No Deal Expected Between Cowboys, RB Tony Pollard
JULY 17: Josina Anderson of CBS Sports tweets that talks are still ongoing between team and player in this situation, which could leave the door open to an eleventh-hour agreement. However, the Dallas Morning News’ Calvin Watkins and Michael Gehlken add (via Twitter and Threads) that Pollard can still be expected to play out the 2023 season on the tag.
JULY 16: Cowboys running back Tony Pollard was the only one of the franchise tagged running backs to report to team activities after signing his tag back in March. This still left the door open for Pollard and Dallas to work towards a long-term extension, but according to Jeremy Fowler of ESPN, it’s seeming unlikely that the two sides will reach a new deal by tomorrow’s 3pm central deadline. Pollard will play out the 2023 season on the $10.09MM franchise tag. 
Despite the team tagging Pollard and the veteran back signing the tag, the team made it clear that they weren’t planning on Pollard playing out next season on a one-year tryout. Pollard wisely chose to take the money in hand while still keeping the possibility of a new deal open in the future. It was established early that Dallas would continue working towards a new deal with Pollard, albeit not one quite as lengthy as the one they gave Ezekiel Elliott.
Elliott’s six-year, $90MM extension was cut short with four seasons remaining when the team designated him as a post-June 1 cut. In order to avoid making the same mistakes twice, the Cowboys were reportedly eyeing an extension for a term of closer to three or four years for Pollard. Even if they weren’t going to dedicate a long-term deal to him, a medium-term extension was still in the cards for the 26-year-old.
Fortunately, because Pollard signed the tag, the two sides have an additional eight months to work out the terms of a possible extension. In the meantime, Pollard will play out the year under the guaranteed money of the franchise tag. If the Cowboys fail to extend Pollard, they’re unlikely to tag him in consecutive years, so this season should result in a new contract for Pollard, regardless. Whether that contract is a re-signing with Dallas or a new deal in free agency will be determined down the road.
NFL Staff Updates: Cowboys, Falcons, Ravens, Lions, Chiefs, 49ers, Saints, Caminiti
Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy has made analytics a focus since joining the staff three years ago. That trend has continued into 2023 as Dallas made three hires this week, all of them in the analytics department. The Cowboys even took a page out of another sport’s book, as baseball has taken the lead in analytics over the past several years.
Bryant Davis will join the team as a strategic football analyst, according to Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. For the last four years, Davis has been a research and development analyst for the Tampa Bay Rays of the MLB. Even in a sport that’s already more analytical than football, the Rays are one of the more advanced teams in their use of analytics.
Joining Davis as a strategic football analyst, according to Jori Epstein of Yahoo Sports, is William Britt, a former Steelers staffer. Britt spent the past two seasons as a data analyst in Pittsburgh. Along with Davis and Sarah Mallepalle, this is the third person the Cowboys have hired to that role this offseason.
Finally, Dallas has convinced Max Lyons to return to the NFL in the role of football data engineer, according to Marcus Mosher of Pro Football Focus. Lyons has been out of the league for about ten years, founding and maintaining the website Gridiron Rank over that period. After working with the Eagles and Jaguars all the way back in 2012, he finally makes his return to the league.
Here are some other staff updates from around the NFL:
- After joining the Falcons as a scouting assistant a year ago, Hakeem Smith has been promoted to assistant pro scout, according to Neil Stratton of SucceedinFootball.com. Before coming to the NFL, Smith had spent three years working in the Pittsburgh Panthers recruiting department. Another scouting assistant hired last summer out of the college ranks, James McClintock has been promoted to a BLESTO scout for Atlanta, according to Stratton. McClintock’s time in the collegiate ranks was spent at Auburn, North Carolina, and Liberty.
- The Ravens are also reportedly hiring out of the college arena. According to Matt Zenitz of On3 Sports, Baltimore is expected to hire Adam Neuman as chief of staff and special advisor to the president. Not to be confused with Adam Neumann, the founder of WeWork, Neuman has served the last four years as chief of staff for strategy and operations for college football’s Big Ten conference.
