Latest On Cowboys’ Rolando McClain
FRIDAY: McClain was not in attendance at camp Friday, leading the Cowboys to place him on the reserve/did not report, per Archer. The Cowboys can now fine McClain up to $30K for each day of camp he misses, though chief operating officer Stephen Jones didn’t reveal Friday whether the team plans to do that. The Cowboys have been in contact with McClain’s agent, Pat Dye, Jones said.
THURSDAY: Cowboys linebacker Rolando McClain was not on the team’s Thursday charter flight to Oxnard, Calif., where it holds training camp, David Moore of the Dallas Morning News was among those to report (on Twitter). McClain now has until Friday at 8 a.m. PT or 2 p.m. PT to report to camp, according to Todd Archer of ESPN.com (Twitter link). Those times represent when the Cowboys will hold physicals and when they’ll conduct a team meeting, respectively.
McClain’s failure to show up for the team’s flight is the latest check mark against him in a career filled with them. The past month has been especially forgettable for McClain, whom the NFL suspended in June for the first 10 games of the regular season because of a violation of its substance abuse policy. The ban will cost McClain roughly $2.35MM of the $4MM salary he accepted from the Cowboys when he re-signed with them on a one-year deal during the winter. It’s also McClain’s second suspension since last year, when he missed the first four games of the season because of another substance abuse violation. Still, owner Jerry Jones has stuck by the talented 27-year-old.
“There’s a lot of reasons why we don’t cut him: cap, many reasons,” Jones said earlier this month. “But the bottom line is, I’d like to be positive about this and think that we haven’t seen the last of Rolando McClain.”
Between McClain’s suspensions, his spring decision to skip voluntary team activities (which reportedly infuriated the Cowboys’ coaches), and now his missing-in-action status as camp is set to begin, the five-year veteran hasn’t really given Jones reason to be optimistic. However, considering McClain’s solid output on the field – he graded as Pro Football Focus’ 28th-best linebacker last season – the defensively weak Cowboys aren’t exactly in position to move on from him. But they could decide Friday that McClain’s off-field issues are no longer worth putting up with if he doesn’t report to camp.
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Dolphins Unlikely To Sign Antonio Cromartie
Multiple reports in recent months have linked the Dolphins to free agent Antonio Cromartie, but it turns out head coach Adam Gase isn’t a fan of the 32-year-old cornerback, a source told Armando Salguero of the Miami Herald (Twitter link). Gase’s aversion to Cromartie stems from the success the former offensive coordinator’s attacks had against the defender in the past, according to Salguero.
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Cromartie, a 10-year veteran and four-time Pro Bowler, has been on the open market since the Jets released him in February. That was the end of Cromartie’s second stint with New York, which lasted only one season. It’s worth noting that his first, from 2010-13, began via trade when Dolphins executive vice president of football operations Mike Tannenbaum was Gang Green’s general manager. Given Gase’s opinion of Cromartie, though, it seems as if Cromartie’s connection to Tannenbaum won’t be enough to make a reunion in Miami possible.
Aside from Byron Maxwell, the Dolphins are lacking proven options at corner, as their depth chart shows, but Salguero reported Thursday that they’re “pretty comfortable” with their current group. With second-round rookie Xavien Howard on the sidelines after undergoing arthroscopic knee surgery in June, the Dolphins are down to Tony Lippett as the starter opposite Maxwell. Lippett didn’t play much as a fifth-round rookie last year, however, and was a receiver at Michigan State. Gase has expressed confidence that Howard will be back in time for Week 1, but that would mean missing all of camp and the preseason, placing the first-year man behind the 8-ball immediately.
Thanks to their paucity of high-end corners, it seems the Dolphins could use more help at the position – especially after their 2015 pass defense finished 29th in DVOA and 27th in both YPA and quarterback rating against (7.8 and 97.4, respectively). That aid won’t come from Cromartie, it appears, and even if Gase did want him, it’s debatable how much he’s capable of contributing at this point. Cromartie is coming off a poor season, one in which Pro Football Focus ranked his performance 87th among 111 qualified corners, and reportedly has a hip issue that could threaten his career.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Texans Extend GM Rick Smith
The Texans have announced a four-year contract extension for executive vice president and general manager Rick Smith. Financial terms are not yet available, but the deal is set to keep Smith in Houston through the 2020 season.
