Seahawks Plan To Re-Sign OL Jordan Simmons
The Seahawks plan to re-sign free agent offensive lineman Jordan Simmons, per Bob Condotta of the Seattle Times (via Twitter). Seattle has recently added Brandon Shell and Cedric Ogbuehi to help fortify its offensive tackle situation, but with last year’s starting LG Mike Iupati seemingly unlikely to be re-signed and Justin Britt and Ethan Pocic coming off season-ending injuries, the interior of the line could use some attention.
The club did acquire B.J. Finney, who has seen action at both guard positions and at center over the past four seasons with the Steelers, but he has been more of a rotational player than anything else. The Seahawks could obviously look to the draft to solidify their interior OL, but it looks like Simmons will at least be a part of the competition for the LG vacancy or a rotational role.
The USC product signed with the Raiders as a UDFA following the 2017 draft and spent the entire year on Oakland’s practice squad. He was waived the following August, was claimed by the Seahawks, and ultimately appeared in six games (three starts) for Seattle in 2018.
He returned to Seattle via an exclusive rights free agent tender in 2019 but was placed on IR before the season began and did not see any action last year. The Seahawks opted against an ERFA tender this time around but apparently want to bring him back just the same.
As Condotta notes, travel restrictions and the inability to have team doctors evaluate free agents could be holding things up for the time being.
Ronald Darby To Sign With Redskins
The Redskins and veteran cornerback Ronald Darby are in agreement on a one-year, $4MM deal, per Jeremy Fowler of ESPN.com (Twitter link).
Darby has spent the last three seasons with the division-rival Eagles, though all three of those seasons have been marred to some degree by injury. He played in only eight games in 2017, nine in 2018, and 11 in 2019. The 2018 season was cut short by an ACL tear, but he was at least playing at an above-average level prior to the injury. The same cannot be said for his 2019 effort, as Darby never seemed to get into a rhythm even when he was on the field.
Indeed, despite the league-wide need for corners, we had not heard of any interest in Darby before he agreed to terms with Washington. He will, however, have a good opportunity to rebuild his value in 2020. The ‘Skins signed fellow CB Kendall Fuller to a lucrative free agent pact earlier this month, but aside from the middling Fabian Moreau, there is not much depth behind Fuller.
A 2015 second-round pick of the Bills, Darby quickly established himself as a starting-caliber CB in Buffalo before being traded to Philadelphia in exchange for a third-round pick and wide receiver Jordan Matthews. He generated a fair amount of free agent interest last offseason before agreeing to return to Philadelphia on a one-year, $8.5MM pact. He will now help to fill the void left by Quinton Dunbar, whom Washington recently traded to Seattle.
In his career, the Florida State product has started 56 of a possible 57 games and has picked off eight passes. He also captured a Super Bowl ring in his first season with the Eagles.
Lions Sign WR Geronimo Allison
The Lions have agreed to a one-year deal with former Packers wide receiver Geronimo Allison, the team announced. As Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets, it will be a one-year, veteran minimum deal of $910K with a $137.5K signing bonus.
That is a far cry from what Allison was probably anticipating this time last year, as he entered the 2019 campaign in line for an expanded role in Green Bay’s receiving corps. He opened 2018 with a bang, catching 19 passes for 289 yards and a score through the first quarter of the year, but a concussion and a core muscle injury limited him to just one game the rest of the way.
Still, the Packers thought enough of his potential — and Allison was generating enough interest from other teams — that the club signed him to a one-year deal last March after initially placing an original-round RFA tender on him. But Green Bay tried to use the 6-3, 202-pounder in the slot in 2019, and that simply didn’t work. He appeared in all 16 games but caught just 34 passes for 287 yards and two TDs.
The division-rival Lions have seen a good deal of Allison over his first four years in the league and apparently like his potential. The top of Detroit’s depth chart is set with Kenny Golladay and Marvin Jones on the boundaries and Danny Amendola in the slot, but Michael Rothstein of ESPN.com says Allison will likely push Marvin Hall for the No. 4 WR job.
