City Of Los Angeles - Pro Football Rumors

NFL Could Move Only One Team To L.A.

September 23rd, 2015 at 7:25pm CST by Zachary Links

For the last few months, it has been widely reported that the NFL wanted to move two franchises to Los Angeles. At first, that appeared to be a positive for the joint Chargers/Raiders effort, though there were also rumblings that the Bolts and Rams could hook up on a stadium project.

Now, the NFL may ultimately move only one team to Los Angeles, a league source with knowledge of the situation tells Mike Florio of PFT. That would not be a short-term plan, either – it would be an indefinite move that could result in a second team never going to L.A. If only one team goes, that team likely would be the Rams, since owner Stan Kroenke already has plans in place to fund privately a one-team stadium. Florio writes that the league is concerned that they might not be able to connect with Angelenos if they come in cold with two teams after a 20+ year absence from the market. Instead, they may choose to ensure that they get things right with just one club.

Here’s more on Los Angeles and even news on a possible London team..

Things could be getting more serious as the Committee on Los Angeles Opportunities, comprising six owners, along with Commissioner Roger Goodell, will be taking a more prominent role in the L.A. proceedings, Sam Farmer of the Los Angeles Times writes. While that might not seem like a big change, it is noteworthy since things have been fairly stagnant since the spring.
When asked on Twitter when there will be an NFL franchise in London, mayor Boris Johnson responded, “We are working hard on deal – high hopes for Tottenham in the next few years…watch this space.”
The L.A. committee was scheduled to discuss a potential relocation fee in detail last week, Jason Cole of Bleacher Report tweets. The committee is expected to set the fee and structure of the payment at an October meeting in New York.

Breer’s Latest: Colts, Maxwell, Los Angeles

September 18th, 2015 at 3:38pm CST by Luke Adams

A week after Jameis Winston and Marcus Mariota – the top two picks in the 2015 draft – squared off in Tampa Bay, Albert Breer of the NFL Network spoke to Buccaneers GM Jason Licht and Titans GM Ruston Webster, and both executives are still very happy with the choices they made back in April. Of course, there wasn’t much to dislike about Mariota’s Week 1 performance for Webster, and even though Winston struggled, Licht says the team “saw some flashes of great play” and still has a lot of faith in the No. 1 overall pick.

As Breer notes, history suggests that a rookie quarterback’s performance in the first week of the regular season doesn’t necessarily reflect what kind of career – or even what kind of season – he’ll have, so it’s hard to draw too many conclusions from Mariota winning round one over Winston.

Let’s round up a few more of Breer’s items of interest….

Colts owner Jim Irsay wants to make the most out of Andrew Luck‘s time in Indianapolis after the Colts only won one championship in 14 years with Peyton Manning, and there’s a belief that Irsay will have an itchy trigger finger with his decision-making as a result. If the 2015 season ends the same way the last three seasons have, Irsay will look to make changes, according to Breer, who says the Colts’ owner may go “big-game hunting” if he decides to replace Chuck Pagano as head coach.
In examining Byron Maxwell‘s unsteady start with the Eagles, Breer cites one NFC executive who has said in the past that teams’ biggest free agent mistakes often involve projecting players into bigger roles. In Maxwell’s case, he was surrounded by Pro Bowl caliber defensive backs in Seattle, but is being relied upon as the No. 1 option in Philadelphia after inking a lucrative long-term contract. It remains to be seen whether Maxwell’s poor performance vs. the Falcons was a one-week blip or a sign of things to come.
St. Louis and San Diego reps won’t get an opportunity to make presentations at the NFL’s owners meetings in October, but that doesn’t mean the subject of Los Angeles won’t be discussed. As Breer writes, owners could address and agree to a relocation fee, and figure out how it would be paid. The league may also try to finalize a temporary stadium for 2016 and a new window for applying for relocation, since the current window (January 1 to February 15) is expected to be moved up.
Within his L.A.-related observations, Breer also says that Dean Spanos and his Chargers have garnered the most sympathy around the NFL based on his situation, so it seems extremely unlikely that any relocation scenario would leave the Chargers at Qualcomm Stadium — the franchise figures to either move to L.A. or get a stadium solution worked out in San Diego.

West Notes: Chancellor, Bennett, L.A.

September 18th, 2015 at 10:30am CST by Luke Adams

In last night’s game vs. the Chiefs, Broncos pass rusher Von Miller recorded his first sack of the 2015 season, making him the third-fastest player in NFL history to reach 50 career sacks — Miller did it in just his 58th career regular season game (Twitter link).

Under new defensive coordinator Wade Phillips, Miller looks primed for another big year, which makes Denver’s recent extension with Demaryius Thomas all the more important. By extending Thomas in July, the Broncos freed up their 2016 franchise tag to potentially use on Miller, if the two sides don’t reach a long-term extension. With his contract set to expire at season’s end, the 26-year-old looks like one of the most obvious franchise-tag candidates in the league for next offseason.