“Rick is an important part of our organization. We really think that we’ve got all of the pieces together and we want to keep them that way,” Texans owner Bob McNair said in a statement. “So one of the things that we needed to do was to go ahead and extend Rick, and that’s what we’ve done.”
Smith is just the second GM in Texans history since their inception in 1999, having taken the reins from Charley Casserly in June 2006. Smith, who previously served as Denver’s director of pro personnel, has since overseen seven teams that have gone .500 or better. Three, including last year’s AFC South-winning club, have made the playoffs.
Under Smith, the Texans have drafted such notable NFLers as left tackle Duane Brown (first round, 2008); linebacker Brian Cushing (first round, 2009); linebacker Connor Barwin (second round, 2009); safety Glover Quin (fourth round, 2009); cornerback Kareem Jackson (first round, 2010); defensive end J.J. Watt (first round, 2011); linebacker Whitney Mercilus (first round, 2012); guard Brandon Brooks (third round, 2012); receiver DeAndre Hopkins (first round, 2013) and defensive end Jadeveon Clowney (first round, 2014), among several others.
Watt, who has already won the Defensive Player of the Year Award three times, and Hopkins stand out as the top picks of Smith’s reign. Both are bona fide superstars who have been hugely instrumental in the Texans’ recent success. The jury is out on Clowney, who went No. 1 overall and has only shown flashes of his high-end potential in two seasons.
Joining Watt, Hopkins, Clowney and the rest of the Texans this year as they look to improve on back-to-back nine-win campaigns will be high-profile offseason acquisitions Brock Osweiler and Lamar Miller – both of whom Smith signed to significant contracts in free agency.
Smith hopes the big, cannon-armed Osweiler, Peyton Manning‘s former backup in Denver, will give the Texans their best production at quarterback since an in-his-prime Matt Schaub – whom Smith acquired from Atlanta in 2007 for two second-round picks. The Texans rolled the dice on Osweiler when they signed him to a four-year, $72MM deal that features $37MM in guarantees during the winter.
Miller, to whom the Texans handed a four-year, $26MM deal ($14MM guaranteed), is coming off two terrific seasons in a row with Miami and will take over for four-time Pro Bowler Arian Foster. The Texans released Foster after injuries to his groin and Achilles tendon cost him most of last season, but as an undrafted free agent in 2009, he’ll clearly go down as one of the premier pickups during Smith’s tenure.
Notably, Smith’s one head coaching hire – Bill O’Brien – has produced positive results, having led the Texans to an 18-14 record. With a roster that Smith has helped put in place, O’Brien will try to hit the double-digit-win mark this year and guide the Texans to another division crown.
Mark Berman of FOX 26 first reported the agreement. Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
AFC Notes: Steelers, Bell, Broncos, Fins
Steelers running back Le’Veon Bell plans to appeal his four-game suspension for a violation of the NFL’s substance abuse policy “sometime in August,” he told reporters Thursday (via Jeremy Bergman of NFL.com). Bell added that the league notified him of his suspension in March after he missed a drug test. Although appealing the suspension will disrupt Bell’s rehab from the torn MCL and PCL he suffered last season, the 24-year-old is confident he’ll be ready for Week 1 if he’s eligible to play. And Bell expects his appeal to be victorious. “I’m gonna win the appeal,” he said, per Mark Kaboly of the Pittsburgh-Tribune Review. “(People) have no idea what happened.”
