Raiders To Release Jeff Heath
The Raiders are releasing safety Jeff Heath, as Tom Pelissero of the NFL Network reports (via Twitter). Las Vegas signed Heath to a two-year pact last March, but he only made it halfway through that deal.
Heath, who will turn 30 in a little over a week, has carved out a career that most college free agents dream of. Signed by the Cowboys as a UDFA out of Saginaw Valley State in 2013, he appeared in all 16 of Dallas’ games in his rookie season, starting nine of them. His defensive snaps took a downturn over the next few seasons as he settled in as a core special-teamer, but he became the Cowboys’ primary strong safety from 2017-19.
In thirteen games (five starts) for the Raiders in 2020, Heath intercepted three passes, tying his career-high mark set in 2017. He also graded out as the 16th-best safety in the league per Pro Football Focus’ advanced metrics, which assigned him high marks for his coverage abilities.
However, the Raiders’ defense was their Achilles’ heel last season, and the club selected two safeties in last week’s draft (Trevon Moehrig and Tyree Gillespie), so Heath’s release is not terribly surprising. Vegas also reunited with Karl Joseph last month.
Heath should be able to catch on with a club in need of safety help, especially since he can still be a valuable contributor to a third unit. His release saves the Raiders $3.15MM in cap space, which will help subsidize today’s Casey Hayward signing.
Chargers Announce 10 UDFA Signings
This year’s crop of draftable prospects was said to be on the thin side, so the 2021 class of UDFAs is expected to have even fewer players make the cut than usual. But you never know, and teams still have 90 roster spots they can fill throughout the spring and summer. The Chargers were among the first to announce their UDFA signings:
- Ben DeLuca, DB (Charlotte)
- Jared Goldwire, DL (Louisville)
- Darius Harper, OT (Cincinnati)
- Hunter Kampmoyer, TE (Oregon)
- Alex Kessman, K (Pittsburgh)
- Ryan Langan, LS (Georgia Southern)
- Forrest Merrill, DL (Arkansas State)
- Amen Ogbongbemiga, LB (Oklahoma State)
- Kyle Spalding, OT (San Diego State)
- Elijah Stove, WR (Auburn)
As with most UDFA classes, this one included several notable guarantees. Goldwire received $50K in guaranteed money, while Ogbongbemiga got a $30K guarantee (Twitter links via Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle). Goldwire earned All-ACC Second Team honors after recording 35 tackles, five TFLs, and two sacks from his nose tackle position, while Ogbongbemiga piled up 180 tackles over the past two seasons and possesses excellent speed.
Stove struggled with injuries in his collegiate career but is quick and has good hands. He caught 44 passes for 359 yards and three scores in his final season at Auburn.
Colts Notes: Tevi, Hines, Eason
One of the biggest winners of this year’s draft was Colts LT Sam Tevi. Signed to a modest one-year pact in March, Tevi has been atop Indy’s left tackle depth chart in the wake of Anthony Castonzo‘s retirement, but it was widely expected that the team would draft a potential Castonzo replacement.
Even though Virginia Tech’s Christian Darrisaw was available for the Colts with the No. 21 overall pick, GM Chris Ballard elected to further bolster his defense by selecting Michigan DE Kwity Paye. And while this year’s draft was said to be deep in tackle talent, Ballard did not use a Day 2 or Day 3 choice on a tackle either.
It doesn’t sound like Colts brass was particularly high on the top-shelf LT prospects. “It just didn’t match up,” Ballard said (Twitter link via Stephen Holder of The Athletic). “How many true left tackles were in the draft? We’ll see. … If you’re gonna draft a guy that high, and you’re drafting him to be a left tackle, you’d like to know that he’s going to be that his whole career.”
Now for more out of Indianapolis, starting with additional notes on the team’s LT situation:
- Even though the Colts valued Paye and second-round choice Dayo Odeyingbo over any LTs that were available at the time, owner Jim Irsay did concede that there were several tackles in the fourth and fifth rounds that they would have drafted but missed out on (Twitter links via Joel A. Erickson of the Indianapolis Star).
- Irsay suggested that the team is comfortable with Tevi as the starting LT, though he left the door open for another acquisition. “We feel that Tevi can do a solid job there next to that line that he is joining,” he said. “There are other options that can come down the line” (Twitter link via Holder).
- Irsay has previously indicated that the team would prefer to keep Quenton Nelson at left guard instead of moving him to LT, and perhaps one of the “options that can come down the line” that he referred to is former Chiefs LT Eric Fisher, who is still on the market.
