Jason Myers

Seahawks Notes: Smith, Lock, Myers, Draft

We heard recently that the Seahawks and quarterback Geno Smith have started contract talks. While general manager John Schneider indicated that negotiations haven’t gotten serious, he did express optimism that the organization would ultimately re-sign the QB. During an appearance on “The Ian Furness Show” on Sports Radio 93.3 KJR, Schneider said the team expects to agree to a new deal with Smith (via Bob Condotta of the Seattle Times).

“I met with Geno on his exit interview, and we had a great talk,” the GM said. “He knows what the process is going to be. We’d love to have him back. He knows that. Like you said, he’d love to be back here as well.

“In terms of getting it done, it’s a process. Hope to get started here pretty quick. We have a little time here to kind of evaluate our team and get settled in. … We’ll get to it as soon as we can and try to do what’s best for Geno and try to do what’s best for the organization.”

Smith played out the 2022 season on a one-year, $3.5MM contract; incentives allowed him to double his earnings for the year. He will significantly outpace that figure on a new contract following a breakout campaign that saw him earn first career Pro Bowl nod.

More notes out of Seattle:

  • Smith isn’t the only Seahawks quarterback that’s set to hit free agency, as Drew Lock‘s contract will also expire. While the trade acquisition had to settle in as a backup during his first season with the organization, Schneider said the front office is still interested in bringing him back. “Yeah we’d love to,” Schnieder said during his radio appearance (via Condotta). “We think that’d be the ideal situation.”
  • The Seahawks recently signed kicker Jason Myers to a contract extension, and ESPN’s Brady Henderson passed along some details on the new pact (via Twitter). The four-year, $21.1MM deal includes a $7.5MM signing bonus and can max out at $22.6MM. The veteran will earn a fully guaranteed $1.165MM base salary in 2023, an injury-guaranteed $3.635MM in 2024 (becomes full guarantee on fifth day of 2024 league year), and non-guaranteed base salaries of $4.2MM in 2025 and $4.6MM in 2026.
  • Henderson tweeted out some helpful insight in anticipation of the Seahawks’ offseason. While many publications show that Seattle owns nine draft picks in the upcoming draft, Henderson notes that the organization actually has 10 selections. The confusion stems from last year’s John Reid trade, with the reporter noting that the Seahawks ultimately didn’t have to give up a seventh-round pick in the deal.
  • Three Seahawks players were named as finalists for key Associated Press awards. Smith is a finalist for Associated Press Comeback Player of the Year, while running back Kenneth Walker III and cornerback Tariq Woolen were finalists for AP Offensive and Defensive Rookie of the Year (respectively).

Seahawks Sign K Jason Myers To Extension

Jason Myers is staying in Seattle. The Seahawks announced on Twitter that they’ve signed their kicker to an extension.

ESPN’s Adam Schefter tweets that it’s a four-year extension worth $21.1MM. The deal can max out at $22.6MM based on incentives. Myers was set to hit free agency in March but will now be sticking with the Seahawks through the 2026 campaign. In terms of total value, the $21.1MM contract will trail only Younghoe Koo ($24.25MM), Justin Tucker ($24MM), and Jason Sanders ($22MM) at the position, while the $5.25MM average annual value is second to Tucker ($6MM).

Following a three-year stint with the Jaguars and a Pro Bowl season with the Jets, Myers inked a four-year, $15.45MM deal with the Seahawks in 2019. During his four years with the organization, he’s connected on 87.5 percent of his field goal attempts and 93.5 percent of his extra point tries. Myers also connected on 37 straight field goals between 2019 and 2021, the fourth-longest streak in NFL history.

Myers made his second career Pro Bowl appearance in 2022. He ended up converting 34 of his 37 field goal attempts and 41 of his 42 extra point attempts. He also contributed five points during Seattle’s playoff loss to the 49ers.

Minor NFL Transactions: 9/12/22

Here are Monday’s minor moves:

Chicago Bears

Cincinnati Bengals

Cleveland Browns

Los Angeles Chargers

Seattle Seahawks

Tennessee Titans

Washington Commanders

Robinson has been mostly a rotational defensive end with the Seahawks, but the Syracuse product has five sacks in his two seasons. Robinson suffered a knee injury in Seattle’s preseason finale. He can return after four games, though teams only have eight IR-return slots — way up from the pre-COVID NFL but down from the 2020 and ’21 unlimited IR-return setup — this season.

