Ravens QB Lamar Jackson Out For Week 11
The Ravens’ brutal 2021 season continues. Baltimore’s injured reserve list includes a number of top-flight starters, and the club has dealt with plenty of other injuries besides those significant enough to warrant an IR designation. Now, the Ravens will be without starting QB Lamar Jackson for their matchup against the Bears this afternoon.
Jackson is dealing with a non-COVID illness, which Peter Schrager of the NFL Network reports is a “congestion of the lungs” (Twitter link). Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network says the exact virus has not been identified (it’s not the flu), but while the team’s medical staff tried to keep Jackson hydrated enough to play, he is simply not healthy enough to do so (Twitter links).
Adam Schefter of ESPN.com adds (via Twitter) that this virus went through the organization last week, and other players like WR Rashod Bateman and C Bradley Bozeman were also affected. Only Jackson, however, is missing today’s game as a result of the illness.
But the Ravens are dealing with other injuries that will further undermine their chances to win today’s game. Top receiver Marquise Brown is out with a thigh injury, NT Brandon Williams is out with his lingering shoulder ailment, and Baltimore is down to three healthy corners, as CBs Anthony Averett and Jimmy Smith are also inactive.
Backup QB Tyler Huntley will get his first career start in Jackson’s absence. Huntley, a 2020 UDFA, has a strong arm and offers a fair amount of running ability, so his game mimics that of Jackson. But the Ravens will obviously miss their 2019 MVP in a big way.
Despite all of their injuries (and illnesses), the team has managed a 6-3 record, largely as a result of Jackson’s heroics. A surprising Week 10 loss to the Dolphins, though, may prove damaging down the line, especially with a difficult end-of-season schedule that features five divisional games plus contests against the Packers and Rams. Now, Huntley will be called upon to keep his team atop the AFC North before that challenging stretch gets underway.
Latest On Cowboys’ D-Line Injuries
The Cowboys should be getting a major boost to their front seven within the month. Defensive ends DeMarcus Lawrence and Randy Gregory, both currently on IR, could be back in action in the next three to four weeks, per club VP Stephen Jones (Twitter link via Jon Machota of The Athletic). DT Neville Gallimore is on the same timeline.
Dallas responded to its surprising loss at the hands of the Broncos in Week 9 by administering a thorough dismantling of the Falcons last week, and the 7-2 outfit has the makings of a legitimate championship contender. Getting back two of their top pass rushers would, of course, go a long way towards a deep playoff run.
Lawrence played in the Cowboys’ season opener but then suffered a broken foot in practice, which has kept him on the sidelines ever since. The 29-year-old has not been producing the type of gaudy sack totals that he amassed over the 2017-18 seasons — which helped earn him a five-year, $105MM contract in March 2019 — but he is still a key piece of Dallas’ defensive front.
Gregory, after missing a great deal of time due to suspensions over his first few seasons in the league, had posted five sacks and 12 QB hits through seven games this year before suffering a calf injury in practice earlier this month. He is out of contract at season’s end, and if he continues to play well when he returns, he could be in line for a nice payday. The current expectation is that the club will explore a long-term pact with him this offseason.
Gallimore, a 2020 third-rounder, started nine games in his rookie campaign and was expected to serve as a starter again this year. A dislocated elbow has kept him on the shelf all season, but if nothing else, he could be a useful rotational piece on the interior of the D-line. Third-round rookie Osa Odighizuwa and veteran Carlos Watkins have not been especially effective as the Cowboys’ starting DT tandem in 2021.
Ravens, Lamar Jackson Not Close To Extension
The Ravens and QB Lamar Jackson have consistently expressed full confidence that a new contract will get done, but as Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports writes, no deal is imminent at this point. Though we have not heard many details about the negotiations, La Canfora offers a little insight in that regard.