Of course, the Lions could also draft a wideout from a very deep WR class. But Allison is a good low-risk, high-reward addition who became yet another victim of a very tough FA market for receivers.
Bucs Notes: Winston, Jefferson, Crowell
Throughout his first season as the Buccaneers’ head coach, Bruce Arians was generally non-committal towards former starting QB Jameis Winston. In one memorable sound-bite towards the end of the 2019 campaign, Arians was asked if Tampa could win with a different signal-caller, and he replied, “With another quarterback? Oh yeah. If we can win with this one (Winston), we can definitely win with another one, too.”
Despite that, Arians recently told Rich Eisen of the NFL Network that he is trying to sell other clubs on Winston (via Michael David Smith of Pro Football Talk). “I’ve called a couple teams,” Arians told Eisen. “You’re going to get one of the hardest workers you’ve ever had and a great young man.”
However, none of the teams that Arians spoke with indicated they were interested in Winston as a starter. And indeed, teams that entered the offseason with QB needs have either filled those needs, plan to stay the course with their current group of passers, or are expected to use a high draft pick on a quarterback. So at this point, Winston will just need to get on a roster and hope that an opportunity opens up.
Now for more on the suddenly interesting Bucs:
- We recently heard that the Buccaneers’ top QB choices were Tom Brady, then Teddy Bridgewater, then Winston, and Arians confirmed as much in the above-referenced interview with Eisen. “[A Winston re-up] didn’t work out for us only because [Brady] was available and we had [Bridgewater] if that wouldn’t have worked out,” Arians said. “We were going full steam ahead back with Jameis.”
- After entering the offseason with a ton of cap space, the Bucs have only about $14MM left to spend, as Greg Auman of The Athletic observes, and some of that will be needed to sign the club’s draft picks. Auman takes a look at a few veteran FAs still available that could fit the Bucs’ remaining needs. One such player is safety Tony Jefferson, who played for Arians for four years in Arizona and who would represent a quality veteran presence in Tampa’s young defensive backfield.
- The Bucs could wait until the draft to fill their need for a pass-catching RB, but if they are unable to do so or unwilling to wait, they could look at Isaiah Crowell, per Auman. Crowell does not have a past connection to Arians but did play for DC Todd Bowles when Bowles was the Jets’ head coach in 2018.
- DB Ryan Smith re-signed with the Buccaneers several days ago, and Terez A. Paylor of Yahoo Sports says Smith’s one-year deal has a max value of $2.25MM (Twitter link).
- Even though Brady may want him, the Buccaneers have no intention of signing Antonio Brown.
Extension Candidate: Keanu Neal
Falcons safety Keanu Neal has had a horrible run of injury luck. In 2018, he suffered a torn ACL in the regular season opener, and in 2019, he sustained a torn Achilles during the third game of the season. Both of those injuries were season-enders, so he has played just four games over the past two seasons.
Prior to that, however, he was establishing himself as one of the better young safeties in the game. He was selected by Atlanta with the No. 17 overall pick in the 2016 draft, and he racked up 106 tackles in 14 starts in his rookie campaign, which culminated in a heartbreaking Super Bowl loss to New England.
He built on that performance in 2017, starting all 16 games and piling up 116 tackles en route to a Pro Bowl nod. He moves with fluidity and has a nose for the football, as evidenced by his high tackle totals and the eight fumbles that he forced over his first two seasons in the league. That ability also helps him in coverage on the back end, though he has just one career interception to date.
The Falcons exercised the fifth-year option of his rookie contract last April, which suggested that they weren’t too concerned about the 2018 ACL tear. Of course, they didn’t bank on the 2019 Achilles tear, and Neal is presently slated to count for about $6.5MM against the 2020 cap thanks to the fifth-year option (the option was guaranteed for injury only at the time it was exercised but became fully-guaranteed when the 2020 league year opened earlier this month).
Though $6.5MM would ordinarily look like a relative bargain for someone with Neal’s abilities, the fact that he has been unable to stay on the field complicates matters a bit. That is especially true since the Falcons have limited salary cap space at the moment.
