Titans Plan To Keep Isaiah Wilson
Earlier this week, Titans GM Jon Robinson put Isaiah Wilson on notice. However, the team does not plan to trade or release the offensive tackle, according to Terry McCormick of TitanInsider.com (on Twitter).
The Titans selected Wilson No. 29 overall in last year’s draft and they already have buyer’s remorse. After receiving a DUI and taking two turns on the COVID-19 list, he played just four snaps as a rookie. In Week 13, the Titans suspended him for violating team rules.
“He is going to have to make a determination on if he wants to do everything necessary to play pro football,” Robinson said, adding that he hasn’t spoken with Wilson since placing him on the NFI list.
Wilson, who just celebrated his 22nd birthday, has three years to go on his four-year, $11.6MM rookie deal. If he can get things in order, he could have a promising career ahead of him. Leading up to the draft, many saw Wilson as a potential Top 10 pick. At Georgia, Wilson was a standout. The 6-foot-6, 350-pound lineman earned All-SEC second team honors in 2019 after starting 10 of his 11 games. And, before that, he was named to the Football Writers Association of America Freshman All-America Team.
Lions’ Marvin Jones To Chase Super Bowl In Free Agency
Marvin Jones will be looking to play for a contender in 2021. In an interview with SiriusXM, Jones said that he’ll be looking to join a winner, though he still wants to get a fair value deal. 
[RELATED: Marvin Jones Interested In Dolphins?]
“At this point in my career, that’s what I want,” Jones said. (via Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press). “But at the same time, it’s not going to be — I’m not going to just straight sacrifice and not get what I’m worth just because I’ve put in my work to get where I’m at and it happened the first time and I did it, and I think I outplayed it the second time.”
Jones signed a five-year $40MM deal with the Lions in March of 2016 with $13MM fully guaranteed. He went on to have the most efficient year of his career in 2017, averaging a league-high 18 yards per grab. After that, injuries and issues with the Lions’ offense slowed him down a bit, though he’s remained productive. Last year, Jones turned in his best stat line since ’17 — 76 grabs for 978 yards and nine touchdowns.
Jones, 31 in March, will enter free agency as one of the best receivers available, just behind the likes of Allen Robinson and Chris Godwin. A return to the Lions still remains possible, but Jones would be catching passes from Jared Goff rather than longtime pal Matthew Stafford.
Allen Robinson: No “Viable Option” From Bears
Allen Robinson isn’t “opposed” to staying put, but there’s still work to be done. This week, the wide receiver said that he has yet to be given a “viable option” from the Bears. 
[RELATED: Bears Did Not Make Offer For Wentz]
“My personal opinion, if something could possibly work? Yes,” Robinson said (via Tyler Dunne of Go Long). “I’m not opposed to being back in Chicago by any means. I’ve even expressed that over the last couple of years — wanting to be the all-time leading receiver in Chicago which, I believe, I’m under 2,000 yards away from that. With all that being said, unfortunately we’ve come to what seems to be a fork in the road. But not even a fork. We haven’t even been given a viable option to be able to do those things that we want to do without sacrificing a ridiculous amount pretty much for the rest of my career.”
One option for the Bears would be to use the franchise tag on Robinson, but that wouldn’t be especially “viable” for either party. Robinson doesn’t want to get tagged, and he’s been vocal about it. Meanwhile, the Bears would have a tough time fitting Robinson into the budget at the WR 1-5 average. The Bears are currently projected to be $10MM over the 2021 cap, so key players would need to be cut in order to balance the books.
On the flipside, head coach Matt Nagy and GM Ryan Pace could be fighting for their jobs this year. Even if it’s not necessarily a good idea for the long term, the Bears could be inclined to pay Robinson what he wants. Robinson says he’s the market’s top wide receiver, which would put him in $20MM/year territory.
Minor NFL Transactions: 2/18/21
We’ll keep track of today’s minor moves here:
Atlanta Falcons
- Waived: QB Kurt Benkert
Denver Broncos
- Released: DT Kyle Peko; Peko was a COVID-19 opt-out in 2020
Detroit Lions
- Signed: DL Joel Heath
Falcons Release Ricardo Allen, Allen Bailey
The Falcons have released safety Ricardo Allen and defensive end Allen Bailey (Twitter link via ESPN.com’s Adam Schefter). Together, the moves will free up $10.75MM in salary cap space for Atlanta. 
