Ravens, Dolphins Talked Jarvis Landry Trade

The Ravens and Dolphins discussed a Jarvis Landry trade last offseason, according to Jeff Zrebiec of The Baltimore Sun. However, Miami’s asking price was “prohibitive” and the deal did not go down. Jarvis Landry

Landry is on the verge of free agency this year and it stands to reason that the Ravens could make a play for him. The Dolphins have interest in re-signing the wide receiver, but the two sides appear to be far apart on numbers. Recently, Landry characterized the talks as “disrespectful.” His agent, Damarius Bilbo, then made it clear that his client will not be taking a hometown discount to remain in Miami.

How long has this franchise been around?,” Bilbo said. “It’s always going to be here. Take a discount? Absolutely not. This may be Jarvis’ first and last time to set himself up and his family up. He needs to strike and strike while the iron is hot. Plenty of guys that were drafted ahead of Jarvis have not performed to his level. Look at Jarvis’ performance level. If you want to compare him to the T.Y. Hiltons and the Doug Baldwins, those deals were done two or three years ago. It’s his time now. He’s next man up.”

It’s fair to wonder if Landry is actually in line for money that will top Baldwin ($11.5MM/year) and Hilton ($13MM/year). The 25-year-old is not much of a deep threat and there are other quality WRs about to hit the open market, including Sammy Watkins and Allen Robinson. However, Landry has averaged 100 catches for 1,010 yards over the past four seasons with 23 touchdowns over that span. There’s no denying that Landry moves the chains and the Ravens do like him as a player, so Zrebiec will not rule out the possibility of Baltimore making with that kind of cash.

It’s important to keep in mind that the early projections and demands for free agent wide receivers might not match up with what we actually see in March. Last year, there was talk of Alshon Jeffery, Kenny Stills, and Terrelle Pryor getting $12MM/season on multi-year deals. Here’s what actually happened: Jeffery wound up signing a one-year, $9.5MM contract (though he signed a lucrative extension in December), Stills got $8MM/year on a four-year pact, and Pryor signed a one year, $6MM deal. Landry could end up in the $13MM/year range, but don’t be surprised if he settles for seven figures instead.

Updated 2018 NFL Draft Order

With the conference championship games in the books, we now know the draft order for 30 of the first round’s 32 picks. Here’s the rundown:

1. Cleveland Browns (0-16)

2. New York Giants (3-13)

3. Indianapolis Colts (4-12)

4. Cleveland Browns (via the 4-12 Houston Texans)

5. Denver Broncos (5-11)

6. New York Jets (5-11)

7. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (5-11)

8. Chicago Bears (5-11)

T-9. Oakland Raiders (6-10)

T-9. San Francisco 49ers (6-10) (Note: The Raiders and 49ers have identical records and the same strength of schedule. The tie will be broken by a coin flip with the winner getting pick No. 9 and the other club receiving the No. 10 pick.)

11. Miami Dolphins (6-10)

12. Cincinnati Bengals (7-9)

13. Washington Redskins (7-9)

14. Green Bay Packers (7-9)

15. Arizona Cardinals (8-8)

16. Baltimore Ravens (9-7)

17. Los Angeles Chargers (9-7)

18. Seattle Seahawks (9-7)

19. Dallas Cowboys (9-7)

20. Detroit Lions (9-7)

21. Buffalo Bills (9-7)

22. Buffalo Bills (via the 10-6 Kansas City Chiefs)

23. Los Angeles Rams (11-5)

24. Carolina Panthers (11-5)

25. Tennessee Titans (9-7)

26. Atlanta Falcons (10-6)

27. New Orleans Saints (11-5)

28. Pittsburgh Steelers (13-3)

29. Jacksonville Jaguars (10-6)

30. Minnesota Vikings (13-3)

31. (New England Patriots (13-3) or Philadelphia Eagles (13-3))

32. (New England Patriots (13-3) or Philadelphia Eagles (13-3))

Ravens Expected To Get R3 Comp. Pick

  • Ravens officials believe the team has the makings of forming a “special” offensive line in the near future, and Jeff Zreibec of the Baltimore Sun expects the team to target a right tackle in the draft to round out the group. Zreibec writes a Round 1 choice on a tackle to complement 2016 first-rounder Ronnie Stanley shouldn’t be dismissed. The Ravens lost Marshal Yanda, Nico Siragusa and Alex Lewis to season-ending injuries, but Austin Howard graded out well at right tackle. Howard is under contract for the 2018 season, what would be his age-31 campaign, and it would cost the Ravens $2MM in dead money to jettison him.
  • The Ravens are no stranger to accumulating compensatory picks, and Jason Fitzgerald of OverTheCap expects the team to receive a third-rounder for Ricky Wagner‘s departure. The Bengals are also expected to collect a third-round pick after Kevin Zeitler‘s trip across Ohio. Interestingly, the Broncos‘ one-year rental of Russell Okung stands to earn them a third-round choice in Fitzgerald’s view.

