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NFL Announces Compensatory Picks For 2022 Draft

March 15th, 2022 at 5:42pm CST by Sam Robinson

The NFL has awarded compensatory draft picks for teams in the 2022 draft. These picks are awarded to the teams that suffered the most significant free agent losses during the 2021 offseason.

This year, the NFL awarded 39 comp picks. The comp pick formula assigns picks to franchises who suffered the largest net losses, so teams that signed multiple free agents have a lesser chance of receiving picks.

This year’s formula also includes the changes made last year, when teams began receiving third-round comp picks due to the hiring of minority head coaches and general managers. Seven such picks were awarded this year. The 49ers landed two additional third-rounders this year, obtaining the extra selections for the Jets’ 2021 Robert Saleh hire and the Dolphins hiring Mike McDaniel this year. Miami’s McDaniel hire will give San Francisco another third-rounder in 2023.

The Chiefs obtained a third-rounder for the Bears’ Ryan Poles GM hire, while the Browns landed a third because of the Vikings’ Kwesi Adofo-Mensah GM hire. The Ravens collected their second third-round for the Texans’ 2021 David Culley hire; Culley has since been fired. The Saints and Rams obtained one apiece after seeing the Falcons and Lions hire minority execs Terry Fontenot and Brad Holmes as GMs in 2021. New Orleans and Detroit also landed thirds because of players given high-value contacts last year (Trey Hendrickson and Kenny Golladay, respectively).

Here is the full list of 2022 compensatory selections:

By round:

Round 3: Lions (No. 97 overall), Saints (98), Browns (99)*, Ravens (100)*, Saints (101)*, 49ers (102)*, Chiefs (103)*, Rams (104)*, 49ers (105)*

Round 4: Steelers (No. 138), Ravens (139), Packers (140), Ravens (141), Rams (142), Titans (143)

Round 5: Cowboys (No. 176), Lions (177), Cowboys (178), Colts (179)

Round 6: Rams (No. 211), Rams (212), Falcons (213), Chargers (214), Cardinals (215), Colts (216), Lions (217), Rams (218), Titans (219), 49ers (220), 49ers (221)

Round 7: Chargers (No. 254), Chargers (255), Cardinals (256), Cardinals (257), Packers (258), Chiefs (259), Chargers (260), Buccaneers (261), 49ers (262)

By team:

San Francisco 49ers (5)
Los Angeles Rams (5)
Los Angeles Chargers (4)
Arizona Cardinals (3)
Baltimore Ravens (3)
Detroit Lions (3)
Dallas Cowboys (2)
Green Bay Packers (2)
Indianapolis Colts (2)
Kansas City Chiefs (2)
New Orleans Saints (2)
Tennessee Titans (2)
Atlanta Falcons (1)
Cleveland Browns (1)
Pittsburgh Steelers (1)
Tampa Bay Buccaneers (1)

* = special compensatory selection

Vikings To Sign LB Jordan Hicks

March 15th, 2022 at 4:41pm CST by Sam Robinson

Not long after being made a Cardinals cap casualty, Jordan Hicks found a new home. The Vikings are signing the veteran linebacker, Adam Caplan of Sirius XM Radio tweets.

Hicks has agreed to a two-year contract worth $10MM, Caplan adds, noting the deal includes $6.5MM guaranteed. Incentives can take the price up to $12MM. This will be Hicks’ third team; he has played every-down roles for his previous two (Philadelphia and Arizona).

The Cardinals allowed Hicks to seek a trade after they drafted Zaven Collins last year, but the team ended up keeping Hicks in his usual full-time role. Hicks played 97% of the Cards’ defensive snaps last season, starting in all 18 Arizona games. The Cards have drafted off-ball ‘backers in each of the past two first rounds (Collins and Isaiah Simmons), leaving them less needy of a veteran presence like Hicks, who is set for his age-30 season in 2022.

A Super Bowl LII starter with Philly, Hicks has also rebounded from his injury-plagued Eagles tenure. He did not miss a game in three Cardinals seasons. Hicks made 150 tackles in 2019 and surpassed 110 in each of his next two seasons, totaling 29 tackles for loss with Arizona.

The Vikings may be set to use him alongside Eric Kendricks. An eight-year Viking, Anthony Barr is a free agent. Minnesota is also starting over after eight seasons of Mike Zimmer leading its defense. Ed Donatell is now at the controls, and Minnesota is shifting to a 3-4 defense for the first time in decades.

