Flores: Tua Will Remain Dolphins’ Starter
The Dolphins are now one win away from their first trip to the postseason since 2016, and they have Ryan Fitzpatrick (and a healthy dose of Raiders ineptitude) to thank for it. After Miami’s offense with QB Tua Tagovailoa under center stagnated throughout much of last night’s game against Las Vegas, head coach Brian Flores replaced the first-round rookie with the hirsute 38-year-old, and that sprinkling of FitzMagic was enough to pull out a last-second win.
Fitzpatrick completed nine of 13 passes for 182 yards and a touchdown in his limited action, and while much of that yardage came on a no-look prayer of a pass and a healthy run-after-catch from RB Myles Gaskin, the offense undeniably came to life with Fitzpatrick at the helm. That led most to assume that the veteran would start the Dolphins’ Week 17 game with the Bills next week.
But Flores said in his post-game presser that Tagovailoa remains the team’s starter and will get the call against Buffalo, as Cameron Wolfe of ESPN.com was among those to report. “Tua is a young player,” Flores said. “He’s developing. He’s improving on a daily basis. He’s learning from these experiences. He’ll be better next week.”
Last night marked the second time in five games that Tagovailoa was pulled for Fitzpatrick in the fourth quarter, and while Fitzpatrick wasn’t quite able to complete the comeback in Miami’s Week 11 loss to Denver, he got the job done against the Raiders. As a result, the Dolphins will clinch a playoff berth if they beat the Bills next week.
Tagovailoa’s surface-level stats look decent enough — he has completed 65.1% of his passes for 10 TDs against just two interceptions — but most of his throws are dinks and dunks, and his 6.3 yards-per-attempt average is among the worst in the league. He will need to take more downfield shots to pull out a victory over the Bills, but if he should struggle, Flores has shown he will not be afraid to send in Fitzpatrick.
Xavien Howard Wants New Contract
Dolphins cornerback Xavien Howard just earned the second Pro Bowl bid of his career and is in the running for Defensive Player of the Year honors. He also wants a new contract.
According to Armando Salguero of the Miami Herald, Howard’s camp will ask the team to renegotiate the five-year, $75MM contract that Howard signed with the ‘Fins in 2019. Although the contract made Howard the highest-paid CB in the league at the time, he is now the sixth-highest-paid corner, one spot behind teammate Byron Jones and his $16.5MM average annual value. Plus, Jones’ $46MM in full guarantees dwarfs Howard’s $27.2MM, and Howard is looking to strike while the iron is hot.
The 27-year-old is leading the league in interceptions this season (nine), and while he was limited to just five games in 2019, he also led the league in picks in 2018 (despite playing in just 12 games that year). Pro Football Focus considers him the best corner in football this season, with a stellar 90.0 grade in coverage.
From that standpoint, it’s easy to see why Howard is looking for a contract more akin to the market-topping five year, $105MM pact ($71.2MM fully guaranteed) that Jalen Ramsey recently pulled down from the Rams. But that’s the nature of the beast, particularly at a premium position like CB. One player sets the market and another player comes along, sometimes hours later, and resets it. But the first player generally doesn’t get another bite at the apple with four years left on his existing contract, and Howard is under club control through 2024.
That said, Miami knows what it has in Howard, and Salguero says it’s possible the team tries to appease him. It’s currently unclear if the Dolphins even know about Howard’s intentions at this point, and while they certainly don’t want to set a precedent by renegotiating a deal that has so much time remaining, Howard is obviously a game-changing talent.
The ‘Fins did field trade calls for Howard before this year’s deadline, but they put an enormous price tag on him. If negotiations go awry, they could theoretically look to deal him and would have no issue finding suitors, but they appear to be a team on the rise and surely don’t want to lose their best defensive player when they hope to be contending for titles.
Patriots CB Stephon Gilmore Done For Season
The Patriots will miss the playoffs for the first time since 2008, and they will enter 2021 with question marks all over their roster, including quarterback. Star cornerback Stephon Gilmore‘s future in New England is also in some doubt.
As Ian Rapoport of NFL.com reports (via Twitter), Gilmore suffered a partially torn quad in the Pats’ loss to the Dolphins on Sunday. Luckily, there was no structural damage, and he should be recovered from surgery in sufficient time to participate in least some of the offseason program in the spring.
