Draft Visits: Strong, Steelers, Lions, Langford
With draft night just eight days away, several teams who are doing research and due diligence on Marcus Mariota are also intrigued by Bryce Petty, tweets Jason La Canfora of CBSSports.com. While Petty may not be a first-round pick, he could very well be the third signal-caller off the board after Jameis Winston and Mariota, says La Canfora.
The fact that the draft is now right around the corner also means that today is the final day for teams to host pre-draft visits for prospects. While clubs can still conduct private workouts over the next several days, visits have to be completed by tonight. Here are a few updates on the final visits happening around the NFL:
- Jaelen Strong, WR (Arizona State): Visiting the Texans today, according to Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (Twitter link). The team will get a chance to look at his injured wrist.
- Landon Collins, S (Alabama); Preston Smith, DE (Mississippi State); Dexter McDonald, CB (Kansas); Davis Tull, OLB (UT-Chattanooga): All visiting the Steelers today, per Scott Brown of ESPN.com (Twitter links).
- Danny Shelton, DT (Washington): Visiting the Lions today, writes Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press.
- La’el Collins, T (LSU); Jamon Brown, T (Louisville): Also visiting the Lions today, tweets Michael Rothstein of ESPN.com.
- Jeremy Langford, RB (Michigan State): Has had visits with the Colts and Buccaneers in addition to previously-reported visit with Broncos, tweets Josh Katzenstein of the Detroit News.
- Paul Dawson, LB (TCU): Recently visited the Falcons, after previously having worked out for the club, per Vaughn McClure of ESPN.com (Twitter link).
- John Miller, G (Louisville): Visiting the Saints today, according to Rand Getlin of Yahoo! Sports (via Twitter).
- Alani Fua, OLB (BYU): Visiting the Eagles today, tweets Aaron Wilson of the Baltimore Sun.
Bengals Extend Marvin Lewis Through 2016
Bengals head coach Marvin Lewis will no longer have to worry about heading into the 2015 season on a lame-duck contract. The club announced today (via Twitter) that it has extended Lewis’ contract by one more year, keeping him locked up through the 2016 campaign.
Lewis, who has been coaching the Bengals since 2003, is the second longest-tenured head coach in the NFL, behind Bill Belichick in New England. During his 12 seasons with the team, Lewis has led Cincinnati to a 100-90-2 regular-season record and has earned a playoff spot six times. However, the Bengals have yet to win a postseason game under Lewis.
Lewis said back at the combine in February that he had yet to speak to the team about a new contract, so discussions for this extension likely occurred within the last couple months. While the extra year gives Lewis a little more security, it wouldn’t necessarily prevent the Bengals from making a coaching change a year from now if the club endures a disappointing 2015 season.
East Notes: Scandrick, Dolphins, Washington
Cowboys cornerback Orlando Scandrick is allegedly unsatisfied with the modest $1.5MM base salary he’s set to earn in 2015, and didn’t report to the club’s voluntary offseason program this week in the hopes of pushing for a new deal. While it’s possible the Cowboys relent at some point, EVP/COO Stephen Jones – appearing on 105.3FM in Dallas yesterday – didn’t make it sound like that would happen anytime soon, writes Jon Machota of the Dallas Morning News.
“He’s under contract, but not unlike a lot of players, they’d like to have more,” Jones said. “Orlando is under contract. If something makes sense for us to add some years or do something then we’ll take a look at that, but we just re-did Orlando’s contract a couple years ago and he’s been a really good football player for us. He’s a leader on this team, and we certainly need him out here. In my mind, he should be out here right now, working out.”
While we wait to see how the Scandrick saga plays out, here are a few more items from around the league’s two East divisions:
- The Dolphins are bringing in several free agent offensive linemen today, intent on perhaps adding a veteran guard, writes Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald. According to Jackson, Jeff Linkenbach and Jeff Baca are among the players expected to get a look from the team.
