AFC West Notes: Crabtree, Penn, Stewart, Iger
After betting on himself during the 2015 offseason, signing a modest one-year deal in the hopes of having a big season and increasing his value, Raiders wideout Michael Crabtree is happy to have a new extension in place, which will keep him from worrying about dealing with the free agent market again this winter.
“It’s always nice to get it done, right?” Crabtree said on Thursday, according to Scott Bair of CSNBayArea.com. “That way we can just go play football. You ain’t worried about where you’re going to be next year and all that stuff. It’s pretty neat to know you’re wanted and you want to be on a team and you’re here.”
Here’s more on Crabtree’s new contract, along with some other items out of the AFC West:
- Ian Rapoport of NFL.com has a few more specific details on Crabtree’s four-year deal with the Raiders, tweeting that it can be worth up to $35.2MM, with a base value of $34MM. The pact doesn’t include a signing bonus, but Crabtree will make $11MM in 2016 and a total of $18MM by 2017. That $18MM is guaranteed for injury, according to Bair.
- As Bair details at CSNBayArea.com, veteran defensive back Charles Woodson believes Crabtree’s new contract – and his decision to stay with Oakland – is a sign that this isn’t the same old Raiders. “That’s great, because you hear that people don’t want to come to Oakland, that they don’t want to play here,” Woodson said. “Things are starting to change. With Crabtree signing his deal, other free agents will take notice once that time comes around. They’ll want to know why he wanted to stick around and play in Oakland. He’ll be a great ambassador for guys who are undecided.”
- Could left tackle Donald Penn be the next Raiders player to sign an extension? He’s not focusing on a deal right now, but says he’d like to spend the rest of his career in Oakland, as Bill Williamson of ESPN.com writes.
- Safety Darian Stewart doesn’t have Pro Bowl nods on his resume, like many of his fellow defensive backs in Denver, but the Broncos coaching staff has referred to him as the quarterback of the secondary, and his contract is looking like one of the bargains of the 2015 free agent period. Arnie Stapleton of The Associated Press has the story.
- Earlier today, we rounded up several quotes from Disney CEO Bob Iger on the Carson stadium proposal put forth by the Chargers and Raiders. Scott M. Reid of the Orange County Register has a few more comments from Iger, who says a Carson stadium would be well-positioned to attract football fans from Orange County.
Washington Signs Pierre Thomas; Paea To IR
Washington has officially added veteran running back Pierre Thomas to its roster, the team announced today in a press release. The club has placed defensive tackle Stephen Paea on the injured reserve list in order to create space on the 53-man squad to sign Thomas.
Thomas, who turns 31 next Friday, spent the first eight seasons of his NFL career with the Saints, but saw his 2014 campaign derailed by injuries and by an increasing workload for Mark Ingram, who received many of the carries that would have gone to Thomas in past years. Before he finished the season on injured reserve, Thomas ran for 222 yards on 45 attempts, both career-low totals. He did remain fairly involved in the passing game, however, grabbing 45 balls out of the backfield.
The longtime Saint had a brief stint with the Niners this season, but was released by San Francisco after just one game. In Washington, he’ll likely get a chance to see some snaps on third downs, with running back Chris Thompson battling a torn labrum in his shoulder. Thomas will join a backfield that also features Alfred Morris and rookie Matt Jones.
As for Paea, the former Bear started just one game for Washington this season after getting 40 starts in his previous three years in Chicago. While his part-time role limited his overall numbers (19 tackles, 2.5 sacks), Paea was solid during his time on the field, ranking as Pro Football Focus‘ 45th interior defensive lineman, out of 128 qualified players.
Paea, whose toe injury landed him on IR, is under contract for a $3.3MM salary and a $4.7MM cap hit in 2016, and Washington would create less than $1MM in cap savings by cutting him, so he looks like a good bet to return next year.