Whether he will be with the Patriots in the spring, however, is a different story. He pulled down Defensive Player of the Year honors in 2019, but 2020 was definitely a step back. He will have played in just 11 games this season due to injury, and Pro Football Focus’ advanced metrics considered him the 59th-best CB in the league out of 124 qualified players. He did earn the fourth Pro Bowl of his career, but that was likely due to name recognition more than anything else.
Still, he will be in pursuit of a hefty contract extension this offseason. He is under club control through 2021, but after New England moved some of his 2021 salary to 2020, he is due just $7MM in base pay in 2021. Given his track record, he will doubtlessly shoot for the top of the CB market, which is currently headed by Jalen Ramsey‘s five year, $105MM pact ($71.2MM guaranteed at signing). Gilmore is four years older than Ramsey, so he might not reach those lofty numbers, but he will be in line for a significant raise.
That is perhaps why New England reportedly considered a Gilmore trade before this year’s deadline (the team also shopped him prior to the 2020 draft). Obviously, no rival club was willing to meet the Patriots’ high asking price, and as Mike Reiss of ESPN.com writes, the expectation is that the two sides will again discuss an extension this offseason. But depending on how those negotiations go, it would seem that a trade remains a real possibility.
Clyde Edwards-Helaire Out For Rest Of Regular Season
Chiefs rookie running back Clyde Edwards-Helaire, who has enjoyed a strong first season in the pros operating as the starting running back for the 13-1 defending champions, is out for the rest of the regular season, as Ian Rapoport of NFL.com reports (via Twitter). The No. 32 overall pick of this year’s draft suffered a hip and ankle injury in Sunday’s victory over the Saints.
X-rays came back negative, but CEH will miss Kansas City’s final two games of the regular season. Rapoport says in a separate tweet that the running back will have a shot at returning for the postseason, but it doesn’t sound like a sure thing.
The good news is that the Chiefs likely won’t need Edwards-Helaire for the next few weeks anyway. The club is all but certain to secure the AFC’s lone first-round bye, so CEH will have about a month to heal up before the divisional round of the playoffs. In 13 games (all starts) this season, the former LSU standout has 181 carries for 803 yards (4.4 YPC) and four TDs. He’s added 36 catches for 297 yards and a score through the air.
Le’Veon Bell will get the lion’s share of the work in CEH’s absence. The two-time First Team All-Pro has been reasonably effective in his time in Kansas City, maintaining a 4.0-YPC average across 56 carries with the club. He has two rushing scores and 12 catches for 90 yards.
Kansas City is also thinking about some depth to its RB room. Per ESPN’s Field Yates (via Twitter), the club is bringing in Elijah McGuire for a visit. McGuire has not seen any regular season action since 2018, but the Chiefs are familiar with what he can do. The former sixth-round pick of the Jets spent the end of the 2019 campaign and all of this year’s training camp with KC but was cut before the start of the 2020 season. He has spent time on the Cowboys’ and Dolphins’ taxi squads this year.
Jaguars To Interview Louis Riddick For GM Opening
Louis Riddick is a popular man these days. The Monday Night Football commentator, who has already interviewed for the GM openings in Houston and Detroit, will interview for the Jaguars’ GM position as well, according to Adam Schefter and Chris Mortensen of ESPN.com (via Twitter).
Schefter reported a few days ago that Jacksonville was interested in Riddick, but it had not yet set up a summit. If his interview with the Jags goes well, Riddick might be stepping into a very intriguing opportunity.
Thanks to the Jets’ shocking win over the Rams on Sunday, the 1-13 Jaguars now find themselves in pole position in the race for Clemson QB Trevor Lawrence, widely regarded as the best quarterback prospect the league has seen in a long time. Jacksonville’s next GM may very well have the chance to hitch his wagon to Lawrence, and he will also have two first-round picks and a league-leading amount of cap space at his disposal.
Jacksonville parted ways with former general manager Dave Caldwell at the end of November. Though the Jags looked to be a team on the rise after narrowly missing a Super Bowl berth in 2017, they lost double-digit games in every other season with Caldwell in the GM post. They are once again in a rebuilding phase, but Lawrence would go a long way towards accelerating that process.
The team will also have a decision to make on head coach Doug Marrone at the end of the season, and the new GM will presumably have a major say in that regard.
