HEADLINES

Author: Dallas Robinson

AFC South Notes: Jaguars, Colts, Luck, Allen

August 1st, 2019 at 9:03pm CST by Dallas Robinson

Jaguars rookie linebacker Quincy Williams is expected to miss four-to-six weeks after suffering a slight tear in his meniscus, according to Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (Twitter link). Williams, a third-round pick in the 2019 draft, will need to undergo surgery, but given his recovery timeline, he shouldn’t be expected to miss more than a few regular season games. Per Michael DiRocco of ESPN.com, Williams was the “leading candidate” to take over for the retired Telvin Smith as Jacksonville’s weakside linebacker. Williams, the older brother of third overall pick Quinnen Williams, will now likely be replaced by either D.J. Alexander or Ramik Wilson.

Here’s more from the AFC South:

  • Andrew Luck‘s calf strain is still affecting his ability to practice. The Colts quarterback didn’t participate in practice sessions at all this week and will be re-evaluated on Saturday, per Mike Chappell of CBS 4 Indy, who notes Luck has appeared hesitant while throwing. “Just opening up a little bit,’’ Luck said. “It’s like, ‘I feel like something is going to yank, something is going to pull trying to change direction aggressively.’ That is something that you need to do to play football, you know? And I am not there yet.’’ Luck doesn’t believe his calf injury could lead to an Achilles issue.
  • Only one NFL rookie received a contract with no offset language in 2019: Jaguars first-round edge rusher Josh Allen, reports Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk. Without offset language, Jacksonville won’t receive a cap credit if Allen is cut midway through his rookie contract and signs elsewhere. If such language were included, the Jaguars would be off the hook for whatever salary Allen was able to earn on the open market.
  • In case you missed it, the Texans gave veteran cornerback Johnathan Joseph a raise.

NFC West Notes: Rams, McVay, Seahawks

August 1st, 2019 at 8:33pm CST by Dallas Robinson

The Rams recently extended both head coach Sean McVay and general manager Les Snead through the 2023 season, and Albert Breer of TheMMQB.com reports club owner Stan Kroenke was the “driving force” behind the dual deals. McVay was set to enter the upcoming campaign as one of the lowest-paid head coaches in the NFL, and — given the youthful coach’s success — Kroenke wanted to reward him. Additionally, Kroenke wanted McVay and Snead’s contract to align and run through the same season, per Breer. It’s unclear exactly how far into the future Snead had previously been under contract, but it was for fewer than the three years McVay had remaining.

Here’s more from the NFC West:

  • Bobby Wagner became the highest-paid linebacker in the NFL under the terms of his new extension, and we now have some more details on the Seahawks star’s pact. Wagner’s three-year, $54MM deal will allow him to collect $24.5MM in 2019 instead of the $11.5MM he was due this year on his previous deal, tweets Tom Pelissero of NFL.com. Additionally, Wagner will secure rolling injury guarantees of $10.75MM in 2020 and $5MM in 2021 that change to full guarantees on the fifth day of that season’s waiver period. Former agent and current CBSSports.com contributor Joel Corry broke down the deal, which Wagner negotiated himself.
  • The Seahawks will work out running backs Chris Warren and Brian Wallace this week, per Brady Henderson of ESPN.com (Twitter link). As Henderson notes, Warren’s father made three Pro Bowls as a Seattle running back from 1990-97. The younger Warren posted an excellent 2018 preseason but missed the entire regular season after suffering a knee injury. He was waived by the Raiders this week after struggling with conditioning issues.
  • In case you missed it, the Rams gave wideout Robert Woods a raise for the 2019 season. In a rare NFL occurrence, Los Angeles handed Woods an extra $1MM in base salary and a new $2MM roster bonus with no strings attached.

More Minor NFL Transactions: 8/1/19

August 1st, 2019 at 7:56pm CST by Dallas Robinson

We’ve already posted one round of minor transactions, but NFL clubs keep making moves:

Baltimore Ravens

Jacksonville Jaguars

Los Angeles Chargers

Minnesota Vikings

New Orleans Saints

Seattle Seahawks

Tennessee Titans

Washington Redskins

4 Potential Landing Spots For Trent Williams

August 1st, 2019 at 6:57pm CST by Dallas Robinson

Trent Williams wants out of Washington. Fed up with both his contract and the Redskins’ handling of a tumor on his head, Williams demanded a trade or release in early June. He didn’t report to training camp last week, and there’s reportedly “no end in sight” to his holdout. On Wednesday, a report indicated the Redskins have begun having trade discussions regarding Williams.

