Chargers’ Spanos On Joey Bosa Saga
Earlier this week, the Joey Bosa saga finally came to a close when the Chargers and the rookie’s reps compromised on a contract. As the talks dragged on, the tenor of the negotiations got uglier and uglier, including the Bolts’ unprecedented move of publicly releasing details of their contract offer. That press release raised eyebrows in the football world, but team president of football operations John Spanos says he has no regrets. 
[RELATED: Chargers Release James Jones]
“Obviously, it was a difficult decision,” Spanos told Xtra 1360 Fox Sports Radio (via ESPN.com). “Any time you’re in a tough negotiation, everything you do is a difficult decision. And let me be clear: It’s certainly never our preference to make any public comments. It’s not how we’ve operated in the past, I would say, and only [on] the rarest of occasions. In fact, I’ve probably been involved in hundreds of player negotiations and contract agreements, whether it’s helping out or leading, throughout my lifetime, and that’s the first time I’ve ever said anything public.
“So that shows you how rare that is. It’s not what we prefer to do — only, I would say, when we’re forced to do it. The bottom line is if someone were to tell me that’s why we got it done, then, yeah, I would do it again, because our goal the whole time was we wanted him here. And we were going to do whatever it takes to get him here.”
Releasing the details of the offer probably rubbed Bosa the wrong way and some believe that it could give pause to rookies and free agents in the future. Spanos personally believes that free agents will not be deterred by the tenor of the Bosa negotiations and feels that sunny San Diego will continue to be a desirable landing spot for players. I can’t dispute the appeal of San Diego as a city, but I have my doubts as to whether players will turn a blind eye to the way the Bosa discussions went.
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Wondering what Joey Bosa will look like in his new Chargers jersey now that he’s under contract? We got you covered. When Tim Tebow auditioned for MLB teams this week, we asked readers for their take and even shoehorned in Rick And Morty. Shortly after the Rams used the No. 1 overall pick Jared Goff, we were first with a realistic jersey swap. Ditto for Arian Foster and the Dolphins after they agreed to a one-year deal.
So, what are you waiting for? If you’re not already, follow Pro Football Rumors on Instagram today!
Cowboys To Sign Jerrod Johnson
Rejoice, Texas A&M fans. The Cowboys will sign Jerrod Johnson to serve as Jameill Showers‘ emergency backup for tonight’s preseason finale against the Texans, Clarence Hill of the Star-Telegram tweets. 
Johnson, 28, has yet to appear in a regular season game for an NFL team, but he has had stints with five different teams, including practice squad tours. Since going undrafted in 2011, Johnson has signed deals with the Eagles, Steelers, Seahawks, Bears, and Ravens. However, with the rash of injuries in Dallas, Johnson could have an opportunity to hook on with the Cowboys as their No. 3 QB behind Showers and Week 1 starter Dak Prescott.
In four years at Texas A&M, Johnson completed 650 of his 1,109 total passes, totaling a 58.6% percentage. He threw 67 touchdowns against 27 interceptions.
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Impact Rookies: Arizona Cardinals
The old adage that defense wins championships may or may not be true, but you’ll be hard-pressed to find a title-winning team that didn’t build heavily through the draft. Rookie classes, naturally, are evaluated on the perceived upside of the NFL newcomers, but which rookies are ready to contribute right out of the gate? And, how do they fit in with their new team schematically?
To help us forecast the immediate future of these NFL neophytes, we enlisted the help of draft guru Dave-Te Thomas who has served as a scouting personnel consultant to NFL teams for multiple decades.
First Round – Robert Nkemdiche, DT (Mississippi State, No. 29 overall)
The NFL Draft Report casts a wary eye on the Cardinals’ first round selection. In sort of a déjà vu’ for the staff, could this Ole Miss prospect pull a “Honey Badger” and see the error of his ways off the football field, or are we again seeing a remake of the Demetrius Underwood situation, where a talented player simply self-destructs in life? We are very cautiously including him in this article, because it’s hard to cast the troubled Nkemdiche as an “impact player,” despite his talent. 
