Lions’ James Houston “At Least A Few Weeks Away” From Return
Lions second-year edge defender James Houston is “at least a few weeks away” from returning to game action, as Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press writes. As we are presently in Week 13, it sounds as if Houston may not be back until the very end of the regular season or the start of the playoffs.
Detroit’s 23 sacks are the fifth-fewest in the league, and the team has struggled to find an adequate complement to standout defensive end Aidan Hutchinson. Though he was selected in the sixth round of the 2022 draft and did not make his professional debut until last November, Houston finished the 2022 season with eight sacks in just seven games (two starts). It appeared as if he would at least serve as a rotational pass rusher in 2023, but he suffered a fractured ankle in Week 2 and has been on injured reserve ever since.
To be clear, Houston played in just 21 snaps in the Lions’ Week 1 victory over the Chiefs, and he may not have realized an immediate uptick in the 32% snap share he enjoyed last season. However, given the lack of production from players like Romeo Okwara, John Cominsky, Josh Paschal, and Charles Harris, Houston could have earned more playing time as the season went on.
Instead, he has been forced to watch from the sideline. Birkett reports that Houston spent one practice before Thanksgiving working with trainers, thereby underscoring the point that the 25-year-old still has a long way to go to get back on the field.
In an effort to bolster their flagging pass rush, the Lions recently added 36-year-old Bruce Irvin to the taxi squad and have elevated him for today’s game against the Saints. According to Justin Rogers of the Detroit News, the Lions were the first team to express interest in Irvin this year, and it took him several weeks to work himself into game shape.
Irvin himself noted that Lions LB coach Kelvin Sheppard helped him get an opportunity with the Lions. The two men were high school teammates in Georgia, and Irvin says that Sheppard “stood on the table” for him.
Over 11 seasons spent with five different teams (the Lions are his sixth), Irvin — the No. 15 overall pick of the 2012 draft — has amassed 55.5 sacks and 69 tackles for loss.
Commanders Could Part Ways With GM Martin Mayhew
It appears to be a foregone conclusion that the Commanders will fire head coach Ron Rivera at season’s end. Jonathan Jones of CBS Sports echoes that sentiment and adds that general manager Martin Mayhew could also be on the chopping block.
That is hardly surprising. While it made sense for new owner Josh Harris, who purchased the club in July, to give the power brokers that he inherited a fair evaluation period and to avoid a major shakeup less than two months before the start of the 2023 regular season, it likewise stands to reason that Harris would want to start afresh with his own choices at the HC and GM positions (especially in the wake of what is shaping up to be a sub-.500 campaign).
Our own Sam Robinson recently suggested as much, and a source told Tony Pauline of Sportskeeda.com that Harris wants to “get rid of the Daniel Snyder stench,” which would entail a total purge of both the front office and coaching staff. Harris, who is also the managing partner of the NBA’s Philadelphia 76ers, has reportedly expressed an interest in structuring the Commanders like an NBA team and has consulted with Sixers GM Elton Brand on the matter. Such a setup would apparently include, among other things, the possibility of giving the players a say in decision-making.
Mayhew, 58, enjoyed a long stint as the Lions’ general manager from 2008-15 and subsequently held high-level executive positions with the Giants and 49ers before joining Washington in 2021 (one year after Rivera). Despite Mayhew’s GM title, Rivera has always had final say over personnel matters, and Jones suggests that if Mayhew is relieved of his duties after the season, Harris may opt for a hierarchy wherein the head coach reports to the general manager, who in turn reports to ownership.
The good news for Commanders fans is that the presence of Harris, along with a healthy salary cap situation and an ample supply of draft capital, have made the team’s HC and GM posts very desirable. As one executive told Jones, “everyone’s shooting for Washington,” and that should allow Harris to choose from the best available talent in the upcoming hiring cycle. Although Jones does not say so, it could also mean that Washington’s faith in second-year quarterback Sam Howell is shared by top head coach and general manager candidates.
