Rams’ Van Jefferson To Undergo Surgery
AUGUST 1: McVay said Jefferson will undergo knee surgery Tuesday, though the sixth-year Rams HC described the procedure as minor and indicated the timetable here will be a few weeks, via CBS Sports’ Jonathan Jones (on Twitter). McVay stopped short of guaranteeing Jefferson would be ready for the regular season, however.
JULY 31: Rams wide receiver Van Jefferson will see a knee specialist on Monday, as Ian Rapoport of NFL.com reports (via Twitter). The third-year pro missed practice on Saturday, and in speaking with reporters after practice, head coach Sean McVay did not explicitly say whether Jefferson’s absence was related to his knee.
“We’re figuring that out right now, working through that,” McVay said (via Josh Alper of Pro Football Talk, citing Gary Klein of the Los Angeles Times). “I’ll have more information for you later — like I said, I don’t have anything right now.”
Those comments don’t shed much light on the matter, but Jourdan Rodrigue of The Athletic says that the coach was clearly concerned about his big-play wideout (Twitter link). McVay is not scheduled to speak with the media today, so we are unlikely to have additional information until Monday at the earliest.
Jefferson played through a knee injury late in the 2021 regular season and throughout the Rams’ postseason run to a Super Bowl title. As Rodrigue notes (via Twitter), Jefferson underwent a knee procedure in the spring, though he appeared to be in good health when training camp opened and was moving well. Per Rapoport, Jefferson could miss a few weeks, and another surgery is on the table.
The Rams selected Jefferson in the second round of the 2020 draft, and he played a key role in the club’s offensive success in 2021. Despite the knee problems, he started all 17 regular season contests, compiling 50 catches for 802 yards (good for a terrific 16.0 yards-per-reception rate) and six TDs. He also started all four postseason games, adding nine more catches for 102 yards.
Los Angeles has an enviable WR corps, with Cooper Kupp, Allen Robinson, and Jefferson as the top three players on the depth chart. The team invests heavily at the position, and if Jefferson is forced to miss time, the Rams have 2021 draftees Tutu Atwell, Jacob Harris, and Ben Skowronek waiting in the wings. An Odell Beckham reunion has consistently been rumored as a possibility, but OBJ may be unable to suit up until November, so the Jefferson situation will not necessarily impact the team’s decision to re-sign Beckham.
In better health-related news for Los Angeles, quarterback Matthew Stafford sounded mostly positive when asked how his arm is feeling after the first week of training camp. The 34-year-old passer did not throw during spring work because of a right elbow injury, but he has been throwing in camp.
“It’s coming along,” Stafford told reporters on Saturday (via Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk). “I’m kind of right where I want to be and just continue to get it feeling better. Get it stronger. You just lose those reps through the offseason and [I’m] trying to gain some of those reps back at the moment.”
Browns Unlikely To Re-Sign C J.C. Tretter
The Browns released center J.C. Tretter in March, and he has lingered on the free agent market ever since, with no concrete reports of interest in his services. However, even if Cleveland was able to re-sign its five-year starter to a team-friendly pact, Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com does not envision such a reunion.
Per Cabot, the Browns would only consider re-signing Tretter if presumptive starter Nick Harris suffers a serious injury. Harris has started only two games in his two-year professional career, but the team is high on his ability and expects the transition from Tretter to Harris to be a smooth one. Indeed, while Tretter’s release saved Cleveland $8.2MM against the cap, the Browns — who currently boast a whopping $48MM+ of cap space — would not have made that move if they were not completely comfortable with Harris at the pivot.
Cabot speculates that teams that might otherwise be interested in Tretter, the NFLPA president, may have soured on him because of the hardline stance he has taken in negotiations with the league over the offseason program (among other things). Still, it is somewhat surprising that a player who has missed only one game since 2017 — a COVID-related absence in 2021 — and who has consistently rated as a high-end starter in the eyes of Pro Football Focus’ advanced metrics has not gotten any bites.
One wonders if Tretter, who is 31 and who has dealt with ankle and knee ailments over the past three seasons, is simply waiting for the right opportunity, or if he is contemplating walking away from the game. His $44MM+ of career earnings would certainly allow him to do that, although Cabot does believe he will eventually sign somewhere.
