Philip Rivers On Colts, Future Plans
Philip Rivers‘ one-year deal with the Colts is, as previously reported, a $25MM pact. As Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle tweets, that is a fully-guaranteed sum, with $12MM coming in the form of a signing bonus and $13MM coming in guaranteed salary.
We heard this offseason that Rivers was contemplating retirement, and he confirmed that was indeed the case, as Stephen Holder of The Athletic writes. The 38-year-old indicated that this offseason was the first time he considered hanging up the cleats, but his love for the game and his belief in his abilities to bounce back after a difficult 2019 campaign compelled him to come back.
“Certainly, (I’m) not coming off my best year, but a year where I still know I can play at a high level,” Rivers said. “I did it in spurts, just not consistent enough. And I love (football). It was one of those deals where we said, ‘If there’s nothing out there, then that’ll be our answer.’”
But the Colts came calling, and as Holder writes, the team has no concerns about Rivers’ arm strength (though plenty around the league are understandably less certain about what the eight-time Pro Bowler has left). Head coach Frank Reich and OC Nick Sirianni, both of whom worked with Rivers as member of the Chargers’ staff, championed the signing and believe he will represent a significant upgrade over 2019 starter Jacoby Brissett.
For his part, Rivers was hoping that the Colts would reach out to him, as Mike Chappell of CBS 4 writes. “Truthfully was hoping it was going to be the Indianapolis Colts,” Rivers said. “From the standpoint of the locker room, the team and shoot, I failed to mention that offensive line. That’s a heckuva group.”
Indeed, Rivers will be protected by one of the best O-lines in the league, and he said the offensive scheme is essentially the same one he has played in since 2013. While the Colts do not have much proven pass-catching talent behind T.Y. Hilton — and there are no true difference-makers on the FA market at this point — Indy could find an immediate contributor or two in a draft that is deep at WR.
As for his future plans, Rivers, who previously indicated he wanted to play a maximum of two more years, confirmed that he wants to continue his playing career into 2021. Beyond that, though, it’s hard to say. “I’m not going to get carried away. I don’t think you’ll see me in the Tom Brady range,” Rivers said.
NFC South Notes: Hill, Brate, Walker
The Saints expect Taysom Hill to take over for Drew Brees when Brees calls it a career, and to that end, they placed a first-round RFA tender on the BYU product earlier this month. Teddy Bridgewater had served as the backup to Brees over the past couple of seasons while Hill’s role as a gadget player grew, but head coach Sean Payton confirmed that Hill will be the QB2 in 2020. “He’s earned that opportunity,” Payton said (Twitter link via Jeff Duncan of The Athletic).
However, the team still expects to use Hill as a rusher and receiver next season, so Payton said New Orleans will add another QB that will be active on game days (Twitter link via Duncan). The Saints are expected to explore a long-term contract for Hill in the near future.
Now for more from the NFC South:
- Cameron Brate‘s recent restructure with the Buccaneers is better classified as a pay cut. Per Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times, Brate accepted a decrease in his 2020 salary from $6MM to $4.25MM (Twitter link). The move will keep Brate, a quality red zone target, in the fold for Tom Brady while buying the team a little more cap space.
- Several days ago, the Panthers beat out several clubs for the services of XFL signal-caller P.J. Walker. Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle says Walker’s pact with Carolina is a two-year deal worth $1.565MM, a pretty nice haul for an XFLer who has yet to crack an active roster in the NFL (Twitter link).
- CB Blidi Wreh-Wilson‘s new one-year deal with the Falcons includes a base salary of $1.05MM and a singing bonus of $137.5K, as Vaughn McClure of ESPN.com tweets.
Cowboys, Dak Prescott Resume Contract Talks
The Cowboys and Dak Prescott have resumed contract talks for the first time since Dallas hit their signal-caller with the franchise tag, Ed Werder of ESPN.com reports (via Twitter).
There has never been any doubt that Prescott would be under center for the Cowboys for the foreseeable future, but negotiations between player and team have moved at a snail’s pace. There was talk just before the 2019 regular season that a deal was imminent, but Prescott’s hot start to the season reportedly made him more inclined to play out the year in the hopes of landing a fatter contract. Around the time of this year’s scouting combine, Dallas put forth an offer with an average annual value of roughly $33.5MM, but that proposal didn’t gain much traction.
One of the holdups has been the Cowboys’ desire to have Prescott sign a longer-term pact, while the QB is shooting for a shorter deal that will allow him to hit free agency sooner. Per Charles Robinson of Yahoo Sports, Dallas is still pushing for a five-year contract (Twitter link), but Yahoo’s Liz Loza hears that a four-year deal worth $35MM per year is in the offing (Twitter link).
