Latest On Raiders’ O-Line Situation
Third-round rookie Dylan Parham represents the only major addition the Raiders have made to their offensive line this offseason, which makes one wonder if the unit will allow the team’s offense — which features a quality quarterback in Derek Carr and several high-end skill position talents in tight end Darren Waller and trade acquisition Davante Adams — to live up to its potential. Indeed, Carr was sacked 40 times in 2021, and Las Vegas’ 95.1 rushing yards per game was a bottom-five figure, even though the offense as a whole ranked 11th in total yardage.
In fairness, the OL suffered several key injuries last year, and in the estimation of Paul Gutierrez of ESPN.com, there are two major potential developments that will help the Raiders’ blockers perform at a “workable” level: the return of Denzelle Good to the right guard spot, and 2021 first-rounder Alex Leatherwood seizing the right tackle role.
In May, we learned that Las Vegas’ new regime was giving Leatherwood reps at RT during spring practices, and as Guiterrez recently wrote in a separate piece, head coach Josh McDaniels said Leatherwood would be given every opportunity to win the job. In his rookie season, the Alabama product — who was generally not viewed as a Day 1 talent leading up to the draft — was moved to right guard due largely to his struggles on the edge. It may be a bit much to expect him to become even a league-average starter in his sophomore year, but it seems the Raiders believe that can happen.
Good, meanwhile, was one of the above-referenced O-linemen to sustain a major injury in 2021, as he tore his ACL in the regular season opener. That shut him down for the remainder of the campaign, but even at full strength, he has not been a world-beater. The 2015 seventh-round pick of the Colts was waived midway through the final year of his rookie contract and was subsequently claimed by the Raiders. He started just five games in 2019, his first full year with the Silver-and-Black, but the club re-signed him the following offseason, and he wound up starting 14 contests in 2020. Although Pro Football Focus assigned him a middling 56.7 grade that year — good for 56th out of 80 qualified players — the Raiders authorized a two-year, $8.36MM re-up last March.
At present, Gutierrez projects a starting five of LT Kolton Miller, LG Parham, C Andre James, RG Good, and RT Leatherwood. He acknowledges that alignment is not especially exciting, but healthy and passable showings from the right side of that line could still be enough to elevate the offense to a top-five outfit given the rest of the talent on the roster.
Odell Beckham Jr.: I Played Second Half Of 2021 Season “Without An ACL”
Free agent wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. is recovering from a torn ACL that he ostensibly suffered in Super Bowl LVI in February as a member of the Rams. But on Saturday night, OBJ himself took to Twitter to say that he actually played the entire second half of the 2021 season “without an ACL.”
Beckham initially tore the ACL back in Week 7 of the 2020 campaign, when he was with the Browns. After sitting out the first two games of the 2021 season, he got back on the field for Cleveland in Week 3. He was ultimately waived in November after a turbulent and generally disappointing stay in northeast Ohio, and he signed with Los Angeles a few days after he cleared waivers. So if his claim is accurate, he either reinjured the ACL towards the tail end of his Browns tenure, or towards the beginning of his stint with the Rams.
If it was the former, it would be fair to wonder how OBJ passed his exit physical with Cleveland, or his entry physical with Los Angeles. Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk observes that such physicals rarely include an MRI unless there is a reason for it, and since there were no alarming issues with the knee from Week 3 of the 2021 campaign forward, an MRI may not have been seen as necessary.
One way or another, the ACL gave out in the midst of what was shaping up as a brilliant title game performance. And although there have been plenty of reports about Beckham’s recovery and who his next employer might be since that time, the three-time Pro Bowler remains unsigned.
It seems unlikely that Beckham’s tweet will have much impact on how other teams view him. Regardless of exactly when he reaggravated the ACL injury, the fact remains that he has undergone two major surgeries on his left knee in a span of roughly 15 months, to say nothing of the painful shoulder sprain that he sustained with Cleveland last year or the sports hernia ailment he dealt with in 2019. Plus, despite his undeniable talent, two franchises, the Giants and Browns, have now seen fit to cut ties despite having multiple years of club control over him.
