AFC East Notes: Jordan, Pats, Glenn
Dion Jordan has had a pretty disappointing beginning to his NFL career. After the Dolphins traded up to select Jordan with the third overall pick of the 2013 draft, he has been suspended on three separate occasions for violating the league’s substance abuse policy, and the third suspension is a year-long ban that will force him to miss the entirety of the 2015 season. Even when he has seen the field, he has done little to live up to the potential that compelled Miami to jump up in the draft to nab him.
In fact, prior to the announcement of his year-long suspension, the Dolphins were nearing a trade that would send Jordan to Philadelphia. Combined with his on-field disappointment and off-field struggles, those trade discussions would seem to indicate that Miami has no plans to hold onto Jordan once the 2016 season rolls around. But as Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald and Darin Gantt of ProFootballTalk write, that may not be the case. Per Jackson and Gantt, the Dolphins are not actively trying to collect the bonus money they are entitled to recoup as a result of Jordan’s suspension–roughly $3.35MM–which suggests that they may give him one more chance to prove himself on what promises to be a talented defensive front next year.
Let’s take a look at a few more notes from the AFC East:
- Mike Reiss of ESPNBoston.com says that if Roger Goodell does not wholly vacate Tom Brady‘s four-game suspension, Brady and his legal team will continue the fight in court. However, as Ben Volin of The Boston Globe writes, “going to court carries risk of Brady exposing himself and the Patriots to the discovery process, which could put a famously secretive organization in the open, not to mention the potential that Brady loses in court and has to serve his suspension late in the 2015 season, when the Patriots are trying to clinch a playoff spot.”
- In the same piece cited above, Reiss writes that former Patriots guard Dan Connolly may have played his last snap. Reiss reports that the Buccaneers made a pretty strong pitch to Connolly, who would have had the chance to reunite with Logan Mankins in Tampa Bay, but Connolly did not want to move so far away from his family. So unless New England decides to extend an offer, which it is unlikely to do unless the team suffers an injury along the offensive line, Connolly appears prepared to hang up the spikes.
- Cordy Glenn, whose contract expires at the end of this season, does not even know if he will be lining up at right or left tackle for the Bills in 2015, writes Vic Carucci of The Buffalo News. Although Glenn has been the team’s regular left tackle since 2012, he spent much of the offseason practices this year alternating between left and right tackle with Seantrel Henderson. But Glenn is trying not to concern himself with his contract situation as he focuses on learning a new position. “I’m just going to come to work and see what happens,” Glenn said. “That’s all I can do.”
Extra Points: Tunsil, L.A., Jags, Sam
Here are some items from across the NFL lexicon on Saturday afternoon.
- Oxford, Miss., police arrested potential top-5 2016 draftee Laremy Tunsil after the star Ole Miss offensive tackle punched his stepfather, reports ESPN.com’s Brett McMurphy. The tackle, who as of now is projected by ESPN’s Todd McShay to go fourth next year, turned himself in. “We can confirm that Laremy Tunsil turned himself in and was arrested for a misdemeanor, domestic violence-simple assault,” Ole Miss coach Hugh Freeze said in a statement. “The incident occurred Thursday night and involves Laremy defending his mother against his stepfather.” A source close to the situation told McMurphy that Tunsil’s stepfather punched his mother and the Rebels junior retaliated.
- After reports surfaced Friday that the now-well-traveled Michael Sam resurfaced with the Montreal Alouettes, the former Rams draft choice confirmed this today on his Twitter account. The defensive end missed two weeks of time with the CFL club that’s now 0-1.
- In light of the scathing indictment of the Oakland stadium proposal our own Ben Levine relayed earlier today, Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk suspects this could further complicate matters in the Los Angeles-in-2016 derby.
