Broncos Rumors: Manning, V. Miller, Talib
In a press conference today, Broncos general manager John Elway insisted that there’s no timetable for Peyton Manning‘s retirement decision, and that the team intends to give him all the time he needs. However, that’s probably not exactly the case, writes Mike Klis of 9NEWS.
As Klis outlines, Manning’s 2016 base salary of $19MM becomes fully guaranteed on March 9th, so the Broncos will need a decision from their quarterback sometime within the next month. Having been unwilling to pay Manning a fully guaranteed $19MM salary a year ago, when he was coming off a solid season, the Broncos certainly won’t want to lock that amount in for 2016, so if Manning still hasn’t made a decision by then, the team would likely have to cut him. Of course, it’s hard to imagine the 39-year-old taking that long to decide on his future.
Here’s more on the Super Bowl champs:
- Elway said today that Malik Jackson and Danny Trevathan, two key free-agents-to-be, will be priorities this offseason, adding that he plans to start talking to their representatives right away (Twitter link via Lindsay Jones of USA Today). However, the GM did acknowledge that “it’s a fluid situation and our budget is only so big” (Twitter link via Nicki Jhabvala of the Denver Post).
- The Broncos’ top priority this offseason figures to be retaining Super Bowl MVP Von Miller, and Elways said today that “the goal is always to get a long-term deal” (Twitter link via Jhabvala). Jason Fitzgerald of Over the Cap goes in-depth to explore what a long-term extension for Miller might look like.
- Meanwhile, Joel Corry of CBSSports.com says (via Twitter) that Denver should consider the exclusive franchise tag for Miller. Teams generally use the non-exclusive tag to franchise players, but that leaves the door open for another club to sign the player to an offer sheet. For most players, that risk isn’t significant, since a rival team would have to give up two first-round picks in addition to the big-money offer sheet, but an elite pass rusher like Miller might be worth it.
- A source with knowledge of the situation tells Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk that the NFL will consider suspending Broncos cornerback Aqib Talib for his dangerous – and intentional – face-mask penalty in the Super Bowl.
Eagles, Fletcher Cox Closing In On Extension?
1:14pm: Cox took to Twitter today, and while he didn’t directly address Shorr-Parks’ report, his tweet is presumably a response to that story.
“Can the reporters please stop the nonsense nothing is true to what they are reporting,” Cox tweeted. “SAD.”
Without any details, it’s hard to know what exactly Cox is disputing — if he’s right that “nothing is true” about Shorr-Parks’ story, that would mean the Eagles aren’t even working on an extension for the defensive lineman, which seems unlikely.
It was Shorr-Parks who reported last month that the Eagles were making an effort to lock up Curry, Johnson, and Ertz, and those deals all came together within the next couple weeks, so there’s no reason to think the NJ.com scribe is way off base here. So perhaps it’s just the notion that an extension is “close” that Cox is denying. If that’s the case, it remains to be seen whether Cox simply thinks no agreement is imminent or whether he feels there are major hurdles to clear before the two sides reach a deal.
For now, we’re in wait-and-see mode, though I’d be a little surprised if the Eagles don’t sign Cox to an extension at some point in the coming weeks.
8:16am: The Eagles have already locked up four players to contract extension since their season ended last month, but the team isn’t done yet, and the next deal will likely be the biggest yet. According to Eliot Shorr-Parks of NJ.com, the Eagles and defensive lineman Fletcher Cox are getting close to an agreement that will lock up Cox for years to come.
[RELATED: Vinny Curry, Eagles agree to extension]
Cox, 25, had arguably the best season of his four-year career in 2015, setting a new career high with 9.5 sacks. He also racked up 71 tackles, three forced fumbles, and a pair of fumble recoveries. The performance earned Cox his first Pro Bowl nod, along with a top-10 spot on Pro Football Focus’ rankings of interior defenders — the Eagles standout placed ninth out of 123 qualified players.
As a first-round pick in 2012, Cox is currently under contract for one more season, with a fifth-year option for 2016 worth $7.799MM. However, if and when he and the Eagles get a new deal done, Cox will be in line for a sizable raise.
