Saints’ Mark Ingram Reports To Minicamp
Saints running back Mark Ingram has stayed away from the team so far this offseason has he angles for a new contract. However, he plans on being in attendance for the team’s mandatory minicamp in mid-June, according to coach Sean Payton (via Josh Katzenstein of the Times-Picayune). 
Offseason Team Activities (OTAs) are voluntary and some players choose not to attend, whether it be because of contract issues or personal preference. In Ingram’s case, he is sitting out OTAs to try and push the Saints to give him a new contract. A holdout during mandatory minicamp would be costly, so it only makes sense for Ingram to report to New Orleans in June.
In light of Ingram’s four-game PED suspension to start the year, it seems unlikely that the Saints will give him a new deal right now. His best bet might be to perform at a high level starting in Week 5 to compel the team to give him an extension, but the Saints may only be willing to go so far with young star Alvin Kamara and a cast of quality backups in the mix. The Saints were also open to dealing Ingram this offseason, though a pre-Halloween midseason trade could be a possibility.
Last year, Ingram posted career-highs in carries (230), yards (1,124), rushing touchdowns (12), and receptions (58). He’ll turn 29 in December.
Buccaneers Sign First-Round Pick Vita Vea
The Buccaneers announced that they have signed first-round pick Vita Vea. As the No. 12 overall selection in this year’s draft, Vea will receive a four-year $14.824MM deal with a fifth-year option at a yet-to-be-determined rate. 
The Bucs were extremely high on Vea coming into the draft and placed a top-five grade on the Washington product, GM Jason Licht said recently. The Buccaneers took a chance by trading the No. 7 pick to Buffalo, but they were able to come away with a player they badly wanted while picking up two second round picks.
Tevita Tuliʻakiʻono Tuipulotu Mosese Vaʻhae Fehoko Faletau Vea – or Vita Vea for short – tallied 43 total tackles (5.5 for a loss) and 3.5 sacks in his final year on campus. Although he is considered to be somewhat raw and will have to keep his weight under control, the Buccaneers believe that he can be a highly effective run stuffer in both 4-3 and 3-4 sets.
When lining up in their base 4-3, the Bucs project to start Vea and Gerald McCoy in the middle with Jason Pierre-Paul and Vinny Curry bookending them. On paper, the that projects to be one of the most menacing front lines in the league.
Scot McCloughan No Longer With Browns
This offseason, new Browns GM John Dorsey brought Scot McCloughan on board as a consultant. But, after a front office shakeup, the former Redskins GM is no longer exclusive to the team, Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com writes. 
McCloughan, who helped steer the Browns towards selecting quarterback Baker Mayfield with the No. 1 overall pick, has returned to consulting for multiple teams through his private company. Despite a messy divorce with the Redskins, it would not be surprising to see McCloughan back in the GM conversation for another team down the line.
While several long-time Browns scouts have been pushed out, Browns Vice President of Player Personnel Andrew Berry remains safe thanks to his relationship with team owners, Cabot hears. However, something will have to give as the Browns have three player personnel VPs in Berry, Alonzo Highsmith, and Ken Kovash.
The new-look Browns still have work to do as they sort out their front office, including talks on a new deal with running back Duke Johnson.
Extra Points: Anthem, Kaepernick, Manziel
The NFL’s new anthem policy has received a great deal of backlash, but another idea previously considered by owners also would have faced some opposition. Team owners considered a 15-yard penalty against teams that partake in anthem protests, but that move wouldn’t have necessarily gone over well with the league’s officials.
“It would not be in my DNA to throw a flag on someone for their personal protest regardless of whether or not I agreed with them,” former ref Mike Pereira told Robert Klemko of Sports Illustrated (Twitter link).
Meanwhile, players are up in arms about the policy that was enacted on Wednesday. Klemko hears (Twitter link) that players who weren’t planning demonstrations for next season are now discussing ways to skirt the new rules “just to spite the NFL.”
More from around the football world:
- President Donald Trump weighed in on the NFL’s new anthem policy shortly after it was announced. “You have to stand proudly for the National Anthem. You shouldn’t be playing, you shouldn’t be there. Maybe they shouldn’t be in the country…the NFL owners did the right thing,” Trump said (Twitter link via FOX News). It remains to be seen whether Trump will continue to stir the pot on an issue that threatens the league’s bottom line and its relationship with players.
- The NFL used a polling firm to gauge public opinion on Colin Kaepernick “four months into” his 2017 free agency, Charles Robinson of Yahoo Sports hears. The firm polled fans on other NFL-related topics – including domestic violence, gambling, player protests, and player safety – but Kaepernick was the only player singled out in the research for specific opinions. The development could have an impact on Kaepernick’s ongoing collusion case against the league.