- Even after No. 3 overall selection Dante Fowler Jr.‘s ACL tear, four Jaguars rookies will see major time this season, writes Steven Ruiz of USA Today. T.J. Yeldon, A.J. Cann, James Sample and Michael Bennett, taken in the second, third, fourth and sixth rounds, respectively, are set for “significant” playing time this season. Bennett would look to compete for depth behind starters Sen’Derrick Marks and Jared Odrick, while Sample will tussle with Sergio Brown at free safety.
- The Packers will begin ex-Michigan linebacker Jake Ryan on the inside in their 3-4 scheme, reports Mary Kay Cabot of the Cleveland Plain Dealer. A fourth-round pick, Ryan played on the strong side for three seasons with the Wolverines, before moving to the middle as a senior.
- Veteran Andre Fluellen has around a 30% chance of making the Bills‘ 53-man roster, opines ESPN.com’s Mike Rodak. Although the Bills used a four-man line during minicamp, they are expected to use plenty of 3-4 concepts, where Fluellen would slot at end instead of the inside spot he played with the Lions.
Bills Notes: Goodwin, Harvin, Cassel
NFL activities have slowed to the usual late-June crawl, but here is some Friday-evening news coming out of Buffalo Bills headquarters.
- Bills reserve wideout Marquise Goodwin decided on a whim to compete in this weekend’s USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships in Eugene, Ore., and, despite not participating in the sport since the 2012 London Olympics, placed fourth in the long jump with a personal-best mark. The top three long jumpers qualify for the World Championships, which are set for late August in China, so Goodwin won’t be missing any Bills training camp time. After finishing 10th in London, Goodwin leaped 27 feet, 5 1/2 inches, which was just more than a foot off champion Marquis Dendy’s result but nearly 2 feet farther than Goodwin’s best leap in the Olympic final round. The 24-year-old Goodwin insists football remains his primary sport, but he told Austin Meek of The Register-Guard (Ore.) he will attempt to make the 2016 U.S. Olympic team. Bills GM Doug Whaley told Vic Carucci of the Buffalo News he hadn’t given Goodwin’s surprise participation plans “any thought” but hoped he did well.
- With LeSean McCoy slated to accrue the lion’s share of Buffalo’s carries this season, Percy Harvin won’t be utilized in quite the same manner he has been during the bulk of his career. Though the Bills will place Harvin in his usual slot spot frequently, they intend to give the mercurial target extensive repetitions outside, writes Chris Brown of BuffaloBills.com. Coach Sanjay Lal, who instructed Harvin with the Jets last season before venturing to Buffalo with Rex Ryan, is intent on developing Harvin exclusively as a wide receiver. Although Harvin’s spent past games aligned primarily outside, last season represented the seventh-year receiver’s first long-term look at that position, with his first seven Jets contests featuring left or right wide receiver as his main position (according to Pro Football Focus, which requires a subscription).
- Although viewing Matt Cassel as a consummate teammate with experience handling reserve roles, Carucci does not see the newly acquired 33-year-old quarterback and his $4.75MM cap figure staying on the team if EJ Manuel reclaims his starting job. Carucci expects the Bills to extend Cassel’s contract, which expires after 2015, to provide cap relief, and views such a move not yet occurring after the 11th-year QB’s offseason struggles as a sign Cassel may not be on the team should Manuel or Tyrod Taylor usurp him for the starting gig.
- The Buffalo reporter also sees a Marcell Dareus extension, which our Luke Adams analyzed earlier this week, being finalized before the season begins. As of now, the All-Pro defensive tackle will play this season on an $8.1MM cap figure as a result of his fifth-year option being exercised.
Extra Points: Battle, Sam, Bills, Browns
A pair of NFL sources tell Charles Robinson of Yahoo! Sports (Twitter link) that Clemson offensive tackle Isaiah Battle could be a third-round value in this year’s supplemental draft. We learned earlier today that Battle would be eligible for the supplemental draft, and Robinson suggests that a strong 2015 season at Clemson might have pushed Battle into the top five prospects at his position for the 2016 draft. The young lineman is still raw, so it will be interesting to see which teams, if any, are willing to part with one of their 2016 picks to land him.