- There’s been a promotion in the Lions‘ analytics department, according to Seth Walder of ESPN. After joining the team in 2020 as an analytics assistant, Caio Brighenti will now be in the role of football information manager. Brighenti has served as football information analyst for Detroit since March 2021.
- Chiefs‘ staffer Anthony McGee has finally climbed the ranks to become a pro scout, according to Stratton. After interning for the team in different roles from 2018 to 2021, McGee was hired in the personnel department as a player personnel assistant. Two years later, he’ll get his chance at a scouting role.
- A personnel staffer who got his chance as a pro scout last year, J.P. Crowley Hanlon of the 49ers has been promoted to West Coast area scout, according to Stratton. Crowley Hanlon joined San Francisco after gaining some experience with the Eagles and a sports agency.
- The Saints poached an analytics staffer from the Jets this week, according to Walder. After serving in New York as football analytics coordinator since 2020, Zach Stuart will head south to New Orleans as director of analytics.
- Lastly, the Patriots will lose a scout this summer, according to Stratton. Chris Caminiti will be departing for a role to head the Disruptive Sports firm’s coaching representation division. Caminiti has been an area scout for New England since 2021 after serving in operations and coaching roles previously with the Browns, Chiefs, and Chargers.
Pats’ Offer To DeAndre Hopkins Fell Short
In case you missed it, the Titans won the sweepstakes for three-time All-Pro wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins. Tennessee signed him to a two-year, $26MM contract that can be boosted up to $32MM with a few incentives. It seemed coming into the weekend that it was a two-team race between the Titans and Patriots, but New England ended up just falling short, according to ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler. 
For weeks, Tennessee and New England were the only visits Hopkins had taken, but a deal didn’t seem imminent with either organization, despite an unofficial soft deadline of training camp to get a deal done. Many seemed to think that Hopkins was waiting for more teams to jump into the mix. Perhaps Kansas City would find a way to clear some cap space by extending defensive tackle Chris Jones, effectively allowing them into the race. Or, maybe, another team with cap space might suffer an injury that leaves them in need of a No. 1 receiver.
Even if new suitors emerged, the Patriots felt they were in a strong position after Hopkins’s visit. The veteran receiver was well-received by current players, and the presence of offensive coordinator Bill O’Brien in New England only helped the team’s case. Some of Hopkins’s most impressive seasons came with O’Brien as his head coach in Houston. The idea of reuniting with his former head coach kept the Patriots in contention, alongside Tennessee.
The feeling for weeks has been that New England liked Hopkins, according to Phil Perry of NBCS Boston. He clearly still has gas in the tank and is familiar with their new offensive coordinator’s system. He would also provide some veteran depth and leadership at a position that has two players with significant injury history in JuJu Smith-Schuster and DeVante Parker. Providing their young, developing quarterback with a star receiver could prove invaluable.
As much as they like him, though, nobody was expecting them to pay the big bucks to obtain him. They reportedly had the ability to match the Titans offer. According to Perry, they could’ve beaten Tennessee’s offer if they really wanted to. Instead, Fowler reports that New England’s “base financial package wasn’t in the same ballpark as what (the) Titans offered.” Hopkins will head to Nashville, and the Patriots will have to hope that their wide receiving corps will have what it takes to get the job done.
Rookie DT Jalen Carter Faces Further Civil Charges Stemming From Fatal Crash
Despite his criminal proceedings wrapping up in a plea agreement back in March, Eagles rookie defensive tackle Jalen Carter still faced a civil lawsuit stemming from a car crash that resulted in the death of teammate Devin Willock and a Georgia recruiting analyst, Chandler LeCroy. That original lawsuit was filed by Devin Willock Sr., the father of one of the deceased, but he now faces further civil charges being filed by another former recruiting analyst, Victoria S. Bowles, who was injured in the accident. 