Allen agreed to a simple contract restructuring last year to give the Falcons additional breathing room last year. This time around, the Falcons chose to wipe his entire deal off of the books. Previously, the safety was set to play out the final year of his three-year, $19.5MM deal. Instead, the Falcons will save a pretty penny with just $2.125MM in dead money left on the books.
Allen, a 2014 fifth-round pick, cracked the starting lineup in his second pro season. After 77 games (76 starts), he’ll seek new employment elsewhere. In 12 games last year, the 29-year-old registered 25 stops and a pair of interceptions.
Bailey inked a one-year, $4.5MM extension in the 2020 offseason. After spending his first eight seasons with the Chiefs, he found a regular role with the Falcons in 2019, appearing in 15 games and making five starts. Last year, he had perfect attendance with four starts, but the Falcons are looking to go younger and cheaper on the edge. In total, Bailey has 133 regular season games and 22 sacks to his credit.
Cardinals Hope To Re-Sign Patrick Peterson
The Cardinals hope to retain Patrick Peterson, owner Michael Bidwill says (via the team website). The cornerback has spent his entire ten-year career in Arizona, but he’ll be eligible for free agency in March. 
“Pat and I have had a number of conversations. I’ve been very clear that we want to have him back,” Bidwill said. “We all know that the salary cap is going to go down. I think a lot of these veteran players need to work with us, and they need to understand that while their salary expectations and their compensation expectations may be one thing, we’ve got to look at it from the reality that the salary cap is going down. It’s our hope we can work something out that works for both the club and for Pat to keep him in a Cardinals uniform. He’s been an important part of what we’ve done in the past, and hope to keep him in the future.”
Bidwill’s comments regarding the salary cap decrease are accurate, though the drop might not be all that severe. Earlier today, we learned that the league’s salary cap floor will be set at $180MM, rather than $175MM. That bodes well for the max, which was once projected to be $180MM-$181MM for 2021.
Peterson, meanwhile, is one of the most accomplished defenders in franchise history. Of courses, things have been bumpy in recent years. P2’s performance has slipped a bit over the past two seasons, and his 2019 PED suspension didn’t help his case much. Coincidentally, Peterson backed down from his trade demand right around the same time. In 2020, Pro Football Focus ranked Peterson as just the No. 83 CB in the NFL. In 2018, he placed fifth.
The Cardinals have a leg up on other teams, with Kyler Murray having multiple years to go on his rookie deal. However, they’ll have to balance their affinity for Peterson against other needs. They’ll also look to re-sign Larry Fitzgerald, if he ultimately decides to return for another season.
Eagles Trade Carson Wentz To Colts
The Eagles have agreed to trade Carson Wentz to the Colts, according to Adam Schefter and Chris Mortensen of ESPN.com (on Twitter). The deal will send a 2021 third-round pick and a conditional 2022 second-round pick to Philadelphia. That conditional choice could turn into a first-round selection if Wentz plays 75% of the snaps or 70% with a playoff appearance (Twitter link via NFL.com’s Mike Garafolo). 
Not long ago, Wentz was a legitimate MVP candidate. Things took a sharp turn in the Eagles’ Super Bowl season when Wentz’s injury gave way to the rise of Nick Foles. When Wentz, he wasn’t the same. Neither was the relationship between him and Doug Pederson. Now, they’re both out of Philadelphia.
Wentz will now try to fill the void left by Philip Rivers‘ retirement. Meanwhile, the Eagles are now poised to turn things over to Jalen Hurts, Wentz’s younger and more athletic counterpart.
There were other suitors for Wentz, but the Colts have long been linked to the former No. 2 overall pick. Three former Eagles coaches — Frank Reich, Mike Groh, and Press Taylor — are on the Colts’ staff, giving Wentz instant familiarity with the offense. The Bears, who have one-time Wentz QB coach John DeFilippo on the staff, were also said to be in the mix. Ditto for the Broncos, though they were lukewarm on him. The Broncos will now try to piece together an even bigger package for someone like Deshaun Watson or Russell Wilson. If they can’t land a top-tier QB, they’ll reportedly stay the course with Drew Lock.
Wentz’s injuries and apparent decline hurt his stock, but his contract was also a limiting factor. On the plus side, his cap number will be tamped down to ~$25MM for Indy, due to guarantees that will remain on the Birds’ books.
