Titans Have Had Contact With J.J. Watt
The J.J. Watt sweepstakes appear to be heating up. We heard earlier this morning that the Browns were seriously in the running for the pass-rusher’s services, and we now know of at least one more AFC team that has already had some communication with him.
The Titans have had contact with Watt’s camp, GM Jon Robinson confirmed at a press conference Tuesday. There had been an initial report days ago that Tennessee was expected to be in the running. Robinson emphasized that it was early and talks were still in the exploratory stage, but it’s now official that Houston’s AFC South rival is interested in keeping him in the division.
Wherever he lands, it sounds like there’s going to be somewhat of a bidding war between numerous interested teams, and even though he’s about to turn 32 we should expect him to land significant guaranteed money at this point. Tennessee, of course, could desperately use Watt’s help getting after opposing quarterbacks.
They had one of the worst pass-rushes in the league last season, and their big offseason splash acquisition of Jadeveon Clowney didn’t work out as he played in only eight games and registered no sacks before getting shutdown. The Steelers and Bills are other teams reported to be interested in the Texans legend so far, although there will surely be more.
NFC Notes: Lynn, Lions, Goldman, Bears, Gardeck, Cardinals
The Lions got Jared Goff back in the blockbuster Matthew Stafford trade, but with all their newfound draft capital they very well may take another passer early. They’ve got the seventh overall pick in April, plus two future first-rounders from the Rams now. Even if they do draft a young quarterback, it sounds like new offensive coordinator Anthony Lynn would prefer Goff to play initially. After acknowledging that if there were a dramatic difference in training camp he would have to play the better player to keep the locker room, Lynn explained his belief that a rookie quarterback should sit at first, via Carlos Monarrez of the Detroit Free Press.
“I’d love to see that rookie sit and watch for a little while. If he could watch for half the season or watch for the first year like Patrick Mahomes did (behind Alex Smith), I believe he can learn so much from the right veteran quarterback because a lot of rookies come into this league and they’re not ready,” the Lions’ new offensive play-caller said. “The speed of the game is twice as fast as it was in college and they don’t have success. And in today’s environment with social media things get out of whack and some of these guys lose their confidence and, hell, they never get it back. So if I can sit a rookie, I will. If I can.”
Of course, Lynn was the head coach of the Chargers this past year when they initially started Tyrod Taylor over first-round pick Justin Herbert. An injury knocked out Taylor after only one game, and Herbert took the job and never looked back.
Here’s more from the NFC:
- Many teams lost full-time starters due to COVID-19 opt outs for 2020, including the Bears with defensive tackle Eddie Goldman. Goldman started at least 15 games at nose tackle in each of the three previous seasons for Chicago before sitting out this past year. Fortunately for the Bears, new defensive coordinator Sean Desai said Monday that the team believes they’ll have him back in 2021, per Josh Alper of ProFootballTalk.com. Due to the league’s opt-out rules, Goldman’s contract, which owes him $4.75MM next year, tolled to 2021 automatically.
- Cardinals outside linebacker Dennis Gardeck had a breakout 2020 season when he recorded seven sacks, but unfortunately it ended in injury. He was placed on injured reserve with a couple of games left to go, but we didn’t know at the time how severe it was. In an Instagram post last month, Gardeck revealed it was a torn ACL that he suffered. An UDFA in 2018 out of D2 school Sioux Falls, he was just a special teamer his first two years. He still was only getting limited snaps this past year but made the most of them, racking up the seven sacks despite playing less than ten percent of the defensive snaps. He had three multi-sack games. Unfortunately due to how late his ACL tear came, he should be considered questionable for Week 1 right now.
- In case you missed it, the 49ers are reportedly either going to take a ‘big swing’, or stick with Jimmy Garoppolo.
Dez Bryant Unlikely To Return To Ravens?
After two seasons out of the game, it was great to see Dez Bryant back on an NFL field this past season with the Ravens. If Bryant wants at least one more run in 2021, it sounds like he might need to find a new home though.
Bryant is unlikely to return to Baltimore next year, Jeff Zrebiec of The Athletic writes. Zrebiec thinks the team is looking to get younger at the position, which makes sense considering Lamar Jackson‘s receiving corps was underwhelming in 2020. Zrebiec notes he was a strong locker room presence, but Bryant didn’t play a huge role on the field, finishing with only six catches for 47 yards and two touchdowns.
Bryant signed with the Ravens’ practice squad in late October, and was promoted to the active roster shortly after. Perhaps the most notable part of his season was a bizarre moment in December when Bryant was pulled from the field just moments before kickoff in a game against the Cowboys after apparently testing positive for COVID-19. Bryant was unhappy, then said that he tested negative and would be sitting out the rest of the season rather than deal with the league’s protocols.
He eventually backed away from that claim and returned to the roster quickly. Speaking of Dallas, Bryant played his last season there in 2017 when he started all 16 games and had 838 yards and six touchdowns. He sat out the first half of the 2018 season before signing with the Saints. Unfortunately, he tore an Achilles immediately after signing with New Orleans before he could appear in a game.
