West Notes: McKenzie, Broncos, Woodhead
As the early afternoon games get underway, let’s have a look at some items from the league’s west divisions:
- With the sale of the Bills for $1.4 billion to be voted on by team owners within the next few weeks, Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports writes that there is a growing sense that the Raiders could fetch at least $2 billion and wonders if owner Mark Davis would sell.
- Citing a team source, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets that the Raiders appear willing to let head coach Dennis Allen “coach his way out” of the team’s early struggles, at least until late in the season.
- Rapoport adds (via Twitter) that Raiders‘ GM Reggie McKenzie is in no danger of losing his job.
- David Migoya of the Denver Post writes that the NFL has said it will not allow the Broncos‘ search for a new owner to go on indefinitely, so the Pat Bowlen Trust will have to determine within the next two years which of Bowlen’s seven children will step into his shoes. If that does not happen, the team will have to be sold.
- Eric D. Williams of ESPN.com describes how the Chargers will go about replacing Ryan Mathews, who will be sidelined for an extended period of time with an MCL knee strain. Although Donald Brown and Danny Woodhead were expected to share the majority of the workload, Woodhead’s injury today (he was carted off the field, per a tweet from La Canfora) means that undrafted rookie free agent Branden Oliver could be seeing action sooner than anticipated.
- Kent Somers of AZCentral.com describes how the Cardinals’ depth is being tested to an extreme degree in 2014 and how the team has overcome early-season adversity thus far.
Ray Rice To Argue That TMZ Tape Was Edited
Citing ESPN NFL Insider Adam Schefter, ESPN.com news services staff report that, in his appeal of the indefinite suspension imposed by the NFL, Ray Rice will argue that the TMZ videotape that precipitated the suspension was edited and does not accurately represent what transpired in the Atlantic City casino elevator.
According to the ESPN article, “Legal sources told Schefter that the TMZ tape of Rice hitting his then-fiancee was a cleaned-up, whittled down and condensed version of the events…” Robert Mueller, whom the NFL appointed to investigate the handling of the Rice incident, will have access to the “extended version” (i.e. the version not edited by TMZ).
Josh Alper of Pro Football Talk confirms that a demonstration of the unedited tape will play a major role in Rice’s strategy.
Ndamukong Suh Headed To Free Agency
I wrote earlier today that the Buccaneers and Gerald McCoy were making progress towards an in-season extension, based on a report from Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports. In that same piece, La Canfora writes that Ndamukong Suh, who was taken one pick above McCoy in the 2010 draft, appears headed to the open market.
This does not come as much of a surprise. A great deal of ink has been devoted to Suh’s contract situation this offseason, and our Luke Adams wrote back in July that the Lions were tabling extension talks until after the 2014 campaign. According to La Canfora, that plan has not changed, as there have been no talks since before training camp began, and Suh’s demands at that time were quite steep.
Suh has performed well during the first several weeks of the regular season, and the Lions continue to publicly express optimism that they will be able to retain their star defensive lineman. However, as La Canfora observes, “If Suh plays well and stays healthy his price only goes up. And with so few young, dominant players ever hitting the market before their second contracts, Suh’s agents would have a strong sense of his market by the NFL Scouting Combine in February.”
Furthermore, the Lions, unlike the Buccaneers, have several enormous contracts on the books (Matthew Stafford and Calvin Johnson) and have been right near the salary cap ceiling in recent seasons. Since the franchise tag for Suh in 2015 would cost Detroit a cap hit of about $27MM, there is no way the team will go that route.
So it looks as if Suh will be playing his last games for the Lions this season. He signed with CAA Sports in March, and, as La Canfora points out, “the last time CAA had a top pick play out his rookie contract — former first-overall Mario Williams — he ended up leaving the Texans for a record-setting deal in Buffalo. One would expect Suh to be able to do the same.”
Ravens Could Bring Back Deonte Thompson
Deonte Thompson, who was cut by the Ravens yesterday, could be brought back to the team next week, tweets Aaron Wilson of the Baltimore Sun. Thompson had an impressive training camp and preseason and there were rumors that the Ravens, who are fairly deep at wide receiver, were looking to trade him to a team intrigued by Thompson’s upside and return skills.
Baltimore cut Thompson in order to promote RB Fitzgerald Toussaint from its practice squad, as Bernard Pierce is unlikely to play in today’s contest against the Browns. However, as long as Thompson clears waivers, it looks as if he will remain in a Ravens uniform for the time being.
Gerald McCoy, Bucs Move Closer To Extension
The Buccaneers and star defensive lineman Gerald McCoy are making progress towards an extension, writes Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports. While McCoy will certainly demand a highly-lucrative contract, La Canfora points out that the Bucs rid themselves of expensive salaries during the offseason by parting ways with players like Donald Penn and Darrelle Revis, and even if they draft a signal-caller next May, they will not be committing a great deal of money to the quarterback position.
