Week In Review: 8/31/14 – 9/7/14
The headlines from the past week at PFR:
Extended:
- Texans – DE J.J. Watt: six years, $100MM ($30.9MM guaranteed)
- Chiefs – QB Alex Smith: four years, $68MM ($45MM guaranteed)
- Saints – LB Junior Galette: four years, $41.5MM ($23.5MM guaranteed)
- Steelers – CB Cortez Allen: five years, $26MM
- Vikings – G Brandon Fusco: five years, $25MM ($6MM guaranteed)
- Bills – LS Garrison Sanborn: three years, $3.3MM ($550K guaranteed)
Signed:
- Bears – CB Kelvin Hayden (link)
- Buccaneers – S Major Wright (link)
- Chargers – DT Ricardo Mathews (link)
- Chiefs – S Kurt Coleman (link)
- Colts – G Jamon Meredith (link)
- Cowboys – DB C.J. Spillman (link) and DE Michael Sam (practice squad) (link)
- Giants – OL Adam Snyder (link)
- Lions – DE Darryl Tapp (link)
- Saints – K Shayne Graham (link) and WR Robert Meachem (link)
- Texans – S Danieal Manning (link)
- Titans – K Ryan Succop (link)
Traded:
- Texans – acquired QB Ryan Mallett from the Patriots in exchange for a conditional 2016 seventh-round pick
Claimed Off Waivers:
- Rams – claimed QB Case Keenum from the Texans
Released:
- 49ers – WR Kassim Osgood (link)
- Buccaneers – WR Louis Murphy (link)
- Cardinals – LB Desmond Bishop (link)
- Ravens – CB Derek Cox (link)
- Texans – S Chris Clemons (link)
Suspended:
- Broncos – WR Wes Welker: four games (link)
- Colts – owner Jim Irsay: six games, fined $500K (link)
- Cowboys – DT Josh Brent (after being reinstated): 10 games (link)
Retired:
- G Brian Waters (link)
Other:
- Alex Boone, 49ers rework contract and Boone returns to team (link)
- Raiders name Derek Carr starting QB (link)
- Josh Gordon, Wes Welker bans could be reduced as part of new drug policy (link). Latest on the drug talks here.
- Buffalo Sabres owner Terry Pegula favorite to land Bills franchise (link)
Troy Aikman Interested In Becoming NFL GM
Troy Aikman has proven highly successful in two realms of the NFL world. As a quarterback, he led the Cowboys to three Super Bowl titles before being enshrined in the Hall of Fame in 2006. As a broadcaster, he is a member of Fox’s number-one NFL announcing team, pairing with Joe Buck and acting as the network’s lead analyst. With his Fox contract expiring at the end of the season, Aikman hinted to Barry Horn of the Dallas Morning News that he might like to add another job title to his NFL résumé — general manager.
“I think it is a challenge that would drive me competitively,” Aikman said of joining a front office. “I think I would be good at it. …But I am not naïve enough to think I could go from the broadcast booth to general manager without plenty of hard work.” Aikman, 48 in November, doesn’t have any experience as a scout, cap manager, or executive, as he joined the broadcasting world directly following his retirement from playing.
If he decides to pursue a general manager position, Aikman could look at the success of John Elway, another Hall of Fame quarterback who, like Aikman, lacked executive experience before taking over as the Broncos GM and leading his team to the Super Bowl. Elway, who added talented individuals like Tom Heckert to assist him in the day-to-day responsibility of managing a team, has generally proven to be a shrewd talent evaluator and personnel man.
On the other end of the spectrum is Dan Marino, who effectively took over as the Dolphins’ GM in 2004, but resigned the position just three weeks later. Many believed that Marino underestimated the difficulty of transitioning from a cushy broadcasting job to the grind of an NFL front office. The ex-Miami quarterback is once again working with the Dolphins, albeit in a non-football operations capacity.
Of course, speculation tying Aikman to the Cowboys’ GM gig would run rampant were he to formally declare his interest in pursuing such a role. Dallas is currently led by owner/general manager Jerry Jones — for years, critics have called for Jones to hire an actual, experienced GM to run the team. Aikman doesn’t have the background of a GM-type, but it would be interesting to see if Jones would consider him for a front office position if he expressed enthusiasm for such a job.
NFLPA Refused HGH, Gordon Offer
While we heard yesterday that the NFL was considering vacating the suspensions of Josh Gordon, Wes Welker, and other players as part of a new drug policy agreement, the union doesn’t seem to have looked fondly upon that proposal. A league source tells Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk that the NFLPA refused an offer from the league to expunge Gordon’s one-year ban in exchange a resolution on HGH testing.