Willock’s original lawsuit for $40MM, targeted Carter specifically for $10MM. The suit noted two other occasions during which Carter received citations or tickets. It had also been reported that Carter’s driver license was suspended at the time of the accident. Carter had received misdemeanor charges of reckless driving and racing, paid a $1,013 fine, and is currently serving 12 months of probation, a fairly light sentence that seemed to indicate a lack of responsibility.
Bowles’s lawsuit levies a more severe allegation. According to Alan Judd of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Bowles alleges that “Carter illegally left the scene without rendering aid to those injured in the crash.” The lawsuit says that Carter “was jointly responsible for the crash and had a legal duty to remain on the scene.” It details that, “instead, in part obviously fearful of bad publicity and the effect on his NFL draft status, he hoped not to be questioned or take any responsibility for his actions.”
It’s unclear what specifically is being sought from Carter in this suit, but Bowles is reportedly seeking reimbursement for over $170K-worth of medical bills as well as unreported amounts for future expenses, wage loss, mental and physical pain and suffering, and punitive damages. The lawsuit detailed the injuries sustained by Bowles in the crash as “broken vertebrae and ribs, a fractured clavicle, and broken and cracked teeth; lacerations to her kidney and liver; a punctured and collapsed lung; abdominal bleeding; neurological damage from a head injury that causes severe eye pain; and a spinal-cord injury that could progress to permanent paralysis.”
Whatever isn’t being sought from Carter, Bowles is suing the university’s athletic association for. Bowles’s complaint includes screenshots of texts from program officials permitting Bowles and LeCroy to take the recruiting SUVs used in the accident to their personal residences overnight. She asserts that the athletic association overlooked LeCroy’s “deplorable driving history and habitual operation of motor vehicles at high and unsafe speeds.”
Specifically, the lawsuits points to an incident in which the staffer who granted the two permission to take the vehicles home was a passenger as LeCroy received a ticket for driving 77 mph in a 55-mph zone, her fourth such violation in six years and the second that qualified for enhanced penalties due to Georgia’s “super speeder” law. For the same incident, a separate Georgia staffer “asked a court clerk to reduce the speed on the ticket” to avoid those enhanced penalties, a precedent that Bowles claims “gave LeCroy an understanding that the association would continue to intervene on her behalf in relation to future speeding violations, thus encouraging and facilitating her high-speed driving and reckless conduct.”
Carter’s initial reported involvement in the incident, combined with a poor showing at the school’s pro day, led to a number of teams taking Carter off their draft boards entirely. Eventually, the Eagles decided to trade up for him after an evaluation process which did not include extensive vetting of the crash. He has since signed his four-year rookie contract with the Eagles, which has a total value of $21.81MM.
Unlike the Willock-suit, the athletic association isn’t calling the claims “baseless,” but they are choosing to “strongly defend (their) position” by claiming that neither LeCroy nor Bowles “were on duty or acting within the scope of their employment in the hours leading up to the accident.” The initial response does not address the overlooking of LeCroy’s driving history.
Similar to the Willock-suit, Carter’s representation “did not immediately respond” to the lawsuit. It’s unclear whether Carter and his team will deploy the defensive tactics that the university has chosen to adopt or if he will be more cooperative. Regardless, the resolution of both lawsuits is something to keep an eye on as Carter begins his professional career.
Chargers Rumors: Ekeler, Johnston, Salary Cap
Within a limited salary cap, as other positions begin to see an increase in the average value of their contracts, the space in the salary cap for those increases has to come from somewhere. As positions like quarterback and defensive tackle are reaching new highs, it seems that the value of running backs is slowly diminishing.
Chargers running back Austin Ekeler went on The Rich Eisen Show this week to voice his opinion on the situation. Ekeler is entering a contract year and was interested in renewing his deal for more time in Los Angeles. When it became clear that the Chargers weren’t willing to meet his demands on a new deal, they allowed him to seek a trade. Unfortunately for Ekeler, it soon became apparent that no one was willing to meet his demands, sending him back to the negotiating table. Without extending his time with the team, Los Angeles did show a bit of their appreciation for Ekeler, reworking his contract in a way that allows him to make more money in 2023 through incentives.
