Jets Want To Re-Sign Andre Roberts
After a few years of bouncing around the league, Andre Roberts made a big splash with the Jets last season, earning First Team All-Pro honors for his excellent work as New York’s return specialist. And, as Rich Cimini of ESPN.com tweets, Gang Green wants Roberts to come back in 2019.
The Jets, armed with over $100MM in cap space, have already indicated that they want to re-sign defensive lineman Henry Anderson, which Cimini reiterated, and the club re-upped offensive lineman Jonotthan Harrison yesterday. The team still has a boatload of unrestricted free agents, but it appears that Roberts is next on the priority list.
Roberts, 31, started his career with the Cardinals and has also suited up for the Redskins, Lions, and Falcons. His high-water mark as a receiver came in 2012, when he caught 64 passes (albeit on 114 targets) for 759 yards and five scores. He has always been utilized as a return man even when he was a more regular presence as a wideout, but he was outstanding in the return game in 2018, as he led the league in yards per return as a punt returner (14.1) and in overall yardage as a kickoff returner (1,174). He ran back one punt and one kickoff for scores, and he also added a receiving touchdown.
It may be difficult for him to replicate that success at this stage in his career, but given the Jets’ cap room and their recent track record with return specialists, it would not be surprising to see the Citadel product secure a multiyear pact with an AAV of $3MM-4MM.
Vikings Ask Kyle Rudolph To Take Pay Cut?
The Vikings have virtually no salary cap space at the moment, with Ben Goessling of the Star Tribune reporting that the club is expected to have just $5.24MM in room when free agency opens on Wednesday. Goessling takes a position-by-position look at some of the difficult decisions Minnesota will have to make in order to free up some cash, and one of the most notable names involved in his piece is tight end Kyle Rudolph.
Per Goessling, it is believed that the Vikings are in talks with Rudolph about taking a pay cut in 2019, the final year of his current contract. Rudolph is due a $7.275MM salary, and roster/workout bonuses would increase the club’s cash outlay and corresponding cap hit to $7.625MM. The Vikings could shed that entire figure from its books by cutting Rudolph and would absorb no dead money by doing so, but there is not much by way of proven talent behind Rudolph on the depth chart.
Rudolph has started all 16 regular season games for the Vikings in each of the past four seasons, but he will turn 30 in November and had offseason ankle surgery last year. He earned Pro Bowl nods in 2012 and 2017, and he has been a solid contributor and redzone threat throughout his career, but his raw statistics have never been particularly eye-popping (though he did have 840 receiving yards in 2016, from 132 targets). Nonetheless, his overall body of work and his recent run of durability suggest he could at least match his 2019 pay if he were to hit the open market — especially since blocking tight end Nick Boyle just earned a three-year pact paying him $6MM per year from the Ravens — so he may choose to refuse a pay cut. Either way, the Vikings will be in the market for a pass-catching tight end, either in free agency or the draft.
Goessling’s entire piece is worth a read, as it includes his thoughts on the Minnesota futures of other notables like Everson Griffen, Mike Remmers, and Laquon Treadwell.
Fallout From Antonio Brown Trade
Now that the Raiders have agreed to acquire Antonio Brown from the Steelers, you can be sure that more news about the deal (and the deals that were discussed, but never came to be), will be trickling in. We will monitor the AB fallout here throughout the course of the day, as the football world continues to process the conclusion of the biggest storyline of the offseason:
- The Eagles did discuss Brown with the Steelers, but as ESPN’s Adam Schefter tweets, those talks never got serious. Instead, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh were simply doing their due diligence.
- Eliot Shorr-Parks of 94WIP.com suggests it was the new contract that Brown was demanding, rather than the draft picks, that scared the Eagles away (Twitter link).
- Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (via Twitter) agrees with Shorr-Parks’ theory, saying that plenty of teams were willing to give up the third- and fifth-round picks that ultimately got the job done, but the Raiders were the only team that was willing to tear up Brown’s existing contract and give him a new one.
- Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports tweets that the Bills were willing to swap 2019 first-round picks with the Steelers (No. 9 for No. 20) and trade away two mid-round picks, but it was Brown’s contract demands that proved to be the undoing of that potential deal.
- La Canfora adds in a separate tweet that the Redskins were still engaged with the Steelers after the Bills deal fell through earlier in the week, but it is unclear how serious the Pittsburgh-Washington talks became.
