Titans Re-Sign Chase Coffman
4:50pm: The Titans have confirmed in a press release that they’ve re-signed Coffman, announcing that they’ve added running back David Fluellen to their roster as well. Fluellen spent time with the Eagles and Colts last year after going undrafted.
3:49pm: The Titans are re-signing tight end Chase Coffman, who spent the majority of the 2014 season with the team, according to Rand Getlin of the NFL Network (via Twitter).
Coffman, a former All-American at Missouri, appeared in 167 offensive snaps for the Titans last season, and also saw some time on special teams. The former third-round pick wasn’t a major part of Tennessee’s offense, but he did catch six balls for 64 yards and a touchdown.
Coffman, who returns to Tennessee after working out for the Saints earlier in the offseason, figures to play a similar depth role for the club in 2015, assuming he earns a spot on the 53-man regular season roster.
NFC West Notes: Wilson, Seahawks, Rams
Multiple reports have indicated that the Seahawks are offering Russell Wilson $21MM per year. However, Mike Florio of PFT hears from one league source that they might actually be offering $21MM in new money rather than $21MM annually. If the Seahawks are offering Wilson a five-year deal with $21MM per year in new money, that average applies to the four new years, making the total value in the range of $85.5MM ($17.1MM per year).
Here’s more on Wilson, the Seahawks, and a couple of Seattle’s division rivals in the NFC West:
- If the Seahawks don’t give Wilson roughly $25MM per year, there are six or seven teams lined up that will, tweets Benjamin Allbright of 1340AM in Denver.
- The best chance for Kam Chancellor and Michael Bennett to get new deals with the Seahawks is to go for a rare tandem holdout, opines Joel Corry of CBSSports.com (Twitter link). Legendary Dodgers pitchers Don Drysdale and Sandy Koufax employed this technique decades ago but it has rarely been attempted since in any major sport.
- The Rams are currently on track to have more than a dozen players eligible for unrestricted free agency in 2016, and many of those players are starters or top reserves, writes Jim Thomas of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. While extension discussions take time, the club would ideally like to have a few of those contract situations resolved before the end of the season, says Thomas.
- In the wake of the Cardinals‘ addition of Jen Welter to their coaching staff – detailed here by Kent Somers of the Arizona Republic – other teams around the league are interested in identifying other potential female coaching candidates, says Jason Cole of Bleacher Report (video link).
Zach Links contributed to this post.
Le’Veon Bell Suspension Cut To Two Games
While the NFL announced today that Tom Brady‘s suspension will be upheld, the Steelers got a break on Le’Veon Bell‘s ban. According to Jarrett Bell of USA Today (via Twitter), Bell’s suspension was reduced from three games to two games. The Steelers running back will now be eligible to return for Pittsburgh’s Week 3 contest in St. Louis.
We heard yesterday and earlier today that the NFL, NFLPA, and Bell’s reps had been in “frequent contract” and were attempting to negotiate a settlement so that a formal appeal of the three-game suspension wouldn’t be required.
Bell’s suspension was the league’s response to his arrest for marijuana possession and driving under the influence, and the fact that the NFL went as high as three games suggested that he was being penalized separately for each charge. A two-game penalty is in line with other suspensions for DUI incidents.
Goodell Upholds Brady’s Four-Game Suspension
Arbitrator Roger Goodell has upheld Tom Brady‘s full four-game suspension, the league announced today (Twitter link via Ben Volin of the Boston Globe). The NFL’s statement on the ruling cites “important new information” when explaining Goodell’s decision to keep Brady’s penalty at four games, as Adam Schefter of ESPN.com details. The statement reads, in part, as follows:
“On or shortly before March 6, the day that Tom Brady met with independent investigator Ted Wells and his colleagues, Brady directed that the cell phone he had used for the prior four months be destroyed. He did so even though he was aware that the investigators had requested access to text messages and other electronic information that had been stored on that phone. During the four months that the cell phone was in use, Brady had exchanged nearly 10,000 text messages, none of which can now be retrieved from that device. The destruction of the cell phone was not disclosed until June 18, almost four months after the investigators had first sought electronic information from Brady.
“Based on the Wells Report and the evidence presented at the hearing, Commissioner Goodell concluded in his decision that Brady was aware of, and took steps to support, the actions of other team employees to deflate game footballs below the levels called for by the NFL’s Official Playing Rules. The commissioner found that Brady’s deliberate destruction of potentially relevant evidence went beyond a mere failure to cooperate in the investigation and supported a finding that he had sought to hide evidence of his own participation in the underlying scheme to alter the footballs.”