That would be a huge win for Prescott, as it would give him the term and the dollars that he has been seeking. The two-time Pro Bowler has his detractors, but he has clearly established himself as a quality QB who may not have hit his ceiling just yet.
The Cowboys have brought back Prescott’s top target, wide receiver Amari Cooper, and though the team lost center Travis Frederick to retirement, the O-line should still be a strength.
Colts To Sign DT Sheldon Day
The Colts have agreed to sign free agent DT Sheldon Day, as Tom Pelissero of the NFL Network reports (via Twitter). The team subsequently announced the move.
Day was claimed by the 49ers in November 2017 after being waived by the Jaguars. He ultimately settled in as a rotational lineman in the interior of San Francisco’s defensive front, and he played about a third of the club’s defensive snaps last year. He recorded 15 tackles and a sack in the regular season and started all three of the Niners’ playoff games, including the Super Bowl.
It’s a homecoming for Day, an Indianapolis native who played his collegiate ball at Notre Dame. The Jaguars selected him in the fourth round of the 2016 draft, but he struggled to find a niche in Jacksonville. After he was put on waivers, a number of teams submitted claims, but the 49ers had top priority at the time.
Day will follow former 49ers teammate DeForest Buckner to the Colts, and he will likely share time with fourth-year pro Grover Stewart.
Panthers Sign DT Zach Kerr, WR DeAndrew White
The Panthers bid adieu to defensive linemen Gerald McCoy and Dontari Poe this offseason, and now they’ve added a reinforcement. Carolina has signed former Colts, Broncos, and Cardinals DT Zach Kerr, as ESPN’s Field Yates tweets.
Kerr entered the league as a UDFA in 2014, and he showed enough in camp and preseason that year to make Indianapolis’ 53-man roster. He stuck around for three seasons as a rotational player and was signed by the Broncos after the Colts decided against giving him an RFA tender. He played for two years in Denver and actually signed another two-year deal with the team last March, but he did not survive final cutdowns.
He caught on with the Cardinals in October and ended up playing 12 games (three starts) for Arizona. He finished the season with solid marks from Pro Football Focus, which considered him about as effective as notables like Brandon Williams and Leonard Williams (though he saw significantly fewer snaps). He is currently slated to team up with Kawann Short on the Panthers’ defensive front, but it would not be surprising to see the club use an early draft pick on a DT.
Per Jourdan Rodrigue of The Athletic, the Panthers are also bringing back WR DeAndrew White on a one-year deal (Twitter link). White opened the 2019 season on Carolina’s practice squad and earned a promotion to the 53-man roster in October. He caught four passes for 51 yards and returned 10 kickoffs.
Ravens Concerned About Michael Brockers’ Medicals
The Ravens made a couple of major additions to their defensive front this month, trading for Calais Campbell and agreeing to a three-year contract with free agent Michael Brockers. But according to Jeff Zrebiec of The Athletic, Baltimore has some concerns about Brockers’ medicals.
As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, teams cannot have free agents examined by their own doctors. Instead, physicals must be conducted by independent doctors in the player’s geographic area. As Zrebiec tweets, the independent evaluation turned up potential issues with Brockers’ ankle, which he injured late last season.
Baltimore is still expected to sign Brockers, but the club is considering its options (one of which, presumably, is backing out of the deal altogether). Zrebiec says the team — which has formally announced all of its other acquisitions — was also interested in Ndamukong Suh, but Suh re-signed with the Buccaneers earlier today (Twitter links).
Brockers is not the type of elite pass rusher the Ravens may have been hoping for when free agency opened, but he is capable of getting to the QB, and his versatility and run-stopping ability would serve as an excellent complement to Campbell and Brandon Williams. His presence would also help to free things up for edge rushers Matt Judon and Jaylon Ferguson, so Baltimore clearly wants to get him in the fold.
The free agent market has been mostly picked over at this point, and the Ravens recently traded Chris Wormley and saw Michael Pierce sign with the Vikings, so if the Brockers deal falls through, Baltimore may turn its attention to the draft for DL reinforcements.
Bears To Sign OL Germain Ifedi
The Bears and offensive lineman Germain Ifedi are in agreement on a one-year contract, per Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (Twitter link). Financial details are not yet known, but it is likely not a high-dollar deal.
The Seahawks drafted Ifedi in the first round of the 2016 draft, and though he has been a full-time starter since his rookie campaign, he has never lived up to that billing. Seattle declined his fifth-year option last May, and his play did not improve enough to make the team regret that decision.
Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll did express interest in bringing Ifedi back, but no reports of negotiations between the two sides ever surfaced. Instead, the Texas A&M product will attempt to rebuild his value with the Bears.
Rapoport says that the Bears — who have Bobby Massie penciled in at right tackle — could give Ifedi a shot at guard. He played guard in his rookie season in Seattle before kicking out to RT.
Chicago’s O-line was one of the worst in the league in 2019, but Ifedi represents the lone free agent addition the club has made to that unit thus far.
Minor NFL Transactions: 3/24/20
Here are today’s minor moves:
Atlanta Falcons
- Signed: LB LaRoy Reynolds
Baltimore Ravens
- Re-signed: WR Chris Moore
Cincinnati Bengals
- Signed: WR Mike Thomas
Minnesota Vikings
- Signed: LB DeMarquis Gates (XFL)
New York Giants
- Signed: DB Dravon Askew-Henry (XFL)
New York Jets
- Re-signed: DB Bennett Jackson
Chiefs Re-Sign DL Mike Pennel, FB Anthony Sherman
The defending Super Bowl champs have re-signed defensive lineman Mike Pennel to a one-year pact, as Tom Pelissero of the NFL Network reports (via Twitter). Pennel said last month that he wanted to return to the Chiefs, and he got his wish.
Besides winning a Super Bowl with KC — and his interception-causing hit on 49ers QB Jimmy Garoppolo was a big reason for that win — the organization also helped to revitalize Pennel’s career. Following two underwhelming seasons with the Jets, the lineman signed a two-year deal with the Patriots last offseason. However, he didn’t make it to the regular season with New England, and Pennel still found himself out of work in mid-October.
He eventually caught on with the Chiefs, and he proceeded to compile 24 tackles and one sack in eight games for the team. He also appeared in each of Kansas City’s three playoff games, starting two of them, and he earned high praise for his work against the run. Pelissero reports that Pennel had other offers — the Cowboys were said to be in on him — but he will try to recapture the magic with the Chiefs.
Terez A. Paylor of Yahoo Sports reports that KC is also re-signing FB Anthony Sherman to a one-year deal (Twitter link). Sherman has appeared in every game for the Chiefs since he joined the club in 2013, and he earned a Pro Bowl bid in 2018. His offensive snaps have decreased dramatically since Patrick Mahomes became the starting QB, but he remains a critical part of the special teams unit.
Jarrett Stidham To Start For Patriots?
We heard earlier today that the Patriots may be gearing up for a starting quarterback competition between Brian Hoyer and Jarrett Stidham, but Tom E. Curran of NBC Sports Boston says that as of now, the job is Stidham’s to lose.
There is plenty of logic to that. The Patriots selected Stidham in the fourth round of the 2019 draft and are said to be high on him, and most believe that New England will spend 2020 cleaning up its salary cap situation and preparing for a return to contention in 2021. That means that the club will not pursue a potentially pricey QB like the recently-released Cam Newton, and it means that Stidham will have a chance to prove that he can be the rightful heir to Tom Brady.
Curran does say that if the COVID-19 pandemic puts a damper on Stidham’s development — which it seems almost certain to do — then Hoyer could get the nod to open the 2020 season. Stidham, though, would probably step in at some point thereafter. The Auburn product threw just four passes in his rookie campaign but put together a strong two years against SEC defenses in 2017-18.
While we’re on the subject of the Patriots, let’s round up a few more notes out of Foxborough:
- The release of longtime kicker Stephen Gostkowski did not create $3.5MM of cap space, as originally reported. Because $2MM of Gostkowski’s 2020 salary was fully-guaranteed, the move actually frees up less than $1MM of space. So as Ben Volin of the Boston Globe tweets, Gostkowski’s release wasn’t financially motivated; the team just wanted a new kicker.
- Hoyer’s contract calls for a $1.05MM salary with $2MM in playing time incentives, per Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle (via Twitter). Because his deal with the Colts contained offsets, Hoyer will earn at least $2MM in 2020.
- The Patriots agreed to sign veteran defensive back Cody Davis yesterday, and ESPN’s Field Yates reports that Davis will take home a $1.1MM base salary and landed a $100K signing bonus (Twitter link). He will carry a cap charge of $1.5MM.
- Fullback Dan Vitale‘s new contract is a one-year pact worth $1.3MM, as Mike Reiss of ESPN.com tweets. He received a $100K signing bonus and can earn another $200K in playing time incentives.