Bob Iger Talks Los Angeles, Carson, Inglewood
The Carson stadium proposal put forth by the Raiders and Chargers got a big boost earlier this fall when Disney CEO Bob Iger came aboard. Iger, who became attached to the project a month ago, will only officially take over as the chairman of Carson Holdings if NFL owners vote to approve the Carson proposal, which would relocate the Raiders and Chargers to Los Angeles. However, he’s already involved in the planning process, and spoke to reporters on Thursday about the latest developments. Here are a few highlights from the Disney CEO, via Ramona Shelbourne of ESPNLosAngeles.com:
On why he decided to become involved with the Carson proposal, rather than the Inglewood plan:
“First of all, I believe in the two-team concept. This is a great market in Los Angeles, and it hasn’t had football for a long time. I’m convinced that not only can it sustain two teams, but if you’re going to bring football back to Los Angeles, do it in a big way, and two is twice as big as one. Why not give the fans real choice in terms of the teams they want to root for? It also enables the creation of a stadium that is affordable but also very exciting. It just makes such a loud statement about the NFL being back to Los Angeles. I like that. … I also thought that the concept for Carson and the choice of location was attractive and unique from a variety of different perspectives. It was an easy thing for me to get behind.”
On the possibility of leaving Disney in 2018 and potentially buying a minority stake in either the Chargers or Raiders:
“This is a great job, and it’s one I don’t want to give up quickly. But I have decided that 2018, I will have been in this job for 13 years at that point, it’ll be time. I am looking to have a variety of different activities post-Disney. I love the sport of football. I like the NFL a lot. I thought this would be a great opportunity for me to use the dozens of years of expertise that I have in entertainment and in sports and apply myself in a different way.”
On what his role would be if the Carson projects gets approved:
“I’m really working, should they get the approval, to shape the project. That’s everything from the fan experience to how the stadium will be programmed to repositioning the teams both physically and from a brand perspective to the Los Angeles market. Bringing my knowledge of site-based entertainment and customer/user interface and my knowledge of Southern California to the project.”
On the likelihood of the Carson or Inglewood plan getting approval:
“There is not much leeway. If the decision is not made soon, neither team will be able to relocate. … [But] I get a strong sense, and I actually have some optimism, that there is true momentum. While I can’t guarantee that it will happen, I feel pretty good about the prospects about the NFL finally reaching a decision and moving the NFL back to such a great city.”
Browns Sign Gary Barnidge To Extension
FRIDAY, 9:09am: Barnidge’s three-year deal is worth $12.3MM, with just over $5.5MM in guaranteed money, tweets Mike Garafolo of FOX Sports.
THURSDAY, 3:25pm: Barnidge’s new deal is a three-year contract, a source tells Pat McManamon of ESPN.com. Ian Rapoport of NFL.com adds (via Twitter) that it’s worth north of $12MM.
1:31pm: The Browns’ extension with Barnidge is now official. The tight end himself took to Twitter to announce the deal, posting a photo of himself putting pen to paper.
12:04pm: The Browns are moving toward locking up one of their top pass catchers to an extension, keeping him off the free agent market, reports Jason La Canfora of CBSSports.com (via Twitter). According to La Canfora, a new deal for tight end Gary Barnidge and the Browns is “imminent.” Albert Breer of the NFL Network (Twitter link) confirms that the two sides are nearing a deal, adding that it could get done today.
Barnidge, 30, caught just 44 balls in 92 games with the Panthers and Browns between 2008 and 2014, after being selected in the fifth round of the 2008 draft by Carolina. However, he has blown away all his previous career highs this year, catching 60 balls for 817 yards and seven touchdowns in an increased role for the Browns.
Had he played out his contract, Barnidge would’ve been eligible for unrestricted free agency this offseason. Instead, it looks like he’ll continue to catch passes for the Browns in 2016 and beyond. Coming off a $1.2MM salary in 2015, the Louisville product will be in line for a significant raise on his new contract.
