West Notes: M. Jones, Seahawks, Clinton-Dix
It has been looking increasingly likely that the 49ers will draft Alabama passer Mac Jones with the No. 3 overall pick of this year’s draft, and ESPN’s Adam Schefter said just yesterday that Jones would be the Niners’ pick. But Tony Pauline of Pro Football Network isn’t as convinced. On a recent PFN Draft Insiders podcast (link), Pauline said he is hearing that whether San Francisco goes with Jones or one of Justin Fields or Trey Lance is a 50-50 proposition.
Of course, this time of year is notorious for false leaks and misinformation, but the Niners are at least doing their due diligence on Fields. The Ohio State QB will hold a second pro day, and 49ers HC Kyle Shanahan and GM John Lynch are expected to attend.
Now for a few more West-related items:
- The 49ers have hosted DL Ronald Blair on a visit, as ESPN’s Field Yates tweets. Blair, whom the Niners selected in the fifth round of the 2016 draft, was a useful piece of the team’s pass rush rotation during his first few years in the league, but he suffered a torn ACL in November 2019, and it was later revealed that the ensuing surgery was not successful. Though he re-upped with San Francisco on a one-year deal last March, he did not play in a single game in 2020.
- Cornerback Quinton Dunbar recently signed with the Lions, but the Seahawks wanted to retain him, per Brady Henderson of ESPN.com (via Twitter). Seattle has lost both Dunbar and Shaquill Griffin in free agency, and though the club did bring Ahkello Witherspoon aboard, CB is still an area of need.
- The Seahawks continue to seek offensive line depth. According to Mike Garafolo of the NFL Network, Seattle visited with guard Cody Wichmann today (Twitter link). Wichmann, a sixth-round pick of the Rams in 2015, has managed to land a couple of reserve/futures contracts and a spot on the Cowboys’ practice squad in 2018, but he hasn’t played in a regular season game since 2016. He has 18 career starts to his credit.
- After the first few weeks of the new league year, the Raiders still have a glaring need at safety, but they don’t seem too worried about it. According to Vic Tafur of The Athletic, the only FA safety Vegas was in on early was Rayshawn Jenkins, who inked a four-year, $35MM deal with the Jaguars. Players like Kenny Vaccaro, Duron Harmon, and Ha Ha Clinton-Dix remain available, and the Raiders actually had Clinton-Dix in for a visit in March. Tafur suggests that the 28-year-old may have an offer in hand from Vegas and could be waiting for the market to pick back up before agreeing to a deal.
Dan Snyder Gains Full Ownership Of WFT
Dan Snyder now owns the Washington Football Team outright. Adam Schefter of ESPN.com recently reported that Snyder has officially acquired the 40% interest in the team previously held by minority owners Frederick Smith, Robert Rothman, and Dwight Schar (Twitter link).
The three minority owners had filed suit seeking a ruling that Snyder must purchase all of their shares or none of them, as their value is higher collectively than individually (Snyder was reportedly willing to purchase the 25% share owned by Smith and Rothman but not the 15% share owned by Schar). The litigation had taken an ugly turn, with Snyder filing his own suit alleging that Schar had engaged in a smear campaign by leaking information concerning a $1.6MM settlement that WFT reached in 2009 with a former female employee who accused Snyder of sexual misconduct. To be clear, two separate investigations in 2009 failed to substantiate the former employee’s claims, and Snyder did not admit to any wrongdoing in the settlement.
Whether Schar had anything to do with the reports on that settlement or not, it came just months after a number of former female employees came forward with allegations of a longstanding culture of sexual abuse. The NFL’s investigation into those allegations is ongoing, but it is not presently expected to amount to significant (if any) sanctions.
Snyder certainly doesn’t seem concerned that he will face any sanctions that will affect his ownership. As Peter King of NBC Sports wrote in his last Football Morning in America column, Snyder borrowed heavily to buy out the minority owners, a buyout that checked in at $950MM (Nicki Jhabvala of the Washington Post tweeted that the final price tag was $875MM, but either way, it was a sizable chunk of change).