Echoing her earlier reports on the matter, Cabot says that the Browns are unlikely to add a veteran wideout unless David Bell‘s foot injury lingers. Bell, a third-round rookie, had an impressive spring and is currently penciled in alongside Amari Cooper and Donovan Peoples-Jones at the top of Cleveland’s WR depth chart. But he was recently put on the PUP list and is not expected back for another couple of weeks. If players like 2021 third-rounder Anthony Schwartz or sixth-round rookie Michael Woods II should fail to impress while Bell is sidelined, the Browns could look to the FA and/or trade markets.
One member of the team’s receiver mix, rookie Isaiah Weston, was carted off the practice field yesterday, as Tony Grossi of 850 ESPN Cleveland tweets. As a UDFA, Weston was a longshot to make the team anyway, and even if his injury is serious, it’s unlikely to alter the Browns’ decision-making too much.
Seahawks Work Out LB Reuben Foster
The Seahawks will work out free agent linebacker Reuben Foster today, as Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets. Foster has not seen game action since the 2018 season.
A first-round pick of the 49ers back in 2017, Foster lived up to his billing in his first professional season, appearing in 10 games (all starts) and racking up 72 total tackles en route to a third-place finish in Defensive Rookie of the Year voting. Pro Football Focus was especially fond of his performance and assigned him a terrific 81.2 overall score, including high marks for his work as a run stopper and in coverage.
Things began to go south in 2018, however. Foster was arrested three times that year, and after the third arrest in November 2018 — which stemmed from a domestic violence charge — the 49ers waived him. Washington made the highly controversial decision to claim him off waivers, and he spent the remainder of the campaign on the commissioner’s exempt list.
In January 2019, Florida prosecutors dropped the November charge due to insufficient evidence, and Foster was reinstated several months later. It seemed the Alabama product would have a chance to reestablish himself as a frontline ‘backer in the nation’s capital, but in his first practice with Washington, Foster suffered a torn ACL, LCL, and MCL. He also dealt with nerve damage that left him without feeling in his toes for several months. He missed all of the 2019 season, and though he finally returned to the practice field in August 2020, it was clear that he was not anywhere close to his old self, and he spent all of 2020 on IR.
Foster took a few workouts last September and also auditioned for the Dolphins this April, but he remains on the open market. The Seahawks currently have 2020 first-rounder Jordyn Brooks penciled in as their middle linebacker without much proven depth behind him, so it can’t hurt to see if their former division rival still has anything to offer.
FA OL Tyrell Crosby On Final Season With Lions, NFL Future
Free agent offensive lineman Tyrell Crosby underwent spinal fusion surgery in December, and multiple doctors have advised him to walk away from football, as Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press writes. Crosby told the Free Press that he is not ready to call it quits just yet, and he also levied some serious allegations against the Lions organization.
Detroit selected Crosby in the fifth round of the 2018 draft, and he started seven games over his first two years in the league before becoming the club’s primary right tackle in 2020. Although he struggled as a run blocker that year, he earned an above-average 68.1 grade from Pro Football Focus for his efforts in pass protection, and his overall score of 64.2 was solid enough. In 2021, the final year of his rookie contract, it seemed Crosby would be in line for at least a swing tackle role, but he was off the roster before the regular season got underway.
The Oregon product skipped voluntary workouts last spring — he says that he only did so because he was homesick and wanted to remain with his family after the pandemic kept him away during the 2020 season — and when mandatory minicamp rolled around, then-OC Anthony Lynn suggested that he had missed OTAs because he was “scared to compete.” Crosby added that head coach Dan Campbell and GM Brad Holmes spoke with him privately and accused him of not caring about his teammates, the coaching staff, or the city of Detroit.
In the second week of training camp, Crosby sustained a mild hamstring injury that knocked him out for most of the preseason. During his rehab, he says that he complained of back pain to trainers and coaches, only to have those complaints dismissed. In late August, he returned to practice on a limited basis, but he suffered from unrelenting back spasms. He missed his weight room workout on his first day back at practice and was fined $5K as a result, even though he only missed the workout because he was getting treatment for his back.