The Rams remain open to a new deal, even though Beckham may be unable to suit up until late November. It is also unclear whether Beckham is targeting a one-year accord, or if he is seeking a multi-year deal from a club that may be willing to wait for him until the latter stages of the 2022 season if it can be assured of having him on the roster in 2023.
The Packers and Patriots have been connected to some degree to OBJ this offseason, but given his current timeline, there is no real urgency for him or for interested teams. Indeed, he may elect to wait until he is closer to full strength to put pen to paper, at which point clubs that may not have a place for him now could find themselves looking for a receiver to provide a late-season boost.
Packers CEO/President Mark Murphy Will Retire In 2025
Packers CEO/president Mark Murphy will retire roughly three years from now, as Murphy himself confirmed in his monthly Q&A column on the team’s official website. The Packers, of course, are the only professional sports franchise without an owner, and are run instead by a board of directors. The board’s bylaws require that a board member retire and assume emeritus status when he or she turns 70, and Murphy will become a septuagenarian on July 13, 2025.
Murphy noted that the club’s executive committee has started to lay the foundation for a succession plan, though it does not sound like there are any definitive timelines in place just yet. Perhaps whomever gets the nod in 2025 will, like Murphy himself in 2008, be ascending to the top job when the organization is at an on-field crossroads.
Murphy played football collegiately at Colgate University, and he went on to enjoy a productive eight-year run as a member of the Redskins’ defensive backfield. He became a full-time starter in 1979 and developed a reputation as something of a ballhawk, picking off 27 passes over a five-year span from 1979-83 (including a league-best nine picks in 1983, which culminated in his first and only Pro Bowl berth). He won a Super Bowl ring with Washington in 1982, and he recorded an interception and a sack in the team’s four-game postseason run that year.
Towards the end of his playing career, Murphy earned an MBA from American University, and for good measure, he earned a law degree from Georgetown University in 1988. He returned to Colgate to serve as the school’s athletic director from 1992-03, and then served in the same capacity for Northwestern University from 2003-07. He moved to the professional ranks in 2008, succeeding Bob Harlan as CEO/president of the Packers.
Franchise icon Brett Favre had announced his retirement in March 2008, several months after a bitter loss to the Giants in the NFC Championship Game. That decision seemingly opened the door to the Aaron Rodgers era, but in July 2008, the Favre unretirement saga began, which represented Murphy’s first true test in his new position. Ultimately, Favre was traded to the Jets in August 2008, and Rodgers finally stepped in as the undisputed QB1 after three years as Favre’s backup.
The pinnacle of the Murphy era came at the end of the 2010 campaign, when the Packers landed their fourth Super Bowl title. That championship made Murphy the first person to win a Lombardi Trophy as a player and as a team’s top executive.
Although Green Bay is still in search of a fifth ring, the team has been a perennial contender with Rodgers under center, winning eight NFC North titles and advancing to the NFC Championship Game five times. As he did with Favre in 2008, Murphy has seen plenty of late-career drama with Rodgers, navigating several years of contractual disputes and other acrimony — sometimes inartfully — to keep the club’s contention window open for as long as possible. He has also overseen the reassignment of former GM Ted Thompson, the subsequent revamping of the club’s power structure, and the hiring of current head coach Matt LaFleur, which has thus far proven to be a savvy move. For those who are interested in a more thorough look at Murphy’s tenure, Kris Burke of AcmePackingCompany.com provides a detailed history, including — quite importantly for a publicly-owned outfit that needs to compete with teams run by billionaire owners — the development of the Titletown District around Lambeau Field.
Much of Murphy’s legacy will be written over his final three years at the helm. Now that the team and Rodgers have a new contract in place, it seems likely that the four-time MVP will end his career in Green Bay, but the expectation is that he will retire no later than the end of the 2024 season (though it could happen sooner). So when Murphy transitions to emeritus status, he not only hopes to have at least one more Lombardi in the trophy case, he will want to leave his successor with the Packers’ next franchise quarterback on the roster.
“It has been an honor and a privilege to serve as the Packers president,” Murphy wrote. “I plan on making the last three years as successful as possible, with multiple Super Bowl championships!”
49ers WR Deebo Samuel Unlikely To Be Traded?