[RELATED – Click here to read our in-depth recap of the Cardinals’ offseason]
Currently, Nkemdiche is slated to be one of the first defensive ends off of the bench in relief of Chandler Jones and Calais Campbell. The Cardinals say they want to extend Campbell, but that could be a tall order as they also have to carve out a monster deal to retain Jones. If all works out with Nkemdiche, he can serve as insurance against Campbell going elsewhere in free agency.
Nkemdiche has Ndamukong Suh-like athletic ability, but his problems occur when he seems to throttle down more than he plays with intensity. His occasional “let-ups” on the field became much more noticeable this year and he did seem to be more concerned about his running back duties than he did in giving pursuit as a defender. The Ole Miss defender made only two long distance tackles this year, despite having valid lateral agility and burst to give proper chase. When his head is in the game, Nkemdiche demonstrates the ability to easily take plays from the chalkboard to the field.
He needs minimal reps to retain and evident by the fact that he has started every game during his career, he has a good feel for blocking schemes and the vision to locate the ball in a hurry. He understands his assignments and his feel for the ball is above average, but his woeful inconsistency and attention to detail can be maddening, at times. He is not the type who will make an effort on every play to get to the ball and there are more than a few times where he is caught out of position due to a mental error.
Nkemdiche is a hard worker in the weight room, but is the type that needs to be pushed to get the best effort out of him. He has the ability to be a self-starter and he is a good field leader who lets his actions speak louder than his words, but his inconsistency has now become an issue. He is compliant to the coach’s wishes and plays with good intensity and effort when he performs to his ability, but he runs too hot-and-cold to be strongly considered a football player on par with his athleticism.
Ultimately, on the field, we believe that Nkemdiche has a lot to offer. How he performs at the next level, however, will hinge largely on his own head.
Cowboys Unlikely To Sign QB Austin Davis
The Cowboys quarterback search continues. This week, the Cowboys met with Austin Davis, but it no longer sounds like they are intent on signing him, Todd Archer of ESPN.com tweets. As Archer notes, it’s not exactly clear where the Cowboys will turn in their pursuit of quarterback depth now. 
One thing we do know is that the Cowboys are only seeking a player to serve as a backup to Dak Prescott until Tony Romo is ready to return to action. The Broncos reached out to the Cowboys hoping that they might want to instead use Mark Sanchez as their starter over the next few weeks, but Dallas did not have interest in the USC product at his current salary. Meanwhile, it now sounds like Romo will be out for a minimum of two months.
Davis, 27, has 13 games (10 starts) on his resume. Most of that action came in 2014, when he started in eight contests for the Rams, completing 61% of his passes for 2,001 yards, 12 touchdowns, and nine interceptions. In Cleveland last year, Davis started two games, tossing one touchdown and two picks.
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Tony Romo’s Prognosis Worsens
Initially, when Tony Romo went down with a back injury, the word was that he would be sidelined for six to ten weeks. Turns out, six weeks was a bit too optimistic as a best case scenario. Romo will be out for eight to ten weeks, a source tells Clarence E. Hill Jr. of the Star-Telegram. 
[RELATED: Cowboys Could Sign QB Austin Davis]
The new timetable means that the Cowboys will be leaning on rookie Dak Prescott for a bit longer than initially anticipated. It also effects how the Cowboys will handle Romo’s absence from a roster perspective. Now that Romo is out for a minimum of two months, the team is more likely to use the IR/DTR designation on him to allow for a mid-season return.
Romo suffered a compression fracture to his L1 vertebrae and that must fully heal before he will be allowed to play. In 2014, Romo was able to tough it out and play through two transverse process fractures in his back, but that is considered to be less serious of a problem. Transverse process fractures are considered to be more like a muscle tear where as Romo’s currently injury is more like a bone fracture.
