South Notes: Saints, Falcons, Colts, Ward
Saints general manager Mickey Loomis spoke to reporters today about his team’s draft plans, and took the opportunity to take a shot at one reporter who wasn’t involved in the presser. After Ian Rapoport of NFL.com suggested earlier this week that the Saints had a discussion about trading up to No. 1 before the Rams acquired the pick, Loomis said today that his club had “absolutely no conversations” with any teams at the top of the draft (Twitter link via Evan Woodbery of the New Orleans Times-Picayune). “Another miss by that reporter,” Loomis added.
It’s not the first time Loomis has been dismissive of a Rapoport report — last January, he asserted that Rapoport “has about a 30% accuracy rate if you pay attention to things he puts out there.” As I wrote when Rapoport first tweeted about the Saints’ talks for the No. 1 pick, it’s not clear whether he was suggesting the team actually spoke to the Titans about a deal, or simply had an internal discussion about the idea of moving up. Either way though, Loomis’ comments today confirm that New Orleans never seriously considered the possibility at all.
Let’s round up a few more items from across the NFL’s South divisions…
- Loomis did confirm today that the Saints were in the mix for Josh Norman before the standout cornerback ended up in Washington. “We made a strong offer,” the Saints GM said (Twitter link via Woodbery).
- The Saints are considered likely to select a quarterback at some point in this draft, and Loomis didn’t dispute that notion, telling reporters that his team looks into QB prospects every year. “I don’t see [this year] as being dramatically different,” Loomis said (Twitter link via Woodbery).
- While it remains to be seen which player the Falcons will draft in the first round, the team appears prepared to stand pat at No. 17, according to D. Orlando Ledbetter of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, who says the Falcons have no plans to trade down.
- Colts general manager Ryan Grigson and head coach Chuck Pagano had dinner with Illinois defensive lineman Jihad Ward last night, a source tells Ian Rapoport (Twitter link).
Jets Rumors: Wilkerson, WRs, Lynch, Hackenberg
Ever since he received the franchise tag from the Jets nearly two months ago, defensive lineman Muhammad Wilkerson has been considered a trade candidate, but with the draft right around the corner, there’s still no momentum toward a deal. According to Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (Twitter link), the club has fielded calls on Wilkerson, but there hasn’t been much action on that front.
At this point, a Wilkerson trade is considered unlikely, per Rapoport. That could always change — if a team misses out on its top defensive line target(s) on Thursday, perhaps that club puts a Friday pick on the table as part of a trade package for Wilkerson and the Jets like the offer. For now though, Gang Green is content to move forward with a very talented defender on the roster, says Rapoport.
Let’s check in on a few other draft-related Jets notes…
- The Jets may be targeting a wide receiver in the first round, according to Rapoport, who tweets that TCU’s Josh Doctson and Notre Dame’s Will Fuller are among the names to watch. That would be a surprising direction for New York, since the club already has a solid receiving corps and has more significant question marks elsewhere.
- Rich Cimini of ESPN.com is hearing that the Jets have cooled on Memphis quarterback Paxton Lynch, suggesting that Lynch is “too boom-or-bust to take a chance in the first round.” Cimini believes it’s more likely that the club will target Penn State’s Christian Hackenberg on day two of the draft.
- While the Jets would like to add an edge rusher, they may have to wait until the second round to address that spot, tweets Cimini, adding that Boise State’s Kamalei Correa is on the team’s radar.
Contract Details: Norman, Chester, Zuerlein
All eyes in the NFL world this week are on Thursday’s draft, but a handful of free agents recently signed contracts with teams, and we’ve got some specific details on those deals, courtesy of Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle. Let’s dive in…
- Josh Norman, CB (Washington): Five years, $75MM. $15MM signing bonus. Salaries of $5MM (2016), $16.5MM (2017), $13.5MM (2018), $11MM (2019), and $12MM (2020). 2016 and 2017 salaries fully guaranteed. 2018 salary guaranteed for injury only (fully guaranteed if on roster fifth day of 2018 league year). $500K annually in workout bonuses from 2017 to 2020. Annual $200K workout base de-escalator (Twitter links).
