Latest On Free Agent RB Jeremy Hill
Free agent running back Jeremy Hill barely logged any time with the Patriots before going down with a torn ACL in Week 1 of the 2018 season, but he says he’s nearly ready to return to the field.
“I think for me coming off a big ACL injury, I’m just doing what I can to get back to 100%,” Hill said, per Herbie Teope of the Advocate. “I know there’s going to be a job waiting on me when I get cleared, so that’s all I’m doing now. I’m just trying to get healthy and once that happens, I’ll be back. I’m pretty close. I’m about eight months out of surgery, so hopefully soon.”
Hill, now 26, enjoyed several seasons as the Bengals’ main ball-carrier 2014 to 2016, averaging 222 carries, 919 yards, and 10 touchdowns during that time. 2014 and 2015, notably, were especially productive campaigns for Hill, as he ranked as a top-12 back in Football Outsiders’ success rate metric in both seasons.
Hill was Cincinnati’s nominal starter in 2017 even after the club used a second-round pick on Joe Mixon, but Hill went down with a ankle injury in November and was subsequently placed on injured reserve. He inked a one-year, $1.5MM deal with New England and was listed as the team’s third running back, but the aforementioned ACL injury ended his season.
With training camp fast approaching, Hill remains on the open market alongside fellow free agent backs Jay Ajayi, LeGarrette Blount, Corey Grant, and Chris Ivory, among others.
Minor NFL Transactions: 7/11/19
Today’s minor moves:
Jacksonville Jaguars
- Waived/injured: WR Dredrick Snelson
La’el Collins Wants To Stay With Cowboys
Cowboys offensive lineman La’el Collins is entering the final season of his contract, but if he has his way, he’ll remain with the club for the foreseeable future, according to Herbie Teope of the Advocate.
“I would love to stay in Dallas my entire career,” Collins said. “I love the Cowboys, I love Mr. (Jerry) Jones; I love the Jones family. I love everything about the whole organization and what they’ve done for me as a person and as a player. For me, it’s just all about going out there and taking it one day at a time, and proving myself, proving my worth, showing them that I want to be there by what I do and now what I say.”
A projected first-round pick in 2015, Collins went undrafted after reports indicated he was scheduled to talk with police about the murder of a pregnant woman with whom he was previously involved. Authorities determined Collins had no involvement in the woman’s death, but he wasn’t selected in the draft after his agents indicated he would sit out the season if he were picked after the third round.
The Cowboys eventually landed Collins as an undrafted free agent. The LSU product spent his first two NFL campaigns at left guard, but moved to right tackle in 2017 after longtime Cowboy Doug Free retired. Because he was undrafted, Collins was eligible for an extension after only two pro seasons, and inked a two-year, $15.4MM deal with Dallas in July 2017.
Collins has managed to stay healthy over the past two seasons, and he’s responded with solid production, ranking as the No. 31 tackle in the NFL last year, per Pro Football Focus. The Cowboys have shown a willingness to extend offensive linemen in the past, as left tackle Tyron Smith, center Travis Frederick, and right guard Zack Martin have all received hefty new deals in recent seasons.
However, Dallas also a number of other pending free agents — including quarterback Dak Prescott, wide receiver Amari Cooper, and cornerback Byron Jones — whom it may deem more crucial to the club’s success. If that’s the case, Collins could hit the open market next spring.
Extension Candidate: Bears G Cody Whitehair
The Bears are one of only a few NFL teams projected to bring back their entire starting offensive line in 2019, and with good reason: the unit was extremely effective at pass-blocking last season. Chicago’s front five gave up just 33 sacks (tied for eighth in the league), and ranked seventh in the NFL in adjusted sack rate.
Cody Whitehair has been a key factor in the Bear’s offensive line success over the past three seasons, but despite earning a Pro Bowl nod in 2018, he’ll be asked to change positions next year. Chicago plans to insert 2018 second-round pick James Daniels at center, meaning Whitehair will need to shift to left guard.
Whitehair has experience moving between positions. At Kansas State, the now-26-year-old spent his first two seasons at guard before moving to tackle for his junior and senior campaigns. In the NFL, Whitehair has mostly stuck at center, although he did line up at both guard positions for a bit in 2018. The results have mostly been spectacular, as Whitehair graded as a top-10 center last season while ranking top-six in pressures allowed (min. 50% playtime), per Pro Football Focus.