We’ve heard all along that, with no reduction on the penalty for the Patriots quarterback, Brady and the NFLPA were expected to continue to fight the decision in court. It’s not clear if the revelation that Brady had his cell phone destroyed changes that at all, but I’d be surprised if the Super Bowl MVP and the players’ union simply accepted Goodell’s ruling. According to Brady, “it is his practice to destroy his cellphone and SIM cards when he gets a new cell phone.”
Assuming Brady and the NFLPA do take the case to court, they’d likely seek an injunction so that he could continue to see the field for the Pats while the legal situation plays out. However, that could be a risky approach, depending on when the case is resolved — if Goodell’s decision is upheld in court, Brady would have to serve the suspension immediately, potentially during a much more crucial point in the season.
Goodell’s full 20-page explanation of his decision can be found here.
East Notes: Rice, Wilkerson, Brady, Cofield
Ray Rice and his supporters are reportedly lobbying NFL teams to give the veteran running back a shot to make a roster this preseason, and the Cowboys are the team most often linked to free agent backs, but Dallas has no interest in signing Rice, a source tells Charean Williams of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram (Twitter links). According to Williams, the Cowboys want to see how their current running backs look — the team hasn’t ruled out adding a veteran, but it likely won’t happen for a couple weeks, if it happens at all.
Here’s more from around the NFL’s two East divisions:
- As expected, Jets defensive lineman Muhammad Wilkerson will report to camp rather than holding out, despite the fact that he has yet to sign a contract extension, reports Brian Costello of the New York Post. According to Costello, the two sides remain “far apart” on a new deal, though I’d expect negotiations to continue in the coming weeks.
- Although there have been whispers that an announcement on Tom Brady‘s suspension appeal could come within the next day or two, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com says the NFL and NFLPA are still exchanging offers for a potential settlement (link via Kevin Patra of NFL.com). However, with the Patriots quarterback seemingly unwilling to accept a deal that includes any sort of suspension, a compromise remains unlikely. Adam Schefter of ESPN.com echoes Rapoport’s report, tweeting that the NFL and NFLPA aren’t expected to reach a settlement for Brady.
- Rapoport (Twitter link) suggests keeping an eye on free agent defensive tackle Barry Cofield, who is recovering from groin and abdomen surgeries and should be ready to go in four to six weeks. Cofield, who was released by Washington earlier this year, said last week in an appearance on SiriusXM NFL Radio that he was “doing really well” in his recovery and was looking forward to signing with a team.
Jake Long Working Out For Falcons
After being released by the Rams earlier this offseason, veteran offensive tackle Jake Long is paying a visit to another NFC club. According to Chris Mortensen of ESPN (via Twitter), Long is in Atlanta today to take a physical and work out for the Falcons.
Long, 30, saw time in just seven games for the Rams last season thanks to a torn ACL. The former No. 1 overall pick had been in St. Louis for the past two seasons after spending the first five years of his career with the Dolphins. There was some talk that Long could play on the right side with 2014 No. 2 overall pick Greg Robinson taking his place on the left, but that never came to fruition.
Long has torn his ACL in each of the prior two seasons, playing in just 22 games during that stretch. Last season, Pro Football Focus as (subscription required) ranked him as just the No. 36 tackle out of 84 qualified players. In 2013, however, Long graded out as the seventh-best tackle in the league with a strong 22.5 overall score, based on PFF’s advanced metrics.
Earlier this offseason, Long paid the Giants a visit, but it doesn’t appear New York ever got serious about signing him, though Jordan Ranaan of NJ.com (Twitter link) says that door isn’t completely closed. Jason Fitzgerald of Over the Cap is skeptical that Long will land anywhere, given his health issues, tweeting that a contract would probably have to be heavy on incentives for games played and overall playing time.
If Long were to join the Falcons, he’d be protecting Matt Ryan, the player who went third overall in 2008, two spots after the Dolphins selected Long.
Lions Sign R.J. Stanford
After working out three cornerbacks at their practice facility today, the Lions have signed veteran free agent R.J. Stanford to a contract, writes Tim Twentyman of DetroitLions.com. The move brings Detroit’s offseason roster back up to 90 players.