- Chris Chester, G (Falcons): One year, $2.35MM. $1.1MM base salary. $250K signing bonus. $1MM in total roster bonuses (Twitter link).
- Greg Zuerlein, K (Rams): One year, $1.25MM. $850K base salary ($250K guaranted). $400K signing bonus. Up to $2.05MM in incentives for field goal percentage, 50-yard field goals (Twitter link).
- Don Barclay, T (Packers): One year, $700K. $675K base salary. $25K workout bonus (Twitter link).
Draft Rumors: Spence, J. Smith, Rankins, Vikes
Eastern Kentucky edge defender Noah Spence, who had multiple positive drug tests during his time at Ohio State, sent each of the NFL’s 32 teams the results of the 20 drug tests he has taken since last May, league sources tell Adam Schefter of ESPN.com. According to Schefter, Spence had Eastern Kentucky conduct five drug tests from May through December, then submitted to 15 more – one per week – since January.
In terms of pure on-field talent, Spence is viewed as one of the top pass rushers in this year’s draft class, but his off-field question marks may cause him to slip a little further than he’d like. Still, he continues to be viewed as a first-round pick, and receiving evidence that he has been clean for the last year may make some teams a little more inclined to roll the dice on him.
Here are a few more of today’s pre-draft rumors and updates:
- Despite his significant knee injury, which is expected to sideline him for the entire 2016 season, Notre Dame linebacker Jaylon Smith is still viewed as a potential day-one or day-two pick, according to Adam Schefter (Twitter links). Schefter hears that Smith is likely to be selected before the end of round three, and one NFL head coach even believes the linebacker could come off the board late in the first round.
- The buzz surrounding Louisville defensive lineman Sheldon Rankins has intensified today. Jason La Canfora of CBSSports.com and Matt Miller of Bleacher Report (Twitter links) both have heard that Rankins will be considered as early as No. 4 by the Cowboys, with La Canfora predicting that he’ll end up as a top-10 pick. Tony Pauline at WalterFootball.com has heard that the draft stocks for both Rankins and Mississippi State DT Chris Jones have risen, with teams seeking interior pass rushers.
- Several NFL teams think Ohio State wideout Michael Thomas is being undervalued, and will transition well to the NFL, according to Tony Pauline, who says the Chargers and Bengals are among the teams with interest in Thomas. Pauline adds within the same article that the Vikings aren’t a lock to draft a receiver in round one, and will consider Ole Miss defensive lineman Robert Nkemdiche if he’s available.
- With Notre Dame’s Ronnie Stanley being mentioned in the same conversations as Laremy Tunsil recently, Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk looks into whether or not the Tunsil/Stanley debate is real.
- The NFL is considering Philadelphia and Los Angeles to host the 2017 NFL draft, with Philly emerging as the favorite, tweets Adam Schefter. As Schefter points out, neither of those cities’ teams has a first-round pick in 2017.
- Purdue defensive tackle Ryan Watson has visited, worked out for, or received inquiries from eight teams since his pro day, tweets Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle.
Zach Links contributed to this post.
Eagles Extend OL Dennis Kelly Through 2017
11:37am: Kelly’s deal includes $225K in fully guaranteed money, according to Adam Caplan of ESPN.com (Twitter links). Caplan writes that Kelly will have $150K of his 2016 base salary guaranteed, and will get a fully guaranteed $75K roster bonus in 2017.
10:51am: The Eagles’ offseason of extensions continues. After locking up several high-profile players earlier in the offseason, Philadelphia’s latest signing won’t turn many heads, but the team has extended the contract of offensive lineman Dennis Kelly by a year, according to Field Yates of ESPN.com (via Twitter).