Furthermore, the team will have $30MM of available cap space next season, is projected to have about $58MM of room in 2016, and there are almost no players with hefty signing bonuses. As La Canfora writes, this means “their cap prorations on their best players are manageable and all are essentially on year-to-year deals and easily released without cash or cap ramifications.”
Joel Corry tweets that it would cost over $18MM for Tampa Bay to put the franchise tag on McCoy in 2015, so that is not exactly a tenable solution. Instead, all signs point to the Buccaneers striking a deal with the face of their franchise sometime during the season, which would be a bit of good news for a team desperately in need of some.
I detailed McCoy’s candidacy for an extension back in May, a post that details McCoy’s accomplishments to this point and projects what his next contract might look like.
Pats Notes: Amendola, White, Gaston
After signing a lucrative five-year deal prior to the 2013 season, Danny Amendola has become the “invisible man” in the Patriots’ passing game, writes Ben Volin of the Boston Globe. Through two games in 2014, Amendola has two catches for 16 yards, and he was on the field for just 18 snaps against the Vikings last weekend. As Volin notes, “It’s a continuation from the end of last year, when he had one pass thrown his way in the AFC Championship game, which he dropped.”
Volin writes that there is a disconnect between quarterback Tom Brady and Amendola, and there is plenty of blame to go around. Some of it should be placed on the offensive line, whose shoddy pass-blocking has forced Brady to get rid of the ball on hot reads and bubble screens, and some should be placed on Brady himself (after all, Amendola has gotten himself open at least a few times and Brady has missed him). Nonetheless, there was some talk at the beginning of the offseason that New England would release Amendola, and if things do not improve soon, a release following the 2014 campaign could be inevitable.
Now for some other Patriots items:
- Amendola is not the only New England wideout yet to establish himself in the team’s aerial attack this year. As Volin writes in the same piece cited above, newly-acquired Brandon LaFell is “frustrated as hell” that he has mostly been reduced to blocking, but Jeff Howe of the Boston Herald writes that more passes will come to LaFell, Aaron Dobson, and Kenbrell Thompkins when the Patriots “expand a game plan that called for a run-first offense and quick throws to offset protection concerns.”
- Speaking of the run-first offense, Howe writes in the same article that rookie RB James White has been the team’s only healthy scratch for the first two weeks of the season, and despite his impressive training camp, White realizes that he will need to continue to excel in practice to get a shot on game days.
- Mike Reiss of ESPNBoston.com tweets that the Patriots could look to bring back DL Bruce Gaston, who was waived by the Dolphins yesterday, and place him on the practice squad.
- In a separate piece, Reiss writes that, since the Logan Mankins trade, Nate Solder has stepped up to fill the off-the-field leadership void. Reiss also wonders if the Buccaneers are regretting the trade, which appeared to be a big win for them at the time it happened but has drawn more scrutiny during the team’s early struggles.
Rob Bironas Passes Away In Car Crash
Long-time Titans kicker Rob Bironas, 36, passed away in a single-vehicle crash in Nashville late Saturday evening, reports Jim Wyatt of the Tennessean. Wyatt writes that Bironas was traveling at a high rate of speed and ultimately lost control of his SUV, which “went off the road and hit several trees before ending up in a drainage culvert, upside down.” Area police said there was no evidence of alcohol at the scene and that Bironas appeared to be on his way home.
Bironas was a first-team All-Pro in 2007, converting 35 of 39 field goal attempts, including four out of five attempts from 50+ yards. For his career, Bironas converted 239 of 279 attempts, good for an 85.7% success rate.
In an attempt to continue his career, Bironas–along with a handful of other veteran kickers–tried out for the Lions several days ago, and our Luke Adams wrote two weeks ago that Bironas and David Akers were working out together to keep themselves fresh in case an opportunity should arise. Bironas was released by the Titans in March in a cost-cutting move–he carried a $3.88MM cap figure–that also had to do with his declining performance on kickoffs. He also worked out for the Buccaneers in August.
Our thoughts and condolences are with Bironas’ friends and family.
Robert Griffin III Has Dislocated Ankle
10:39pm: While many original estimations had Griffin missing the season after dislocating his ankle early on in the Redskins’ blowout victory over the Jaguars, the team is still hoping for positive news. Nothing will be certain until he goes for an MRI tomorrow, but the team hopes that Griffin will have to miss no more than four or five weeks with the injury, reports Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk.
3:14pm: Citing his colleague Chick Hernandez, Rich Tandler of CSNWashington.com reports that Redskins quarterback Robert Griffin III has dislocated his left ankle. Tandler adds that Griffin will likely be sidelined for an extended period of time, possibly the entire season. However, an MRI will be needed to determine the severity of the injury and make a final determination.
