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AFC Notes: Moats, Hudson, Edelman

January 19th, 2015 at 9:12pm CST by Ben Levine

Steelers linebacker Arthur Moats is set to be an unrestricted free agent, and Mark Kaboly of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review says the former sixth-rounder could end up being a priority for Pittsburgh. For what it’s worth, the 26-year-old is hoping to return next season.

“I hope to be back, but it is a business,” Moats said. “I feel I have to do what’s best for me and my family. We will see what happens, but I definitely want to be back.”

Let’s take a look at some more notes from around the AFC…

  • Chiefs center Rodney Hudson switched representation from Shoreline to Athletes First agents Joe Panos and Brian Murphy, tweets Liz Mullen of Sports Business Journal. As the writer points out, the move may be in preparation of the 25-year-old’s potential free agency.
  • Ben Volin of The Boston Globe tweets that Patriots wideout Julian Edelman will receive a $500K bonus for making the Super Bowl. The bonus would have kicked in had the 28-year-old compiled 1,057 yards, 70 receptions/seven scores, 80 receptions/13 wins or 80 receptions/Super Bowl appearance (via ESPNBoston.com’s Mike Reiss). Edelman finished the season with 92 receptions for 972 yards. Meanwhile, the Patriots finished with 12 wins.
  • ‘DeflateGate’ is less than 24 hours old, but some within the NFL are already trying to distance themselves from the story, including Colts head coach Chuck Pagano. “Did not notice, and that’s something for the league to handle. It’s not my place to comment on it,” Pagano said (via Michael David Smith of ProFootballTalk.com).

Coach/GM Notes: Gase, 49ers, Eagles

January 19th, 2015 at 6:47pm CST by Ben Levine

Following his nine seasons as John Elway‘s backup, Gary Kubiak bounced around a bit when he entered the coaching profession. He started as the running backs coach at Texas A&M before spending a year with the 49ers as the quarterbacks coach. Kubiak then spent more than ten seasons with the Broncos before he was hired as the Texans head coach. Last season, the 53-year-old was the Ravens offensive coordinator.

As a result, Kubiak is hoping to have a lengthy tenure in Denver (via Mike Klis of The Denver Post):

“I’m excited. I’m looking forward to the work. It’s great to be home again.

“Hopefully it works out so this is the last coaching job I have in my career.”

Here are some more assorted coach and front office notes from around the league:

Coaching:

  • Broncos offensive coordinator Adam Gase will interview with the Ravens this evening, tweets Ian Rapoport of NFL.com. Ironically, Gase’s meeting would be for the position previously held by the current Broncos head coach.
  • The 49ers have requested permission to interview Colts special assistant Rob Chudzinski to become the team’s offensive coordinator, tweets Rapoport. We learned earlier today that the Bears had also requested permission.
  • The Eagles have hired former Broncos defensive backs coach Cory Undlin for the same role, the team announced. The team also promoted assistant Justin Peelle to tight ends coach.
  • Meanwhile, former Eagles defensive backs coach John Lovett and former tight ends coach Ted Williams will stay with the organization in the pro scouting department, according to Les Bowen of the Philadelphia Daily News (via Twitter).

Front office:

  • The Buccaneers have denied the Eagles the opportunity to interview director of player personnel Jon Robinson for the open general manager vacancy, reports Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk. While the Philadelphia job may have the GM title, Chip Kelly will have final say over roster and personnel decisions, so it wouldn’t necessarily be a promotion for an exec who already holds a director of player personnel title.
  • The Eagles will have an opportunity to interview candidates from the front offices of both the Patriots and Seahawks this week, reports Jeff McClain of the Philadelphia Inquirer (via Twitter). However, the team will still need organizational permission to reach out to candidates.

Rob DiRe contributed to this post.

Colts Sign 10 To Futures Contracts

January 19th, 2015 at 5:52pm CST by Ben Levine

Following their season-ending loss in New England last night, the Colts have shifted their focus towards next season. Mike Chappell of RTV6 tweets that the team has signed ten players to reserves/futures contract:

All ten players spent at least some time on Indy’s practice squad in 2014, while Quarles made a pair of appearances with the big-league club. Meanwhile, Guy compiled ten tackles and a sack in four games with the Jaguars earlier this season.

The other notable name here is Demps, an Olympic sprinter. The 25-year-old previously spent time with the Patriots and Buccaneers before joining the Colts’ practice squad.

