NFL Draft Rumors: Thomas, 49ers, Davis
There continues to be lots of talk about Solomon Thomas going No. 2 overall, Matt Miller of Bleacher Report hears (Twitter links). However, he’s not totally convinced that it’ll the 49ers taking him. On one hand, the Niners could use a strong 4-3 defensive end and Thomas could be used a role similar to what Michael Bennett has filled for Seattle. At the same time, Miller can also see the Niners trading out from No. 2, allowing the Panthers or Jaguars to move up for Thomas.
Miller speculates that SF could send the No. 2 overall pick to Carolina for the Nos. 8 and 40 selections. Recently, PFR’s Dallas Robinson ran down a number of scenarios in which the Panthers could come away with that highly-coveted draft choice.
While we wait to see how that plays out, here’s a roundup of the latest draft rumors:
- The Browns are visiting with Western Michigan wide receiver Corey Davis today and tomorrow (Wednesday and Thursday), Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets. Davis missed the combine with an ankle injury but he is still considered to be one of the very best wide receivers in this year’s class. Last year, he had 97 catches for 1,500 yards and 19 touchdowns.
- The Ravens are hosting prospects a number of big name prospects this week, including Alabama outside linebacker Tim Williams and North Carolina State safety Josh Jones (Twitter link via Albert Breer of The MMQB). Williams is said to have serious upside, but concerns about his conditioning and motivation may push him into the second round. This will mark Jones’ second meeting with Baltimore.
- Quarterback Deshaun Watson is scheduled to be with the Jaguars on Wednesday and Thursday (Twitter link via Josina Anderson of ESPN.com).
- Ohio State cornerback Marshon Lattimore is on his way to visit with the Titans, a source tells Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (on Twitter). The Titans could consider him at No. 5 overall.
- Ohio State safety Malik Hooker is visiting with the Bears, Rapoport tweets.
Cowboys Release Tony Romo
The Cowboys are releasing Tony Romo, according to Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (on Twitter). The move will be designated as a post-June 1 cut, allowing the Cowboys to disperse the cap hit over the next two seasons. The necessary paperwork has been sent in to the league office, Todd Archer of ESPN.com hears (Twitter link). 
“We wish Tony and his family nothing but the best,” said Cowboys owner Jerry Jones in a statement. “As an organization, we did what he asked us to do in terms of his release, and we wanted to do what was ultimately in his best interest and in the best interest of his family. Tony has been a wonderful representative of the Cowboys organization for 14 years, and he left everything he had on the field. He will leave us with many great memories and a legacy of being, truly, one of the greatest players in Cowboys history. We are thrilled for him and his family that he will be able to continue working as a professional in the game he so dearly loves. He is a young man who is just getting started on a long journey in life. All the best my friend.”
As we learned on Tuesday morning, Romo is headed to CBS where he will take over for Phil Simms as the network’s No. 1 color commentator. Some expected Romo to file retirement paperwork, but this move by the Cowboys will contractually allow him to sign elsewhere at some point, if he chooses. From a cap standpoint, the outcome is roughly the same. But, technically, Romo will be free to return in a different uniform, and that will leave the door open to speculation.
Romo, 37 in April, has been through a myriad of injuries in recent years and his health was said to be a driving factor in his decision. Certainly, the opportunity that awaits him at CBS also helped to push him in this direction. Romo won’t be taking too much of a pay cut as he transitions to TV and, obviously, he won’t be risking the same kind of wear and tear to his body. The Cowboys reportedly will not go after his bonus money, so he’ll get to hold on to ~$5MM that the team could have theoretically withheld.
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Tony Romo To Sign With CBS
Rumors of Tony Romo landing with the Texans, Broncos, or some other team circulated for months before today’s news of his retirement. Apparently, Romo won’t be leaving us wondering for too long about his next career move. After also receiving serious interest from FOX, Romo has reached verbal agreement on a deal with CBS, according to John Ourand of Sports Business Daily. 
