Patriots Calling On Every QB, Newton Wants To Return
The quarterback carousel has already seen some crazy shuffling, and we’re only just getting started on this offseason. There are plenty of teams out there still looking to make a move, including the Patriots.
New England was a big disappointment on offense last year, and it sounds like Bill Belichick is leaving no stone unturned as he pursues possible upgrades at the game’s most important position. To that end, the Pats “have had conversations regarding every potential trade target in the league,” sources told Jeff Howe of The Athletic. We know they were briefly involved in Matthew Stafford talks, and this would seem to indicate they’ve at least called about guys like Deshaun Watson, Carson Wentz, Sam Darnold, and potentially others such as Marcus Mariota, Jimmy Garoppolo, or even Matt Ryan and Russell Wilson.
Howe writes bluntly that “if a quarterback has been perceived to be available, the Patriots have picked up the phone.” Howe thinks Belichick is taking a purposefully patient approach to avoid overpaying and to see if the asking price on a veteran he’s interested in goes down once the market starts to dry up.
As for the incumbent starter, impending free agent Cam Newton, Howe writes that the team hasn’t “ruled out” bringing him back for another year. For his part, it sounds like the former MVP would love to return.
On a recent episode of the ‘I Am Athlete’ podcast, Newton said “hell yes” when asked if he would go back to New England, via Doug Kyed of NESN (Twitter link). Newton says he’s “getting tired of changing” and is at a point in his career where he wants continuity. He emphasized that he already knows a lot more about the system than he did last year, and that all the receivers are now more comfortable with him.
When he was asked if there was a chance of him playing for the Pats in 2021, he said “there’s always a chance for everything,” but said “I can’t say that” when asked if he had been talking with the franchise.
Mike Tomlin Has COVID-19
Unfortunate news to pass along, as Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin has been diagnosed with COVID-19, sources told Ian Rapoport of NFL Network (Twitter link).
Needless to say, Tomlin is now away from the facility as the team gets ready for free agency and draft prep. It sounds like there may have been something of an outbreak on the staff, as Rapoport notes that the team confirmed numerous personnel execs and coaches were sent home after multiple positive tests came up.
One of those positives was Tomlin, who despite having coached Pittsburgh for the past 14 seasons is still on the younger side of NFL coaches at 48. The pandemic wreaked havoc on the league all season, and it doesn’t look like that’s going to change in the offseason even without games being played.
With almost everything related to the draft and free agency virtual these days anyway, this hopefully shouldn’t hinder the Steelers’ process too much. All of us here at PFR wish Tomlin a full and speedy recovery.
Mike Iupati Retires From NFL
Mike Iupati is hanging up his cleats. The longtime NFL offensive lineman is retiring from the game, he told Peter Harriman of the Spokesman-Review in Idaho.
“My body was telling me it was time to close the door,” Iupati said, echoing the sentiments of many a retired NFL player. “My goal was to hit ten years,” the Idaho product declared, and he ended up beating that by one season. The 17th overall pick of the 2010 draft by the 49ers, Iupati ended up playing his whole career in the NFC West. After his rookie deal expired he landed a big five-year, $40MM contract from the Cardinals, although the final season of that deal was later voided.
He signed with the Seahawks in 2019, and spent the past two seasons in Seattle. He started 15 games in 2019 but was limited by injuries to only 10 this past campaign. The retirement means more significant change is coming to the Seahawks’ shaky offensive line, an O-line that Russell Wilson is apparently already unhappy with.
He’ll wrap up his career having been a full-time starter at every stop, starting 139 games in total. It was a decorated one, as he made four Pro Bowls and two All-Pro teams in eleven seasons.
Lightly recruited out of high school with only a few college offers, he came a heck of a long way. All of us here at PFR wish Iupati the best in retirement!
Latest On Jets, Sam Darnold
With Carson Wentz now a member of the Colts, the next quarterback domino to fall could be Sam Darnold. The former second overall pick’s status is up in the air, and it wouldn’t be surprising if he’s starting for the Jets next season or if he’s shipped out for whatever trade compensation New York can get. In a recent piece, Rich Cimini of ESPN.com runs through all the plausible scenarios for Darnold.
Trade him and draft a quarterback, keep him and take the best player available at number two, or keep him and trade down with a team looking for a passer. Cimini writes that “there are some who believe” the Jets could get more for Darnold than the Eagles got for Wentz. Philly, of course, got a third-round pick and a second-rounder that can turn into a first-rounder if Wentz plays 75 percent of the snaps for Indy this season. We heard just yesterday that potential compensation for Darnold would be a second-rounder, but apparently others in league circles think it would take more.
One league source highlighted to Cimini that Darnold is under team control relatively cheaply for the next two years as a reason why. If the Jets do decide to throw in the towel on Darnold and start over, Cimini writes that his “hunch” is that it would be for BYU’s Zach Wilson with the second pick.
Interestingly, Cimini says that a source from one team that had inquired with the Jets about trading for the former USC star “came away with the impression Darnold won’t be dealt.” We heard a couple weeks ago that multiple teams had called about Darnold, and it doesn’t sound like those calls were too productive.