Coach Updates: Texans, Tomsula, Bears

January 19th, 2015 at 3:45pm CST by Luke Adams

The case of Seahawks defensive coordinator Dan Quinn exhibits a need for the NFL to change its rules when it comes to head coaching hires, writes Jason La Canfora of CBSSports.com. Because Seattle is playing in the Super Bowl, no team can officially hire Quinn as a head coach until February, at which point most top assistants will have found other jobs. The Falcons still appear willing to wait on Quinn, but it would’ve been much more of a sure thing if Quinn were available immediately.

Here’s the latest on a few more coaching openings around the league:

  • Within La Canfora’s piece, the CBSSports.com scribe notes that the Texans could be in the market for an offensive coordinator since the team didn’t have one under Bill O’Brien in 2014. Doug Marrone is a good bet to resurface in Houston, according to La Canfora.
  • Jim Tomsula‘s salary as the 49ers‘ head coach is believed to be about $3.5MM per year, reports Matt Maiocco of CSNBayArea.com (via Twitter). That would put Tomsula amongst the bottom five head coaches in the league in terms of annual salary, which isn’t a huge surprise since he wasn’t a high-profile candidate.
  • The Bears have put in an interview request with the Colts in the hopes of speaking to assistant Rob Chudzinski about their offensive coordinator opening, according to Adam Jahns of the Chicago Sun-Times (Twitter link).
  • Bears general manager Ryan Pace said today that the team has not made a contract offer to defensive coordinator candidate Vic Fangio, but that doesn’t mean Chicago isn’t interested, tweets Brad Biggs of the Chicago Tribune. Fangio is also considered a strong contender for the same job in Washington.
  • Former Bears special teams coordinator Joe DeCamillis is interviewing with the Raiders today and has two other stops lined up after Oakland, per ESPN.com’s Michael C. Wright (via Twitter).
  • The Browns‘ offensive coordinator interviews for Anthony Lynn and Al Saunders are expected to take place this week at the Senior Bowl in Mobile, tweets Adam Caplan of ESPN.com.

OC Notes: Rams, Ravens, Gase, Bears

January 19th, 2015 at 10:32am CST by Rob DiRe

Many teams still have openings for their offensive coordinator position, writes Jeff Zrebiec of the Baltimore Sun (via Twitter). With seven openings still needed to be filled, he notes that there will be a lot of competition for the top candidates.

Of the seven jobs Zrebiec believes still need to be filled, he has not counted the Falcons, who filled their position last night despite not having a head coach, and the Jets, who have been strongly linked to Chan Gailey (via Twitter).

For a full list of all coordinator hirings and firings check out our Offensive/Devensive Coordinator Tracker.

Here are some notes about potential offensive coordinator hires:

  • The Rams have requested permission to speak with Colts assistant coach Rob Chudzinski regarding their offensive coordinator opening, reports Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (via Twitter).
  • The Rams have also sought permission to interview Packers quarterbacks coach Alex Van Pelt for the OC opening, reports Jim Thomas of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch (via Twitter).
  • The Ravens are currently interested in a number of candidates, and a list of possibilities has been compiled by Jamison Hensley of ESPN.com. The guy he puts as the front runner right now is former Broncos offensive coordinator Adam Gase, who has led record breaking offenses in Denver with Peyton Manning.
  • Gase is expected to eventually land with either the Ravens or Jaguars, reports Rapoport (via Twitter). He will interview with the Ravens soon.
  • The Bears have asked for permission to interview Lions quarterbacks coach Jim Bob Cooter for their open offensive coordinator position, reports Rapoport (via Twitter). Unfortunately for them, the Lions have denied permission.

Colts Preparing Mega-Deal For Luck

January 18th, 2015 at 1:24pm CST by Rory Parks

The Colts have already begun working on the parameters of a “blockbuster mega deal” for quarterback Andrew Luck, tweets ESPN’s Adam Schefter. Luck, whose excellent regular season has his team positioned to fight for a Super Bowl berth this afternoon, has more than lived up to the hype surrounding him when he entered the league as the No. 1 overall pick three years ago. He now appears set to cash in on that success.

Under the terms of the 2011 contractual bargaining agreement, players are extension eligible following the conclusion of their third season — with the regular season now several weeks in the rear-view mirror, Indianapolis has the freedom to begin negotiating with Luck. After being drafted in 2012, Luck signed a fully guaranteed four-year deal worth about $22.1MM. In 2014, his base salary amounted roughly $2.4MM, and combined with his signing bonus proration, he counted a little more than $6MM against the Colts’ salary cap. In 2015, his base salary rises to ~$3.4MM, and his salary cap hit increases to approximately $7MM. He’ll remain under contract in 2016 due to his fifth-year option, which the Colts will assuredly exercise.

