Cowboys Notes: Martin, Smith, Witten
The latest out of Dallas:
- ESPN.com’s Todd Archer opines wonders how much Gabe Jackson‘s new five-year, $56MM deal with the Raiders will impact Zack Martin‘s negotiations with the Cowboys. Martin is positioned to become the highest-paid guard in the NFL, but Dallas could theoretically control him through 2021 through the fifth-year option and three consecutive franchise tags. Finding the middle ground will be tough, but Archer notes that the team’s strong relationship with agents Tom Condon and R.J. Gonser could help speed things along. There have only been preliminary talks so far, but that could change early on in training camp.
- More from Archer, who writes that making Jaylon Smith a two-down linebacker might be the best way for the Cowboys to work him into the lineup. Currently, Archer feels that expectations are probably a bit too high for the Notre Dame product considering the seriousness of the injury he is battling back from. Scaling back his workload could allow him to ease into the pace of the NFL game.
- Looking down the road, the Cowboys still lack an obvious successor to tight end Jason Witten, Kate Hairopoulos of the Dallas Morning News writes. The Cowboys are hoping that youngster Rico Gathers will turn into a quality tight end, but it’s not clear if the ex-basketball player has made enough strides on the gridiron to make this year’s roster and actually see his first taste of live NFL action. The Cowboys also have James Hanna and Geoff Swaim on the TE depth chart. They’re probably comfortable with their tight end situation for 2017, but it’s something they may have to address down the line.
No Players Selected In Supplemental Draft
If you blinked, you might have missed this year’s NFL Supplemental Draft. Luckily for you, you didn’t miss much. The draft has concluded with zero players selected, according to the league office.
This year, there were only two players eligible for the second chance draft: Georgia Military College defensive end Tavares Bingham and Western New Mexico running back Marques Rodgers. There wasn’t much buzz about either player heading into this week.
Bingham spent time at Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College before moving on to GMC. At GMC, he recorded 12 tackles and three sacks across six games in 2015. Bingham didn’t play last season because he burned through his junior college eligibility and didn’t have the grades to get into to a four-year school.
Rodgers also missed the 2016 season due to academic ineligibility. In 2015, however, he ran for 1,283 yards and ten touchdowns and added 61 catches. Despite that showing at his Division II school, all 32 teams declined the opportunity to claim him today.
The supplemental draft allows clubs to select players who, for one reason or another, were unable to enter the standard draft. When a team selects a player in the supplementary draft, it forfeits its corresponding pick in the following year’s standard draft. For example, if a club were to select a player in the fifth round of this year’s supplemental draft, it would have lost its 2018 fifth-rounder as a result. No team was willing to give up as much as a seventh round pick next year for either Bingham or Rodgers.
Raiders Sign Undrafted Linebacker
The Raiders have signed linebacker Brady Sheldon, as Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets. The Ferris State product was in rookie camp with the Raiders earlier this summer and made a strong impression on coaches. 
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The Raiders waived three players last week, including two linebackers, so it was expected that they would add to the roster. With speed working in his favor, Sheldon will look to stick in Oakland as an outside linebacker. The Raiders project to start Bruce Irvin and Shilique Calhoun at the OLB spots with support from Jelani Jenkins and fifth-round pick Marquel Lee. James Cowser, and Tyrell Adams are also among the OLBs in camp.
Ferris State, located in Big Rapids and Grand Rapids, Michigan, is not exactly known as a football powerhouse. However, the Division II program has turned out some quality talent. Sheldon’s invite to Raiders camp this year marked the fifth consecutive year in which a Ferris State player received an NFL opportunity. Now, he’s on the 90-man roster with an eye on making the final cut.
In his final season on campus, Sheldon tallied 54 tackles, one sack, 2.5 tackles for a loss, and three pass defenses in 14 games.
USC QB Sam Darnold On Draft Decision
Recently, a report indicated that USC quarterback Sam Darnold – the early frontrunner to go No. 1 overall in 2018 – might wait until 2019 to enter the draft. Darnold took to the airwaves this week to deny that any decision was made, but in the process he inadvertently confirmed that he could be holding off on going pro. 
