NFL Supplemental Draft Set For July 11
The NFL’s supplemental draft will be held on July 11, a league official tells Adam Schefter of ESPN.com (on Twitter). Unlike previous years, this year’s “second chance” draft features some quality talent and it’s almost assured that a player will be selected. 
Former Western Michigan cornerback Sam Beal was already projected to be taken high in the 2019 NFL draft and it is believed that he will go somewhere in the first three rounds of next month’s supplemental draft. Beal, a 6’1″ corner, notched two interceptions and ten pass deflections last year as he put himself squarely on the NFL radar. His raw athleticism is a major draw for clubs – he started out as a wide receiver and only started playing cornerback in 2016. Despite his inexperience, he has flashed tremendous potential in the secondary.
In addition to Beal, there’s also Virginia Tech cornerback Adonis Alexander and Mississippi State safety Brandon Bryant for teams to consider. It seems likely that Beal will be the first player to come off of the board, but Alexander has been auditioned by just about every team in the NFL.
If a player is selected during any of the supplemental draft’s seven rounds, the team will have to sacrifice the equivalent pick for the following year’s rookie draft. There have only been 43 players selected in the supplemental draft since 1977, including two in the past six years (the Browns selected wideout Josh Gordon in 2012 while the Rams selected Isaiah Battle in 2015).
Latest On Patriots’ Julian Edelman
Julian Edelman‘s appeal of his four-game drug suspension will be heard on Monday, Dan Graziano of ESPN.com hears. Edelman’s camp, in part, will argue that the league mishandled the documentation and delivery of the wide receiver’s test results. 
Edelman’s team is prepared to present a two-pronged attack on the league’s claims of PED use. Not only will he call the league’s handling of the samples into question, but Edelman will also point out the substance he tested positive for wasn’t one the league’s drug testers recognized.
Edelman, 32, missed the entire 2017 season after tearing an ACL during the preseason. If his suspension stands, he’ll have to wait an extra four games before making his return.
Naturally, the wide receiver is desperate to get back on the field. And, with that in mind, Graziano openly wonders whether this case could drag into federal court, similar to how Deflategate played out. It should be noted that Edelman is being represented by Alex Spiro, a high-priced New York attorney who has represented many NBA players in legal matters. Should Edelman lose his appeal, it’s a situation worth keeping an eye on.
This Date In Transactions History: Joe Horn Retires
On this date in 2010, wide receiver Joe Horn officially called it a career. By signing a one-day deal with the Saints, Horn found the perfect way to ride into the sunset while also patching things up with the franchise that helped make him famous. 
Horn entered the league with the Chiefs in 1996, but he made his name with the Saints starting in 2000. Horn seemingly came from out of the blue to notch 94 catches, 1,430 yards, and eight touchdowns in his first season with New Orleans, earning him his first of four career Pro Bowl selections. Through the highs (helping the franchise to its first playoff victory), lows (a five-year playoff drought), and the in-between (hiding a cell phone in the goal post), Horn was out in front as one of the Saints’ premier players.
However, his Saints tenure ended on an awkward note in 2007 when he joined up with the rival Falcons. Things were a bit frosty between the outspoken wide receiver and the organization, but the two sides patched things up years later when he was inducted into the team’s Hall of Fame.
“I appreciate the city that welcomed me, and I’m humbled by this day, ” Horn said (via the Times-Picayune). “When I was embracing Coach [Sean] Payton and we immediately started reliving the good times, I felt very good leaving that golf course.”
Horn tried hard to find success after his time with the Saints, but he was never able to replicate those results. At the age of 35, the Falcons used him as a bit player in 2007. He later auditioned for the Lions, Giants, and Titans, but did not find a deal in 2008 or 2009.
It only makes sense that the Saints and Horn put the ugliness behind them to focus on the positives. Although Marques Colston and Jimmy Graham pushed him down the list in many statistical categories, Horn is still third all-time in Saints history in touchdown receptions (50), receiving yards (7,622), and receptions (523).
Tre Boston On Cardinals, Colts Visits
Tre Boston‘s recent visit to the Cardinals yielded a contract offer. However, it was a “very, very disrespectful” one, according to the safety (Twitter links via SiriusXM). 
