Latest On Seahawks’ CBs Room
The cornerback position group in Seattle is one of the more intriguing in the NFL this year. The Seahawks look to put together a formidable group of corners with last year’s trade acquisition, a veteran attempting a comeback, and two mid-round rookies. 
With D.J. Reed leaving for the Jets, Tre Flowers to the Bengals, and Bless Austin in Denver, the Seahawks return only three cornerbacks who started games in 2021 for the team: Sidney Jones, Tre Brown, and John Reid. To fill out the roster, Seattle brought in Artie Burns as a free agent and drafted Cincinnati’s Coby Bryant and Texas-San Antonio’s Tariq Woolen in back-to-back rounds.
Jones was a second-round pick out of Washington back in 2017 for Philadelphia. He only appeared in one game of his rookie season due to an Achilles injury, but received a Super Bowl ring as a member of the Eagles. A nagging hamstring injury kept him from consistently contributing during his sophomore season, but he was able to start four games that year for Philadelphia. An injury to starter Ronald Darby gave Jones an opportunity in Year 3, but another hamstring injury sidelined him and Jones was cut just prior to the 2020 season having only started eight games for the Eagles.
Jones signed with Jacksonville and started six games for the Jaguars, but, once again, injuries held him out of multiple games. The Jaguars extended his contract in March 2021 just to trade Jones five month later to the Seahawks. In Seattle, Jones finally found himself healthy, appearing in all but one game and starting 11. Jones is currently taking some time off the field after sustaining a concussion in practice, but he is is expected to return to a starting role in 2022.
Burns is the other cornerback running with the ones this offseason. Burns is a former first-round pick that many in Pittsburgh will regard as a bit of a disappointment. Burns started his career in Pittsburgh as the No. 3 cornerback behind William Gay and Ross Cockrell. He eventually replaced fellow rookie Sean Davis as the starting nickelback and, in his first career start, picked off Joe Flacco for the Steelers’ first interception by a defensive back that season. Burns was a full-time starter in his second season before losing playing time to Davis, Coty Sensabaugh, Mike Hilton, and Cameron Sutton over the next two years. Pittsburgh declined Burns’ fifth-year option and allowed him to walk in free agency.
Burns signed with the Bears but was carted off the practice field with a torn ACL weeks before the season started. He re-signed with the Bears and, after getting small morsels of special teams snaps in the team’s first 10 games, Burns started six of Chicago’s final seven games last season. Following the dismantling of the Bears’ coaching staff after the 2021 season, Burns followed former Bears defensive coordinator Sean Desai to Seattle, where Desai would take the role of associate head coach/defensive assistant. Seattle seemed to notice how Burns was progressing in Desai’s defense and decided that bringing him in could certainly benefit the Seahawks secondary.
“We still feel like he is an ascending player and, sure enough, he has familiarity with the scheme from being in Chicago last year,” defensive coordinator Clint Hurtt said, via Bob Condotta of the Seattle Times. “You’ve seen that benefit pay off since he has been here. He has great command, helps out the young guys.”
Although Jones and Burns will slot in as the starters going into the season, Burns’ influence on “the young guys” is crucial as first- and second-year players fill out the depth chart just behind them. Brown is entering his second season out of Oklahoma. Brown’s rookie season saw two separate stints on injured reserve, but he started three of the five games he appeared in. Add to the roster the two rookies, Bryant and Woolen. Bryant was a playmaker for the Bearcats en route to winning last year’s Jim Thorpe Award for the best defensive back in college football. Woolen made the switch from wide receiver to cornerback while with the Roadrunners. He put together a productive college career but really shot up draft boards with a 4.26 40-yard dash time and a 42-inch vertical at the NFL Combine. All three will play significant roles in the Seahawks secondary, along with veteran free agent addition Justin Coleman.
Rounding out the current roster is Reid, former Cowboys’ fifth-round pick Mike Jackson, and undrafted rookies Elijah Jones and Josh Valentine-Turner. With a top six of Jones, Burns, Brown, Bryant, Woolen, and Coleman, it’s going to be a tough run for Reid, Jackson, Jones, or Valentine-Turner to make the final roster. After spending last year with the Seahawks, Reid may be in the best position to push Coleman for a spot, but Coleman has seniority and experience over Reid.