Many have treated it like a foregone conclusion that Darnold will be dumped this offseason, but that sentiment is probably misguided. If he is dealt, one hypothetical trade that Cimini floats is between the Jets and Washington, with the teams swapping first-round picks (19 & 23), and Washington sending their second-rounder this year and their third-rounder next year.
If they stand pat at number two and don’t trade Darnold or trade down, Cimini currently projects them to take LSU receiver Ja’Marr Chase as the best player available. We should hear a lot more about Darnold in the coming weeks and months, so stay tuned.
COVID-19 Offseason, Roster Changes To Become Permanent?
Needless to say, the COVID-19 pandemic changed things radically in the NFL. While everyone is hopeful that many things will get back to normal for the 2021 season, like fans in the stands of course, it appears that some of the changes are here to stay.
In an interesting article earlier this week, Lindsay Jones of The Athletic (subscription required) took a look at what we can expect moving forward in terms of offseasons and roster rules. One of the biggest changes in 2020 were practice squad rules, with those units being increased from 10 to 16 players, and vested veterans being allowed to be on them. The other biggest change was the altering of injured reserve rules, which reduced the amount of games a player needed to miss on IR from six to three, and eliminated the cap of two players being allowed to return.
Those matters will be discussed at offseason competition committee meetings, and the two issues mentioned above are both expected to “receive overwhelmingly positive reviews from coaches and general managers,” a source told Jones. It makes a ton of sense, and at this point it would be surprising if the NFL went back to pre-2020 procedures for practice squads and IR.
Jones also notes that 2020 changes like the “reduction of the number of people allowed in the team’s bench area during games and road-game travel protocols” could become permanent as well. As for the offseason, there was a dramatic reduction in training camp practice time this past year, which could be the new norm.
Jones writes that players union head J.C. Tretter is planning on pounding the table for reduced OTAs and minicamps to stay. While changes to the offseason program would need to be collectively bargained, a source told her that there “appears to be enough support from both sides for such a change to be possible.”
Tretter said he’s heard from players who feel like they finished the season in better physical and mental shape because of the limited practice time. “Change is always scary, but we’ve come out on the other side in a much better position. And now, it’s the point of getting down with the league, talking to them about which of these changes we should move forward, because they are better for everybody involved,” the Browns’ center said.
Salary Cap To Be Between $182-183MM?
We heard earlier this week that the lowest the salary cap would be was $180MM. The initial minimum cap had been reported to be $175MM, so that increase led to some speculation that the actual salary cap could end up being $190MM+.
That would’ve meant there wouldn’t have been that dramatic of a decrease from last year’s cap of $198.2MM, but that speculation looks to have been a bit optimistic. The number most likely won’t reach $185MM and could end up between $182-183MM, a source told Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk.com.
The cap had been steadily increasing in recent years, but obviously the COVID-19 pandemic halted that. Revenue loss as a result of the pandemic was always going to send the cap down for 2021, it was only a question of how much, and now we appear to more or less have our answer.
It looks like teams will each have around $15MM less to play with this season, which will give some squads some headaches. While there will still be a lot of shuffling required for teams to get under the number, it sounds like a true disaster was averted.
The initial plan of $175MM was ditched after some “aggressive lobbying” from teams, Florio writes. A source told him that had it been $175MM, it would’ve been chaos as teams would have “flooded the market” with veteran players they cut to get down under the cap.s
Coaching Notes: Giants, Rams, Ravens
The Giants have added a big name to Joe Judge’s second staff. New York has officially hired Jeremy Pruitt to be a defensive assistant, the team announced. Pruitt is coming off a high profile job after serving as the head coach at Tennessee the past three seasons. He was fired by the University last month as part of a housecleaning after an investigation found major recruiting violations took place. A former Nick Saban protege who was the defensive coordinator at Alabama before taking the Tennessee job, Pruitt has never coached in the NFL before. Judge was a special teams assistant at Alabama from 2009-11 while Pruitt was on staff, so there’s some familiarity here.
Here’s more from the coaching ranks on a quiet Sunday:
- The Rams parted ways with highly regarded offensive line coach and run game coordinator Aaron Kromer a few days ago, and they aren’t wasting any time replacing him. Los Angeles will hire Kevin Carberry to be their new O-line coach, a source told Tom Pelissero of NFL Network (Twitter link). The speed with which Sean McVay made this move would seem to indicate it had been in the works for a while. Carberry was the run game coordinator at Stanford before taking this gig. As Pelissero points out, Carberry was on staff in Washington with McVay. He was Washington’s assistant O-line coach under OC McVay in 2016.
- Those two coaches are leaving the college ranks for the pros, but we’ve also got a pro to college to pass along. Ravens running backs coach Matt Weiss is leaving to become the quarterbacks coach at Michigan, Ian Rapoport of NFL Network tweets. Weiss will go from coaching under John Harbaugh to his brother Jim Harbaugh at Michigan. As running backs coach in Baltimore the past two years, Weiss helped orchestrate one of the best ground games in the league.