- Breshad Perriman‘s visit to Miami is happening today, according to Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk, who tweets that the UCF wideout is visiting the Dolphins.
- Mark Maske of the Washington Post examines the decision Washington is facing on Robert Griffin III‘s fifth-year option for 2016, citing one source who believes the team will pick up RGIII’s option following the draft.
- Aaron Wilson of the Baltimore Sun (Twitter links) passes along the names of a number of players participating in Washington‘s local prospect day, including Maryland wideout Stefon Diggs and many others.
- Texas Southern cornerback Tray Walker is also visiting Washington today, according to Tony Pauline of DraftInsider.net (Twitter link).
- The Jets are hosting Utah pass rusher Nate Orchard for a pre-draft visit today, tweets Pauline.
Carson City Council OK’s Stadium Project
Following in the footsteps of Inglewood, the Carson City Council unanimously approved a proposal for a privately funded NFL stadium on Tuesday night, according to Tim Logan and Nathan Feeno of the Los Angeles Times. Whereas the Inglewood stadium project centers on the Rams, the Carson proposal was put forth by the Raiders and Chargers.
Like Inglewood, Carson received the signatures necessary to avoid scheduling a public vote for later in the summer, and will also be able to skip lengthy environmental reviews. City Council voted 3-0 in favor of the project. However, while the $1.7 billion stadium proposal now has local approval, that’s just one early step in what will be a long process.
As the Times piece outlines, the 26-page initiative petition related to the project pledged that no tax dollars will be used, but provided very few specific details about the stadium’s construction. In addition to the L.A. stadium proposals for Inglewood and Carson, the cities of St. Louis, San Diego, and Oakland are also working to keep their franchises with new stadiums.
While there has been some optimism about one or two NFL franchises moving to the Los Angeles area as soon as the 2016 season, neither the Inglewood nor the Carson stadium would be ready for several years, so any team moving to L.A. would need a temporary home in the interim.
Browns Notes: Pettine, Manziel, Mariota
The Browns traded down, then up, then up again during the first round of last year’s draft, and if the right opportunity arises, the team likely won’t hesitate to move up again this year. Head coach Mike Pettine told reporters today, including Nate Ulrich of the Akron Beacon Journal (Twitter link), that the Browns showed last year they were willing to move, and he’s sure GM Ray Farmer‘s phone will ring again this time around.
Field Yates of ESPN.com (Insider-only link) agrees that the Browns, armed with a pair of first-round picks, are in a good spot to trade up if they want to, listing them among the teams most likely to make a deal during the first round next Thursday.
We’ve got a few more Browns-related notes to pass along, so let’s round them up, with all links going to Ulrich’s Twitter account…
- ESPN’s Chris Mortensen reported earlier this month that the Browns have “90%” moved on from Johnny Manziel in their minds, but Pettine said today that the young signal-caller is still very much in the team’s plans. Pettine quipped that the report was “90% inaccurate,” adding that it could be filed in the “ridiculous category.”
- When asked if he was willing to trade up in the draft for Oregon star Marcus Mariota, Pettine said, “Sure. Why not?” with a smile, as Nate Ulrich of the Akron Beacon-Journal tweets.
- Pettine said that there were a handful of guys absent from workouts, but they all reached out to him and he was well aware of it ahead of time, Ulrich tweets.
- The head coach is optimistic that something will get worked out with free safety Tashaun Gipson, Ulrich tweets. “[You] never want the business side to affect the football side. We’re very optimistic we’ll get that worked out,” the coach said. Gipson has yet to report to Cleveland’s voluntary program. The safety received a second-round RFA tender from the Browns in March and was less-than-thrilled about that.
Zach Links contributed to this post.
Ravens Sign Jimmy Smith To Extension
2:30pm: The Ravens officially announced the completion deal at a press conference with local reporters.
2:04pm: It’s a four-year extension worth $48MM, according to Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk (on Twitter). The deal includes $21MM in fully guaranteed cash.