Here are a few more items from out of the league’s two West divisions:

Peter King of TheMMQB.com can’t see Seahawks GM John Schneider caving to Kam Chancellor, even if Seattle loses again in Week 2. King also thinks it’ll be a while before the club seriously consider trading its star safety, who is continuing his holdout.
Seahawks defensive end Michael Bennett told reporters on Thursday that, while he’s also unhappy with his contract, his situation is different than Chancellor’s, since he can’t afford to roll the dice on a holdout with a wife and three kids to support. As Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk observes, Bennett’s situation is also different because he has a more legitimate gripe about his contract, which was signed when he was still a part-time player. After he signed the deal, Bennett was elevated into more of a full-time role, which suggests he should be paid more.
Andy Dolich of CSNBayArea.com examines the possibility of an NFL team relocating to Los Angeles by breaking down demographics and the interest level of football fans in the L.A. market. Of course, the Raiders, Rams, and Chargers are all viewed as potential relocation candidates.

Extra Points: Pats, Cofield, Raiders, Solomon

September 16th, 2015 at 9:52pm CST by Luke Adams

Another DeflateGate loose end was tied off earlier today, when the NFL announced that Patriots employees John Jastremski and Jim McNally have been reinstated from their suspensions. As Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (Twitter links) notes, the NFL said the Pats “satisfied the league’s requirements” for the staffers’ returns, but Jastremski is prohibited from handling footballs and McNally is barred from handling equipment going forward.

Here’s more from around the NFL:

Defensive tackle Barry Cofield, viewed by many NFL people as the best defensive free agent available, will likely sign with a contending team in October when he recovers from hip surgery, says Jason Cole of Bleacher Report (video link). Cole cites the Colts and Packers as a couple teams that would interest Cofield and that may have a need on the defensive line.
The Raiders did not come close to signing safety Stevie Brown this week even though there’s a clear need at the position, Bill Williamson of ESPN.com writes.
Browns outside linebacker Scott Solomon will miss four to six weeks with an ankle injury suffered early in the season opener, a source told ESPN’s Adam Caplan. The Browns had high hopes for Solomon, who made his mark after being signed to the practice squad in November. Cleveland will likely add an outside linebacker to replenish its depth.
Eric Grubman, the NFL’s point man on Los Angeles, said this week that San Diego and St. Louis reps won’t get the opportunity to make presentations on their stadium plans at the league’s October owner meetings, according to Bernie Wilson of The Associated Press. Grubman suggested that another time and place would allow for a more in-depth presentation, since there’s already a “full agenda” for next month’s meetings.
As Howard Belzer of The SportsXchange tweets, many NFL team owners want to have serious discussions at those October meetings about Roger Goodell’s disciplinary power, which is one reason why there isn’t room for stadium presentations. Steelers president Art Rooney II indicated this week that “informal discussions” on that issue have already begun, per Mark Maske of the Washington Post.

Zach Links contributed to this post.

NFC East Notes: Hardy, Cowboys, LA, RGIII

September 13th, 2015 at 3:47pm CST by Dallas Robinson

Defensive end Greg Hardy is expected to play a large role on the Cowboys‘ defense when he returns from a four-game suspension, but because he signed a one-year deal, Dallas will have to make a decision on whether to retain Hardy at season’s end. The Cowboys recently locked up Hardy’s linemate Tyrone Crawford to a long-term extension, but team owner Jerry Jones says the club hasn’t yet discussed such a deal with Hardy.

“We haven’t really broached it up to this point,” Jones said on 105.3 The Fan’s Ben and Skin show. “But it certainly is something, like we said, any young players that only have a year on their contract, then that becomes something that we look at.

“We obviously know the circumstances that were out there when we brought Greg in here. Boy, he’s just been a model guy for our football team and is as hard a worker as anybody that we have out there. He certainly has demonstrated day-in and day-out, night-in and night-out how important football is to him.”

Jones could play a key role in the NFL-to-Los Angeles saga, writes Jason La Canfora of CBSSports.com, who notes that Jones is a major supporter of Rams owner Stan Kroenke‘s Inglewood project. Jones and Kroenke are business partners — the two are working on a land development deal in Texas — but a source told La Canfora that the Jones’ business ties play no role in his stance. “Jerry will follow the money (in terms of how he votes for NFL matters), and Jerry is very attracted to the mega-rich,” said the source.
David Moore of the Dallas Morning News provides an interesting of profile of Jones’ son Stephen Jones, the Cowboys; chief operating officer. The entire piece is a good read, and paints Stephen as something of a calming influence throughout the organization, especially when it came to selecting offensive lineman Zack Martin over Johnny Manziel in last year’s draft.
Multiple sources tell Jeff Darlington of NFL.com that Washington has used Robert Griffin III — who is now listed as the club’s third-string quarterback — as the scout team safety, a curious decision on multiple levels. For one, RGIII’s 2016 $16.1MM option is guaranteed for injury only, and has seemingly forced Washington to demote him in order to stave of the risk of injury. To employ him as a safety merely for practice’s sake, then, seems like an odd choice.