More from the AFC:
- Broncos receiver Emmanuel Sanders provided an update on his contract situation Thursday, revealing that extension negotiations between his agent and the club are going “back and forth,” according to Nicki Jhabvala of the Denver Post. Sanders, 29, is set to earn $5.6MM in 2016, which is the third and final year of the somewhat modest accord he signed as a free agent in 2014. The 5-foot-11, 180-pounder has since totaled 177 receptions, 2,539 yards and 15 touchdowns in 31 regular-season games, thus setting himself up for a significant raise. Sanders insisted Thursday that money isn’t his top priority, however. “I said it from Day One — I’m not trying to break the bank. I want to be here. But I also want a fair deal, and I want a fair deal for the production I’ve been putting out, so we’ll see how it goes,” said Sanders, who hauled in 16 passes for 230 yards during the Broncos’ three playoff wins – including Super Bowl 50 – last winter.
- Aside from offensive line, receiver and defensive end, depth is likely to pose a major problem for the Dolphins this year, opines Omar Kelly of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. Miami, which went 6-10 in 2015 and finished last in the AFC East, is light at defensive tackle, cornerback, linebacker and tight end, writes Kelly, who also doesn’t see enough game-changing talent on the roster in general.
- In case you missed it, the Chiefs and contract-year defensive tackle Dontari Poe aren’t making progress on a new deal.
Seahawks’ Chris Clemons To Retire
Seahawks defensive end Chris Clemons has informed the team he plans to retire, reports Mike Garafolo of NFL.com (Twitter link).
Clemons, 34, saw action with five different teams during his 12-year NFL career, but his most productive seasons came in Seattle. After going undrafted out of Georgia in 2003 and then combining for 20 sacks in stints with the Redskins, Raiders and Eagles over the first five years of his career, Clemons joined the Seahawks in 2010 and went on to collect 38 sacks in a four-season span. Clemons totaled at least 11 sacks in each individual season from 2010-12, also forcing seven fumbles during that period.
The Seahawks, with whom Clemons missed only two of a possible 64 regular-season games, released him at the conclusion of their Super Bowl-winning 2013-14 campaign. He subsequently became a member of the Jaguars, with whom he tallied 11 sacks and five forced fumbles in all 32 regular-season games from 2014-15. Most of Clemons’ production (eight sacks, four forced fumbles) in Jacksonville came in 2014. His play fell off so significantly last season that Pro Football Focus ranked him dead last among 110 qualifying edge defenders.
Clemons’ struggles in 2015 caused the Jaguars to release him in March. He then rejoined the Seahawks on a one-year, $1.5MM contract in April, but Clemons has decided nearly four months later to walk away from the sport. In 163 career regular-season games (85 starts), Clemons amassed 276 tackles, 69 sacks and 18 forced fumbles. PFR wishes him the best in his retirement.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Latest On Talks Between Chiefs, Dontari Poe
Extension talks between the Chiefs and contract-year defensive tackle Dontari Poe “haven’t really gone anywhere,” reports CBS Sports’ Jason La Canfora, who doubts that the two sides will reach an agreement by the start of the regular season (Twitter link). Poe is currently slated to play 2016, his fifth-year option season, on a $6.15MM salary. The Chiefs exercised that option in April 2015.
There seemed to be more optimism about an extension for Poe during the winter, with general manager John Dorsey saying in February, “We’ve talked, we’ve talked more than once. I have great affection for Dontari Poe. I think he represents everything we want to do, culturally. I think he’s a good football player. We will continue this process. Right now, I’m concentrating on other things. But eventually, we’ll get to that.”
Poe, who went 11th overall out of Memphis in the 2012 draft, has appeared in 62 of a possible 64 regular-season games with the Chiefs and notched 174 tackles and 11.5 sacks. Thirty-nine of those tackles and only 1.5 of those sacks came last year for Poe, who led Chiefs defensive linemen in snaps (752) and whose overall performance ranked a solid 39th among 132 qualifying interior defenders at Pro Football Focus (subscription required). The lion’s share of the 6-foot-3, 346-pounder’s impact in 2015 came versus the run, against which the Chiefs’ defense finished eighth in yards allowed, 11th in DVOA, and a more middling 16th in yards per carry surrendered.