Here are a few more odds and ends from around the NFL:
- The NFL’s rookie salary structure needs to be overhauled again, in the view of Jason Reid of ESPN.com, who makes the case that young players – especially non-first-rounders – who play well during their first three or four seasons are undercompensated.
- Jim Popp, the general manager of the CFL’s Montreal Alouettes, tells Les Carpenter of The Guardian that he thinks Michael Sam will eventually return to the team, and that the Missouri alum “needed a break.” Popp also revealed that the Alouettes were close to adding both Sam and Tim Tebow last fall, and added that a few NFL teams have called him since Sam left Montreal, asking if he knows why the edge defender departed and whether or not he’ll be back.
- After spending the majority of the 2014 season on injured reserve, Bills safety Jonathan Meeks finds himself on the team’s roster bubble, with Mike Rodak of ESPN.com giving him a 55% chance of earning a spot on the 53-man squad.
- The Browns may not have had pre-draft contact with Marcus Mariota, but that doesn’t mean the team didn’t have any interest in the Oregon quarterback, writes Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk, pointing out that new Cleveland quarterbacks coach Kevin O’Connell worked extensively with Mariota before joining the Browns.
- ESPN’s NFL Nation reporters have assigned offseason grades to each of the league’s 32 teams, with links to all 32 stories and videos right here.
Largest 2015 Cap Hits By Team: AFC East
Between now and the start of NFL training camps, we’ll be taking a closer look at the top 2015 cap hits for teams around the league. We began our series yesterday by focusing on the NFC East, and we’ll tackle the other East division today, as we move over to the AFC.
Listed below are the top 10 cap hits for the coming season for each of the four AFC East franchises, accompanied by some observations on the spending habits of those clubs. Let’s dive in….
Buffalo Bills:
- Mario Williams, DE/OLB: $19,400,000
- Marcell Dareus, DT: $8,060,000
- Kyle Williams, DL: $6,950,000
- Eric Wood, C: $6,650,000
- Jerry Hughes, DE/OLB: $6,175,000
- LeSean McCoy, RB: $5,500,000
- Charles Clay, TE: $5,000,000
- Leodis McKelvin, CB: $4,900,000
- Matt Cassel, QB: $4,750,000
- Sammy Watkins, WR: $4,530,819
Total: $71,915,819
Mario Williams’ massive 2015 cap number is one of the highest in the entire NFL, and it won’t get any easier to stomach next year, when it jumps to $19.9MM. The figures make Williams a candidate to be released or to have his deal restructured if his production falls off, but he’s coming off an All-Pro season, so the Bills are likely content to carry that cap number for now, particularly with only one other player above $7MM.
While Mario Williams, Kyle Williams, Dareus, and Hughes may see their roles change this year in a new defensive scheme, the four players were all defensive linemen in 2014, so it’s interesting that they all rank in Buffalo’s top five cap hits this year. Rex Ryan and defensive coordinator Dennis Thurman will certainly enjoy working with the talented, albeit costly, group of front-seven players.
The Bills’ top-10 list also features a number of new additions, with McCoy, Clay, and Cassel all having joined the club this offseason, while Hughes signed a brand-new contract. The cap charges for McCoy, Clay, and Hughes will all rise significantly in future seasons — after totaling a combined $16.675MM cap charge in 2015, the trio will count for a combined $28.75MM against the Bills’ cap next year.
Miami Dolphins:
- Branden Albert, LT: $10,725,000
- Cameron Wake, DE: $10,450,000
- Brent Grimes, CB: $10,000,000
- Reshad Jones, S: $7,712,942
- Mike Pouncey, C: $7,000,000
- Mike Wallace, WR: $6,600,000 (dead money)
- Dannell Ellerbe, LB: $6,400,000 (dead money)
- Ndamukong Suh, DT: $6,100,000
- Ryan Tannehill, QB: $4,873,364
- Dion Jordan, DE/OLB: $4,682,276
Total: $74,543,582
Many of the largest contracts on the Dolphins’ books have relatively modest cap numbers this year — Pouncey and Tannehill earn spots on this list, but they’ll almost certainly place higher in 2016, when their cap charges jump to $10MM+. As for Suh, his cap hit will soar to a staggering $28.6MM next season. With $157MM+ already committed to their top 51 players for 2016, the Dolphins will have some decisions to make next year.
