Seahawks RB Chris Carson Won’t Require Surgery
Seahawks running back Chris Carson will not require surgery on his injured hip, head coach Pete Carroll recently revealed. Carson sustained the injury in the club’s Week 16 loss to Arizona, and his absence was felt in the regular season finale against San Francisco and Sunday’s divisional round loss to the Packers.
Carson finished the 2019 season with 278 carries for 1,230 yards, both career-highs, to go along with seven TDs. He also contributed 37 catches for 266 yards and two scores though the air. The 2017 seventh-round pick is entering the final year of his rookie contract, and Seattle could look to extend him this offseason, though that is just speculation at this point.
Any contract talks could be complicated by Carson’s recent injury — and the presence of Rashaad Penny — though Carson believes he will be back in time for training camp. “I’ve been through this before,” Carson said (h/t Charean Williams of Pro Football Talk). “So I know how to attack it. I know the process and how everything goes, so I’m just ready to get back.”
Seahawks defensive lineman Quinton Jefferson, however, will require surgery, Carroll announced on Monday. Jefferson broke his foot in the playoff matchup with Green Bay, which is especially unfortunate since he is eligible for unrestricted free agency in March. Still, after serving as a capable anchor on Seattle’s D-line for the past several seasons, Jefferson should command a fairly lucrative multi-year pact.
Browns Eyeing George Edwards, Wade Phillips For DC?
The Browns got their new head coach by hiring former Vikings OC Kevin Stefanski away from Minnesota, and they may not be finished raiding the Vikings’ staff. There have been rumblings that Gary Kubiak and/or Klint Kubiak could join Stefanski in Cleveland, and Vikings DC George Edwards could do the same.
We heard on Sunday that Edwards is unlikely to return to Minnesota in 2020, and Ben Goessling of the Star Tribune says a Stefanski-Edwards reunion could happen in Ohio (Twitter link). Courtney Cronin of ESPN.com says Edwards wants to go somewhere he can call plays, which he cannot do with the Vikings since head coach Mike Zimmer handles those responsibilities (Twitter link).
Edwards, 52, has been in the NFL in some capacity every season since 1998. He was the Redskins’ defensive coordinator in 2003, the Bills’ from 2010-11, and he has been the Vikings’ DC since 2014. He’s also served as a positional coach with several different clubs, including the Browns in 2004.
In addition to Edwards, the Browns may also be interested in Wade Phillips, per Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com. We recently heard that Phillips, 72, would not be returning to the Rams in 2020, but his vast experience could be appealing to Stefanski, just as it was to Sean McVay when he became a first-time head coach in 2017.
In 2019, the Rams allowed 22.8 points per game and 339.6 yards per contest, putting them in the middle of the pack in both categories. But Phillips, who has plenty of head coaching experience in addition to his years as a defensive coordinator with multiple clubs, remains a respected defensive mind and would command the type of respect that Cleveland’s locker room could use.
Browns Hire Kevin Stefanski As Head Coach
Jan. 13: The Browns have formally announced the hire. Adam Schefter of ESPN.com reports that Cleveland has given Stefanski a five-year contract (Twitter link).
Jan. 12: The Browns will hire Vikings offensive coordinator Kevin Stefanski as their new head coach, per Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (Twitter link), and Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com reports (via Twitter) that it’s a done deal. Stefanski was the runner-up for the Cleveland HC gig last year, and after Freddie Kitchen‘s disastrous 2019 campaign resulted in his dismissal, the Browns have circled back to the man many believe they should have hired in the first place.
Stefanski has served in a variety of roles for the Vikings since joining the organization back in 2006, including stints as the tight ends coach, running backs coach, and quarterbacks coach. The 37-year-old was named interim offensive coordinator following the firing of John DeFilippo during the 2018 season, and he earned the full-time gig prior to the 2019 campaign.
During Stefanski’s first full season at the helm, the Vikings ranked as a top-10 offense in points. The coach led the trio of Dalvin Cook, Alexander Mattison, and Mike Boone to top-six rankings in rushing yards and touchdowns, and he also helped quarterback Kirk Cousins have one of the best seasons of his career. Although the Vikings laid an egg in Saturday’s divisional round loss to the 49ers, Cleveland was obviously undeterred.
The Browns’ coaching search saw them interview eight candidates, as our 2020 head coaching search tracker shows (former Baylor HC Matt Rhule, who ultimately accepted the Panthers’ head coaching job, turned down the opportunity to interview with Cleveland). Browns chief strategist Paul DePodesta piloted the search, and recent reports indicated that he had narrowed his list to Stefanski and Patriots OC Josh McDaniels, though Cabot tweets that Stefanski and 49ers DC Robert Saleh were the two finalists.