An injury-riddled Washington native returning as starter, a fallen star from Miami looking for a resurgence, and a host of young go-getters with everything to prove, this secondary is a bit of an island of misfit toys. The Seahawks may need some minor miracles on offense to put them in playoff contention, though, which means it’s the perfect time to experiment with some interesting projects, like they are at cornerback, to see what they can make work.
AFC North Rumors: Pickett, Ravens, Boykin
It appears that the Steelers‘ quarterback job is Mitchell Trubisky‘s to lose and, according to Jeremy Fowler of ESPN, rookie first-round pick Kenny Pickett is not quite ready to push Trubisky for the role.
Pittsburgh has been riding with Trubisky as the first-team quarterback for much of the offseason with incumbent backup Mason Rudolph as the primary second stringer. While it’s become quite trendy for rookie quarterbacks to start from Day 1, Pittsburgh has stayed patient with Pickett with no plans of rushing him into the starting role.
Rudolph has proven to be better competition for Trubisky early in the preseason and has truly made things interesting. In order for him to overtake Trubisky on the depth chart, though, he’d likely have to be near perfect this preseason and will need Trubisky to fall off.
Pickett in the meantime will have this time to grow and mature at the NFL level. He still may be the quarterback of the future in Pittsburgh, but he’ll have to take the old-fashioned route of sitting and learning before he gets his opportunity on the field.
Here are a few other rumors from around the AFC North, starting with a rumor from the rival Ravens:
- When considering Baltimore’s weakest position groups, wide receiver and pass rusher are the two most often mentioned. But the Ravens‘ lack of depth at inside linebacker could cause them to reach out for some help, according to Jeff Zrebiec at The Athletic. With Patrick Queen and Josh Bynes sitting out the team’s first preseason game last night, Malik Harrison and Kristian Welch saw initial snaps with the defense. Several undrafted rookies came in after that. Without even considering that the combination of Queen and Bynes is not the scariest inside linebacker duo, that depth is concerning. Zrebiec suggests the easy answer is a reunion with free agent L.J. Fort who has spent most of the last three seasons with Baltimore. If things look desperate, though, a call could always be made for a price-check on Bears’ disgruntled linebacker Roquan Smith.
- In a question and answer this week, The Athletic’s Mark Kaboly addressed the potential roster outlook at receiver for the Steelers this year. With the depth chart topped by Diontae Johnson, Chase Claypool, George Pickens, and Calvin Austin III, the question was brought up who slots in as the team’s fifth-receiver. Kaboly threw out an idea suggesting that if Austin can serve double-duty as a return-man, that could affect the roster status of Anthony Miller, Cody White, or Gunner Olszewski. But he was adamant that offseason waiver claim Miles Boykin would not be making the final roster. While Kaboly states there in an array of reasons for this certainty, he points to salary as the main one. The Steelers picked up Boykin with his rookie contract from the Ravens. The final year of that deal is set to pay Boykin $2.54MM with a $2.75MM cap hit.
Minor NFL Transactions: 8/12/22
Today’s minor transactions:
Buffalo Bills
- Activated from active/PUP list: DT Eli Ankou
Carolina Panthers
- Placed on IR: CB Devin Jones
Chicago Bears
- Released from IR with injury settlement: LB C.J. Avery
Houston Texans
- Released from IR with injury settlement: WR Davion Davis
Indianapolis Colts
- Released: OT Jason Spriggs
Las Vegas Raiders
- Signed: CB Nate Brooks
- Placed on IR: CB Cre’Von LeBlanc
New Orleans Saints
- Released from IR with injury settlement: CB Dylan Mabin
Philadelphia Eagles
- Placed on IR: WR Keric Wheatfall
Pittsburgh Steelers
- Placed on IR: WR Javon McKinley
San Francisco 49ers
- Released from IR with injury settlement: S Leon O’Neal
Tennessee Titans
- Released from IR with injury settlement: OL Daniel Munyer
Latest On Jimmy Garoppolo’s Trade Market
While 49ers quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo continues to recover from shoulder surgery, San Francisco is doing all they can to ensure they don’t give away their former starter for too much of a bargain. While the team permitted Garoppolo to seek a trade, they’re willing to wait until roster cut-down day to move him, in order to get a maximum value, reports Ian Rapoport of NFL Network. 
