Jags, Pats, Chiefs Inquired On Josh Cribbs
Speaking to Jeremy Fowler of ESPN.com (Twitter link), free agent return specialist Josh Cribbs revealed that he has received inquiries from a few teams since hitting the open market, including the Jaguars, Patriots, and Chiefs. According to Fowler, Cribbs is open to the possibility of retiring, but would like to continue his playing career.
Cribbs, who turned 32 earlier this month, was one of the most explosive punt and kick returners in the league in the early stages of his career, tallying 11 total return touchdowns — three on punts and eight more on kicks. After joining the Colts last year, the Kent State product didn’t make an impact on 19 punt returns, averaging just 6.6 yards, but his kick return average was an impressive 32.0 yards per return on 19 attempts.
Despite his success on kick returns, Cribbs became expendable in Indianapolis when the Colts used their first-round pick to select Miami wide receiver Phillip Dorsett, who is expected to handle return duties for the club this year. Indianapolis parted ways with Cribbs on May 1, before the draft had concluded.
Largest 2015 Cap Hits By Team: AFC East
Between now and the start of NFL training camps, we’ll be taking a closer look at the top 2015 cap hits for teams around the league. We began our series yesterday by focusing on the NFC East, and we’ll tackle the other East division today, as we move over to the AFC.
Listed below are the top 10 cap hits for the coming season for each of the four AFC East franchises, accompanied by some observations on the spending habits of those clubs. Let’s dive in….
Buffalo Bills:
- Mario Williams, DE/OLB: $19,400,000
- Marcell Dareus, DT: $8,060,000
- Kyle Williams, DL: $6,950,000
- Eric Wood, C: $6,650,000
- Jerry Hughes, DE/OLB: $6,175,000
- LeSean McCoy, RB: $5,500,000
- Charles Clay, TE: $5,000,000
- Leodis McKelvin, CB: $4,900,000
- Matt Cassel, QB: $4,750,000
- Sammy Watkins, WR: $4,530,819
Total: $71,915,819
Mario Williams’ massive 2015 cap number is one of the highest in the entire NFL, and it won’t get any easier to stomach next year, when it jumps to $19.9MM. The figures make Williams a candidate to be released or to have his deal restructured if his production falls off, but he’s coming off an All-Pro season, so the Bills are likely content to carry that cap number for now, particularly with only one other player above $7MM.
While Mario Williams, Kyle Williams, Dareus, and Hughes may see their roles change this year in a new defensive scheme, the four players were all defensive linemen in 2014, so it’s interesting that they all rank in Buffalo’s top five cap hits this year. Rex Ryan and defensive coordinator Dennis Thurman will certainly enjoy working with the talented, albeit costly, group of front-seven players.
The Bills’ top-10 list also features a number of new additions, with McCoy, Clay, and Cassel all having joined the club this offseason, while Hughes signed a brand-new contract. The cap charges for McCoy, Clay, and Hughes will all rise significantly in future seasons — after totaling a combined $16.675MM cap charge in 2015, the trio will count for a combined $28.75MM against the Bills’ cap next year.
Miami Dolphins:
- Branden Albert, LT: $10,725,000
- Cameron Wake, DE: $10,450,000
- Brent Grimes, CB: $10,000,000
- Reshad Jones, S: $7,712,942
- Mike Pouncey, C: $7,000,000
- Mike Wallace, WR: $6,600,000 (dead money)
- Dannell Ellerbe, LB: $6,400,000 (dead money)
- Ndamukong Suh, DT: $6,100,000
- Ryan Tannehill, QB: $4,873,364
- Dion Jordan, DE/OLB: $4,682,276
Total: $74,543,582
Many of the largest contracts on the Dolphins’ books have relatively modest cap numbers this year — Pouncey and Tannehill earn spots on this list, but they’ll almost certainly place higher in 2016, when their cap charges jump to $10MM+. As for Suh, his cap hit will soar to a staggering $28.6MM next season. With $157MM+ already committed to their top 51 players for 2016, the Dolphins will have some decisions to make next year.
In 2016, the team will also have to try to avoid the sort of dead money charges they’re carrying this year. Wallace and Ellerbe both earn top-seven spots here, and Brian Hartline‘s $4.2MM dead money hit nearly cracked the top 10 as well. Jordan’s cap charge might as well be dead money too, since the former third overall pick has been suspended for the season.