- Jeremy Fowler of ESPN.com concedes that the Raiders easily got the better of the Steelers in this trade, but he reviews what Pittsburgh’s options were, and none of them were good (Twitter link). The Steelers could have cut Brown and received no trade compensation — which also would have allowed Brown to sign with any team he wanted, including a major conference rival — or they could have kept him, fined him when he didn’t report to camp, and hoped that he wouldn’t retire because he would have had to pay back $11MM if he did so.
- Fowler also passes along a couple of Raiders-related notes in a separate tweet. A source close to Brown said the wideout was excited about joining the Raiders in part because of the presence of head coach Jon Gruden and quarterback Derek Carr. Brown is also intrigued by the Raiders’ collection of high draft picks and young talent, and Raiders defensive coordinator Paul Guenther — who had to devise many a game plan for Brown when he was the Bengals’ DC — strongly endorsed Brown’s game.
- Plenty of people have been wondering why the Steelers didn’t demand one of the Raiders‘ three first-round draft picks before agreeing to deal Brown to Oakland, and NFL Insider Adam Caplan says the Raiders simply refused to do so (Twitter link). Although the Raiders would of course have preferred to give up one draft choice instead of two, the club was adamant about holding onto its three first-rounders and one second-rounder.
- Although the Steelers‘ $21.12MM cap hit that they will have to absorb for Brown in 2019 is a killer, the trade does save the club $15MM in cash that can now be spent on other players, as Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk observes.
- Brown’s contract with the Raiders has set a new benchmark for players like Julio Jones, Tyreek Hill, and Michael Thomas, who will all cash in shortly.
- Bill Barnwell of ESPN.com takes an excellent in-depth look at the saga and what it means for both teams.
Steelers To Trade Antonio Brown To Raiders
Hallelujah, the great storm is over. The Steelers have agreed to trade Antonio Brown to the Raiders in exchange for a third- and fifth-round pick in this year’s draft, per Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (Twitter links). The news has since been confirmed by other major outlets, but Brown himself was (fittingly) the first to break the story, having posted a Photoshopped picture of himself in a Raiders uniform and a picture of himself and Oakland QB Derek Carr at the Pro Bowl (via Scott Bair of NBC Sports Bay Area on Twitter).
RapSheet also tweets that Brown will get a new deal from the Raiders, which does not add any more time onto the three years he had remaining on his contract with the Steelers, but does make him the highest-paid receiver in the game from an AAV standpoint. Brown’s new pact with Oakland will pay him $50.125MM over the next three seasons, plus $4MM in incentives, for an AAV of $19.8MM. Plus, Brown gets $30.125MM in guarantees, and his contract with Pittsburgh had no guaranteed money left.
New Raiders GM Mike Mayock appears to have come out quite well in his first trade as the (figure)head of the Oakland front office, and the Steelers’ return has been universally panned. But as Gerry Dulac of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette observes (via Twitter), and as we have expected for some time, Brown’s erratic behavior and demand for a new contract torpedoed the Steelers’ bargaining position. Also, the fact that Pittsburgh was willing to accept such a low return suggests that the club was never going to bring Brown back and that it was more concerned about ridding itself of Brown’s antics, as Dulac tweets.
The Raiders played the long game, per Jerry McDonald of the Bay Area News Group (via Twitter). The Raiders have long coveted Brown but believed they were out of the running for him as of Wednesday. However, they did not get desperate and try to up their offer, and in the end they got their man for their price. And the fact that they did not have to add any years onto Brown’s deal to convince him to sign off on the trade makes it even more of a coup.
So the Raiders get a dynamic wideout to assist in their rebuild and their transition to Las Vegas in 2020, but what about the Steelers? The trade adds some legitimacy to the speculation that the team is trying to appease quarterback Ben Roethlisberger at all costs — perhaps to stop him from retiring — and that the relationship between Brown and Big Ben had become truly untenable. Of course, the club has an excellent track record of finding top-tier receiver talent all over the draft, and they now add a second third-round choice to their 2019 draft capital along with a fifth-rounder to replace the one they sent to Oakland last season to acquire Ryan Switzer.
However, the trade is devastating from a salary cap perspective. As ESPN’s Field Yates tweets, Brown will now count for more against the Steelers’ cap in 2019 ($21.12MM) than any other WR will count for his own team. It is a tough pill to swallow, but as with every transaction of this magnitude, the passage of time may ultimately change everyone’s perspective.