In 2016, the team will also have to try to avoid the sort of dead money charges they’re carrying this year. Wallace and Ellerbe both earn top-seven spots here, and Brian Hartline‘s $4.2MM dead money hit nearly cracked the top 10 as well. Jordan’s cap charge might as well be dead money too, since the former third overall pick has been suspended for the season.
Despite some questionable entries within their top 10 cap hits, the Dolphins are optimistic about their chances in 2015, and that can be partially attributed to their talented and inexpensive offensive skill players — Jarvis Landry, Kenny Stills, and Lamar Miller count for just over $3MM in total against the 2015 cap.
New England Patriots:
- Tom Brady, QB: $14,000,000
- Rob Gronkowski, TE: $8,650,000
- Nate Solder, LT: $7,438,000
- Sebastian Vollmer, RT: $7,020,833
- Jerod Mayo, LB: $6,100,000
- Devin McCourty, S: $6,000,000
- Darrelle Revis, CB: $5,000,000 (dead money)
- Rob Ninkovich, DE: $4,750,000
- Julian Edelman, WR: $4,656,250
- Stephen Gostkowski, K: $4,590,000
Total: $68,205,083
Brady didn’t rank among the NFL’s top 2015 cap hits for quarterbacks, but he’s still atop the Patriots’ own list by a comfortable margin. For a team coming off a Super Bowl victory though, there aren’t many highly-priced players on New England’s roster, a reflection of the way the team manages its cap — the $68MM total for the Pats’ top 10 cap hits of ’15 is the lowest figure in the AFC East.
Of course, while the Patriots manage their cap well, that doesn’t mean that this is simply a list of their 10 best players. Revis shows up here after New England declined his option, the price the team had to pay for his one year of service. Additionally, the Pats are the only team we’ve seen so far with a kicker in their top 10, and even ones at talented at Gostkowski rarely have cap numbers this high.
New York Jets:
- Darrelle Revis, CB: $16,000,000
- D’Brickashaw Ferguson, LT: $11,698,670
- Nick Mangold, C: $10,407,100
- Brandon Marshall, WR: $9,000,000
- David Harris, LB: $7,500,000
- Antonio Cromartie, CB: $7,000,000
- Muhammad Wilkerson, DL: $6,969,000
- Eric Decker, WR: $6,500,000
- Breno Giacomini, RT: $5,125,000
- Dee Milliner, CB: $3,453,028
Total: $83,652,798
John Idzik may not have been the general manager the Jets needed to lead the franchise back to the playoffs, but he did a good job managing the cap — New York has less than $3.5MM in dead money on its 2015 cap, which allowed the team to spend big in free agency this offseason. By comparison, the Bills have $7MM+ in dead money on their 2015 cap, the Pats have nearly $14MM, and the Dolphins are carrying over $22MM.
All the Jets’ cap room allowed the team to frontload contracts for its big free agent additions like Revis, who shows up on two separate top-10 lists in this division. Marshall and Cromartie also arrived within the last few months, while Harris signed a new contract with the team.
One name to watch from this list going forward is Wilkerson, who could be a fixture among the Jets’ top cap charges for the next few years if he signs an extension with the team. After drafting Leonard Williams sixth overall, however, the Jets are certainly under less pressure to pay Wilkerson a massive salary.
Committing nearly $84MM in cap room to the players on this list, the Jets’ total top-10 cap hit is the highest we’ve seen yet, but that can be attributed in large part to the fact that the team simply had space to burn, having carried over plenty of room from 2014. Most of those deals shouldn’t come back to haunt the franchise down the road.
