49ers Notes: Breida, Goodwin, Sherman
The 49ers placed a second-round tender on Matt Breida earlier this month, but that doesn’t mean he’s necessarily going to be back with the team in 2020. San Francisco knew that at least one team was “circling” the running back, which is why they placed the tender on him to ensure he wouldn’t leave town without any compensation coming back, per Matt Barrows of The Athletic. Barrows writes that the team tendered him at that level thinking they’d be able to trade him later.
Barrows notes that he initially thought Breida would be traded for a “mid-round draft pick,” and that a deal could get done sometime during the draft. They have a very crowded backfield with Raheem Mostert, Tevin Coleman, and Jerick McKinnon all in the room as well, so a Breida trade would make plenty of sense. Breida has shown lots of flashes, and has averaged at least 5.1 yards per carry in each of the last two years, but the Georgia Southern product is also seemingly always battling some type of injury. He’s currently set to make around $3.1MM under the tender in 2020.
Here’s more from the NFC West:
- In the same piece, Barrows indicates that receiver Marquise Goodwin is on his way out as well. The 49ers are going to look for a trade partner for the receiver, but Barrows thinks it’ll be tough for them to find a take and that they’ll ultimately end up cutting him. Goodwin has a $5MM cap hit this year, and Barrows thinks they might cut him whenever they need to make room for a George Kittle extension. Goodwin had a career year with San Francisco in 2017 with 962 yards, but has been injured and ineffective the past two seasons. In 2019 he had only 186 yards.
- The last we heard back in January, 49ers left tackle Joe Staley had no intention of retiring. But he still hasn’t necessarily definitively told the team he’ll play in 2020 and could be taking the offseason to deliberate, according to Matt Maiocco of NBCSports.com. Maiocco thinks the team might try to play up the mystery to keep teams guessing as to whether or not they’ll draft a tackle early in what is regarded as a strong offensive tackle class. Thanks to the DeForest Buckner trade, San Fran currently holds the 13th overall pick in addition to the 31st. Maiocco also writes that Mike McGlinchey “appears locked into right tackle” and won’t be switching over to the left side whenever Staley does retire. Staley, a starter for the past 13 seasons, will turn 36 in August.
- The 49ers “certainly will not pick up” the fifth-year option on defensive lineman Solomon Thomas, Maiocco writes. Thomas has been a massive disappointment since the team drafted him third overall back in 2017, so this isn’t too surprising. It also means that the Stanford product will be entering free agency next offseason, although Maiocco cautions that doesn’t mean he won’t be back with the team and that they might try to re-sign him cheaply. Thomas started at least 12 games in each of his first two seasons but only started three last year, playing just 41 percent of the defensive snaps. With Buckner out of the way, he could get one last shot to establish himself.
- One last 49ers note. The team is doing right by Richard Sherman, giving him an extra $1MM signing bonus to “account for the 90% play-time incentive he narrowly missed out on last season,” Field Yates of ESPN.com tweets. It’s a nice gesture from the team, as the cornerback’s resurgent play was a large part of the reason they made the Super Bowl.
Chargers Sign WR/KR Darius Jennings
The Chargers are adding a depth piece to their receiving corp. Los Angeles is signing receiver/returner Darius Jennings, his agent announced on Twitter.
Jennings entered the league as an undrafted free agent with the Browns back in 2015. He caught 14 passes for 117 yards in only four games as a rookie after getting promoted from the practice squad late in the year. He bounced around on various practice squads the next couple of years, resurfacing with the Titans in 2018. He operated as Tennessee’s kick returner that season, taking a kick back 94-yards for a touchdown and leading the league with a 31.7 yards per return average.
He was cut by the Titans midway through last season, but was re-signed in time for the playoffs and operated as their kick returner in two postseason games. The Chargers have Keenan Allen and Mike Williams at receiver but not a whole lot after them, so it’s certainly conceivable that Jennings will crack the roster.
Contract Details: Funchess, Packers, Bell, Bengals, Vigil, Chargers
A few more recent contract figures to pass along:
- Devin Funchess, WR (Packers): One year, $2.5MM. The $2.5MM is a far cry from the one-year, $10MM deal he got from the Colts last offseason. He got a $1MM signing bonus, $1.2MM base salary, and an extra couple hundred thousand in workout and roster bonuses. He has another $3.75MM in incentives available (via Tom Pelissero of NFL Network).