He says that Jackson has been seeking a payout in line with Patrick Mahomes‘ $45MM/year contract with the Chiefs, but Mahomes’ deal covers 10 years, and it does not sound as if Baltimore wants to commit to that kind of a term (presumably because of the fear that Jackson’s running capabilities, which are a critical component of his value, could diminish with time). That said, the club does concede that Jackson is a $40MM+/year quarterback, and La Canfora posits that Josh Allen‘s $43MM/year deal with the Bills — a six-year pact worth $258MM, including $150MM in overall guarantees and $100MM guaranteed at signing — is probably Jackson’s floor at this point.
After all, Jackson is playing at a high level while Mahomes is in the midst of a down year and Allen has regressed a bit from his stellar 2020 campaign, so some league execs believe the Ravens will have no choice but to top Mahomes’ $45MM AAV in order to finalize a deal with the 2019 MVP. Although Jackson has thrown more interceptions this season (eight) than he and the team would like, part of that is because he has been asked to expand the club’s downfield passing game, and his throwing as a whole has noticeably improved. Marquise Brown has looked more like a true No. 1 receiver this year, rookie wideout Rashod Bateman has looked terrific in his first professional action, and Mark Andrews is still performing as one of the league’s top TEs.
Plus, Jackson continues to spearhead the Baltimore rushing attack, which is especially important this year, as the Ravens lost the top three RBs on their depth chart to injury before the season even began. Baltimore wants to avoid the type of protracted negotiations that the Cowboys had with Dak Prescott, which ultimately cost the club millions of dollars, but with Jackson accounting for even more total yards per game than he did in his MVP season, one wonders if Jackson could become the NFL’s first $50MM/year player.
There still does not seem to be any doubt that the two sides will come together on an extension; it just looks like that will not happen until 2022 at the earliest.
Tim Boyle To Start At QB For Lions; Latest On Coaching Staff
Lions QB Jared Goff is dealing with an oblique injury, so as Adam Schefter of ESPN.com reports, Tim Boyle will be Detroit’s starting signal-caller in the club’s matchup against the Browns this afternoon. It will be the first start of the 27-year-old’s career.
Boyle served as Aaron Rodgers‘ backup in Green Bay over the past several seasons, and though he had attempted just four career passes, the Lions inked him to a one-year, $2.5MM deal in March after he was non-tendered by the Packers (who were making room for Jordan Love). Unfortunately, Boyle’s strong training camp was marred by a thumb injury, and he was forced to start the 2021 campaign on IR as a result. He was designated to return earlier this month.
In the meantime, David Blough has been operating as Goff’s clipboard holder, and he will stay in his QB2 role today. Schefter says that if Boyle should struggle — he only recently returned to practice, so he is not as sharp as he could be — then Blough could be sent into the game. Because the Lions also play their traditional Thanksgiving contest in just a few days, either Boyle or Blough will likely be in line to start on Turkey Day as well.
It has been another difficult year for the Lions, who managed a tie with the Mason Rudolph-led Steelers last week to improve to 0-8-1. Detroit hoped that Goff, acquired in this offseason’s blockbuster Matthew Stafford trade, would be able to recapture the Pro Bowl form he displayed in the 2017-18 seasons, but he has largely struggled. Though O-line issues and a dearth of receiver talent are at least partially to blame, Goff’s 84.0 QB rating would represent his lowest mark since his seven-game rookie output. As such, Schefter confirms that the Lions’ quarterback situation for the rest of this season and beyond is unsettled.
The team has no realistic way of getting out of Goff’s contract until after the 2022 season, so he will almost certainly be back next year. But it does not sound like he is guaranteed to get his starting job back even when he is fully recovered, and the Lions will likely be in a position to draft one of 2022’s top collegiate passers in the spring. Starting today, Boyle will try to make his case to be involved in the conversation.
Of course, Boyle will have head coach Dan Campbell calling his offensive plays. Campbell took over play-calling duties from OC Anthony Lynn for the Pittsburgh game, and that arrangement will presumably hold through the end of the year. Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports reports that Campbell — who still has the full respect of his locker room — is not planning to make any in-season coaching changes, but there will probably be some sort of shakeup to the staff in the offseason.
