Minor NFL Transactions: 1/7/16
Today’s minor signings, cuts, and other moves from around the NFL:
- The Vikings put tight end Rhett Ellison on IR, promoted defensive end B.J. DuBose from the practice squad, and signed Toby Johnson to the practice squad, as Chris Tomasson of the Pioneer Press tweets.
- The Bengals put defensive tackle Brandon Thompson on IR with a knee injury and promoted defensive tackle DeShawn Williams to the 53-man roster, as Paul Dehner Jr. of The Cincinnati Enquirer tweets.
- The Panthers signed defensive end Wes Horton to the practice squad, David Newton of ESPN.com tweets. Horton was suspended by the league for four games this year for violating the substance abuse policy.
Latest On Titans’ General Manager Search
7:47pm: The Titans announced that they interviewed Martin Mayhew for their GM position today, as Aaron Wilson of The Houston Chronicle tweets.
Jaguars director of pro scouting Chris Polian will interview with the Titans on Friday for their open GM job, as Paul Kuharsky of ESPN.com writes. Meanwhile, Buccaneers Director Player Personnel Jon Robinson has been given the OK to interview for the Titans’ GM job, Roy Cummings of The Tampa Tribune tweets. Robinson, a Tennessee native, was mentioned as a potential candidate for the job shortly after Ruston Webster was let go.
2:40pm: When we last checked in on the Titans’ hunt for a new general manager, the team was in the process of scheduling an interview with Giants vice president of player evaluation Marc Ross, and was aiming high by targeting Ravens assistant general manager Eric DeCosta, who typically turns down requests for interviews.
Unsurprisingly, DeCosta has indeed declined the opportunity to interview for the GM position in Tennessee, according to Albert Breer of the NFL Network, who tweets that the veteran Ravens executive will be staying put in Baltimore. Presumably, the Titans expected that outcome, but figured it didn’t hurt to ask.
Along those same lines, the Titans are one of two teams – along with the Lions – that hopes to interview Vikings assistant general manager George Paton, per Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (Twitter link). Paton is another executive who rarely explores the opportunity to leave his current organization, so it seems unlikely that he’ll pursue the Titans’ job, but it sounds like he hasn’t officially said no yet.
As for Ross, a candidate who definitely will be meeting with the Titans, his interview is scheduled for Thursday, according to Josina Anderson of ESPN.com (Twitter link).
2016 Home And Away Opponents Named For All 32 NFL Teams
NFC Rumors: Manning, Brees, Cowboys
The Giants could be in store for major changes this winter and spring, but quarterback Eli Manning hopes that the offense remains the same, as Ebenezer Samuel of the Daily News writes.
“Yep, of course,” Manning said when asked whether he wants the offense to remain in tact for 2016. “I feel very comfortable in the offense. We scored a lot of points, we were competitive in most of the games and I thought we had a great game plan. I think with the guys we have and add a few guys, we can be a strong offense.”
Manning threw for a career-best 35 touchdowns this season, along with 4,436 yards, the second-highest total of his career. He didn’t commit to speaking to the front office about his feelings on the system, but he didn’t rule it out, either.
Here’s more from the NFC:
- When asked if he would be amenable if the Saints came to him to talk about a contract extension for this year, Drew Brees said, “absolutely” (Twitter link via Mike Triplett of ESPN.com). Brees is due a $30MM cap hold as he enters the final year of the five-year, $100MM deal he inked in 2012.
- Cowboys linebacker Sean Lee missed the team’s season finale and his absence appears to have cost him a possible $2MM escalator bonus for the 2016 season, as Charean Williams of the Star-Telegram writes. Lee had to play in 80% of snaps this season in order to bump his $3MM base salary to $5MM. Lee said after the game that the decision was his and that he felt trying to force things wouldn’t have helped his team.