Vikings To Release DT Michael Pierce

March 14th, 2022 at 10:31pm CST by Ben Levine

Michael Pierce‘s stint with the Vikings is about to come to an end. Minnesota is planning to cut the the veteran defensive tackle, reports NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport (via Twitter).

According to the reporter, the Vikings tried to convince Pierce to take a “moderate pay cut,” but the player clearly refused. The team also tried working out a trade, but despite “some feelers,” a deal never materialized. While the wording of Rapoport’s tweet seems to indicate that the Vikings are holding out hope for a deal, a release still seems imminent.

Pierce signed a three-year, $27MM deal with the Vikings in 2020, but that deal was pushed to 2021 after Pierce opted out of the 2020 campaign. The 29-year-old was attached to a $10.5MM cap hit in 2022, and his release will leave behind $4MM in dead cap.

Pierce made his Vikings debut in 2021, collecting 20 tackles and three sacks in eight starts. He suffered an elbow injury that forced him to miss the middle chunk of the season. The Stanford product spent the first four seasons of his career with the Ravens, starting 30 of his 60 games.

RFA Tender Decisions: 3/14/22

March 14th, 2022 at 9:28pm CST by Ben Levine

The deadline for teams to extend tender offers to their restricted free agents and exclusive rights free agents looms next week. We’ll keep tabs on the latest here:

RFAs

Tendered:

Vikings, DT Harrison Phillips Agree To Deal

March 14th, 2022 at 7:38pm CST by Sam Robinson

The Bills have signed Tim Settle and DaQuan Jones, and one of their previous defensive tackle contributors is heading elsewhere. The Vikings are signing Harrison Phillips, Mike Garafolo of NFL.com tweets.

Buffalo wanted to bring Phillips back, but the four-year veteran moved out of the AFC East champions’ price range, Jeremy Fowler of ESPN.com tweets. The former third-round pick will score a nice payday in Minnesota, signing for three years and $19.5MM.

Phillips worked as a starter and rotational player in Buffalo; he will collect a big raise to likely play a more prominent role in Minnesota. Phillips will join Dalvin Tomlinson in Minnesota, which has Sheldon Richardson on track for free agency and Michael Pierce uncertain to return.

After getting off to a strong start in 2019, Harrison saw that momentum blunted by an ACL tear. He made modest contributions in 2020 but enjoyed a better season last year, making a career-high 51 tackles (four for loss) and posting six quarterback hits. The Bills used Phillips as a starter in eight games last season.

Phillips, 26, joins a Vikings team that plans to address Pierce’s contract, Chris Tomasson of the St. Paul Pioneer Press tweets. The veteran defensive tackle is tied to a $10.2MM 2022 cap number. Since Pierce’s contract tolled after he opted out in 2020, his deal runs through 2023.

Vikings Extend QB Kirk Cousins Through 2023

March 13th, 2022 at 8:45pm CST by Ely Allen

New Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell wanted a chance to build an offense around quarterback Kirk Cousins. Well, according to Tom Pelissero of NFL Network, he will get his chance as the Vikings will sign Cousins to a one-year, $35MM extension that will keep him in Minnesota through the 2023 NFL season. 

The Vikings reportedly had been receiving calls on Cousins, but the new coaching staff and general manager are declaring their commitment to the veteran quarterback and gaining some much needed cap space in the process.

Cousins’ scheduled cap hit for 2022 was set to be the largest in NFL history at $45MM. The extension reduces his 2022 cap number to $31.42MM, granting Minnesota a little over $13.5MM in cap space. In addition, Cousins will see a raise, making $40MM this season and $30MM in 2023. The deal includes phantom, voidable years in 2024 & 2025 that allow them to reduce the cap hits in ’22 and ’23.

Say what you will about Cousins pay and performance, but after receiving two consecutive franchise tags in Washington, a three-year fully-guaranteed contract to join the Vikings, and two fully-guaranteed extensions to stay in Minnesota, Cousins has secured eight-straight seasons of guaranteed contracts.

There are expectations for Cousins to thrive under O’Connell. With offensive weapons like running backs Dalvin Cook and Alexander Mattison, wide receivers Justin Jefferson, Adam Thielen, and K.J. Osborn, and tight end Irv Smith Jr. all returning, the familiarity of personnel should make up for the new playbook. The bookends of the offensive line seem set with Christian Darrisaw showing promise after a delayed debut and Brian O’Neill making the Pro Bowl last year. There are some questions to be answered on the interior of the line, but the pieces, for the most part, are there.