- The Steelers are undergoing a lot of change this offseason, including to Mike Tomlin’s staff. He’ll have a new secondary coach in 2021, as the team has hired Grady Brown to fill that role, they announced. He’s been the defensive coordinator at small schools McNeese State and Old Dominion in recent years. This is his first full-time coaching gig in the NFL.
Titans GM On Isaiah Wilson, Offseason
We already talked about how Titans GM Jon Robinson confirmed the team had made contact with J.J. Watt‘s reps this morning, but there were some more interesting nuggets to come out of Robinson’s press conference.
For starters, Robinson talked about perhaps the biggest mistake of the 2020 NFL Draft, Isaiah Wilson. Tennessee drafted the offensive tackle 29th overall last April, but he played only four snaps as a rookie. After getting drafted, Wilson was arrested for DUI, received a trespass warning for attending a party at Tennessee State and twice landed on the team’s reserve/COVID-19 list. He was suspended for Week 13 for a violation of team rules and then was placed on the reserve/NFI list in December shortly after finally making his NFL debut.
Robinson revealed on Tuesday that he hasn’t spoken with Wilson since placing him on the NFI list, via Jim Wyatt of the team’s official site. Robinson said others had been in some degree of contact with the first-rounder, but he didn’t sound particularly optimistic about his future with the team. “He is going to have to make a determination on if he wants to do everything necessary to play pro football,” Robinson said bluntly.
Wilson only just turned 22 last week so he’s got time to figure it out, but it sure sounds like the Titans won’t be counting on the Georgia product for 2021. Meanwhile, Robinson seemed to indicate there’s a good chance receiver Corey Davis and tight end Jonnu Smith could walk in free agency.
Robinson said he had the same conversation with those two guys that he did with tackle Jack Conklin last year, saying the team “will make competitive offer, but wishes them the best if they opt for free agency,” Terry McCormick of TitanInsider.com tweets. Conklin, of course, left for the Browns in free agency. Davis, the fifth overall pick of the 2017 draft, is set to be a free agent since Robinson elected to decline his fifth-year option last May. Davis responded with a resurgent season, racking up a career-high 984 yards in only 14 games. It’ll be very interesting to see what kind of offers he gets on the open market.
Latest On Carson Wentz, Bears Front Runners?
What we heard right before the Super Bowl made it sound like a Carson Wentz trade was imminent, but here on February 16th Wentz is still a member of the Eagles. In a recent piece, Albert Breer of SI.com broke down a few of the reasons why things are lagging. 
For starters, Breer writes that Philly’s steep asking price caused several potentially interested teams to “drop out of the running altogether.” In addition to his poor play last year, Breer also notes that a “less-talked-about problem is the growing reputation Wentz has of not reacting well to hard coaching.” Stuff like that has been hinted at the past couple years, but it sounds like it’s a full-blown issue at this point.
In an interview with Colin Cowherd of Fox Sports, Breer added that he believes the Bears are the “front runner” as of the beginning of this week. “It’s pretty clear at this point the Bears have pushed harder than the Colts to get Carson Wentz. The Eagles are probably going to get their best return for Carson Wentz from Chicago,” Breer said.
Breer writes that he doesn’t think the Eagles will get a first-round pick, unless there are compounding factors like salary dumps or other picks going back to the trade partner. Both Indy and Chicago’s staffs have ties to Wentz, and the Bears just recently promoted his former quarterbacks coach John DeFilippo.
In recent days we’ve heard that both the Broncos and Patriots aren’t interested in Wentz, and there aren’t really any known suitors other than the Colts or Bears.
Latest On Bears, Allen Robinson
When the Bears and Allen Robinson resumed extension talks back in September, there was some optimism that the two sides could work out their differences and keep Robinson around long-term. That optimism was short-lived, as the relationship quickly devolved and he eventually started liking tweets encouraging him to skip town.
The last we heard about a month ago, the team was bracing for the star receiver to leave in free agency. However, it appears GM Ryan Pace might not let him walk out the door so easily. Pace recently talked about the franchise tag being a tool at the team’s disposal this offseason, and Adam Jahns of The Athletic thinks that was to send a message to Robinson and his reps that the team is going to play hardball.
Robinson has said recently he’s open to returning to Chicago, but doesn’t want to play under the tag. It seems the Bears are reluctant to pay his asking price, which is rumored to be top of the receiver market money. Meanwhile, the two sides haven’t had any further talks about an extension since those discussions way back in September, Tom Pelissero of NFL.com reports, so a long-term deal certainly doesn’t seem imminent.
Interestingly, Pelissero floated a potential tag and trade scenario as a viable option. “That would certainly seem to bring the (franchise) tag into play,” Pelissero said. “Whether it is the Bears to try to do an extension, whether it is setting up Robinson to play on the tag, or maybe even a tag-and-trade scenario.”
Robinson has managed to produce consistently despite playing with bottom-tier quarterbacks his entire career, and is still only 27, so if the Bears do dangle him in trade talks there will likely be no shortage of suitors. He had 102 catches for 1,250 yards and six touchdowns this past season, even as Mitchell Trubisky and Nick Foles shuffled back and forth ineffectively.