Citing two different people familiar with the extension negotiations, Shorr-Parks says that Cox could land a contract that features more than $50MM in guaranteed money, and it wouldn’t be a surprise if his average annual cap hit exceeds $15MM.
As Jason Fitzgerald of Over the Cap tweets, Marcell Dareus‘ deal with the Bills will likely be a point of comparison in the Cox extension talks, and the Eagle could ultimately exceed that Dareus contract to become the second highest-paid defensive tackle in the league, behind Ndamukong Suh. Dareus’ contract with the Bills averages $15.85MM per year, with $60MM in total guarantees ($42.9MM fully guaranteed).
If the Eagles do lock up Cox in the coming days or weeks – which it appears they will, unless talks fall apart in the late stages – he would be the fifth player this offseason to get a long-term deal from the team. Philadelphia has also extended tight ends Zach Ertz and Brent Celek, defensive end Vinny Curry, and offensive tackle Lane Johnson.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Colts Want To Re-Sign Adam Vinatieri
12:32pm: He doesn’t have a contract yet, but Vinatieri has finalized his decision to play for at least one more season, according to Zak Keefer of the Indianapolis Star. Keefer writes that Vinatieri wanted to weigh the decision with his wife and children before making it official, but now that he’s had some time to regroup following the regular season, he has decided to keep playing.
“Not only a season, but Lord willing, a couple of years,” Vinatieri said. “There will come a time when it’s over for me. I don’t think that time is yet. I enjoy playing. I enjoy doing my thing.”
10:50am: Adam Vinatieri turned 43 in December, but he continued to perform well for the Colts in the final season of his most recent contract, and the team would like to bring him back on a new deal, if he’s interested. As Mike Wells of ESPN.com writes, Colts owner Jim Irsay confirmed his club’s interest in re-signing Vinatieri.
“We’d like to retain Adam,” Irsay said. “We believe he’s still kicking at a high level. He really takes care of himself…. (Vinatieri) and (punter) Pat (McAfee) really complement each other. That’s been one of the strengths of our football team, those two guys. We do not underestimate what those two guys have meant to us.”
Right around the time of Vinatieri’s 43rd birthday, reports indicated that he planned on returning in 2016 for his 21st NFL season. So while it’s possible that he ends up with another team, the Colts figure to have the inside track on re-signing him. The veteran kicker has spent the last decade in Indianapolis, after spending the first 10 years of his NFL career with the Patriots.
In 2015, Vinatieri connected on 25 of 27 field goal tries, for a 92.6% conversion rate. However, he did occasionally struggle with the longer extra point, missing three of 35 attempts. Still, there were few NFL kickers more reliable than Vinatieri, who is now third on the league’s list of all-time leading scorers. With 2,253 points, Vinatieri could make a run at Morten Andersen (2,544) and Gary Anderson (2,434) if he decides to play for longer than just one more season.
Vinatieri’s previous contract with the Colts, which he signed in March 2014, was worth $5MM over two years, with a modest $500K signing bonus. It wouldn’t be a surprise to see him sign a similar pact this time around.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Titans Release Michael Griffin
After spending nine seasons and 141 games with the Titans, Michael Griffin‘s time in Tennessee has come to an end. The veteran safety published a tweet today strongly suggesting that the team has informed him that he’s being released, and Paul Kuharsky of ESPN.com confirmed (via Twitter) the move. The Titans have since made it official, via a press release.
[RELATED: Offseason Outlook: Tennessee Titans]
“I knew one day my time would come and I cherished every minute of it,” Griffin tweeted. “It’s been real Tennessee✌. Thanks for everything. #nextchapter.”
Griffin’s release is a move that had been anticipated, with the former Texas Longhorn suggesting in December that his future was uncertain. Griffin had been set to enter the final year of his current contract, and was set to earn a $6.5MM base salary, with a cap hit of $8.3MM. By releasing him, the Titans will clear his entire $6.5MM salary from their books for the coming year. Griffin was the first player we mentioned when we identified potential cap casualties in our preview of the Titans’ offseason.
