More On Russell Wilson, Seahawks
After the Seahawks and Russell Wilson agreed to a massive four-year, $140MM extension, the parties held a press conference that produced several interesting nuggets:
- The team’s decision to include a no-trade clause helped seal the deal, as Bob Condotta of the Seattle Times tweets. That is an interesting note in light of previous reports that Wilson was only inclined to remain in Seattle if the team gave him top-dollar, but that he may have been willing to accept less from another club, like the Giants. But perhaps, even if those rumors were true, once Wilson committed to the Seahawks, he wanted to make sure he would only be leaving the club on his terms.
- Although any issues that player and team might have had are often swept under the rug after a contract gets hammered out, Wilson said he intends to remain in Seattle for his entire career. He said he wants to have a 20-year playing career — meaning he’d be playing until he is 43 — and he said he wants to “wear the blue and green forever” (Twitter link via Condotta).
- Seahawks GM John Schneider said that Wilson’s April 15 deadline to get a deal done was a good idea for both sides. Schneider said, “The April 15th deal for us was a good idea. The last [negotiation between Wilson and the Seahawks], quite frankly, took too long and took a lot of energy away from what we’re supposed to be doing. We thought it was a good idea on their part and worked out for both sides because we had to know what was going on, be able to clear our minds and be right” (via Curtis Crabtree of Pro Football Talk).
- Wilson, of course, agreed, saying, “I remember the first time, the other contract, it was one of those things that took us all away to the summertime, right before training camp — literally to 11:50 that night and everything else. The next day, we were practicing. For me, and for everyone involved really — the whole organization — it was really more so of a ‘Hey, let’s make sure we don’t have to drag out this whole process.'”
- Head coach Pete Carroll, whose contract now expires before Wilson’s, emphasized the importance of Wilson remaining with the team for years. Carroll said, “For the continuity of this program, for the continuity of the following, all the fans who have known who we are and how we like to play and Russ has ignited an energy about the games that we play and the style from the offensive side. I thought it was really important for us. We think we have a really good team and we’re really fired up about it, and to be able to maintain this continuity was extremely important for us.”
Panthers, LB Luke Kuechly Restructure Contract
The Panthers have converted $9.05MM of star linebacker Luke Kuechly‘s 2019 salary into a bonus, per ESPN’s Field Yates (via Twitter). The move will create an additional $7.24MM of cap space, which is quite significant given that Carolina was only operating with about $1.34MM in cap room prior to the restructure.
This marks the second year in a row that the Panthers have given Kuechly cash upfront in order to create cap space, which can be a dangerous strategy. But Kuechly, who will turn 28 in two days, remains one of the best linebackers in the league and is coming off his fifth First Team All-Pro bid. Considering his importance to the team both now and for the foreseeable future, these reworkings are likely not too difficult for Carolina to stomach.
The team now has some much-needed flexibility heading into next week’s draft, and their newfound cap space will allow the Panthers to re-enter the free agent market should they be unable to fill their remaining needs with collegiate prospects. Plus, their release of Matt Kalil earlier this offseason will add another $7.25MM to their coffers once the calendar flips to June 1.
Kuechly is under contract through 2021.
Minor NFL Transactions: 4/14/19
We will keep you apprised of all minor moves right here over the course of the day:
Detroit Lions
- Signed: S Charles Washington (ERFA)
East Notes: Giants, Eagles, Patriots
The Giants have long maintained that they will not select a QB in this month’s draft just for the sake of drafting one, but Ralph Vacchiano of SNY.tv believes that the team needs to identify and acquire the successor to Eli Manning immediately and cannot put it off for another year. The team has the high-end draft capital to land a top collegiate prospect in 2019, and it could still make a play for the Cardinals’ Josh Rosen. There are too many variables that could prevent New York from landing the highly-touted passers in the 2020 class — namely, Justin Herbert and Tua Tagovailoa — and if the Giants don’t get one of those players, then they will have needlessly delayed their return to contention. Vacchiano’s argument has some flaws (for instance, it assumes that a 2019 draft choice or Rosen is the long-term answer), but his point is well made.
Now for more from the league’s east divisions:
- Not long after the Eagles hired Doug Pederson as their head coach in 2016, club owner Jeffrey Lurie said he wanted to draft a QB every year, or every other year, the way his team used to (a strategy that significantly aided roster building). As Zach Berman of the Philadelphia Inquirer notes, Lurie reiterated those sentiments just last month, and now that Nick Foles is out of the picture, the club may return to that approach. The Eagles appear to be plenty comfortable with Nate Sudfeld as their No. 2 signal-caller, but Sudfeld could leave for a potential starting job in 2020, when the Eagles are expected to be flush with draft picks, so Berman suggests the team could add a UDFA passer this season and draft a QB prospect next year.
- Mike Reiss of ESPN.com sees some similarities between the end of Chris Hogan‘s tenure with the Patriots in 2019 and the end of Wes Welker‘s relationship with the club in 2013. In both cases, Reiss says that the team tried to hammer out extensions well before the players hit free agency, but the financial gap ended up being too wide to bridge. In Hogan’s case, the two sides were indeed working on an extension back in August, and even though Hogan landed a fairly modest deal with the Panthers that New England could have easily matched — and, some would say, should have matched considering the team’s WR situation — Reiss says player and team viewed a fresh start as the best approach.