49ers wideout Deebo Samuel, who is set to enter a contract year, wants to capitalize on the seismic shift that the league’s receiver market has undergone this offseason. Even before draftmate A.J. Brown landed a $25MM/year deal from the Eagles, Samuel was eyeing that benchmark, and now it seems as though San Francisco will have to pony up that kind of cash if it wants to extend the 2021 First Team All-Pro.
It’s unclear where extension negotiations stand at the moment, but it still seems likely that Samuel will remain with the Niners for at least the 2022 campaign. The club rebuffed all trade inquiries in the run-up to the draft in April, and while Samuel was not present for voluntary OTAs, he did appear for mandatory minicamp (unlike another platform-year peer, D.K. Metcalf). Earlier this month, we heard that player and team were still engaged in contract talks, and the fact that Samuel should not need to be utilized as a between-the-tackles runner this season may help push the two sides closer to an accord.
Further, Jeremy Fowler of ESPN.com reports that there is “not a lot of league-wide chatter” about a Samuel trade at the moment (Twitter link). Samuel has not formally rescinded his trade request (as far as Fowler knows), but it sounds like rival clubs who might be interested in the South Carolina product believe there is no point in engaging the 49ers in trade talks.
Speculatively, it could be that Samuel realizes re-upping with the 49ers this summer is his best option, as long as he can get close to his current fair market value (which Spotrac estimates to be just shy of $25MM per year). If he stages a “hold-in” at training camp, the club could attempt to prevent him from accruing a fourth year of service time, which would make him a restricted free agent in the 2023 offseason. And, while the team could waive or reduce any fines he accumulates by holding out of training camp — since he is still tethered to his rookie contract — holding out obviously comes with the same service time risks as a hold-in.
If he simply rejects the 49ers’ best offer and opts to play out the final year of his rookie contract in the hopes of hitting free agency in 2023, he would be betting his future earnings to a large extent on the right arm of an unproven second-year passer in Trey Lance (to say nothing of San Francisco’s franchise tag rights). If Samuel fails to replicate his tremendous 2021 performance — 77 catches for 1,405 yards and six scores, good for a league-best 18.2 yards-per-reception, to go along with 59 carries for 365 yards and eight TDs — his market value could certainly take a dip.
Boston College G Christian Mahogany To Miss 2022 Season
Boston College guard Christian Mahogany tore his ACL while working out at his home in May, and he will miss the 2022 season as a result, per Pete Thamel of ESPN.com. Mahogany will return to BC in 2023 in an effort to rebuild his draft stock.
Had he remained healthy and performed at the level that he has established over the past several seasons, Mahogany likely would have been one of the first guards off the board in the 2023 draft. ESPN draftnik Mel Kiper Jr. had ranked the 6-3, 335-pounder as the second-best guard in his class.
Mahogany said of his decision to return to school in 2023, “I think I’m probably going to come back because it’s hard [after an injury]. I’m going to leave no doubt on my college career. Especially after an injury like this, I’m going to prove that I can still do it.”
Indeed, if he were to enter the 2023 draft after having missed all of the 2022 season, it is possible that he would be viewed as a mid- or late-round prospect, as teams would doubtlessly be wary of how he will respond to such a significant injury. But a return to form next season could put him back in the Day 1 conversation in 2024.
Mahogany became a starter for the Eagles in his redshirt freshman campaign in 2020, and he proved himself to be a top-flight player in 2021, earning second-team All-ACC acclaim. Playing opposite Zion Johnson, whom the Chargers selected with the No. 17 overall pick of this year’s draft, Mahogany missed just one run block on 371 run block plays, allowed just two pressures on 314 pass block plays, and was charged with just two penalties.
Boston College has been a fertile breeding ground for NFL offensive linemen over the years, and Mahogany still appears to have a good chance to continue that tradition despite being forced to delay his professional career. He underwent surgery on his injured knee on May 27, and he indicated his recovery has progressed well so far.
“This is the plan for me,” he said. “This is something that I have to overcome in my career. I’m going to make a full recovery and come back by any means necessary.”