Kelly, whose deal had been set to expire at the end of the 2016 season, will now be under contract through 2017. According to Yates, the 26-year-old’s new one-year extension is worth $880K in new money. Zach Berman of the Philadelphia Inquirer adds (via Twitter) that Kelly will receive a $775K base salary in 2017, which will represent the minimum salary for a player with his NFL experience.
A fifth-round pick out of Purdue in 2012, Kelly started 10 games for the Eagles in his rookie season, spending time at right guard and right tackle. Since then, however, he has battled injuries and has played primarily as a reserve, starting just five of the 17 games he appeared in over the last two years.
With the Eagles having fortified their offensive line in the offseason by signing veteran free agents Brandon Brooks and Stefen Wisniewski, Kelly figures to return to a backup role in 2016 and will likely only be pressed into action if one or two starters suffer injuries.
Earlier this offseason, Philadelphia extended the contracts of quarterback Sam Bradford, tight ends Zach Ertz and Brent Celek, defensive end Vinny Curry, and offensive tackle Lane Johnson. The team also remains in discussions with defensive tackle Fletcher Cox about a lucrative new deal.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Pauline’s Latest: Falcons, Neal, Joseph, Titans
Cal quarterback Jared Goff and North Dakota State signal-caller Carson Wentz are widely expected to come off the board in that order with the top two picks on Thursday night, but there’s some uncertainty about how the next several picks will play out.
After speaking to several people around the league, Tony Pauline of WalterFootball.com takes a shot at forecasting how picks three through eight will go. In Pauline’s view, the most probable scenario would see DeForest Buckner land with the Chargers, Jalen Ramsey to the Cowboys, Myles Jack to the Jaguars, Laremy Tunsil to the Ravens, Ronnie Stanley to the 49ers, and Joey Bosa to the Browns.
Ezekiel Elliott is a wild card – if he’s still on the board at No. 8, the Browns could potentially trade down with a team like the Dolphins – but otherwise Pauline’s predictions for the top eight seem entirely plausible. According to the draft scribe, the Chargers feel like they “desperately” need to add a standout defensive lineman, while the 49ers also covet Buckner, so that’s a situation worth watching too.
Here’s more from Pauline:
- While Ohio State linebacker Darron Lee has frequently been linked to the Falcons at No. 17, Pauline hears that Clemson linemen Kevin Dodd and Shaq Lawson are also in play. According to Pauline, head coach Dan Quinn has been pushing for the team to select safety Keanu Neal, though that’s probably only a possibility if Atlanta trades down.
- Washington wouldn’t mind trading down and nabbing West Virginia safety Karl Joseph, says Pauline.
- According to Pauline, there’s a decent chance that the Titans will use one of their second-round picks to grab Ohio State wideout Braxton Miller, assuming the team doesn’t use any of those selections in a trade. Tennessee will also likely consider Buckeyes linebacker Joshua Perry on day two.
- The Broncos plan on drafting a running back on day three, and Pauline hears that they like Auburn’s Peyton Barber in the neighborhood of the sixth round.
- Teams are already talking to prospects and their agents in an effort to sign those players as undrafted free agents after the draft, and some clubs are creating “bad blood” with their approach to this process. According to Pauline, a couple teams have called potential UDFA targets and told them that they’re unlikely to be drafted. Those players are still optimistic about being mid-round selections, so being told that they’re likely to go undrafted has soured those players (and their agents) on those teams, per Pauline.
East Notes: Bradford, Jets, Bills, Dolphins
Before re-signing him, the Eagles didn’t tell Sam Bradford they intended to draft a quarterback high in the first round, agent Tom Condon tells Sal Paolantonio of ESPN.com. And while Bradford is put off by the Eagles’ plan to draft his replacement, the former first overall pick also isn’t thrilled about the fact that the team gave up so many other assets to move up to the No. 2 spot.
“It’s his right to demand a trade and he wants to be traded,” Condon said. “Basically, our contention is that the team could have used the draft picks on offensive and defensive players for this season, to win this season. If the plan was to build for the future, where does that leave Sam this year?”