Extra Points: 49ers, Coaching Staffs, Zorn
Matt Barrows of The Athletic believes the 49ers would jump at the chance to trade for Odell Beckham Jr. if the Giants actually make him available, but Barrows is more skeptical about San Francisco’s interest in Antonio Brown. It has been rumored that Brown’s preferred destination is the 49ers, but Barrows says San Francisco would only be a serious suitor for Brown if the Steelers’ trade demands are modest. Of course, we recently heard that Pittsburgh may not get more than a third-round pick for AB, so maybe that is modest enough for the Niners to take the plunge.
Now for more from around the NFL (and XFL):
- In the same piece linked above, Barrows writes that the 49ers must re-sign guard Mike Person, and he says the club plans to meet with Person’s agent at the Scouting Combine this week.
- Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets that the Giants are expected to hire Everett Withers as their new DBs coach. Withers spent the last three seasons as the head coach of Texas State and had previously agreed to become the defensive coordinator for Florida International in 2019. He will take over for Lou Anarumo, who left Big Blue to become the Bengals’ DC.
- Former Bengals RBs coach Kyle Caskey will join the Lions in the same capacity, per Aditi Kinkhabwala of the NFL Network (via Twitter). It is a logical hire for Detroit, as Caskey did good work in his five years coaching Cincinnati’s running backs.
- Colts WR Marcus Johnson, an exclusive rights free agent, has been cleared to resume football activities, Johnson himself tweeted. Johnson was placed on IR in October.
- Mississippi State defensive tackle Jeffery Simmons is not at this week’s Scouting Combine in Indianapolis due to his surgery to repair a torn ACL (plus, while he would have been permitted to participate in limited interviews and undergo medical testing, he was banned from participating in drills). However, Tom Pelissero of the NFL Network tweets that Simmons will attend the medical recheck in Indianapolis in April, which will give interested clubs the chance to see how his recovery is progressing.
- Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk points out an odd quirk in the league’s rule concerning a prospect’s eligibility to fully participate in the Scouting Combine. Since the ban on drills that players like Simmons have faced only encompasses convictions, that means that players who have not been convicted of a crime but who are still facing potentially serious charges — like Wyoming DE Carl Granderson — are allowed to participate in all aspects of the Combine. Of course, current NFL players may face league discipline even if they avoid legal repercussions for their misdeeds, so Florio believes the rule banning prospects only if they have been convicted of a crime should be eliminated.
- Appearing on The Mighty 1090 (audio link), draft guru Tony Pauline expressed his belief that Oklahoma QB Kyler Murray will definitely be drafted in the first round; it is merely a question of where in the first round he will fall.
- Former Redskins head coach Jim Zorn, who also served as the quarterbacks coach for five different NFL clubs, has been named the head coach and GM of the XFL’s Seattle franchise, the league announced via Twitter.
Falcons Plan To Retain Vic Beasley
Vic Beasley is under contract with the Falcons through 2019 since the club picked up his fifth-year option last year. However, Atlanta could cut Beasley before March 13 and clear his entire $12.81MM salary from the books, and given his underwhelming performance over the past two seasons, there has been speculation that the club will do exactly that.
But head coach Dan Quinn threw some cold water on those rumors, saying that the Falcons plan to keep Beasley in the fold. Quinn said (via Vaughn McClure of ESPN.com), “I’m very excited about where I think [Beasley] can go to, and we’ve had good conversations about the impact that he can make. The biggest impact that he can make is doing it really consistently.”
Beasley, the No. 8 overall pick in the 2015 draft, had what appeared to be a breakout campaign in 2016, racking up a league-leading 15.5 sacks to go along with his only Pro Bowl and First Team All-Pro selections. But he has regressed considerably since then, recording just five sacks in each of the past two seasons and grading out as a below-average edge defender per Pro Football Focus’ advanced metrics.
Beasley was actually Quinn’s first draft choice after Quinn became Atlanta’s head coach, and now that Quinn is set to take over defensive play-calling duties, he believes Beasley is due for a resurgence. Of course, Quinn would not comment on Beasley’s future with the club beyond 2019, and he acknowledged that Beasley would need to return to his earlier level of performance if he wants to land a long-term deal with the Falcons.
