Minor NFL Transactions: 12/11/15
We’ll track the day’s minor transactions here, with the newest updates appearing at the top of the list:
- Two days after Rams head coach Jeff Fisher indicated that defensive end Robert Quinn and safety T.J. McDonald would be placed on injured reserve, McDonald has officially landed on IR, with the team promoting cornerback Eric Patterson from its practice squad to take the newly-opened roster spot (Twitter link via Jim Thomas of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch). For now, Quinn remains on the active roster.
- As Scott Bair of CSNBayArea.com observes (via Twitter), Raiders practice squad defensive lineman Leon Orr tweeted today that he’s being elevated to the 53-man roster. Oakland will likely make that promotion – as well as a corresponding move – official tomorrow.
- The Patriots cut running back Trey Williams, who was claimed off waivers from Dallas earlier this month, as Jeff Howe of the Boston Herald tweets. Williams officially got word of his release on Thursday, just a day before he turned 23.
- The Bills promoted linebacker A.J. Tarpley to the 53-man roster while placing linebacker Tony Steward on injured reserve, tweets Vic Carucci of The Buffalo News. A back injury sidelined Steward last Sunday, bringing his rookie season to an early end.
Bob Iger Talks Los Angeles, Carson, Inglewood
The Carson stadium proposal put forth by the Raiders and Chargers got a big boost earlier this fall when Disney CEO Bob Iger came aboard. Iger, who became attached to the project a month ago, will only officially take over as the chairman of Carson Holdings if NFL owners vote to approve the Carson proposal, which would relocate the Raiders and Chargers to Los Angeles. However, he’s already involved in the planning process, and spoke to reporters on Thursday about the latest developments. Here are a few highlights from the Disney CEO, via Ramona Shelbourne of ESPNLosAngeles.com:
On why he decided to become involved with the Carson proposal, rather than the Inglewood plan:
“First of all, I believe in the two-team concept. This is a great market in Los Angeles, and it hasn’t had football for a long time. I’m convinced that not only can it sustain two teams, but if you’re going to bring football back to Los Angeles, do it in a big way, and two is twice as big as one. Why not give the fans real choice in terms of the teams they want to root for? It also enables the creation of a stadium that is affordable but also very exciting. It just makes such a loud statement about the NFL being back to Los Angeles. I like that. … I also thought that the concept for Carson and the choice of location was attractive and unique from a variety of different perspectives. It was an easy thing for me to get behind.”
On the possibility of leaving Disney in 2018 and potentially buying a minority stake in either the Chargers or Raiders:
“This is a great job, and it’s one I don’t want to give up quickly. But I have decided that 2018, I will have been in this job for 13 years at that point, it’ll be time. I am looking to have a variety of different activities post-Disney. I love the sport of football. I like the NFL a lot. I thought this would be a great opportunity for me to use the dozens of years of expertise that I have in entertainment and in sports and apply myself in a different way.”
On what his role would be if the Carson projects gets approved:
“I’m really working, should they get the approval, to shape the project. That’s everything from the fan experience to how the stadium will be programmed to repositioning the teams both physically and from a brand perspective to the Los Angeles market. Bringing my knowledge of site-based entertainment and customer/user interface and my knowledge of Southern California to the project.”
On the likelihood of the Carson or Inglewood plan getting approval:
“There is not much leeway. If the decision is not made soon, neither team will be able to relocate. … [But] I get a strong sense, and I actually have some optimism, that there is true momentum. While I can’t guarantee that it will happen, I feel pretty good about the prospects about the NFL finally reaching a decision and moving the NFL back to such a great city.”
Latest On Rams, Possible New St. Louis Stadium
A city of St. Louis committee has OK’d a financing plan for a new $1 billion stadium, as Jim Salter of the The Associated Press writes. A final vote on the matter from the city will take place next week, in advance of a Dec. 30 deadline imposed by the NFL for the three cities whose teams want to move to Los Angeles.