Information from Over the Cap was used in the creation of this post.
East Notes: Bryant, Jackson, Bills
There’s a lot of talk about Cowboys rookies Randy Gregory and La’el Collins, but Rick Gosselin of The Dallas Morning News feels that fourth round linebacker Damien Wilson could be a real sleeper in this year’s class. With the health history of Sean Lee and Rolando McClain, he could get a chance to make an impact too. Here’s more from the East divisions..
- Brandon George of The Dallas Morning News feels that Dez Bryant showed how much his Cowboys teammates and football mean to him when he showed up at Valley Ranch in the midst of his holdout. Of course, not everyone felt the same way and the wide receiver was criticized for many for what they perceived as a misstep in negotiating tactics. Bryant has averaged approximately 91 receptions, 1,312 receiving yards, and 14 touchdowns over the last three seasons and is looking for a contract that reflects that.
- Speculation that the Bills could cut Fred Jackson has died down a bit, but the running back isn’t ready to take that for granted, as Chris Brown of BuffaloBills.com writes. “We’ll see what happens with me getting cut or not,” the 34-year-old told WGR. “I’ll go out and do whatever I can to make sure that doesn’t happen. We’ve got to compete every year. This year is no different than any other year. I’ve got to go out and compete for my job.” The acquisition of LeSean McCoy has led some to believe that the veteran’s time is up in Buffalo, but Jackson doesn’t seem to think that his presence hurts his odds.
- Recently, fans have asked John Keim of ESPN.com (on Twitter) if he believes Washington will add another tight end. He believes that the team will do so, though he’s not sure which player it’ll be or when that addition will happen.
Minor Moves: Wednesday
Here are the latest minor transactions from around the NFL:
- Several days after parting ways with Terrelle Pryor, the Bengals have filled his spot on their 90-man roster by signing former Ball State signal-caller Keith Wenning, the team announced today (via Twitter). Wenning, selected by the Ravens in the sixth round of the 2014 draft, looked poised to compete for the No. 2 job in Baltimore behind Joe Flacco this year before the team signed Matt Schaub. Wenning was cut by the Ravens last month.
- The Bills announced on Tuesday that they have released defensive end Bryan Johnson. Johnson, a product of West Texas A&M, originally joined Buffalo as an undrafted free agent following the 2014 draft. After spending most of last season on the Bills’ taxi squad, Johnson may have been cut to make room for offensive lineman Wayne Hunter, tweets Vic Carucci of The Buffalo News.
Zach Links contributed to this post.
East Notes: Marshall, Bills, Washington
Here’s a look at the latest from the AFC and NFC East as we await word on Tom Brady‘s appeal..
- Every season, we see players ascend to the tier of superstar and some players fall back from that tier. It’s always hard to say who will end up where, but Dan Hanzus of NFL.com took his best guess at how things will play out in 2015. This year, he believes that wide receiver Brandon Marshall will take a sizable step back in productivity. While he’s overcome a number of obstacles throughout his career, Hanzus doesn’t believe that he can withstand playing for his new team, the Jets. The NFL.com scribe notes that the Jets haven’t had a wide receiver go to the Pro Bowl since Keyshawn Johnson many years ago.
- Mike Rodak of ESPN.com looked at defensive end Michael Buchanan, who is on the Bills‘ roster bubble. In three games last season with the Pats, Buchanan recorded two tackles before being placed on IR in October. Today, Rodak handicaps his chances of making the roster at 50%. It helps Buchanan’s case that coach Rex Ryan has experience watching Buchanan in the AFC East over the last two seasons. Conversely, he is probably only being looked at as a situational pass rusher, which hurts his chances.
- Lawyers for Native Americans who object to Washington‘s nickname believe that a U.S. Supreme Court ruling last week on the Confederate flag could strengthen their case, Matthew Barakat of The Associated Press writes. The high court ruled that Texas was not infringing on the free speech rights of a Confederate heritage group by rejecting a special interest license plate design that shows the Confederate flag. The team, meanwhile, has argued that losing its trademark protections infringes upon its free speech rights.