In his nine seasons with the Titans, Griffin missed just three games, including one in 2015. Earning Pro Bowl spots in 2008 and 2010, the former first-round pick totaled 761 tackles, 25 interceptions, and 11 forced fumbles during his time with the team.
“I want to thank Griff for his time here with the organization,” Titans head coach Mike Mularkey said in a statement. “He was a leader who showed up to work every day in an effort to get better, and I appreciated his effort both on and off the field for this team. He touched a lot of people in this community and in our organization. I want to wish him the best, and I hope he will always be remembered as a great Titan.”
Now that the move is official, Griffin is immediately free to sign with a new team without having to first pass through waivers. Reaching the open market a month before 2016’s free agent period opens will give him a head-start on this year’s crop of free agents when it comes to finding a new job.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
NFC North Notes: Peppers, Martin, Lions
When Julius Peppers signed a three-year, $26MM deal with the Packers in 2014, there was some skepticism that he’d get to play out the entire contract, especially considering the significant cap hits in the final two seasons. With just one year left on that contract though, it appears Peppers will play it out after all, writes Rob Demovsky of ESPN.com.
Peppers, who turned 36 last month, is set to count for $10.5MM against Green Bay’s 2016 cap, with a $7MM base salary. If he retires, or if the Packers cut him, the team would create significant cap savings, but it doesn’t appear the two sides are planning for either of those scenarios, according to Demovsky. Coming off a Pro Bowl season in which he recorded 10.5 sacks, Peppers seems prepared to continue his career, and the Packers want to keep him in the mix.
Here are a few more updates from around the NFC North:
- Bears free agent safety Sherrod Martin is unlikely to return to Chicago this offseason, writes ESPN.com’s Jeff Dickerson. Martin started 36 games for the Panthers from 2009-11 but he only really played on special teams for the Bears. As a result, he doesn’t figure to be a high priority for the team this spring since his role could be filled by cheaper, younger players.
- Calvin Johnson‘s future, potential veteran cuts, and a possible new contract for Darius Slay should be among the Lions‘ top priorities as the offseason officially gets underway, says Michael Rothstein of ESPN.com.
- A player’s character will be a major point of emphasis in Detroit under new Lions GM Bob Quinn, as Rothstein details in a separate ESPN.com piece. “That’s definitely going to be taken into account on every draft pick, every free-agent signing that we take,” Quinn said at his introductory press conference last month.
Offseason Outlook: Jacksonville Jaguars
Pending free agents:
- Bryan Anger, P
- Andre Branch, DE
- Ryan Davis, DE (RFA)
- Clay Harbor, TE
- Chad Henne, QB
- Nic Jacobs, TE (ERFA)
- Abry Jones, DT (RFA)
- Marcedes Lewis, TE
- Bernard Pierce, RB
- Stefen Wisniewski, C
- Sam Young, T
Top 15 cap hits for 2016:
- Jared Odrick, DE: $8,000,000
- Julius Thomas, TE: $7,300,000
- Luke Joeckel, T: $6,745,963
- Jermey Parnell, T: $6,500,000
- Davon House, CB: $6,000,000
- Blake Bortles, QB: $5,633,128
- Zane Beadles, G: $5,500,000
- Dante Fowler Jr., DE: $5,338,691
- Sen’Derrick Marks, DT: $4,675,000
- Paul Posluszny, LB: $4,604,166
- Chris Clemons, DE: $4,000,000
- Roy Miller, DT: $3,975,000
- Dan Skuta, ILB: $3,600,000
- Toby Gerhart, RB: $3,500,000
- Tyson Alualu, DL: $3,000,000
Notable coaching/front office changes:
- Head coach: Extended Gus Bradley‘s contract through 2017.
- Defensive coordinator: Promoted DL coach Todd Wash to replace Bob Babich.
Draft:
- No. 5 overall pick
- Acquired sixth-round pick from Steelers in deal for K Josh Scobee.
Other:
- Current projected cap room (via Over the Cap): $76.63MM
- Must exercise or decline fifth-year option for 2017 for T Luke Joeckel.
- WR Justin Blackmon remains indefinitely suspended and isn’t expected to return.
