Panthers Sign Kelvin Benjamin, Trai Turner
The Panthers have become the 11th team in the NFL to lock up their entire 2014 draft class, announcing today (via Twitter) that first-round receiver Kelvin Benjamin and third-round guard Trai Turner have signed their rookie contracts. The club had previously locked up second-rounder Kony Ealy and its three other late-round draftees.
As the 28th overall pick in the draft, Benjamin is in line for a signing bonus worth $3.894MM, according to Jason Fitzgerald of Over The Cap. Benjamin, a former Florida State standout, will also have a fifth-year option on his deal which the team can exercise for the 2018 season. As for Turner, per Fitzgerald’s numbers, his signing bonus is a more modest $540K, with an overall four-year value of about $2.796MM on this deal.
As I noted this morning, coming into today, only 52 draft picks remained unsigned. With Benjamin and Turner now under contract, only 50 more still need to put pen to paper. You can follow the progress with our tracker.
Patriots Sign James Anderson
The Patriots have signed former Carolina and Chicago linebacker James Anderson to a contract, according to Field Yates of ESPNBoston.com (via Twitter). To clear a spot on the roster for Anderson, the team has parted ways with wide receiver Mark Harrison.
Anderson, 30, was one of the more notable veteran linebackers still on the market, having started all 16 games last season for the Bears. While Pro Football Focus’ metrics (subscription required) ranked Anderson 33rd out of 35 qualified 4-3 outside linebackers, his poor grade was due in large part to subpar performance against the run — he was one of the league’s more effective linebackers in pass coverage. The former third-round pick also accumulated 102 tackles and four quarterback sacks.
Because he’s being signed after June 1, Anderson is no longer linked to the compensatory draft pick formula that determines which teams are rewarded with extra 2015 picks for losing more free agents than they signed. The veteran linebacker had worked out for the Pats last month, so the club may have been biding its time until June to officially lock him up.
Bills Sign Sammy Watkins
JUNE 4: Watkins’ initial agreement with the Bills was disapproved due to a minor language error that needed to be changed, according to Mike Garafolo of Fox Sports, who says the deal has been fixed and resubmitted (Twitter links).
MAY 28: Fourth overall pick Sammy Watkins has signed his rookie contract with the Bills, the team announced today (via Twitter). It makes Watkins the highest-drafted player so far to officially ink his deal, surpassing No. 5 overall selection Khalil Mack, who signed with the Raiders earlier this month.
Watkins, a Clemson product who was considered the draft’s top wide receiver, went to Buffalo after the club traded its 2015 first-rounder, among other picks, in order to move up from No. 9 to snag him. According to Jason Fitzgerald of Over The Cap, the newest Bill is in line for a signing bonus worth about $12.819, with an overall base value of just under $20MM on his four-year contract. The deal will also include a fifth-year team option for 2018.
While there had been some speculation that the Bills’ decision to trade up for Watkins was influenced by the team’s uncertain ownership situation, CEO Russ Brandon shot down that idea earlier in the week. “That was a football decision, and it wasn’t tied to the future of the organization,” Brandon said of the trade up for Watkins. “It is business as usual. We’re making football decisions, no matter what. … It has not one iota of an impact on who the future owner may be.”
With Watkins locked up, fifth-round guard Cyril Richardson is the only Bills draftee who remains unsigned.
Steelers, Raiders Show Interest In Finley
Earlier today, Mike Freeman of Bleacher Report reported that “a good half-dozen teams” are quietly pursuing Jermichael Finley, and now Ian Rapoport of NFL.com adds two clubs to the list of potential suitors for the free agent tight end. According to Rapoport, the Steelers and Raiders have also shown some interest in Finley.
The link to the Steelers makes sense, since it was Pittsburgh’s team doctor, Dr. Joseph Maroon, who performed Finley’s surgery and gave him full medical clearance last week. While Rapoport suggests Finley has visited the Steelers, it was actually just Dr. Maroon that he visited, as the NFL.com scribe clarifies in a tweet. The Patriots also hosted Finley last Friday in order to evaluate his health.
Besides the Patriots, Steelers, and Raiders, Green Bay has also exhibited some interest in bringing back their former tight end, though the Packers’ standards for medical clearance are believed to be stricter than those of many other teams. The Seahawks also hosted Finley for a visit earlier in free agency, but they’re reportedly out of the running for the tight end at this point.
Allen Barbre, Eagles Agree To Extension
WEDNESDAY, 1:29pm: Barbre will receive a modest $600K signing bonus to go along with annual base salaries of $1.25MM in each of the three new years on his extension, according to Geoff Mosher of CSNPhilly.com (via Twitter). Since the bonus will be prorated over four seasons, including 2014, that should mean annual cap hits of $1.4MM over the course of the extension. Of course, those could be slightly higher if there are any additional bonuses or incentives in the contract.