Major Injuries: Week 2
Here at Pro Football Rumors, we tend to stay away from injury news and report instead on issues concerning player movement, transactions, etc. However, when there is a major injury to a star player, the potential roster impacts of such an injury are readily apparent. As such, we will update this post with those injuries from Week 2 that could significantly alter a team’s personnel decisions going forward.
- Chiefs‘ star players Jamaal Charles and Eric Berry were both ruled out of today’s 24-17 loss to the Broncos (via Twitter). Head coach Andy Reid said both players had suffered ankle injuries, reports Field Yates of ESPN (via Twitter). Charles will have an MRI tomorrow to test the seriousness of his injury, according to Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (via Twitter).
- Earlier, we saw that Bengals‘ receiver A.J. Green went down with a toe injury. Green said after the game that his toe is not broken and that he hopes to play next week, reports Adam Schefter of ESPN (via Twitter). Pro Football Talk reports that a league source believes Green should Dr. Anderson in Charlotte to rule out a Lisfranc injury (via Twitter).
- Chargers‘ running back Ryan Mathews suffered a sprained MCL in the team’s impressive 30-21 victory over the Seahawks, reports Michael Gehlken of the U-T San Diego. He will undergo further tests to see the extent of the injury.
- The Rams‘ versatile playmaker Tavon Austin exited today’s 19-17 win over the Buccaneers with a knee injury, reports Nick Wagoner of ESPN (via Twitter). The extend of the injury is unknown, and Austin will have more tests tomorrow.
- Buccaneers‘ defensive tackle Gerald McCoy was also injured in that game, reportedly breaking his hand, reports Jason La Canfora of CBSSports.com (via Twitter). It has yet to be determined whether or not McCoy will be able to play through the injury.
- Bears‘ star cornerback Charles Tillman left the Sunday Night Football game with a triceps injury, reports Brad Biggs of the Chicago Tribune (via Twitter). Rich Campbell of the Chicago Tribune notes that it was a right biceps injury just like this one that forced Tillman to miss a huge chunk of the 2013 campaign (via Twitter).
- Giants‘ cornerback Walter Thurmond suffered what is thought to be a strained pectoral muscle in the team’s 25-14 loss to the Cardinals, reports Ralph Vacchiano of the New York Post (via Twitter). He will receive an MRI tomorrow to confirm.
- Another key piece to the Giants‘ defense, Jon Beason, suffered a toe injury, according to Vacchiano (via Twitter). Vacchiano notes that the team is worried considering a toe injury on the same foot caused him to miss nearly the entire offseason.
Earlier Updates
- Dolphins RB Knowshon Moreno has suffered a dislocated elbow and is expected to miss four to eight weeks, tweets Armando Salguero of the Miami Herald.
- We learned earlier today that Griffin suffered a dislocated ankle and could miss the remainder of the season, depending on the severity of the injury.
- Redskins quarterback Robert Griffin III suffered an injury to his left ankle, and Washington receiver DeSean Jackson injured his shoulder in today’s game against the Jaguars. The team announced (Twitter links) that neither player will return to the game.
- Meanwhile, Bengals receiver A.J. Green suffered a toe injury in today’s game against the Falcons and will not return, tweets Coley Harvey of ESPN.com.
49ers Will Cut Ray McDonald If He Has Been Untruthful
NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reported on the network’s GameDay Morning program that, if 49ers defensive end Ray McDonald has not been truthful with the team in describing his version of the events that led to his arrest for suspicion of felony domestic abuse, the team will cut him (Twitter link). Rapoport indicates that the 49ers are not “hiding behind due process” and believe what McDonald has told them to this point.
That is one of the reasons that McDonald was not deactivated in advance of San Francisco’s contest against the Bears this evening. The Panthers deactivated defensive lineman Greg Hardy prior to their game against the Lions this afternoon, and California Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom recently called for the 49ers to do the same with McDonald.
However, not only do the 49ers claim to believe McDonald’s side of the story, there is another significant issue that differentiates McDonald and Hardy, as Matt Barrows of the Sacramento Bee observes: Hardy’s case is much farther along than McDonald’s.
In July, Hardy was found guilty of assaulting and threatening his ex-girlfriend, Nicole Holder. McDonald, meanwhile, has not yet been charged. He was scheduled to make an initial appearance in court on Monday, but that hearing was postponed for two weeks as investigators continue to gather information. Ultimately, the assistant district attorney in charge of domestic abuse will review that information and determine whether charges should be filed.
If it turns out that the evidence in his case stands in contrast to what McDonald has told his team, then the next several games might be his last in a 49ers uniform.