The Colts will now have Wentz under contract through 2024. His deal calls for a $25.4MM cap hit this year, with $15.4MM guaranteed and a $10MM roster bonus. In 2022, they’ll have him at a $22MM salary/cap hit, with $15MM locked in. After that, the guarantees dissipate, giving the Colts an escape hatch should things go awry.
With the Wentz deal, there are now zero first-round QBs from the 2009-2016 drafts with their original teams, as Field Yates of ESPN.com tweets. The deal also marks the trades of the 2016 draft’s No. 1 and No. 2 overall picks, inside of three weeks. Jared Goff — once a rising star in Los Angeles — was shipped to the Lions for Matthew Stafford just days ago.
NFL Raises Salary Cap Floor
The NFL has raised its salary cap floor to $180MM for 2021 (Twitter link via ESPN.com’s Adam Schefter). Previously, the cap minimum was set to be $175MM for the coming year.
The raising of the minimum could be a promising sign for the salary cap maximum in the coming year. The limit is still set to drop for the first time in years, but a higher floor could mean for a higher ceiling. Over the last few months, we’ve been hearing cap estimates of $180MM. Now, that’s the minimum spend, which, speculatively, could mean a cap of $190MM+.
Last year, the salary cap was $198.2MM for each of the league’s 32 teams. The league had been steadily increasing the cap every year since 2010, when the NFL was uncapped. If not for the pandemic, the 2021 cap would have easily exceeded $210MM.
There’s no word on when the cap max will be set, but it will be determined sometime between now and the new league year, which begins on March 17th. If the NFL is able to iron out new television deals with their broadcasting partners in the next few weeks, the cap could be positioned for a substantial jump in 2022. Reportedly, the league is aiming for a total of $100 billion over the next ten-year extension.
Jayon Brown Hopes To Stay With Titans
Jayon Brown is on track for free agency. But, if the Titans linebacker has his druthers, he’ll stay put, as ESPN.com’s Turron Davenport writes. 
“It would be huge staying with the Titans for another however-many years. I’ve grown to love the city,” Brown said. “The team drafted me, I know the system, know what’s expected of me and love the fan base. There’s a lot of comfort.”
Brown has developed into one of the Titans’ defensive leaders since joining the team as a fifth-round pick in 2017. This past season was set to be a huge platform year for the UCLA product. Instead, a complicated elbow injury shut him down in November.
This past season, the 25-year-old finished with one sack, one interception, eight passes defensed, two forced fumbles, and five tackles for loss in ten games. Previous to that, Brown logged a career-high 105 tackles in 2019. In 2018, his first year as a starter, he scored six sacks.
Up until his injury, Brown was on the field for every Titans snap in 2020. He’s an integral part of the defense, but he could find more lucrative offers elsewhere. As it stands, the Titans have less than $5MM in breathing room. Meanwhile, they’ll have to consider other internal free agents such as wide receiver Corey Davis, tight end Jonnu Smith, and cornerback Desmond King. There’s also the matter of defensive end Jadeveon Clowney, who says he wouldn’t mind staying in Nashville.
Broncos Not Interested In Carson Wentz
The Broncos aren’t all that interested in Carson Wentz, as James Palmer of NFL.com tweets. The Broncos have been linked to the Eagles QB, but they’re mostly targeting the top tier options on the market, rather than signal callers like Wentz. 
That top tier includes Deshaun Watson, if the Texans are willing to move him. Ditto for Russell Wilson, though it’s not quite clear if the Seahawks will seriously entertain offers. The Broncos pursued Matthew Stafford earlier this offseason, before he was shipped to the Rams, an indication that they saw Stafford as a potential upgrade to Drew Lock. In the case of Wentz, they are not so sure.
Lock didn’t have a banner year in 2020, throwing 15 interceptions in 13 games. However, he did finish strong in the final quarter of the regular season, posting seven touchdowns against just two interceptions. Denver’s top decision makers believe that Lock could build on that, making him a better option in 2021 than the former No. 2 overall pick.
Meanwhile, Watson has the Broncos on his list of preferred destinations, which would make Kareem Jackson very happy. Still, the Dolphins and 49ers are said to be even higher on Watson’s list. Ultimately, this could all lead the Broncos to stick with Lock and put their resources elsewhere in March.