Several days later, he complained about the back pain again, and assistant trainer Tom Colt asked if he could play a few snaps in that week’s preseason finale against the Colts. Crosby said he could, and he struggled through nine snaps in that contest. He was waived with an injury designation several days later, and at that time, Holmes sarcastically thanked him for playing through the injury.
Crosby subsequently cleared waivers and reverted to injured reserve after declining the Lions’ offer of a four-week injury settlement. Over the next few months, Crosby saw several doctors and attempted rehab with no success. That process also included a complication from a cortisone shot that caused a leak of spinal fluid and led to debilitating headaches. Detroit allegedly continued to downplay Crosby’s concerns, and after a spine specialist discovered that the discs in Crosby’s lower back had degenerated to the point that his back was collapsing on the left side, he underwent the fusion surgery.
That is not necessarily a career-ending procedure, though Crosby says he has struggled to get into playing shape. He has not lifted weights seriously in almost a year, and while he can do certain abdominal and body-weight workouts, it sounds as if he is a long way away from getting back on the field, if he is ever able to do so.
The Lions have declined to comment on Crosby’s accusations.
Falcons Name Marcus Mariota Starting QB
This will not qualify as particularly surprising news, but the Falcons have named Marcus Mariota their starting quarterback. On the first day of training camp earlier this week, quarterbacks coach Charles London confirmed that Mariota will serve as Atlanta’s QB1, while third-round rookie Desmond Ridder will begin his pro career as Mariota’s backup.
“Obviously, we’ve got a plan for each of them,” London said. “Marcus is the starter. That’s how we’re going into this thing” (via Josh Kendall of The Athletic (subscription required)).
Mariota, the No. 2 overall pick of the Titans in the 2015 draft, showed some promise during his five years in Tennessee, including a 2016 campaign in which he threw for 26 TDs against nine interceptions and rushed for 349 yards and a pair of scores. But Ryan Tannehill supplanted Mariota as the Titans’ starter midway through the 2019 season, and Mariota has spent the last two years with the Raiders as Derek Carr‘s backup.
During that time, he saw extended action in only one game, a Week 15 contest in 2020 in which he completed 17 of 28 passes for 226 yards, including a touchdown and an interception, and rushed nine times for 88 yards and a score. That performance was enough to generate trade interest the following offseason, but the structure of Mariota’s contract prevented a deal from being consummated. He ultimately remained with Las Vegas on a reworked pact, and he wound up throwing just two passes in 2021 (though he was occasionally brought in on special packages and rushed 13 times for 87 yards and a TD).
After trading franchise icon Matt Ryan to the Colts in March, the Falcons signed Mariota to a two-year, $18.75MM contract. Even after that signing, the club was said to be considering using its No. 8 overall pick on a collegiate passer, though Atlanta chose to wait until the third round to select a QB. Ridder completed just under 65% of his passes for 30 TDs and eight picks in 2021 — a season in which he took Cincinnati to the College Football Playoff — and has the chance to become the long-term answer for Atlanta under center.
He may be working with the second team as he acclimates to the NFL, but he will be getting plenty of reps. We heard last month that the Falcons would be deploying Feleipe Franks, the only other quarterback on the roster, in more of a hybrid role, and Kendall confirmed that Franks will practice as a tight end for most of camp.
Chiefs Frustrated With LT Orlando Brown Jr.
The Chiefs and left tackle Orlando Brown Jr. were unable to agree to an extension prior to the July 15 deadline for franchise-tagged players to sign multi-year deals. That development has reportedly led to Kansas City becoming frustrated with its 2021 trade acquisition.
“There was frustration and there was disappointment,” Jeffri Chadiha of the NFL Network recently said (via Pete Grathoff of the Kansas City Star). “They really like Orlando Brown Jr., they love having him be a part of this team, but the money he was asking for was too high for them. They feel like they don’t want to not have stability at left tackle here, but they also don’t want to pay top-of-the-market money for a player that they don’t think is the best player at his position in the NFL.”