Overview:
During a season in which it seemed like no AFC South team wanted to win the division, the Jaguars hung around for most of the year — with three weeks left in the 2015 campaign, Jacksonville was 5-8, just a single game behind the 6-7 Texans and Colts. Houston won its final three contests, while the Jags lost their final three, so the final AFC South standings show 11 losses and another third-place finish for Jacksonville. However, the team took some promising steps forward.
On the offensive side of the ball, 2014 first-rounder Blake Bortles showed that he may just be capable of being the Jaguars’ long-time answer at quarterback. In his sophomore year, Bortles racked up 4,428 yards and 35 touchdowns. Of course, he also led the NFL in interceptions and sacks, so it’s probably a little early to be penciling him into the Hall of Fame, but there’s some reason for optimism for the former third overall pick going forward.
While the Jaguars made strides on offense, the defense continued to struggle. 2015 first-rounder Dante Fowler Jr. didn’t play a single snap in the preseason or regular season during his rookie year, having torn his ACL on the first day of rookie minicamp. With Fowler on the way back, and the Jags expected to make additional moves this offseason to shore up the defense, head coach Gus Bradley earned another shot to turn around the club’s fortunes in 2016.
Although the Jags extended Bradley’s contract through 2017, that was mostly a ceremonial move, meant to avoid having him enter a lame-duck season. If he’s unable to get the team into playoff contention, or at least to .500, Caldwell likely won’t finish out that contract in ’17. So it’s a crucial offseason for general manager Dave Caldwell, who will also be on the hot seat if the Jaguars don’t make further progress on the field this fall.
Key Free Agents:
Fortunately for the Jaguars, none of the team’s key players are eligible for free agency. In fact, there are no free-agents-to-be that would leave the club with a huge hole if they departed this winter. Jacksonville heads into March with such a huge chunk of cap room that the team shouldn’t have a problem re-signing anyone it wants to though, even if it has to overpay by $1MM or $2MM to make it happen.
Veteran center Stefen Wisniewski is one player the Jaguars figure to explore bringing back if the price is right. Wisniewski was the full-time starting center in Jacksonville in 2015 and was adequate, particularly as a pass blocker. Considering Bortles has been sacked more than 100 times in his first two NFL seasons, the Jaguars ought to be aiming for more than “adequate” along the offensive line this offseason, but if the team can’t bring aboard an impact center, there’s nothing wrong with re-signing Wisniewski, who is at least familiar with the system now.
Marcedes Lewis took a pay cut last year to remain with the Jaguars, and even though he led the team’s tight ends in offensive snaps in 2015, his role in the offense continued to diminish. Despite not missing a game, Lewis grabbed just 16 balls for 226 yards and a touchdown, making it his least productive season since his rookie year. Unless the Jaguars highly value Lewis’ blocking abilities and he’s willing to further decrease his salary, the two sides could go their separate ways this offseason, with the Jags seeking out a blocking specialist to complement Julius Thomas.
Many teams wouldn’t consider a punter one of their top free agent priorities of the winter, but considering Jacksonville used a third-round pick on Bryan Anger back in 2012, the team will likely try to get him locked up to a new deal. Veteran quarterback Chad Henne could also be re-signed, if he’s comfortable continuing to back up Bortles. Assuming the Jaguars like the work Henne has done as a veteran mentor for Bortles in his first two years, they’ll probably be willing to continue paying him like one of the league’s top No. 2 QBs.
The Jaguars’ restricted free agents, Ryan Davis and Abry Jones, will likely continue to be part-time players on the defensive line, so assigning them low-end RFA tenders makes sense, especially since those salaries aren’t fully guaranteed.
Possible Cap Casualties:
As one of two NFL teams below the spending floor heading into the 2016 season, the Jaguars don’t really need to cut any players, particularly given their incredible amount of cap room.
However, that doesn’t mean the team should simply hang onto well-compensated players who won’t necessarily earn those salaries.
Running back Toby Gerhart has carried the ball just 121 times since signing with the Jaguars as a free agent two years ago, and with T.J. Yeldon and Denard Robinson solidly in the mix, Gerhart likely won’t have much of a role going forward. The team could clear his entire $3.5MM cap charge from its books by cutting him this offseason.