There are several additional notes from the above reports worth passing along. We already knew that Harris drove the recent deadline trades of defensive ends Montez Sweat and Chase Young, and that the club dropped its asking price on Young before sending him to the 49ers. According to Pauline, the team was especially motivated to move Young because it had grown weary of his propensity to improvise and freelance rather than operate within the defensive scheme.
With respect to the Commanders’ possible GM search, Jones says that an analytically-minded candidate could be particularly appealing to Harris. Indeed, as ESPN’s Seth Walder writes in a thread on X, it had been speculated that Harris would want more of a quantitative approach to personnel decisions, and to that end, the team has hired Eugene Shen as its Senior VP of Football Strategy.
Shen, who has previously worked for the Ravens and Dolphins and who served as the Jaguars’ VP of Football Analytics before leaving the team in 2022 to work in finance, will oversee all analytics and software development on the football side of the operation.
Jets HC Robert Saleh Addresses Allen Lazard Benching
Jets wide receiver Allen Lazard was a healthy scratch in Friday’s loss to the Dolphins, and when asked about the decision after the game, head coach Robert Saleh did not mince words.
“He hasn’t been playing up to his standard,” Saleh said (via Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk). “Everyone is pressing on that side of the ball to make something happen. There are parts of his game that need to get better.”
Lazard himself expressed his belief that he would return for the team’s Week 13 matchup with the Falcons, and Saleh did say that the first-year Jet“will be back sooner rather than later.” Still, the fact that Lazard found himself benched at a time when Gang Green’s offense is unable to muster much production of any kind does not bode well for his future with the club.
Saleh’s comments in that regard were particularly telling. Although the head coach said Lazard is “going to be a part of this,” he also said that Lazard is “going to be here for the next year-and-a-half.” Of course, Lazard signed a four-year, $44MM contract in the offseason that keeps him under club control through 2026.
That suggests that the Jets plan to move on from Lazard after the 2024 season, which Florio believes will happen. Contractually, New York has no choice but to retain Lazard next year, as his $10MM base salary for 2024 is fully-guaranteed, and even a post-June 1 release will not yield a single dollar of savings on the 2024 ledger.
Obviously, the team is also hoping that Lazard will be a key component of an Aaron Rodgers-piloted offense next year, and if that happens, perhaps the soon-to-be 28-year-old receiver will be able to extend his stay with the Jets (he is due non-guaranteed base salaries of $11MM in 2025 and 2026). In the meantime, Lazard will try to work his way back into the coaching staff’s good graces and create a connection with the club’s new starting quarterback, Tim Boyle.
Through 10 Zach Wilson-led games in 2023, Lazard has posted 20 catches for 290 yards and a touchdown.
Titans HC Mike Vrabel Does Not Intend To Fire Coaches; Jaelyn Duncan To Start At LT
The Titans are reportedly committed to head coach Mike Vrabel, which presumably means that rumblings about his job security — along with rumors connecting him to the Patriots’ possible HC vacancy — will not amount to much. Likewise, Vrabel has no intention of firing his staffers, as ESPN’s Turron Davenport reports.
In his first year as the Titans’ offensive coordinator, Tim Kelly‘s unit is sixth-worst in terms of both total offense and passing yards per game. Since the team posted the third-fewest passing yards per game in 2022 — when Kelly served as passing game coordinator — it makes sense that Tennessee fans would be a bit restless.
To be fair, quarterback Ryan Tannehill played in just 12 games in 2022, and in his stead, the Titans were forced to turn to rookie Malik Willis — a decidedly raw prospect — and Joshua Dobbs, who was plucked off the Lions’ taxi squad at the end of the 2022 campagin. This year, Tannehill struggled before being sidelined with an ankle injury, and another rookie, Will Levis, has taken the reins. While Levis has shown flashes and is a more polished product than Willis was, he has also exhibited typical first-year growing pains.
That is to say nothing of the team’s general dearth of high-end receiving talent, as the draft-day trade of A.J. Brown in 2022 continues to sting, and this year’s signing of DeAndre Hopkins has not yielded consistent results. The Titans’ offensive line is also rife with injury and performance issues.