- We recently heard that the Colts are hoping to extend LB Darius Leonard and OT Braden Smith, and you can add RB Nyheim Hines to that mix. As Mike Chappell of Fox 59 writes, Irsay said he wants his team to explore a re-up with the NC State product, who is eligible for free agency next year. Hines is a terrific receiver out of the backfield and has developed into a quality punt returner, but the team does have second-year pro Jonathan Taylor as its RB1, and Marlon Mack is back in the fold as well. As Irsay observed, “it just depends on what the numbers are.”
- The Colts just drafted Texas signal-caller Sam Ehlinger, adding him to a quarterback room that also includes 2020 UDFA Jalen Morton and 2020 fourth-round pick Jacob Eason. All three players will be vying to serve as Carson Wentz‘s top backup, though head coach Frank Reich said Eason will be penciled in as the QB2 for now (Twitter link via Erickson). Reich was clear that Morton and Ehlinger will get a fair shake, however.
Jets To Ramp Up Negotiations With Marcus Maye
The Jets put the franchise tag on safety Marcus Maye back in March, and Maye signed his franchise tender, which locks him into a $10.61MM salary for 2021. However, player and team have until July 15 to work out a long-term contract, and as Brian Costello of the New York Post writes, GM Joe Douglas expects those negotiations to pick up now that the draft is over.
“It’s still a priority to keep Marcus here long-term,” Douglas said. “We have had productive texts back and forth with his agent. We’re hoping to really dive into this now that the draft’s over.”
Douglas has said all along that keeping Maye in the fold is a priority. But in March, Maye’s agent went public with his disappointment as to how contract talks had played out to that point, and in light of last summer’s Jamal Adams trade, there was some chatter that Douglas simply wasn’t prepared to pay big money for a safety.
Obviously, the fact that talks will resume is no guarantee that a deal gets done, especially if Maye is determined to land a top-of-the-market deal (meaning an AAV of $14MM-$15MM). Still, he is young enough and good enough to be a foundational piece of Douglas’ rebuild, which Jets fans hope was kicked into high-gear with this week’s selection of quarterback Zach Wilson.
In 2020, Pro Football Focus graded Maye as its No. 5 overall safety. The former second-rounder also finished the season with career-highs across the board, including 88 tackles, two sacks, two picks, and 11 passes defended.
49ers Will Not Ask Jimmy Garoppolo To Take Paycut
Jimmy Garoppolo may not be with the 49ers beyond the 2021 season — if he makes it that far — but he will not be asked to take a pay cut or restructure his contract. GM John Lynch was clear on that point, as Eric Branch of the San Francisco Chronicle writes.
Of course, Lynch just selected Trey Lance with the No. 3 overall pick in the draft. While we have known ever since the 49ers traded a king’s ransom to the Dolphins to acquire that pick that they would use it on a QB, San Francisco brass has also implied that Garoppolo would be the starter at least to open the season while the rookie passer gets his feet wet at the professional level.
Branch, however, suggests that Lance could take the reins right away, meaning that the 49ers would be paying their backup a $24.2MM salary, to go along with a $27MM cap charge. But Lynch and team ownership have no issue with that proposition.
“I think it’s a testament to the commitment of our ownership,” Lynch said. “When this process was going on, that’s a question that we asked. We arrived at a point where that was our preference: to draft a quarterback and keep Jimmy, provided that someone didn’t come and just completely blow us way (with a trade offer). And they gave us that commitment. Yeah, we could do that. And we’re happy to have that situation right now. Because we believe it’s a very strong one.”
The 49ers do have the cap space to make it work. As Branch notes, San Francisco currently has $18.2MM of room, and while the club still has to sign its eight-man draft class and work out an extension for LB Fred Warner, that shouldn’t be too much of an issue.
Broncos To Split QB Reps 50-50 Between Lock, Bridgewater
As of now, the Broncos have not traded for Packers signal-caller Aaron Rodgers. Unless and until Rodgers is dealt to Denver, 2019 second-round pick Drew Lock and new trade acquisition Teddy Bridgewater will engage in an open competition for the team’s starting QB job.
Head coach Vic Fangio confirmed as much in an interview with Mike Klis of 9News.com. Although Fangio conceded he wasn’t sure which of Lock or Bridgewater would get the first set of reps in OTAs or training camp, he said, “it will be something that at the end of the day, maybe not at the end of every day, but over the course of OTAs and training camp, it’ll be 50-50.”