As we wait to see if anything happens with the Bradford situation this week, let’s check in on several other items from out of the NFL’s East divisions…
- Within his latest look at the Muhammad Wilkerson saga in New York, Manish Mehta of the New York Daily News notes that the Jets made a “Hail Mary attempt” to move up to the No. 1 pick before Los Angeles nabbed that pick from Tennessee. Mehta suggests that Gang Green would have been targeting Jared Goff if the long-shot trade attempt had worked out.
- Veteran running back Matt Forte, who signed with the Jets last month, is hoping that the team re-signs quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick, as he said during an appearance on CBS Sports Radio (link via Brian Costello of the New York Post). “I’d be disappointed [if I don’t] get to work with him [given that he was here] last year and the good job he did,” Forte said. “But at the same time, you have to prepare yourself for the worst or if that doesn’t happen.”
- One source tells Tyler Dunne of The Buffalo News (Twitter link) that Bills senior offensive assistant Chris Palmer “loves” quarterback Paxton Lynch. However, it’s very possible the Memphis product will be off the board by the time Buffalo picks at No. 19. On Tuesday, Jason Cole of Bleacher Report reported that the Bills are quite high on the QB.
- Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald provides a handful of updates from the Dolphins‘ voluntary minicamp, noting within his piece that the team didn’t show any interest in cornerback Josh Norman when his camp was allowed to seek a trade before his franchise tag was rescinded.
Zach Links contributed to this post.
Dolphins’ Reshad Jones Seeking Extension
3:03pm: According to Beasley, Jones is seeking an annual salary in the neighborhood of $10MM on a new contract, which would put him in line with the league’s highest-paid safeties.
11:02am: Dolphins safety Reshad Jones has told multiple people that he’s not happy with his contract, and is not present for the team’s voluntary minicamp, writes Adam Beasley of the Miami Herald. According to Armando Salguero of the Miami Herald, a source close to Jones says the safety plans to sit out the Dolphins’ offseason program unless he gets a new contract extension.
Jones, who earned his first Pro Bowl nod in 2015, is on the books for base salaries of $7.225MM in 2016 and $7.06MM in 2017, with accompanying cap hits of $8.203MM and $8.038MM, respectively. His current four-year, $28MM+ contract makes him the highest-paid strong safety in the NFL, though he doesn’t rank among the top five highest-paid safeties overall.
A fifth-round pick in 2010, Jones has been a starter for the Dolphins for most of his career, and played all 16 games in 2015, setting new career-highs in tackles (135), passes defended (10), and interceptions (five), returning two of those picks for touchdowns. Pro Football Focus ranked Jones as the 13th-best safety in the NFL, out of 89 qualified players. Of those 89 safeties, only two received higher grades as run defenders than Jones did.
Although Jones is sitting out for now, it remains to be seen whether he’d be willing to hold out during training camp – and possibly into the regular season – in order to get a new deal. Since the 28-year-old still has two years remaining on his current contract, the Dolphins may be reluctant to make any major changes to that pact quite yet, even though they want to extend him eventually, as Salguero writes.
If the Dolphins don’t make any concessions, and Jones does opt for a holdout, it could result in a stand-off similar to the one between the Seahawks and Kam Chancellor last year. Chancellor, whose contract is very similar to Jones’, held out for a new deal in 2015, but his team refused to budge, and the Pro Bowler ultimately reported to Seattle for the third week of the regular season.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Draft Rumors: Saints, Browns, Treadwell, Vikes
Earlier today, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com reported that the Saints “had talks” about potentially moving up to the No. 1 pick, before Tennessee ultimately sent the pick to Los Angeles. At the time, I noted that it wasn’t clear whether Rapoport was suggesting New Orleans actually engaged the Titans in trade talks, or whether the Saints simply had internal discussions about the possibility.