Shane Bowen, meanwhile, is in his third season as the Titans’ defensive coordinator. Tennessee finished 12th in total defense in 2021 — a showing that helped the club to a 12-5 record and a divisional round appearance — but slipped to 23rd in 2022 and presently ranks 22nd through the first 10 games of the 2023 season.
It is unclear whether Davenport’s report means that Vrabel is committed to his subordinates on a long-term basis, or merely that there will be no in-season firings. The fact that Kelly implemented a new style of offense upon taking the OC role suggests that he may be given another year to make it work, and Vrabel may want to keep him aboard if for no other reason than to maintain continuity for Levis. However, that is merely speculation. For Kelly to retain his position, the offense may need to demonstrate marked improvement down the stretch, and the same may be said for Bowen and his defense.
Regardless of what happens on the coaching front, the much-maligned O-line will see another major change. Vrabel told reporters, including Davenport, that rookie Jaelyn Duncan will start at left tackle in the team’s Week 12 matchup with the Panthers today.
Duncan, whom the Titans selected in the sixth round of this year’s draft, will be the fourth player to line up on the blind side for Tennessee in 2023. Andre Dillard, who joined the club on a three-year, $29MM contract in March, struggled mightily over the first five games of the year, and he was replaced by Nicholas Petit-Frere in the middle of a Week 6 loss to the Ravens. Unfortunately, Petit-Frere sustained a season-ending shoulder injury during Tennessee’s Week 9 loss to the Steelers, which re-opened the door for Dillard. Then, in Week 10, Dillard sustained a concussion, which ruled him out of the Titans’ Week 11 loss to the Jaguars and forced the team to deploy Dillon Radunz at left tackle.
Since regular right tackle Chris Hubbard is dealing with a biceps injury, Radunz will man the right tackle post today, leaving Dillard and Duncan as the only LT options. Although Dillard has cleared the league’s concussion protocol, Duncan will get the nod.
In 25 snaps at right tackle in relief of the injured Hubbard last week, Duncan acquitted himself fairly well, and it stands to reason that Vrabel & Co. would want to get an extended look at a player who had top-100 talent but who became a Day 3 choice due to concerns about technique and his passion for the game.
Plus, the Dillard/Petit-Frere/Radunz trio all struggled at LT, and it would be difficult to imagine Duncan performing much worse. Tennessee would be forced to eat a considerable dead money charge if it were to cut Dillard in the offseason, but the team would also realize a modicum of cap savings. Given the way the 2023 campaign has unfolded, a Dillard release would seem to be a realistic outcome.
Dolphins LT Terron Armstead Could Miss Multiple Games
The Dolphins may be without left tackle Terron Armstead for an extended time. Armstead suffered a quadriceps injury during Miami’s Black Friday victory over the Jets, and according to Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald, the veteran blocker could miss multiple games as a result.
Unfortunately, this is familiar territory for Armstead, who missed the first two games of the 2023 season after an assortment of injuries sustained in an August practice delayed his ongoing recovery from offseason arthroscopic knee surgery. Armstead returned to the lineup in Week 3 but exited the Dolphins’ Week 4 loss to the Bills due to a new knee injury that he sustained in the second quarter of that contest. He was subsequently placed on injured reserve and was forced to miss Miami’s next four games as a result.
Armstead played a full complement of snaps in Weeks 9 and 11 — the Dolphins had a Week 10 bye — before running into the quadriceps problem in Week 12. Head coach Mike McDaniel, who classified Armstead’s status as “week to week,” has said that the injury is not as serious as the quad ailment that brought a premature end to fellow offensive lineman Isaiah Wynn‘s season.
Now 32, Armstead has never been healthy for an entire season in his 11-year career, though he continues to perform at a high level. In admittedly limited action in 2023, the four-time Pro Bowler has not surrendered a sack or QB hit, and he has earned a strong 75.4 overall grade from Pro Football Focus (including a terrific 81.2 pass-blocking mark). As such, his absence will be missed as the 8-3 Dolphins seek to stay atop the AFC East and continue their push for the No. 1 overall seed in the conference.