It’s not yet known what sort of deal the Browns and Barnidge are discussing, but I imagine the four-year, $18.5MM ($6.75MM) pact signed by Lance Kendricks earlier this year will be a point of reference. That deal put Kendricks just inside the league’s top 15 highest-paid tight ends, despite the fact that he had never caught more than 42 passes or four touchdowns in a season.
Based on his 2015 numbers, Barnidge probably deserves to be valued higher than that — perhaps even within the top 10, which would mean an annual salary of $7MM+. I imagine his age and his lack of a track record will limit Cleveland’s willingness to invest too heavily in him, but the Browns certainly have no shortage of future cap room, so it’ll be interesting to see how much the club is willing to commit to its breakout tight end.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
NFC Notes: Saunders, Donnell, Ingram, Packers
Wide receiver and return man Jalen Saunders, who is on the Bears‘ practice squad IR list, just finished serving a four-game suspension, but before he could even become eligible to return to Chicago’s active practice squad, he was hit with another penalty. According to Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (via Twitter), Saunders has now been suspended 10 games by the NFL for violating the league’s substance abuse policy.
The 10-game ban will mean that Saunders will miss the final four games of the 2015 season, as well as the first six games of next year. By that point, it’s hard to imagine that he’ll still be in the Bears’ plans at all, and it may be hard for the Oklahoma product, a Jets fourth-round pick in 2014, to find another team willing to take a shot on him.
Here’s more from around the NFC:
- Giants tight end Larry Donnell won’t play again this season, having been placed on injured reserve by the team. But at this point, there’s optimism that Donnell’s neck injury won’t be a long-term issue that impacts his career in future years, head coach Tom Coughlin said today (Twitter link via Paul Schwartz of the New York Post).
- Having been placed on injured reserve on Wednesday, Saints running back Mark Ingram will undergo surgery to repair his torn left rotator cuff, writes Evan Woodbery of the New Orleans Times-Picayune. Ingram is the second Saints running back to land on IR this season, joining Khiry Robinson on the list.
- Packers offensive lineman Matt Rotheram is the latest practice squad player to get a raise, according to Field Yates of ESPN.com. Yates tweets that Rotheram is now earning $25,588 per week, equivalent to what he’d earn as a minimum-salary player on the active roster. Green Bay likely bumped up the lineman’s salary after he received some interest from rival teams.
- British rugby player Tom Burgess will continue his NFL tour today with a workout for the Seahawks, according to Tom Pelissero of USA Today (Twitter link). Burgess has already auditioned for the Steelers, Giants, Jets, and Bills, and could be in line for a reserve/futures contract at season’s end.
Cary Williams Visiting Titans
Veteran cornerback Cary Williams is paying a visit to the Titans today, according to Aaron Wilson of the National Football Post. It’s the first free agent visit Williams has made since he was released by the Seahawks earlier this week, though we heard he had received interest from several teams, including the Rams.
After spending several seasons as a starting cornerback for the Ravens and Eagles, Williams signed a three-year, $18MM deal in March with the Seahawks, looking to step in as a replacement for departed free agent Byron Maxwell. However, the 30-year-old struggled this season, with Pro Football Focus ranking him 102nd out of 118 qualified cornerbacks. Williams was inactive for his final two games with Seattle before he was cut.
As for the Titans, their secondary has been affected by injuries, with Jason McCourty having landed on IR. The team could use a cornerback to add depth and to complement Perrish Cox and Coty Sensabaugh.
Browns Rumors: Benjamin, Barnidge, Roper
The Browns signed tight end Gary Barnidge to a contract extension today, and while the salary numbers on the deal aren’t yet known, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets that he believes Barnidge’s camp was targeting $4MM per year.
That would be a team-friendly price for a player who ranks among the NFL’s best tight ends in terms of catches, yards, and touchdowns this season. As I noted in our story on Barnidge’s extension, Lance Kendricks signed a four-year deal worth $4.625MM annually with the Rams in March, and he has never had a season nearly as productive as Barnidge’s 2015. On the other hand, the Browns tight end is 30 years old, and had only caught 44 balls in 92 career games coming into the season.