Romo will be in the booth alongside play-by-play announcer Jim Nantz in the network’s “A-Team” package. That means that Romo will be calling CBS’ most important game of the week and will almost certainly be making the most money of any color analyst in the family. The arrival of Romo will displace Phil Simms and it’s not immediately clear whether he’ll remain with CBS in a different capacity.
Ourand hears that CBS offered more money than FOX and also a more prestigious position. FOX, apparently, wanted Romo to replace new 49ers GM John Lynch on their B-Team. Romo’s familiarity with the NFC would have made him a fit for FOX, but he would have been effectively blocked from moving up to the A-Team thanks to the presence of Troy Aikman. Aikman is just 50 years old and unlikely to retire anytime soon. Another plus to the CBS offer was the potential for Romo to eventually do some golf commentary, Adam Schefter of ESPN.com tweets.
Romo’s decision to step away from football makes a bit more sense when considering the salary and visibility that will come with the CBS job. Some in football seem to think that Romo could return to the Cowboys in the event of an injury, but he might not want to step away from one of the game’s best broadcasting gigs in order to do that.
Cowboys QB Tony Romo Retires From NFL
Tony Romo will retire from the NFL in order to begin a new career in broadcasting, as Adam Schefter of ESPN.com writes. Romo has reportedly drawn interest from at least two of the league’s major television partners, but it’s not clear which network he’ll be joining. What we do know is that he won’t be taking the field for the start of the 2017 season. 
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Ultimately, Romo’s decision came down to health. After two lost seasons, Romo apparently did not feel good about the idea of taking the field for his age-37 season. The veteran has suffered collarbone and back injuries, including the compression fracture that opened the door for Dak Prescott in 2016.
This year, speculation was rampant that the Texans and Broncos would go hard after Romo. However, in recent weeks, we’ve been hearing that their interest has cooled. At minimum, both teams had decided that they would not be willing to trade for him, which makes sense given his enormous contract and Jerry Jones’ asking price, which was believed to be high. It’s not clear what each franchise would have been willing to offer Romo as a free agent, nor do we know if he would have been guaranteed a starting job in Week 1. That’s especially true in Denver, where the Broncos have two quality young QBs. For now, it’ll be Trevor Siemian and Paxton Lynch fighting for the job in Denver. Meanwhile, Houston as Tom Savage penciled in as the QB1 with Brandon Weeden as the understudy.
Dallas will be able to split Romo cap hit over two years without designating him as a post-June 1 release or even releasing him, as Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets. If Romo officially retires on June 2 or later, they can take cap hits of $10.7MM in 2017 and $8.9MM in ’18 rather than one giant $24.7MM hit in the coming year. However, not everyone is convinced that Romo is done for good.
“Romo is now every teams emergency backup QB in case your starter gets hurt. [They can] pay him to come out of “retirement.’ ,” one anonymous team executive texted to Schefter (on Twitter).
Meanwhile, Jane Slater of NFL Network (Twitter link) hears from one source that it’s a soft retirement for Romo. If the Cowboys ever really needed him, he would consider a return. As CBS and FOX (and possibly NBC) vie for him, Romo may push for an opt-out clause that would allow him to come back to the NFL whenever he chooses.
Minor NFL Transactions: 4/3/17
Here are today’s minor moves.
- The Titans have agreed to terms with cornerback Demontre Hurst, according to a team announcement. Hurst spent the past three seasons with Chicago, where he totaled 58 tackles and two interceptions. Hurst is the eighth player signed by the Titans since the opening of free agency.
- As expected, tight end Trey Burton signed his one-year RFA tender, per an announcement from the Eagles. It’s a one-year, $2.746MM contract.
- Three Broncos signed their ERFA tenders. Starting center Matt Paradis, reserve wide receiver Jordan Taylor and long snapper Casey Kreiter signed tenders and will make $615K in 2017, Cameron Wolfe of the Denver Post reports. Denver extended ERFA tender offers to five other players — including outside linebacker Shaquil Barrett — but none of the remaining contingent has signed yet.
Broncos, Texans Won’t Trade For Tony Romo
Cowboys owner Jerry Jones has opened up the lines of communication for a Tony Romo deal to go down. So far, that has not spurred any action. The Broncos and Texans still will not trade for Romo, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets. 