Players Who May Be Cut This Offseason

NFL Workout Updates: 1/18/18

Here are today’s workout updates, courtesy of veteran NFL reporter Howard Balzer.

Baltimore Ravens

Jacksonville Jaguars

Pittsburgh Steelers

Ravens Promote Don Martindale To DC

The Ravens announced that they have promoted Don “Wink” Martindale to the role of defensive coordinator. In related moves, the team moved defensive backs coach Mike MacDonald to linebackers coach. Don Martindale (vertical)

Martindale takes over for Dean Pees, who retired at the end of the 2017 season. After six years on staff in Baltimore, he’s getting his chance to run the show in Baltimore. “Wink” previously served as the Broncos’ defensive coordinator in 2010 and helped coach the team’s linebacker group to its full potential.

The 54-year-old (55 in May) has big shoes to fill. In his first year as Baltimore’s DC, Pees helped the Ravens to a Super Bowl victory over the 49ers. This past year, Pees’ group allowed the sixth-fewest points in the NFL and generated a league-high 34 takeaways.

2018 Offensive/Defensive Coordinator Tracker

While at least six NFL teams are making head coaching changes this offseason, the number of clubs replacing offensive and/or defensive coordinators figures to be much higher than that. In addition to all those teams hiring new head coaches, who may want to bring in their own assistants, several clubs also figure to make changes on one side of the ball or the other after getting disappointing results in 2017. And, of course, the teams whose coordinators landed head coaching jobs will need to replace them.

With reports circulating on potential candidates, interview requests, and actual meetings, we’ll use the space below to keep tabs on all the latest updates on teams hiring new offensive and/or defensive coordinators. This post, which will be updated daily, can be found under the “PFR Features” menu on the right-hand side of the site.

Updated 3-6-18 (5:53pm CT)

Offensive Coordinators

Arizona Cardinals (Out: Harold Goodwin)

Buffalo Bills (Out: Rick Dennison)

Carolina Panthers (Out: Mike Shula)

  • Norv Turner, former offensive coordinator (Vikings): Hired

Chicago Bears (Out: Dowell Loggains)

  • Mark Helfrich, former head coach (Oregon): Hired

Cincinnati Bengals

  • Bill Lazor, interim offensive coordinator (Bengals): Retained

Cleveland Browns (vacant)

Denver Broncos

  • Bill Musgrave, interim offensive coordinator (Broncos): Retained

Detroit Lions

  • Jim Bob Cooter, offensive coordinator (Lions): Retained

Green Bay Packers (Out: Edgar Bennett)

Indianapolis Colts (Out: Rob Chudzinski)

Kansas City Chiefs (Out: Matt Nagy)

  • Eric Bieniemy, running backs coach (Chiefs): Promoted

Miami Dolphins (Out: Clyde Christensen)

  • Dowell Loggains, former offensive coordinator (Bears): Hired

Minnesota Vikings (Out: Pat Shurmur)

New York Giants (Out: Mike Sullivan)

New York Jets (Out: John Morton)

Oakland Raiders (Out: Todd Downing)

Philadelphia Eagles (Out: Frank Reich)

Pittsburgh Steelers (Out: Todd Haley)

Seattle Seahawks (Out: Darrell Bevell)

Tennessee Titans (Out: Terry Robiskie)

Defensive Coordinators

Arizona Cardinals (Out: James Bettcher)

  • Al Holcomb, linebackers coach (Panthers): Hired

Baltimore Ravens (Out: Dean Pees)

Carolina Panthers (Out: Steve Wilks)

  • Eric Washington, defensive line coach (Panthers): Promoted

Chicago Bears

  • Vic Fangio, defensive coordinator (Bears): Retained

Cincinnati Bengals (Out: Paul Guenther)