TUESDAY, 2:47pm: The Eagles have agreed to terms on a three-year extension for offensive lineman Allen Barbre, the team announced today (via Twitter). Barbre’s previous contract had just one year remaining, so the new deal will keep him under team control through the 2017 season.
While Barbre is currently penciled in as a backup on the Eagles’ offensive line, he performed well when pressed into action last season. He appeared in 89 overall offensive snaps, including 52 at left tackle in a Week 10 game against the Packers. Philadelphia has one of the top lines in the league, and recently extended mainstays like Jason Peters and Jason Kelce. Still, Barbre heads into the season as the club’s primary backup at guard, where Evan Mathis and Todd Herremans are both in their early-30s. If one of those players – or another lineman – goes down with an injury, Barbre looks like a good bet to be the first reserve off the bench.
In a statement, head coach Chip Kelly praised Barbre’s versatility, noting that his ability to play on the inside and outside of the line makes him a valuable player for the Eagles (Twitter link via Jeff McLane of the Philadelphia Inquirer).
Terms of the agreement aren’t yet known.
AFC Notes: Colts, Steelers, Broncos, Williams
Let’s check in on a few of the latest notes from around the AFC, including a pair of teams making minor transactions….
- After waiving a pair of players yesterday, the Colts have filled those roster spots by signing two players today. Cornerback Johnny Adams and center FN Lutz have signed with the team, according to Craig Kelley of Colts.com (via Twitter). Adams spent some time with the Bills and Raiders in 2013, while Lutz went undrafted this year out of Indiana State.
- The Steelers swapped one wide receiver for another, according to PR man Burt Lauten, who tweets that the club has signed California alum C.J. Goodwin and cut Jasper Collins.
- Alan Robinson of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review wonders if the Steelers might look to bring back veteran Brett Keisel. Pittsburgh is quite thin at defensive end and the longtime Steeler could return as a backup and mentor to second-round draft pick Stephon Tuitt. Still, we heard yesterday from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that Keisel isn’t currently willing to play for the veteran’s minimum.
- In his latest mailbag for the Denver Post, Mike Klis fields several Broncos-related questions from readers, discussing John Elway‘s ability to recruit free agents, the club’s 2014 draft class, and Andre Caldwell‘s role for 2014.
- When Tom Pelissero of USA Today suggested to free agent defensive tackle Kevin Williams that he views the Patriots as a potential fit for the veteran DT, Williams chuckled. “Well, give them a call,” he said. “Tell them to look me up.” Based on Williams’ comment, it sounds like New England hasn’t been in touch, but he confirmed that at least a couple teams have called and that he continues to weigh his options.
Cardinals Sign Ernie Sims
WEDNESDAY, 11:47am: Sims’ one-year deal is a minimum salary benefit pact, with $10K in per-game roster bonuses, reports Tom Pelissero of USA Today (via Twitter). It’ll count for $580K against Arizona’s cap.
TUESDAY, 12:57pm: In the wake of Daryl Washington‘s season-long suspension, the Cardinals have moved quickly to shore up their linebacking corps. According to Darren Urban of AZCardinals.com (via Twitter), the team has signed veteran linebacker Ernie Sims to a contract. Kent Somers of the Arizona Republic adds (via Twitter) that it’ll be a one-year pact.
For much of his NFL career, which includes stints with the Lions, Eagles, Colts, and Cowboys, Sims has been an outside linebacker, but he spent some time playing on the inside during his last two seasons in Dallas. The 29-year-old, who visited the Cardinals last week, likely won’t be tasked with assuming Washington’s starting role, but will compete for playing time and should provide some depth at the inside linebacker position.
With Washington expected to miss the entire 2014 season and Karlos Dansby having departed in free agency, Kevin Minter appears likely to slip into one of the two starting ILB spots in Arizona’s 3-4 scheme. Free agent signee Larry Foote may have the inside track on the other spot.
In 12 games (six starts) for the Cowboys last season, Sims contributed 42 tackles and a forced fumble. However, his Pro Football Focus grades were significantly below average, due in large part to subpar run defense (subscription required).
Extension Candidate: Maurkice Pouncey
Few injuries during the 2013 season were more devastating to a team than Maurkice Pouncey‘s torn ACL and MCL. The anchor in the middle of the Steelers’ offensive line went down with the knee injury in the first week of the regular season, leaving a huge hole to fill at center and depriving him of an opportunity to open his NFL career with four straight Pro Bowl seasons.