Giants DC Patrick Graham Generating HC Interest
Giants defensive coordinator Patrick Graham garnered interest for the Jets’ head coaching vacancy last year, but he elected to remain with the Meadowlands’ other club for at least one more season. In the 2022 coaching cycle, Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports expects Graham to draw interview requests from multiple teams.
Graham, 42, broke into coaching as a graduate assistant with Wagner College back in 2002. He slowly worked his way up the collegiate ranks and landed his first NFL gig with the Patriots in 2009. He served as Brian Flores‘ DC with with the Dolphins in 2019 before joining Joe Judge‘s first coaching staff with the Giants last season.
His work with the Giants is what has created the HC buzz. Despite not having a ton of individual talent to work with, Graham coaxed a top-10 performance out of his unit in 2020 in terms of points allowed, and though the New York defense struggled through much of the first half of this season, the club has yielded just 39 points over the past three games despite facing the likes of Derek Carr and Patrick Mahomes. Graham’s reputation as a play-caller, along with his ability to forge strong relationships with his players, has attracted league-wide attention.
Indeed, if the Giants opt to part ways with Judge this offseason, La Canfora says Graham, a Yale alum, would be a legitimate candidate to be promoted to the top job. But even if that does not happen, there should be more than one interview coming his way after the calendar flips to 2022.
Graham, who is African-American, is not on the initial list of vetted minority candidates that the NFL recently sent to its teams. However, La Canfora notes that Graham has the support of the league office, which suggests that he could appear on that list in short order.
In related news, La Canfora wrote in early October that the NFL is exploring an algorithm that could help quantify a given candidate’s attributes, which the league believes will assist minority candidates land opportunities that they might not otherwise have. The thought is that, as teams rely more and more on analytics, an objective number that an owner can look at to evaluate a particular candidate may help defeat any more subjective considerations or subconscious biases.
AFC East Notes: Watson, White, Pats
The much-discussed Deshaun Watson trade between the Dolphins and Texans never came to fruition, in part because Dolphins owner Stephen Ross wanted Watson to settle the 22 civil suits that have been brought against him. As Jeff Howe of The Athletic writes, Ross also wanted to speak with Watson directly and requested permission to do so, but because there was no chance that Watson’s legal situation would be resolved by the November 2 trade deadline, there was no point in having a conversation just yet.
However, if Houston and Miami reopen talks this offseason, it seems that a sit-down between Ross and Watson will be necessary before a deal can be struck.
Now for more from the AFC East, starting with another item out of South Beach:
- Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald wonders if the Dolphins will consider parting ways with WR DeVante Parker this offseason. Though Parker has been effective when he has been on the field in 2021, he is now on IR and has played in just five games this year. Plus, the ‘Fins could save $6.2MM by making him a post-June 1 cut, though that would leave the club with even more work to do to address the receiving corps, as Will Fuller and Albert Wilson are not expected to be back. Jackson does believe Mack Hollins will be retained.
- Jets QB Mike White, who led the club to a surprising win over the Bengals in Week 8 and who was playing well in New York’s Week 9 loss to the Colts before he was forced out with an early injury, is hugely popular in the Gang Green locker room, per Rich Cimini of ESPN.com. White’s journey and attitude have earned the respect of his teammates and have energized the building, and as Cimini writes in a separate piece, the 2018 fifth-rounder may have already made himself a nice chunk of change. He is playing the 2021 season on a one-year, $850K contract, but he will become a restricted free agent at season’s end. He should at least be in line for an original-round tender of $2.4MM, and he could force the Jets to tender him at the second-round level, which would net him $3.9MM.