- Johnny Manziel is likely to serve as the backup quarterback for the CFL’s Tiger-Cats, coach June Jones says (via Mike Rodak of ESPN.com). Barring something unforeseen, Jones expects to use former Oregon and Mississippi QB Jeremiah Masoli as his starter throughout the year. If that plan holds up, it would be a fairly significant barrier to Manziel’s planned NFL comeback. Then again, Manziel likely won’t be in the NFL conversation anytime soon after signing a binding two-year deal with Hamilton.
Bills Notes: Jones, McDermott, Stadium
Bills wide receiver Zay Jones underwent knee surgery, head coach Sean McDermott told reporters. Jones will miss the remainder of the offseason program, but the good news is that the team believes he’ll be good to go in time for the start of the regular season.
The Bills are certainly hoping that Jones will be healthy come September given their lack of depth at wide receiver. After the departures of Jordan Matthews and Deonte Thompson this offseason, the Bills’ have an iffy group at WR beyond star Kelvin Benjamin. Veterans Andre Holmes, Jeremy Kerley, Kaelin Clay, and Rod Streater are fighting for roster spots along with late-round rookies Ray-Ray McCloud and Austin Proehl.
If Jones is in for a lengthier recovery than expected, the Bills could theoretically look into signing Dez Bryant to help fill the gap. However, GM Brandon Beane didn’t sound gung-ho about the idea back in April.
“We have looked at Dez on tape, but I wouldn’t take it any further and I don’t know where that would go,” Beane said. “We’re looking to get better at all positions and receiver is one, so if we thought that was the right fit for us we would potentially pursue it.”
Here’s more out of Buffalo:
- Bills owner Kim Pegula says the financial outlook for a new stadium does not look promising, as Vic Carucci of The Buffalo News writes. “I don’t even know if we can get there,” Pegula said. “I know fans in Buffalo don’t want higher ticket prices, they don’t want [personal seat licenses]. The state [of New York] doesn’t want to give you any money, the city doesn’t. … We don’t have a billion-and-a-half dollars sitting around. We used it to buy the team.” The Bills’ current lease expires in the summer of 2023, but the Bills can opt out in 2020. Given the Pegulas’ ties to Buffalo, it seems unlikely that the team would threaten to move, but it is a situation worth watching.
- On Wednesday, former Bills offensive lineman Richie Incognito was placed on involuntary psychiatric hold by Florida police.
Falcons’ Ricardo Allen Wants New Deal
Ricardo Allen has yet to sign his restricted free agent tender, as D.Orlando Ledbetter of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution writes. The Falcons free safety says he’s waiting things out as he pushes for a multi-year deal. 
“I have a tender,” Allen said. “I haven’t signed it yet. That’s what you all hope for (a long-term contract)…I just take it day by day. I come out here and do my best for the team. I put myself in a good situation and I want to keep going.”
By not signing his $2.914MM tender, Allen is technically putting himself at risk for the Falcons to rescind the deal. From a football standpoint, that’s not much of a gamble after he started 15 games in 2017 and at least 14 games in each of the last three seasons. However, if he were to suffer an injury, that would make his situation a little less certain.
Allen’s position as the only player yet to sign his RFA tender in the NFL this year is a bit curious since the Falcons have some history of signing players to extensions after they ink their tenders. Last year, right tackle Ryan Schraeder inked his second-round tender in March and received a five-year, $31.5MM ($12.5MM guaranteed) extension in November.
Then again, Allen may feel compelled to make noise after the Falcons stated that left tackle Jake Matthews and defensive tackle Grady Jarrett are up next for new deals after Matt Ryan‘s mammoth extension. Wide receiver Julio Jones has also taken notice of Ryan’s new deal and is pushing for a new multi-year contract of his own.
Allen played cornerback at Purdue, but he has responded well to his move to safety under head coach Dan Quinn. In four seasons with the Falcons, Allen has played in 46 games, including 45 starts. All in all, he has made six interceptions, ten deflected passes, one fumble recovery and 158 tackles.
Raiders Waive CB Senquez Golson
Senquez Golson‘s time in Oakland is already through. The Raiders waived the cornerback on Wednesday, according to ESPN.com’s Field Yates (on Twitter). 
The Raiders signed Golson just seven weeks ago to what was likely a one-year deal with little or no guaranteed money. The former second-round pick of the Steelers apparently didn’t show much in camp, leading to a quick release.