Lock only has 18 career starts to his credit, but he is already being mentioned as one of a number of failed QBs that led to John Elway‘s loss of decision-making power. In 13 games last season, the Missouri product threw 16 TD passes against a league-worst 15 picks, leading to a poor 75.4 quarterback rating.
Bridgewater was a a little better in his lone season in Carolina, but his 2020 campaign can fairly be characterized as disappointing as well, especially when measured against the three-year, $63MM contract he signed with the Panthers last offseason. He offers the experience and accuracy that Lock does not have at this point, though Lock’s ceiling is higher.
Fangio, predictably, had good things to say about both passers. “I think Drew’s had a helluva offseason up to this point, albeit we haven’t been on the field,” he said. “I think Drew is going to look good here in the offseason when we do hit the field. And I’ve been an admirer of Teddy Bridgewater for many years. … He’s a good football player. A good quarterback. He’s got deceptive scramble ability. He’s got really good pocket feel. He’s got great leadership abilities. I think he’s an accurate passer and processes very well so we’re happy.”
Regardless of which player wins the job, the Broncos currently have the least desirable QB situation in the AFC West. But new GM George Paton passed on the opportunity to draft a quarterback like Ohio State’s Justin Fields, so he obviously feels good enough about where things stand right now. However, the rest of Denver’s roster looks pretty strong, and the team could be one elite QB away from making serious noise in the AFC. As such, a Rodgers pursuit could still be in the cards.
Vikings Tried To Trade Up Twice In First Round
Vikings GM Rick Spielman went into the first round of last night’s draft ready to wheel and deal. As Dan Duggan of The Athletic reports, the Vikings, who originally held the No. 14 overall pick, called the Giants about moving up to No. 11 (Twitter link). But the QB-needy Bears were willing to give New York a massive haul to trade up from No. 20 to No. 11, a swap that included a 2022 first-rounder.
Obviously, Spielman wasn’t about to part with that kind of capital to move up three spots. While we don’t know exactly who he wanted to move up for, it seems likely that the target was Northwestern LT Rashawn Slater, who went to the Chargers at No. 13, one pick before Minnesota. With Slater gone, the Vikes then engineered a trade down, acquiring the No. 23 pick and two third-round choices from the Jets to allow Gang Green to move up to No. 14 (the Vikings also sent a fourth-round selection to the Jets).
With that No. 23 pick, Spielman got a big-time LT prospect in Virginia Tech’s Christian Darrisaw, but he had to sweat it out. He worried that Darrisaw, like Slater, would be snapped up before the Vikings were back on the clock, so he thought about trading back up.
“Once we got down to about four or five picks, when we went down to 23, we did try to go back up because we wanted to try to make sure that we got Christian,” Spielman said (via Craig Peters of the team’s official website). “We were unable to [move up]. Fortunately, we did not have to. We were able to keep our extra picks that we gained and still got the player that we coveted. So, it worked out very well for us.”
Darrisaw, whose natural athleticism and talent give him a high floor, is effective both in pass- and run-blocking. Scouting reports suggest that he will have to work on finishing his blocks, but the ability and the technique is already professional-grade. He should be an immediate starter at left tackle, a job that belonged to Riley Reiff for the past four seasons.
Spielman said this morning that the “sweet spot” of this year’s draft is in the third and fourth rounds (Twitter link via Chris Tomasson of the St. Paul Pioneer Press). That’s good news for him, as the Vikings now have four third-rounders and three fourth-rounders to work with. That will give them some ammunition to continue moving around the board, and Spielman also suggested that he could even look to pick up more picks in the 2022 draft (Twitter link via Tomasson). Minnesota is already scheduled to have 11 selections next year.
Latest On Bears QB Nick Foles
Nick Foles has become an afterthought in Chicago. This offseason, the Bears signed veteran QB Andy Dalton and promptly anointed him as the starter. Then, they made a bold move up the draft board last night to select Ohio State signal-caller Justin Fields, who will be groomed to be the long-term solution under center the team has been seeking for decades.
That leaves Foles on the outside looking in, unless for some reason the Bears think Fields might not be ready to be Dalton’s backup. However, moving on from Foles could be easier said than done.
As Darryl Slater of NJ.com observes (via Twitter), Foles still has prorated signing bonus charges totaling $5.3MM over the next two seasons, to go along with $5MM in guaranteed salary. Cutting him, at least prior to June 1, would result in a greater dead cap charge than the $6.66MM hit that he is scheduled to carry in 2021. So a trade makes more sense, since the acquiring team would have to take on the salary obligations.