“We’re certainly getting our hands around it,” Cowboys executive vice president Stephen Jones said of the roster decision on Wednesday, before the latest update on Romo’s timetable. “We’ll be needing to make that decision obviously sometime later in the weekend. Whatever we do with him, he’ll need to be on our 53 when we cut it on Friday. So you’ve got to have him through the 53 cut before you can put him on designated to return, if we wanted to consider that. But it may be that we just keep him on the roster. We’ll just see.”
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Redskins Sign Cullen Jenkins
WEDNESDAY, 5:56pm: As expected, Jenkins will earn the veteran minimum, which in the 35-year-old 13th-year veteran’s cas
e will be $985K, Master Tefatsion of the Washington Post reports (on Twitter). Jenkins, who twice earned more than $6MM in a season earlier in his career, played for $1.4MM last season with the Giants.
MONDAY, 11:24am: Cullen Jenkins‘ tour of the NFC East continues. The Redskins have agreed to sign the veteran defensive end to a one-year deal, according to a source who spoke with Mike Jones of the Washington Post (on Twitter).
Jenkins worked out for the Redskins today and it didn’t take long for a deal to materialize. Jenkins will now join Stephen Paea, Ricky Jean-Francois, James Gayle, and Corey Crawford on the Redskins depth chart behind presumptive starters Chris Baker and Kendall Reyes. Jenkins will probably still have to prove himself to Redskins coaches in order to make the upcoming 53-man cut.
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Steelers Claim Zach Mettenberger
4:16pm: The Steelers announced they placed Bruce Gradkowski on IR to clear a roster spot for Mettenberger. Gradkowski re-signed with Pittsburgh in May on a one-year, $965K deal with $80K guaranteed. The 33-year-old passer spent last season on IR as well, with a thumb injur
y derailing his season. This time, a torn hamstring will end his season early.
3:25pm: Zach Mettenberger is now with his third team of the 2016 offseason. The Steelers have claimed the quarterback off waivers from the Chargers, Jason La Canfora of CBSSports.com tweets.
Mettenberger now joins Landry Jones and Bryn Renner on the depth chart behind Ben Roethlisberger. It’s possible that the Steelers are looking at Mettenberger as a third-string option instead of Renner, a player who could probably be snuck through waivers and stashed on the taxi squad.
The 24-year-old was a sixth-round pick of the Titans in the 2014 draft. In his rookie season, Mettenberger saw time in seven games (six starts) and threw for eight touchdowns with seven interceptions. Early on this offseason, the Chargers claimed Mettenberger off waivers from the Titans. Days ago, the Bolts dropped him as they trimmed down to a 75-man roster.
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Cowboys Could Sign Austin Davis Today
The Cowboys could sign Austin Davis today, according to Charean Williams of the Star-Telegram (on Twitter). However, they will continue to keep an eye on the waiver wire to see what quarterbacks may become available. 
Dallas flirted with the idea of trading for a quarterback after Kellen Moore broke his leg and the QB search went into high gear after Tony Romo suffered a serious back injury in the preseason. However, the Cowboys have found that the asking price for established quarterbacks is too high for their liking. Josh McCown was once a target for Dallas, for example, but they did not want to give up a fourth-round draft choice for him.
In Davis, the Cowboys see a much cheaper alternative to the McCowns and Glennons of the world. However, one has to wonder if he can be as effective on the field as those guys if called upon.
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K’Waun Williams Fails Bears Physical
K’Waun Williams won’t be joining the Bears after all. Claimed off waivers from the Browns just yesterday, Williams failed his physical today with Chicago. 
Williams is in limbo once again and it’s just the latest turn in the cornerback’s strange offseason. The 25-year-old held himself out of the Browns’ preseason opener after injuring his ankle. The Browns believed that his ankle was fine and insisted that he play. When he did not comply, the team slapped him with a fine and suspension. Then, before the 75-man deadline, the Browns decided to drop him from the roster.
If Williams was healthy, he could have been a quality option for Chicago in the slot. Now, the Bears will continue to look for cornerback health. Meanwhile, today’s failed physical may give additional credence to Williams’ claim that he was too hurt to play in Cleveland.
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