Now entering the final year of his rookie contract, Whitehair and his representation are now likely looking for an extension. Chicago’s front office, historically, has been more than willing to pay up for offensive line talent. Right guard Kyle Long inked a four-year, $40MM extension in 2016, left tackle Charles Leno received a four-year, $38MM deal in 2017, and right tackle Bobby Massie re-signed on a four-year, $32MM pact earlier this year.
But how will the Bears approach negotiations? Will they view (and pay) Whitehair as a center or a left guard? It’s a critical question, because there a pretty wide gap in top salaries between the two positions. The top of the left guard market reached $13.3MM per year when Andrew Norwell signed a massive contract with the Jaguars in 2017. The center market, however, only hit $11.125MM annually this past offseason thanks to Mitch Morse‘s deal with the Bills.
Whitehair could potentially bet on himself, hoping that he posts another stellar season before cashing in as a left guard — potentially at $14MM or more per year — in 2020. Chicago isn’t likely to use its franchise tag on a guard, especially given that franchise tenders for offensive linemen don’t differentiate between guard and tackle. Therefore, Whitehair really only has to worry about the prospect of an injury tanking his value.
Alternatively, Whitehair and the Bears could split the difference between guard and center salaries and agree to a deal in the $12MM/year range. He’d be making more than any center, but come out just shy of Norwell’s pact with Jacksonville. At present, it’s unclear if Whitehair is willing to trade some of his contractual upside for financial security, but it could be a deal that would satisfy both he and the Bears.
11 NFL Draft Picks Remain Unsigned
Roughly 4% of this year’s draft picks have yet to sign their rookie contracts, as shown in PFR’s tracker. So far, 243 of this year’s 254 selections have inked their deals.
Here’s the complete breakdown, sorted by round:
First Round (5)
- 49ers, 1-2: Nick Bosa, DE (Ohio State)
- Jets, 1-3: Quinnen Williams, DT (Alabama)
- Buccaneers, 1-5: Devin White, LB (LSU)
- Giants, 1-6: Daniel Jones, QB (Duke)
- Panthers, 1-16: Brian Burns, DE (Florida State)
Second Round (3)
- 49ers, 2-36: Deebo Samuel, WR (South Carolina)
- Broncos, 2-41: Dalton Risner, T (Kansas State)
- Broncos, 2-42: Drew Lock, QB (Missouri)
Third Round (2)
- Ravens, 3-93: Miles Boykin, WR (Notre Dame)
- Giants, 3-95: Oshane Ximines, LB (Old Dominion)
Seventh Round (1)
- Vikings, 7-250: Austin Cutting, LS (Air Force)
As expected, the first round (five) leads the way in stragglers. First-round picks tend to have the most leverage, which means agents will often haggle on issues such as offset language. Cutting, meanwhile, is now allowed to defer his military service while he plays professional football.
East Notes: Jets, Bills, Eagles, Dolphins
The Jets inked former Broncos starter Trevor Siemian to a one-year, $2MM this offseason with the plan to use him as a backup to quarterback Sam Darnold. But as Connor Hughes of The Athletic writes, fellow signal-caller Davis Webb was more impressive during the spring. Webb, a Giants 2017 third-round pick that the Jets claimed off waivers last year, doesn’t have any NFL experience under his belt, while Siemian has started 24 pro games. Gang Green could potentially release Siemian, but they’d be saddled with $1MM in dead money. An alternative, per Hughes, could involve trading Webb for a mid-round pick, although it’s unclear if another club would sacrifice any real draft capital in exchange for an unproven quarterback.
Here’s more from the NFL’s two East divisions:
- The Bills have added a number of running backs to complement LeSean McCoy, and the veteran was especially pleased about Buffalo’s signing of Frank Gore, per Nate Mendelson of BuffaloBills.com. “I actually was begging him to come,” McCoy said. “Two years ago we were trying to get Frank and coach (Sean McDermott) asked if I’d like to play with him and I said ‘yeah.’” Buffalo signed not only Gore, but fellow free agent T.J. Yeldon, and selected Florida Atlantic running back Devin Singletary in the third round. Still, the team has been adamant that McCoy remains the starter, although that’s only invited more speculation that he could be traded at some point before the regular season begins.
- Derek Barnett missed the final 10 games of the 2018 campaign after undergoing shoulder surgery, but the Eagles are still excited about the former first-round defensive end as he enters his third NFL season, according to Dave Spadaro of PhiladelphiaEagles.com. “I’d say every time he’s on the field, he’s rewarding our investment in him,” general manager Howie Roseman said. “We have a lot of confidence in him as a player and he’s a huge part of our football team. He’s shown that this isn’t a guy that’s going into his third year and we haven’t seen what he’s done. We’ve seen what he’s done in big games. We saw what he was doing last year before he got hurt. We expect him to come in and be a huge part of our team.” Now entering his age-23 campaign, Barnett has posted 7.5 sacks and 49 pressures over two years in Philadelphia.