Obviously, this development further entrenches Snyder at the top of WFT, and as King writes, the multi-billionaire has no intention of selling the club. Though he may take on other partners in the future to offset his newly-incurred debt, he actually intends to one day pass the club down to the next generation of Snyders.
So buckle up, WFT fans. In the 22 years of the Syder regime, Washington has won just four division titles and has just two playoff wins (both in the wildcard round). It has not won a postseason game in 15 years, though the club has put together a solid offseason and should compete for the NFC East crown again in 2021.
Panthers To Sign A.J. Bouye
The Panthers’ recent trade for quarterback Sam Darnold certainly rates as one of the biggest splashes of the offseason, and now the team has turned its attention back to the defensive side of the ball. As Joe Person of The Athletic reports (via Twitter), Carolina has agreed to terms with free agent corner A.J. Bouye. Mike Klis of 9News.com first reported that the two sides were nearing a deal (Twitter link).
The Panthers were a middle-of-the-road outfit in terms of total defense in 2020, and this offseason, new GM Scott Fitterer has brought in Haason Reddick and Morgan Fox to reinforce the pass rush and Denzel Perryman to anchor the middle of the LB corps. Fitterer also inked cornerback Rashaan Melvin to a modest one-year pact, but Bouye is a superior talent if he can himself back on track.
A former UDFA, Bouye became a strong, starting-caliber CB in Houston and parlayed that success into a five-year, $67.5MM contract with the Jaguars in March 2017. He earned his first and only Pro Bowl nod following the 2017 season, a campaign in which he teamed with Jalen Ramsey to form a fearsome cornerback tandem. He picked off six passes that year — which nearly culminated in a Super Bowl appearance — but Jacksonville slipped in the subsequent seasons and elected to trade Bouye to the Broncos last March as part of its rebuilding efforts.
He suffered a dislocated shoulder in Week 1 of the 2020 season and landed on IR, and though he ended up playing in (and starting) seven games, he was hit with a six-game PED suspension in December. He will miss the first two games of 2021 as a result of the ban, and Denver released him earlier this year.
Still, the 29-year-old (30 in August) would be a high-ceiling veteran addition to a CB group currently fronted by youngsters Donte Jackson and Troy Pride Jr. Other than the Panthers, the only team that had reportedly expressed interest in Bouye following his release was the Raiders.
North Notes: Clowney, Vaitai, Parks
Let’s round up a few notes from the North divisions:
- For the second year in a row, Jadeveon Clowney is drawing interest from the Browns. Though Clowney’s recent visit to Cleveland did not result in a contract, Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com says the Browns still want to sign him if the price is right (and assuming the team is comfortable with his health). Clowney ultimately settled for a one-year, $13MM pact from the Titans last year after originally seeking a multi-year contract with an AAV of $20MM, and any deal he signs this year will likely be for much less than last year’s $13MM salary. But new Browns acquisition Malik Jackson believes Cleveland has what it takes to win the Super Bowl in 2021, and he suggested that Clowney should jump at the chance to sign up with the Browns. “If you want to hop on board, come hop on board,” Jackson said. “I understand the free agency market is not what he probably wants, but things are bigger than monetary value. You get a chance to be on a good team and set yourself up in the future.”
- When the Lions signed Halapoulivaati Vaitai to a five-year, $50MM contract last offseason, most expected he would suit up at right tackle. He missed six games in 2020 due to injury, but he played five games at guard, four games at tackle, and he split time between the two positions in one other game. New head coach Dan Campbell says he currently plans to slot the TCU product at guard (via Tim Twentyman of the team’s official website). “[W]e’re a little intrigued about moving him inside to guard.” Campbell said. “That does intrigue us. We may as a starting point work there and see where we’re at.” Campbell should have a solid group to protect QB Jared Goff, with Taylor Decker at LT, Jonah Jackson at LG, Frank Ragnow at C, Vaitai at RG, and a deep OL draft to add a quality rookie at RT.