The 31-year-old Williams is due $23.5MM in base salary over the next two seasons, but given that he wants a new deal from Washington, any club that acquires Williams will likely need to increase that figure. Williams’ $13.2MM average annual value currently ranks seventh among left tackles behind Taylor Lewan, Nate Solder, Jake Matthews, Joe Staley, Donovan Smith, and Russell Okung.

Which NFL teams are in a position to land Williams and fortify the left side of their offensive line? Here are four ideas:

Cleveland Browns

Cleveland’s offensive line had some bright spots in 2018, especially at right guard and center, where Joel Bitonio and J.C. Tretter each ranked among the top-four at their position in ESPN’s pass block win rate. But the Browns are now counting on former failed No. 2 overall selection Greg Robinson for a full season’s worth of play, and they’re replacing Kevin Zeitler (who was traded to the Giants) with last year’s second-round pick in Austin Corbett, who played only 14 offensive snaps in his rookie campaign.

Robinson wasn’t a total disaster in his eight starts for the Browns, but among the 106 offensive tackles who saw at least 33% playtime in 2018, Robinson ranked only 60th in Pro Football Focus’ pass-blocking efficiency metric, which measures pressure allowed on a per-snap basis. Cleveland has already gone all-in on the upcoming season by acquiring Odell Beckham Jr., Sheldon Richardson, and Olivier Vernon, so why not send a draft choice to Washington in exchange for Williams and upgrade one of the few remaining weak areas on the Browns roster?

Houston Texans

Despite using two of their first three 2019 draft picks on offensive tackles, the Texans still have arguably the second-worst offensive line in the NFL (hello, Dolphins). Rookies Tytus Howard and Max Scharping can both play tackle, while free agent addition Matt Kalil and holdover Julien Davenport can also hold down the blindside with varying results.

As Aaron Reiss of The Athletic indicates, it’s unclear how Houston plans to deploy its offensive linemen. Howard and Scharping could both see time at guard, leaving left tackle to Kalil if he’s healthy. No matter the combination used by the Texans, Williams would be an upgrade at left tackle. Houston picked up second- and third-round picks from Seattle in 2017 in exchange for tackle Duane Brown, and the team could send a similar package to Washington for Williams.

New England Patriots

In his Wednesday report indicating the Redskins are discussing possible Williams trades, Jeff Howe of The Athletic relayed there’s “a feeling around the league the Patriots would be involved due to depth issues at the position.” Having allowed 2018 starter Trent Brown to walk in free agency, New England is now counting on Isaiah Wynn, one of the club’s two first-round picks from a season ago, to fill on at left tackle.

Wynn comes with an excellent pedigree, and Patriots offensive line coach Dante Scarnecchia always brings out the best in his available talent. But Wynn can also play guard, so if New England acquires Williams, it would be able to slide Wynn inside and allow Williams to play left tackle. Perhaps an offer of pending free agent left guard Joe Thuney and a second-round pick would entice the Redskins.

New York Jets

If not the Patriots, how about another AFC East club? Like the Browns and Texans, the Jets are building around a quarterback still on his rookie contract. Sam Darnold won’t count for more than $10MM on New York’s salary cap in any of the next three seasons, so the team should add talent while it can. Having already surrounded Darnold with playmakers like Le’Veon Bell and Jamison Crowder, the Jets could now work to fortify their offensive line, something they started to do earlier today by bringing former Panthers center Ryan Kalil out of retirement.

In New York, Williams would supplant Kelvin Beachum, who has consistently been solid but not spectacular throughout his career. Beachum, in turn, could either compete with Brandon Shell for playing time at right tackle or be released. It’s also possible that another team on this list would have interest in Beachum, who is owed $8MM in 2019, the final year of his contract.

Patriots OT Marcus Cannon Restructures Contract

August 1st, 2019 at 6:08pm CST by Dallas Robinson

Patriots offensive tackle Marcus Cannon has agreed to a restructured contract, as originally reported by Michael Silver of NFL.com.