The Cardinals “rolled out the red carpet” for Boston late last month, but the end result was a deal that he found insulting. Meanwhile, his visit with the Colts might not have been serious at all.
“I didn’t meet with the GM, head coach or defensive coordinator,” Boston said of his visit to Indy. “I was in the lunch room for two hours. I even got to play basketball.”
Like several other veteran safeties, Boston finds himself in limbo this summer. He finds the situation frustrating, to say the least.
“It’s kinda rough man, they got us where they think they want us,” Boston said. “For us, we have to communicate with each other so we don’t take this minimum wage.”
The longer things drag on, the more likely it is that Boston and his fellow safeties will have to accept minimum wage deals. Tyvon Branch, Ron Parker, Eric Reid, and Kenny Vaccaro are also among the safeties without contracts as we head into July.
Patriots Sign Top Pick Isaiah Wynn
The Patriots have signed top draft pick Isaiah Wynn, according to Field Yates of ESPN.com (on Twitter). Wynn will receive $11.44MM over the course of his four-year rookie contract, in accordance with his slot at No. 23 overall. 
The Patriots were drawn to Wynn, in part, because of his versatility. The Georgia product has the ability to play both guard and tackle, but he has been lining up primarily at left guard this offseason. Wynn, it seems, will battle with Trent Brown for a spot on the starting lineup. The loser of that competition will head to the bench to serve as a swing backup.
Wynn is said to be a technically-sound blocker with above-average athleticism. At 6’2″ (or 6’3″, depending on who you ask), he may be a bit undersized for tackle at the pro level, but time will tell whether he can handle both positions.
With Wynn locked up, the Pats have only one unsigned draft pick remaining – fellow Georgia product Sony Michel.
49ers Sign OL Laken Tomlinson To Extension
The 49ers agree to three-year extension with offensive lineman Laken Tomlinson, a source tells Mike Garafolo of NFL.com (on Twitter). The deal is worth a maximum of $18MM with $10MM in guarantees. 
Earlier this year, the Niners declined Tomlinson’s fifth-year option for 2019, which would have cost the team $9.6MM (guaranteed for injury only). Instead, the Niners have opted to extend their period of control over Tomlinson while giving him a guarantee that is roughly in the same range.
The new deal is an indication that Tomlinson has performed well in practice this spring. In all likelihood, he’ll be starting at left guard in September, between left tackle Joe Staley and high-priced center Weston Richburg. First-round pick Mike McGlinchey will hold down the right tackle job while Joshua Garnett, Jonathan Cooper, and Mike Person battle for the top right guard spot.
Tomlinson, 26, was made the No. 28 overall pick in the 2015 draft by the Lions. He started the first two years of his career at left guard for the Lions and served in the same capacity for the Niners after coming over in a trade last summer. Tomlinson missed the 2017 season opener, but played in the next 15 games.
Last year, Tomlinson earned the best marks of his career from Pro Football Focus. He graded out as the league’s No. 32 ranked guard, per PFF, which shows that he is clearly a starting caliber player. Still, the Niners opted to turn down his fifth-year option in order to lock him up at a lesser rate going forward.
Poll: Best Free Agent RB Remaining?
Even as June winds down, there are a surprising number of quality running backs still available on the open market. The current free agent crop of backfield options includes some notable names, such as: 
- Jamaal Charles (31)
- Orleans Darkwa (26)
- Tim Hightower (32)
- Eddie Lacy (27)
- Alfred Morris (29)
- DeMarco Murray (30)
- Adrian Peterson (33)
- Shane Vereen (29)
Charles, Hightower, Vereen, and Murray were all on the Saints’ radar recently as they canvassed the free agent market for running back support. Ultimately, they signed Terrance West to help fill in during Mark Ingram‘s four-game suspension, leaving the other vets in limbo. While Charles, Hightower, and Vereen all showed their stuff for coach Sean Payton, Murray declined his invite, preferring not to participate in a giant cattle call.