- Before the Vikings signed former Cowboys safety Xavier Woods as part of their overhaul in the secondary, they tried to land Will Parks, as Darren Wolfson of KSTP tweets. Parks spent the first four years of his career in Denver before signing a one-year pact with the Eagles last offseason. He didn’t make it through the 2020 season with Philadelphia, as he was waived late in the season and was claimed by the Broncos (though the Vikings put in a claim as well). But according to Wolfson, Minnesota wanted to bring in Parks on a veteran minimum pact — which the club also tried with Woods — and Parks turned them down.
Giants Owner John Mara On Expectations, Dave Gettleman
The Giants have lost double-digit games in four consecutive seasons. GM Dave Gettleman has presided over the last three of them. Although club co-owner John Mara did not explicitly say so, Ralph Vacchiano of SNY.tv says it is inconceivable that Gettleman will be back in 2022 if Big Blue suffers through another losing season.
Of course, it was far from a sure thing that Gettleman would keep his job after the 2020 campaign. Even in late December, there were reports that ownership was more comfortable getting rid of Gettleman, who turned 70 in February, and bringing in a new top exec to work alongside head coach Joe Judge.
But the G-Men have traditionally given their GMs a long leash, and Gettleman has proven to be no exception. Several seasons ago, Mara knew that the team was embarking on a multi-year rebuild, and last season, he knew that a new HC with new systems and a new culture could delay that rebuild a bit. So it stands to reason that a team that favors continuity anyway would stay the course with a GM that was dealt a difficult hand.
That said, Gettleman’s personnel decisions have been a mixed bag at best. He did make some savvy pickups last offseason in cornerback James Bradberry, linebacker Blake Martinez, and defensive back Logan Ryan, and he was vindicated for his gamble on defensive lineman Leonard Williams. Those acquisitions were probably what saved his job, but like most GMs, Gettleman will ultimately be judged on if he made the right call at quarterback. And the jury is very much out on Daniel Jones, the No. 6 overall pick of the 2019 draft (though Mara did say that he thinks very highly of Jones).
Clearly, the team feels that it can compete this season, and it authorized a few significant contracts in free agency, the most notable of which was the four-year, $72MM whopper for WR Kenny Golladay. Mara admits that his hopes for his club this season are higher than they have been in recent seasons, and as a result of those expectations and the major financial commitments that were made in an effort to realize them, Gettleman is surely feeling the pressure.
When asked directly if Gettleman would be retained if 2021 turns into another disappointment, Mara said, “I’m not going to speculate that right now. Let’s just see how the season plays out.” But he also said, “I’m tired of the losing and of having the postseason press conference trying to explain what went wrong, why I think we’re making progress. It’s time for us to start winning some more.”
It would be surprising to see Judge ousted if the team struggles this year, given how much ownership and the locker room seems to like him, though Vacchino suggests it could be a possibility. But even if Judge could survive a sub-.500 finish, it seems clear that Gettleman will not.
49ers Monitored Deshaun Watson
Prior to swinging a deal for the No. 3 overall pick in this year’s draft — which they have admitted they will use on a quarterback — the 49ers monitored Deshaun Watson‘s availability, as Nick Wagoner of ESPN.com writes. That’s not terribly surprising, as the Niners were reportedly high on Watson’s list of preferred destinations, and San Francisco has been connected in some way or another to many of the quarterbacks that were on the trade and free agent markets this offseason.
Ultimately, after the club managed to retain key players like left tackle Trent Williams and fullback Kyle Juszczyk, and after Watson’s off-field situation made a trade for him infeasible, GM John Lynch approached ownership with the proposal to acquire the No. 3 pick from Miami. Lynch and head coach Kyle Shanahan believe the roster is championship-ready, and while they feel they can win with Jimmy Garoppolo under center — after all, the Garoppolo-led 49ers were in the Super Bowl about 14 months ago — they knew they needed a backup plan given Jimmy G’s injury history. And, with the 2022 class of collegiate QBs looking like an uninspiring group at the moment, San Francisco decided the time was right to make a bold move to secure a top prospect who would represent a Garoppolo fallback plan this year and who has a real chance of becoming a top-flight passer down the line.