Stanford, 27, entered the league as a seventh-round draft pick by the Panthers in 2010, but only appeared in 12 regular season contests for Carolina in 2011 before moving on to Miami. The Utah product spent the last three years with the Dolphins, contributing as a special-teamer and providing depth in the secondary.
The Lions are now carrying 10 cornerbacks, so Stanford will have to impress over the next few weeks to have a chance to make the regular-season roster. The team opted to sign him after auditioning a group of defensive backs that also included Javier Arenas and Ethan Davis, per Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press (Twitter links).
Dolphins Re-Sign Josh Freeman
10:44am: According to Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald, a clause in Freeman’s contract meant that the Dolphins assumed less risk financially by cutting him and re-signing the quarterback, rather than just keeping him.
10:37am: Just four days after cutting him, the Dolphins have re-signed quarterback Josh Freeman, the team announced today (via Twitter). Mike Freeman of Bleacher Report first reported (via Twitter) that Freeman was returning to the Dolphins.
It’s not immediately clear why Miami released Freeman, only to re-add him to the roster a few days later. It’s possible that the team simply wanted to negotiate different terms, but I wouldn’t expect the new contract to look much different from the one-year, minimum-salary pact Freeman initially signed. Either way, with Ryan Tannehill and Matt Moore ahead of him on the depth chart, Freeman probably won’t make the Dolphins’ regular season roster unless there’s an injury, or he has an unexpectedly productive preseason.
Freeman, 27, was Tampa Bay’s full-time starting quarterback from 2009 to 2012, but saw the wheels come off in 2013 and was cut by the team. In his first four seasons, the former 17th overall pick completed 58.8% of his passes and tossed 78 touchdowns to go with 63 interceptions, as well as throwing for more than 4,000 yards in 2012.
In 2013 though, Freeman’s completion percentage in four starts with the Bucs was just 45.7%, a number which declined even more after he joined the Vikings and performed poorly in his lone start. After not playing in the NFL in 2014, Freeman signed with the Dolphins earlier this offseason.
NFL, NFLPA Discuss Le’Veon Bell Settlement
Tom Brady‘s suspension appeal is getting all the headlines, but the Patriots’ Week 1 opponents – the Steelers – will also be without a key player whose suspension was though to be appealed. Explaining why there haven’t been any recent updates on Le’Veon Bell‘s case, Albert Breer of the NFL Network tweets that the NFL, NFLPA, and Bell’s reps have been in frequent contract and a formal appeal hearing may not be required.
The Steelers running back, who would argue that he’s being punished twice for the same incident, tells Breer that he’s hoping for the penalty to be reduced, not wiped out entirely (Twitter links). And according to Dan Graziano of ESPN.com, that remains a possibility — Graziano tweets that the two sides are negotiating a settlement that could reduce the suspension to one or two games.
Bell’s three-game suspension came as a result of his arrest for marijuana possession and driving under the influence. Both charges came as a result of the same incident, and it appears the suspension considers them separate offenses, with the running back getting two games for the DUI and one game for the marijuana possession.
As is the case with Brady’s appeal, I’d expect the NFL to announce something on Bell soon, since the league likely won’t want to have the situation drag out too far into training camp.
Patriots Notes: Brady, Flynn, Allen
As the Patriots, along with the rest of the NFL, continue to wait for Roger Goodell to announce a ruling on Tom Brady‘s suspension appeal, let’s round up a few of the latest notes out of New England….
- Appearing on ESPN today, Adam Schefter said the NFL isn’t “inclined to budge much” on Brady’s appeal, adding that he expects the suspension to remain at four games (Twitter link via Mark Daniels of the Providence Journal). If Schefter’s prediction turns out to be accurate, Brady and the NFLPA will almost assuredly fight the decision in court.
- As Mike Reiss of ESPN.com writes, Brady is hardly the only one whose 2015 outlook will be significantly altered by Roger Goodell’s ruling on his suspension appeal — Matt Flynn‘s odds of making the Patriots‘ 53-man roster hinge largely on whether or not Brady will be available.
- Ben Volin of the Boston Globe (Twitter link) and Aaron Wilson of the National Football Post (Twitter links) have the details on Ryan Allen‘s new contract extension with the Patriots. Allen’s deal is worth $6.685MM, including a $2MM signing bonus and $3MM in new guarantees. The contract also features $200K in annual per-game roster bonuses from 2016 to 2018, and an annual $50K incentive for making the Pro Bowl.