- It certainly didn’t create many headlines, but the Patriots plucked LB Calvin Munson off the Dolphins‘ practice squad several weeks ago. The 26-year-old has only seen action on special teams with his new club, but New England clearly thinks highly of him. Per Mike Reiss of ESPN.com, the Pats gave Munson a contract that runs though 2022 and that included a bit of a pay bump. A number of the Patriots’ off-ball linebackers are slated for free agency at the end of the year, so Munson could have a shot at more significant playing time next season.
- Patriots DL Byron Cowart opened the season on the reserve/PUP list. Though he returned to practice in October, the 21-day window for activating him off the PUP list has expired, as veteran NFL writer Aaron Wilson tweets. As such, Cowart, who started 14 games last year, will be forced to miss the entire 2021 campaign.
Latest On WFT QB Ryan Fitzpatrick
Ryan Fitzpatrick‘s 2021 season will have lasted for less than 30 minutes. The veteran quarterback, who signed with the Washington Football Team this offseason, suffered a hip subluxation in the first half of the club’s Week 1 loss to the Chargers, and as Ian Rapoport of NFL.com writes, Fitzpatrick is expected to miss the rest of the year.
The soon-to-be 39-year-old passer landed on IR immediately after the Chargers game, and the most recent reports indicated that he could be back for this week’s matchup with the Bucs. Unfortunately, his recovery has not gone as well as hoped.
Per Rapoport, Fitzpatrick is still dealing with pain and swelling, and he cannot begin rehab on the injury until that pain and swelling subside. Until then, his recovery is focused exclusively on treatment, and not a return to game shape. His most recent MRI did show some improvement, but it sounds as if he is a long way away from even thinking about getting back on the field.
And, given his advanced age, it’s fair to wonder if this is it for one of the most likable players in recent memory. The hirsute and well-traveled signal-caller has enjoyed a long and productive career for a seventh-round Ivy Leaguer, and while he has never been a top-tier quarterback, his longevity is indicative of how much clubs value his presence. He has appeared in 166 games in his career (147 starts), and though his 59-87-1 record as a starter leaves much to be desired, he has generally been good enough to at least keep his often talent-deficient teams competitive.
As for WFT, the club will continue to forge ahead with Taylor Heinicke under center for the rest of the year. Heinicke has not been able to recapture the magic that nearly resulted in an upset of the eventual Super Bowl champion Buccaneers in last year’s playoffs, and he is clearly not the long-term solution for Washington. WFT will once again be on the lookout for QB help this offseason.
Bills Place DT Star Lotulelei On Reserve/COVID-19 List
Per a team announcement, the Bills have placed DT Star Lotulelei on the reserve/COVID-19 list, thereby rendering him ineligible for today’s game against the Jets. Fellow DT Brandin Bryant has been elevated from the taxi squad to take Lotulelei’s place on the active roster, as Joe Buscaglia of The Athletic tweets.
Lotulelei, who will turn 32 next month, is in the midst of a five-year, $50MM deal he signed in 2018. He exercised his right to opt out of the 2020 season due to COVID concerns, which tolled his contract and keeps him under club control through 2023. He landed on the reserve/COVID-19 list in August, but he returned for Buffalo’s Week 2 win over Miami and has started each of his seven games this season.
Pro Football Focus’ advanced metrics have not been high on Lotulelei’s work in some time, and that trend has continued this year. Though his 66.8 pass rush grade is above average — he does have two sacks this year, which matches his 16-game total in 2019 — his overall mark of 53.1 positions him as the 86th-best interior defender out of 124 qualifiers. Still, he typically plays the most snaps in Buffalo’s D-line rotation, so his absence will be noticed.
As Michael David Smith of Pro Football Talk observes, it is believed that Lotulelei is unvaccinated. That is because the 2013 first-rounder previously needed to isolate for five days following a close contact with a person who tested positive for COVID-19, something that only an unvaccinated player would be required to do.
There is some good news to pass along for Bills fans. As Adam Schefter of ESPN.com tweets, RB Zack Moss, who suffered a concussion in last week’s loss to the Jaguars, has cleared protocols and will be able to play this afternoon. Moss and Devin Singletary have shared RB duties this year, but Singletary has been the better performer from a YPC perspective. Moss has mustered just 3.6 yards per carry on 65 attempts, while Singletary has posted a strong 4.9 YPC mark on 73 carries.