Extension Candidate: Marcell Dareus
Under old head coach Doug Marrone, the Bills’ defensive line wasn’t just the best part of the team’s defense. It was the strength of the roster as a whole. It was also on the verge of becoming very, very expensive.
Defensive end Mario Williams was already one of the league’s highest-paid players, with a cap hit of $19.4MM due for 2015. Fellow defensive end Jerry Hughes was on his way to a payday of his own, and landed a $45MM extension in March. Meanwhile, defensive tackles Marcell Dareus and Kyle Williams were in line for the club’s second- and third-highest 2015 cap numbers.
The arrival of Rex Ryan and new defensive coordinator Dennis Thurman doesn’t make any of those players any less expensive, but a new defensive scheme should spread those big salaries out a little among the front seven. Rather than four defensive linemen being among the Bills’ five largest cap charges of 2015, two of those players – Hughes and Mario Williams – now figure to line up at the outside linebacker position most of the time in Thurman’s 3-4 defense.
Had those four standout players remained on the defensive line, the Bills would have had to decide whether to commit a huge chunk of their salary cap to one position group, and it looked as if the team was prepared to do just that. Certainly, if one of the four were to walk in free agency, it would have been Hughes, the only one in the group who hasn’t earned a Pro Bowl nod. Hughes, who has recorded double-digit sacks in each of the last two seasons, can hold his own against the run, but he’s essentially a pass-rushing specialist, and the club was still willing to lock him up for $9MM per year.
That deal bodes well for Dareus, the last member of the Bills’ old 4-3 line eligible for a big payday. Because he was a first-round pick, the former Crimston Tide star had a fifth-year option on his four-year rookie contract, which the Bills exercised a year ago, keeping the All-Pro lineman under team control through the 2015 season. While that bought the club a little extra time, Dareus’ contract will have to be addressed soon, or else he’ll be eligible to be franchised or to hit the open market in 2016.
A defensive tackle under Marrone, Dareus appears likely to continue playing on the inside under Ryan, occupying the nose tackle role in Thurmond’s 3-4 scheme. Interior defensive linemen typically don’t post huge sack numbers, but Dareus has done an impressive job getting after the quarterback in his first four seasons, recording 28.5 career sacks, including 10 in 2014, a total that matched Hughes’ output. That number may decline for the first time in 2015 as Dareus moves to nose tackle, but the Bills value his ability to stop the run at least as much as his ability to bring down the quarterback.
Without extensively studying Dareus’ game tape, his overall impact against opposing run games is hard to quantify, particularly since the Bills were outside of the top 10 run defenses in 2014, allowing 106.4 yards per game and 4.1 yards per carry. However, Pro Football Focus (subscription required) ranked Dareus first among the league’s defensive tackles as a run defender, giving him a +20.7 grade. By comparison, Ndamukong Suh was second, with a +17.6 mark.
At age 25, Dareus is several years younger than Mario Williams or Kyle Williams, who are both in their 30s, and he’s a more dynamic and well-rounded defender than Hughes. Coming off his first All-Pro nod, the former third overall pick appears poised for a massive payday. The only thing that might derail it? Some dreaded “off-field concerns.”
The term “off-field concerns” has become a catch-all that can refer to anything from possible mental health issues to a serious criminal record. In Dareus’ case, those “concerns” date back to a pair of arrests that occurred during the 2014 offseason — one for possession of a controlled substance and drug paraphernalia, and another for endangerment and leaving the scene of an accident.
Dareus is facing a one-game suspension for his drug arrest, meaning he’ll miss the Bills’ regular season opener in 2015. While one missed game isn’t a huge concern, and probably won’t have a major impact on the team’s willingness to extend the star defensive tackle, it’s a red flag, since any subsequent violations would result in longer and costlier suspensions. I don’t think that risk will deter the Bills from making Dareus one of the highest-paid defensive linemen in the NFL, but the club may include language in the 25-year-old’s next contract that protects the franchise if he’s arrested again.