Interestingly, DePodesta’s contract with Cleveland is reportedly set to expire, but given his role in the coaching search, it seems likely that the Browns will retain him. However, the team continues to search for a new GM, and Eagles vice president of football operations Andrew Berry may have just become the leading candidate for that role, as his analytically-driven approach meshes with Stefanski’s.
Meanwhile, Vikings QB coach Klint Kubiak could follow Stefanski to Cleveland to become the Browns’ new OC, as Mike Klis of 9News.com tweets.
With the Stefanski hire, the 2020 head coaching cycle has come to a stop. The Browns were the last of the five teams with a head coaching vacancy this year to hire their HC.
Bears Hire Bill Lazor As OC
The Bears fired offensive coordinator Mark Helfrich at the end of the 2019 season, and they have now filled their vacancy. Chicago has hired former Dolphins and Bengals OC Bill Lazor to replace Helfrich, per Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (via Twitter).
Lazor, 47, was hired as Cincinnati’s quarterbacks coach in 2016 but ended up taking over as the team’s play-caller three games into the 2017 campaign. In 2018, his first full season as the Bengals’ OC, Lazor led a unit which ranked 17th in points, 19th in DVOA (efficiency), and 26th in yardage. In his first year as Miami’s OC, 2014, the ‘Fins finished 8th in DVOA, but they plummeted to 22nd the following year and Lazor was given the boot.
Part of Lazor’s responsibilities in Chicago will include getting quarterback Mitchell Trubisky back on track — assuming the Bears stick with Trubisky as their starter — and helping fix an offense that finished the 2019 season 29th in total offense, 31st in yards per play, and 29th in scoring. Head coach Matt Nagy, though, will retain play-calling duties.
Per Brad Biggs of the Chicago Tribune, the Bears were interested in Pat Shurmur for their OC job, but Shurmur was recently hired by the Broncos, for whom he will call offensive plays. The presence of Nagy as play-caller and Trubisky under center could be a deterrent for the upper echelon of OC candidates, which may be why the team had to opt for a second-tier choice in Lazor.
Lazor was out of the league in 2019, though he did interview for the Redskins’ quarterbacks coach job last January.
Vikings Likely To Cut Xavier Rhodes; Latest On Everson Griffen
Earlier today, we discussed a possible extension for Vikings QB Kirk Cousins, an extension that would give Minnesota some much-needed cap space. In addition to a potential new deal for Cousins, Ben Goessling of the Star Tribune notes that other priorities for the Vikings this offseason include extensions for head coach Mike Zimmer, GM Rick Spielman, and running back Dalvin Cook, all of whom are only under contract through 2020. The team will also need to find a new OC, as the Browns just hired Kevin Stefanski to be their next head coach.
The Vikings may also be looking at some significant turnover on the defensive side of the ball. As Chris Tomasson of the St. Paul Pioneer Press observes, four of the team’s six defensive starters with Pro Bowls on their resumes — DE Everson Griffen, DT Linval Joseph, S Harrison Smith, and CB Xavier Rhodes — are on the wrong side of 30, or will be next season (Twitter link).
Per Tomasson, Minnesota is likely to release Rhodes. That does not come as much of a surprise, as Rhodes’ play has declined dramatically since he signed a lucrative extension in July 2017, and the team could net a $8.1MM cap savings by cutting him.
Tomasson also suggests that Griffen may not be back with the team in 2020. Pursuant to the terms of a reworked deal that Griffen and the Vikings agreed to last March, Griffen is technically under contract through 2022. But because he played at least 56% of the team’s defensive snaps in 2019 and recorded at least six sacks — he actually played over 77% of defensive snaps while posting eight sacks — he has the ability to void the 2020-22 seasons and hit free agency. Or, even if he does not choose to do so, the Vikings could release him and save about $13MM of cap space.
In any event, it figures to be a busy offseason for Minnesota, a talented team that has just not been able to get over the hump.
Texans To Try To Extend Deshaun Watson This Offseason
As members of the 2017 draft class, star quarterbacks Deshaun Watson and Patrick Mahomes are both eligible for extensions after the 2019 season comes to a close. We recently heard that the Chiefs and Mahomes are expected to agree to a new contract in the coming months — a contract that could exceed $200MM in total value — but we have heard less about Watson.
Per Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network (video link), the Texans will try to extend Watson this offseason, but Watson wants to wait until Mahomes has signed his new pact so that he can try to trump it. And because Kansas City does not want to reach an accord with Mahomes until a new CBA is in place, a new deal between Houston and Watson may not be consummated until the late spring or early summer months.