According to Mike Triplett of ESPN.com, however, a source said the Saints had no talks about trading for the first overall pick. Once again, it’s not entirely clear whether Triplett is referring to discussions between the Saints and Titans, or simply internal conversations in New Orleans, so it’s possible he and Rapoport are on different pages. In any case, it seems as though the team was never serious about the idea of moving way up in the first round.
In fact, that source tells Triplett that the Saints are more likely to trade down than up, adding that the idea of drafting quarterback Paxton Lynch appears to be a long shot, at best. The club is more likely to add a QB in the middle rounds of the draft, says Triplett.
With the start of the draft just a little over two days away, let’s round up several more updates and rumors from around the league…
- The Browns remain “wide open” to the possibility of trading down from No. 8, tweets Jason La Canfora of CBSSports.com. In a full column detailing draft-day trade scenarios for the Browns and a handful of other teams, La Canfora goes into more detail, suggesting that Cleveland wouldn’t mind landing Ole Miss wide receiver Laquon Treadwell or possibly Michigan State tackle Jack Conklin.
- Speaking today to reporters, including Matt Vensel of the Star Tribune (Twitter link), Vikings general manager Rick Spielman said he has heard from a couple teams about trades involving the No. 23 pick. Both scenarios would involve the Vikings trading down, while one of the two would mean moving out of the first round entirely.
- In his final Scouting Notebook before the draft, Matt Miller of Bleacher Report provides a ton of interesting tidbits, touching briefly on each of the league’s 32 teams to discuss which players or positions they’ll be targeting.
- Clemson safety T.J. Green, Oklahoma State defensive end Emmanuel Ogbah, and USC linebacker/safety Su’a Cravens are all receiving consideration in the back half of the first round, according to tweets from Ian Rapoport of NFL.com, Alex Marvez of FOX Sports, and Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle, respectively.
AFC Rumors: Ravens, Bosa, Brady, Steelers
The Ravens are prioritizing pass rushers, including Ohio State’s Joey Bosa, with the sixth overall pick, an industry source tells Jamison Hensley of ESPN.com. With no clear answers for how the draft will play out beyond the top two picks, it’s not clear which players will be available when Baltimore prepares to make its selection. It’s possible that Bosa and Oregon’s DeForest Buckner will both still be on the board at No. 6, but there’s also a chance that both players could be gone by then.
Of course, while Baltimore likes Bosa, Buckner may not even be an option for the club. According to Hensley, if Bosa is picked in the top five, the Ravens favor taking a player like Clemson’s Shaq Lawson or Georgia’s Leonard Floyd. Bosa, Lawson, and Floyd all project as potential outside linebackers for 3-4 teams, whereas Buckner would likely be a defensive end in a 3-4 scheme.
Here’s more from around the AFC:
- In theory, the NFLPA and the NFL could reach a settlement to resolve the Tom Brady/Deflategate situation at any time, but in reality, such an agreement remains very unlikely, according to Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk. As Florio observes, the league has most of the leverage now, and hasn’t shown any willingness in the past to settle. With the Patriots‘ starting quarterback once again facing a four-game suspension, Mike Reiss of ESPN.com explores some ways the team could add depth at the QB position.
- In a pair of Steelers-related pieces, Mark Kaboly of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review discusses Jarvis Jones‘ long-term future – or possible lack thereof – in Pittsburgh, while Ed Bouchette of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette examines the team’s history of avoiding cornerbacks in the first round.
- Garrett Graham‘s one-year deal with the Broncos is for the veteran’s minimum and includes an $80K signing bonus, Adam Caplan of ESPN.com tweets. It’s a split contract for the veteran tight end.
- The Jets are expressing interest in Utah State quarterback Chuckie Keeton as a priority undrafted free agent, says Aaron Wilson of the National Football Post.
- Buffalo offensive tackle John Kling has received interest from the Jaguars, according to Wilson, who tweets that Jacksonville could be a landing spot for Kling.
Zach Links contributed to this post.