Washington QB Dwayne Haskins Allegedly Violated COVID-19 Protocols
The Washington Football Team can clinch the NFC East if it beats the Panthers this weekend and if the Giants lose to the Ravens. However, WFT’s quarterback situation is suddenly uncertain.
According to John Keim of ESPN.com (via Twitter), quarterback Dwayne Haskins — who opened the season as the starting signal-caller before being benched in early October — is seen without a mask at a strip club in photos recently posted to social media. Haskins was allegedly at the club after Sunday’s loss to the Seahawks.
Per Keim, the team was aware of the photos yesterday and was trying to decide how to handle the matter. WFT has elected to deal with it internally, but it has been in contact with the union (Twitter links).
It’s worth noting that the team did fine Haskins for a COVID-19 protocol violation earlier this year, when the second-year pro invited a family friend to the team hotel before a game. And as Tom Pelissero of the NFL Network tweets, going to a nightclub without personal protective equipment (read: a mask) is considered high-risk conduct punishable by a fine or up to a four-game suspension.
Pelissero adds that Washington has no plans to release Haskins, but if it suspends him, it could potentially void the remainder of the guarantees in Haskins’ fully-guaranteed rookie deal. The Ohio State product has quickly fallen out of favor with WFT, which was reportedly open to trading him before this year’s deadline. Presumably, Haskins will be a trade candidate again this offseason, and a void of his remaining guarantees would also make him a release candidate.
Alex Smith, who has posted a 4-1 record as Washington’s starting QB this year, missed Sunday’s game against Seattle due to a strained calf. His status for this weekend’s critical matchup with Carolina remains in doubt. If Smith is unavailable, and if Haskins were to be suspended, WFT would turn to Taylor Heinicke or UDFA rookie Steven Montez.
On the year, Haskins is just 1-4 with a 77.7 quarterback rating. In Smith’s absence on Sunday, he completed 38 of 55 passes for 295 yards, a touchdown, and two interceptions. He issued a public apology via Twitter this morning.
Washington To Sign LB Mychal Kendricks
The Washington Football Team is signing veteran linebacker Mychal Kendricks off the Seahawks’ practice squad, per Tom Pelissero of the NFL Network (via Twitter). Nicki Jhabvala of the Washington Post says that Kendricks will fly privately to Washington and will be available to play immediately (Twitter link).
This is pursuant to a new wrinkle in COVID-19 protocols that allows players already being tested by a team — like Kendricks — to join or try out for a new team without going through the six-day entry testing period. The absence of such a provision is what forced the Broncos to play a game without a QB when their entire quarterback room was placed on the reserve/COVID-19 list.
Kendricks has not played a single snap this season. He hooked on with Seattle’s taxi squad in October, was briefly released when it appeared he would be signing elsewhere, and rejoined the P-squad when the other deal fell through. He did play 14 games (all starts) for the ‘Hawks in 2019, and he has 103 appearances (91 starts) in his pro career.
The 30-year-old ‘backer has appeared in PFR pages a great deal over the past several years, thanks largely to the fact that he pleaded guilty to insider trading in 2018. His sentencing has been postponed multiple times, so he remains eligible to play in the NFL.
Washington’s defense is a big reason why the team sits atop the NFC East standings, and linebackers Kevin Pierre-Louis and Cole Holcomb have turned in productive campaigns. However, neither player was able suit up for yesterday’s loss to the Seahawks, and Kendricks will provide experienced depth if nothing else.
Browns OL Chris Hubbard Done For Season?
The Browns are 10-4 and appear to be playoff-bound for the first time since 2002, but they suddenly find themselves thin at right guard. According to Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (Twitter link), offensive lineman Chris Hubbard suffered a dislocated kneecap in Cleveland’s win over the Giants last night. Hubbard will go under the knife, and his season will be over.
Hubbard was filling in for starting RG Wyatt Teller, who sustained a sprained ankle in the Browns’ loss to the Ravens last week and who is not expected back until the playoffs, as Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com writes. Teller also missed some time earlier this season with a strained calf, and his absence is significant. The third-year blocker is playing at a Pro Bowl level and is currently Pro Football Focus’ highest-rated guard.