According to Rapoport, there just isn’t a perfect trade partner out there right now for Garoppolo to go to. When looking out at the quarterback rooms across the NFL, there isn’t really any team struggling enough to field a starting quarterback that they’d be willing to take on Garoppolo’s salary.
There are teams like the Falcons, who don’t have an ideal starting quarterback. Atlanta will employ Marcus Mariota as QB1 despite the fact that he hasn’t started a game since losing the Titans’ job to Ryan Tannehill in 2019. Some might think that it’d be worth it to bring in Garoppolo who, in the two full seasons he’s started, amassed a win-loss record of 22-9 and took San Francisco to the NFC championship game both years. But Atlanta likely isn’t willing to shell out $24MM for the last year of Garoppolo’s contract. Especially when Mariota has shown the ability to win games over his career and, even if Mariota is unsuccessful, he may just prove to be a stopgap to give rookie third-round pick Desmond Ridder time to adjust to the NFL.
The Steelers are in a similar boat to the Falcons. Pittsburgh will utilize Mitchell Trubisky as a starter as Kenny Pickett grows into an NFL starter. The Panthers were in a similar boat, starting Sam Darnold with Matt Corral waiting in the wings, before they made the move for Baker Mayfield, who is still on his much more team-friendly rookie contract.
The Seahawks are a team who would instantly improve with the addition of Garoppolo. He would provide an upgrade to either Geno Smith or Drew Lock, but Seattle has made it abundantly clear that they are fine moving forward with the Smith-Lock quarterback battle. What’s more likely is that they would prefer their current situation over having to take on Garoppolo’s contract.
There are a couple other teams out there who have a starting quarterback in place, but they are either a short-term veteran without much of a backup plan or a young starter who may not have the franchise totally convinced yet.
For the former scenario, we look at the Colts and Rams. Indianapolis brought in former Falcons’ franchise quarterback Matt Ryan, in exchange for a third-round pick, to be their starter. Ryan is six seasons removed from his MVP season and five seasons removed from his last winning record. Behind the 37-year-old Ryan is 33-year-old Nick Foles and unproven youngsters Sam Ehlinger and Jack Coan. Bringing in the 30-year-old, proven starter, Garoppolo, could put an end to the Colts’ one-year rental system at quarterback that they’ve been employing in recent years. But, seemingly, the price tag of $24MM is too much to pay for the potential of longevity at the quarterback position.
As for the Rams, don’t get mad. It’s understood that Matthew Stafford won them a Super Bowl just last year and they rewarded him with a four-year extensions, but, hear me out: he’s 34 years old. While he is a perfectly serviceable quarterback for now, to call him a plan for the future would just be unrealistic. Beyond Stafford, the Rams roster John Wofford, Bryce Perkins, and Luis Perez. Adding Garoppolo would be a plan for the long-term future of the team, but Los Angeles is likely to balk at taking on Garoppolo’s contract just for him to sit until Stafford is done playing.
For the teams with young talent who have yet to convince their teams they’re legit, we have the Lions, the Texans, the Giants, the Dolphins, and the Eagles. Now, in Detroit, Goff is a veteran at this point, but is still only 27-years-old. He’s shown plenty of winning ability during his six-year career but struggled to find success after leaving a talented Rams team for the Lions. The Texans have expressed their full faith in Davis Mills, who started 11 games for Houston last year as a rookie. Mills struggled to find team success, but showed promised as a starting quarterback late in the season, enough so to prevent the Texans from using either of their two first-round picks (or any of their nine total draft picks) on a quarterback. Detroit and Houston are in the unfortunate position of having little-to-no reliable depth at quarterback, which could leave them in extremely uncomfortable positions if either starter fails to progress or gets injured.