He then sat out the entire 2019 campaign and it appeared his career could be over before he resurfaced with Baltimore. He turned 32 in November, and it’s unclear if he wants to play in 2021 anyway. One of the best receivers in the league for a handful of years, he won’t get any real guaranteed money if he does find a new team to sign with.
Extra Points: Hogan, Buccaneers, Steelers
Veteran NFL receiver Chris Hogan is getting tweeted about by Adam Schefter of ESPN.com, but not because he just signed with a new team. In a twist of news we didn’t see coming, Hogan has filed for the Premier Lacrosse League draft in March. Hogan mostly played lacrosse in college, as you’re probably aware if you watched any broadcast of a game he played in during his heyday with the Patriots. Hogan was an incredible story, as he only played one season of college football at Monmouth after transferring from Penn State where he played lacrosse.
He latched on with the Bills after a couple years of practice squad shuffling, and became a well-known name during his run with New England from 2016-18. In those three years he was often Tom Brady‘s top deep threat, and he was a large part of two Super Bowl winning teams. He signed with the Panthers in 2019, but injuries limited him to eight catches in seven games. He was with the Jets for the first five games of their disastrous 2020 season, catching 14 balls for 118 yards before landing on injured reserve and later getting cut. Now he’s attempting to get back to his first sport at the age of 33. It’s unclear if he’ll actually be drafted or not, but all of us here at PFR wish him the best.
Here’s more from the football universe:
- We’ve already heard that 68-year-old Bruce Arians won’t be riding off into the sunset after the Buccaneers’ Super Bowl win, so why would his 82-year-old offensive consultant Tom Moore? Moore apparently isn’t planning on calling it quits anytime soon, as he told Guy Limbeck of the Rochester Post Bulletin that “I want to coach until physically or mentally I can’t or until I die. He added “because there is absolutely nothing about working that turns me off. So I want to coach as long as I can, I want to coach as long as someone will hire me and that I can do the job that I’m supposed to do.” Moore never made it to head coach but had multiple runs as an OC in the NFL, most recently coordinating the Colts’ offense from 1998-2008. He was Arians’ assistant head coach with the Cardinals from 2013-17.
- The Steelers recently had two players retire, long-time Center Maurkice Pouncey and tight end Vance McDonald. Although both walked away from the game without Pittsburgh cutting them, the Steelers are still taking a financial hit. Those two retirements will result in $9MM in dead cap for Pittsburgh, Mark Kaboly of The Athletic tweets. The Steelers aren’t in the best cap situation, which helps explain why Ben Roethlisberger is going to have to restructure his contract if he wants to return for another season.
Buccaneers Tried To Trade Up Higher For Tristan Wirfs
A large part of the reason the Buccaneers were able to pull off their Super Bowl run was the stellar protection Tom Brady got throughout the playoffs. One of the main reasons Tampa’s O-line saw so much improvement this year was the drafting of right tackle Tristan Wirfs in the first-round last April. 
The Bucs traded with the 49ers to move up one spot in the draft from 14th to 13th and select Wirfs. Speaking on a recent episode of the Pewter Report Podcast, Bucs GM Jason Licht revealed he tried to trade up much higher to get his guy.
“I was stunned,” Licht said about Wirfs slipping that far to them. “I saw him starting to fall. I was trying to go and get him, well, even higher than nine and nobody wanted to make any deals and I think we made the first trade of the pandemic at-home draft.” Licht explained how he believed there was another team below them looking to trade with the 49ers and take Wirfs. Fortunately for Bucs fans, Licht says San Francisco was worried they’d miss out on Javon Kinlaw if they moved much lower than 14th, so they took the deal from Tampa.
Licht wanted to move into the top ten, but ultimately only had to give up a fourth-rounder to move up the one spot. Had he succeeded in getting into the top nine picks or so, he would’ve had to part with a lot more draft capital than that.
Wirfs ended up being one of the best rookies in the league this season, and looks like he’ll be a high-end starter for many years to come.
Matthew Stafford: There Were Teams I Didn’t Want To Play For
A few days ago we heard Matthew Stafford dish on his trade process, including about how he knew a move was possible prior to the 2020 season, and offer insights into a few of the potential destinations before the Rams eventually stepped up. Now Mitch Albom of the Detroit Free Press (subscription required) has published the second part of their interview, and there are more interesting nuggets to pore over.
There was a report that Stafford didn’t want to go to the Patriots, perhaps due to the presence of Matt Patricia. Albom asked him about that and while he didn’t specifically name New England, he did admit that there were certain teams he didn’t want to play for.
“Well, what’s accurate is — and this is an incredible thing by them — I asked to go to a team that was ready to win a championship. And, you know, there were a few teams on that list. There were a few teams that were not on that list. And they were respectful of that and understood completely. I had thoughts and reasons for each one of them,” Stafford said while raving about how the Lions handled the situation.
It sounds like he saw New England struggle to field a competitive team in 2020, and wanted no part of it. Stafford also acknowledged that the Rams would’ve been his top choice all along, which was rumored to be the case. He did try to tamp down the speculation by speaking highly of Patricia.
49ers To Take ‘Big Swing’ Or Stick With Jimmy Garoppolo?