Cannon, who is signed through 2021, had been scheduled to collect a $5.5MM salary and up to $500K in per-game roster bonuses in 2019. Instead, he’ll now earn a $1MM base salary, a $3.5MM signing bonus, and up to $1.5MM in per-game roster bonuses, tweets Ben Volin of the Boston Globe. Per Silver, New England also added incentives to Cannon’s deal that could raise its remaining value to more than $24MM.

Because Cannon’s new $3.5MM signing bonus will be prorated through the rest of his contract, the right tackle’s 2019 cap charge will decrease from $7.456MM to $4.935MM, a savings of roughly $2.5MM. Cannon can still make $6MM for the 2019 campaign, but he’ll need to be active for all 16 regular season games in order to do so (as a result of his new per-game roster bonus figure).

Cannon, 31, became a full-time starter for the Patriots in 2016 and inked a five-year, $32.5MM extension that fall. He’s been a high-quality right tackle ever since, although injuries have forced him to miss 12 games over the past two seasons.

Raiders Claim WR Jordan Lasley

August 1st, 2019 at 5:02pm CST by Dallas Robinson

The Raiders have claimed wide receiver Jordan Lasley off waivers from the Ravens, according to Field Yates of ESPN.com (Twitter link). Lasley, a fifth-round pick in 2018, was cut by Baltimore on Wednesday.

Earlier this week, Lasley got into a fight during practice and celebrated a touchdown by throwing a football into a pond. Baltimore head coach John Harbaugh said that neither incident precipitated Lasley’s release, adding the club simply wanted to give the second-year pass-catcher a chance at finding a new team during training camp, per Jamison Hensley of ESPN.com and Jeff Zrebiec of The Athletic (Twitter links). However, the Ravens didn’t believe Lasley was improving, and he did have effort questions, tweets Zrebiec.

Lasley didn’t see a single snap during his rookie campaign. He’ll now join an Oakland wide receiver depth chart that already includes Antonio Brown, Tyrell Williams, Hunter Renfrow, Ryan Grant, and Marcell Ateman, among others.

In a corresponding move, the Raiders announced that they’ve waived wide receiver Brian Burt.

Cowboys Notes: Cooper, Elliott, Fisher

July 31st, 2019 at 9:46pm CST by Dallas Robinson

Michael Thomas‘ new deal with the Saints isn’t going to make negotiations between Amari Cooper and the Cowboys any easier. Thomas reportedly received an annual salary of $19.25MM from New Orleans, and that figure will almost certainly factor into discussions between Cooper and Dallas. Despite that dynamic, the Cowboys haven’t made an effort to get in front of the rest of the market in order to secure a cheaper deal for Cooper (or Dak Prescott, Byron Jones, or Ezekiel Elliott, for that matter).

“We can’t push the issue unless we want to be a market-setter,” Cowboys executive Stephen Jones said on KTCK-AM 1310 and 96.7 FM, via David Moore of Sports Day DFW. “And we’re damn sure not going to be a market-setter because of all the things that go with being a Dallas Cowboy. We want our players to feel good about their contracts. But at the same time, we don’t want to do things that are out of line because we can’t afford to be that way. When we save money, whether it’s with Dak, whether it’s with Zeke, whether it’s with Amari, it’s not saving Jerry [Jones] and I a dollar. It’s just money that’s going to another player.”

Per Moore, Jones and the Cowboys told defensive end DeMarcus Lawrence during their negotiating sessions that Lawrence implied to accept less money in order to allow Dallas to account for other star players. Lawrence reportedly told Jones that fitting the rest of the Cowboys’ stars onto the salary cap wasn’t his problem to solve, and Cooper, Prescott, et al. could potentially take the same approach.