The Giants, Dolphins, and Eagles all have young starters, too, but they all have a decent backup option as a potential safeguard. The Giants will head into Year 4 with Daniel Jones under center but have veteran Tyrod Taylor to back him up. The Dolphins are still experimenting with Tua Tagovailoa but they roster veteran Teddy Bridgewater as a backup option. And Philadelphia is rolling with Jalen Hurts but have another youngster with starting experience behind him in Gardner Minshew.
All five of those teams would love to have Garoppolo come in as a failsafe to make sure that they can win football games if their young starters fail to develop. But none of them need that assurance badly enough to warrant taking on his cap hit.
So the 49ers wait. They realize that, right now, the only way they’re going to be able to exchange Garoppolo is by giving up value. That could mean eating some of Garoppolo’s contract to make the deal more palatable or realizing less of a return in the trade. Regardless, San Francisco has been adamant about getting Garoppolo’s worth.
They wait and will continue to wait because a lot can happen before the roster cut deadline. Any team could experience an extremely unfortunate season-ending injury to their starting quarterback, and, if that occurs, Garoppolo’s value shoots right back up. It’s a waiting game in the Bay Area, and they are nothing if not patient.
NFL Workout Updates: 8/7/22
Here’s a look at some of the notable workouts from around the league this weekend:
- The Colts auditioned four linebackers this weekend, bringing in Aaron Hansford, Justin Hilliard, Dorian O’Daniel, and Kadofi Wright, according to Joel A. Erickson of the Indy Star. This is likely a search for camp bodies and shouldn’t say much as to Darius Leonard‘s availability for the regular season.
- The Ravens worked out defensive backs Ken Crawley, Darryl Roberts, and Daryl Worley this weekend, according to ESPN’s Field Yates. Worley actually spent the end of last season on Baltimore’s practice squad, so he has some familiarity with the system. It wouldn’t be a surprise to see the Ravens bring in some bodies to play more snaps in the preseason after watching multiple players go down with season-ending injuries before the season even began last year.
- The Dolphins spent their weekend trying out centers Cohl Cabral, Jake Lacina, and Cole Toner, according to Aaron Wilson of Pro Football Network. Miami has been adamant about bringing in center competition for last year’s starter, Michael Deiter, but has ended up shifting former Cowboys tackle Connor Williams to the position. Even with Williams taking the starting role, Deiter is still dealing with a foot injury. The Dolphins may be looking to add some depth to shoulder the load for the rest of the preseason.
- The Chiefs, who recently signed former USFL wide receiver Devin Gray, also worked out receivers Matt Cole and Damion Willis., according to Wilson. Willis was an undrafted free agent in 2019 who started for the Bengals in Week 1 of his rookie season in place of an injured A.J. Green. He finished that season with 9 catches for 82 yards and has been bouncing around practice squads ever since.
Browns RB Kareem Hunt Requests Trade
Aug. 7: It sounds as if Hunt has made a formal trade request, per Cabot. As expected, the Browns maintain that they have no intention of honoring that request. Jonathan Jones of CBS Sports believes this situation could end with a pay increase for Hunt (Twitter link), and Jeremy Fowler of ESPN.com says Hunt would have trade value if Cleveland does choose to explore that option (Twitter link). Per Fowler, some evaluators consider Hunt a top-10 RB talent.
Aug. 6: There have been questions concerning running back Kareem Hunt‘s future with the Browns going into a contract year dating back to the early months of the offseason. It didn’t initially seem like there was any drama as both parties were taking a bit of a lackadaisical approach to negotiations that seemed inevitable, but now, with the regular season breathing down his neck, Hunt appears to be acting more boldly. Hunt sat out of team drills for the second consecutive practice today, according to Josina Anderson of CBS Sports, telling the Browns he only plans on participating in individual drills. 
Reports in May described the contract situation as up in the air, positing that, if the two parties failed to deal with negotiations before camp, it would likely decrease the odds of Hunt staying in Cleveland past this year. Only a week later, further reports claimed that, despite the lack of certainty concerning his future, Hunt was “still very much in the Browns’ plans for this season,” saying that the team had no plans of dealing or releasing Hunt due to the lack of substantive extension negotiations.