Kendall Lamm, who has worked at LT in relief of Armstead this season, will once again step into that role if he is healthy enough to do so. Lamm is dealing with a back injury, though he was at least able to finish out the final few snaps of Friday’s matchup with the Jets when Miami was dealing with an OL shortage.
Lamm, 31, has already started six games this season, his highest total since he started 13 contests as the Texans’ primary right tackle in 2018. Unsurprisingly, he has not played as well as Armstead, having yielded three sacks and 13 total pressures. Still, his 65.9 overall PFF grade positions him as a starting-caliber tackle this year.
Seahawks Activate CB Coby Bryant From IR
NOVEMBER 23: After placing rookie sixth-round safety Jerrick Reed II on IR following a torn ACL, Carroll was indeed able to find room on the roster for Bryant. The second-year Cincinnati product is now set to return to a crowded cornerbacks room led by Witherspoon, Woolen, and Brown with solid contributions from Jackson and Burns. Brown seems to have taken his third cornerback role while Jackson started ahead of him all last year, so it will be interesting to see how Bryant fits into the defense moving forward. Reed, in his first season out of New Mexico, hasn’t been asked to do much as a rookie on defense but is currently third on the team in special teams tackles.
In addition to the two IR transactions, the Seahawks also activated practice squad quarterback Brett Rypien for tonight as a standard gameday elevation. They’ll hope he’s not necessary, but with Geno Smith banged up heading into the Thanksgiving Day matchup with the division-rival 49ers, Rypien will serve as Drew Lock‘s backup should Smith be forced to the bench for any reason.
NOVEMBER 19: The Seahawks selected Coby Bryant in the fourth round of the 2022 draft, and Bryant appeared in all 17 games in his rookie season, including six starts. He also enjoyed a 65% snap share.
He started the first two games of the 2023 campaign at nickel and played in 77% of Seattle’s defensive snaps despite exiting the club’s Week 2 contest early due to a toe injury. That injury ultimately forced the ‘Hawks to place Bryant on injured reserve.
According to head coach Pete Carroll, Bryant is healthy and is ready to return to the field (via Michael-Shawn Dugar of The Athletic). However, the Seahawks have not yet opened his 21-day practice window because they feel they do not have enough room for him on the active roster.
That serves as both an indictment of Bryant’s play as well as a testament to the quality of Seattle’s cornerback depth chart. Rookie Devon Witherspoon, the No. 5 overall pick of this year’s draft, has been on the field for every defensive snap this season, and he has thrived. Pro Football Focus’ metrics presently position the Illinois product as the eighth-best corner in the league out of 109 qualified players, and the 55.2% completion rate and 80.7 quarterback rating he has yielded support that assessment. He has also amassed two sacks, a pick-six, and 12 passes defensed.
Riq Woolen, who earned a Pro Bowl nod and led the league with six interceptions in his rookie season in 2022 — he was selected one round after Bryant — is enjoying a solid sophomore season, and he rarely comes off the field. Tre Brown, meanwhile, has a 60% snap share and has generally played well, and Michael Jackson and Artie Burns have been useful complementary pieces.
Bryant, who was tied for third in the league with four forced fumbles in 2022, has struggled in coverage, having yielded a 75% completion percentage and 116.5 QB rating in 2022 and a whopping 90% completion percentage and 98.7 QB rating this year. In his limited action in 2023, PFF assigned him an abysmal 39.1 coverage grade.
As such, Bryant may need to wait for an injury or a sudden downturn in performance from one of his fellow CBs to come off of IR and aid in the Seahawks’ push for an NFC West title.
Bears Will Have To Be “Blown Away” By Top QB Prospect To Move On From Justin Fields; Latest On GM Ryan Poles, HC Matt Eberflus
Recent reports have suggested that the Bears, who seem like a sure bet to have two top-10 picks in the 2024 draft, will select a quarterback in the first round. However, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com writes that Chicago will have to be “blown away” by a quarterback prospect to pull the trigger and move on from incumbent Justin Fields.