The fact that the club was looking at players like Joe Flacco and Andy Dalton even after they had initiated talks to make a move up the draft board underscores the fact that the team is not comfortable with Garoppolo on a long-term basis and was considering trading him and replacing him with a different veteran that could have served as a bridge to a younger passer. Of course, a trade for Watson would have obviated the need for a rookie signal-caller, but even if Watson weren’t facing legal issues, there would have been stiff competition for his services, if the Texans had chosen to move him at all. While a player like Trey Lance, Justin Fields, or Mac Jones are hardly the sure thing that Watson is, we know that Shanahan prides himself on his ability to get the most out of his quarterbacks.
Garoppolo, meanwhile, was understandably unhappy when he learned that the team was drafting his replacement, and it sounds as if Shanahan made no bones about the fact that 2021 is looking like Garoppolo’s last year in San Francisco. As Wagoner writes, Shanahan said Garoppolo ultimately understood the plan to bring him back for “one more go” and “rehabilitate his value” (presumably for a trade in 2022).
“I’m sure Jimmy was a little pissed off from it, just like I would be, too,” Shanahan said. “The more mad Jimmy gets, usually the better he gets. (If) Jimmy just gets madder and stays healthy, this is going to be a good thing for Jimmy, too, which could be a great problem for the 49ers.”
As for who the 49ers might take at No. 3? Jones is a highly accurate passer, especially on intermediate throws, and boasts a terrific deep ball. In other words, he checks a lot of Shanahan’s boxes. He is also said to have high-level football IQ and excellent leadership abilities, and while many pundits have suggested his ceiling is lower than that of Lance or Fields, ESPN’s Adam Schefter cites one NFC GM who says teams have Jones graded much higher than the media does (via Dalton Johnson of NBC Sports Bay Area). As such, Schefter says he would not be surprised if the 49ers pull the trigger on Jones.
Colts Remain In Contact With Justin Houston
The Colts have been mostly quiet since free agency opened earlier this month. They re-signed WR T.Y. Hilton after a last-minute push convinced him to stay in Indy rather than sign with the Ravens, and they brought back CB Xavier Rhodes and RB Marlon Mack. According to Stephen Holder of The Athletic, the team also remains in contact with Justin Houston.
Houston, 32, has been productive for the Colts since they signed him to a two-year, $24MM deal in 2019. He started all 32 regular season games over the 2019-20 campaigns, recording 69 tackles and 19 sacks. Pro Football Focus wasn’t especially high on his work last season, ranking him as the 65th-best edge defender in the league out of 109 qualifiers, with middling grades in both run defense and pass rush.
Still, the 9.5-sack average he has put up over the past two seasons would be difficult to replace, especially at this stage of the offseason. That is especially true since there are no truly elite pass rushing prospects in this year’s draft, and even if there were, it’s hard to imagine such a player falling to the Colts’ No. 21 overall pick. Holder says the club is in talks with several other veteran edge players in addition to Houston, and a free agent signing before the draft remains a possibility. Jadeveon Clowney and Everson Griffen are two speculative fits.
There have been no concrete reports of interest in Houston since the offseason began. Back in February, we heard that the Colts would allow the market to dictate whether or not they brought Houston back for a third season, and as of right now, it appears that the market has not been kind to Houston. Perhaps that will result in a team-friendly reunion.
49ers DL Kevin Givens Charged With Assault
49ers defensive lineman Kevin Givens is facing an assault charge arising from an alleged incident that took place in Baltimore on February 21, as Michael Williams of the San Francisco Chronicle writes.
According to an affidavit signed by the alleged victim, Hayden Bosley, Givens and Bosley were at a Sheraton hotel in Baltimore with several other friends. Bosley says that Givens became upset with the other members of the group, and ultimately the two men got into an altercation that culminated with Givens tackling Bosley, resulting in black eyes, scrapes, and four hours in the emergency room.
The details are a bit fuzzy, but court records indicate that a trial date is set for April 26. The 49ers have said that they are gathering facts and will continue to monitor the situation.
Givens, a 2019 UDFA out of Penn State, appeared in just one game in his rookie campaign after spending most of the year on the practice squad. But he played a much larger role last season, seeing time in 13 games (one start) while accumulating 19 tackles and a sack. He served as the primary backup to D.J. Jones, who recently re-signed with the 49ers and who offered some high praise for Givens.