Free Agent WR Golden Tate Signs With Summer Baseball League
Free agent wide receiver Golden Tate recently signed with the Port Angeles Lefties of the West Coast League, a collegiate summer baseball league, according to a press release from the WCL itself. Tate had not generated any reported interest from NFL teams this offseason.
Tate, who will turn 34 in August, did not see any regular season NFL action in 2021. From 2014-17, he enjoyed a solid run as a member of the Lions, earning his first and only Pro Bowl bid in 2014 and recording at least 90 catches per season over that four-year stretch. In the middle of the 2018 campaign, the final year of his contract with Detroit, the Lions shipped him to the Eagles in exchange for a 2019 third-rounder. He would catch the game-winning TD pass from Philadelphia QB Nick Foles in the team’s wildcard round victory over the Bears that season.
He earned a four-year, $37.5MM contract ($23MM guaranteed) from the Giants in the 2019 offseason, but his tenure with Big Blue was rocky at best. He was suspended for the first four games of the 2019 season for a violation of the league’s PED policy, and though he was a useful member of the club’s receiving corps upon his reinstatement — posting a 49/676/6 slash triple-slash in 11 games (10 starts) — 2020 was a different story. He was deactivated for New York’s Week 9 contest that year, with the team citing effort and performance issues as the reason for the move, and he publicly voiced his frustration over his lack of targets. He finished the season with a 35/388/2 slash line, his lowest totals since his sophomore season in 2011.
The Giants released Tate in March 2021, and he did not find a new home until he hooked on with the Titans’ taxi squad in November. He was cut a few weeks later without having earned a promotion to the active roster.
Given his age, his disappointing 2020 season, the fact that he was essentially out of football in 2021, and his inability to spark any interest this offseason, Tate’s NFL career looked to be finished even before his decision to reenter the baseball world. A three-sport athlete in high school, Tate was drafted by the Dodgers in the 42nd round of the 2007 MLB draft, though he did not sign, choosing instead to attend college at Notre Dame. He made his name as a football player with the Fighting Irish, but he continued to play baseball as well, and he was selected by the San Francisco Giants in the 50th round of the 2010 MLB draft (several months after the Seahawks made him a second-round choice of that year’s NFL draft). Obviously, he ended up signing with the ‘Hawks, which proved to be a wise decision.
In 2012, Russell Wilson‘s rookie year, Tate became a full-time starter for Seattle. In 15 games (all starts), he caught 45 passes for 688 yards and a career-best seven TDs, and he was a key component of the team’s aerial attack in their Super Bowl-winning campaign in 2013, hauling in 64 catches for 898 yards and four scores.
Assuming we have seen the last of Tate in the NFL, he leaves the game with a terrific resume. In addition to his Pro Bowl nod and Super Bowl ring, Tate took home over $56MM in career earnings — thanks largely to two notable free agent contracts with the Lions and Giants — and recorded three 1,000-yard seasons.
Deshaun Watson’s Disciplinary Hearing Scheduled
The disciplinary hearing for Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson is set to begin on Tuesday, June 28, as Adam Schefter of ESPN.com reports. The matter will be heard by Sue L. Robinson, who served as a judge in the Unites States District Court for the District of Delaware for over 25 years. Robinson was jointly appointed by the league and the NFLPA, although commissioner Roger Goodell would handle any appeal of the discipline that Robinson imposes.
As we have learned, the league will be pushing for a lengthy suspension, and Aaron Wilson of Pro Football Network hears that an indefinite ban may be the NFL’s goal. One potential problem there is that the league was unable to speak with a significant number of the 26 women who have levied accusations against Watson, so its case will be based upon the testimony of only a fraction of those women. It’s important to note, however, that Goodell would also hear the league’s appeal if it feels Robinson’s punishment is too light.
The NFL and NFLPA, along with Watson’s advisors, attempted to negotiate a suspension before the hearing, although the parties were unable to agree to suspension length. Per Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk, it is unlikely that those negotiations will be revived (Florio adds in a separate piece that the NFL was insisting upon a one-year ban in its talks with the union).