Due to Schefter’s phrasing, it’s fair to assume that Luck’s new deal will approach the value of some of the larger quarterback contracts in the NFL. Currently, Aaron Rodgers constitutes his own among QB pacts — the total value of his deal is $122MM, $54MM of which is guaranteed. The next sub-set of deals are similar, as Matt Ryan, Joe Flacco, Peyton Manning, Colin Kaepernick, Jay Cutler, and Tony Romo‘s contracts all have an average annual value between $18MM and $20MM, though the guarantees vary. Luck should top that second bucket of signal-callers, and his representatives will no doubt target Rodgers’ total value, AAV, and guarantees when discussing a fresh pact — whether he’s able to match the Green Bay quarterback should be one of the more fascinating plot lines of the talks.

Another interesting factor in the negotiations will be how the Seahawks progress with regards to extending Russell Wilson, another 2012 draftee who is also up for an extension. As a third-round pick, Wilson’s rookie contract is more modest than Luck’s — the Seattle QB earned less than $700K in base salary in 2014. However, a recent report indicated that the Seahawks plan to make Wilson the highest-paid QB in the league, which isn’t surprising given that Seattle tends to hand out contracts that redefine positional markets (Earl Thomas, Percy Harvin, Richard Sherman). Additionally, Wilson boasts a Super Bowl on his resume, something Luck has yet to attain, and it remains to be seen how that level of postseason success will affect negotiations.

Coordinator Updates: Kiffin, Gase, Musgrave

January 18th, 2015 at 12:39pm CST by Rory Parks

Let’s take a look at a few notes regarding various coordinator vacancies:

  • ESPN’s Adam Schefter tweets that Alabama offensive coordinator Lane Kiffin has emerged as the favorite to land the 49ers offensive coordinator opening, with Colts special assistant Rob Chudzinski also under consideration.
  • Citing ESPN’s Chris Mortensen, ESPN.com’s Bill Williamson tweets that Eagles QB coach Bill Musgrave has become a “hot contender” for the Raiders‘ offensive coordinator position.
  • Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets that Jim Schwartz will be very selective in choosing his next job, as he has two contract years left. CBS Sports’ Jason La Canfora adds (via Twitter) that he would not be surprised if Schwartz sat out the 2015 season altogether, though things may have been different if the Cowboys‘ defensive coordinator job had become available.
  • Rapoport tweets that Adam Gase is interviewing with the Jaguars today regarding their offensive coordinator vacancy, but he reiterates that the Raiders, Rams, Falcons, and Bears all have permission to talk to Gase. La Canfora, though, tweets that he would be surprised to see Gase land with Chicago or Oakland, where he would be reunited with former Denver coaches.
  • The Falcons are impressed with Gase, whom Teryl Austin would bring with him if Austin were hired as Atlanta’s head coach, according to a tweet from La Canfora. Although we heard earlier today that Seahawks defensive coordinator Dan Quinn has established himself as the presumptive favorite for the Falcons’ head coaching vacancy, La Canfora tweets that, if Seattle wins today, Atlanta will have to weigh the risks of waiting two weeks to hire Quinn and possibly missing out on top coaching candidates like Gase.

Trent Richardson Not Travelling With Colts

January 17th, 2015 at 3:10pm CST by Rob DiRe

Colts running back Trent Richardson will not be making the trip to New England with the team for personal reasons, and will be inactive during tomorrow’s AFC Championship game against the Patriots, reports Kevin Bowen of Colts.com (via Twitter).

Richardson was a healthy scratch last week as the Colts elected to activate special teams player Michael Hill for the game against the Broncos in Denver. In reaction to last week’s benching, Richardson vowed it would be the last time it happens, according to Zak Keefer of IndyStar.com. “That situation will never happen to me again,” Richardson said. “Anybody can quote me, today, because it’s never going to happen again.”

Dan Herron has taken over as the top back for the Colts over the last few games, with Zurlon Tipton backing him up. Herron was a Bengals sixth round draft pick in 2012, lasting one year with the team before signing with Indianapolis, and Tipton was signed as an undrafted free agent this year.

This suddenly public battle between Richardson and the team puts his future in Indianapolis in jeopardy. General manager Ryan Grigson notoriously traded a first-round draft pick to acquire Richardson from the Browns only 17 games into his pro career. Since then, Richardson has never caught on as a productive NFL running back. He has been consistently disappointing, barely amassing 2,000 yards in three seasons and only averaging 3.3 yards per carry over the course of his short career.

As a top three pick in 2012, Richardson is viewed as one of the biggest busts in recent history. Albert Breer of NFL.com compares the back to former Raiders’ quarterback JaMarcus Russell, Rams’ offensive tackle Jason Smith, and Raiders’ offensive tackle Robert Gallery (via Twitter).