So on the one hand, it would make sense for Atlanta to let Neal simply play out his contract and revisit the situation prior to the opening of free agency next offseason (after all, although the team’s pass defense was one of the worst in the league from 2018-19, per DVOA, that unit didn’t grade out much higher even when Neal was in the lineup in 2016-17). But the top of the safety market now includes contracts with average annual values of over $14MM, and if Neal has a healthy, bounceback campaign, other clubs may pony up that type of cash to steal him away from the Falcons.
As such, the Falcons could explore an extension with Neal. Such a move would be risky given the health concerns — Neal also dealt with a knee injury not long before his rookie season — but it also has a couple of obvious benefits. One, it would help the Falcons’ immediate cap situation, and two, it could keep a talented young player under contract for several more seasons at a potentially discount rate.
From Neal’s perspective, an extension may represent an undersell if he does play up to his 2017 levels in 2020, but it would also provide him extra security in the event that he cannot recapture his prior form. As of yet, there have been no reports of negotiations between the two sides, but it would not be a surprise to hear of exploratory talks in the coming months.
Seahawks Were Interested In Pierre Desir
Cornerback Pierre Desir recently signed with the Jets one day after being released by the Colts, but there were a number of teams interested in his services before he elected to join Gang Green. The Seahawks were one of those teams, per Connor Hughes of The Athletic.
After a bumpy start to his career, Desir spent the latter portion of the 2016 season on the Seahawks’ practice squad. He signed a reserve/futures deal with the club that offseason, and while he was cut prior to Week 1 of the 2017 campaign, he credits his time spent in the DB room with members of Seattle’s famed Legion of Boom as a key factor in his career rejuvenation.
Desir was claimed by the Colts shortly after being waived by the Seahawks, and he became a full-time starter midway through the 2017 season. He enjoyed a career year in 2018 and parlayed that into a three-year, $25MM deal with Indy last offseason. Though he regressed in 2019, which led to his ouster, he was playing through a painful hamstring injury for much of the season. The Colts had hoped to re-sign him to a cheaper deal after cutting him, but the Seahawks — along with four other clubs — were not going to let that happen.
This is only speculation, but it could be that missing out on Desir led to Seattle’s trade for Quinton Dunbar one day after Desir signed with the Jets. Though Dunbar finished the 2019 season as the league’s second-best corner per Pro Football Focus’ advanced metrics, and while he may command a hefty contract extension as a result, it appears that the ‘Hawks may have valued the two players similarly.
Meanwhile, Desir will have a real chance to open the 2020 campaign as a starting CB for the Jets, an opportunity he may not have had in Seattle.
Latest On Tua Tagovailoa’s Draft Status
Though pre-draft visits for collegiate prospects have been scrapped due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the draft itself is still going to take place as scheduled. As such, teams will not have as much intel as they would like prior to draft night, so players with medical and/or character red flags may find themselves slipping down draft boards.
One such player is Alabama quarterback Tua Tagovailoa. Though it would be surprising to see him fall too far past the Dolphins’ No. 5 overall selection, the individual pro day that Tagovailoa was supposed to hold on April 9 has been canceled, as Mike Rodak of AL.com notes, so that’s one less piece of critical information that interested teams will have.
Similarly, clubs that could be in the market for the southpaw signal-caller will not be able to evaluate him during medical re-checks that were supposed to take place shortly before the April 23 draft. So the team that drafts Tagovailoa will be taking a leap of faith that his surgically repaired hip will not jeopardize his professional career.
On the plus side, reports last month indicated that Tagovailoa’s MRIs showed that his fracture is healed and that there has been no loss of blood flow. Last week, videos of him dropping back and throwing passes were posted to his Instagram account, and his reps have obviously passed along glowing reviews.
“He’s moving really, really well,” said co-agent Chris Cabott, who also indicated that the response from NFL teams has been overwhelmingly positive. “To this point, we don’t have any medical concerns. Obviously in any given situation, it’s a day-by-day situation, but his road to return has not been interrupted.”