We haven’t heard a ton about Jimmy Garoppolo since 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan last updated the media in late December. At the time, Shanahan said he believed Jimmy G would be his quarterback next year, but cautioned that “you can’t say anything with certainty.” 
Since then a lot of people have treated it as a foregone conclusion that San Francisco is looking to upgrade, but that’s not necessarily the case. The 49ers “still like” Garoppolo and “believe they can win with him,” Jeremy Fowler of ESPN was told, via Tyler Conway of Bleacher Report. Garoppolo is the presumed 2021 starter for now and Fowler reported that it would “take a big swing, like a Deshaun Watson effect here, to make that change.” In other words, it sounds like the 49ers are either going to make a big splash, or stick with Garoppolo for another year.
That would seemingly rule out any middle-tier veteran or available young guys like Carson Wentz, Sam Darnold, and that bunch. San Francisco reportedly sniffed around Matthew Stafford, but it doesn’t sound like they ever came close to wanting to fork over what the Rams ultimately did. Speaking of Watson, we had heard a couple of days ago from Fowler that the Texans quarterback was interested in playing for Shanahan, and he reiterated that Sunday.
Steelers Likely To Move On From Alejandro Villanueva?
The Steelers lost long-time center Maurkice Pouncey to retirement today, and that might not be the only major change coming to their offensive line. Ed Bouchette of The Athletic writes that he believes the Steelers “are ready to move on from” left tackle Alejandro Villanueva. 
Villanueva is set to become a free agent in March, and Bouchette doesn’t think Pittsburgh will want to pay him. If they do let him walk, it’ll end a seven-year run with the franchise for Villanueva. He’s had an unlikely path to the NFL, graduating from Army in 2010 and then serving in Afghanistan before signing with the Eagles in 2014. He didn’t make the team but was signed to the Steelers’ practice squad shortly after, and ended up starting ten games in 2015.
After that he was a full-time and durable starter, starting all 16 games in each of the past five seasons. He’s never been elite at protecting Ben Roethlisberger‘s blindside, but has always been solid and respectable nonetheless. Already 32 because of his time overseas, it’ll be very interesting to see what the free agent market for him looks like.
There will be plenty of teams looking for tackle help, and he’ll almost certainly be starting for somebody next year. The offensive line was for many years a huge strength of these Steelers teams, but it had started to decline the past couple years as they got older and after highly regarded offensive line coach Mike Munchak left for Denver.
Things got even worse in 2020, and it looks like the unit could be headed for a complete revamp this offseason. Roethlisberger will be back for one more year, but change is on the way in Pittsburgh.
Chiefs Sign Two Receivers To Reserve/Futures Deals
On the heels of their Super Bowl loss the Chiefs are doing some housekeeping and getting their offseason affairs in order. Kansas City signed receivers Gehrig Dieter and Dalton Schoen to reserve/futures contracts today.
Dieter is a familiar name to Chiefs fans, while Schoen is a new one. The 2021 season will be Dieter’s fifth in Kansas City after he signed with the team as an undrafted free agent in 2017. He’s bounced between the active roster and practice squad the past few years, catching only one pass for ten yards in four games this season. Dieter making it this far is already a pretty big success, as he only had 214 yards in his senior season at Alabama after transferring over from Bowling Green.
He’s also known for being close with Patrick Mahomes, which certainly doesn’t hurt his cause with the team. Schoen is a local kid who played college ball at Kansas State before signing with the Chargers as an UDFA this offseason. He failed to make the team and wasn’t heard of during the regular season before resurfacing now on this futures deal.
Washington Extends Taylor Heinicke
Taylor Heinicke briefly lit the NFL world on fire with his electric performance in a wild card playoff loss to the Bucs, and Washington isn’t about to let him walk out the door. Washington has given Heinicke a two-year extension worth $8.75MM to keep him around, sources told Ian Rapoport of NFL Network (Twitter link).
Rapoport adds that there are “also incentives depending on how many games he starts.” Washington’s quarterback situation is very unsettled, so it makes sense why they’d want to at least have Heinicke as a fallback option. Alex Smith is sounding like he wants to keep playing and is under contract for 2021, although the team can get out of it and they probably don’t want to pay him his hefty salary.
Heinicke has one of the most remarkable stories we’ve seen in some time, as just a couple of months ago he was out of the league and taking classes at Old Dominion, where he starred in college. He hadn’t been with an NFL team since training camp of 2019, when Washington signed him to their practice squad on December 8th.
An injury to Smith put him on the active roster, and then Dwayne Haskins was so ineffective he was benched for Heinicke in Week 16. He played surprisingly well, but Smith returned for Week 17. Washington got the win to get them in the playoffs, but Smith’s calf still wasn’t right, leading to Heinicke getting the postseason start.
He very nearly pulled off a massive upset, keeping them close against eventual Super Bowl champion Tampa Bay the entire way. He had previously only made one start, a spot start in 2018 with the Panthers in place of an injured Cam Newton. His familiarity with Ron Rivera and OC Scott Turner from those Panthers days ended up paying off for him, and that gutsy performance against the Bucs flipped him from working a day job to making millions as an NFL quarterback.