Instead, it seems that both teams will wait to see if Romo is released by Dallas. From there, they can freely negotiate with Romo (if they choose) without sacrificing draft compensation. They should also be able to sign him at a cheaper rate that his current contract calls for.
Romo does not want to play out the season as Dak Prescott‘s backup it seems unlikely that Jones would force him to stay. That doesn’t leave the Cowboys with an awful lot of options. At this point, it’s the smart play for Denver and Houston to bide their time and see what happens. Even if Romo reaches the open market, the Broncos might not be willing to go all out for him given that they have two quality QBs already under contract.
Vikings Sign P Ryan Quigley
The Vikings have signed punter Ryan Quigley, according to a team announcement. He may now be slated to replace Jeff Locke, who left the team via free agency to sign with the Colts. 
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Quigley spent three years with the Jets before landing with the Cardinals for a portion of last season. In six games with Arizona, he averaged 41.6 yards per punt on 34 attempts. For his career, he has averaged 44.6 yards per punt.
The Vikings now have two punters in the house between Quigley and Taylor Symmank, a Texas Tech product who signed a futures deal earlier this year.
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Ray Rice Takes High School Coaching Job
After three years away from the NFL, it sounds like Ray Rice might be pursuing a different career path. The former Ravens running back has taken a job as a running backs coach at Don Bosco Prep High School in New Jersey, a source tells Dianna Russini of ESPN.com (on Twitter). 
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Don Bosco is one of the country’s top high school football programs and the Bergen County powerhouse recently shook things up by parting ways with Greg Toal and replacing him with former Rutgers quarterback Mike Teel. Teel, in turn, has hired his former Scarlet Knights teammate.
Last month, Rice indicated that he would not give up on his goal of returning to the NFL. His new coaching gig is probably not a white flag towards a return to playing, but Rice may be coming to terms with the fact that he won’t be getting a call. He may also view the high school coaching job as a good way to rebuild his public persona.
Even putting the obvious issues aside, Rice is a 30-year-old running back who didn’t look all that great when he was on the field in 2013. The New York native averaged just 3.1 yards per carry in his last NFL season, a far cry from his career-high 5.3 yards per carry mark in 2009. Ultimately, signing Rice would bring about a public relations firestorm that just isn’t worth it.
Bills Host CB B.W. Webb On Visit
The Bills are hosting free-agent cornerback B.W. Webb on a visit today, the team announced. Webb could provide depth in a cornerback group that sorely needs it. 
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If the season started today (fortunately for most of the NFL, it does not), the Bills’ starting corners would be Kevon Seymore and Ronald Darby. The Bills lost their ace corner when Stephon Gilmore signed with the Patriots and their decision to bounce slot cornerback Nickell Robey-Coleman did not help matters.
Webb, 27 in May, could be called upon to provide support, even if he’s not used as a starter. Last season, he appeared in 14 games for the Saints and made seven starts, but he did not necessarily play like a first-stringer. Webb finished out the year as Pro Football Focus’ No. 76 cornerback in the NFL, placing him in the middle of the pack in a group of 111 qualified players at his position.
With many of the bigger names already off the board, Webb is our No. 8 ranked free agent cornerback.
Giants’ Odighizuwa Stepping Away From NFL
Giants defensive end Owa Odighizuwa is stepping away from the NFL. The former third-round pick took to Twitter moments ago to announce what could be termed as a soft retirement. 
“I have all love for everyone.. at [this] point [in] time, I believe it’s in my best interest to take some time to get away from the game,” Odighizuwa wrote.
We heard earlier this year that this would be a “do-or-die offseason” for Odighizuwa. The 2015 third-rounder didn’t do much in his two NFL seasons and he acknowledged that he’d have to step it up in order to stick in New York.
“It’s real important for me,” Odighizuwa said. “That’s how I’m approaching it, that it’s kind of do-or-die in terms of my preparation and getting ready. You have to exhaust all of your resources into training properly and getting ready for the year. Really pouring everything you have into preparation.”
Odighizuwa had two years remaining on his Giants contract.