Head coach Kevin Stefanski said this morning that he is not prepared to rule Hubbard out for the rest of the season, and he also said he does not know if Hubbard will need surgery. However, he did confirm that the veteran O-lineman will miss a significant amount of time (Twitter link via Nate Ulrich of the Akron Beacon Journal).
Hubbard has not lived up to the five-year, $37.5MM deal he signed with Cleveland in March 2018, but he does offer valuable experience and depth. He has started in Teller’s absence in each of the four games that Teller has missed this season, and he also started a game at right tackle. Rookie Nick Harris will line up at right guard for the time being, and it would not be surprising to see the Browns sign a reinforcement in the coming days.
Lions Fire ST Coordinator Brayden Coombs
The Lions have fired special teams coordinator Brayden Coombs, per a team announcement. Michael Rothstein of ESPN.com writes that special teams assistant Marquice Williams will take over the coordinator position for the final two games of the season.
Coombs, 34, began his coaching career as an intern with the Bengals in 2009. He served as Cincinnati’s assistant special teams coach from 2012-19, and his units were generally quite successful. The 2019 Bengals special teams unit was ranked first by Football Outsiders and fifth by Pro Football Focus, which prompted Detroit to hire Coombs as its ST coordinator back in January.
But a source told Rothstein that Coombs did not mesh with the culture that the organization is trying to create. In the Lions’ loss to the Titans yesterday, Coombs called for an unsuccessful fake punt without the knowledge of anyone else, including coaches and some players on the field. While Coombs’ abilities as a coordinator are clearly strong, the team apparently felt that his unilateral decision was emblematic of his overall approach. As Rothstein says, the team had been considering making a move for some time, and the fake punt was simply the last straw.
In related news, the Lions recently hired Chris Spielman to serve as a special assistant to chairman and president & CEO. Spielman, a franchise icon who played linebacker for the Lions from 1988-95, will be a key voice in the general manager and head coach hires that Detroit will soon be making, and he spoke at length about the vision that principal owner Sheila Ford Hamp has in terms of the club’s direction and culture.
As Justin Rogers of the Detroit News observes, Spielman — the brother of Vikings GM Rick Spielman — and team president Rod Wood used the word “culture” 22 times in 36 minutes at Spielman’s introductory press conference last week. Organizational sources tell Rogers that Coombs’ departure is a reflection of his “me-first” attitude that undermines that culture (Twitter links).
The Lions’ GM search is well underway, with the club having interviewed or planning to interview several internal options and a host of high-profile candidates like Louis Riddick, Thomas Dimitroff, and Scott Pioli. The team’s head coaching interviews will obviously start in earnest at season’s end, and 49ers defensive coordinator Robert Saleh is rumored to be Detroit’s top choice.
Ben Roethlisberger Intends To Return In 2021
Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger is under contract through the 2021 season, and he has no intention of hanging up the cleats before then. According to Adam Schefter of ESPN.com, the 38-year-old signal-caller will be back in 2021.
When Big Ben signed his latest deal in April 2019, Pittsburgh GM Kevin Colbert indicated it would likely be the franchise icon’s last contract with the Steelers. But Colbert later walked back those comments a bit, and owner Art Rooney II said he is open to another Roethlisberger extension that would take him into his age-40 season (and perhaps beyond).
Though Roethlisberger clearly has lost some arm strength and is averaging 6.3 yards per pass attempt — which would be a career-low for a season in which he has played more than two games — he remains one of the most accurate passers in the league and has thrown 29 TDs against just nine interceptions. All told, that amounts to a 94.9 QB rating, and his play is a big reason why the 11-2 Steelers are on the verge of an AFC North title.
A recent report indicated that the organization is concerned about Roethlisberger’s lingering knee injury and his increasing reliance on the short passing game, but Pittsburgh still profiles as a legitimate Super Bowl contender. And while Schefter says the campaign has indeed taken a physical toll on Roethlisberger, sources close to the quarterback say he is having too much fun and likes the team too much to retire at the end of the season.
Due to a contract restructure in March, Roethlisberger is set to have a gargantuan cap hit of $41.25MM in 2021. Even if the salary cap does not drop at all, one would think that another extension or some other type of kick-the-can-down-the-road machination would be in play in order to keep the rest of the roster as stocked as possible. There will still be some difficult decisions to make, but the Steelers will doubtlessly be happy to have their two-time Super Bowl champion back next season.