- Vikings tight end Rhett Ellison tore his patellar tendon and he is done for the 2015 season, according to coach Mike Zimmer (Twitter link via Ben Goessling of ESPN.com)
- Bears linebacker Shea McClellin is slated to hit the open market but he says that he would “love” to be back if the team will have him, Patrick Finley of the Sun Times writes. McClellin added that he wants to stay at inside linebacker, wherever he goes. McClellin played in 12 games, starting 11, in his first year at inside linebacker.
Lions Rumors: GM Search, Polian, Megatron
The latest from Detroit:
- Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press identifies Texans executive Brian Gaine and Jaguars exec Chris Polian as two names to watch for the Lions’ general manager job, along with interim GM Sheldon White. Gaine has been mentioned as a candidate for a promotion in Houston as well.
- The Lions are scheduling a GM interview with Seahawks co-director of player personnel Trent Kirchner, league sources tell Adam Schefter of ESPN.com (on Twitter). Kirchner interviewed with the Jets last year.
- Calvin Johnson faces some uncertainty this offseason with the Lions, ESPN.com’s Michael Rothstein writes. Johnson will have a $24MM cap hit with a $15.95MM cash value in 2016 and the team could save $11.1MM on the cap by letting him go.
- The Lions have requested to interview Cowboys assistant director of player personnel Will McClay for their GM job, but he decided to stay put, a source told Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (on Twitter). McClay said he recently re-did his contract in Dallas and didn’t want to leave, Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press tweets.
- Vikings exec George Paton will be declining GM interviews, as well, Birkett tweets. The Lions haven’t formally requested an interview, but he is well respected and seemed like a probable candidate for the job.
Luke Adams contributed to this post.
Extra Points: Dolphins, Bears, Vikes, Lions, Draft
The Dolphins’ front office and coaching staff apparently aren’t the only areas they’re going to overhaul during the offseason. The team will also make big changes to its 27th-ranked defense, according to Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald.
Miami ranks 24th in passing yards allowed and 25th in rating against (98.8), so it plans to strengthen its secondary in the coming months. That means adding two new cornerbacks, asking veteran corner Brent Grimes ($9.5MM cap hit in 2016) to restructure his contract, and finding another safety to complement Reshad Jones. Free agent-to-be Eric Weddle, a three-time Pro Bowler with San Diego, would be open to an offer from the Dolphins, Jackson writes. He and Jones would form an excellent tandem, but it will cost the Dolphins (or anyone else) a lot to land Weddle.
Along the front seven, the Dolphins want to keep end Cameron Wake, who tore his Achilles’ tendon in October. Doing so might require the soon-to-be 34-year-old to restructure his deal, as he’s set to count nearly $10MM against the club’s cap next season. The Dolphins hope to continue pairing Olivier Vernon with Wake to generate a pass rush, but Vernon is a free agent and retaining him might be unrealistic.
“I only get one shot [at free agency], so I’m not [doing] a hometown discount,” said Vernon.
Miami also needs to upgrade at linebacker, where Jackson believes the team will look to add one or two new starters. They could either cut Koa Misi or move him back to the middle if they’re unable to find a better outside solution than MLB Kelvin Sheppard.
More from around the NFL:
- The Bears are open to a long-term deal with receiver Alshon Jeffery, CSNChicago.com reports. The 6-foot-3, 216-pounder landed on injured reserve Wednesday after totaling 54 catches, 807 yards and four touchdowns this year in just nine games. The soon-to-be 26-year-old is primed to cash in soon, be it with the Bears or someone else, having accumulated 228 receptions, well over 3,000 yards and 21 touchdowns over the last three years (41 games).
- Like Jeffery, Vikings right guard Mike Harris is also a pending free agent. His ideal scenario includes re-signing with Minnesota rather than testing the open market. “That’s the hope,” Harris said, according to Chris Tomasson of the St. Paul Pioneer Press. “It’d be wonderful. It’d be a dream come true.” The fourth-year man has made a career-best 15 starts this season and earned a positive assessment from Pro Football Focus (subscription required), which ranks him 24th out of 81 qualifying guards.