Ekeler understandably left the situation frustrated with the development of the running back market. His view is that running backs carry the ball and impact the game more and that they’re not getting compensated in a corresponding fashion. While he certainly has a point, being concerned that top running backs are getting nearly the money they should be able to, the overall market of the position is being dragged down by the success of its younger players. Due to the recent successes seen by running backs on rookie contracts, several teams feel much more comfortable going to the draft for their primary rushers, making them less inclined to pay out large contracts to veterans, regardless of their caliber.
As a result, Ekeler sees backup wide receivers making more money than him, despite their lesser impact on the team’s success. It’s an unfortunate development that, this offseason, has resulted in contract disputes from four of the league’s top-eight running backs in yards from scrimmage last year.
Here are a few other rumors coming out of Los Angeles this summer:
- The Chargers used a first-round pick on wide receiver Quentin Johnston this year, and there is not an expectation that he will be coming off the bench much as a rookie, according to Daniel Popper of The Athletic. Despite Josh Palmer stepping up in a big way during his sophomore season while position leaders Keenan Allen and Mike Williams each missed some time with injury, Popper expects Johnston to jump Palmer for the WR3 role at some point this year. Johnston has some development to undergo still before claiming the spot, but Palmer’s absence in the spring (due to injury) certainly helps Johnston’s case. Popper expects the position battle to take place in training camp, and he expects Johnston to eventually win out.
- Additionally, Popper addressed the team’s reluctance to spend on free agency this offseason despite having a little more the $12MM in open cap space for 2023. It’s a popular opinion that the Chargers are already looking ahead towards the 2024 season. Next year, four players will have cap hits over $30MM, and that’s not including quarterback Justin Herbert who, if forced to play out his fifth-year option, would hold a $29.50MM cap hit in 2024. Instead of spending their money this summer on contracts that may have an impact into next year, Los Angeles may be angling to take advantage of rollover cap space. According to Popper, “teams are allowed to roll over any unused cap space from one season to the next.” $12MM of rollover could do a lot towards what could end up being a pricey 2024 season. In contrast, the highest cap hit the team is dealing with in 2023 comes in at $17MM.
AFC South Rumors: Titans, Rader, Perryman
The tight ends room in Tennessee is going to look very different from recent years, according to Titans senior writer/editor Jim Wyatt. In addition to a new instructor, as former running backs coach Tony Dews takes over the position coaching duties, some main contributors from the past few years are no longer present.
With Austin Hooper and Geoff Swaim both hitting the free agent market this past spring, second-year tight end Chig Okonkwo has inherited a massive leading role. Okonkwo already put himself on the map as a rookie, outgaining Hooper with 450 receiving yards, good for second on the team. His three receiving touchdowns led all tight ends in Tennessee last year and were also good for second on the team. Already expected to take a step forward in 2023, he’ll receive a lot more targets with Hooper now in Las Vegas. Swaim, the team’s former primary blocking tight end, was also not re-signed, so the Titans will be looking for Okonkwo to step up as a blocker, as well.
Behind Okonkwo, the team signed Trevon Wesco, who has served as a backup tight end and special teamer for the Jets and Bears, previously. They also drafted Josh Whyle out of Cincinnati in the fifth round this year. Both should provide a bit of depth behind Okonkwo, and while Whyle was a strong redzone target for the Bearcats in college, neither tight end threatens to take many snaps away from Okonkwo.
Here are a few other rumors coming out of the AFC South:
- The Titans have been known to respect the tight end position and are certainly a candidate to keep four on the roster. With Okonkwo, Wesco, and Whyle likely safely on the 53-man roster, who might end up snagging that last roster spot? The likeliest pick would be Kevin Rader who started two games in 14 appearances for the Titans last year. He didn’t record any offensive stats in 2022, but he was a strong special teams contributor and a solid extra blocker on the line. His competition for the potential roster spot will be former XFL player Alize Mack, Justin Rigg, whom they signed to a reserve/futures contract at the end of last season, and Thomas Odukoya, the team’s International Pathway program addition from the Netherlands.