The Seahawks will be without their primary long snapper, Tyler Ott, on Monday night. Ott is out with a shoulder injury. Tinker has been an NFL snapper since 2013, and the veteran specialist has experience with Seahawks kicker Jason Myers. The duo played together in Jacksonville during the mid-2010s.

Seahawks To Stick With Jason Myers?

On Friday, a large chunk of Jason Myers‘ salary became guaranteed for the 2020 season, as ESPN.com’s Brady Henderson (on Twitter) notes. With that, Myers should enter the core of the offseason as the Seahawks’ presumptive kicker. 

Myers joined up with the Seahawks on a four-year, ~$16MM deal last March. He went on to make 82.1% of his field goals – a step down from his career average and a significant drop from his 91.7% connection rate with the Jets in 2018. In that season with Gang Green, Myers earned his first ever trip to the Pro Bowl.

The Seahawks tend to steer players towards injury-only guarantees that become fully guaranteed in each offseason. That was the case with Myers, who locked in $1.5MM of his $2.6MM base salary for 2020 this week. Ditto for bigger names, including Russell Wilson, Bobby Wagner, and Tyler Lockett.

For his career, Myers has made 83.9% of his field goal tries and 88.5% of his extra point attempts. Over the last five seasons, he’s appeared in 70 games for the Jaguars, Jets, and Seahawks.

Seahawks To Bring Back K Jason Myers

Jason Myers has yet to kick in a game for the Seahawks, but he will soon begin a second Seattle stint. The Seahawks plan to sign the veteran kicker, Diana Russini of ESPN.com tweets.

The Seahawks added Myers a year ago but ended up with a subsequent Sebastian Janikowski signing, which routed Myers to the Jets. Myers announced earlier today the Jets were not bringing him back, and another attempt to stick with the Seahawks is on tap.

While Myers did not make Seattle’s 53-man roster last season, he almost certainly will this year. He is set to earn approximately $4MM per year on a four-year deal, Russini adds (via Twitter).

Myers made the Pro Bowl last season but will nonetheless change cities again. He began his career with the Jaguars in 2015 but experienced issues making extra points, having missed 12 of them in 2 1/2 Jacksonville seasons. The Jets gave Myers another opportunity last year, and he did not disappoint, making 33 of 36 field goals to go along with 30 of 33 PATs.

Should Myers show enough this offseason and attain the Seahawks’ kicking job, it will mark four kickers in four seasons for Seattle. Stephen Hauschka‘s final year came in 2016, with Blair Walsh and Janikowski kicking for the team in the ensuing two seasons. Janikowski signed a one-year contract last offseason but ended his season with a hamstring injury, one that altered the Seahawks’ strategy in their first-round loss to the Cowboys.

Jason Myers Won’t Return To Jets

The Jets are in the market for a new kicker. On Wednesday, Jason Myers took to Twitter to bid farewell to Gang Green. 

“Thank you Jets fans!,” Myers wrote. “I had a hell of a year in New York. I’ll truly cherish my time there and It’ll always hold a special place in my heart. You welcomed me and my family with support and love, and I’ll forever be thankful!

Myers spent last offseason with the Seahawks before being displaced by Sebastian Janikowski. Later, he hooked on with the Jets and survived an uncertain period in which the club auditioned kickers such as Dan Bailey and Roberto Aguayo.

In 16 games, Myers connected on 91.7% of his field goals and 30-of-33 extra point attempts. Myers also impressed from long distance by nailing 6-of-7 attempts from 50+ yards.

New York Notes: Beckham, Collins, Maccagnan

Giants WR Odell Beckham Jr. is once again being mentioned in trade rumors, with one prominent national writer expressing his belief that OBJ will be dealt this offseason. Ralph Vacchiano of SNY.tv, though, believes the Giants would be foolish to pull the trigger. For all of his perceived character issues, Beckham is well-liked in the locker room, displays a strong work ethic, and generally holds himself accountable when things go badly. He has done and said things that the team would obviously prefer he didn’t, but on the balance, he is an irreplaceable talent, and Vacchiano believes the Giants would be well-served to simply deal with whatever distractions Beckham creates, as they have not been damaging to this point (at least not when compared to his on-field production).