- Continuing the soon-to-be free agent theme, Lions safety Isa Abdul-Quddus is scheduled to hit the market in the offseason. That’s good timing, notes Kyle Meinke of MLive.com, as Abdul-Quddus is in line for a payday thanks to a career year. Abdul-Quddus, whom PFF ranks an impressive 20th out of 87 qualifying safeties, is hoping that payday comes in Detroit. “I love it here,” the 26-year-old told Meinke. “I love the coaching staff. I love Coach (Jim) Caldwell. I love everything here man, and I’d love to come back.”
- Ohio State linebacker Darron Lee will enter the 2016 draft, Chase Goodbread of NFL.com tweets. Lee, a redshirt sophomore, is following the same path as teammates Joey Bosa, Ezekiel Elliott and Cardale Jones – all of whom declared for the draft earlier this week.
North Notes: Pettine, Fangio, Lions, Workouts
With one game left in the 2015 season, Browns head coach Mike Pettine predictably faced a round of questions from reporters today about his job security in Cleveland. According to Nate Ulrich of the Akron Beacon Journal (Twitter links), Pettine said that he wants to finish out his contract with the Browns and then some, and stressed the importance of continuity when asked about the future of general manager Ray Farmer.
Still, while Pettine was mostly optimistic – or at least hopeful – about the future in Cleveland, he acknowledged that if he’s retained for the 2016 season, he probably will have to make some changes to his coaching staff (Twitter link via Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com).
Having had his usual Monday meeting with Jimmy Haslam this week, Pettine didn’t ask the Browns owner about his job security, so we’ll likely have to wait a few more days to know what Haslam is thinking for 2016 (Twitter link via Cabot). In the meantime, here are some more items from out of the NFL’s North divisions:
- Bears defensive coordinator Vic Fangio interviewed a year ago for the 49ers’ head coaching job before the team hired Jim Tomsula, and as another offseason approaches, he’d be willing to listen again to a team that wants to interview him. “If the right opportunity and people were interested, yeah, I’d certainly listen,” Fangio said, per Jeff Dickerson of ESPN.com. “But like I’ve always said, these are their jobs and they [other teams] have their minds set on what they want. If I happened to fit that mold and what they’re looking for, that would be great.”
- The first thing that consultant Ernie Accorsi noticed after starting to work with the Lions as they search for a general manager? Owner Martha Ford wants to win, and she wants to win now. Johnette Howard of ESPN.com has the story.
- The Steelers are bringing in former Cardinals quarterback Phillip Sims for an audition today, per NFL Draft Diamonds (Twitter link). Pittsburgh may have its eye on Sims for an offseason contract.
- Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle has the latest on a couple more North teams auditioning players, tweeting that the Vikings are trying out defensive back Dexter McCoil, and tweeting that the Lions worked out defensive backs Jocquel Skinner, Raymon Taylor, and Jason Wilson.
North Notes: Greenway, Lions, Browns
Veteran linebacker and two-time Pro Bowler Chad Greenway has spent his entire nine-year NFL career with the Vikings, and he wants to return to the team for the 2016 season, according to Jim Souhan of The Star Tribune.
“I want to enjoy this moment, and enjoy the playoffs,” Greenway said. “To me, it rejuvenates you as an athlete and a person to go through this and have this in front of you. I’m probably going to play next year. To go through a year like we’ve gone through and to be part of this has been really fun.”
While Greenway sounds committed to continuing his playing career, he doesn’t want to play for a team besides Minnesota, so the Vikings would have to be willing to have him in 2016. The linebacker, who will turn 33 next month, is in the final year of a contract and is earning a $3.4MM salary to go along with a $5.575MM cap hit in 2015, so I suspect the Vikes would be on board with his return if they could reduce both of those numbers a little for next year.
Here’s more from out of the NFL’s North divisions:
- As the Lions search for a new general manager and possibly a new head coach as well, it’s crucial that those two figures share a philosophy and can co-exist without any friction, writes Michael Rothstein of ESPN.com.
- It’s difficult to support the idea that the Browns should retain coach Mike Pettine for 2016, Tom Reed of The Plain Dealer writes.