However, in an interview on WXOS, NFL Executive VP Eric Grubman opined the city “will fall short of having a compelling proposal that would attract the Rams.” Grubman also said the proposed stadium will “cost more than is at the drawing board at the moment, the funding has declined and new taxes are being proposed to the Rams.” For his part, St. Louis stadium task force co-chairman Dave Peacock is surprised by Grubman’s comments, as Daniel Kaplan of Sports Business Journal tweets. Peacock feels that the 7-2 vote is a “significant milestone” in the city’s effort to retain the Rams and he dismissed Grubman’s comments as a negotiating tactic.
The St. Louis proposal calls for the city to contribute $150MM while the NFL team would kick in $250MM. On top of that, the league would give the team a $200MM loan and fan seat licenses would generate $160MM. The rest of the funding would come from the state, either through tax credits or bonds. Peacock has said in the past that while the new stadium is being built to try and keep the Rams in St. Louis, the city could alternatively use the stadium to try to bring another franchise to Missouri.
Extra Points: Rams, Pettine, Flacco, Raiders, Draft
A look around the NFL as Tuesday wraps up:
- Free agent cornerback Cary Williams, whom Seattle released Monday, is drawing interest from several teams around the league, Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle reports (via Twitter). One of those teams is the Rams, tweets Jim Thomas of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
- The Browns officially named Johnny Manziel their starting quarterback today, but it doesn’t sound as if head coach Mike Pettine is 100% committed to the decision. Jason Cole of Bleacher Report (video link) suggests that the move back to Manziel from Austin Davis was motivated in part by Pettine trying to save his job.
- Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco had surgery Tuesday to repair his torn ACL. The procedure went well, per ESPN’s Adam Caplan (via Twitter). He’s expected to make a full recovery and should be back in six to nine months, adds CBS Sports’ Jason La Canfora (Twitter link).
- The Raiders extended the contract of fullback Jamize Olawale on Tuesday, and ESPN’s Bill Williamson points to offensive tackle Donald Penn and receiver Michael Crabtree as players the club could look to lock up next (Twitter link). Penn has started 28 straight games since joining the Raiders in 2014, while Crabtree leads the team in receptions (66), targets (115) and touchdowns (seven) this year. Both are scheduled to hit free agency during the upcoming offseason.
- Clemson safety Jayron Kearse and Ohio State linebacker Darron Lee are leaning toward entering the 2016 draft, according to Rand Getlin of NFL.com (Twitter links: 1; 2). If they do, Michigan tight end Jake Butt won’t be joining them. He announced that he’ll return to school for his senior season (Twitter link via Getlin).
Luke Adams contributed to this post.
Stedman Bailey’s Career Likely Finished
The NFL lifted Stedman Bailey‘s four-game drug suspension, but according to Rams coach Jeff Fisher (via Jim Thomas of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, on Twitter) the embattled wideout probably won’t play football again.
The Rams will place the third-year receiver on the non-football injury list, Zac Jackson of Pro Football Talk reports.
Bailey sustained two gunshot wounds to the head last month and underwent more than six hours of surgery as a result. Fisher said his assessment of the fourth-year receiver’s future was related to the shooting, but the fourth-year Rams coach did not elaborate further.
The 25-year-old Bailey caught 12 passes and one touchdown this season in eight games (three starts). He caught 45 passes for a career-best 430 yards last season. Bailey made eight career starts in St. Louis.
Chosen in the third round of the 2013 draft, Bailey has one more year left on his Rams contract.
Cole’s Latest: Coughlin, Pagano, Chargers, Rams
Earlier today, we rounded up several items related to head coaches whose jobs may be in jeopardy as the season nears an end. Jason Cole of Bleacher Report has provided a few updates on that topic as well, discussing a couple of the coaches we mentioned earlier, as well as a couple others. Here’s the latest:
- The Giants aren’t likely to fire head coach Tom Coughlin before the end of the season, but they certainly could consider at after the season if they miss the playoffs, says Cole (video link). However, Cole cautions that the franchise has very specific qualifications in mind for its head coach, including a proven ability to deal with the pressure and attention that comes with working in New York. If the Giants don’t have strong potential candidates in mind that fit that bill, they may think twice about letting go of Coughlin.