If the Chiefs and the soon-to-be 26-year-old Poe aren’t able to reach an agreement on a deal by next offseason, the franchise tag would become a realistic option, according to Jason Fitzgerald of Over the Cap (Twitter link). Kansas City has gone that route before, notes Fitzgerald, with the latest example coming when it tagged safety Eric Berry before free agency this year. Berry still hasn’t signed his franchise tender, though, and could skip all of training camp and the preseason in protest of the Chiefs not signing him to a multiyear pact by the July 15 deadline. With both Poe and Berry unsigned past this season, there’s a chance Kansas City will have to choose between tagging one or the other next winter.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
NFC South Notes: Saints, Brees, Falcons, Bucs
While extension talks between the Saints and future Hall of Famer Drew Brees haven’t yielded progress yet, the contract-year quarterback said Thursday that he harbors no ill will toward general manager Mickey Loomis (via Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk). “Just to clarify, nothing is adversarial. I have a great relationship with Mickey Loomis and have for my entire time here,” stated Brees. “We’ll see how this shakes out over the next month and a half.”
Brees reiterated Thursday that the start of the regular season is his deadline for contract negotiations, so the two sides won’t talk again until the end of the campaign if they don’t reach an agreement by Week 1. To place the franchise tag on Brees next offseason would cost the Saints $43.2MM, so that probably won’t be an option. The only choice, then, would be a multiyear deal, and Brees, 37, believes he’s capable of lasting for a while longer. “I don’t see any reason why I can’t play at the highest level for the next five years minimum,” commented Brees, who threw for 4,870 yards and 32 touchdowns against 11 interceptions in 2015.
More from the NFC South:
- After failing to add an edge rusher through either free agency or the draft and losing Hau’oli Kikaha to a torn ACL, the Saints are left to hope at least one of Kasim Edebali, Obum Gwacham or Davis Tull emerges as a viable complement to Cameron Jordan, writes Larry Holder of NOLA.com. The 26-year-old Edebali is the most proven of the three in terms of sack production, having tallied five last season, though his overall play earned him a 103rd-place ranking among 110 qualifying edge defenders at Pro Football Focus (subscription required). Gwacham impressively picked up 2.5 sacks in just 97 snaps as a sixth-round rookie. Tull, meanwhile, didn’t get into a game last year after the Saints selected him in the fifth round of the draft. The Saints’ woeful defense finished a bottom-of-the-barrel 25th in the NFL in sacks last season (31), and nearly a third came from Jordan (10).
- The Falcons, who have three roster spots available, worked out some receivers Thursday and could sign one, according to Vaughn McClure of ESPN.com (on Twitter). McClure didn’t specify which wideouts tried out with the Falcons, though the free agent list isn’t exactly rife with appealing options at this point. Notably, the Falcons auditioned ex-Chargers practice squad member Donatella Luckett last month. The top of Atlanta’s receiver depth chart is all set with Julio Jones, Mohamed Sanu and Justin Hardy in place, but there are questions about the unit otherwise.
- One reason the Falcons are looking for depth at receiver is because they released Devin Hester on Tuesday. General manager Thomas Dimitroff spoke about cutting the all-time great return man Thursday, saying, “He passed his (pre-camp) physical. It was a football decision for us in the end” (via Michael Cunningham of the Atlanta-Journal Constitution). Hester, 33, underwent toe surgery in January and missed all but five games last season because of the issue. He also failed to register a reception after pulling in 38 in 2014.
- The Buccaneers auditioned free agent offensive tackle Caylin Hauptmann on Thursday, tweets Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle. Hauptmann, 25, has garnered just one NFL appearance, which came back in 2013 as a member of the Seahawks. He has also spent time with the Browns and Patriots organizations.
AFC East Notes: Jets, Fitz, Pats, Cooper, Fins
Quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick‘s new deal with the Jets is actually a two-year accord, not a one-year pact, reports Albert Breer of TheMMQB (Twitter links). However, the second year is voidable and in place solely for cap purposes, Breer notes. Instead of a $12MM hit for 2016, Fitzpatrick will occupy $7MM in cap space this year and $5MM in 2017. Most of the $12MM coming to him is via signing bonus ($10MM), while the rest ($2MM) is Fitzpatrick’s base salary. The 33-year-old’s contract also includes a total of $3MM in incentives tied to playing time and team success – namely a playoff berth, AFC title game bid and Super Bowl trip – per Breer.