It took a couple more weeks before Hunt finally voiced his opinion that he wanted to re-sign with the Browns, desiring an extension but choosing to take things “day by day” in mid-June. Upon reaching full health soon after, Hunt made further comments toward his contract situation.
“I hope I get paid,” Hunt said. “So you know, whatever they decide, they know I’m going to come out there and give it my all and I’ll do whatever I can to help the team win.”
That apparently only applies to the regular season, considering Hunt’s new preseason plans. The two recent “partial hold-ins” were “the first time since training camp that Hunt didn’t participate” in team drills. Cleveland is able to, and likely will, subject him to fines for his lack of participation.
Hunt’s agent was reportedly at the Browns’ facility earlier this week, presumably to work on a potential new deal for the 27-year-old. According to Anderson, members of the team have said that “he wants to get paid or traded.” The belief is that he would truly prefer to remain in Cleveland, he just wants to be paid what he’s worth.
The Browns were fine slow-playing a new deal for Hunt after he missed nine games last year between injuries and COVID-19. Because of the missed time and how the second year of his contract is set up, it made sense that Cleveland would be okay allowing Hunt to play out his contract year and revisit a new contract after the season. They seemed to be taking their lead from Hunt, but now, with Hunt’s new decision to be more vocal about his desires, they’re in the uncomfortable position of having to deal with negotiations in the weeks leading up to the regular season.
As a native of Willoughby, OH, Hunt made it known recently that he would like to eventually end his career in Cleveland, according to Mary Kay Cabot of cleveland.com. Unfortunately for Hunt, he doesn’t hold much leverage. A plethora of running backs who can contribute and a contract that doesn’t much penalize the team for waiting stacks the deck against Hunt.
Hunt is expected to be the Browns’ No.2 running back behind star running back Nick Chubb. D’Ernest Johnson and Demetric Felton both had opportunities to show their stuff in Hunt’s absence last year, and rookie fifth-round pick Jerome Ford has shown some serious potential coming into the league. The combination of contributing running backs has the potential to make Hunt redundant, especially if he decides to continue holding out.
Hunt certainly has the talent to be a starting running back in this league, as displayed during his rookie year in Kansas City, and he likely wants to get paid like it. Unfortunately, the situation is against him, so he’s taken to drastic measures in order to try to achieve his means. With the first preseason game for Cleveland six days away and the regular season starting in just over a month, time is running out for the two parties to come to terms.
Latest On Panthers’ QB Situation
The Panthers have one of the league’s only quarterback competitions this summer and plan to draw it out a bit longer. Carolina doesn’t plan on making what head coach Matt Rhule calls a “major decision” on any position battles until after the team’s second preseason game on August 19, according to David Newton of ESPN. This, of course, includes the starting quarterback battle between incumbent Sam Darnold and trade acquisition Baker Mayfield. 
Darnold’s debut season in Carolina was the worst of his career according to Pro Football Focus (subscription required). PFF has consistently graded Darnold among the worst NFL quarterbacks, ranking him 29th, 31st, and 35th in his first three seasons in New York. He continued his downward trajectory ranking as the 36th out of 37 ranked quarterbacks last year, finishing only over Ben Roethlisberger.
Mayfield, on the other hand, graded out very poorly in 2021 (30th out of 37), but has seen success in his healthier seasons in Cleveland, even taking them to the playoffs and earning their first postseason win since the 1994 NFL season in 2020. His career has been a rollercoaster celebrating the ups of his 2018 and 2020 seasons while stomaching the downs of his 2019 and 2021 seasons. Still, that’s two more impressive seasons than his competitor has seen in the NFL and should give him an initial edge.
Mayfield is the expected leader in the race right now based on that past success. The two have split reps on first and second team down the middle this summer, giving both a chance to work with the ones. At some point, though, the Panthers staff is going to want to give somebody more first team reps in preparation to be the Panthers’ starting quarterback for the regular season. Rhule seems to imply that a decision could ultimately be pushed even closer to the start of the season.