Now for more from the Big Blue and Gang Green:

  • Ryan Dunleavy and Matt Lombardo of NJ.com debated a few of the most pressing issues facing the Giants this offseason. Dunleavy believes that somehow taking care of Landon Collins should be the club’s top priority, and it still seems likely that the team will put the franchise tag on him. After Collins, Dunleavy believes the next unrestricted free agent that the Giants should prioritize is cornerback B.W. Webb, while Lombardo believes the club should focus on Russell Shepard, who should not be overly expensive to retain.
  • While Dunleavy and Lombardo agree that trading Beckham will hurt the Giants in the short-term, they both appear convinced that he will not see the end of his five-year contract with the team, and that trading him will be in the team’s best interest at some point in the near future.
  • The Jets hold the No. 3 overall pick in the 2019, and since they already have (they think) their franchise signal-caller, they could trade that pick to a QB-needy team for a bounty of draft capital. As Vacchiano suggests, the Giants are one team that could be giving the Jets a call.
  • The Jets have 23 players scheduled to become unrestricted free agents, and Brian Costello of the New York Post offers his thoughts on some of the biggest names on that list and whether they will return next season. Costello believes 2018 revelation Henry Anderson will be retained, while the futures of Morris Claiborne and Jason Myers are a little more uncertain.
  • Costello believes the Jets will tender RFA Robby Anderson at the second-round level, which is in keeping with what we have heard before.
  • Jets GM Mike Maccagnan has a spotty free agent record, a poor draft record (outside of the first round), and has put together a potentially volatile coaching staff in 2019. With a ton of cap space and a young talent under center, the potential is there for Maccagnan to engineer a quick turnaround, but as Vacchiano writes, if the team does not show good progress in 2019, the blame will fall squarely on Maccagnan, and not new head coach Adam Gase.

Jason Myers To Open Season As Jets’ Kicker

The procession of kickers to come through the Jets facility this week did not make Jason Myers‘ status as the team’s kicker too solid. But it appears he’s held off the free agents who stopped by this week.

Todd Bowles said (via Brian Costello of the New York Post, on Twitter) Thursday the recent waiver claim will be his kicker when the Jets face the Lions on Monday night.

The Jets brought in Dan Bailey and Roberto Aguayo to work out and had an audition scheduled for Cardinals camp leg Matt McCrane. Either Myers has impressed Jets brass enough, or the team did not see what it hoped it would from the visitors.

Myers spent the offseason with the Seahawks, but when they signed Sebastian Janikowski, the younger player became the underdog to open the season as Seattle’s kicker. But the former Jaguars kicker will receive a second regular-season opportunity with a team come Monday. The fourth-year kicker held Jags job for 2 1/2 seasons. He’s missed almost as many extra points in that time (12, on 88 tries) as he has field goals (15, on 64 attempts).

Jets Claim K Jason Myers Off Waivers

Former Seahawks kicker Jason Myers was claimed by the Jets on Tuesday afternoon, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets. Myers was released by Seattle on Monday.

The Jets appeared to be set with Cairo Santos as their kicker, but it sounds like his chronic groin injury has become a serious problem. It’s been an issue for him in the past. In 2017, he missed most of training camp with the Chiefs with the same ailment, then subsequently aggravated the injury in Week 3, leading to his release. Then, he hooked on with the Bears, but the same issue landed him on injured reserve.

Myers was with the Jaguars from 2015 through the first six games of the 2017 season. He was released after missing three pivotal field goals, though they were all from 52 yards or longer. All in all, he connected on 64-of-79 field goal attempts (81%) and 76-of-88 extra points (86.4%) in 38 games with the Jags. This offseason, he hooked on with the Seahawks, but he was ultimately displaced by Sebastian Janikowski.

The Jets also have kicker Taylor Bertolet on the roster and it’s unlikely that they’ll carry three kickers for long. It stands to reason that Santos will be released rather quickly.

Seahawks Release K Jason Myers

The Seahawks released kicker Jason Myers, according to a team announcement. The move signals that Sebastian Janikowski has won the club’s kicking competition.

Myers was with the Jaguars from 2015 through the first six games of the 2017 season. He was released after missing three pivotal field goals, though they were all from 52 yards or longer. All in all, he connected on 64-of-79 field goal attempts (81%) and 76-of-88 extra points (86.4%) in 38 games with the Jags.

Myers inked a futures deal with the Seahawks in January and was pushing to take over for Blair Walsh‘s post. Months later, the Seahawks inked Sebastian Janikowski to a one-year deal, putting the 40-year-old in the catbird seat.

In related moves, the Seahawks signed cornerback Elijah Battle and wide receiver Marvin Bracy to the 90-man roster.