- The Colts’ defense allowed the Steelers to put up 45 points on Sunday, just over a year after letting Pittsburgh score 51 on them. That sort of repeat performance is a bad sign and could spark major changes for the team, according to Cole (video link). Although Cole suggests that Chuck Pagano is back on the hot seat, I’d expect the club to wait and see how the season finishes before making any decisions there — a playoff berth and a postseason win or two would make it a tough call. If Indianapolis misses the playoffs, it’s much harder to imagine Pagano keeping his job.
- While Chargers head coach Mike McCoy and Rams head coach Jeff Fisher are both on the hot seat in their respective cities, there’s a scenario in which one or both coaches could keep their jobs for another year or two. As Cole explains (video link), the transition period if either of those franchises moves to Los Angeles in 2016 will be a rocky one, with the new L.A. team(s) playing in a temporary stadium for a couple seasons. As such, those clubs may be more inclined to hang onto their current coaches, perhaps putting off a change in a year or two and then making a new hire as excitement for that new stadium starts to build. I’m not sure I buy that theory, for a number of reasons, and Cole himself acknowledges that it’s one possible outcome, but perhaps not the most likely one.
Rams Fire OC Frank Cignetti
The Rams have become the latest team to fire an offensive coordinator, announcing today that they’ve parted ways with OC Frank Cignetti (Twitter link via Myles Simmons of STLouisRams.com). St. Louis is the fourth NFL club to fire its offensive coordinator this season, joining the Colts, Dolphins, and Lions.
According to the team, assistant head coach and tight ends coach Rob Boras will take over as offensive coordinator for the rest of the season. Boras received consideration for the job before Cingetti was promoted last winter, but ultimately lost the competition — however, he received a new assistant head coach title at the time, and was in charge of the running game in addition to coaching the team’s tight ends.
Cignetti, who replaced former Rams offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer, only lasted 12 regular season games in the role. However, the move doesn’t come as a real surprise. St. Louis has arguably had the league’s worst offense this season, even with Todd Gurley enjoying a handful of big games. Football Outsiders ranks the club dead last in offensive DVOA, with the passing offense – led by Nick Foles and Case Keenum – grading well below that of any other team in he league.
After Sunday’s loss to the Cardinals, head coach Jeff Fisher admitted that he was “almost out of answers” for how to solve the Rams’ offensive problems. Boras will be tasked with providing some answers in the next four weeks, but if the unit doesn’t show any improvement, both he and Fisher may be at risk of losing their jobs in January.
Los Angeles Rumors: 12/7/15
The Chargers‘ and Raiders‘ joint stadium plan for Carson seems to have momentum at this point than the Rams‘ Inglewood proposal, writes Peter King of TheMMQB.com in today’s Monday Morning Quarterback column. As King explains, the reason is fairly simple: owners around the league want to support Chargers owner Dean Spanos, whom they feel has done all he can to try to make a stadium work in San Diego.
King’s piece includes plenty of interesting tidbits on the Los Angeles situation, so let’s dive in and round them up….
- The Committee on Los Angeles Opportunities will likely vote 4-2 or 5-1 in favor of the Carson project, a source tells King. However, that prediction hinges on how solid the St. Louis stadium proposal is — if any of the six owners on the committee are uncertain about St. Louis’ proposal, they could switch to the Inglewood plan.
- Looking ahead to the league-wide vote involving all 32 owners, neither side is close to having the 24 votes necessary to approve a relocation plan, according to King.