- Vonn Bell, S (Bengals): Three years, $18MM. Bell got a $3MM signing bonus, with a $3MM base salary in 2020 and $1MM reporting bonus. He has base salaries of $4.1MM and $6.1MM in 2021 and 2022 respectively, with $400K in roster and workout bonuses in each of those years (via Albert Breer of SI.com).
- Nick Vigil, LB (Chargers): One year, $2.4MM. Vigil had to settle for a prove-it deal despite starting 16 games for the Bengals last year. He got a $500K signing bonus, $1.9MM base salary, and can earn an additional $600K in playing-time incentives.
NFL Might Push Back May Meetings
The NFL recently cancelled their annual spring meeting, an important event where rule changes get discussed among other orders of business, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. At the time they announced those discussions would instead take place at a May 18-20th meeting in California, which had been expanded due to the cancellation.
Now that meeting is up in the air and the league is unsure if it will proceed, Mark Maske of the Washington Post tweets. In follow-up tweets, Maske posted a letter that commissioner Roger Goodell sent to NFL staff that he obtained. “While there have been changes to the way we work and some of our plans, we have an unwavering commitment to upholding the NFL’s legacy and lifting the spirit of America,” Goodell wrote.
“We will get through these difficult days together and every one of you should be proud knowing that you have played an important role to help our world emerge stronger and more unified,” he continued. Goodell also said in his letter that the league would use April’s draft “to help support fans and those people impacted in our communities.”
There was initially a lot of talk about pushing the start of the league year and delaying free agency due to COVID-19, but that ended up getting avoided after the players’ union pushed back. If the May meeting does get scrapped, it’s entirely possible the owners will have to debate and vote on rule changes and other important agenda items for the 2020 season remotely.
Minor NFL Transactions: 3/21/20
Today’s minor moves:
Cleveland Browns:
- Signed: CB Donovan Olumba
Denver Broncos
- Re-signed: LB Joseph Jones
Las Vegas Raiders
- Re-signed: RB Rod Smith
Tennessee Titans
- Signed: TE MyCole Pruitt
Jets Exercise 2021 Option On Ryan Griffin
The Jets want Ryan Griffin to stay around. New York has exercised their 2021 option on the tight end, a source told Field Yates of ESPN.com (Twitter link).
Originally a sixth-round pick of the Texans in 2013, Griffin spent his first six years in Houston. He showed some flashes and had 442 yards in 2016, which earned him a three-year extension the following year. He played a little bit smaller role the next two seasons and was released in May of last year not long after he was arrested for punching a hotel window. The Jets scooped him up last summer, and he turned into a pleasant surprise for the team.
He ended up starting all 13 games that he appeared in for Gang Green, catching 34 passes for 320 yards and five touchdowns. The Jets were impressed enough to give him a three-year, $10.8MM extension in November of last year, which included this option year. Overall, he’s under team control through 2022. He’ll try to fend off third-year player Chris Herndon for the starting job in training camp.
Redskins Shopping Quinton Dunbar
Another cornerback could be on the move soon. Just moments after we heard the Eagles were looking for a Rasul Douglas trade partner, we’ve got word that the Redskins are shopping corner Quinton Dunbar, via Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk.com.
Dunbar had a stellar 2019 season, and he publicly announced his desire to be released or traded last month after the Redskins apparently failed to meet his extension demands. Washington didn’t do anything at the time, but now they’re willing to listen to offers. Unlike the Eagles with Douglas, the Redskins might actually be able to get something significant for Dunbar.
He’s dealt with significant injuries the past two years but was great in the 11 games he started last season, grading out as Pro Football Focus’ second-best cornerback in 2019. The Florida product signed with the Redskins as an undrafted free agent in 2015, and he is set to enter the final season of a three-year, $10.5MM contract he signed a couple of years ago.
The 27-year-old had four interceptions and eight passes defended in only 11 games last year. Assuming they move Dunbar, Washington’s secondary is going to look quite a bit different in 2020 under Ron Rivera after they already jettisoned Josh Norman earlier this offseason. We’ll let you know as soon as we hear more, but there should be plenty of interested teams.