“I’m really just taking it one year at a time honestly,” Darnold said on ESPN’s SportsCenter. “That’s my mindset. I don’t know where he got his information from. I’m really just taking it one year at a time.”
As a redshirt sophomore, Darnold has three years of eligibility remaining, but it has been assumed for some time that he would go pro as soon as he would be allowed. At this point, Darnold is unwilling to commit to that plan and that might be a safeguard against a disappointing season. He could also be laying the framework for getting out of being drafted by a certain team holding the No. 1 overall pick without making it too obvious.
It should be noted that Wyoming quarterback Josh Allen could challenge Darnold for the top spot in the 2018 draft, so it’s not a given that the league’s worst team will select the USC product. Also, there is precedent for quarterbacks steering themselves to the team they want to play for (see: Manning, Eli), so Darnold doesn’t necessarily have to stay in school in order to avoid certain franchises.
DeAngelo Williams Rules Out Four Teams
Earlier this month, DeAngelo Williams told ESPN.com’s Adam Schefter that he wanted to continue playing in 2017. However, he said that there were four mystery teams he refused to play for. The running back has now revealed the identity of those teams (audio link). 
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Surprisingly, the Panthers are one of the teams that Williams says he will not sign with. The 34-year-old spent the first nine seasons of his career in Carolina, but he left there with a bad taste in his mouth because of the way his departure played out. He also said that he would not sign with the Cowboys, because he grew up a 49ers fan. The Browns and Jaguars, Williams says, are also not in consideration, because of their losing seasons. Williams was not exactly delicate as he broke down his reasons for crossing off each club.
“They don’t ever show up during the playoffs,” Williams said of the Cowboys. “They always disappear in the playoffs.”
In theory, that leaves 28 teams for Williams to possibly join this summer. However, his age and odometer are clearly working against him as we have heard little chatter around the veteran tailback. They say that beggars can’t be choosers, and Williams is being a chooser in the most unorthodox way by ruling out four teams that he could possibly join.
As of this writing, all four of the teams listed by Williams seem pretty well set at running back. However, if one of those clubs loses an RB to injury this summer, he may regret his words.
Redskins Notes: Cousins, CBs, Garcon
What will it take for the Redskins to sign Kirk Cousins to a new deal in the next six days? Joel Corry of CBSSports.com, a former agent, took a stab at figuring out a fair deal. His whole breakdown is worth a read, but here are the basic parameters of his suggested contract: 
- Deal length: Five years
- Deal total: $130MM
- Yearly average: $26MM
- Guaranteed money: $84.25MM
- Fully guaranteed at signing: $61.75MM
- Signing bonus: $22.5MM
Such a deal would give Cousins serious financial security, but he would only be the league’s highest-paid player for a short period of time. The framework laid out here would be used as a baseline for Matthew Stafford‘s negotiations with the Lions, at which time he would become the NFL’s salary champ. In 2018, both players would probably be leapfrogged by both Aaron Rodgers and Matt Ryan.
The only way for Cousins to get to the top of the mountain and stay there for a significant period of time will be for him to play out the year and hope that the Redskins do not apply the franchise tag on him yet again. If that were to happen, then Cousins could be looking at a contract averaging $30MM per year with even greater guarantees than the deal proposed by Corry.
Here’s more out of D.C.:
- If the Redskins were to offer Cousins the Derek Carr deal, he wouldn’t accept it, Mike Florio of PFT writes. Carr’s deal gives him $40MM fully guaranteed at signing versus the $23.94MM that Cousins is currently slated to get in 2017. However, Carr had to make a six-year commitment in order to secure that sum. That’s not a tradeoff that Cousins would be willing to make, particularly if rumblings about him being unhappy in Washington are true.