The onus will now be on the coaching staff and front office to make offseason improvements to a defense that struggled mightily last year. The Vikings defense allowed the third-most yards in the league and the ninth-most points. If the new leaders in Minnesota can turn around that unit, look for Minnesota to make a play for a playoff spot and potentially even challenge the perennial NFC North power from Green Bay for the division.

Colts Interested in Marcus Mariota, Kirk Cousins?

March 13th, 2022 at 12:15pm CST by Rory Parks

We have not heard much about free agent quarterback Marcus Mariota this offseason, save for some speculation based more on perceived fit than anything else. Now, however, we have something more concrete.

Dan Graziano of ESPN.com (subscription required) writes that Mariota is generating the most buzz as the Colts’ next QB now that Indianapolis has traded Carson Wentz to the Commanders. Mariota, the No. 2 overall pick of the Titans in the 2015 draft, showed some promise during his five years in Tennessee, including a 2016 campaign in which he threw for 26 TDs against nine interceptions and rushed for 349 yards and a pair of scores. But Ryan Tannehill supplanted Mariota as the Titans’ starter midway through the 2019 season, and Mariota has spent the last two years with the Raiders as Derek Carr‘s backup.

He garnered some trade interest last offseason, and it appears as if the structure of his Las Vegas contract was the only real obstacle to a deal. Quarterback-needy teams likely view him as at least a capable bridge starter to a younger prospect, and Graziano’s colleague, Jeremy Fowler, reports that Mariota is open to such a scenario.

The Colts have also been connected to the 49ers’ Jimmy Garoppolo and the Eagles’ Gardner Minshew in recent days, though obviously signing Mariota would allow them to acquire a Wentz replacement without sacrificing any draft capital. Interestingly, Graziano also says some in the industry believe Indy could be a landing spot for Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins.

Fowler reports that the Vikings are truly torn on what to do with Cousins. Extending him would mean committing more years and dollars to a player who has only led the team to one playoff berth in four seasons, but retaining him without an extension would mean carrying a $45MM cap charge for 2022, which hinders the rest of the club’s roster-building efforts. On the other hand, trading him leaves first-year HC Kevin O’Connell without a proven QB to work with.

Regardless of what the Vikings decide to do with Cousins, the Colts are clearly a key team to watch in the non-Deshaun Watson sector of the quarterback market.

Panthers “Very Impressed” By Malik Willis, Not Interested In Kirk Cousins

March 13th, 2022 at 9:25am CST by Rory Parks

The Panthers came away from last week’s scouting combine “very impressed” by Liberty quarterback Malik Willis, per Cameron Wolfe of the NFL Network (video link). Carolina presently holds the No. 6 overall pick in the 2022 draft, and if the club decides that any member of this year’s much-maligned crop of collegiate signal-callers is worthy of that selection, Willis would seem to be the choice.

Indeed, Albert Breer of SI.com believes that Willis’ combine performance, both on the field and in his interviews, has positioned him as the current favorite to be the first QB off the board. Much will depend on his March 22 pro day, but his athleticism, arm strength, and personality give teams hope that, once he learns the complexities of the professional game, he can become a top-flight starter.

Wolfe’s report surfaced several days before a grand jury decided against indicting Texans QB Deshaun Watson. Even before that development, the Panthers were keen on acquiring Watson, and now that the three-time Pro Bowl has avoided criminal charges, Carolina is stepping up its pursuit.

As expected, however, a number of other clubs are also willing to get in the mix in the wake of the grand jury’s decision, so the Panthers could be facing some stiff competition as they try to bring a decisive end to their search for a long-term answer at quarterback. Houston is courting as many as 10 suitors for Watson, so the trade package required to land him will be significant, and that’s to say nothing of the voice that Watson has in the process thanks to his no-trade clause (though the most recent reports suggest that Watson would now accept a deal to Carolina).

Should the Panthers miss out on Watson, they could decide that Willis is the next best option, either with the No. 6 pick or in a trade-down scenario. Willis could then serve as Sam Darnold‘s backup for a season before taking the reins in 2023, when Darnold’s contract expires.