On the defensive side of the ball, Chris Clemons and Dan Skuta are in a similar boat to Gerhart — neither player has any dead money left on his deal, so the Jaguars could create $4MM and $3.6MM in respective cap savings by releasing them. Clemons will turn 35 in October and wasn’t productive in 2015. His three sacks were his lowest total since he became a starter in 2010, and Pro Football Focus ranked him dead last among 110 qualified edge defenders.
As for Skuta, he was a little more effective, especially against the run, and it wouldn’t surprise me to see the Jaguars hang onto him, since $3.6MM isn’t an exorbitant cap hit, particularly for a team with so much flexibility. But he didn’t play a ton of snaps in his first year in Jacksonville, and if the club adds linebacker depth that further marginalizes Skuta, he could become a cap casualty.
Positions Of Need:
Bortles had plenty of weapons at his disposal in 2015, with Allen Robinson and Allen Hurns both racking up 1,000-yard seasons, while Thomas and Yeldon caught their share of balls as well. The club could use a blocking tight end, and it wouldn’t be a bad idea to add a receiving back — Yeldon did well as a pass-catcher out of the backfield in his rookie season, but a dedicated third-down back capable of bailing out Bortles would be a nice addition. Lance Dunbar might be a good fit in free agency.
The majority of the Jaguars’ offensive upgrades should happen along the offensive line rather than at the skill positions. On paper, the offensive line doesn’t look bad. At tackle, Luke Joeckel was the second overall pick in the 2013 draft, and Jermey Parnell was a significant free agent investment a year ago. At guard, A.J. Cann was a day-two pick in 2015, and Zane Beadles was the team’s big free agent addition on the line two years ago. Wisniewski, who is facing free agency, was solid, if not spectacular, during his first season with the Jags.
Still, Beadles and Parnell haven’t played quite as well as the Jaguars were hoping for when they rewarded them with nice paydays. Joeckel, meanwhile, isn’t the kind of stalwart left tackle you’d expect to land with a top-two pick. Even if the Jags plan to keep their 2015 starters around, the club should look to bring in at least one or two more viable options to challenge those incumbent starters.
One option, with Wisniewski a few weeks away from reaching the open market, could be Browns center Alex Mack. Though he’s technically not a free agent yet, Mack can opt out of his contract, a fact that the Jaguars know very well — it was Jacksonville that included that opt-out clause in the offer sheet Mack signed with the club two years ago. If he opts out, Mack will be an unrestricted free agent, so the Browns won’t have the option of matching Jacksonville’s offer this time around.
Another potential target in free agency could be Seahawks left tackle Russell Okung. Before becoming the head coach in Jacksonville, Gus Bradley saw first-hand as an assistant in Seattle what Okung was capable of, and the veteran lineman – who is representing himself – appears interested in testing the open market, having emailed all 32 teams recently about his potential availability.
Although the Jaguars could look to shore up their offensive line, most of their work in free agency and the draft figures to focus on the defensive side of the ball. Fowler’s debut will help improve the pass rush, but that’s still an area the club should look to improve. One free agent that should be of particular interest to the Jags is Seahawks linebacker Bruce Irvin, who was a first-round pick in 2012, Bradley’s final year as Seattle’s defensive coordinator. Irvin recorded eight sacks in his rookie year under Bradley, a number he hasn’t matched or exceeded since, and would be a nice fit in Jacksonville.
In the secondary, the Jaguars added Davon House a year ago, but still lack any real impact defensive backs, making the position group a top priority this winter. Armed with a ton of cap space and a pressing need in the secondary, the Jaguars can afford to be significant players on the top defensive backs available.
At cornerback, that means perhaps targeting players like Sean Smith and Janoris Jenkins, assuming Josh Norman is franchised or re-signed by the Panthers. If the Jags feel like going after another ex-Packer, Casey Hayward is another worthwhile option. At safety, Eric Weddle, Tashaun Gipson, Rodney McLeod, Walter Thurmond, and others might be among Jacksonville’s targets.