However, Pouncey appears healthy and ready to go for the 2014 season, the last year of his rookie contract. A pair of Steelers beat writers – Ed Bouchette of the Post-Gazette and Alan Robinson of the Tribune-Review – wrote this week that the team figures to make every effort to lock its center up to a new deal before the season gets underway, and that Pouncey represents the Steeler most likely to sign an extension this summer. So it’s worth examining exactly what sort of contract the two sides may negotiate.
Prior to that 2013 season lost to injury, Pouncey had been the Steelers’ starter in the middle of the line since entering the league as the 18th overall pick in 2010. While his three Pro Bowl berths – and a 2011 All-Pro nod – would suggest that he became one of the NFL’s elite centers immediately upon entering the league, Pouncey’s Pro Football Focus grades (subscription required) tell a different story. According to PFF, the Florida product was the 21st-best player at his position in 2010, 19th in 2011, and 12th in 2012.
Pro Football Focus’ grades are hardly the be-all, end-all of player evaluation, particularly at a position where there are so few traditional statistics to evaluate a player’s production. Even so, PFF’s numbers exhibit that at least one metric considers Pouncey to be a player steadily improving toward the ranks of the elite, but one who may not quite be there yet. By comparison, Alex Mack of the Browns, who entered the league one year before Pouncey, has never ranked outside PFF’s top 10 centers, and maxed out at fourth overall in 2013.
Mack makes for a good point of comparison, since he hit free agency this offseason and became the NFL’s highest-paid center by annual average value. The five-year, $42MM offer sheet Mack signed with the Jaguars – which was subsequently matched by Cleveland – works out to $8.4MM per year, slightly edging the annual salaries of other elite centers like Carolina’s Ryan Kalil and Nick Mangold of the Jets. At the time of Mack’s signing, Bouchette suggested that Pouncey could make a case that he should land a deal even larger than that, making him the new highest-paid center in the league.
Still, I’d be a little surprised if Pouncey ultimately inked an extension that exceeded Mack’s $8.4MM per year, Kalil’s $19MM in guaranteed money, or Mangold’s $54.075MM total value. There’s certainly no question that Pouncey deserves to be in the conversation with those players, given all that he’s accomplished early in his career, plus the fact that he’s only entering his age-25 season. But he’s coming off a serious injury, and even before that injury, the data suggested he wasn’t quite playing at the elite level of some of his fellow centers, in spite of the Pro Bowl nods.
While Pouncey should be in line for a very nice payday, I expect him and the Steelers to agree to a price just below where Mack landed. Something in the neighborhood of five years and $40MM, with $15MM+ in guaranteed money, seems fair to me. We’ll have to see if Pouncey and the Steelers agree — if they don’t, and Pittsburgh remains motivated to get a deal done, that price could creep a little higher.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
East Notes: Bryant, Finley, Dolphins, Eagles
In examining what a possible extension for Cowboys receiver Dez Bryant could look like, Jason Fitzgerald of Over The Cap focuses on the top-of-the-market players who signed big deals before the age of 30 — it’s a list that includes Calvin Johnson, Larry Fitzgerald, Percy Harvin, Mike Wallace, Dwayne Bowe, and Vincent Jackson. Bryant’s two goals in this negotiation, Fitzgerald writes, should be to establish that he is above those bottom four names and to convince Dallas to pay him like the top two.
Here’s more from around the league’s two East divisions:
- There are “a good half-dozen teams in quiet pursuit” of free agent tight end Jermichael Finley, according to Mike Freeman of Bleacher Report. Freeman predicts that Finley will ultimately sign with the Patriots, the club the former Packer visited last Friday after being medically cleared by his doctor.
- Although Dan Marino and the Dolphins have talked about a possible position within the organization for the Hall of Fame quarterback, the two sides have been unable to figure out a role for him so far, says Armando Salguero of the Miami Herald. According to Salguero, the club would love to have Marino aboard for PR and marketing purposes, while Marino would like a role with some actual power (all Twitter links).
- The Eagles have made a number of changes to their scouting and personnel departments, the team announced today. Notably, Rick Mueller has been promoted to director of pro player personnel.
Zach Links contributed to this post.
Update On Remaining Unsigned Draftees
By our count, 204 of this year’s 256 draftees (nearly 80%) have formally agreed to terms with their new NFL teams, leaving just 52 unsigned rookies on the board. Since the league’s current Collective Bargaining Agreement leaves little room for negotiation on signing bonus money and the overall value of four-year rookie contracts, teams and players can only quibble on things like guaranteed money and offsets.