As Rodak suggests, Tagovailoa could schedule a live-streamed or taped version of his individual pro day, and while no plans have yet been made in that regard, Cabott said he would continue working with individual teams to make sure they have as thorough of an evaluation as possible. That includes FaceTime, Zoom, or WebEx interviews, and continuing imaging scans, which Cabott said would be provided to teams upon request.
So Tagovailoa’s prospects still appear to be on an upward trajectory. As of now, look for him to hear his name called within the first five picks of next month’s draft, with the Dolphins, Redskins, Chargers (and even Bengals) looming as potential landing spots.
Minor NFL Transactions: 3/25/20
Here are today’s minor moves:
Arizona Cardinals
- Signed: DT Trevon Coley
- Re-signed: RB D.J. Foster
Chicago Bears
- Re-signed: QB Tyler Bray
Cincinnati Bengals
- Signed: CB LeShaun Sims
Las Vegas Raiders
- Re-signed: LB Kyle Wilber
Minnesota Vikings
- Signed: DE Anthony Zettel
Pittsburgh Steelers
- Signed: OT Jarron Jones (XFL), S Tyree Kinnel (XFL), DT Cavon Walker (XFL)
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
- Re-signed: LB Kevin Minter
Washington Redskins
- Signed: OL Jeremy Vujnovich
Austin Seferian-Jenkins Arrested For DUI
TMZ reports that free agent tight end Austin Seferian-Jenkins was recently arrested and charged with DUI, driving on a suspended license, and operating a vehicle without an ignition interlock device (a requirement imposed by the court following a prior DUI).
Per the report, ASJ was traveling nearly 20 MPH over the speed limit in the early morning hours of March 9, and he nearly turned onto a wrong way off-ramp before cutting across multiple lanes of traffic. The arresting officer noted that Seferian-Jenkins smelled of alcohol and marijuana and had bloodshot eyes.
This is a sad development for ASJ, 27, who was charged with DUI while in college in 2013 and while in the pros in 2016. He has been candid about his alcohol issues, and he indicated after his release from the Patriots last summer that he was going to step away from football for a time to tend to his personal affairs, but he has not been able to conquer his demons.
The Buccaneers selected him in the second round of the 2014 draft, but he failed to live up to his potential in Tampa and was waived after his 2016 DUI. The Jets took a chance on him by claiming him off waivers, and they were rewarded in 2017, as Seferian-Jenkins posted 50 grabs for 357 yards and three scores in 13 games.
He parlayed that performance into a two-year, $10MM contract with with the Jaguars, but he was placed on IR in October 2018 and Jacksonville declined to pick up his option for 2019, making him a free agent. He was signed by the Patriots last April and had a prime opportunity to help fill the massive hole left by Rob Gronkowski, but he was unable to take advantage of it.
If he ever planned to return to the league, this latest incident will not help matters, but irrespective of his playing career, hopefully he can start to put his substance abuse issues behind him.
Redskins To Sign WR Cody Latimer
The Redskins have agreed to sign wide receiver Cody Latimer, as Mike Garafolo of the NFL Network reports (via Twitter). Latimer spent the last two years with the division-rival Giants.
Latimer was selected by the Broncos in the second round of the 2014 draft, and to say that he failed to live up to Denver’s expectations would be an understatement. Though he finally started to show some signs of life as a receiver in 2017, his last year in Denver — a year in which he averaged a healthy 15.1 yards per catch — he mostly stuck around because of his excellent work on special teams.
He hooked on with the Giants in 2018, but he missed 10 games that year due to injury. Still, he managed 17.3 yards per catch in limited action and had impressed Big Blue’s coaching staff during his first training camp with the team, so New York brought him back for another look in 2019.
Thanks to a thin and injury-ravaged WR corps, Latimer set career highs in starts (10), receptions (24), and yards (300). He may find similar opportunities with the Redskins, who have second-year pros Terry McLaurin and Kelvin Harmon at the top of their depth chart. McLaurin enjoyed an excellent rookie campaign, and Harmon showed some promise down the stretch, but Latimer could carve out a role for himself.