1:54pm: Smith’s new deal will average just under $10MM per year, according to Aaron Wilson of the Baltimore Sun (via Twitter).
1:42pm: The Ravens and cornerback Jimmy Smith have reached a verbal agreement on a contract extension that will keep Smith in Baltimore beyond the 2015 season, the team announced today in a press release. Smith’s deal had been set to expire next March.
Smith, 26, has spent the first four years of his career with the Ravens, though injuries have limited his playing time since he entered the league as the 27th overall pick in 2011. In his four NFL seasons, Smith has missed 16 regular season contests, including eight in 2014. A Baltimore secondary hit hard by injuries last season struggled when he wasn’t in the lineup.
When he has been healthy, Smith has quickly developed into one of the more reliable cornerbacks in the NFL. During the 2013 campaign, the only season in which Smith played all 16 games, he recorded a +4.1 grade on Pro Football Focus (subscription required), limiting opposing quarterbacks to a 54.3% completion percentage and a 76.3 passer rating on throws into his coverage.
As a former first-round pick, Smith had a fifth-year option included on his rookie contract, and had been set to play the coming season on that option-year salary of $6.898MM. We’ll have to wait and see whether the new deal alters that figure, but the Colorado product figures to be in line for a raise for future seasons. Annual salaries for the top free agent corners this offseason – including Byron Maxwell, Brandon Flowers, Kareem Jackson, and Chris Culliver – ranged from $8-11MM, and I’d expect Smith to land in that neighborhood as well.
Heading into the 2015 season, Smith figures to start across from Lardarius Webb, who reworked his contract last month in order to remain in Baltimore. The two veteran corners will join safeties Matt Elam and newly-signed Kendrick Lewis in the Ravens’ starting lineup.
Of the 2011 first-round picks who had their fifth-year options picked up last spring, Smith is the second one to sign an extension in 2015, on the heels of Mike Pouncey‘s new deal with the Dolphins. A handful of 2011 first-rounders, including J.J. Watt, Tyron Smith, and Patrick Peterson, inked new contracts with their respective teams in 2014.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
NFC Notes: JPP, Giants, Lions, Falcons
Yesterday, we heard that Jason Pierre-Paul didn’t report to the Giants‘ first day of voluntary offseason workouts, but even though the defensive end didn’t participate in the team’s workouts, he did stop by the facility, writes Ebenezer Samuel of the New York Daily News. As Samuel notes, because JPP has yet to sign his franchise tender and didn’t sign an injury waiver, he couldn’t have worked out with the team even if he wanted to. At this point, a holdout doesn’t appear likely — Pierre Paul’s absence from workouts had been expected.
Here’s more from across the NFC:
- The Giants are very high on USC defensive lineman Leonard Williams, and if Williams slips past the top three picks in the draft, “it wouldn’t be at all surprising” to see the Giants make a bold move and trade up to grab him, writes Jordan Raanan of NJ.com. In his look at 2015’s class of defensive linemen earlier today, our Rob DiRe outlined why Williams is easily the top prospect at his position.
- In addition to confirming a pair of previously-reported pre-draft visits, Tim Twentyman of DetroitLions.com says that the Lions also hosted Arizona State safety Damarious Randall today.
- After working out privately for the Panthers, Buccaneers, and Texans earlier in the pre-draft process, Duke wide receiver Jamison Crowder is visiting the Falcons today, tweets Ian Rapoport of NFL.com. Rapoport also notes (via Twitter) that Kevin White‘s visits with the Rams and Bears, which had been previously reported, happened yesterday and today, respectively.
- While the 49ers aren’t a lock to select a quarterback in the draft, they’ll almost certainly add a rookie or two at the position this offseason, writes Matt Maiocco of CSNBayArea.com.
- Former Razorbacks quarterback Tyler Wilson will work out at the Bears‘ veteran minicamp next week, he announced on ESPN Radio in Arkansas. Matt Jones of WholeHogSports.com has the details.