Although there are other QBs available on the trade market — Jimmy Garoppolo and (perhaps) Kirk Cousins, for instance — Carolina does not appear interested. In fact, Wolfe’s source laughed off a report that the Panthers had called the Vikings to inquire on Cousins’ availability, saying that the team does not view Cousins as a significant upgrade over Darnold or current QB2 P.J. Walker.

Saints, Vikings Join List Of Deshaun Watson Suitors; Latest On QB’s Market

March 12th, 2022 at 2:28pm CST by Sam Robinson

Deshaun Watson being cleared of criminal charges Friday will not prevent an NFL suspension, and the Texans quarterback still must navigate the 22 civil cases that emerged from allegations of sexual assault and/or sexual misconduct. But several teams are interested in the Pro Bowl passer, pointing toward a big trade haul for Houston.

In addition to the Panthers, Seahawks, Buccaneers and Browns, the Saints and Vikings have emerged as Watson suitors, Aaron Wilson of ProFootballNetwork.com reports. They join a suddenly robust market, one that does not include the Dolphins, who moved on despite being runaway favorites for Watson last year. The Texans have sought a trade package fronted by three first-rounders. With Friday’s lack of a grand jury indictment a “game-changer” in this pursuit, per Wilson, Houston might land its desired haul or something close to it.

The Browns are “incredibly interested,” Wilson notes, adding that up to 10 teams are monitoring the embattled QB. The Saints paid close attention to Friday’s developments, NFL.com’s Jane Slater tweets, though they have a tricky cap situation. New Orleans has reached out to Houston, however. The Vikings are in on Watson “for the right price,” Wilson adds. Watson was said to be interested in Minnesota and Tampa Bay as destinations last month.

Minnesota has a rather expensive quarterback in Kirk Cousins, who is tied to a fully guaranteed $35MM base salary. Cousins would obviously need to be moved in a Watson-to-Minnesota scenario, and that may mean the Vikings eating some of his contract. That could be tricky, given Watson’s $39MM-per-year deal. Watson is also due a $35MM base salary in 2022. Sitting $15MM-plus over the cap, the Vikings are actually in slightly worse shape than the long-cap-strapped Saints ($6MM over) as of Saturday afternoon.

Still in on Watson, after emerging as a suitor in early 2021, the Panthers are preparing an aggressive offer. David Tepper hired an investigator to look into Watson’s legal matters, Wilson notes, adding that the Texans still want draft assets in addition to the three first-rounders and at least one player for their quarterback. Jameis Winston extension talks have been on the Saints’ radar, and that would better fit New Orleans’ cap situation. But the team has never been shy about executing winter cap gymnastics. Watson would be a considerable upgrade on Winston for the Saints, whose passing game took a major hit after Drew Brees‘ retirement.

This market’s new additions notwithstanding, the Panthers and Seahawks are still viewed as the likely favorites, Wilson tweets. Seattle has a quarterback need for the first time in 10 years and now has three first-round picks over the next two drafts, including this year’s No. 9 overall choice. The Seahawks’ Watson interest surfaced not long after Tuesday’s Russell Wilson trade.

The Eagles are no longer believed to be a key player here. Watson has not shown interest in Philadelphia as a destination, with Wilson adding he has never waived his no-trade clause for the Eagles. The Steelers and Giants also remain pointed in other directions, but many offers could still come the Texans’ way in the coming days.

CB Jeff Gladney Acquitted On Assault Charges

March 10th, 2022 at 5:47pm CST by Ben Levine

Former first-round pick Jeff Gladney has been acquitted by a jury on assault charges, reports Aaron Wilson of ProFootballNetwork.com.

The cornerback was released by the Vikings last August following an indictment for domestic violence. Gladney was accused of choking, punching, and shoving a woman during an incident in April, 2021.

“First and foremost, this has had a real impact on Jeff Gladney as a person,” said agents Brian E. Overstreet and Rodney Williams (via Wilson). “These situations have very real consequences for the young men involved. This has been a challenging time for Jeff mentally, spiritually and athletically. So, we applaud Jeff for having the courage to stand and fight for his freedom versus these false allegations. We further hope this will encourage other athletes in the future who have been falsely accused, blackmailed or persuaded to provide hush money to make these type of situations go away, to now take a stand and defend themselves as well.”

The TCU product was selected in the first round of the 2020 draft by the Vikings. He got into 16 games (15 starts) as a rookie, finishing with 81 tackles and three passes defended.

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