When considering only past accomplishments, the names of Peterson, Charles, and Murray obviously stand out. But, unfortunately, father time is cruel to NFL running backs and these players are on the back nines of their careers, to put it mildly. Out of this trio, Murray has the best 2017 to show teams. Even though his job as the Titans’ top rusher was usurped by Derrick Henry, he had 39 catches for 266 yards and occasionally showed the powerful rushing that made him a force to be reckoned with in Dallas. Charles, he of several 1,000-yard seasons, had only 296 rushing yards in total and found himself at the bottom of Denver’s depth chart to close out the season. Peterson, meanwhile, forced his way out of New Orleans due to a lack of playing time and had only two performances of note in his run with the Cardinals.
Lacy signed with the Seahawks last year and hoped to put concerns about his health and conditioning to rest. Unfortunately, those questions persist after he averaged just 2.6 yards per carry in nine games. Lacy was a bulldozer in his early days with the Packers, but his last season of note came in 2015 when he averaged 4.1 yards per carry. Even then, ball security was a problem as he fumbled the ball four times.
Darkwa is back on the NFL radar after doctors cleared him to workout. Darkwa won’t win this poll on name value, but unlike everyone else on this list, he’s coming off of the best season of his career.The 26-year-old (did we mention that he’s also the youngest running back here?) ran for 751 yards off of 171 carries, good for a strong 4.4 yards per carry average. It was an ugly year for the Giants on the whole, but Darkwa excelled on a personal level.
Vereen, another ex-Giant, can’t say the same for his 2017 season. However, his second act with the Giants has been respectable on the whole. Acting as a secondary ball carrier, he has averaged 4.2 yards per carry over the last three seasons. He also showed that he can still be a worthwhile pass catcher out of the backfield with 44 grabs for 253 yards last season, though he averaged a career-low 5.8 yards per catch.
Last but not least is Morris, though you can be forgiven for forgetting about this three-time 1,000-yard rusher. Morris was a force to be reckoned with from 2012-2014, but he has been riding the pine for the Cowboys over the last two years. What you might not realize is that Morris was tremendous in a small sample last year as Ezekiel Elliott‘s early-season backup and later-season fill-in. Morris averaged 4.76 yards per carry off of 115 attempts, which makes one wonder why we haven’t heard his name mentioned in recent months.
Out of the running backs listed here, which player do you feel can contribute the most in 2018? Click below to cast your vote and defend your choice in the comments section.
Who Is The Best Free Agent RB Left?
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DeMarco Murray 29% (57)
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Alfred Morris 24% (47)
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Orleans Darkwa 17% (33)
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Adrian Peterson 15% (29)
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Jamaal Charles 8% (16)
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Eddie Lacy 6% (12)
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Tim Hightower 2% (4)
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Shane Vereen 1% (2)
Total votes: 200
Orleans Darkwa Cleared For Workouts
Free agent running back Orleans Darkwa has been given the medical greenlight from doctors, as Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets. Darkwa will now be able to work out for teams, which will make him an interesting summer pickup for teams in need of backfield reinforcements. 
Darkwa had several offers in free agency, but did not find any deals to his liking. Those clubs were encouraged by his decision to have a plate removed from his leg in May and he should draw plenty of interest after healing up from the procedure.The signing of unrestricted free agents no longer counts against the 2019 compensatory draft pick formula at this stage of the offseason, so a team won’t have much to lose by signing Darkwa to a relatively inexpensive one-year deal.
Darkwa visited the Patriots in April, but they’re already overloaded at running back with first-round pick Sony Michel, James White, Jeremy Hill, Rex Burkhead, Mike Gillislee, and Brandon Bolden under contract (not to mention fullback James Develin). The Giants reportedly had some level of interest in re-signing him, but they’ve since drafted Penn State standout Saquon Barkley with the No. 2 overall pick and signed veteran Jonathan Stewart . The crosstown Jets were also eyeing Darkwa at one point, but they signed Isaiah Crowell and Thomas Rawls.
Darkwa had the best year of his NFL career in 2017 with career-highs in starts (11), rushes (171), yards (751), and touchdowns (five). The 26-year-old managed 4.4 yards per carry, and also added 19 receptions for 116 yards in the passing game. Overall, Darkwa was roughly a league-average running back, as he finished 22nd among 45 qualifiers in DVOA, Football Outsiders’ efficiency metric.
Restructuring Contracts
When an NFL team finds itself short on cap flexibility and in need of some space, one of the most effective short-term fixes is to restructure a player’s long-term contract. While cutting or trading players can often be solutions as well, a contract restructure allows the team to keep its roster intact while also providing immediate cap relief.