Another key piece of the Watson saga, of course, is his contract. When additional lawsuits were filed against the quarterback after he became a member of the Browns, it seemed possible that Cleveland could attempt to void Watson’s fully-guaranteed deal, though a report at the time suggested that the club had no such intentions. Andrew Brandt of SI.com, citing a league source, says that the money to be paid over first two years of the pact — 2022 and 2023 — are not subject to forfeiture anyway.
Per Brandt, the Browns could attempt to void the final three years of the contract for “new misbehavior” that triggers league discipline. And while it might seem that the lawsuits filed after Cleveland authorized the Watson deal in March would qualify as “new misbehavior,” Brandt is not so sure. The former Packers exec points out that the allegations contained in the most recent suits are consistent with those in the suits that the Browns already knew about, so if they were to try and back out of the deal, they would be facing a grievance that might prove difficult to win.
As for the more immediate disciplinary matter, Robinson’s decision is expected to be made no later than the beginning of training camp, although Schefter says it could be handed down within a week of the end of the hearing. As Mark Maske of the Washington Post tweets, if Robinson feels there was no violation of the league’s Personal Conduct Policy, then there will not only be no suspension, but the NFL could not take an appeal; Watson would simply be free to play. In light of everything we have heard to this point, such a finding seems unlikely.
Bears OL Teven Jenkins Finishes Minicamp With Second-String Offense
Bears OL Teven Jenkins began practicing with Chicago’s second-team offense towards the end of OTAs, and that continued throughout the club’s mandatory minicamp, per Kevin Fishbain and Adam Jahns of The Athletic (subscription required). Meanwhile, Braxton Jones has been operating as the first-string left tackle, with 2021 fifth-rounder Larry Borom at RT.
Jenkins, the No. 39 overall pick of the 2021 draft, was originally viewed as a future fixture on the blindside. Unfortunately, he was forced to undergo back surgery last August, and he ultimately appeared in just six games (two starts) as a rookie.
Although both Jenkins and Borom were selected by the Bears’ prior regime, the new coaching staff appeared plenty content to move forward with them as their first-stringers — Jenkins at RT and Borom at LT — just a couple of weeks ago. So it is notable that Jenkins has been demoted in favor of Jones, a rookie Day 3 selection.
Naturally, head coach Matt Eberflus downplayed the significance of the move. “We’re going to finish off the minicamp with this alignment, and then we’ll decide, ‘Hey, we like this alignment, that alignment,’ or, like I said, ‘(We) don’t like either one; let’s go with a new one,'” he said. “So we’re just assessing guys’ talents, assessing their skill level and going forward from there.”
With three unproven options vying for jobs as OL bookends in support of a second-year quarterback, Justin Fields, there is certainly plenty of logic in trying different alignments, particularly in OTAs and minicamp. But in a separate piece, Fishbain and Jahns suggest that there is more to Jenkins’ current status than Eberflus is letting on. Jahns posits that, if the Bears simply wanted to try Borom out on the right side, they could have shifted him to the second team to give him a look while keeping Jenkins with the first-team offense at RT, where he had been penciled in for months. Indeed, OL continuity is meaningful, even in spring work, and it appears that Jenkins is simply not performing at a high enough level right now.
Obviously, the alignment for the start of training camp will be particularly telling. While Eberflus was non-committal when asked if either Borom or Jenkins could see time at guard, both players lined up exclusively at tackle in practices that were open to the media.
Falcons To Use Feleipe Franks In Hybrid Role
Briefly thought to be the winner of the Deshaun Watson sweepstakes, the Falcons were among the teams most heavily connected to a quarterback in this year’s draft after the Browns swooped in and submitted the winning bid for Watson. Atlanta did indeed select a QB, adding Cincinnati signal-caller Desmond Ridder in the third round, and the club also signed free agent passer Marcus Mariota in March, shortly after trading franchise icon Matt Ryan to the Colts.
With Mariota and Ridder at the top of the first QB depth chart of the post-Ryan era, 2021 UDFA Feleipe Franks was facing long odds to see the field, at least as a quarterback. As such, the team has converted Franks to a “hybrid” player, as head coach Arthur Smith recently told reporters, including D. Orlando Ledbetter of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (subscription required).