Richardson has one more year on his contract, and is due $3.184MM in base salary for 2015. That number is guaranteed, and the team will not save a cent by releasing him this offseason, according to OverTheCap.com. Still, if he is unable to contribute in any facet, including special teams, he will hardly be worth a valuable roster spot to sit on the bench.

The Colts would get out from under Richardson’s contract with no dead money on their cap if they are able to trade the underwhelming ball carrier, but that would be unlikely at this point, even for just a late-round pick.

While some may speculate that this has something to do with Richardson’s unhappiness after possibly being benched again, Stephen Holder of the Indianapolis Star cautions against such assumptions, writing instead that it could very well be a personal matter that is keeping him away from the game (via Twitter). Holder notes that the only time players do not travel with the team are in the case of being ruled out be injury or due to extenuating circumstances (via Twitter).

2015 Proven Performance Escalator Raises

January 16th, 2015 at 8:21pm CST by Dallas Robinson

According to the NFL’s contractual bargaining agreement, players drafted in rounds three though seven are entitled to raises during the fourth year of their respective rookie contracts. The pay bumps are tied to playing time — a player must have played in 35% of his team’s offensive or defensive snaps in two of his first three seasons, or averaged 35% playing time in said snaps for the duration of his first three years in the league. If one of these thresholds is met, the player’s salary is elevated to the level of that year’s restricted free agent qualifying offer — that figure was $1.431MM last year, and will inflate commensurate with the salary cap increase. Players selected in the first or second round, undrafted free agents, and kickers/punters are ineligible for the proven performance escalator.

Here are the players who will see their 2015 salary rise due to the PPE, courtesy of Jason Fitzgerald of Over the Cap.

Bengals: George Iloka, S; Mohamed Sanu, WR

Bills: Nigel Bradham, LB

Broncos: Malik Jackson, DL; Danny Trevathan, LB;

Browns: Billy Winn, DL

Cardinals: Bobby Massie, T

Chargers: Johnnie Troutman, G

Colts: Dwayne Allen, TE; T.Y. Hilton, WR

Dolphins: Lamar Miller, RB; Olivier Vernon, DE

Eagles: Brandon Boykin, CB; Nick Foles; QB

Falcons: Lamar Holmes, T

Jets: Demario Davis, LB; Antonio Allen, DB

Packers: Mike Daniels, DL

Panthers: Josh Norman, CB

Patriots: Alfonzo Dennard, CB

Raiders: Miles Burris, LB

Rams: Chris Givens, WR; Trumaine Johnson, CB

Ravens: Gino Gradkowski, C

Saints: Akiem Hicks, DT; Corey White, CB

Seahawks: J.R. Sweezy, G; Russell Wilson, QB

Steelers: Kelvin Beachum, T

Texans: Brandon Brooks, G; Jared Crick, DL; Ben Jones, G

Titans: Coty Sensabaugh, CB

Vikings: Robert Blanton, S: Rhett Ellison, TE; Josh Robinson, CB; Jarius Wright, WR

Washington: Alfred Morris, RB

Colts Place Josh McNary On Exempt List

January 15th, 2015 at 10:13am CST by Luke Adams

10:13am: The NFL has allowed the Colts to place McNary on the exempt list, the club announced today in a press release. Indianapolis promoted wide receiver Griff Whalen from its practice squad to take McNary’s place on the 53-man roster. Defensive end Gannon Conway replaces Whalen on the taxi squad.

10:08am: With linebacker and special-teamer Josh McNary facing criminal charges, the Colts have asked the NFL to place him on the commissioner’s exempt list, as Mike Wells of ESPN.com details. If the league agrees to accommodate Indianapolis’ request, McNary will be ineligible to practice or play for the Colts as they prepare for this weekend’s AFC Championship game.

McNary, 26, has been charged with rape, criminal confinement with bodily injury, and battery resulting in bodily injury. While the Colts linebacker is “unhesitatingly” denying the allegations, a precedent was set earlier this season when Adrian Peterson and Greg Hardy were placed on the exempt list while their legal cases were resolved. The league’s new conduct policy calls for the possibility of paid leave if a player is formally charged with a violent crime or sexual assault. That paid leave “may last until the league makes a disciplinary decision and any appeal of the discipline is fully resolved.”

Playing in his second season with the Colts in 2014, McNary logged 272 defensive snaps to go along with his work on special teams, recording 29 tackles and 0.5 sacks. If the league allows the Colts to place him on the exempt list, he’ll be removed from the 53-man roster, allowing the team to sign or promote someone to replace him.

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