The base salaries of NFL contracts typically aren’t guaranteed, but players can receive guaranteed money in the form of signing bonuses. While those bonuses are considered to be up-front payments, for cap purposes they can be spread out over up to five years of the contract. For instance, if a player were to sign a four-year deal with a $12MM signing bonus, that figure would prorate equally over the four years of the contract, amounting to a $3MM cap hit per year. If a team were to release that player one season into the deal, the club could avoid paying most of the player’s annual base salaries, but would still be on the hook for the remaining bonus money, along with the cap total for that money.
As such, the most common form of contract restructuring involves converting a portion of a player’s base salary for a given year into a new signing bonus. That bonus can then be spread out over several years, moving it away from the current season.
This is exactly the sort of agreement the Ravens and Tony Jefferson reached this offseason. In 2017, the Ravens signed Tony Jefferson to a four-year deal worth up to $37MM. This year, the Ravens moved some of that cash around to give themselves breathing room under the cap. Baltimore converted $5MM of Jefferson’s $6MM base salary into a signing bonus, creating $3.3MM in space for 2018. Meanwhile, Jefferson’s 2019 and 2020 cap numbers increased by $1.67MM.
Restructuring a contract by converting base salary to a signing bonus creates immediate relief, but also creates problems in future years. A year from now, the Ravens may have to make another move with Jefferson, which will likely mean restructuring his deal once again, to reduce a $12.657MM cap number for 2019.
There are ways a player can remain under contract with a team while also helping to create or maintain both short-term and long-term cap flexibility. A player agreeing to take a pay cut, for instance, could allow a team to reduce his current cap number without necessarily moving that money further down the line in the contract. However, that generally happens in situations in which the team’s leverage outweighs the player’s leverage.
In most cases then, a restructured contract that sees base salary converted into bonus money is the simplest short-term fix for a club. The bill will come due eventually, but restructuring a deal allows a team to put off a more significant decision for at least one more year.
Note: This is a PFR Glossary entry. Our glossary posts explain specific rules relating to free agency, trades, or other aspects of the NFL’s Collective Bargaining Agreement. Information from Joel Corry and Over the Cap was used in the creation of this post.
This Date In Transactions History: Redskins Sign Terry Crews
On this date in 1995, the Redskins signed linebacker Terry Crews. Yes, that Terry Crews. 
Crews, a 6’3″, 245-pound linebacker, was a standout at Western Michigan. The Los Angeles Rams took note and selected Crews with the No. 281 pick and he appeared in six games as a rookie in 1991. He later found his way to the Chargers, appearing in ten games for them in ’93. His next NFL opportunity came with the Redskins, who inked him in the summer of 1995.
Like his previous stints with the Rams and Chargers, Crews’ run with the Redskins was rather unremarkable. He recorded only one solo tackle and one assisted tackle in that ’95 season, though he did stick on the roster for the full season and dressed for all 16 games.
This would not be Crews’ last NFL contract. Later, he signed on with the rival Eagles, but quickly realized that football wasn’t for him.
“For two weeks, I stayed at the Holiday Inn across the street from Veterans Stadium. I just remember it was Christmas Day. It was the saddest thing ever, that Holiday Inn. I was eating old sausage and two little pancakes. It was so sad,” Crews said (via Philly.com). “I was missing my family. We lost the game to the 49ers – it was a playoff game. I just thought, I don’t want to do this anymore. The excitement wasn’t there.”
Crews didn’t find excitement or millions in the NFL, but he found a different path to fulfillment and riches. The 2002 comedy “Friday After Next” launched Crews into a lucrative acting career that included roles in several hit movies, including football comedy “The Longest Yard.” We won’t list his full IMDb here, but you get the point – Crews hit it big, just not on the gridiron.
Crews’ time with the Redskins wasn’t notable move from a football perspective, nor was his short-lived trip through Philadelphia. But Crews’ struggles throughout his NFL career made him appreciate the success that he discovered later in life.
“I was the name at the end of the roster,” said Crews, reflecting on his former life as a professional football player. “It wasn’t until after I became famous that people noticed I played in the NFL. I kind of snuck in!“