Considering the team potentially needs to add two or three starting defensive backs, it would make sense to use the fifth overall pick on cornerback Jalen Ramsey, if he’s available. ESPN’s Mel Kiper and Todd McShay both have Ramsey going to the Jags in their latest mock drafts, citing his athleticism and his ability to play either cornerback or safety as reasons why he’s worthy of being a top-five pick this spring. Heading into the 2016 season with Fowler rushing the passer and Ramsey roaming the secondary wouldn’t entirely fix Jacksonville’s defense, but it would be a great start.
Extension Candidates/Contract Issues:
While the Jaguars will have to spend some money within the next 12 months or so to reach the 89% floor for NFL teams, that doesn’t mean the team has to go crazy in free agency this year. Teams don’t have to reach that spending floor until March 2017, so extensions for players like Bortles and Robinson could factor into the equation. Of course, as members of the 2014 draft class, those players aren’t eligible for new contracts until next winter, so the Jags won’t be focusing on those extensions quite yet.
The Jaguars’ 2013 draftees are eligible for extensions immediately, but that year’s draft class wasn’t exactly a strong one for the team. Joeckel probably hasn’t earned a big-money deal, and second-round safety Johnathan Cyprien ranked as Pro Football Focus’ second-worst safety out of 88 qualified players this past season. A mid-round pick like Denard Robinson could sign an extension this winter, but as a part-time running back, he’d be in line for a pretty modest second contract.
As for contracts that could be restructured, Zane Beadles‘ deal jumps out as an obvious candidate. His performance in his first two seasons in Jacksonville has been underwhelming, and now that he has no dead money left on his contract, the Jags have some leverage to ask him to take a pay cut in exchange for keeping his roster spot and getting some guaranteed money up front. If he refuses, the Jaguars have the cap flexibility to cut him and simply add guard to the list of positions they’ll be looking to upgrade in free agency.
The Jaguars’ huge amount of cap space and lack of immediate extension candidates really puts the team in a strong position heading into the 2016 offseason. Obviously, the club doesn’t want to hand out a bunch of extravagant contracts this winter and put itself in a position where it can’t afford to pay players like Bortles, Robinson, Hurns, and Fowler down the line. However, those players are still so far away from breaking the bank that the Jaguars can afford to roll the dice on several free agents this winter, structuring those contracts in such a way that by the time Bortles and others start getting expensive, this winter’s signees can be cut or restructured at a minimal cost, if necessary.
It’s what we saw the team do last year with players like House, Skuta, and Parnell, and while none of those players really had the sort of breakout season the Jags were hoping for, the team still has so much flexibility that it could try its luck on another round of potential impact players this year.
Overall Outlook:
The Jaguars haven’t made the postseason since 2007, and their 14 combined wins over the last four years were fewer than the 2015 Panthers put up in one year. Still, this looks like it could be a team on the rise. With Bortles continuing to develop, another top-five pick debuting along with Fowler this season, and a truckload of cap room for the Jags to make a splash or two in free agency, fans in Jacksonville can start to glimpse the light at the end of the tunnel. If they can make a few savvy moves this offseason, there’s no reason to think that the Jags can’t be a potential dark-horse playoff contender in 2016.
Information from Over The Cap was used in the creation of this post. Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Chiefs Working On Extension For Eric Berry
SATURDAY, 8:55am: Team chairman Clark Hunt acknowledged Berry’s importance to the organization when talking with Terez A. Paylor of The Kansas City Star.
“Certainly, Eric is somebody that’s very important to the franchise,” Hunt said. “Coach (Andy) Reid and his staff think highly of him. They appreciate the leader that he’s become, and obviously personally, he had the amazing year overcoming cancer. We’ll do everything we can to try to bring him back.”
Berry, meanwhile, isn’t allowing the extension talks to be a distraction.
“Right now, it’s in my agent’s hands,” Berry said, when asked about his contract situation. “With everything that went on this past year, I just want to kick it for a little bit, get the season off me, get all that off me, and then I think we’ll go from there.”