- Last August, the Patriots traded safety Jordan Richards to the Falcons for a conditional 2020 seventh-round pick. In the same piece linked above, Reiss reports that Richards was on Atlanta’s game-day roster enough times to satisfy the conditions of the swap — indeed, he ended up starting 12 games for the Falcons — so New England will get a 2020 seventh-rounder from the Falcons.
- Rich Cimini of ESPN.com believes the Jets‘ newest QB, former AAF passer Brandon Silvers, will have a legitimate chance to win the club’s backup QB job.
- In the same piece, Cimini expresses his belief that the Jets will select Alabama DT Quinnen Williams with the No. 3 overall selection if they don’t trade the pick. Cimini thinks Kentucky pass rusher Josh Allen fills a bigger need, but GM Mike Maccagnan cannot afford to miss on this pick, and Williams is a safer prospect who, like Allen, offers elite potential.
Revisiting Anthony Barr’s Decision To Remain With Vikings
One of the biggest surprises of free agency this year came when linebacker Anthony Barr, who had agreed to sign with the Jets, suddenly reversed course and opted to re-sign with the Vikings for less money than he would have earned with Gang Green.
At the time the news broke, we knew only that Barr wanted to remain with Minnesota and that the Vikings had sweetened their offer to convince him to return. But in a lengthy and fascinating piece that is worth a full read, Courtney Cronin and Rich Cimini of ESPN.com detail exactly how Barr’s decision played out.
The ESPN scribes write that, when the legal tampering period opened on March 11, Barr had a few suitors, but the Jets quickly rose to the top of the list because of how much money they could offer. Barr had identified the Jets — who planned to capitalize on his athleticism as a blitzer and his ability to drop into coverage — as his top choice if he couldn’t remain with the Vikings. New York, which signed linebacker C.J. Mosley not long before Barr canceled his deal with the Jets, had every intention of bringing Mosley and Barr into the fold.
And as it turns out, New York’s offer was even higher than was initially reported. Per Cronin and Cimini, Barr’s agent, Ryan Williams, could tell that his client was very hesitant to accept the Jets’ pitch — in response to New York’s initial offers, Barr simply said, “where’s Minnesota?” — and Williams convinced the Jets to increase their offer to over $15MM per season, which Barr had indicated he would accept. But when Williams called Barr to tell him the Jets had met his asking price, Barr said, “I feel like I just made the worst mistake of my life.”
Barr did not want to back out of the Jets deal since he had given them his word, but Williams called Gang Green to let them know Barr was having second thoughts. Minnesota, meanwhile, was convinced it could not re-sign Barr because of its shortage of cap space, and rather than extending what it felt would be a disrespectful, low-ball offer, it stayed out of the sweepstakes entirely.
So the Vikings were very surprised to get a “frantic” call from Williams asking for the team’s best and final offer. Minnesota extended itself as far as it could go, the Jets offered to fly Barr out to New York to convince him to come to the Big Apple, and the decision was in Barr’s hands. Of course, he ultimately chose to accept Minnesota’s offer, and the excitement he felt when Williams told him he was back with the Vikings proves to him that he made the right choice.
Barr said, “I was trying to convince myself of something I knew that in my heart didn’t feel right, and I think if you follow the heart, I can live with the results.”
Latest On Frank Clark, Seahawks
It’s been well over a month since we heard that the Seahawks and defensive end Frank Clark were making progress in negotiating a long-term contract. Seattle put the franchise tag on Clark shortly thereafter, which gives the two sides until July 15 to work out a multi-year pact, and Clark said he would not report to training camp without a new deal in place.
DeMarcus Lawrence signed a five-year deal worth over $100MM with the Cowboys last week, and that appeared to provide a benchmark for talks between Seattle and Clark. But still, no news as of yet.
Jay Glazer of The Athletic (subscription required) writes that several teams were interested in trading for Clark at the outset of free agency, but he notes that there has been no trade chatter since then. Glazer adds that the Seahawks love Clark, and that unless the team is overwhelmed by a trade offer, Clark will remain with Seattle. Given Clark’s stance with respect to the franchise tag, it sounds as if he will be getting his big-money, long-term deal before July 15.
Clark, a 2015 second-round pick, has been a fixture in the team’s front seven since the 2016 campaign. In the last three years, he ranks seventh among NFL defensive linemen in sacks (32) and 10th in quarterbacks hits (66). Last season, Pro Football Focus graded Clark as the league’s No. 18 edge defender.
Once the April 15 “deadline” for a new contract with quarterback Russell Wilson passes, perhaps the Seahawks will shift their focus back to Clark.
Russell Wilson Wants To Leave Seahawks?
Tomorrow is tax day, and it’s also Russell Wilson‘s deadline for a new contract with the Seahawks. We have explored the dynamic between Wilson and Seattle at length over the past couple of weeks, but Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk has now added a new wrinkle to the conversation.