Franks enjoyed a successful redshirt sophomore season with Florida in 2019 and then suffered a season-ending ankle injury early in the 2020 season. He finished his collegiate career with SEC rival Arkansas, throwing 17 TDs against just four interceptions in nine games with the Razorbacks in 2021. The Falcons signed him after he went undrafted last April, and he made the roster as the third-string QB behind Ryan and Josh Rosen. He was elevated to QB2 late in the season.
While Franks will still sit in the quarterback room and take reps as a passer, he is also getting work as a tight end, where he got some practice time last season as well. At 6-6, Franks has the right height for a TE, but at 228 pounds, he is a little light relative to full-time tight ends around the league.
“Right now, it doesn’t mean that doesn’t change, but right now he’s working more at tight end than quarterback, but he also is a quarterback,” offensive coordinator Dave Ragone said.
Perhaps the Falcons are envisioning a role like the one Taysom Hill has enjoyed in recent seasons with the Saints, though Franks’ 2.2 yards-per-carry rate as a collegian is a far cry from Hill’s 5.3 YPC average, which he has replicated as a pro. If Franks is to have success as a hybrid player, it will likely be more as a receiver than as a runner.
Atlanta, of course, has 2021 first-rounder Kyle Pitts entrenched as its top tight end option, and the team has also made significant investments into the rest of its receiving corps this offseason, signing fellow TE Anthony Firkser, trading for WR Bryan Edwards, and drafting wideout Drake London with the No. 8 overall pick. So Franks will still have something of an uphill battle to make an impact as a pass catcher, but he has embraced the opportunity.
“I’m doing whatever they ask me to,” he said. “There are a lot more things I have to learn. A lot of the tight ends in the room have helped me with my route crafting and blocking. There are a ton of things I need to learn.”
Latest On Minkah Fitzpatrick, Kenny Pickett Contracts
In terms of overall structure, the extension that the Steelers recently authorized for star safety Minkah Fitzpatrick is fairly straightforward. As Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk writes, Fitzpatrick landed a $17.5MM signing bonus, and from 2022-26, the two-time First Team All-Pro will earn base salaries of $4MM, $14.5MM, $14.5MM, $15.5MM, and $17.6MM.
What is particularly notable in light of Pittsburgh’s historic approach to contract negotiations is that, in addition to guaranteeing Fitzpatrick’s $4MM salary for 2022, his $14.5MM salary for 2023 is also fully-guaranteed. Before edge defender T.J. Watt signed his record-setting extension last year, the Steelers had never guaranteed any money beyond a contract’s first year for a non-QB veteran player. But Watt landed three fully-guaranteed years, and now Fitzpatrick has two fully-guaranteed seasons.
Former GM Kevin Colbert was at the helm when Watt’s deal was signed, and the Fitzpatrick signing will go on new GM Omar Khan‘s ledger. Khan, like Colbert, has been in the Steelers’ front office for over 20 years, so as Florio suggests, the Watt contract was not so much an aberration as it was a sign of an organizational policy shift.
Still, Fitzpatrick’s deal shouldn’t be particularly difficult for Pittsburgh to stomach. There is every reason to believe that the 25-year-old will continue to play at a high level over the 2022-23 seasons, and if the team does not want to continue the relationship beyond that, it will be easy enough to get out of the remainder of the contract. Given that the Steelers’ QB depth chart presently features a rookie signal-caller (Kenny Pickett), a former first-rounder looking to reestablish himself as a starter (Mitchell Trubisky), and a player who has enjoyed limited success in his first four years as a pro (Mason Rudolph), it will be especially important for their defensive stars to keep shining for them to to stay competitive in the near term.
Speaking of Pickett, the University of Pittsburgh product is one of just two 2022 first-rounders who have yet to sign their rookie deals. And it could be that he is pushing the Steelers to set yet another new precedent. As Ben Volin of the Boston Globe writes, the structure of Pickett’s four-year, $14MM fully-guaranteed contract is really the only explanation for the delay. Many rookies push for higher roster bonuses and lower base salaries so they can get paid more money upfront, but the Steelers have never authorized that type of payout. It will be interesting to see if they make an exception for the player they hope will serve as their starting quarterback for years to come, and if so, how that will impact negotiations with future draft choices.