“I’m not putting a timetable on the quarterback position until after we get back from Patriots week,” Rhule explained after today’s scrimmage. “The Patriots week is a true litmus test for us. That will really show us where guys are.”
In addition to the QB1 battle, there are a couple of other positions that have battles to be decided after the team’s time in Foxborough. Wide receiver Terrace Marshall is expected to take a big step in his second season and push Robby Anderson for the WR2 spot behind D.J. Moore. The return of cornerback Jaycee Horn presents a logjam atop the depth chart of the position. The Panthers will have to decide if they like Horn or last year’s trade acquisition C.J. Henderson on the outside. If they choose Horn, Henderson will have to compete with Keith Taylor in the slot. In they choose Henderson on the outside, Horn will likely man the slot.
It will be interesting to see how Carolina approaches the third preseason game. The last game of the preseason is traditionally a game full of backups and roster bubble guys as the starters tend to rest in order to prevent injury. If the Panthers are waiting until that game to make crucial depth chart decisions, they may be forced to give the finalized first string some reps together in their last game action before the regular season. Regardless, it sounds like Panthers fans will have to wait until late August to know exactly what the Panthers’ depth chart will look like.
USFL WR Devin Gray Signs With Chiefs
Wide receiver Devin Gray will dip his toes into the NFL waters for the third time after signing a one-year deal with Kansas City, according to Ian Rapoport of NFL Network. The former Cincinnati Bearcat most recently played in the United States Football League and is the latest player from that league to sign an NFL contract.
Gray signed with the Falcons as an undrafted free agent in 2018. He spent three years on the team’s practice squad before finally being elevated to the active roster in the last regular season game of the 2020 season, still failing to find his way onto the field in that game. After participating in the short-lived The Spring League, Gray joined the Ravens for the summer of 2021, getting released from the practice squad early into the regular season. After failing to find another NFL job, Gray got selected in the USFL Draft and played eight games for the Philadelphia Stars, catching 25 passes for 210 yards and two touchdowns.
Gray has some work ahead of him to make the Chiefs’ final 53-man roster. While Kansas City’s receiving corps isn’t exactly top-heavy, it has a decent amount of potential depth. The starting three are expected to be free agent addition JuJu Smith-Schuster, Mecole Hardman, and another free agent signing in Marquez Valdes-Scantling. Behind them veteran Josh Gordon provides his skill set as long as he can stay on the field, second-round pick Skyy Moore will make the jump from Western Michigan to the NFL, and Justin Watson comes over after four unproductive years in Tampa Bay. Still behind them is former first-round pick Corey Coleman and a few other receivers who stood out in college like Daurice Fountain, Cornell Powell, and Gary Jennings.
That’s a lot of traffic for Gray to maneuver, and it will certainly be an uphill battle for the 27-year-old as he attempts to make an active NFL roster for only the second time in his career.
Injury Rumors: Evans, Pringle, Linderbaum, Savage, McKethan
As practices start to ramp up leading into the preseason, injuries are starting to rear their ugly heads. Here are a few rumors on injuries we’ve seen so far:
- It appears that Buccaneers wide receiver Mike Evans has suffered a minor hamstring injury, according to Jenna Laine of ESPN. Laine reports that, despite a history of nagging hamstring issues, this minor injury will be no threat to Evans’ Week 1 status. Hamstring injuries caused Evans to miss a game last season and forced him to injured reserve in Week 14 of the 2019 season. Evans has shown incredible resiliency, as the 13 games played in 2019 were the least he’s ever played in a season. He’s had a strong history of never letting injuries keep him out for long and never keeping him from reaching the 1,000-yard receiving mark.
- Wide receiver Byron Pringle joined the Bears after a bit of a breakout season with the Chiefs last year. Chicago head coach Matt Eberflus told reporters that, unfortunately, Pringle’s debut with the Bears may be a little delayed, according to Brad Biggs of the Chicago Tribune. The fourth-year receiver out of Kansas State suffered a quad injury that Eberflus says will cause him to “be out for some time.” Pringle’s only history with injuries in the NFL came two years ago when he spent three weeks on injured reserve with an ankle injury.