As such, it’s no surprise that nearly all the late-round picks, who don’t receive as much guaranteed money, have inked their deals, while the majority of first-rounders still remain unsigned. Here’s a quick breakdown of players by round who have signed:
- First round: 14 of 32 signed (43.75%)
- Second round: 20 of 32 signed (62.5%)
- Third round: 22 of 36 signed (61.11%)
- Fourth round: 38 of 40 signed (95%)
- Fifth round: 36 of 36 signed (100%)
- Sixth round: 37 of 39 signed (94.87%)
- Seventh round: 37 of 41 signed (90.24%)
So why have all the fifth-rounders signed while there are still a few sixth- and seventh-rounders not yet under contract? One team is responsible — the Rams, who didn’t have a fifth-round pick but who had six selections in the sixth and seventh rounds, have yet to lock up any of their draftees.
A year ago, Jim Thomas of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported that St. Louis head coach Jeff Fisher wanted to take the team’s rookies through “Financial Planning 101” before those players received their signing bonuses. According to Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk, the Rams are doing the same thing this year, delaying the signing process to ensure that their players know how to manage their money when they receive it.
While the Rams have yet to formally sign any of their 2014 selections, many teams have already ensured that all of their draftees are under contract. The Ravens, Bills, Bears, Colts, Chiefs, Saints, Chargers, 49ers, Seahawks, and Redskins have locked up their respective draft classes.
Here’s the full list by team of players who have yet to sign their rookie contracts, by our count:
- Arizona Cardinals: Deone Bucannon, S, Washington State (1.27)
- Atlanta Falcons: Dezmen Southward, S, Wisconsin (3.68)
- Carolina Panthers: Kelvin Benjamin, WR, Florida State (1.28); Trai Turner, G, LSU (3.92)
- Cincinnati Bengals: Darqueze Dennard, CB, Michigan State (1.24)
- Cleveland Browns: Justin Gilbert, CB, Oklahoma State (1.8); Johnny Manziel, QB, Texas A&M (1.22); Joel Bitonio, OT, Nevada (2.35); Christian Kirksey, LB, Iowa (3.71); Terrance West, RB, Towson (3.94)
- Dallas Cowboys: Zack Martin, OT, Notre Dame (1.16); Demarcus Lawrence, DE/OLB, Boise State (2.34)
- Denver Broncos: Bradley Roby, CB, Ohio State (1.31)
- Detroit Lions: Eric Ebron, TE, North Carolina (1.10); Kyle Van Noy, LB, BYU (2.40)
- Green Bay Packers: Davante Adams, WR, Fresno State (2.53); Richard Rodgers, TE, California (3.98)
- Houston Texans: Jadeveon Clowney, DE, South Carolina (1.1); Xavier Su’a-Filo, G, UCLA (2.33)
- Jacksonville Jaguars: Blake Bortles, QB, UCF (1.3); Marqise Lee, WR, USC (2.39); Allen Robinson, WR, Penn State (2.61); Brandon Linder, G, Miami (FL) (3.93)
- Miami Dolphins: Ja’Wuan James, OT, Tennessee (1.19); Jarvis Landry, WR, LSU (2.63); Billy Turner, OT, North Dakota State (3.67)
- Minnesota Vikings: Jerick McKinnon, RB, Georgia Southern (3.96)
- New England Patriots: Dominique Easley, DT, Florida (1.29)
- New York Giants: Jay Bromley, DT, Syracuse (3.74)
- New York Jets: Dexter McDougle, CB, Maryland (3.80)
- Oakland Raiders: Gabe Jackson, G, Mississippi State (3.81)
- Philadelphia Eagles: Marcus Smith, DE/OLB, Louisville (1.26)
- Pittsburgh Steelers: Ryan Shazier, LB, Ohio State (1.15); Stephon Tuitt, DE, Notre Dame (2.46); Dri Archer, RB, Kent State (3.97); Martavis Bryant, WR, Clemson (4.119)
- St. Louis Rams: Greg Robinson, OT, Auburn (1.2); Aaron Donald, DT, Pittsburgh (1.13); Lamarcus Joyner, CB, Florida State (2.41); Tre Mason, RB, Auburn (3.75); Maurice Alexander, S, Utah State (4.110); E.J. Gaines, CB, Missouri (6.188); Garrett Gilbert, QB, SMU (6.214); Mitchell Van Dyk, OT, Portland State (7.226); Christian Bryant, S, Ohio State (7.241); Michael Sam, DE/OLB, Missouri (7.249); Demetrius Rhaney, C, Tennessee State (7.250)
- Tampa Bay Buccaneers: Mike Evans, WR, Texas A&M (1.7); Austin Seferian-Jenkins, TE, Washington (2.38); Charles Sims, RB, West Virginia (3.69)
- Tennessee Titans: Taylor Lewan, OT, Michigan (1.11); Bishop Sankey, RB, Washington (2.54)