Steelers had high hopes for Golson when selecting him in 2015, but he never played a down for them and spent the first two years of his career on injured reserve. Golson suffered another injury in the 2017 preseason and was subsequently waived. He was signed to the Buccaneers’ practice squad last year, but was cut shortly after and has yet to appear in a regular season NFL game.
The Raiders have overhauled their secondary this offseason by signing cornerbacks Rashaan Melvin, Leon Hall, Shareece Wright, and Daryl Worley as well as safety Marcus Gilchrist. With fourth-round pick Nick Nelson now also in the mix, things are even more crowded at cornerback.
Per league rules, Golson will now be subject to the waiver wire. If no teams claims him by the end of business on Thursday, he will be free to sign with any club of his choosing.
Jets Notes: Anthem, Hackenberg
The NFL’s new policy will impose fines on teams when players kneel or otherwise “disrespect” the anthem. From there, teams can choose whether or how to discipline players who run afoul of the rules. Jets chairman Christopher Johnson says he will not be among those fining players who demonstrate during the anthem.
“I do not like imposing any club-specific rules,” Johnson said (via Calvin Watkins of Newsday). “If somebody [on the Jets] takes a knee, that fine will be borne by the organization, by me, not the players. I never want to put restrictions on the speech of our players. Do I prefer that they stand? Of course. But I understand if they felt the need to protest. There are some big, complicated issues that we’re all struggling with, and our players are on the front lines. I don’t want to come down on them like a ton of bricks, and I won’t. There will be no club fines or suspensions or any sort of repercussions. If the team gets fined, that’s just something I’ll have to bear.”
Johnson voted to ratify the anthem policy on Wednesday in Atlanta, but he wasn’t necessarily thrilled about the end result.
“I seriously struggled with this,” he said of the anthem modifications. “You know my position on the anthem, and you have to understand that the plan we ended up with, due to some serious work in the [meeting] room, was vastly less onerous than the one that was presented to me late last week. In the end, I felt I had to support it from a membership standpoint.”
Here’s more on Gang Green:
- Sam Darnold can erase Jets GM Mike Maccagnan‘s mistake of drafting Christian Hackenberg, Manish Mehta of the New York Daily News opines. Hackenberg was the first quarterback drafted in the first two rounds not to take a regular season snap in his first two seasons in more than three decades, but all will be forgotten if this year’s No. 3 overall pick plays up to his potential. Hackenberg will now try to get on track with the Raiders while Josh McCown, Teddy Bridgewater, and Darnold (not necessarily in that order) handle things at QB.
- Once it became clear that Bridgewater was healthy, there was no need for the Jets to keep Hackenberg around, Brian Costello of the New York Post writes. Without an opportunity for reps – or a real chance at making the final cut – the Jets made an easy call by shipping Hackenberg and his contract to the Raiders for a conditional seventh-round draft choice.
South Notes: Titans, Conklin, Saints, Falcons
A look at the AFC and NFC South:
- Titans right tackle Jack Conklin is still recovering from a torn ACL he suffered in January and head coach Mike Vrabel says he doesn’t anticipate seeing him being on the field this spring (Twitter link via Cameron Wolfe of ESPN.com). Training camp would be the earliest that Conklin can start individual drills. There’s no word of Conklin missing regular season action, but it’s a situation to keep an eye on. While Tennessee’s offensive line regressed as a unit in 2017, Conklin still stood out, grading as the No. 12 offensive tackle in the league, per
Pro Football Focus.
- It sounds like defensive tackle Jay Bromley and offensive lineman Michael Ola, who were signed earlier this month by the Saints, have a real chance at making the final cut. “Both guys we have a vision for,” coach Sean Payton said this week (via Josh Katzenstein of the Times-Picayune). “They’re positions that are hard to find once the season gets started.”
- The Falcons will work out offensive lineman Kevin Bowen on Wednesday, Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle tweets. Bowen recently auditioned for the Texans, but left Houston without a deal.
Minor NFL Transactions: 5/23/18
Today’s minor moves:
Atlanta Falcons
- Signed: FB Ricky Ortiz
- Waived: CB Joseph Putu
Detroit Lions
- Signed: LB Trevor Bates
- Waived: TE DeAndre Goolsby
Kansas City Chiefs
- Signed: WR Davon Grayson
- Waived: WR Jordan Smallwood
New York Jets
- Signed: WR Jonah Trinnaman
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
- Signed: WR Bernard Reedy
- Waived/injured: WR Thomas Sperbeck