That is the same mindset that general manager Ryan Poles and head coach Matt Eberflus had when embarking on their first offseason with the Bears in 2022. The duo inherited Fields from Chicago’s prior regime, but at the time, the Ohio State product had just finished his rookie campaign, and it made sense to give him some time to live up to his own lofty draft status (Fields was the No. 11 overall pick of the 2021 draft).
Since then, Fields has firmly cemented himself as a tremendous weapon when carrying the ball while proving to be more of a mixed bag as a passer. He has missed the Bears’ last four contests due to a dislocated thumb, and he will have the final seven games of the season to convince the organization to use its draft assets on non-quarterback talent. Eberflus believes that represents enough of an audition opportunity to determine Fields’ future with the franchise.
“I think seven weeks is enough time to show consistency and for him to be the high performer that we expect him to be,” Eberflus said (h/t Courtney Cronin of ESPN.com). “I know he’s had some good performances this year, certainly the last few have been solid.”
Of course, even if Fields performs well down the stretch, he may not stick in Chicago. By virtue of their 2023 trade with the Panthers, who presently have a 1-8 record, the Bears could find themselves in position to draft a collegiate QB like USC’s Caleb Williams or UNC’s Drake Maye without even having to trade up the board. Those players are widely believed to be generational talents, and assuming that the club agrees with the prevailing industry assessment — in other words, if Poles and Eberflus are “blown away” by at least one of Williams and Maye — Fields’ upcoming audition could really be a showcase for other teams.
A September report, which surfaced when the Bears were mired in a 13-game losing streak, suggested that both Eberflus and Poles were on the hot seat, and if ownership moves on from them at the end of the year, it obviously does not matter what they think of Fields or the top quarterbacks in the 2024 class. Fortunately for the power brokers, the Bears have gone 3-3 over their last six games, and Brad Biggs of the Chicago Tribune makes it sounds as if Poles will return in 2024 and will be using the remainder of the season not only to evaluate Fields, but to evaluate Eberflus. Indeed, Biggs says Poles will need to determine if he wants a more offensive-minded coach — which could be especially relevant if he drafts Williams or Maye — and will want to see if the team remains competitive under Eberflus’ watch.
New team president Kevin Warren will obviously have considerable input as to the futures of both Eberflus and Poles.
Latest On Bills HC Sean McDermott, GM Brandon Beane
The Bills entered the 2023 season on the short list of Super Bowl favorites, but Buffalo currently sports a 5-5 record and has a difficult schedule over the remainder of the campaign. With the team already having moved on from offensive coordinator Ken Dorsey, it is fair to wonder if even more significant changes could be on the horizon.
Both Jason La Canfora of the Washington Post and Dianna Russini of The Athletic (subscription required) used the terms “scapegoat” and “scapegoating” when describing Dorsey’s recent dismissal. As Russini writes, head coach Sean McDermott told reporters that he fired Dorsey following the Bills’ narrow loss to the Broncos last week because he felt his team could not walk back into the locker room without knowing something had changed. That is about as blunt as a coach will be when it comes to publicly assigning blame, and since the team has bid adieu to both of its top coordinators in less than a year — longtime defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier stepped away in February — the pressure is squarely on McDermott to right the ship (interestingly, La Canfora said the Frazier situation was fueled by panic-stricken scapegoating, which suggests that his exit was not entirely voluntary, as had been presumed).
Scapegoat or not, Jay Skurski of The Buffalo News believes it was the right call to part ways with Dorsey, whose scheme lacked creativity and whose play-calling had become predictable in Skurski’s eyes. That said, while Skurski believes McDermott will be on the hot seat if the Bills miss the playoffs, he does not believe McDermott will be fired. After all, Buffalo snapped its 17-year playoff drought in McDermott’s first season at the helm in 2017, and McDermott has posted a 67-40 regular season record while failing to qualify for the postseason field just once from 2017-22. La Canfora also hears from rival execs that McDermott has built up enough goodwill to survive one disappointing campaign.
