Latest On Jets’ Star Players, GM Search
Rich Cimini of ESPN.com passes along a number of interesting notes about the Jets this morning, including a few thoughts and reports on the futures of certain key players and the team’s hunt for a new GM.
For instance, Cimini reports that there is already speculation in league circles that head coach/interim GM Adam Gase is looking to move on from defensive lineman Leonard Williams. That does not mean that Gase wants to trade or cut Williams in 2019, but it sounds as though the new regime would be perfectly willing to allow Williams to sign elsewhere when he becomes a free agent at the end of the year. Cimini suggests that the club could franchise tag Williams or execute a tag-and-trade, but a long-term deal with the Jets does not seem likely at this point.
With respect to Le’Veon Bell, whose signing was a factor in the deteriorating relationship between Gase and former GM Mike Maccagnan, Cimini says it would not be surprising to see the Jets trade Bell after the 2019 season. If they cannot find a trade partner, then Bell can easily be cut after the 2020 season, when all of his guaranteed money will have been paid.
Robby Anderson‘s future with the club is more straightforward. Gase appreciates Anderson’s talent, and if the big-play wideout has a strong 2019, he could be back with Gang Green on a multi-year pact. If he disappoints, he will be gone.
And as far as the club’s GM search is concerned, Cimini says that the rumors connecting Peyton Manning to the job have no substance and that Manning is not on the Jets’ radar at the moment (which jibes with a report from yesterday). Cimini also hears that Eagles vice president of player personnel Joe Douglas remains the odds-on favorite for the job. Douglas has been billed as the front-runner since Maccagnan was fired.
Steelers Sign Devin Bush
The Steelers made an uncharacteristically aggressive jump in the first round of last month’s draft, trading up from No. 20 to No. 10 to select Michigan linebacker Devin Bush. Today, they signed Bush to his rookie contract, as Pro Football Talk reports (via Twitter). It will be a four-year, $18.8MM deal (all guaranteed), with a fifth-year option for 2023.
In addition to their No. 20 overall selection, Pittsburgh shipped the No. 52 overall pick in the 2019 draft plus a 2020 third-rounder to Denver. But Bush’s talent could more than justify that type of gamble, as he will immediately slide into the Steelers’ starting lineup as an inside ‘backer.
Bush is a three-down player who has shown an ability to thrive in both man-to-man and zone coverage, and he also flashed some pass-rushing prowess during his tenure at Michigan. He finished his final collegiate season with 41 tackles (8.5 for loss) and 4.5 sacks.
The Steelers have found it difficult to replace Ryan Shazier‘s presence in the middle of their front seven since Shazier’s devastating injury towards the end of the 2017 campaign, and Bush should be able to replicate, or even exceed, Shazier’s production. He doesn’t turn 21 until July 18, and Pittsburgh has every reason to believe it may have found the next great Steel City defender.
With Bush’s signing, third-round CB Justin Layne is the only member of the Steelers’ nine-man draft class who has yet to ink his rookie deal.
Dolphins Sign Mark Walton
The Dolphins auditioned running back Mark Walton several days ago, and they apparently liked what they saw. Per Cameron Wolfe of ESPN.com (via Twitter), Miami has given Walton a contract.
The Bengals cut Walton in April after he was arrested for the third time in three months. But Cincinnati used a fourth-round pick on Walton in 2018, so even if he faces a suspension of some sort for his legal troubles, the rebuilding Dolphins — who don’t need Walton to contribute right away — may have found good value.
Assuming Walton sticks around, he should have an opportunity to carve out a role in Miami’s backfield along with Kenyan Drake and Kalen Ballage. He tallied just 34 yards off of 14 carries as a rookie, but he rattled off 1,100 yards and scored 14 TDs as a sophomore with the Hurricanes, which offers a glimpse of his potential.
In addition to Walton, the Dolphins have also signed fellow tryout players CB Jamar Summers and C Kirk Barron.
Eagles To Sign Cody Kessler
The Eagles are expected to sign quarterback Cody Kessler tomorrow, per Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (via Twitter). Kessler joins 2019 fifth-round pick Clayton Thorson and former AAF signal-caller Luis Perez as new additions to Philadelphia’s QB room.
The Eagles strongly believe that a team can never have enough opportunities to develop a quarterback with talent, and the team’s acquisitions this offseason are certainly in line with that philosophy. Carson Wentz is obviously the first-string signal-caller — though he has dealt with serious concerns over the past two years — and the team has long been high on current backup Nate Sudfeld.
But Sudfeld has only attempted 25 passes in his professional career, and Kessler could theoretically push him for the No. 2 job. Or, if Wentz’s recovery doesn’t go as hoped, Kessler could even compete for the interim starting gig. At the very least, he and Thorson could battle it out for a role as the team’s third-string signal-caller.