Here’s more on the Cowboys:

  • The Ezekiel Elliott headline machine continues. Per TMZ Sports, a new lawsuit alleges the Cowboys “conspired with police to cover up info from a 2017 car crash that would have sidelined [Elliott] from a crucial NFL playoff game.” The plaintiff in the suit claims he was hit by Elliott’s car just four days before Dallas’ playoff game against Green Bay, and further alleges the Cowboys didn’t want the accident reported because Elliott would have been placed in the concussion protocol, potentially endangering his availability for their playoff game. Additionally, the plaintiff is suing the Cowboys for damages, but as Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk explains, it’s highly unlikely Dallas gets dragged into this suit.
  • The Cowboys worked out free agent tight end Jake Fisher, tweets Todd Archer of ESPN.com. A second-round pick of the Bengals as an offensive tackle in 2015, Fisher is now attempting to convert to a skill position. Fisher, who played tight end in high school, has been limited by injuries and ineffectiveness throughout his career, and has started just 12 games in four years. He signed with the Bills earlier this offseason but was cut after two months on Bufflo’s roster.
  • In case you missed it, the Cowboys signed running back Alfred Morris earlier this week, giving them some form of insurance against Elliott’s ongoing holdout.

Panthers To Sign Tre Boston

July 31st, 2019 at 9:12pm CST by Dallas Robinson

Tre Boston‘s lengthy tenure as a free agent is over. The Panthers are signing the veteran safety to a one-year, $3MM deal, tweets Adam Schefter of ESPN.com.

For the second consecutive offseason, Boston had to wait until late July to land a new contract as a free agent. Last year, Boston landed only a $1.5MM deal from the Cardinals, so he’ll now realize a 100% raise for the 2019 campaign, one in which he’ll play for the club that originally drafted him.

Boston was a fourth-round choice of the Panthers in 2014 and subsequently spent three seasons in Carolina, starting 10 games in his final year with the team. He was cut with one year remaining on his rookie contract, and was then signed to subsequent one-year pacts by the Chargers and Cardinals. In both campaigns, Boston started at least 13 games, played at least 950 defensive snaps, and graded among the top 30 safeties in the NFL, per Pro Football Focus.

In 2017, Boston was caught up in a stagnant free agent safety market which saw several starting-caliber players — including Boston’s new teammate Eric Reid — languish on the open market for months. This offseason, however, defensive backs Landon Collins, Tyrann Mathieu, Earl Thomas, Lamarcus Joyner, and Adrian Amos each landed at least $9MM in free agency, but Boston was nonetheless left without a deal.

Carolina can use all the help it can get against opponents’ deep passing attacks, and Boston — who is deployed as a deep safety on nearly snap — can help. Last season, the Panthers ranked just 29th in yards per play allowed on passes of more than 15 air yards, and finished 27th in Football Outsiders‘ DVOA against deep passes.

Some of the blame for that lackluster performance can be placed on Mike Adams, who served as the Panthers’ primary free safety in 2018. Adams, who last year at age-37 posted arguably the worst season of his lengthy career, was not re-signed this offseason. He’ll be replaced by Boston, who along with Reid will form one of the league’s most underrated safety duos.

Raiders Audition FBs Derrick Coleman, Tommy Bohanon

July 31st, 2019 at 8:48pm CST by Dallas Robinson

The Raiders worked out fullbacks Derrick Coleman and Tommy Bohanon earlier this week, tweets Adam Caplan of SiriusXM NFL Radio.

Oakland deployed incumbent fullback Keith Smith on 162 offensive snaps in 2018, good for sixth-most among fullbacks league-wide. However, Smith is currently on the active/non-football injury list after suffering a meniscus injury while working out on his own. As such, the only fullback on the Raiders’ roster is undrafted rookie Alec Ingold.

Coleman, 28, spent the 2012-15 campaigns with the Seahawks, but an alleged hit-and-run incident in 2015 kept him out of the NFL in 2016. He played 224 offensive snaps for the fullback-heavy Falcons in 2017 before spending last year with the Cardinals, with whom he mostly saw special teams duty.

Bohanon, a seventh-round pick in 2013, has appeared in 68 career games (30 starts) for the Jets and Jaguars over the past five seasons. While he isn’t as well-regarded a run-blocker as Coleman, Bohanon has offered far more versatility in the passing game. Bohanon has received 46 targets during his career, whereas Coleman has only seen 21.

Minor NFL Transactions: 7/31/19

July 31st, 2019 at 7:47pm CST by Dallas Robinson

Today’s minor moves:

Baltimore Ravens

Buffalo Bills

Dallas Cowboys

Green Bay Packers

Jacksonville Jaguars

Miami Dolphins

Pittsburgh Steelers

Seattle Seahawks

  • Waived: WR Daniel Williams

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Tennessee Titans

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