- One of the Ravens’ two first-round picks, center Tyler Linderbaum suffered a lower leg injury this week that should hold him out for a short time, according to ESPN’s Jamison Hensley. “It’s not a serious thing,” head coach John Harbaugh explained after Friday’s practice. “It’s going to be probably at least a week…It could be two weeks. We’ll see.” Linderbaum, the first ever center that Baltimore has utilized a first-round pick on, is expected to take the starting job as a rookie and will play a large role in a comeback season for a Ravens team that saw their 2020 season derailed by a litany of season-ending injuries.
- While trying to cover wide receiver Amari Rodgers in one-on-ones yesterday, Packers safety Darnell Savage suffered a hamstring injury and was forced to sit out the rest of practice, according to Adam Schefter of ESPN. Savage downplayed the severity of the injury when talking to reporters. “I don’t think it’s a concern,” Savage said. “It’s a fast-people injury. Some of those things you can’t avoid. I’ll just handle it the right way…and I’ll be alright.”
- Giants fifth-round pick Marcus McKethan suffered an ACL injury yesterday and will be out for his entire rookie season, according to Field Yates of ESPN. The offensive guard out of North Carolina was a reserve depth piece on New York’s line and was not expected to have much of an impact during his first NFL season, but a season-ending injury to any of a team’s players is never good news.
Bears, Browns Sign Two Former USFL Stars
Two star defenders from the 2022 United States Football League’s inaugural season signed NFL contracts today. DeMarquis Gates, considered one of the top linebackers in the USFL this spring, has signed with the Bears, according to Matt Lombardo of Heavy Sports. Edge rusher Chris Odom, the reigning Defensive Player of the Year for the USFL, signed today with the Browns, according to Aaron Wilson of Pro Football Network.
Gates has dipped his toe in the NFL before, spending offseason or practice squad time with Cleveland, Washington, and Minnesota. In between all of those stints and now, Gates played in the Alliance of American Football in 2019, the XFL in 2020, and the Canadian Football League in 2021, before dominating in the USFL this past spring. His persistence in sticking with professional football no matter the league could pay off with his newest NFL opportunity.
The Bears cupboard is fairly thin at linebacker behind Roquan Smith after losing Alec Ogletree to free agency and trading away Khalil Mack. Chicago responded to the losses by bringing former Raiders linebacker Nicholas Morrow and former Colts linebacker Matthew Adams. Neither have extensive full-time starting experience and Morrow, who has the greater amount of starting experience, didn’t play at all in 2021 due to a foot injury. If Gates can impress in the preseason, not only could he snag a roster spot, he could earn a key role on the Bears’ defense.
After earning the Defensive Player of the Year award for the USFL this spring, Odom has been auditioning all over the NFL, taking workouts with the Bengals, Cardinals, Chiefs, Saints, and Texans, before eventually acing the workout with the Browns. Odom has a bit more NFL experience, racking up 16 tackles in 11 games played. Odom spent offseason and practice squad time with the Falcons in 2017 and 2019, getting waived after both stints and finding his way to NFL action immediately after both times. In 2017, Odom signed with the Packers and got six tackles over seven games. In 2019, Odom signed with Washington and got 10 tackles and 2.0 sacks in just four games. In between those opportunities, Odom spent time in the AAF in 2018 and the CFL in 2021 before dominating USFL offenses. Odom, like Gates, is now being given an opportunity to be a golden example of what happens when you don’t give up on your NFL dreams.
Cleveland famously has two of the league’s better pass rushers in Myles Garrett and Jadeveon Clowney. The two combined for over half of the Browns’ sacks last year with 25.0. The depth behind Garrett and Clowney is not ideal, though, with rookie third-round pick Alex Wright and former Vikings defensive end Stephen Weatherly as the primary backups on the depth chart. Odom has a real opportunity to find his way into the pass rushing rotation after leading the USFL with 12.5 sacks this past spring.
The USFL is striving to do what many other fledging leagues have attempted: cement their status as a minor league to the NFL. If top performers like Gates and Odom can find their way onto NFL rosters and into key roles, it could say a lot about the staying power of the USFL as a potential feeder-league.