Kessler, whom the Browns selected in the third round of the 2016 draft, has compiled an unattractive 2-10 record as a starting QB in his career, but he hasn’t exactly been in environment that are conducive to winning. Cleveland traded Kessler to the Jaguars last March in exchange for a conditional seventh-rounder, and Kessler ultimately appeared in five games (four starts) for Jacksonville. He went 2-2 and completed 64.9% of his passes with two TDs and two interceptions en route to a modest 77.4 QB rating.
The Jaguars cut Kessler just a few days ago.
Minor NFL Transactions: 5/12/19
Here are today’s minor moves:
Detroit Lions
- Signed: WRs Tom Kennedy, Jordan Smallwood
- Waived: TEs Nate Becker, Donald Parham
Jacksonville Jaguars
- Signed: TE Charles Jones, CB Jocquez Kalili, TE Michael Colubiale
- Waived: TE Carson Meier, CB Marquez Sanford, WR Papi White
- Waived/injured: S Cody Brown, DT Roderick Young
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
- Signed: S D’Cota Dixon
Kennedy is an interesting story, as he was taken in the third round of last year’s Major League Lacrosse Draft by the Boston Cannons, per Michael Rothstein of ESPN.com. He appeared in six games for the Cannons while also suiting up at wide receiver for Bryant University. Despite only playing two years of football at Bryant, Kennedy is eighth in school history in catches and receiving yards, and he posted 57 receptions for 888 yards and nine touchdowns in 2017. He missed four games due to injury in 2018, but he still finished with 33 catches for 410 yards and a touchdown.
Jets Sign Jachai Polite
The Jets have signed third-round draft choice Jachai Polite, per Manish Mehta of the New York Daily News (via Twitter). That leaves only No. 3 overall pick Quinnen Williams and fellow third-rounder Chuma Edoga left unsigned from Gang Green’s 2019 class.
Polite will be an interesting story to follow, as the Florida product is a player who once had first-round buzz but who slipped after bombing at the combine. Polite also saw his stock plummet thanks to rumblings about his work ethic and unwillingness to do what was asked of him by coaches, and he was battling hamstring issues as of last month.
Jets GM Mike Maccagnan, though, seems to think his coaching staff can maximize Polite’s potential. Maccagnan said after the draft, “We know some of the risk in [Polite]. We also think there are some very good qualities about him.”
And New York could certainly use Polite’s pass rushing ability. Polite racked up 11 sacks during his final season with the Gators, and the Jets finished in the middle of the pack last year with 39 quarterback takedowns.
Polite joins a revamped front seven that includes Williams — viewed as perhaps the best overall player in the 2019 draft — and C.J. Mosley. The team also re-upped 2018 breakout performer Henry Anderson.
Per the CBA slotting system for rookies, Polite’s deal will be a four-year pact worth a total of $3.6MM. It includes a $1.1MM signing bonus.
Latest On Redskins’ QB Situation
The Redskins’ starting quarterback race is wide open at the moment, but as John Keim of ESPN.com writes, 2019 first-rounder Dwayne Haskins is already making his case for the job.
Haskins has impressed after two days of rookie minicamp, and head coach Jay Gruden said of the Ohio State product, “[i]t’s been a treat. He’s made some throws that turn your head without a doubt.”
Of course, Haskins still has a long way to go, and two days of rookie minicamp will not make or break his future with Washington. But as the No. 15 overall pick, he will certainly be given ample opportunity to start right away, and his performance thus far has been promising.
The Redskins’ OTAs and mandatory minicamp will be critical in clarifying the team’s quarterback situation, because Gruden does not like to have a three-man competition in training camp. He believes, understandably, that it is too difficult to divide meaningful repetitions between three players, so the pressure is on Haskins and veterans Case Keenum and Colt McCoy over the coming weeks.
Given that Haskins has a lot of basics to master — like his footwork and dropping back from under center, which he did not do in college — Keenum and McCoy may have a leg up for the time being, especially since Gruden’s job security is tenuous at best and he needs to win games in 2019 to keep his post. But Haskins obviously has the highest upside of any of the three competitors, and the Redskins expect him to develop quickly.
Gruden said, “The most important thing in the next couple weeks is, let’s see how far we can push [Haskins]. Let’s see if there is a chance he can win the job. If we feel like he’s coming along slower, then we have to maybe push Case or push Colt. But if we feel like [Haskins] is coming along and he’s firing and he’s comfortable, then we’ll play it out and see what happens.”
Gruden sounds like a man who wants his rookie signal-caller to seize the opportunity and run with it, and Haskins is up for the challenge. He said, “I’ll be ready for whatever the coaches want from me, whether that’s starting right away or next year or through the season. I’ll prepare like I’m the starter.”
NFC South Notes: Little, Falcons, Grayson
The Panthers traded up in the second round of the 2019 draft to land Ole Miss offensive tackle Greg Little, and as Josh Alper of Pro Football Talk writes, Carolina’s left tackle job is seemingly Little’s to lose. The Panthers deployed Taylor Moton on the blindside last season, but GM Marty Hurney‘s preference is to have Moton play right tackle. Daryl Williams is still in the mix for a spot on the right side of the line, but the club appears prepared to pencil in Little as its starting LT, which would make the rookie a key figure in the Panthers’ 2019 fortunes.