More on New York and two of its division rivals:
- Fitzpatrick opted to take a one-year deal from the Jets instead of their three-year offer because he didn’t want to risk the team relegating him to a reserve role during the tail end of the contract, he said Thursday (via Connor Hughes of NJ Advance Media). “That was a deal that basically said, ‘We want you here, and then we want you to say here as the backup,'” Fitzpatrick stated. “That’s not how I view myself. I’d much rather pass up on some of that guaranteed money and just sign a one-year deal and bet on myself and see what happens.” New York has three younger options on its roster in Geno Smith, Christian Hackenberg and Bryce Petty, all of whom were second- to fourth-round picks between 2013 and this year. Given that Smith has struggled in the league and is set to become a free agent after the season, he wouldn’t have been a threat to Fitzpatrick had he inked a multiyear deal. The same might not have been true regarding Hackenberg or Petty, though. A second-round pick this year, Hackenberg seems like the best bet on the Jets’ roster to take over as their starter next season if Fitzpatrick is no longer on the team.
- The Patriots have a decision to make on guard Jonathan Cooper by Friday, when his $1,713,954 roster bonus is due, tweets Ben Volin of the Boston Globe. Cooper, who came to New England from Arizona in the teams’ March trade centering on Chandler Jones, has disappointed since going seventh overall in the 2013 draft. After a broken fibula cost Cooper his rookie season, he went on to start just 11 games for the Cardinals over the past two years. The 26-year-old is currently New England’s projected starter at right guard, as Roster Resource indicates.
- The Dolphins are “pretty comfortable” with their current cornerback situation, a source told Armando Salguero of the Miami Herald. However, that shouldn’t necessarily be the case, opines Salguero, who wonders if the Dolphins are in trouble at the position. With second-round rookie Xavien Howard currently on the sidelines after undergoing arthroscopic knee surgery in June, the Dolphins are down to Tony Lippett as the starter opposite veteran Byron Maxwell. Lippett didn’t garner much playing time as a fifth-round rookie last year, though, and was a receiver at Michigan State. As for Howard, the Dolphins “expect him, at worst, to be back by the first regular-season game,” head coach Adam Gase said. But that scenario would mean missing all of camp and the preseason, thus putting the first-year man behind the 8-ball immediately.
- Armando Salguero shared more of his thoughts on the state of the Dolphins earlier Thursday with PFR’s Zach Links.
AFC North Notes: Steelers, Browns, Gordon
Superstar wide receiver Antonio Brown reported to Steelers training camp Thursday and is both hopeful and confident that the team will address his contract before the regular season, sources told Adam Schefter of ESPN. Brown – who has combined for 375 catches and 31 touchdowns the last three seasons – is woefully underpaid relative to his production (he’s due $14.96MM through 2017), though the Steelers don’t typically negotiate new deals with non-quarterbacks who have more than one year left on their contracts. “It has been the position of the organization and it has always been like that,” general manager Kevin Colbert said last summer in regards to the team’s policy. Based on Schefter’s report, the Steelers might make an exception after Brown tied for the league lead in receptions (136), finished second in yards (1,834) and found the end zone 10 times last season.
More news on Pittsburgh and one of its division rivals:
- Speaking of Colbert, the Steelers awarded him an additional role as their vice president Thursday, per Ed Bouchette of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (Twitter link). Colbert, 59, joined the Steelers as their director of football operations in 2000 and held that position until they promoted him to GM in 2010.