However, additional staff shakeups should be expected. McDermott took over defensive play-calling duties in the wake of Frazier’s departure, and the Bills have slipped from sixth in the league in total defense in 2022 to 17th in 2023. While injuries have certainly played a major role in that regression, McDermott’s failed decision to call an all-out blitz in the Denver loss and the subsequent special teams snafu that allowed the Broncos a second chance at the game-winning field goal support one rival GM’s belief — as articulated to La Canfora — that Bills ownership will not allow McDermott to continue as de facto DC and defensive play-caller in 2024.
That same general manager does not believe that the Buffalo offense will find its footing under interim offensive coordinator Joe Brady. The GM said Brady’s scheme was proven to be a flawed one during his brief stint as OC with the Panthers, though Albert Breer of SI.com reports that most people within Carolina’s organization saw Brady as an imaginative and detail-oriented coach, and that Brady’s ouster was fueled primarily by a personality clash with then-head coach Matt Rhule. Still, should the Bills’ offense falter under Brady’s stewardship, Skurski believes McDermott will also be looking for a new offensive coordinator in the offseason.
GM Brandon Beane, who came to Buffalo alongside McDermott in 2017, also seems like a good bet to keep his job, as Skurski suggests. While La Canfora reports that team ownership is getting a bit restless, it should be noted that both Beane and McDermott were handed thru-2027 extensions earlier this year. Their contract situations and their track records may afford them the chance to return the Bills to powerhouse status, but if Buffalo misses the playoffs in 2023 and does not exhibit marked improvement in 2024, Beane and McDermott will likely be looking for new employment.
Falcons QB Desmond Ridder To Start In Week 12
When the Falcons return from their Week 11 bye to take on the Saints next Sunday, Desmond Ridder will be under center. Ian Rapoport of NFL.com reported this morning that Atlanta is turning back to Ridder with the expectation that he will remain the starter for the rest of the season.
Ridder, who started the Falcons’ first eight games of the year, exited the team’s Week 8 loss to the Titans to be evaluated for a concussion. While he quickly cleared the concussion protocol, head coach Arthur Smith said afterwards that he “didn’t think Des was right” and therefore allowed QB2 Taylor Heinicke to finish the game. Smith hoped to convey that Ridder was not kept on the sidelines for performance reasons, though Heinicke was named the Week 9 starter shortly thereafter.
At the time, we heard that the Falcons had not lost faith in Ridder, whom they selected in the third round of the 2022 draft, and were merely looking for a spark. It seems that the plan was always to reassess the situation during the bye week, and that reassessment has led Atlanta back to its second-year passer.
Heinicke suffered a hamstring injury during the club’s loss to the Cardinals last week, which forced Ridder back into the lineup. Rapoport makes it clear, however, that Heinicke’s injury was a low-grade one, so the decision to tap Ridder as the starter moving forward was not made for health reasons.
Although the Falcons are 4-6, they are just one game out of first place in the weak NFC South. And since Smith is in his third year at the helm and has missed the playoffs in each of his first two seasons, his job could be in jeopardy if his club fails to qualify for the postseason in 2023. Even if his seat is not as hot as some recent reports have indicated, he obviously will need to start winning soon to remain in Atlanta for the long haul. The fact that he is handing the keys to Ridder for a Week 12 battle with the division-leading Saints and for the home stretch of the season is something of a testament to his belief in the Cincinnati product.
“Sometimes you need a fresh perspective,” Smith said of Ridder this past week. “That’s what I think helped him. The reset, the refocus and working on things that I thought could help him, he’s done that.”
Ridder has flashed at times in 2023, but he followed up one of his strongest perfomances of the season in a Week 5 win over the Texans with a three-interception showing against the Commanders in Week 6, and he lost three redzone fumbles in the Falcons’ Week 7 win over the Buccaneers. He did play well when pressed into relief duty last week, completing four of six passes for 39 yards and piloting the offense to a touchdown that gave the Falcons a late lead.