As we wait on the figures for Barnidge’s new contract, let’s round up a few more news items and notes from out of Cleveland….
- Another Browns pass catcher, wide receiver Travis Benjamin, indicated earlier in the season that he’d like to remain in Cleveland beyond this year, and the team has since engaged him in extension discussions. According to Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com and Nate Ulrich of the Akron Beacon Journal (Twitter links), Benjamin said today that he thinks he’s about 75% or 80% of the way to reaching a new deal with the Browns.
- Discussing his extension, Barnidge explained today that he decided not to test the open market because he wanted to repay the Browns for giving him a shot (Twitter link via Cabot). “I want to be part of the turnaround,” Barnidge said.
- According to Tony Grossi of ESPNCleveland.com, Browns owner Jimmy Haslam has conducted at least one meeting to discuss “how to pick up the broken shards left from the 2015 season.” Team president Alec Scheiner and general manager Ray Farmer were present at that meeting, says Grossi, within a piece examining Farmer’s track record as Browns GM.
- Browns senior offensive assistant Kurt Roper will finish the season with the team, but he’s on track to become South Carolina’s new offensive coordinator, Cleveland head coach Mike Pettine confirmed today (Twitter link via Ulrich).
- With the 49ers on the schedule for Cleveland this week, ex-Niners punter Andy Lee reflected on his time in San Francisco, praising the franchise for how it handled his traded to the Browns. Matt Maiocco of CSNBayArea.com has the story, along with Lee’s quotes.
Eagles Notes: McCoy, Bradford, Murray
It was one of the most fascinating trades of the NFL offseason, and now it’s the story that just won’t go away: with the Eagles preparing to face the Bills this weekend, Philadelphia’s decision to send LeSean McCoy to Buffalo back in March is a hot topic once again, with McCoy and Chip Kelly among those that have discussed the deal this week.
Continuing to get questions about the trade, Kelly told reporters today that the move was designed to free up cap space, and allowed the team to go after Sam Bradford, as Michael David Smith of Pro Football Talk details.
“We traded an outstanding running back for a linebacker, but we also traded $700K for $11.9MM,” Kelly said. “In this league, sometimes a guy signs a four-year, $45 million contract, but it’s two years at $16 million guaranteed, the rest of it isn’t, and the back end is really high. So you have to make decisions when guys aren’t in guaranteed years about what you’re going to do.
“So however you look at it, whether it gave us an opportunity to get somebody defensively with that extra money, or it gave us an opportunity because we had to free up money to get Sam,” Kelly continued. “It was a tough decision, but with all those guys we let go this year who were integral to my first two years here, those decisions were made by money. Those decisions weren’t made because we don’t think they’re good football players or we don’t think they’re good people.”
Here’s more on the Eagles:
- Per Zach Berman of the Philadelphia Inquirer (Twitter link), McCoy and the Eagles have a difference of opinion on whether it would’ve been possible to restructure his contract before the trade — according to Kelly, McCoy’s agent suggested reworking the contract wasn’t an option, but the running back says that possibility was never brought up.
- As Jeff McLane of the Philadelphia Inquirer tweets, it’s a case of he-said, he-said at this point, but McLane’s sources dispute Kelly’s claim that agent Drew Rosenhaus was unwilling to restructure McCoy’s deal.
- While the Eagles’ old running back is one subject of conversation leading up to this week’s game, their current running back is in the news as well. According to Jason Cole of Bleacher Report (video link), there are some NFL executives who believe DeMarco Murray has recognized he’s not a great fit for Kelly’s offense, and would like to return to Dallas. A trade is extremely unlikely though, so Murray would have to be cut for that scenario to be in play.
- For his part, Murray confirmed today to reporters that he spoke to owner Jeffrey Lurie about his role in Philadelphia, but he said he doesn’t regret signing with the Eagles, and definitely wants to be back next season (all Twitter links via Albert Breer of the NFL Network).