- The Redskins could carry as few as five true cornerbacks since safety Will Blackmon can play corner if needed, Rich Tandler of CSNMidAtlantic.com writes. Josh Norman, Bashaud Breeland, Kendall Fuller, Quinton Dunbar, and Fabian Moreau are the only real locks to make the 53-man roster while Josh Holsey and Dashaun Phillips could be left to fight for one roster spot. The odds improve for Holsey and Phillips if Moreau, a third-round pick, begins the season on the PUP list. Moreau is still rehabbing from pec surgery and is not slated to take the field until August.
- Former Redskins receiver Pierre Garcon isn’t sure why the Redskins have been unwilling to commit to Cousins so far (link via SiriusXM). “He’s been doing it for a long time,” Garcon said. “He is the guy that’s helped us make those playoff runs and do a lot of things great for us. I don’t know why he’s not the long-term answer there.” When asked about the possibility that Cousins could eventually find his way to San Francisco and reunite with Garcon, the veteran receiver demurred.
Latest On Rams, Trumaine Johnson
They say that deadlines spur action but, so far, the impending July 17 deadline for franchise-tagged players has not brought about progress for the Rams and cornerback Trumaine Johnson. Once again, we have word that a contract extension for Johnson is not in the works (Twitter link via Charles Robinson of Yahoo Sports). 
Barring a surprising last-minute change, Johnson will play out the 2017 season on his one-year, $16.742MM franchise tender. Because this is the second consecutive year in which he has been tagged, Johnson’s salary is 20% higher than last year’s, giving him the top salary of any cornerback in the NFL.
Johnson is no slouch, but it’s hard to argue that the 27-year-old should be the highest compensated CB in the league. The Rams know this, but they also felt that they had little choice when it came time to make their big decision this offseason. If the Rams allowed Johnson to test the free agency waters, they would have risked losing two starting cornerbacks in two years.
Meanwhile, Johnson seems very willing to play out the season at his lucrative salary and cash in as a free agent next offseason. Right now, 14 cornerbacks in the NFL are averaging $10MM or more per year. If Johnson plays roughly as well as he has in the last two years, $10MM/ year seems like his worst-case scenario, given that he’ll be entering his age-28 season. If Johnson can take a step forward and establish himself as a shutdown corner, then he just might put himself in the top five at the position.
AFC East Notes: Dolphins, Landry, Jets
Jarvis Landry is entering his contract year, but he says he wants to stay with the Dolphins for the long haul. At the same time, he confirmed that he is setting a deadline for the two sides to agree to an extension.
“I want to focus,” Landry said Monday (via Omar Kelly of the Sun Sentinel). “I believe that Miami is where I want to be. Miami is the place I call home. I want to be able to give my all mentally, physically and emotionally this season. “Once the season starts I just want to put all that behind me and win the Super Bowl.”
Right now, Landry is slated to play out the 2017 season for less than $894K. There has been some speculation about his agent seeking an average annual salary of $11MM or more, but it’s hard to gauge next year’s wide receivers market from this far out. On one hand, this offseason’s top available receivers – including Kenny Stills – did not get as much cash as expected. On the other hand, the projected cap increase for 2018 coupled with the insane amounts of rollover money out there could result in a lucrative market for Landry and others. A deal bringing Landry into the top 10-12 at the position might not be such an outlandish ask.
Here’s more from the AFC East:
- According to the Jets‘ website, Brian Heimerdinger has been promoted to Vice President of Player Personnel (h/t Matt Miller of Bleacher Report, on Twitter). The 31-year-old is viewed as a rising star in football circles and could be a future GM to watch.
- It cannot be debated that Patriots wide receiver Brandin Cooks is the best player to join the AFC East this offseason, Mike Rodak of ESPN.com writes. It’s hard to argue – Cooks cost the Pats a first-round pick, but he is among the league’s very best wide receivers and gives Tom Brady the kind of threat at WR that he has not had since Randy Moss. Cooks won’t turn 24 until September and he also has a sweetheart of a contract. This year, he’ll make just $1.56MM. In 2018, the Pats have him on his one-year, $8.459MM fifth-year option.
NFC East Notes: Redskins, McGee, Eagles
Will the Redskins be a 10-win team in 2017? There’s reason for optimism, but the free agent additions of nose tackle Stacy McGee and defensive end Terrell McClain won’t solve all of their problems on defense, Mike Jones of The Washington Post writes.