Per Florio, the union is loathe to consider an accord that aids one player (Gordon) at the expense of others. The new policy would likely raise the league’s THC limit, which currently sits at 15 nanograms per mililiter, to something approaching the standard of MLB (50 ng/ml) or the Olympics (150 ng/ml). Gordon’s positive marijuana test came back with 16 ng/ml, just one nanogram over the limit.
On the matter of HGH, Florio reports that the NFLPA wants commissioner Roger Goodell to give up disciplinary power on HGH issues that don’t relate to a positive test. Instead, the union prefers that a third-party arbiter handle such instances.
For his part, Gordon indicated earlier today that he does not intend to sue the league to in order to play in 2014.
AFC Links: Jaguars, Jets, Patriots, Browns
Let’s round up some news from the AFC…
- The Jaguars worked out a trio of kickers today, according to Field Yates of ESPN (Twitter link). Jay Feely, Alex Henery, and Derek Dimke all tried out for Jacksonville, which is likely updating its emergency list of kickers as incumbent Josh Scobee deals with a quadriceps injury.
- Yates also notes that the Jets worked out linebacker Steve Beauharnais, who spent 2013 with the Patriots. Beauharnais, a Rutgers product, had a workout with the Giants on Tuesday.
- In his latest piece for ESPN.com, Adam Schefter points out that while Golden Tate and Brandon LaFell have eerily similar statistics since both entered the league in 2010, Tate was guaranteed $10.5MM by the Lions over the offseason, while LaFell’s contract with the Patriots guarantees him just $3MM. While the pair’s traditional numbers are comparable, Pro Football Focus’ advanced metrics (subscription required) strongly favored Tate, grading him as the 18th-best receiver in 2013 — LaFell, meanwhile, was ranked at No. 94 among WRs.
- Without Josh Gordon in the fold, the Browns’ receiver corps seems to lack not only talent, but size — as Tom Reed of the Cleveland Plain-Dealer writes, the Browns’ average receiver stands 5’11”, 191.4 pounds. But general manager Ray Farmer isn’t second-guessing his decision to not add more WR depth, or to release veterans like Nate Burleson or Anthony Armstrong. “There’s no reason to waver,” Farmer said. “Talent is talent. I think that question everyone wants to know is ‘How come I don’t know him? How come I’ve never heard of that guy?’ I can’t answer that question. I don’t know the answer to it. I know that our scouts do a really good job of hitting the streets and figuring out who’s who on which roster and when we can pick up a guy and who’s out there to make our team better.”
NFC Notes: Bulaga, Winston, Rams, Panthers
The Packers’ offensive line didn’t fare too well after right tackle Bryan Bulaga went down last night, and Green Bay’s front five will be without the 2010 first-rounder for a while longer. According to Adam Schefter of ESPN (via Twitter), Bulaga has suffered a torn MCL. While the Packers are lucky Bulaga didn’t re-tear his ACL, Rob Demovsky of ESPN.com tweets that the 25-year-old will miss two-to-four weeks while recovering from the injury. Derek Sherrod, whom Pro Football Focus (subscription required) handed a -6.4 grade on just 42 snaps in last night’s contest, will fill in at RT.
Meanwhile, Demovsky adds (on Twitter) that while Green Bay might consider adding free agent tackle Eric Winston, there’s “nothing concrete” on that front as of yet. Winston, 30, signed with the Seahawks on July 29 but was released just a month later.
Let’s look at some more news items from the NFC:
- The Rams tried out veteran linebackers Pat Angerer and Kelvin Sheppard today, according to Field Yates of ESPN (Twitter link). Angerer spent most of his career with the Colts before latching on with the Falcons for the summer, while Sheppard was cut by Indianapolis last week.
- Panthers tight end D.C. Jefferson, a second-year player out of Rutgers, has been suspended four games for violating the league’s substance abuse policy, writes Joseph Person of the Charlotte Observer. Jefferson is currently on Carolina’s injured reserve after being waived-injured late last month.
- Jason Fitzgerald of Over the Cap breaks down the details of Junior Galette‘s extension with the Saints, which includes a roster bonus and escalators which come into play if Galette notches 12 sacks in 2014. Fitzgerald also notes that New Orleans will likely have to restructure the pass-rusher’s deal as soon as next offseason due to its cap management woes.
- Most teams carry only one fullback and some don’t even bother to have one at all. So why do the Vikings have two in Jerome Felton and Zach Line? “In college, no one has them anymore. They don’t have any fullbacks in college football,” coach Mike Zimmer said, according to Matt Vensel of the Star Tribune. “So typically you’re taking a tight end — if they have those. There’s hardly any blocking tight ends anymore. So you’re taking them and making them fullbacks or taking linebackers and making them fullbacks. When you find one, if you have a fullback offense, you keep them.”