- After two strong years with the Raiders, veteran linebacker Denzel Perryman landed with the Texans. Only a year removed from a Pro Bowl season, it was a bit of a surprise to see his newest contract only amount to a $2.6MM base salary. According to Vic Tafur of The Athletic, Perryman expected a much bigger free agent market for himself before settling for his deal in Houston. The Raiders ended up replacing him with Robert Spillane, a former backup in Pittsburgh, paying Spillane with a two-year contract that has a $3.5MM average. So, why the disappointing return for Perryman? Perryman is an all-around better linebacker than Spillane, but he’s older and has missed at least five games in three of the last six years. Perryman’s new contract includes a $900K incentive based on playing time that would end up paying out $3.5MM if he can stay healthy.
Bengals, Joe Mixon Finalizing Restructure
Possibly in danger of becoming a cap space casualty, running back Joe Mixon agreed to restructure his contract in order to remain with the Bengals, according to Tom Pelissero of NFL Network. The veteran rusher will return for his seventh season in Cincinnati in 2023. 
Mixon’s uncertain future with the team has been a topic of discussion over the last few months. If the team had decided to cut the former Pro Bowler, they stood to save over $7MM by releasing him and over $10MM if they did so as a post-June 1 cut. The Bengals had already seen the departures of running back Samaje Perine, tight end Hayden Hurst, and safeties Vonn Bell and Jessie Bates III, but with a big money addition like offensive tackle Orlando Brown and a new contract for linebacker Germaine Pratt, it seemed like Cincinnati might need to start nickeling and diming where it could. This point seems even more prudent when considering the young star talent like quarterback Joe Burrow and wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase, who both will need hefty new contracts in the near future.
It became public knowledge that the Bengals would pursue a pay cut for Mixon months ago. In 2020, they had signed the tailback to a four-year, $48MM contract that made him a top-five paid running back in the league at the time. After Mixon rewarded the Bengals’ faith in him with a career-year that saw Mixon reach career-highs in rushes (292), rushing yards (1,205), and rushing touchdowns (13), the Bengals seemed content carrying Mixon into 2022 despite an $11.42MM cap hit. A $12.76MM cap hit in 2023 after missing three games and only amassing 814 rushing yards last year was going to be a tougher pill to swallow. A misdemeanor charge in April didn’t help things.
Still, head coach Zac Taylor vouched for the 26-year-old, establishing that Mixon’s future was “with the team,” and the front office continued to try to work towards an agreeable number on a pay reduction. As time went on, it began to seem that the only route that led to Mixon retaining his roster spot was a pay cut. Paul Dehner Jr. of The Athletic laid out that “Mixon was always going to either take a paycut (sic) or decide to take a walk.” In the end, the franchise’s first ever successful restructured contract, according to Dehner, resulted in Mixon staying put.
The deal is not only beneficial for Mixon, who gets to remain in the only NFL home he’s ever known. The Bengals also get some security at the running back position. Even with Mixon still in the fold, Cincinnati was looking into the addition of experienced rushers to supplement the group behind Mixon. Returning backups Trayveon Williams and Chris Evans combined for 30 rushing yards last season, and rookie fifth-round pick Chase Brown is the only other back expected to make the 53-man roster. The lack of experienced depth behind Mixon is troubling, but if Mixon were to have left, it would’ve left Cincinnati in a desperate position.
Instead, Mixon returns to a very clear role as RB1. The team may still add another veteran running back for depth down the line, as it’s hard to see Mixon in a three-down role in 2023, but the Bengals secured what is likely the most important piece in their rushing game in a way that benefits both parties. Mixon takes less money than he was originally due but avoids what has been a treacherous running back free agency market in the process.