So what sort of years and dollars might Dareus be looking at on his next contract? He and his reps may point to Suh’s deal and argue that Dareus has been just as effective as the former Lion. But Suh joined the Dolphins as an unrestricted free agent, and Dareus would be hard-pressed to match those numbers even if he reached the open market, which won’t happen anytime soon. It’s too early to know exactly what the 2016 franchise tag figures will look like, but it would likely cost Buffalo about $12MM to franchise Dareus, which looks like a nice bargain compared to the $19MM+ annual salary Suh is earning in Miami.
It’s more likely that Dareus’ extension comes in at a price closer to what Gerald McCoy got from the Buccaneers. McCoy’s seven-year pact was worth $95.2MM, an average of $13.6MM per season, which could go as high as $14MM per year via incentives. With the salary cap on the rise, there’s a chance Dareus exceeds that annual salary, but I think it’s more likely that he settles for a bit less. Based on how Tampa Bay’s front office structures contracts, McCoy’s extension didn’t include a ton of guaranteed money, whereas the Bills are more likely to include sizable signing bonuses and option bonuses in their deals.
If Dareus were to accept a multiyear extension worth in the neighborhood of $12-13MM per year, the team could be happy knowing that it will pay its star defensive tackle less money per year than the Bucs are paying McCoy, and significantly less than Suh or J.J. Watt are getting from their respective teams, which could help assuage those “off-field concerns.” At the same time, Dareus could land a guarantee that’s more significant than what McCoy got from the Bucs, which would make it more difficult for the Bills to move on from him within the first two or three years of the contract.
If Dareus’ legal run-ins are a serious concern for the Bills, or if Suh’s mammoth new contract has increased Dareus’ asking price significantly, it’s possible these contract talks will extend into 2016, perhaps necessitating the use of a franchise tag. However, GM Doug Whaley has stressed that working out a long-term agreement with Dareus is the Bills’ top priority this summer, so I expect we’ll see the two sides get something done before the season begins.
What do you think? Will the Bills and Dareus reach a deal soon? What’s your salary estimate for his next contract?
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Cassel, Henderson On Bills’ Roster Bubble
With the Bills three-headed monster of Matt Cassel, EJ Manuel, and Tyrod Taylor all competing for the starting job, fans in Buffalo don’t have a ton to look forward to on offense. However, one of those three may actually already be falling behind the curve.
Cassel, an 11-year veteran, may be in danger of not making the roster, writes Mike Rodak of ESPN. Rodak called him the clear loser of the group of passers based on the three OTA practices and three minicamp sessions that were open to the media. He added that Cassel was inaccurate, forcing throws, and turning the ball over at alarmingly high rates (via Twitter).
Rodak listed Manuel as the slight winner, but was adamant that Cassel had been the worst of the three, noting that he was “consistently subpar this spring,” (via Twitter).
Many fans and pundits saw the Bills trading for Cassel as an indication that they planned on starting the season with him under center. It would have been difficult to imagine him not making the roster, even as a veteran backup for Manuel at the very least. However, if he continues to underperform, the team could still take the $4.15MM he is set to earn this year off the books by releasing him before the season opener.
Last year’s starting right tackle Seantrel Henderson may also be on the bubble of making the roster, and there are a few red flags that lead Rodak to believe he could be the odd man out along the offensive line (via Twitter). Henderson arrived to camp late and lost the starting job in practice to last year’s second-round pick Cyrus Kouandjio. Additionally, head coach Rex Ryan expects the team to sign veteran swing tackle Wayne Hunter, who could play both right tackle and left tackle, as well as tight end in heavy packages. With Hunter, Kouandjio, and Cordy Glenn in the fold, Henderson would have limited value to the team.