Extra Points: Panthers, Chargers, Browns

September 11th, 2015 at 9:04pm CST by Connor J. Byrne

The Panthers locked up star linebacker Luke Kuechly to a long-term deal Thursday, but it doesn’t appear that teammate and fellow defensive linchpin Josh Norman will receive similar treatment. Negotiations between the Panthers and the cornerback stalled this week, reports Joseph Person of The Charlotte Observer. Because general manager Dave Gettleman doesn’t negotiate new deals during the season, Norman looks poised to play out 2015 as a contract year.

Norman, whom the Panthers took in the fifth round of the 2012 draft, is coming off a season in which he totaled 48 tackles and a career-best two interceptions. More impressively, Norman held opposing quarterbacks to a paltry 53.2 rating when they attacked him, according to Pro Football Focus (subscription required). That ranked fourth out of the 70 corners who played at least 50 percent of their teams’ defensive snaps in 2014.

Here’s more from around the NFL:

San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer set a Friday deadline for the city and the Chargers to agree on a new stadium that would keep the team from heading to Los Angeles next year. The two sides failed to meet it, according to Elliot Spagat of The Associated Press. That means there won’t be time for a measure to be put to voters on a Jan. 12 ballot, which Faulconer wanted. It seems, then, that the Chargers’ potential relocation to L.A. is becoming likelier.
The Browns finished last season in a tie for the league’s third-lowest yards-per-carry average, and they’re still without an obvious solution at running back. Current starter Isiah Crowell, who averaged 4.1 per carry and scored eight touchdowns in 2014, thinks he can fill the role. “I’m ready,” he said, according to Nate Ulrich of Ohio.com. “I always knew I had what it takes.” Offensive coordinator John DeFilippo added, “Nothing has shown to me that Crow can’t be that workhorse for us.”
Like Cleveland, the Cowboys also lack a top-end running back. They had the league’s rushing champion last season in DeMarco Murray, but he signed with Philadelphia in the offseason. So, Dallas will try to replace him with a committee consisting of Joseph Randle, Darren McFadden, Lance Dunbar and Christine Michael. Owner Jerry Jones is optimistic about the quartet. “If they are healthy, I will take the skill and what they can bring to our offense,” he said, per Eric Prisbell of USA Today.
Rookie free agent quarterback Phillip Sims will work out for the Seahawks on Monday, reports ESPN’s Adam Caplan (via Twitter). Simms, whom NFC West rival Arizona released last week, went undrafted out of Winston-Salem State this year.

Extra Points: Los Angeles, Raiders, Wilkerson

September 10th, 2015 at 10:01pm CST by Zachary Links

As the Rams, Raiders, and Chargers jockey to get into Los Angeles, Vincent Bonsignore of the Los Angeles Daily News (Twitter links) hears that the NFL could look to put one team in L.A. in 2016 and another in 2017 and delay the opening of new stadium to 2019 so that the second team has sufficient time to market. Meanwhile, if the Raiders are the team that gets squeezed out, some have floated the idea of them relocating to San Diego while the Bolts and Rams to go Inglewood.

Here’s more from around the NFL..

Manish Mehta of the New York Daily News (on Twitter) hears that there is no Sunday deadline for the Jets and Muhammad Wilkerson to hammer out a contract. If necessary, he hears that the Jets and Wilkerson will continue discussions into the season. On Thursday, Jason La Canfora of CBSSports.com reported that the two sides are “nowhere close on a deal.” He also heard from a source that Wilkerson will not negotiate during the season.
The Panthers will work out former Giants defensive tackle Kenrick Ellis, according to ESPN’s Field Yates. Ellis, who was released on Sunday in favor of Louis Nix, spent four seasons with the Jets before signing with Big Blue in March.
Texans starting inside linebacker Mike Mohamed is out two to four weeks with a calf injury, according to sources who spoke with Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle (on Twitter).

Extra Points: Los Angeles, Moeller, Catapano

September 8th, 2015 at 10:09pm CST by Zachary Links

If two teams are to wind up in Los Angeles, it could happen by commissioner Roger Goodell locking Rams owner Stan Kroenke and Chargers owner Dean Spanos in a room and demanding that they work it out, Sam Farmer of the Los Angeles Times writes. However, if the Rams, Chargers, and Raiders all continue to insist on moving to L.A., then things could get ugly in a hurry. In that scenario, the Rams would push the Inglewood project and the Chargers and Raiders would push their joint venture in Carson in an all-or-nothing vote. These types of NFL decisions require a three-quarters majority (meaning the support of 24 of 32 owners) and it’s generally believed that the Rams and Chargers-Raiders have the requisite nine votes to block the other. If both plans are voted down, that means no one will be moving to Los Angeles for the 2016 season.