Of course, neither team has to negotiate new contracts with their signal-callers this year. Both players can be controlled through the 2021 season since both were first-round choices and are therefore subject to a fifth-year option. But it sounds like the Texans and Chiefs want to put pen to paper sooner rather than later, perhaps as a result of the ever-rising salary cap.
Watson, who was an MVP candidate for much of the year, finished the 2019 regular season with 3,852 passing yards, 26 TDs, 12 interceptions, and a 98.0 QB rating. He also rushed 82 times for 413 yards and seven scores, and he picked up a signature playoff win with the Texans’ comeback defeat of the Bills in last week’s wildcard matchup.
Watson’s Texans will visit Mahomes’ Chiefs in today’s divisional round bout, the winner of which will host the Titans in the AFC Championship Game.
Latest On Vikings, Kirk Cousins
Vikings QB Kirk Cousins managed to quiet his critics for a week after last week’s upset win over the Saints in the wildcard round of the playoffs, but those critics are back with a vengeance after Cousins and Minnesota went out with a whimper in the team’s divisional round loss to the 49ers on Saturday.
To be sure, the loss did not fall entirely at Cousins’ feet. The Vikings gained just 21 yards on the ground against San Francisco’s stout defensive front, and Cousins was sacked six times. But for a highly-paid player who repeatedly faces questions about his ability to win meaningful games, it was a disappointing performance.
Nonetheless, Cousins is going to be back with the Vikings in 2020, the last year of his current contract. The real question is whether the team will seek to extend its relationship with the 31-year-old signal-caller beyond that.
As Chris Tomasson of the St. Paul Pioneer Press points out, Minnesota is currently projected to have the least amount of cap room in the league entering free agency. Cousins will count for $31MM against the team’s cap in 2020, but an extension could lower that number and give the Vikings some much-needed breathing room.
And Cousins did post a career-high QB rating of 107.4 in 2019 while throwing 26 TDs against such six interceptions, so an extension would make plenty of sense. After all, it would be difficult to find a free agent or rookie QB to replicate that type of production.
In the immediate aftermath of elimination, though, Cousins and head coach Mike Zimmer — whose current contract also expires after 2020 — did not want to talk about the future. “I don’t know what [Cousins’] contract situation is, so I’ll worry about that down the road,” Zimmer said.
Cousins, meanwhile, said, “[t]hat’s just not focus right now. My focus is on this game and the playoffs. I certainly love it here and love being a Viking.”
Patriots WR Julian Edelman Arrested
Patriots wide receiver Julian Edelman was arrested on Saturday night after allegedly jumping on the hood of someone else’s Mercedes, per TMZ Sports. Edelman was cited for misdemeanor vandalism and released.
Edelman was reportedly walking around Beverly Hills with friends around 9pm when he leaped onto the vehicle for some unknown reason. Officers were in the area working on a robbery case when a bystander flagged them down and alerted them of the incident.
TMZ’s law enforcement sources say that Edelman was drinking, which is hardly surprising. And given the nature of the transgression, the LA County district attorney may not file charges, especially if Edelman pays the vehicle owner for damages.
Edelman was also arrested in 2011 for allegedly groping a woman at a bar, but those charges were later dropped after video evidence proved inconclusive. Given that, the current allegations probably will not lead to an NFL suspension.
As one of the few reliable weapons in the Patriots’ passing game this year, Edelman hauled in 100 catches for 1,117 yards and six scores. The 33-year-old is under contract through 2021.
Marshal Yanda Considering Retirement?
The Ravens’ terrific season came to a sudden and surprising end at the hands of the Titans on Saturday night, which leaves Baltimore looking ahead to the 2020 campaign much sooner than it would have liked. And at some point in the near future, the team could be saying goodbye to its longest-tenured player.
Right guard Marshal Yanda, who was named to the eighth Pro Bowl of his career for his typically excellent work in the trenches in 2019, is under contract through the 2020 season. However, many of Yanda’s teammates believe he may have already played the last game of his career, as Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports tweets.
Yanda, 35, did not publicly commit to playing in 2019 until he inked a one-year extension in April of last year, and with a Super Bowl ring and two First Team All-Pro nods to his credit, he may choose to hang up the cleats and move on to the next stage of his life.
La Canfora cautions that Yanda will take his time with the decision, but if he does choose to retire, the Ravens will have a massive hole to fill on their offensive line. Selected by Baltimore in the third round of the 2007 draft, Yanda has quietly put together a potential Hall of Fame career with his toughness and intelligence, and Lamar Jackson and the Ravens’ running backs would surely miss him.
If he does come back next year, Yanda stands to earn $7MM, a pittance relative to his importance to the team.
NFL Reserve/Futures Contracts: 1/8/20
The latest reserve/futures signings from around the NFL:
Chicago Bears
Pittsburgh Steelers
Tampa Bay Buccaneers