WEDNESDAY, 2:56pm: Having already extended a key offensive player this offseason, locking up Travis Kelce to a new, long-term contract, the Chiefs are now focusing on one of their top defenders, says Ian Rapoport of NFL.com. According to Rapoport (via Twitter), Kansas City is “ramping up talks” on a potential extension for safety Eric Berry.
[RELATED: Chiefs sign Travis Kelce to extension]
Berry, who earned Pro Bowl nods in three of his first four NFL seasons, was diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma in 2014, raising some doubts about his future in the league. However, Berry was declared cancer-free in 2015 and enjoyed one of his best seasons this past year for the Chiefs.
Appearing in all 16 games for Kansas City in 2015, Berry logged 61 tackles to go along with a pair of interceptions and 10 passes defended. Pro Football Focus ranked the Tennessee product sixth among 88 qualified safeties. The standout season earned Berry his fourth Pro Bowl berth, along with a spot on the NFL’s All-Pro first team.
Unlike Kelce, who still had a year left on his rookie contract, Berry is eligible for free agency this winter, so if the Chiefs hope to lock him up before he can hit the open market, the club will have to do so within the next five weeks.
In the latest edition of Pro Football Rumors’ free agent power rankings, Dallas Robinson placed Berry 10th overall, down from eighth in our previous installment. Dallas noted that safeties typically don’t land the sort of guaranteed money that quarterbacks, left tackles, and pass rushers do, but added that Berry should still do very well for himself this offseason, whether he re-signs with Kansas City or joins another team.
In the fall, former agent Joel Corry estimated that the franchise tag for safeties in 2016 will be around $10.7MM, so that’s an option for the Chiefs if they can’t reach a longer-team deal with Berry within the next few weeks. Although that’s a significant price tag, it’s not a huge increase over the 27-year-old’s 2016 cap hit of $8.36MM, so Kansas City could probably make it work. Tagging Berry would also give the team a few extra months to work out a multiyear contract for him.
If Berry does ultimately sign a long-term deal, there’s a good chance it will make him one of the top two or three highest-paid safeties in the NFL. As Over the Cap’s data shows, the former fifth overall pick would have to secure an average annual salary of at least $9MM to crack the top three, while surpassing $10MM per year would make him the league’s highest-paid safety.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
North Notes: Megatron, Lions, Forte, Browns
Much has been made of the fact that new Lions general manager Bob Quinn has yet to reach out to Calvin Johnson as the star wide receiver considers retirement, with some observers speculating that perhaps the GM prefers the extra cap room the team would pick up if Megatron retires. It hasn’t been complete radio silence between the Lions and Johnson though. Team president Rod Wood said today that he has been in touch with the 30-year-old wideout.
“While it’s out there that Bob Quinn has not talked to him, I have talked to him a couple times,” Wood said, per Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press. “And so we are staying in touch. I’ve talked to Bus (Cook, Johnson’s agent) a couple times. Nothing has changed in what we announced before. We’re still giving him time. I’m hoping to introduce him to Bob within the next week or so, at least hand that off to him to start talking to Calvin.
“The nice thing about private conversations is they’re private, so I won’t tell you exactly what we talked about,” Wood added. “But I have been in touch with him. I was texting with him on Wednesday.”
Here’s more on the Lions and a couple other North teams:
- The Lions still need to add a quarterbacks coach to their staff, and one of Jim Bob Cooter‘s former office-mates, Broncos offensive assistant Brian Callahan, could be a candidate for the job, Birkett writes for the Free Press.
- Bears running back Matt Forte says he has “no idea” whether or not he has a future in Chicago, telling Patrick Finley of the Chicago Sun-Times that he hasn’t heard from the team in recent weeks. The longtime Bear is eligible for free agency this winter.
- Tony Grossi of ESPNCleveland.com tweets that he has heard “on the Super Bowl grapevine” that the Browns intend to make another hire for their player personnel staff at some point, though it’s not clear yet what position that new addition would hold.
Donald Penn Wants To Talk Contract With Raiders
Raiders left tackle Donald Penn will see his two-year deal with the team expire next month, making him a free agent if he doesn’t have a new extension in place by then. Rather than reaching the open market, Penn would prefer to get something done with Oakland, but he has yet to hear from the team regarding contract negotiations, according to Scott Bair of CSNCalifornia.com.