Detroit Lions

  • Paul Pasqualoni, defensive line coach (Boston College): Hired

Green Bay Packers (Out: Dom Capers)

Houston Texans (Out: Mike Vrabel)

  • Romeo Crennel, assistant head coach (Texans): Hired

Indianapolis Colts (Out: Ted Monachino)

  • Matt Eberflus, linebackers coach (Cowboys): Hired

Los Angeles Chargers

  • Gus Bradley, defensive coordinator (Chargers): Retained

New England Patriots (Out: Matt Patricia)

New York Giants

Oakland Raiders (Out: John Pagano)

  • Paul Guenther, defensive coordinator (Bengals): Hired

Seattle Seahawks (Out: Kris Richard)

  • Ken Norton Jr., former defensive coordinator (Raiders): Hired

Tennessee Titans (Out: Dick LeBeau)

Packers Notes: Wolf, DeCosta, Perry, McCray

Now that the Packers have officially promoted incumbent executive Brian Gutekunst to general manager, Green Bay director of football operations Eliot Wolf is unlikely to ever become GM of the Packers, as Tom Silverstein of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel notes (Twitter links). Wolf is expected to garner a GM job elsewhere before the Green Bay position ever opens again, as he’s drawn interested from other clubs in the recent past. However, the Packers will attempt to convince Wolf to remain with the team, per Silverstein. One additional note on the Packers’ general manager search: although Green Bay had interest in meeting with Ravens assistant general manager Eric DeCosta, the Baltimore executive turned down an interview request on Saturday night, per Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (Twitter link).

Here’s more on the Packers:

  • Incumbent safeties coach Darren Perry interviewed for the Packers’ defensive coordinator job on Saturday and is viewed as the favorite to land the position, according to Alex Marvez of the Sporting News (Twitter link). That news conflicts with a recent report from Rob Demovsky of ESPN.com, who indicated last week that Green Bay cornerbacks coach Joe Whitt was the frontrunner to be promoted to DC. Perry, 49, began his Packers coaching career in 2009 after spending time in Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, and Oakland.
  • While Perry could be given a promotion in Green Bay, former offensive coordinator Edgar Bennett appears to be moving on, tweets Silverstein. Bennett, who did not call offensive plays for the Packers, was re-assigned last week, but he should be able to find another coaching position given the level of turnover throughout the NFL, per Silverstein. Colts offensive line coach Joe Philbin is expected to be hired for a second stint in Green Bay, and although he may not take Bennett’s old title as OC, he’s likely to handle many of Bennett’s prior duties.
  • The Packers should be expected to add competition for backup quarterback Brett Hundley, writes Ryan Wood of the Green Bay Press-Gazette. While Green Bay had originally planned to deal Hundley (and nearly did so during the draft), the former fifth-round pick’s lackluster production while filling in for Aaron Rodgers is likely to hinder those intentions. Indeed, the Packers attempted to sign veteran signal-caller Brian Hoyer in November as the club was trying to keep its postseason hopes alive.
  • Green Bay recently worked out offensive lineman Jordan McCray, the brother of Packers guard Justin McCray, reports Demovsky. Both McCrays were undrafted free agents out of UCF in 2014, but Jordan has yet to appear in an NFL game.

Ravens Notes: Urban, Maclin, Carr

  • The Ravens announced that they have signed James Urban as their new quarterbacks coach. Urban spent the last seven years in Cincinnati. “Playing the Bengals twice a year, we’ve seen what a good job James does,” head coach John Harbaugh said in a statement. “He’s highly regarded around the league, including by Ozzie [Newsome] and Marty [Mornhinweg]. We were all excited when he became available.”
  • Ravens wide receiver Jeremy Maclin is a prime cap casualty candidate, ESPN.com’s Jamison Hensley writes. In 2017, Maclin had career lows in catches and yards. The Ravens can save $5MM in cap room by cutting him before his $1MM roster bonus kicks in on March 16th. Right now, they’re projected to have just $12MM in cap room in 2018. Other cap casualty candidates include cornerback Brandon Carr ($4MM in cap savings), tackle Austin Howard ($3MM in savings), running back Danny Woodhead ($1.8MM in savings), safety Lardarius Webb ($1.75MM in savings), wide receiver Breshad Perriman ($1.62MM in savings), and linebacker Albert McClellan ($1.25MM in savings).
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