It stands to reason that the Falcons would be willing to give Beasley one more shot, as the team rebuffed trade offers for the Clemson product before the 2018 trade deadline.
Raiders Not Expected To Pick Up Karl Joseph’s Fifth-Year Option?
It seems like every player on the Raiders’ roster was on the trading block at some point last year, and safety Karl Joseph was no exception. It was reported that Oakland was willing to move Joseph at the trade deadline in exchange for a third-round pick, but no one stepped up to meet that asking price.
At the end of December, though, we heard that the team had done something of an about-face on Joseph and viewed him as a long-term building block. His play certainly improved down the stretch, and he has proven himself to be a talented pass rusher and in-the-box safety while still being competent in coverage. Plus, he will only be 26 when the regular season starts, and he was the No. 14 overall pick in the 2016 draft.
However, Vic Tafur of The Athletic does not believe the team is sold on Joseph just yet. The West Virginia product is controllable through 2020 via the fifth-year option, but the option must be exercised next month, and if the Raiders do not exercise it, Joseph would be eligible for free agency after the 2019 campaign. Tafur expects that the Raiders will take that chance, as he believes Oakland would like to see how Joseph performs in a prove-it year before committing to him beyond this season (although the fifth-year option is guaranteed for injury only, so as long as Joseph does not suffer a major injury, the Raiders could cut him after 2019 without incurring any dead money).
Either way, Joseph will have a new running mate in the Raiders’ defensive backfield in 2019. Reggie Nelson and Marcus Gilchrist are not expected to return, so either another veteran FA or a rookie will be manning the free safety spot alongside Joseph, the club’s strong safety.
AFC Notes: Tomlin, Bengals, Dolphins
Michael Lombardi of The Athletic takes a deep dive into the Antonio Brown saga, and he is pretty straightforward with his thoughts on the entire situation. He certainly puts much of the blame for the acrimonious relationship between Brown and the Steelers on Brown himself, saying that the talented wideout has a tremendous combination of selfishness, all-about-me attitude, and hostility towards the only team he has ever known. As one GM recently said, Brown is a a “[g]reat talent, but a huge pain in the ass.”
However, Lombardi also says that while Brown’s behavior has driven down his price on the trade market, interested teams are doing their homework to get to the true essence of the problem. Lombardi believes the Steelers’ culture is lost, and that head coach Mike Tomlin, despite his impressive 57-29-1 record over the last five seasons, loses critical games because he and his teams fail to handle small details and do not exhibit the physical and mental toughness they need in key situations. The Rooney family does not overreact, but Lombardi suggests the imminent departures of Brown and Le’Veon Bell will lead to a thorough evaluation of Tomlin, who will need to fix his team’s culture in order to secure his future in Pittsburgh.
Now for more out of the AFC:
- Linebacker Jon Bostic would like to return to the Steelers, but Gerry Dulac of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette says the club has no interest in re-signing Bostic. The Steelers could look to the draft to fortify their inside linebacker position, but this year’s collegiate crop of ILBs is a bit thin. Pittsburgh also needs to address its cornerback depth chart, but Dulac suggests the free agent market could be a better option in that regard given the club’s poor history of drafting CBs under Tomlin. Of course, the Steelers will use much of their time at this week’s Scouting Combine to explore the trade market for Brown.
- The Bengals have historically been pretty conservative on the free agent market under owner Mike Brown, and Katherine Terrell of ESPN.com does not believe that will change going forward, even though Cincinnati has a new head coach for the first time in 16 years (Twitter link). That is in keeping with a piece that the Cincinnati Enquirer published several days ago.
- The Dolphins have plenty of holes to fill during this year’s draft, and as Adam H. Beasley of the Miami Herald writes, Clemson’s Clelin Ferrell could be a perfect fit for the team’s pass rush if the Fins do not use their first-round pick on a QB. Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald, citing the NFL Network’s Daniel Jeremiah, says Miami should be able to build its O-line throughout the draft, and that the team was not particularly impressed by West Virginia signal-caller Will Grier. Jackson also explores the Dolphins’ other options for their No. 13 overall pick, including trade-back scenarios.
- Jim Wyatt of TitansOnline.com expects the Titans to sign a wideout and an interior lineman in free agency and to address those positions in the draft as well. The team may be getting Delanie Walker back in time for OTAs, but Wyatt also believes the Titans will add at least one TE to the mix, and he expects Tennessee will try to re-sign Luke Stocker.