- Browns executive vice president of football operations Sashi Brown and head coach Hue Jackson addressed the return of newly reinstated receiver Josh Gordon on Thursday (via Nate Ulrich of Ohio.com). “He in earnest wants to make the most of this opportunity, and he knows his situation and so we’re going to get around him, give him that opportunity,” Brown stated regarding Gordon, whom the league suspended for 29 of the Browns’ previous 48 regular-season games – including the entire 2015 campaign – because of substance abuse violations. Gordon will also sit out the first four games of this year. However, the highly talented 25-year-old has a clean slate with Jackson, who’s in his first season with the Browns. “I don’t have a lot of history with Josh that way,” said Jackson. “But his history is preceding him, and I think he knows that and I think the only way to deal with a player in these situations is to kind of hit the restart button for him and he has to go do it.”
- The Browns have no plans to cut linebacker Armonty Bryant in the wake of his misdemeanor drug conviction, Brown said Thursday, as Mary Kay Cabot of The Plain Dealer tweets. An additional suspension could be coming for him, however. Bryant will already miss the first four games of the season because of a suspension.
- In case you missed it, Cleveland defensive tackle Desmond Bryant will officially miss the entire season after undergoing surgery to repair a torn pectoral muscle.
Zach Links contributed to this post.
Jets, Ryan Fitzpatrick Agree To Deal
The Jets and quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick have finally ended their months-long contract standoff, agreeing Wednesday to a one-year, fully guaranteed pact worth $12MM, according to Adam Schefter of ESPN (Twitter link). Fitzpatrick can make an extra $3MM in incentives and rake in $15MM total, though the Jets would have to win the Super Bowl for him to earn that money, tweets Albert Breer of TheMMQB.
The news of the Jets and Fitzpatrick reaching a deal comes as little surprise after Ian Rapoport of NFL.com reported earlier Wednesday that negotiations were “heating up” on the eve of the Jets starting training camp practice. However, the Jets previously didn’t want to give Fitzpatrick a one-year contract, notes ESPN’s Rich Cimini, who adds that the sizable extension awarded to defensive tackle Muhammad Wilkerson earlier this month opened up enough cap room ($5.7MM) for New York to re-sign the signal-caller. The Jets significantly increased their offer from $8MM to $12MM on Wednesday and informed Fitzpatrick to either take it by 7 p.m. ET or they’d move on, reports Schefter (Twitter link via Cimini).
Fitzpatrick, 33, and the Jets had fought since March over the 11-year veteran’s worth. After Fitzpatrick posted career-high totals in touchdowns (31) and yards (3,905) last season for a 10-win Jets team that narrowly missed the playoffs, he reportedly sought a multiyear accord worth between $12MM and $16MM in annual value. The Jets had other ideas in regards to average salary, however, having presented him a three-year, $24MM offer that featured $15MM in guarantees. New York also played with the idea of offering Fitzpatrick the chance to opt out after the first of three years, but he rejected that, per Jason Cole of Bleacher Report (Twitter link). While Fitzpatrick will haul in $3MM less in total guarantees with his new deal, the fact that it’s only over one year will give him a chance to cash in again in the future.
Although negotiations between the Jets and Fitzpatrick didn’t go as smoothly as either hoped, the fact that he’ll remain a member of Gang Green seems like a win for both sides. Barring injury, Fitzpatrick wouldn’t have found another starting job on the open market this summer, and the Jets couldn’t have gone into the season expecting to break their five-year playoff drought with Geno Smith under center. Smith has been a disappointment since New York used a second-round pick on him in the 2013 draft, while fellow Jets passers Christian Hackenberg (a second-round rookie) and Bryce Petty (a fourth-rounder in 2015) have combined for zero NFL snaps.
With a strong defense, an excellent receiving tandem (Brandon Marshall and Eric Decker) and an accomplished veteran running back (Matt Forte) in place, the Fitzpatrick-led Jets should have a chance to push for a postseason berth this year. And, with Patriots quarterback Tom Brady set to miss a quarter of the season because of a suspension, New York undoubtedly has its eyes on an AFC East title. Whether that’s realistic is highly debatable, but the Jets seem to stand a greater chance of accomplishing it now that Fitzpatrick is back in the driver’s seat.
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