For the season, Ridder has completed 65.4% of his passes for six touchdowns against six interceptions (which amounts to a subpar 84.1 quarterback rating, slightly below the mark he posted as a rookie). He has added 32 carries for 150 yards and four rushing scores.
Panthers Pursued WRs Davante Adams And Tee Higgins, DE Montez Sweat At Deadline
Despite a win-loss record that placed them squarely in the “sellers” category, we heard in the run-up to last month’s trade deadline that the Panthers were operating as both buyers and sellers. We also heard that Carolina was especially interested in acquiring a top-flight wide receiver, and to that end, David Newton of ESPN.com reports that the team pursued both the Raiders’ Davante Adams and the Bengals’ Tee Higgins, though neither club was willing to make a deal. Newton adds that GM Scott Fitterer also tried to acquire DE Montez Sweat, whom the Commanders ultimately traded to the Bears.
The early struggles of rookie quarterback Bryce Young, the No. 1 overall pick in this year’s draft, have created plenty of concern among the Panthers’ fanbase, especially since No. 2 overall pick C.J. Stroud is playing at a high level for the Texans and since Carolina paid such a premium for the privilege to climb up the draft board to select Young. However, Newton writes that head coach Frank Reich and general manager Scott Fitterer still believe their plan to trade high-end draft capital — including their 2024 first-round pick — and top receiver D.J. Moore was a sound one that will pay dividends in the future. Likewise, Dianna Russini of The Athletic (subscription required) says that the organization is still unified in the belief that Young is the long-term answer at quarterback.
In order to get the most out of Young, the Panthers understand that they need to give him more playmakers, which is why they pursued Adams and Higgins (they were not alone in that regard, as the Jets made a play for both receivers as well). Adams’ career accomplishments, which include six Pro Bowl nods and three First Team All-Pro selections, dwarf those of Higgins, who has not yet made a Pro Bowl. Nonetheless, Higgins is six years younger than Adams, is coming off back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons, and clearly has WR1 upside.
While Adams is under club control through 2026, Higgins is due to be a free agent at season’s end. If they had acquired the Clemson product, the Panthers would have needed to sign him to an extension or put the franchise tag on him, so his contract situation would have been a priority agenda item alongside a new deal (or franchise tag) for edge rusher Brian Burns. According to Newton, Carolina retained Burns through a second consecutive deadline in which he generated plenty of trade interest because the team views him and Young as foundational pieces of a future contender. Though the Panthers are presently without a 2024 first-rounder, they do have $42MM in projected cap space next season along with six other draft picks, and the plan is to turn those assets into talent to complement Burns and Young.
The latest reporting on the matter suggests that Burns and the Panthers are not actively engaged in contract talks, and Newton confirms prior reports that the two sides were far apart when negotiations stopped in December. If player and team cannot come to terms, Burns will be hit with the franchise tag, according to Newton.
If Fitterer were successful in his pursuit of Sweat, he certainly would have had a dynamic pair of pass rushers to headline his defense. However, Sweat was also in a contract year at the time of his trade and signed a lucrative extension shortly after arriving in Chicago, so the Panthers would have needed to authorize a similar contract for Sweat or quickly close the gap with Burns in order to assure themselves of the chance to retain both players.
As it stands, Fitterer & Co. will be able to focus most of their early offseason efforts on Burns’ new deal — if Fitterer is still around, that is. Per Russini, there are some members of the organization that believe the roster has not been assembled correctly, and owner David Tepper is frustrated by a Reich-orchestrated offense that league sources have described as “boring,” “predictable,” and “lifeless.” Reich, of course, was hired by Fitterer, and Russini says the “message in the building” is that ownership needs to see offensive improvement in the second half of the season.
If that does not happen, then Russini expects changes to be made. It is unclear if that simply means a shake-up to Reich’s offensive staff, or if Reich himself could be in jeopardy. It is fair to wonder whether Fitterer might also be on the hot seat, though ownership apparently is satisfied with how the defense and special teams units are performing.