Eagles Shopping CB Rasul Douglas
The Eagles just traded for a cornerback in Darius Slay, and now they’re looking to ship one out. Philadelphia is shopping Rasul Douglas, sources told Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk.com.
Philly drafted Douglas in the third-round back in 2017, and he’s played a pretty big role for them the past few years. He’s started at least five games in each of his three pro seasons. Last year he appeared in all 16 games with six starts, racking up 35 tackles and ten passes defended while playing about 57 percent of the defensive snaps.
He’s been one of the few guys who have managed to stay healthy in the Eagles’ secondary recently, but the acquisition of Slay made him expendable. The West Virginia product is only 25 and won’t make a huge salary in the final year of his rookie deal, but it’s unclear how much trade value he’ll have.
Douglas received poor marks from Pro Football Focus last year and was benched after Week 7, with his defensive playing time being limited after that point. Philly’s secondary has been one of the most injured units in the league in recent years, and they made upgrading it a priority this offseason. They likely won’t be able to get anything more than a late-round pick for Douglas.
Details On Raiders’ Pursuit Of Tom Brady, Quarterback Situation
Tom Brady is a Tampa Bay Buccaneer now and that’s settled, but we’re starting to learn more about the process that ended in him landing there. It’s been reported that the Chargers and Buccaneers were the only two teams to make concrete offers, and that Brady also had the option of returning to New England. But while some have said the Raiders were never that serious in their pursuit, Las Vegas was indeed “sniffing around Brady as late as this week,” sources told Vic Tafur of The Athletic.
While Tafur acknowledges that the Raiders never made an official offer to Brady, he writes that “some ballpark numbers were made known to him at some point.” Tafur also reports that the Raiders weren’t willing to spend the $50MM guaranteed the Bucs ended up giving over two years as the “game film the last two years just didn’t warrant that in the Raiders’ minds.”
Had Brady signaled to the Raiders that they were a “serious finalist,” they would’ve started shopping Derek Carr, Tafur writes. But while they were interested in adding the legendary Brady, that doesn’t mean they aren’t satisfied with Carr. Tafur writes that the team won’t be pursuing another veteran, and they won’t be making a surprise trade up in the draft to take a quarterback early.
Of course, the Raiders ended up signing Marcus Mariota in free agency, but Tafur doesn’t view him as a serious threat to Carr’s job. Instead he writes that many in the organization feel Carr deserves a third year in Jon Gruden’s system. Carr’s numbers certainly got better in his second year under Gruden, but the offense as a whole wasn’t great and Carr once again received a ton of criticism for being too risk-averse.
Carr and Gruden clashed on the sidelines a number of times and while they both downplayed the incidents, both Gruden and general manager Mike Mayock hedged instead of committing to him this offseason. Tafur no longer thinks the Raiders are considering Utah State’s Jordan Love with either of their first-round picks, so it sounds like Carr will be entering 2020 as the starter no matter what. How long his leash will be is an entirely different question.
Jets To Sign Greg Van Roten
The Jets continue to bolster their offensive line. New York has agreed to terms with guard Greg Van Roten, a source told Adam Schefter of ESPN.com (Twitter link).
It’s a three-year deal for Van Roten according to a tweet from Connor Hughes of The Athletic, who notes that New York has had their eye on him since before free agency opened. We heard a handful of days ago that the Jets had turned their attention to Van Roten and other second-tier interior linemen after whiffing on their attempt to sign Graham Glasgow, and now they’ve got their guy.
Van Roten was one of the top linemen left on the market, and the available pool just got that much thinner for teams still looking for O-line help. Van Roten has had an unusual path to prominence, as he entered the league as an UDFA back in 2012 but didn’t start a game until 2018. He then became a full-time starter for the Panthers the past two seasons, earning reasonably strong marks from Pro Football Focus.
The Jets have been remaking their unit, and they signed Connor McGovern to a big deal to be their center earlier this week. Jets beat writers seem to expect Van Roten to start at right guard with Alex Lewis at left. This could mean the end of the line for guard Brian Winters in New York, Brian Costello of the New York Post tweets. The Jets could save a little over $7MM by cutting him. They also signed new left tackle George Fant in free agency, so this offensive line is going to look completely different in 2020.