Adrian Peterson Rumors: Tuesday
Adrian Peterson has been PFR’s most-mentioned player since the 2014 regular season began, but now that he’s been reinstated – and with the draft only nine days away – we could finally be headed toward some sort of resolution in his saga with the Vikings. Here are Tuesday’s updates and rumors on the former MVP:
- Yesterday, Chris Tomasson of the St. Paul Pioneer Press reported that if the Vikings don’t trade Peterson before or during next week’s draft, a deal isn’t expected to happen. Today, Tomasson updated his report to note that his source named six potential suitors in the mix for the running back: The Cardinals, Falcons, Cowboys, Jaguars, Chargers, and Buccaneers. The Raiders, who are said to have some interest, weren’t on the list.
- The Cowboys have been cited as the most likely Peterson suitor since trade rumors first began surfacing, but EVP/COO Stephen Jones told 105.3 FM in Dallas today that he doesn’t envision the club “using any picks to trade for veteran players” (Twitter link via Adam Schefter of ESPN.com).
- Asked today about Peterson, Jaguars head coach Gus Bradley said he and GM David Caldwell haven’t had a serious conversation about making a play for the Vikings back (Twitter link via John Oehser of Jaguars.com).
Draft Visits: Perriman, DGB, Clemmings, Jones
Here are the latest updates on a few draft prospects taking some visits and working out for teams this week:
- Breshad Perriman, WR (UCF): Visiting the Titans today, according to Pro Football Talk (via Twitter). Second overall is too high for Perriman, but 33rd overall is likely too late to nab him, so Tennessee could be doing its due diligence in the event of a trade.
- Dorial Green-Beckham, WR (Missouri): Visiting the Chiefs today, according to Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (via Twitter).
- T.J. Clemmings, OT (Pittsburgh): Visiting the Saints, Falcons, and Rams this week, and has met with 19 teams since his Pro Day, per Rapoport (Twitter link).
- Byron Jones, CB (UConn): Visiting the Dolphins, according to Adam Caplan of ESPN.com (via Twitter). Jones was previously identified as a player on Miami’s radar.
- Anthony Harris, S (Virginia); Marcus Rush, DE (Michigan State): Both players are visiting the Lions today, according to Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press.
- Kyle Emanuel, DE (North Dakota); Eric Rowe, CB (Utah); Doran Grant, CB (Ohio State): All three players visited the Steelers today, tweets ESPN.com’s Scott Brown.
- Daryl Williams, OL (Oklahoma); Tyrus Thompson, OL (Oklahoma); Adam Shead, OL (Oklahoma): All three players worked out for Panthers offensive line coach John Matsko today, writes Aaron Wilson of the National Football Post. Williams and Thompson previously worked out for Cowboys offensive line coach Frank Pollack.
- Jesse Davis, OL (Idaho): Has a private workout with the Seahawks later this week, per Rand Getlin of Yahoo! Sports (via Twitter).
Cowboys Re-Sign Lance Dunbar
The deadline for restricted free agents to sign an offer sheet with a rival team is this Friday, so while we may see one or two RFAs force their current team’s hand, we should expect to see more of them simply sign their tender offers. That’s the case for running back Lance Dunbar, who has signed his tender with the Cowboys, according to Adam Caplan of ESPN.com (via Twitter).
Dunbar, 25, has been used sparingly on offense during his three years in Dallas, totaling 80 carries for 324 rushing yards. He earned a career-high 47 touches in 2014, carrying the ball 29 times and adding 18 receptions. The North Texas product also contributes on special teams and returns the occasional kick for the Cowboys.
The Cowboys, who lost the top running back on their depth chart when DeMarco Murray signed with the division-rival Eagles, tendered Dunbar at the low end, so he’ll be in line for a $1.542MM base salary in 2015. Despite the absence of Murray, Dunbar won’t necessarily receive more touches next season. Darren McFadden, Joseph Randle, and Ryan Williams are also in the backfield mix, and the team is expected to address the position in the draft as well.