doesn’t care what he ends up making in 2021. Right after the season ended it looked like Big Ben returning was something of a done deal, then recent comments from the organization made everything seem very much up in the air.
Today’s meeting is the first step back in the other direction, and it shows the Steelers actually do have some intention of working something out with their franchise icon. We should know a lot more about this meeting and what comes next soon.
Jaguars To Decline Option On Tyler Eifert
The upcoming free agent tight end market is getting another notable name. The Jaguars will decline the 2021 option on Tyler Eifert‘s contract, Ian Rapoport of NFL Network tweets.
As Rapsheet points out Eifert had been set to make a little under $5MM in 2021, and they understandably viewed that as a little hefty given his production this past season. In 15 games and four starts with the Jags in 2020, he caught 36 passes for 349 yards and two touchdowns. It was his first year in Jacksonville after spending the first seven seasons of his career with the Bengals. The receiving numbers don’t jump off the page, but on the bright side he was able to stay healthy for the second season in a row.
Eifert broke out and became a big name during the 2015 season, when he turned a strong connection with Andy Dalton into a whopping 13 touchdowns and a Pro Bowl berth. Unfortunately things went downhill fast after that due to a string of serious injuries, and he would only play in 14 total games over the next three seasons.
The 21st overall pick of the 2013 draft bounced back to play all 16 games in 2019, which earned him the two-year contract from the Jaguars which turned out to be one year plus an option. Eifert will now be hitting a tight end market that has some solid options, including Hunter Henry, Rob Gronkowski, Jonnu Smith, Gerald Everett, and Jared Cook.
Police Case On Shooting Involving Xavien Howard Closed
A story made headlines yesterday when it was reported that Dolphins star cornerback Xavien Howard was mentioned in a police report concerning a shooting at his former agent Damarious Bilbo’s house, but it looks like it’s going to turn out to be a nothing-burger.
The Dunwoody, Georgia police department announced Monday that they’ve closed the case, via Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald. According to the report yesterday somebody fired a shot into Bilbo’s house, and although Howard wasn’t suspected as the shooter police did request to interview him several times but he declined. Bilbo no longer represents Howard, but he negotiated his big five-year extension with Miami in 2019.
Jackson does not that while the police department said the case is now inactive, they could reopen it in the future if more information comes to light. It’s a good thing this drama has been mostly cleared up, since Howard has enough on his plate this offseason.
He’s since grown unhappy with that aforementioned extension and feels underpaid, and is reportedly expected to ask for a trade if the Dolphins don’t renegotiate it. Miami took calls on Howard around last trade deadline, but they were understandably seeking a hefty sum and nothing got done.
Howard was a first-team All-Pro this past season and legitimate Defensive Player of the Year candidate. He’s become arguably the NFL’s top ballhawk, leading the league with ten interceptions in 2020. A knee injury cost him most of the 2019 season, but he was an All-Pro in 2018 too and is still only 27.
Even with the recent drama, there will likely be no shortage of suitors if the Dolphins do decide to trade him. Wherever he’s playing in 2021 though, it sounds like he’s going to want to be the highest-paid corner in the NFL.
Minor NFL Transactions: 2/22/21
We’ve got a few minor moves to pass along from today:
Carolina Panthers
- Re-signed: WR Brandon Zylstra, WR Keith Kirkwood
Houston Texans
- Re-signed: RB Dontrell Hilliard (one-year, $1.25MM, via Ian Rapoport on Twitter).
San Francisco 49ers
- Re-signed: WR River Cracraft
Hilliard, Zylstra, and Kirkwood were all set to be restricted free agents before getting these one-year extensions, and they now won’t need to be tendered offers. Cracraft was an exclusive rights free agent so there wasn’t much of a question about his future. Hilliard did pretty well for himself to get $1.25MM with $200K guaranteed, considering he only appeared in two games for Houston without receiving a carry or reception.
Eagles To Release Alshon Jeffery
It’s been trending this way for a while, but now it’s more or less official. The Eagles will release Alshon Jeffery at the beginning of the new league year, Ian Rapoport of NFL Network tweets.
The writing has been on the wall for some time, as when Jeffery and Malik Jackson had their contracts restructured last month we heard that both were on their way out. This latest news comes just a couple of days after the team cut DeSean Jackson, so clearly Philly is committed to completely overhauling their underwhelming receiving group as they enter somewhat of a rebuild. The Eagles have one of the worst cap situations in the league, so more veteran purging is likely still to come.
For Jeffery, this will wrap up a four-year run with the team that included plenty of highs and lows. Although his stint will end in disappointing fashion, he’ll always have a large place in franchise history after starting all 16 games and catching nine touchdowns during the 2017 season when they won Super Bowl LII.
Injuries sapped his effectiveness, and limited him to ten games in 2019 and just seven this past year. He only had six catches for 115 yards this season, so it’ll be very interesting to see what kind of interest he draws on the open market. Obviously he has a past history of production, but he’s now 31 with a signifiant injury history. He’ll find a home somewhere, but will likely struggle for much guaranteed money.