Zach Links contributed to this post.
Gordon, Welker Bans Could Be Reduced
FRIDAY, 4:17pm: In a series of several tweets, Hill passes along the latest on the negotiations: Per multiple sources, there’s no chance anything gets finalized today, and the two sides still aren’t sure about the retroactive lifting of suspensions, and how it would apply to domestic violence incidents as well as drug-related penalties. One roadblock has been the NFL’s desire to suspend players immediately upon an arrest for suspicion of DUI, rather than a conviction, which the NFLPA doesn’t intend to agree to.
12:40pm: NFLPA executive George Atallah (on Twitter) says there’s no sense of urgency from the players’ side in overhauling the drug policies. In his estimation, it seems that the league is planting stories to infer that a deal is close.
11:25am: The league is now wary of opening up Pandora’s box by retroactively lifting suspensions, Hill tweets.
10:16am: Sources tell Clarence Hill Jr. of the Star-Telegram (on Twitter) that the new drug policy is very close to getting done. When and if the new policy is enacted, Orlando Scandrick‘s suspension will be lifted immediately.
8:39am: Under the new proposed policy, the 29 players suspended for stimulants since 2011 would’ve been entered into a program without a suspension, Breer tweets. On the flip side, 22 players who were assessed five-figure fines for DUIs would’ve been suspended (link).
8:28am: NFLPA Executive Director DeMaurice Smith told 106.7 The Fan in Washington D.C. that he’d want all players busted during the 2014 league year to be penalized under the new rules, tweets Albert Breer of the NFL Network. “If we get a deal done that covers players in this league year, I don’t like that we punish players under a deal active in the old league year,” Smith said (link).
Breer’s understanding (link) is that a revised policy would raise the threshold for an A sample on a marijuana test from 15 ng/ml to 50 ng/ml, the same threshold used by MLB and the military. One thing to keep in mind, however, is that Gordon’s failed drug test reportedly took place in the 2013 league year, so he wouldn’t necessarily be off the hook if the league and the NFLPA agreed to adjust the current drug policy (link).
THURSDAY: We learned earlier today that the while the league and the NFLPA have intensified talks regarding implementing HGH testing and overhauling the current drug policy, union president Eric Winston has cautioned that an agreement isn’t quite ready yet. If negotiations proceed quickly, two players affected by the policy — Josh Gordon and Wes Welker — might be able to return to the field soon, reports Mike Florio on NBC (link via Michael David Smith of Pro Football Talk).
Per Florio, one alteration to the new policy would raise the THC threshold for triggering marijuana-related bans; Gordon, of course, was suspended for the 2014 season after his sample tested barely over the THC limit. Another change to the policy would transfer amphetamine use from the performance-enhancing umbrella to the substance-abuse realm. A first-time PED offense triggers an automatic four-game ban, while a substance-abuse incident does not.
If the proposed rule changes grandfathered in already-suspended players, Gordon, Welker, and others that are currently facing bans could return to action. In fact, Florio noted that if the deal between the NFL and the union gets done in the next few days (which is unlikely), the two star receivers could potentially play on Sunday. Welker, of course, might still be limited by his latest concussion, but nevertheless, it would be a stunning reversal of fortunes for the Broncos, Browns, and other teams who have lost key players to drug suspensions. It’s unclear if the suspensions would merely be lessened, or if they’d be vacated completely.
Meanwhile, Albert Breer of the NFL Network hears (Twitter link) that retroactive penalty changes aren’t what’s holding up discussions of a new deal — rather, DUI policy is the “[number one] hangup” in negotiations. We heard last week that commissioner Roger Goodell wants a mandatory de-activation and two-game suspension for DUI offenders, a stance the NFLPA has fought. Breer adds that Sunday is being treated as a “soft deadline” for talks, as union representatives probably don’t want negotiations dragging into the season.
Zach Links contributed to this post.
NFC Links: Sam, Bradford, Suh, Bailey
Let’s look at the latest news from the NFC…
- After Michael Sam failed to land with a team via waivers after being cut by the Rams, the NFL discreetly contact clubs around the league and asked them to evaluate him as a practice squad candidate, reported Peter King on NBC’s pregame coverage earlier tonight. Sam eventually joined the Cowboys’ PS.
- In the wake of his second ACL tear in as many seasons, Rams quarterback Sam Bradford says he hasn’t yet coped with the future of his NFL career. “I haven’t even thought that far ahead,” Bradford told reporters, including Nick Wagoner of ESPN.com. “It’s still pretty hard to comprehend right now. I think it will be good once I have the surgery because the rehab process will give me something to focus on and something to put my attention towards.”