Of course, the frustration is probably mutual. While the Chiefs proposed a six-year, $139MM contract, that featured a bloated $40MM salary in the sixth and final year of the deal that was never intended to be paid and was only included to give Brown a market-topping average annual value of over $23MM. The AAV over the first five years was around $18MM, which would have stood eighth among tackles.
On the other hand, as Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk writes, the Chiefs’ offer did include $38MM in full guarantees and another $14.25MM in injury guarantees (which would have converted to a full guarantee in 2024). That $38MM mark is critical because it represents more than what Brown would earn under two consecutive franchise tags — $16.7MM in 2022 and $19.9MM in 2023 — and that is often a key to working out an extension for tagged players.
Brown, though, was pushing for a $40MM signing bonus and full guarantees beyond that, along with a “true” AAV of $25MM. It is easy to see why the Chiefs did not want to go there for a very good player who can dominate lesser defenders but who can look more pedestrian against quality competition. Though he excels at run-blocking thanks largely to his mauling style of play, his pass-block win rate in 2021 — his first full year on the blindside — was outside the top-40 at his position. That is especially concerning since, in the Chiefs’ high-flying offense, he is generally not asked to sustain blocks for very long.
There is certainly a chance that Brown, 26, will continue to improve, and even if he is hit with the franchise tag again in 2023, he will have the chance to finally hit the open market the following year, when he is just 28 years old. At that time, the salary cap is expected to be considerably higher than it is now, so as long as he can avoid a major injury and at least sustain his current level of performance, Brown’s patience could be rewarded in a big way.
For now, it is unclear if he will report to training camp, which opens later this week. Head coach Andy Reid, during a press conference on Friday, said, “I don’t know that. So I don’t know whether he’s going to be here or not. If he’s here, great. And if he’s not, we move on. That’s how we’ve done it in the past. This isn’t the first time I’ve been through something like this” (via Myles Simmons of Pro Football Talk).
Brown will almost certainly sign his tender at some point, though Chadiha did indicate that the three-time Pro Bowler may be willing to extend his holdout into Week 1.
Per Chadiha, “one front office person said, ‘[t]his isn’t the same guy that we traded for.’ The feeling there is that when they got him from Baltimore is that he was going to be a team player and work with them on a team-friendly type of deal. That was not the case. Right now we’re looking at a situation where Orlando Brown probably won’t be there for training camp and may not be there for Week 1.”
Minor NFL Transactions: 7/24/22
Here are today’s minor moves:
Baltimore Ravens
- Placed on NFI list: WR Devon Williams
Houston Texans
- Placed on NFI list: WR John Metchie III (story)
Jacksonville Jaguars
- Signed: QB Kyle Sloter.
- Waived (with non-football injury designation): QB E.J. Perry
Sloter just took a visit with the Jaguars on Saturday, and he did enough to land a contract. He has been a member of a number of NFL practice squads since signing with the Broncos as a UDFA in 2017, but he has yet to appear in a regular season NFL game. In nine starts for the USFL’s New Orleans Breakers in 2022, he was not especially impressive, completing 57.7% of his passes for 1,798 yards while throwing only nine touchdowns against 11 interceptions. With three other QBs on the Jacksonville roster, Sloter appears to be simply replacing Perry as a camp body at this point.
Browns To Consider Extension For LB Sione Takitaki?
Browns linebacker Sione Takitaki is entering the final year of his rookie contract, and Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com writes the Browns could consider a new deal. Takitaki’s place in Cleveland beyond 2022 is not known just yet, but the former third-round pick has been a regular on the past two Browns defenses. 
Cleveland’s most frequent alignment is a 4-2-5 look, with Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah and Anthony Walker entrenched as the primary linebackers in the middle of the unit. But when the team deploys a strong-side ‘backer, it calls upon Takitaki, a hard-hitting run-stopper whose 67.5 grade from Pro Football Focus in 2021 would have been a top-20 mark if he had enough snaps to qualify.
Indeed, the BYU product appeared in just 28% of the Browns’ defensive snaps least season after posting a 43% number the year before. Much of that decrease was due to the arrivals of Owusu-Koramoah and Walker, who established themselves as high-level performers and relegated Takitaki to more of a marginal role.