- Undrafted receiver Preston Williams made a name for himself during the Dolphins‘ offseason program, writes Barry Jackson the Miami Herald. Williams was especially valuable in red zone drills, per Jackson, who also notes Williams is now working with longtime NFL pass-catcher Brandon Marshall (thanks to a connection through now-Miami quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick). Williams, who posted 96 receptions for 1,345 and 14 touchdowns during his final year at Colorado State, is behind DeVante Parker, Kenny Stills, Albert Wilson, and others on the Dolphins’ receiver depth chart.
Extension Candidate: Titans S Kevin Byard
Kevin Byard wasn’t supposed to be this good. Lance Zierlein of NFL.com, one of the best talent evaluators in football, gave Byard a sixth- to seventh-round grade when he entered the 2016 draft out of Middle Tennessee State. Here’s how one NFC scouting director assessed Byard, per Zierlein.
“Ankle tackler so that’s a concern and I just don’t trust him in coverage. I know he has all the interceptions but I don’t see a player who can match up in space against NFL-caliber receivers. I know some scouts love him because of his football IQ, but that’s not enough for me.”
The Titans weren’t dissuaded, and used the first pick of the third round (No. 64 overall) on Byard. The 5’11”, 211-pounder became a starter for Tennessee midway through his rookie campaign, and has since proved himself to be one of the best values of that 2016 draft.
Per Pro Football Reference’s approximate value metric, which attempts to encapsulate a player’s production in a single number, Byard has been the 11th-most valuable member of the 2016 draft class. He’s produced 23 points of career AV, tied for second among defenders with 49ers defensive end DeForest Buckner and Jaguars linebacker Myles Jack (Jacksonville cornerback Jalen Ramsey is first among defensive players).
Byard is now arguably the best player on the Titans’ defense (although perhaps Jurrell Casey would like a word), and of the top-graded safeties in the NFL. He led the league in interceptions (eight) in 2017, and leads the NFL in picks over the past two combined seasons. Pro Football Focus, meanwhile, has graded Byard as a top-eight safety in each of the past two years, noting both his pass coverage and run defense acumen.
Set to turn 26 years old in August, Byard will hit unrestricted free agency next March. So what would an extension between he and the Titans look like? The first factor to examine is the 2020 safety market, which is, in a word, barren. Devin McCourty is scheduled to become a free agent next spring, but the longtime Patriot will be 32 years old at that point. Other free agent safeties, such as Ha Ha Clinton-Dix, Rodney McLeod, D.J. Swearinger, Damarious Randall, and Karl Joseph could struggle to garner significant contracts, based both on their production and the recent history of safety deals.
Byard will likely be the most attractive free agent safety available, but Tennessee does hold some leverage in the form of the franchise tag. Unless Marcus Mariota posts a breakout campaign in 2019, the Titans don’t have any other realistic candidates for the franchise tender. Under the tag, Byard would receive roughly $11.5MM in 2020; if the Titans franchised him again in 2021, he’d pick up another $13.8MM or so. That’s $25MM+ guaranteed over the next two seasons, which should create an absolute floor in negotiations.
Byard and his camp will almost certainly point to Landon Collins‘ six-year, $84MM pact with the Redskins — signed this past March — as a contract comparable, and he’d be right to do so. However, it’s possible that the rest of the NFL will view the Collins deal as an outlier (“that crazy Washington front office!”). Even when adjusting for inflation of the salary cap, Collins’ contract is the sixth-most valuable safety deal of all-time, which doesn’t exactly match his production.
Still, it shouldn’t be a surprise if Byard is able to top $14MM/year, the mark hit by both Collins and Tyrann Mathieu this offseason. He just may not surpass the record $44.5MM in full guarantees that Byard collected from the Redskins. Instead, beating Mathieu’s $26.8MM guarantee and aiming for something in the $30-32MM range seems more feasible for Byard.
Jimmy Garoppolo Expects To Be Ready For Training Camp
Jimmy Garoppolo‘s 2018 campaign ended prematurely when he suffered a torn ACL in Week 3, but the 49ers quarterback expects to be fully ready for training camp, according to Charean Williams of Pro Football Talk.