- Ndamukong Suh was complementary of J.J. Watt following the latter’s extension with the Texans, but wouldn’t comment on what Watt’s deal would mean for him, Suh. “I have no clue,” Suh said, per Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free-Press. “It’s not up to me. Talk to my agent.” The defensive tackle is entering the final year of his contract with the Lions, during which he will count a league-high $22.413MM against the cap.
- Lions head coach Jim Caldwell was coy about his team’s interest in adding Champ Bailey following the veteran’s workout today, but Detroit corner Rashean Mathis hopes Bailey will be joining him in the secondary, writes Birkett in a separate piece. “You can substitute for a lot of things, but knowledge is not one of them,” said Mathis. “[Bailey] knows the game, he knows football. When you have that much playing experience, the coaches know you know just as much as them when it comes to on-the-field stuff.”
- In a piece for TheMMQB.com, former Packers employee Andrew Brandt details the contrasting personalities of two of his former colleagues — Green Bay general manager Ted Thompson, and Seahawks GM (and former Packers personnel man) John Schneider.
AFC Notes: Gordon, Leshoure, Brown, Reed
Amid reports that Josh Gordon‘s suspension could possibly be reduced pending a new drug policy agreement, the Browns receiver has found new employment that has nothing to do with the NFL. According to Josina Anderson of ESPN (via TwitLonger), Gordon has accepted a position with the Sarchione Auto Group in northeast Ohio. He’ll act as both an on-floor salesman and as head of the group’s local outreach projects. While it’s nice to hear that the troubled 23-year-old has found some form of structure, I’m sure Gordon is hoping he can return to the field before 2015. Let’s look at some more news from the AFC.
- The Lions released 2011 second-rounder Mikel Leshoure over the weekend, but the 24-year-old running back could soon find a new team, as Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free-Press reports (on Twitter) that Leshoure has scheduled a visit with the Colts. Given Trent Richardson‘s 2013 struggles and Ahmad Bradshaw‘s injury history, Indianapolis would do well to add a player with Leshoure’s pedigree.
- After the league announced Andre Brown‘s eight-game suspension today, our Luke Adams wondered if the Texans had known the ban was coming, and if that knowledge precipitated the running back’s release earlier this month. According to Tania Ganguli of ESPN.com (via Twitter), Houston was aware of Brown’s impending suspension — in fact, the Texans thought he might be suspended for even longer than a half-season.
- Texans linebacker Brooks Reed, entering the final year of his contract, worked out with teammate J.J. Watt during the offseason, and he’s hoping the extra effort will lead to a new deal with the club, writes John McClain of the Houston Chronicle. “Yeah, I better get 20 sacks,” said Reed, laughing. “It’s my last year, and I expect — as do my coaches — to improve on the years I’ve had here. I put a lot into the offseason. I trained very hard. Hopefully, it’ll work out for the best.”
- Jason Fitzgerald of Over the Cap breaks down the full details of Alex Smith‘s contract extension with the Chiefs.
- The Raiders have reached a $1.25MM settlement with 90 cheerleaders who argued that the team violated labor laws by refusing to pay minimum wage and failing to pay for business expenses, according to Robin Abcarian of the Los Angeles Times.
2014 Pro Football Rumors Writer Predictions
The 2014 NFL season gets underway in about one hour, and the writers at Pro Football Rumors have weighed in with projections for the upcoming year. We’ve predicted which teams will earn playoff berths, the participants in the each conference’s Championship game and the Super Bowl, and the winners of the league’s major awards. The Saints and Drew Brees are favorite picks of PFR this year — seven of us have New Orleans reaching at least the NFC title game, while four writers see Brees earning MVP honors.
Click on the link below to see forecasts from Luke Adams, Rob DiRe, Matt Feminis, David Kipke, Ben Levine, Zach Links, Rory Parks, and Dallas Robinson. And feel free to add your 2014 NFL prognostications in the comments section!
Minor Moves: Thursday
We’ll keep track of the day’s minor transactions here, with the latest moves being added to the top of the page:
- The Miami-New England waiver wire saga continues, as the Dolphins have claimed defensive tackle Bruce Gaston from the Patriots, who waived him yesterday, according to Field Yates of ESPN (via Twitter). Gaston, 22, was a 2014 undrafted free agent out of Purdue. In order to clear a roster spot, the Dolphins waived defensive back Brandian Ross, who started 13 games for the Raiders last season, tweets Yates.
- Jake Stoneburner, a second-year tight end out of Ohio State, has been removed from the Packers’ injured reserve list with an injury settlement, per Tom Silverstein of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel (Twitter link).