“I look up to Kevin Givens,” Jones said. “Nobody’s talking about him, but they will be soon.”
As a recent UDFA who has yet to truly establish himself in the league, Givens can ill-afford a criminal charge of any kind. If the accusations have any veracity, his spot on the 49ers, and perhaps even his playing career, could be in jeopardy.
Jets Made A Push For TE Jonnu Smith
The Jets watched the division-rival Patriots embark on an uncharacteristic spending spree this month, and at least one of New England’s shiny new toys was a New York target. Per Jeremy Fowler of ESPN.com (via ESPN colleague Rich Cimini), the Jets made a push for former Titans tight end Jonnu Smith, who wound up signing a whopping four-year, $50MM deal with the Pats.
Jets GM Joe Douglas has shown restraint when it comes to handing out big-money deals to FAs. He has established a pattern of sticking to his price for a particular player, and given that Smith’s deal was larger than most in the industry expected, it’s not terribly surprising that Douglas did not outbid Bill Belichick for the 25-year-old TE.
Douglas was able to add a couple of new receivers — Corey Davis and Keelan Cole — for whoever will be under center when Week 1 rolls around, but tight end is still a weak spot. Chris Herndon, who is entering the final year of his rookie deal, underperformed in 2020, and while the Jets did sign Tyler Kroft in free agency, he is hardly the playmaking talent that teams are looking for at the position these days. Plus, outside of Kyle Pitts, this year’s rookie class of TEs is rather thin. And unless the Jets elect to keep Sam Darnold and use the No. 2 overall pick on Pitts — or a lower selection if they trade down a couple of spots — it will be difficult to find an upgrade in the draft.
Still, there is encouraging news for Jets fans. According to Cimini, new head coach Robert Saleh has made his club a much more attractive destination for free agents, who used to choose Gang Green simply when the team overpaid.
In speaking about his choice to join the Jets, Davis said, “[i]t starts with Coach Saleh. He’s the right guy to come in here and turn things around. That’s what I believe. That’s why I came here. I believe his message and I believe what he brings to the table. He brings great energy, you can tell. It’ll be great to play for a guy like that.”
Money will still be the deciding factor in most cases, but having a charismatic HC who can connect with players will only help the Jets’ cause when it comes to attracting outside talent.
Cowboys In Discussions With LB Sean Lee
The Cowboys remain in discussions with longtime linebacker Sean Lee, according to head coach Mike McCarthy (via Jon Machota of The Athletic). The 34-year-old is a candidate to retire, but he is apparently interested in a 12th season in Dallas.
The oft-injured ‘backer is long removed from his days as an elite defender, but he could still be useful in a rotational role. Though he played in just nine games in 2020, he played in all 16 contests in 2019 (including 13 starts) and ended that season on a high note. He tallied double-digit tackles in two of his final five games in 2019 and finished out with 86 stops, a sack, an interception, and four passes defensed, leading to a one-year, $4.5MM re-up last offseason.
But sports hernia surgery delayed Lee’s 2020 debut until Week 8, and he wound up recording just 20 tackles while playing in 16% of the Cowboys’ defensive snaps (both career lows outside of the 2014 season, which was wiped out completely due to an ACL tear). If he were to return, it would likely be for much less than his $4.5MM 2020 salary, and he would be the fourth LB on the depth chart behind Leighton Vander Esch, Jaylon Smith, and free agent acquisition Keanu Neal. The Cowboys, though, should have a real chance to win the NFC East in 2021, and Lee may want to sign up for one more chance at a deep postseason run.
In related news, McCarthy pushed back on a recent report indicating the Cowboys have informed Aldon Smith that he won’t be retained. One of 2020’s best comeback stories, Smith is not a great fit in the 4-3 scheme that Dallas will run under new DC Dan Quinn, so the report didn’t come as much of a surprise. Still, McCarthy said the team remains in contact with the 31-year-old pass rusher.
“That’s still fluid,” McCarthy said. “I personally haven’t moved on. I was in a conversation yesterday about Aldon, so we’ll see how that works out moving forward. … We’re still talking there.”