Tag Rumors: Barkley, Jacobs, Engram
With the Monday deadline for franchise tagged players to sign long-term deals approaching fast, NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo gave some quick updates on the last remaining franchise tagged players. The Ravens and quarterback Lamar Jackson agreed to a long-term deal, as did the Commanders and defensive tackle Daron Payne, while Cowboys running back Tony Pollard has decided to play out the 2023 season on the franchise tag. This leaves Giants running back Saquon Barkley, Raiders running back Josh Jacobs, and Jaguars tight end Evan Engram as the last remaining cases to be solved.
- According to Garafolo, there hasn’t been much good traction on a deal between New York and Barkley. He reports that the two sides “are still far apart.” He notes that three days is technically plenty of time to get a deal done, especially for the franchise that signed quarterback Daniel Jones to a new deal minutes before the franchise tag deadline. Garafolo confirms that Barkley has “threatened to potentially holdout into the season,” meaning that he certainly shouldn’t be expected at training camp unless a new deal is reached.
- Similar news for Jacobs, as we’ve been reporting throughout the day. It’s become clear that he and Las Vegas are not near an agreement as the clock ticks down. Garafolo relays a report from colleague Tom Pelissero that Jacobs is not going to be at training camp without a new deal and is also a candidate to holdout into the regular season.
- Engram’s situation appears to be a bit less harrowing. Despite the fact that Engram wasn’t present for the team’s spring OTAs and minicamp because of the unsigned tag, he is still expected to be present at training camp, even if the two sides fail to reach an agreement on a long-term deal. According to Garafolo, the likelihood of that deal coming to fruition appears to just under a 50-50 chance.
Retired LB Blake Martinez Finds Success After Football
After co-leading the league in total tackles in his sophomore season, linebacker Blake Martinez delivered three straight seasons with more tackles than he totaled in that second year of his career. The tackling machine came to a screeching halt in 2021, though, when a torn ACL sidelined him for the rest of the season. He then made the surprise decision to retire midseason the following year. The reason for that retirement may have seemed questionable to some, but according to a deep dive by The Athletic’s Zak Keefer, it seems to be paying off. 
During the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, Martinez got interested in an old childhood hobby of his: Pokémon cards. He collected as a child, and after stumbling upon some articles detailing the worth of well-kept cards, he implored about his old collection, discovering that his parents had given them away. Still, knowing that it was a thing he was both knowledgeable and passionate about, Martinez got back in the game.
In his first foray into the buying of cards in search of rarities to resell, Martinez netted $108K in profit from a purchase load of approximately $40K. The profit comes from a live stream opening of purchased cards that allows other collectors to see potential rarities they’d like to add to their collection. Soon after his first stream, Martinez announced the conclusion of his NFL career, despite leading the Raiders in tackles in his final professional game.
Martinez’s money-making hobby turned into his own company, Blake’s Breaks (a reference to box breaks, the act of opening new packs of cards). He has since hired about 20 full-time staffers, and his company streams an average of 16 hours a day, with Martinez still hosting a stream two or three times a week. In the first year of its existence, Blake’s Breaks has reportedly brought in over $11.5MM of revenues.
Can a football player make that much in a single year alone? A good one can, and Martinez himself had a three-year, $30.75MM contract at one point in his career. But Martinez found a way to turn something he loved into a business that brings in multiple millions of dollars of revenue without putting his body on the line. At a time with his ailing body was starting to cost him money in the NFL, it’s a best-case scenario for Martinez.
Minor NFL Transactions: 7/14/23
Today’s only minor move:
Los Angeles Rams
- Signed: TE Nikola Kalinic
Kalinic, a former second-round pick in the Canadian Football League after going undrafted in the NFL draft, finally made his NFL debut last year with the Colts. While playing for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in 2019 & 2021, Kalinic reeled in 23 receptions for 192 yards and two touchdowns. His first season in the NFL started out on the practice squad, but Kalinic was eventually promoted to the active roster last year. He failed to register any stats on offense but started two of seven appearances in Indianapolis. He was waived by the team back in May. Kalinic will have to work for snaps in a crowded tight end room led by Tyler Higbee and including Brycen Hopkins, Hunter Long, and rookies Davis Allen and Christian Sims.