“I’m not going to lie. I’m a little disappointed in the Oakland Raiders right now,” Penn said. “That’s just me being honest. I don’t talk to my agent about deals during the season because I like to focus on my play. But, going into the offseason we talked and my agent said he talked to the team and they said they want me back. That’s what they told me before I left, but I haven’t heard from them since the season ended.”
The Raiders and Penn still have a few more weeks to open negotiations and try to finalize a new contract for the veteran tackle, and general manager Reggie McKenzie said this week that there’s still plenty of time for that to happen. Nonetheless, Penn is getting anxious, and is starting to consider the possibility that he may have other suitors in March.
“I’m really disappointed, and I’m starting to look at other opportunities,” Penn said. “As man and a player, we have to start looking at other things. Me and my agent are starting to put together a group of teams that need a left tackle and things like that.”
Despite the fact that he has been one of the most reliable left tackles in the NFL over the last two seasons, Penn hasn’t been paid like it, since his two-year pact with the Raiders earned him just over $10MM in total. The Utah State product isn’t getting any younger – he’ll turn 33 in April – but he should still be in line for a nice raise, whether he re-signs with the Raiders or joins a new team. So while he’d like to be back in Oakland, Penn isn’t losing sight of that fact.
“We’ll see what happens next,” Penn said. “I did everything I could. I had two great seasons, two of the best of my career. You know, it’s a great time to be a free agent for me.”
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Extra Points: Goodell, Raiders, Jags, London
NFL commissioner Roger Goodell conducted his usual pre-Super Bowl press conference today, and even though he took questions from reporters for nearly 45 minutes, he didn’t provide many noteworthy updates. Goodell did drop the occasional interesting nugget, announcing that the Raiders and Texans will play in Mexico City on November 21, and revealing that he has recommended to the competition committee that a player who commits two person fouls in a game is automatically ejected.
When it came to questions about the NFL’s PSI study, stadium plans for San Diego and Oakland, potential changes to the league’s drug policy, and the NFL’s investigation into Al Jazeera’s HGH allegations, Goodell declined to get into specifics, offering only general answers. According to Goodell, the PSI checks didn’t turn up any violations, the NFL wants to keep the Chargers and Raiders where they are, the league doesn’t expect any marijuana-related policy changes, and the HGH-allegation investigation (in conjunction with WADA and other leagues) is ongoing.
Here are a few more odds and ends from around the NFL:
- NFLPA president DeMaurice Smith says he’s “cautiously optimistic” that the union will reach a resolution with the NFL over a change in Goodell’s role in player discipline, Mike Garafolo of FOX Sports tweets. The commissioner was characteristically evasive today when asked about that issue.
- Smith also projected another $10MM boost for the league’s salary cap in 2016 (Twitter link via Stephen Holder of Indianapolis Star), and and singled out the Raiders and Jaguars as two teams that are well below the 89% cash spending floor. According to Smith (link via Barry Wilner of The Associated Press), Oakland is $41MM below the threshold and Jacksonville is $28MM below. Those teams could be active in free agency this offseason to get to the necessary level, but they don’t have to be in compliance until March 2017, so extensions next winter for 2014 draftees like Derek Carr and Khalil Mack (Raiders) or Blake Bortles and Allen Robinson (Jaguars) could do the trick.
- Sheldon Adelson, the new owner of the Las Vegas Review-Journal, has installed Craig Moon as the paper’s publisher, and Moon’s early editorial decisions have had an impact on stories about Las Vegas’ proposed stadium, according to Politco’s Ken Doctor. With Adelson hoping to lure the Raiders or another NFL team to the proposed stadium, the Review-Journal has been forced to edit or kill stories about what could turn out to be a $600MM public investment.
- The NFL came close, in recent weeks, to adding a fourth London game to its 2016 schedule, a source tells Albert Breer of the NFL Network (Twitter links). However, scheduling conflicts – not to mention the challenge of finding a fourth team willing to give up a home team – forced the league to put that plan on hold.