Both Brian Costello of the New York Post and Connor Hughes of The Athletic (Twitter link) believe Foles would be a great fit for the Jets. New York, of course, drafted BYU passer Zach Wilson with the No. 2 overall pick in the draft, and while the club obviously has high hopes for him, there is presently no QB on the roster that has thrown a pass in a regular season game. The team has looked into signing Brian Hoyer, but if the price is right, GM Joe Douglas — who is familiar with Foles from his days in Philadelphia — might prefer to add the former Super Bowl MVP.
In related news, the Bears did speak with the Panthers about moving up to Carolina’s No. 8 overall pick to grab Fields, according to Joe Person of The Athletic (Twitter link). The Panthers stayed put and selected Jaycee Horn, but Chicago got its guy three picks later by acquiring the Giants’ No. 11 overall selection.
Chargers Exercise Derwin James’ Fifth-Year Option
The Chargers have exercised safety Derwin James‘ fifth-year option, as James Palmer of the NFL Network reports (via Twitter). That decision will guarantee James a $9.052MM salary in 2022.
James’ talent should have made this an easy call. The Florida State product was tremendous in his rookie season in 2018, racking up three interceptions, 13 passes defensed, and 3.5 sacks. That year culminated in a trip to the divisional round of the playoffs for Los Angeles and First Team All-Pro honors for James.
But James’ subsequent injury problems might have given the Chargers pause. A stress fracture in his right foot limited James to just five games in 2019, and he suffered a knee injury in practice shortly before the start of the 2020 campaign, which wiped out his entire season. It was reported that the ensuing meniscus surgery would require six to eight months of recovery time, and while we have not heard anything definitive, that timeline and the fact that the team picked up James’ fully-guaranteed option suggest that he is expected to be ready to go come Week 1.
If Los Angeles’ roster can stay relatively healthy in 2021, the club should have a real chance at a postseason berth. The Chargers filled a major need at left tackle in the first round of last night’s draft by picking up Northwestern LT Rashawn Slater, which makes the offense a formidable unit on paper. Meanwhile, a full season from James would be a major boost to the defensive side of the ball.
Broncos GM George Paton On Bradley Chubb, Courtland Sutton
Much of the coverage of the Broncos this offseason has focused upon what the club will do with respect to its quarterback position, but new GM George Paton also has non-QB business to handle. That includes the contract situations of OLB Bradley Chubb and WR Courtland Sutton.
During his first pre-draft press conference, Paton told reporters, including Zack Kelberman of SI.com, about his desire to keep both players in the fold for the long haul. “They’re two of our core guys, and we want them here a long time,” Paton said. “We’re not going to address that until after the draft. We’re strictly focused on the draft, but those are two of our guys.”
As a 2018 first-round choice, Chubb’s rookie contract carries a fifth-year option that Paton must exercise by May 3. Though he has not explicitly said so, the rookie general manager will doubtlessly pick up the option, which is valued at a fully-guaranteed $12.7MM. That will buy player and team plenty of time to work out a contract extension.
Chubb posted 12 sacks in his rookie year, but he suffered a torn ACL early in the 2019 season. He rebounded from that injury to tally 7.5 sacks last year, to go along with 19 QB hits. Pro Football Focus graded him as the 30th-best edge defender out of 109 qualifiers, but his pass rushing score of 79.4 was actually a top-15 mark, and he earned his first Pro Bowl bid for his efforts.
It’s unclear if Paton will pursue an extension for Chubb immediately after the draft, though it would make sense for the two sides to at least have exploratory conversations. The same can be said of Sutton, but his situation is a little murkier.
Like Chubb, Sutton is a 2018 draftee, but because he was selected in the second round that year, his deal does not have a fifth-year option. So he will be eligible for unrestricted free agency after the 2021 season, and given that he sustained a season-sending ACL tear in his first game of the 2020 campaign, Paton may want to make sure he returns to form before getting too aggressive with extension talks.
Plus, the Broncos invested heavily at the wide receiver position last year, drafting Jerry Jeudy in the first round and KJ Hamler in the second. That could limit how far Paton is willing to stretch himself on a new contract for Sutton, but if Sutton picks up in 2021 where he left off in 2019 — he earned a Pro Bowl nod that year after posting 72 catches for 1,112 yards — it will be difficult to let him walk.