- Disney CEO Robert Iger has been a major boon to the Carson side, with one source suggesting to King that Iger “feels like a partner to people like Roger Goodell and Bob Kraft.” One ownership source believes that if the Carson plan just involved the Chargers, Spanos, and Iger, it would already have 24 votes from league owners — some owners, however, view the Raiders as a drag on the project.
- While the league would like to finalize its Los Angeles plan during the January meetings in Houston, that’s not a lock. It’s probable, but not certain, says King.
- If Kroenke’s Inglewood project doesn’t come to fruition, no one knows what he’ll do, writes King. If Kroenke doesn’t like St. Louis’ stadium plan, it could be “an ugly shotgun marriage,” perhaps with the Rams owner “refusing to go to the altar.”
- One more L.A. note from Daniel Kaplan of the SportsBusiness Journal (Twitter link): Oakland city leaders have talked to the NFL about developing a stadium in Oakland. While those discussions are ongoing, it’s hard to imagine the city putting together a concrete plan within the next few weeks.
Extra Points: Amendola, Patriots, Los Angeles
Returning from injury, Patriots receiver Danny Amendola has had a nice — and profitable — day so far, as New England is tied with Philadelphia as the contest heads to halftime. Amendola not only caught a touchdown pass from Tom Brady, but caught his 50th pass of the season, good for a $150K bonus, according to Field Yates of ESPN (Twitter link).
Here’s more from around the league as the second slate of NFL games reach their midway points…
- Appearing on the Patriots‘ pre-game show, owner Robert Kraft said that NFL owners discussed the possibility of moving a team — or teams — to Los Angeles for roughly three hours at last week’s owner’s meetings. However, the group still has “no sense” of what clubs will ultimately end up in southern California (Twitter link via Ben Volin of the Boston Globe).
- While the owners might not have a solid plan for the NFL in LA, Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk has several, which he outlined earlier this morning. Each scenario involves some combination of the Rams, Chargers, and Raiders in either Carson or Inglewood, CA, and the entire post is well worth a read.
- The league recently shortened the legal tampering period from three days to two, and according to Florio, that’s not the only change the NFL will implement. Actual negotiations will be allowed to take place during that two-day window, a source tells Florio, instead of just vague contract concepts. Whether or not that means teams and agents can come to concrete agreements is still unknown.
Los Angeles Updates: 12/6/15
A source with knowledge of the situation expects that there will be a solution to the Los Angeles relocation dilemma in early January, according to Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk. Of course, we learned several days ago that NFL owners would convene in Houston on January 12th and 13th and may vote on relocation at that time. Florio’s latest report indicates that the vote will, in fact, take place.
There had been rumblings that this process could be dragged out until 2017, but league owners and league officials understand the importance of resolving the matter as soon as possible. Keeping three teams in limbo for an extended period of time could degrade the markets in those three cities, which could make it difficult for the clubs that do not relocate to thrive in the future, and per Florio, “the league seems to understand that fans of every team in every city are growing fatigued by the process.” Ultimately, Florio writes that Roger Goodell or Panthers owner Jerry Richardson–the de facto Los Angeles committee chairman–could force the hands of the other owners in January by refusing to terminate the meetings until 24 votes are cast in favor of one outcome or another.
Although it has appeared for the past several months that the Carson project–the proposal that would see the Raiders and Chargers share a venue just outside of LA–enjoys the majority of ownership support, that proposal did take something of a hit recently. According to Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (article via Conor Orr of NFL.com), a 200-acre piece of land that had been viewed as parking and additional development space for the Carson project is no longer available. That tract of land, the Links at Victoria Golf Course, was part of the league’s vision to turn its future Los Angeles outpost as a grandiose centerpiece, and its loss could theoretically be a blow to the Oakland/San Diego relocation efforts. Carson advocate Carmen Policy, however, does not think so. According to Policy:
“We have our core piece of land, we don’t need anything else. Obviously, if the league gives its approval, we’ll be looking at other developments and expansion ideas in the entire area.”