Here’s more from around the league..

The woman who accused Browns offensive line coach Andy Moeller of assaulting her said he “tried to strangle me and beat me up” in her 911 call, as Evan MacDonald of the Northeast Ohio Media Group writes. The woman also said that Moeller might have been drinking that night. Moeller has been suspended indefinetly by the Browns and he may face assault charges based off of these allegations.
Prior to signing with the Jets‘ taxi squad, defensive end Mike Catapano had workouts scheduled with the Bears, Packers, and Vikings, Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle tweets. The Long Island native was in heavy demand, according to Wilson.
A federal judge has dismissed the NFL Players Association’s claim that the NFL engaged in illegal collusion to hold down player salaries during the uncapped 2010 season, as Michael David Smith of PFT writes. The union had claimed that teams broke labor laws by agreeing to effectively have a cap even though it was an uncapped year, but the judge said that any such claim from the NFLPA was nullified by the fact that both sides signed the 2011 CBA.

Rams/Chargers To Join Forces On L.A. Stadium?

September 2nd, 2015 at 6:22pm CST by Zachary Links

A pairing of the Rams and Chargers in Inglewood, Calif. is gaining momentum among NFL owners who fear that the Raiders don’t have the cash to make the move work, Jason Cole of Bleacher Report tweets. At this time, the Rams are on board with that plan but the Bolts are reluctant since there isn’t “a lot of trust” between the two teams at this time (link).

Long-term, Cole wonders aloud (link) if the Raiders’ financial situation could force Mark Davis to sell the team to someone with deeper pockets. He also hears that NFL owners and executives are kicking around the idea of moving the Jaguars to St. Louis to replace the Rams if they head west (link). Nothing is certain at this time, but it sounds like there could be a serious domino effect stemming from the NFL’s venture into the Los Angeles market.

Meanwhile, Floyd Kephart, the man trying to redevelop the Oakland Coliseum complex and finance construction of a new stadium for the Raiders, has been pitching his plan to the team for several months. As it turns out, that proposal didn’t jive with the team’s “terms and conditions” for deal and is a non-starter for the Raiders, Matthew Artz of the Bay Area News Group writes. In short, the Raiders made it clear to Kephart that they needed to control stadium revenues to help pay for the team’s $500MM contribution toward the stadium, including a $200MM stadium loan from the NFL. Kephart’s proposal, meanwhile, would have had the financial shortfall filled primarily through issuing bonds backed by future stadium revenue.

King’s Latest: Broncos, Rams, Walsh, Dareus

August 24th, 2015 at 2:55pm CST by Luke Adams

As a former quarterback himself, Broncos general manager John Elway admits that it wasn’t easy asking Peyton Manning to take a $4MM pay cut this offseason, money which Manning could make up in incentives. Elway tells Peter King of TheMMQB.com that it was a “really hard” conversation to have.

“A lot of times, as much as you like to say you want those things to stay business, they always end up being a little personal,” Elway said. “That’s the hard part, because I have a great deal of respect for Peyton. I think, hopefully, Peyton will be able to look back in a few years, especially if we have a really good year, and see that, ultimately, the decision was made to give us the best chance to go out and win a Super Bowl this year. That, ultimately, is the best thing for Peyton Manning—even though, of course, it was $4MM.”

Here are a few more items of note from King’s latest Monday Morning Quarterback feature:

With three starters on the offensive line who have never played a regular season snap, the Broncos will likely move a late-round pick for an offensive lineman, or claim a player – likely a guard – off waivers in the near future, says King.
One team owner who spoke to King believes that Stan Kroenke‘s plan for a new NFL Network facility and multi-purpose theater in Inglewood could be a big factor in the league’s decision on the Los Angeles market. King adds that he views the Inglewood stadium plan, along with the Rams, as the NFL’s preferred route to L.A., though that’s far from a sure thing at this point.
While the Vikings are “trying not to show their concern” with recently extended kicker Blair Walsh, the situation is worth keeping an eye on after Walsh missed five kicks in the team’s two preseason games, writes King. When I examined Walsh as an extension candidate back in May, I suggested the team may want to see how he responds to the longer extra point this year before extending him, but Minnesota locked him up to a new deal last month.
Responding to reports that Marcell Dareus didn’t accept an alleged six-year, $90MM extension offer, King suggests that the Bills defensive tackle is “misreading the market.” In King’s view, Dareus has a case for a rich contract, but not one that exceeds J.J. Watt‘s deal.

City Of Los Angeles News & Rumors