76ers Owners Interested In London NFL Franchise
The NFL has repeatedly maintained that having a franchise in London, England is something that remains in the league’s long-term plans. For now, the NFL appears content to increase the number of individual contests played per season in the U.K., but as that schedule expands, the league will get a better idea of whether it’s feasible to play games on consecutive weeks in London stadiums, and how it’ll work to have a team play back-to-back games overseas.
With that in mind, Philadelphia 76ers owners Josh Harris and David Blitzer are hoping to become the owners of the first NFL franchise in London, sources tell Mitch Lawrence of Forbes. According to Lawrence, the owners of the NBA’s last-place team have become major investors in the Crystal Palace Football Club in London to get to know the market and to get a footing in London. Eventually, the duo wants to make a bid to own an NFL expansion team in London.
The idea of getting an expansion team in London is easier said than done. In addition to all the roadblocks the NFL has to work through to determine whether it’s feasible to have one of its franchises play eight home games overseas, it’s not clear if the league is actually interested in expanding. The Jaguars have begun playing one home game per year in London in an attempt to create an overseas fanbase, and if the NFL decides to put a team in London, it may make more sense for Shad Khan‘s franchise – or another club – to relocate, to avoid expanding the league beyond 32 teams.
In any case, Harris and Blitzer seem to be devoting plenty of time, money, and effort to assessing the London market with an eye toward eventually owning an NFL team there. As they shift their focus overseas, their ownership in the NBA’s 76ers may become less of a priority, as Lawrence writes.
“They’re more interested in getting the NFL in London than they are in the NBA,” a source tells Lawrence. “Their No. 1 goal is to get the NFL team in London. They want to flip the Sixers anyway.”
The NFL, of course, is focusing on Los Angeles relocation in the short-term future, so there’s unlikely to be any progress on this situation anytime soon. But it looks like one worth monitoring in the coming years.
AFC East Notes: Schwartz, Workouts, Dolphins
While Rex Ryan has a reputation as a defensive-minded coach, the Bills have slipped to 26th in the NFL this year in defensive DVOA, during Ryan’s first year with the team. The disappointing performance from Buffalo’s defense reflects well on Jim Schwartz, who was the unit’s coordinator in 2014, when the Bills ranked second in the league in defensive DVOA, behind only Seattle. Schwartz decided to take a year off after he was replaced in Buffalo last winter, but veteran Rams coach Jeff Fisher thinks the former Lions coach deserves another shot at a head coaching job.
“Jim is deserving of another opportunity, you really just have to wait and see what happens,” Fisher said, per Michael Rothstein of ESPN.com. “That year in Buffalo with that defense, that was a pretty impressive job that he did and so I’ve stayed in touch with Jim, we’re good friends. … I can speak from experience as far as how important it is after coaching so long that if you get an opportunity to take a year off, take it. He’s done that, recharged and is ready to go. We’ll just wait and see what happens.”
As we wait to see whether the ex-Bills DC returns to the NFL’s coaching ranks in 2016, let’s round up a few notes out of the AFC East….
- Former UCF wide receiver J.J. Worton is getting plenty of looks from NFL teams now that he has fully recovered from the ACL injury that ended his college career. Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle tweets that the Patriots are the latest team to work out Worton, who also auditioned for the Packers and Bears.
- Wilson also passes along word of another free agent meeting, tweeting that former North Carolina Central guard Jovan Olafioye visited the Dolphins. Olafioye has played for the CFL’s B.C. Lions for the last several years, earning All-Star game nods in each of the last five seasons.
- Despite the fact that he signed a record-setting contract with the team as a free agent last offseason, Ndamukong Suh hasn’t become a “defining player” for the Dolphins, writes Armando Salguero of the Miami Herald. Salguero argues that the defensive tackle has been solid during his first season in Miami, but he hasn’t been the difference-making player the team expected. With Suh’s cap number set to jump to $28.6MM, the club will be banking on him making more of an impact going forward.
- It’s critical that the Dolphins get their next head coaching hire right, as Omar Kelly of the South Florida Sun Sentinel explains.