“I really do,” Garoppolo said when asked if he thinks he’ll be available for camp. “The rehab process has gone really well. Knock on wood. We haven’t had any setbacks. OTAs went about as well as I could have hoped for and now for training camp hopefully we’ll be full go with team drills and all that stuff. We’re moving in the right direction. We’ve just got to keep going day by day and keep stacking them together. It’s a long process, but we’ve come this far, so why stop now, right?”
Perhaps more importantly, Garoppolo doesn’t expect to begin training camp on the physically unable to perform list. Not only does that mean the 27-year-old shouldn’t have any physical limitations as he begins practice sessions, but he also won’t be eligible to be placed on the reserve/PUP list, which would have forced him to miss the first six games of the regular season. Given that he threw passes during organized team activities, Garoppolo never seemed like a realistic candidate for the PUP list.
Garoppolo posted an undefeated record in five starts after the 49ers acquired him from the Patriots in 2017. In 2018, he started three games, completing 59.6% of his passers for 718 yards, five touchdowns, three interceptions, and a dismal 26.9 Total Quarterback Rating.
Release Candidate: Seahawks RB C.J. Prosise
When the Seahawks used a third-round pick on C.J. Prosise in 2016, the former Notre Dame running back looked as though he’d be an integral part of the Seattle offense. Penciled into a backfield that also included Christine Michael and Thomas Rawls, Prosise was viewed as a capable runner and a valuable receiver, a dual threat back who could contribute in multiple facets of the game.
But Prosise simply hasn’t been able to stay on the field. He showed flashes during his rookie campaign, especially during a Week 9 nine start in which he handled 17 carries for 66 yards while adding seven receptions for 87 yards. However, Prosise fractured his scapula in the Seahawks’ next contest and was subsequently placed on injured reserve. An ankle injury ended his season in 2017, and multiple ailments (abdomen, groin, and hip flexor) landed him on IR in 2018.
The injuries haven’t stopped in 2019. Seattle head coach Pete Carroll revealed in March that Prosise had recently undergone surgery. And just last month, the now-25-year-old tweaked his hamstring at Seahawks minicamp.
In three seasons with the Seahawks, Prosise’s totals are unsightly. He’s only managed to play in 16 games, rushing 42 times for 192 yards and one touchdown while hauling in 26 catches for 317 yards. Heading into a critical fourth year in Seattle, what are Prosise’s odds of making the Seahawks roster?
Seattle, notably, was the only NFL team to run the ball on more than 50% of its offensive plays in 2019, so the club certainly needs a cavalcade of running backs. But with 2018 starter Chris Carson and 2018 first-round pick Rashaad Penny locked into roster spots, Prosise will be competing with the likes of J.D. McKissic, Travis Homer, Bo Scarbrough, and Marcelias Sutton for a role.
McKissic is probably Prosise’s main competition, as both offer third-down promise as receiving backs (and both played wide receiver in college). Like Prosise, McKissic has also battled injuries, and he missed the first half of the 2018 campaign with a foot issue. But as recently as 2017, McKissic was productive, posting 34 receptions on 46 targets for 266 yards while ranking as a top-20 back in efficiency in both rushing and receiving, per Football Outsiders.
Another factor working against Prosise is special teams. Prosise has rarely played on teams throughout his pro career, while McKissic has offered at least some special teams capabilities. McKissic is competent in the return game, which could be important if the Seahawks need to give No. 1 wideout Tyler Lockett a breather from return duties.
Given his lengthy injury history and lack of production, Prosise won’t attract much of a trade market. So if he isn’t able to stick on Seattle’s roster, Prosise could be in danger of hitting the waiver wire in early September — or perhaps even sooner.
Tyreek Hill Expected To Attend Training Camp
Fresh off Wednesday’s meeting with the NFL, Tyreek Hill is expected to attend training camp next month barring an “significant development” in the ongoing investigation surrounding child abuse allegations levied at the Chiefs wide receiver, according to Ian Rapoport of NFL.com.
Hill sat down with NFL Special Counsel for Investigations Lisa Friel today in a meeting that lasted eight hours, reports Michael David Smith of Pro Football Talk. The NFL is investigating child abuse accusations against Hill after the pass-catcher’s three-year-old son suffered a broken arm. Authorities have determined that neither Hill nor his fiance broke the boy’s arm, but there’s been some dispute as to whether a legal investigation is still ongoing.
In addition to being accused of physical abuse, Hill was also caught on audio threatening his fiance, indicating that she should be “terrified” of him. Even if Hill isn’t formally charged with a crime as a result of this episode, the NFL can still levy its own punishment under the league’s personal conduct policy.
The NFL has no timetable for the conclusion of its investigation, per Rapoport. Chiefs training camp opens on July 26.