NFL Evaluating David Irving, Could Suspend Him Again
The Cowboys are apparently willing to let defensive tackle David Irving hit free agency, and there are a number of reasons for that, as we explored earlier this month. Today, Adam Schefter of ESPN.com reported that the league is evaluating Irving and could hit him with a suspension, which could be another reason why Dallas is content to let Irving walk.
Irving was suspended for the first four games of the 2017 campaign for violating the league’s performance-enhancing drug policy, and he missed the last four games of that season due to a concussion. In between, though, he was terrific, as he registered seven sacks in eight games and earned a second-round RFA tender last offseason.
Things went south for Irving after that, though, as he was suspended for the first four games of the 2018 season for violating the league’s substance abuse policy. Between the suspension, injury, and personal matters, he played in only two games last season, which did not make for an ideal platform year.
Jon Machota of the Dallas Morning News confirms (via Twitter) that the Cowboys were not expected to re-sign Irving anyway. The 25-year-old, who signed with the Chiefs as an undrafted free agent in 2015, will doubtlessly get another shot in the league, but he will first have to concentrate on avoiding or limiting a third suspension.
That potential suspension, though, may not be related to PEDs or recreational drugs. Per Calvin Watkins of The Athletic, Irving’s ex-girlfriend, Angela Sanchez, has spoken with NFL senior vice president of investigations, Lisa Friel, about numerous alleged domestic violence incidents. We learned back in April that Sanchez accused Irving of domestic violence, but the police investigation into those allegations was closed because Sanchez recanted her claims.
Sanchez and Irving have a daughter together, and Irving has sole custody of her. However, Sanchez claims Irving has denied her court-ordered visitation, and that she has not seen her daughter since December 6. That is why, after rebuffing Friel’s attempts to speak with her in the past, Sanchez is willing to open up now. One of Watkins’ sources says that Friel has spoken with both Irving and Sanchez, and that both parties have credibility issues.
Irving’s recent Instagram post is not likely to help his cause. In the post, he wrote, “I’m in the NFl [sic] because I’m great at what I do. I’m not in the NFL because I’m an Eagle Scout , or the perfect model citizen. I didn’t put on a mask or kiss ass to be where I am. Im here on natural ability . This is God’s plan. Not mine. Trust me , I’m adjusting to it as well. Once I step on the field and stop performing , THEN we have a problem .. . So does anyone have anything to say about my play?”
It’s been a tough day for Cowboys pass rushers, as we learned earlier this afternoon that Randy Gregory has been suspended indefinitely.
ESPN, Fox Pursuing Panthers TE Greg Olsen
Panthers tight end Greg Olsen has already begun preparing for his post-playing career, having auditioned to be an analyst on ESPN’s Monday Night Football last March. At the time, it was also reported that Olsen could be in the mix for FOX’s Thursday Night Football.
Instead, Olsen signed a two-year extension with the Panthers that keeps him under club control through the 2020 campaign. However, his 2018 season was derailed by a foot injury for the second year in a row, and both ESPN and FOX are once again attempting to bring him on board.
Per Andrew Marchand of the New York Post, both networks have extended multi-million dollar offers to Olsen. Neither offer would match the $3.4MM that Olsen could earn from the Panthers this year if he continues playing, and Marchand suggests that the soon-to-be 34-year-old is presently leaning towards putting retirement on hold. But that could change if the networks increase their offers a bit or if they present him with a clear path to even more opportunities. For instance, Marchand reports that FOX is prepared to put Olsen in the booth as a color commentator, but it would probably need to put him on the No. 2 or No. 3 broadcast team to convince him to sign on.
Olsen’s prospective role with ESPN is less clear, though the worldwide leader did recently drop Charles Woodson from its “Sunday NFL Countdown” program and could be looking at Olsen as a replacement. Marchand also says that CBS met with Olsen but is not pursuing him at this time.
Olsen suited up for only nine games last year after playing in just seven in 2017, and the injuries are doubtlessly taking a toll on him. But he appeared in all 16 regular season games for the Bears and Panthers from 2008-16, and he can still be a productive player when healthy. The three-time Pro Bowler has been one of the best tight ends in the league since joining Carolina via trade in 2011, and he topped 100 targets every year from 2012-16.
He finished the 2018 season with 27 catches for 291 yards and four touchdowns.