- Per Adam Caplan of ESPN.com (Twitter link), the Browns are the latest team to work out standout CFL wide receiver Eric Rogers, who is reportedly in the midst of visiting 14 NFL clubs.
- Eddie Goldman‘s ankle injury figures to end his season, but it’s not expected to require surgery, and the arrow is pointing up for the Bears defensive tackle, as Rich Campbell of the Chicago Tribune outlines.
Latest On Browns’ Ray Farmer, Mike Pettine
Earlier this month, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com suggested that it’s not realistic to expect Browns general manager Ray Farmer and head coach Mike Pettine to both return to Cleveland next year. According to Rapoport’s report, the deteriorating relationship between the coaching staff and the front office made it “unfathomable” that the Browns would want to have Farmer and Pettine continue working together in 2016.
Today, Jason Cole of Bleacher Report (video link) explores that same line of thinking. Citing sources within the Browns organization, Cole reports that Farmer’s seat appears hotter than Pettine’s, with the head coach considered the more likely candidate to keep his job. Cole’s sources indicate that Farmer’s draft selections and roster decisions are more to blame for Cleveland’s struggles this season than the job Pettine has done with the talent – or lack thereof – he has been given.
While Cole doesn’t go so far as to say that the Browns will fire Farmer in January, it sounds like that’s a realistic possibility. If owner Jimmy Haslam does decide to replace Farmer, Cole expects Chris Ballard (Chiefs), George Paton (Vikings), and Duke Tobin (Bengals) to receive consideration for the job, since those executives are viewed by the NFL as some of the top general manager candidates around the league.
With one week until the NFL’s Black Monday, I’d imagine there are several scenarios still in play in Cleveland, but it sounds like any outcome that involves both Pettine and Farmer staying in their current roles is extremely unlikely.
NFC Notes: Forte, Lions, Lynch, Bonuses
With Matt Forte‘s contract set to expire, Bears tackle Kyle Long hopes to continue playing with his veteran teammate, but knows there’s a chance next week’s game could be their last together, as Jeff Dickerson of ESPN.com writes.
“I’d love to play with Matt forever, but it’s a business,” Long said. “I understand that. If he is around, I’ll be as psyched as anybody. And it will be one of the hardest things ever to see him in another jersey if that’s the case. But we have one more game with him, sure. We’re going to run the workhorse until the wheels fall off.”
Here’s more from around the NFC:
- Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford has turned around his 2015 season since Jim Bob Cooter took over as the team’s offensive coordinator, so it’s no surprise that Stafford would like to see Cooter keep the job in 2016, as Tim Twentyman of DetroitLions.com details.
- Seahawks running back Marshawn Lynch hasn’t progressed as quickly as expected in his recovery from a sports hernia ailment, but he was seen training on Christmas Day at a San Francisco facility. The 29-year-old is expected to be back in Seattle this week, with an eye on potentially returning to practice, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com reports. A determination on Lynch’s ability to play in his fifth postseason with the Seahawks remains elusive, however.
- In advance of the Seahawks‘ rematch with the Rams on Sunday, GM John Schneider said offensive rookie of the year contender Todd Gurley rated as the No. 1 player on Seattle’s draft board, the Seattle Times’ Bob Condotta reports (on Twitter).
- Joel Corry of CBSSports.com (Twitter links) identifies a couple players with major money on the line in Week 17, noting that Vikings running back Adrian Peterson‘s 2016 roster bonus will be reduced by $1MM if he doesn’t rush for 132 yards against the Packers, while Cowboys linebacker Sean Lee will miss out on a $2MM salary increase if his playing time for the season dips below 80% (he’s currently at 82.1%).
- One player who has cashed in on bonus money recently is Cardinals edge defender Dwight Freeney, who earned an extra $300K on Sunday after racking up three more sacks. Per Ed Werder of ESPN.com (Twitter links), Cardinals president Michael Bidwell says he hopes to write Freeney a year-end bonus check worth more than the $500K the veteran pass rusher has already earned.
Sam Robinson contributed to this post.