The Redskins could wind up with two rookie starters in the front seven between defensive end Jonathan Allen and outside linebacker Ryan Anderson. There’s also questions about how quickly Su’a Cravens will adjust to the strong safety position. Yes, the Redskins made some intriguing moves this offseason, but anyone automatically expecting the Redskins to make the playoffs should probably pump the breaks.
Here’s more out of the NFC East:
- The Redskins‘ 2018 cap situation is not as flexible as it seems at first glance, CSNMidAtlantic.com’s Rich Tandler writes. The Redskins have $54.7MM cap room in 2018, but they’ll only be rolling over $5MM when other teams have far more to push into ’18. The 49ers ($65MM), Browns ($50MM), Jaguars ($44MM), Titans ($41MM), and other teams will have far more to work with, meaning that the Redskins will actually be in the middle of the pack when it comes to cap space. There’s also this to consider – Washington has 21 players slated for unrestricted free agency. Of those 21, seven are projected starters and seven others will have key roles this season. That list includes quarterback Kirk Cousins.
- Eliot Shorr-Parks of NJ.com looked at some potential cap casualties for the Eagles in 2018. Defensive end Vinny Curry tops the list as the team can save $5MM by cutting him, though the move would call for $6MM in dead money. Curry wound up as a reserve in 2016 and he probably won’t be on the roster with an $11MM cap hit if he’s a backup once again this year. Fellow defensive end Brandon Graham also makes the list ($6.5MM in cap savings; $1MM in dead money) and his release becomes more likely if rookie Derek Barnett shines this year. Safety Malcolm Jenkins ($5.5MM savings; $4.5MM dead money), linebacker Mychael Kendricks ($4.4MM savings; $3.2MM dead money), center Jason Kelce ($6MM savings; $1MM dead money), tight end Brent Celek ($4MM savings; $1MM dead money), wide receiver Torrey Smith ($5MM savings; no dead money), and cornerback Ron Brooks ($2.1MM savings; $250K dead money) round out the list.
- One Cowboys beat writer wonders if Dallas could be in the market for a quarterback at some point this year.
Adrian Peterson On Signing With The Saints
When the Vikings and Adrian Peterson went their separate ways, things did not play out as expected. Initially, we heard rumblings of potential contenders like the Giants and Seahawks having interest in the veteran. Then, one by one, each of those clubs made it known that they did not want to bring the 32-year-old on board. Eventually, the Saints came into the picture and Peterson came on board, despite the presence of Mark Ingram. 
Ingram will continue in his role as the Saints’ lead back while Peterson is in unfamiliar territory as a complementary piece. There are questions about how Peterson will handle his new role and some are even doubting whether he can be effective on the shorter end of a timeshare at this stage of his career.
Recently, Peterson spoke with Dan Pompei of Bleacher Report about the free agent process and his future in New Orleans. Here’s a look at some of the highlights:
On why he did not ask the Saints about how many carries he’ll be getting each game:
“I don’t need all those carries to be my best. I don’t think I became a great player by having to have 20 or 30 carries to get 200 yards. If they feed it to me, hey, I’m going to eat. Whenever I get opportunities, I’ll take advantage of them.”
On changing his game to catch more passes down field;
“I was attracted to playing with Brees, a guy who is good at distributing the ball to different players. I know in this system, I’ll get some opportunities to catch the ball in space. Drew Brees, he’ll get the ball to me.”
On the pitch of coach Sean Payton:
“I loved his honesty. He was straightforward. I could sense he really wanted me to be a part of the organization. All coaches want to win, but you can see it more with him. He’s very passionate about what he does. About 98 percent of the time, he was doing the talking.”
On his motivation:
“Yes, the doubt motivates me. I’d be lying to say it doesn’t. You want to do things people say you can’t do.” “Yes, the doubt motivates me,” Peterson says. “I’d be lying to say it doesn’t. You want to do things people say you can’t do.”
Photo via Pro Football Rumors on Instagram.