Still, the advanced metrics were similarly fond of Takitaki in 2020, when he posted a career-best PFF grade of 71.2. Even if he is slated for rotational duties moving forward, the 27-year-old has been productive when given the opportunity to stay on the field, and should be relatively affordable on a short- or medium-term extension.
As many have pointed out amidst Cleveland’s Deshaun Watson-induced QB uncertainty, the Browns are currently in a league of their own in terms of 2022 cap space. Much of that will likely be used to roll over into next year, which will see a substantial spike in cap figures for the likes of Watson, Myles Garrett, Amari Cooper, and Denzel Ward. An extension would therefore have to be relatively modest for Takitaki, though there is little reason to believe anything other than that would be the Browns’ goal.
As Cleveland looks to retain as many members of what it feels is a Super Bowl-caliber roster, keeping Takitaki in the fold would likely be a worthwhile investment. How aggressively they pursue an extension, however, remains to be seen. Of course, as Cabot notes, the team could simply wait to consider a new contract until next offseason.
Adam La Rose contributed to this post.
Texans WR John Metchie III To Miss 2022 Season
Texans wide receiver John Metchie III, a second-round rookie, will miss the 2022 season, but it has nothing to do with the torn ACL he suffered in this year’s SEC title game. Unfortunately, the Alabama product has been diagnosed with leukemia.
Metchie released a statement indicating that the diagnosis is Acute Promyelocytic Leukemia, which he says is the most curable form of the disease. He added that he is in good spirits and expects to make a full recovery, but that he will not be playing football this year.
Although the Texans knew that the ACL tear would quite possibly force Metchie to miss time in his rookie campaign, it was expected that he would be able to suit up at some point this season. Indeed, the club was comfortable enough with his medicals to trade away pick nos. 68, 108, and 124 to move up the board and nab Metchie with the No. 44 overall selection.
In 13 games in his final collegiate season, Metchie posted 96 receptions for 1,142 yards and eight scores. Whenever he was medically cleared, he was expected to serve as Houston’s primary slot receiver and as a high-upside weapon for second-year QB Davis Mills. At present, the Texans’ WR depth chart is topped by Brandin Cooks and Nico Collins, but the options behind those two are fairly uninspiring.
Now, Metchie and Houston can only hope that 2023 will bring better fortune. We here at PFR wish Metchie the best in his recovery.
FA CB Chris Harris Generating Interest
Free agent cornerback Chris Harris is generating significant interest on the open market, according to the player himself. During a recent appearance on SiriusXM NFL Radio, Harris said he has heard from five teams (via Charean Williams of Pro Football Talk).
“Man, we’re definitely heating up,” Harris said. “I’m just taking my time and waiting to see what’s going to be the best fit for me. I’ve still got a little time, and I’m just waiting to make sure I pick the right team.”
Harris, 33, spent the first nine years of his career with the Broncos before signing a two-year, $20MM contract with the Chargers in March 2020. His time with the Bolts was marked by some availability issues, as he missed seven games in 2020 and another six contests in 2021. His Pro Football Focus grades of 61.9 and 62.4 over the last two seasons were also considerably lower than the marks he put up during his time in Denver.
Still, the four-time Pro Bowler and member of the 2010s All-Decade team offers the type of pedigree and experience that is hard to find in the days leading up to training camp, and teams in need of secondary help surely have Harris on their short list of possible signees. Harris’ willingness to play safety — he considers himself a position-less player who can line up on the boundary, in the slot, or at safety — should help his cause.
The Kansas product did not specify which teams have expressed interest at this point, though he said AFC West outfits have reached out, along with several NFC clubs. At this stage in his career, he is understandably looking to sign with a contender that has a strong quarterback situation, but every AFC West team fits that description, so that doesn’t narrow it down too much.
It is also unclear what type of money Harris is seeking, though his $68MM in career earnings — the second-highest mark among active players who went undrafted — suggests that the scheme fit and the opportunity to win a second championship ring is more important at this point. He hopes to sign no later than the middle of August.