Florio hears from a league source that the Seahawks believe Wilson wants to play elsewhere, and that Wilson will therefore drive a harder bargain with Seattle than he would with another club. Of course, Wilson is still under contract through the end of the 2019 campaign, and the Seahawks could realistically deploy the franchise tag in 2020 and 2021 if they so choose (and though Wilson could always change his mind, he has indicated he would not hold out if he is hit with the franchise tag).
But as Florio observes, it remains unclear whether Seattle wants to commit to the kind of money that Wilson would earn under the franchise tag or the amount he would demand under a multi-year extension. And if he is willing to take a little less to play with another club — like the Giants, who have been rumored as a potential destination for some time — then it would become easier for the Seahawks to deal Wilson under a tag-and-trade scenario (interestingly, new Chiefs safety Tyrann Mathieu, whose respect for Wilson is well-known, tweeted a response to Florio’s piece that said, “Russ wants New York”).
This could just be the type of pie-in-the-sky rumor that frequently shrouds negotiations with star players. It is still eminently possible that Wilson and the Seahawks hammer out a third contract, or that the two sides roll with the franchise tag for at least the 2020 season, and maybe 2021 (the franchise tag number for 2022 is much too rich to be feasible).
Nonetheless, it is still interesting to ponder, especially considering the juggernaut that the Seahawks were able to build when Wilson was playing under his rookie contract. If they can land some high-level draft capital for Wilson next offseason, then they may be able to put together that type of roster again in short order.
Minor NFL Transactions: 4/12/19
Here are today’s minor moves:
Atlanta Falcons
- Signed: Afolabi Laguda
San Francisco 49ers
- Signed: OL Daniel Brunskill
Seattle Seahawks
- Waived: K Sam Ficken, LB Emmanuel Beal
Vikings, Adam Thielen Agree To Extension
The Vikings and star wideout Adam Thielen have agreed to a four-year, $64MM extension with a maximum value of $73MM, per Ben Goessling of the Star Tribune. He will earn $35MM in guaranteed money. We heard last month that the two sides were working on a new deal, and they were able to hammer out an agreement that pays Thielen at a rate commensurate with his abilities and recent production.
Thielen had two years and $13.5MM remaining on his present contract, so as Mike Garafolo of the NFL Network tweets, it appears as if he is now under team control for the next six seasons at a $77.5MM base value. Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets that Thielen will receive $35MM in guaranteed money.
Of course, extensions can be difficult to come by when a player has more than one year remaining on his contract, but Thielen is not just any player. An undrafted Division II product, Thielen has put together back-to-back 1,200-plus-yard seasons, going for 1,373 and a career-high nine touchdown receptions in 2018. He watched teammate Stefon Diggs sign a five-year, $72MM extension with $40MM guaranteed last summer, and now he has leapfrogged Diggs in terms of average annual value (he is now the sixth-highest paid WR in the league in that regard).
Thielen, who will turn 29 in August, has earned Pro Bowl nods in each of the last two seasons, and he figures to be a critical part of the team’s fortunes going forward. He was due to carry an $8.1MM cap hit this season, but that will likely be reduced as a result of the extension.
His deal continues the Vikings’ trend of locking up core players before they can taste free agency. The team now has a foundation of Thielen, Diggs, Danielle Hunter, Linval Joseph, Anthony Barr, Eric Kendricks, Harrison Smith, Riley Reiff, Shamar Stephen, and Mike Hughes under contract through at least 2021 (hat tip to ESPN’s Field Yates on Twitter).
Thielen will address the media tomorrow.
Latest On Ozzie Newsome’s Role With Ravens
Ozzie Newsome had been the Ravens’ GM since the club’s inception in 1996, and he was the architect of two Super Bowl champions. Last January, Newsome announced that 2018 would be his last season as Baltimore’s GM, but it was reported that he would remain with the club in an unspecified role.
Now, that role is becoming a bit clearer. As Jamison Hensley of ESPN.com writes, Newsome’s voice still carries plenty of weight in the Ravens’ front office. He doesn’t have an official title, and new GM (and longtime Newsome lieutenant) Eric DeCosta has Newsome’s old office and the final say on roster decisions, but Newsome is plenty involved in the draft and free agency process.
Hensley observes that Newsome was instrumental in closing the deal with Earl Thomas last month — he has a good relationship with Thomas’ agent — and is doing a great deal of work on this year’s collegiate prospects.
Indeed, without the daily administrative duties of a GM, Newsome has watched more college tape than he has in the last several years. DeCosta said, “I think he’s really enjoying it. He’s grinding tape. He had a great time at the combine. He’s really been a valuable resource for me in terms of discussing players and what do you see. I think he’s really having fun with it.”
It remains unclear how involved Newsome will be on draft day, but DeCosta acknowledged that his mentor is likely to have a say on nearly every pick. And while head coach John Harbaugh reiterated that what DeCosta says goes, it can’t hurt to have someone as respected as accomplished as Newsome as a sounding board.
Newsome is under contract at least through 2020.