Now for more from the NFC South:
- The Falcons have until July 15 to work out a long-term extension with franchise-tagged defensive tackle Grady Jarrett, but GM Thomas Dimitroff recently conceded that Jarrett may play out the 2019 campaign under the tag, which suggests that the two sides still aren’t particularly close on a new contract. Dimitroff said (via D. Orlando Ledbetter of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution), “I’m confident that something will get done one way or the other. If it doesn’t, we have a year to continue to talk about it.”
- The Falcons‘ starting safety tandem of Keanu Neal and Ricardo Allen, who are recovering from major injuries that ended their 2018 seasons prematurely, are both expected to be at full strength by the time training camp begins in July, as Ledbetter notes in a separate piece.
- The Saints tried out former LSU track star Cyril Grayson yesterday, as Josh Katzenstein of the Times-Picayune tweets. Grayson has spent time with the Seahawks, Colts, and Bears, but he has yet to see regular season action.
Extension Candidate: Austin Hooper
With the Falcons’ front office focusing its efforts on star wide receiver Julio Jones at the moment, it stands to reason that contract negotiations for other key players would take a temporary backseat. But once the Jones situation is resolved, Atlanta could turn its attention to an extension for tight end Austin Hooper, who became a reliable target for Matt Ryan in 2018 en route to his first Pro Bowl bid.
Now that Hooper has completed his third year in the league, he is eligible for a new contract. And since the Stanford product was a third-round selection, he cannot be kept under club control via the fifth-year option, so he will become an unrestricted free agent next year if he and the Falcons do not agree to an extension before then.
The market for tight ends has not taken off in the same way that the markets for edge rushers and quarterbacks have, so it would behoove the Falcons to commit a relatively small percentage of their cap space to a rising player who could be a fixture on the offense for years to come. Two of the best tight ends in the league, Travis Kelce and Zach Ertz, are making less than $10MM per season, and even Rob Gronkowski was unable to crack the eight-figure barrier before his retirement. The Bears gave Trey Burton a four-year, $32MM pact last offseason based largely on Burton’s upside rather than his production to that point in his career, so it may take a little more than that for the Falcons to keep Hooper. Given the ever-rising salary cap, though, that does not seem like too steep of a price to pay.
Hooper lasted until the third round of the 2016 draft due to concerns about his hands and route-running, but he has largely quieted those concerns over his first three years in the league. And while his receiving ability is going to be what gets him the payday he’s seeking, he was an above-average performer in terms of run-blocking and pass-blocking last year, per Pro Football Focus’ metrics.
Advanced analytics from PFF and Football Outsiders still peg Hooper as more of a solid player than an elite one, but his trajectory is quite promising just the same, and when a club extends a player, it often makes sense to pay for trajectory rather than past performance.
In 2018, Hooper caught 71 passes — on 88 targets, for a league-best 81% catch rate — for 660 yards and four touchdowns. He may never become the threat that Kelce and Ertz are, but the Falcons don’t necessarily need that. They need a dependable outlet for Ryan who catches passes that are thrown his way, who can create mismatches over the middle of the field, and who can make defenses pay for focusing their attention on other players (like Jones).
Hooper represents all of those things, and he should only get better. A five-year, $42.5MM pact with $20MM or so in guarantees seems to make sense for both sides.
NFC Notes: Wagner, Newton, Zeke
We learned yesterday that the Seahawks and linebacker Bobby Wagner may not have held serious discussions regarding a new contract just yet, and we speculated that if Wagner pushes for a top-of-the-market deal (i.e. $17MM per season), he may be playing elsewhere in 2020. And as Tom Pelissero of the NFL Network tweets, Wagner will indeed be looking to meet or exceed C.J. Mosley‘s new contract with the Jets, and he will not be taking a hometown discount. If that’s the case, it will be difficult for Seattle to retain him.
Now for more from the NFC:
- Good news for Panthers fans. Per David Newton of ESPN.com, Carolina quarterback Cam Newton says his rehab from shoulder surgery is going “unbelievable,” and he hopes to be throwing before training camp. Newton, who turns 30 on Saturday, still doesn’t have a timetable for when he’ll be cleared, but everything is trending upwards so far.
- The Cowboys may be preparing for life after Ezekiel Elliott, but Albert Breer of SI.com believes it would be a mistake for Dallas to move on anytime soon. He notes that the Cowboys are built to rely on Elliott, and if they ink him to a big-money deal now, they could spare themselves lengthy and potentially contentious negotiations, and they could still cut ties later on in the contract — once the guaranteed money is gone — if Elliott’s abilities start to fade.
- The Packers claimed wide receiver Jawill Davis off waivers from the Giants earlier today, and Tom Silverstein of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel writes that Davis will compete for a return specialist role. Davis appeared in seven games for Big Blue last season, returning 12 punts and seven kickoffs. He also caught four passes for 40 yards.
- We wrote earlier today that the Buccaneers may be preparing to cut Gerald McCoy.