Moss, however, has been more effective as a receiver out of the backfield, catching 18 balls for 166 yards and a score.
Panthers Open To Re-Signing Cam Newton For 2022; Sam Darnold Done For Season?
Panthers head coach Matt Rhule told reporters on Wednesday that quarterback Sam Darnold, who is dealing with a fracture of the scapula on his right shoulder, will miss at least four to six weeks. According to Adam Schefter of ESPN.com, Carolina is confident that Darnold will actually miss the rest of the season, which is what prompted the club to reunite with Cam Newton earlier this week.
As soon as the Panthers knew that Darnold would likely be sidelined for the remainder of the 2021 campaign, they reviewed their in-house and outside options and determined that Newton was the best choice. As Ian Rapoport of NFL.com writes, Rhule then called Newton to determine the former MVP’s interest in rejoining his old team, and Newton was very excited about the prospect.
At that point, the discussions hinged on two factors, one of which was money. Newton, who is still getting paid by the Patriots, was not going to settle for the veteran minimum, which is why the two sides ultimately came together on a $6MM pact (although Newton can earn up to $10MM, it will be difficult for him to reach that maximum).
Just as important was Newton’s desire for “direct communication and accountability.” In other words, if the team has an issue with him, he wants to be told about it directly, just as Patriots head coach Bill Belichick did with him in New England. Rhule, GM Scott Fitterer, VP of football operations Steven Drummond — whose relationship with Newton helped get the deal done — and owner David Tepper promised him as much.
When initially asked about the possibility of re-signing Newton in 2022, Fitterer was noncommittal, saying, “we’re not there yet” (Twitter link via David Newton of ESPN.com). However, Schefter says that if Newton plays well for the rest of the season, he would immediately become the favorite to serve as the starting QB next year.
Rapoport, meanwhile, notes that while the team is certainly open to another contract for Newton, Carolina has by no means given up on Darnold. After all, Darnold is owed a fully-guaranteed $18.858MM for the 2022 season, and the Panthers liked what they saw from him in the first three weeks of this year. The club thinks that his shoulder ailment contributed to his poor performance over the last few weeks, and it has no intention of trying to cut ties this offseason.
If Newton plays in this afternoon’s contest against the Cardinals, he will only see a limited number of snaps. As we already knew, P.J. Walker will serve as today’s QB1. But assuming all goes well in practice over the coming days, Newton has a good chance to suit up against Washington and old friend Ron Rivera next week.
Contract Details: Beckham, Bitonio, Gano
Rounding up a few contract details from this past week:
- Odell Beckham, WR (Rams): One year, $1.25MM, with up to $3MM in team-based incentives. Incentive package is as follows: $500K if Rams get wildcard win or first-round bye; $750K for divisional round win; $750K for NFC Championship Game win; $500K for Super Bowl appearance, or $1MM for Super Bowl win. OBJ would have to play at least one snap of those postseason contests to earn the incentive (Twitter links via Albert Breer of SI.com). None of the $4.25MM paid by Browns is offset, so Beckham earns that full amount in addition to his Rams payouts.
- Joel Bitonio, G (Browns): Three years, originally reported as $48MM. Per Jeremy Fowler of ESPN.com (via Twitter), the total value actually checks in at over $49MM, as Cleveland agreed to pay Bitonio 17th-game checks on his 2020 and 2021 salaries. So Bitonio’s AAV is $16.37MM, which narrowly tops Joe Thuney‘s $16MM pact with the Chiefs and makes him the highest-paid guard on a multi-year contract.
- Graham Gano, K (Giants): Agreed to convert ~$514K of base salary into signing bonus, thereby creating ~343K of 2021 cap space (Twitter link via ESPN’s Field Yates).