Despite some questionable entries within their top 10 cap hits, the Dolphins are optimistic about their chances in 2015, and that can be partially attributed to their talented and inexpensive offensive skill players — Jarvis Landry, Kenny Stills, and Lamar Miller count for just over $3MM in total against the 2015 cap.
New England Patriots:
- Tom Brady, QB: $14,000,000
- Rob Gronkowski, TE: $8,650,000
- Nate Solder, LT: $7,438,000
- Sebastian Vollmer, RT: $7,020,833
- Jerod Mayo, LB: $6,100,000
- Devin McCourty, S: $6,000,000
- Darrelle Revis, CB: $5,000,000 (dead money)
- Rob Ninkovich, DE: $4,750,000
- Julian Edelman, WR: $4,656,250
- Stephen Gostkowski, K: $4,590,000
Total: $68,205,083
Brady didn’t rank among the NFL’s top 2015 cap hits for quarterbacks, but he’s still atop the Patriots’ own list by a comfortable margin. For a team coming off a Super Bowl victory though, there aren’t many highly-priced players on New England’s roster, a reflection of the way the team manages its cap — the $68MM total for the Pats’ top 10 cap hits of ’15 is the lowest figure in the AFC East.
Of course, while the Patriots manage their cap well, that doesn’t mean that this is simply a list of their 10 best players. Revis shows up here after New England declined his option, the price the team had to pay for his one year of service. Additionally, the Pats are the only team we’ve seen so far with a kicker in their top 10, and even ones at talented at Gostkowski rarely have cap numbers this high.
New York Jets:
- Darrelle Revis, CB: $16,000,000
- D’Brickashaw Ferguson, LT: $11,698,670
- Nick Mangold, C: $10,407,100
- Brandon Marshall, WR: $9,000,000
- David Harris, LB: $7,500,000
- Antonio Cromartie, CB: $7,000,000
- Muhammad Wilkerson, DL: $6,969,000
- Eric Decker, WR: $6,500,000
- Breno Giacomini, RT: $5,125,000
- Dee Milliner, CB: $3,453,028
Total: $83,652,798
John Idzik may not have been the general manager the Jets needed to lead the franchise back to the playoffs, but he did a good job managing the cap — New York has less than $3.5MM in dead money on its 2015 cap, which allowed the team to spend big in free agency this offseason. By comparison, the Bills have $7MM+ in dead money on their 2015 cap, the Pats have nearly $14MM, and the Dolphins are carrying over $22MM.
All the Jets’ cap room allowed the team to frontload contracts for its big free agent additions like Revis, who shows up on two separate top-10 lists in this division. Marshall and Cromartie also arrived within the last few months, while Harris signed a new contract with the team.
One name to watch from this list going forward is Wilkerson, who could be a fixture among the Jets’ top cap charges for the next few years if he signs an extension with the team. After drafting Leonard Williams sixth overall, however, the Jets are certainly under less pressure to pay Wilkerson a massive salary.
Committing nearly $84MM in cap room to the players on this list, the Jets’ total top-10 cap hit is the highest we’ve seen yet, but that can be attributed in large part to the fact that the team simply had space to burn, having carried over plenty of room from 2014. Most of those deals shouldn’t come back to haunt the franchise down the road.
Information from Over the Cap was used in the creation of this post.
AFC Notes: Butler, Brady, Mariota, Ravens
It didn’t take long for Super Bowl hero Malcolm Butler to come back down to earth this spring. The Patriots cornerback was reportedly benched by Bill Belichick for a handful of the team’s on-field practices during OTAs after he missed the first voluntary session due to a travel issue.
Now, sources tell ESPN.com that the NFL Players Association has filed a complaint against the Patriots on Butler’s behalf, though the complaint was filed without the cornerback’s approval or involvement. Within the complaint, the union cited Article 21 of the CBA, which states that a player’s absence from a voluntary activity can’t result in “adverse consequences affecting his working conditions.”
While we wait to see what comes of the latest case involving the Patriots, let’s round up a few more items from across the AFC….
- Marc Ganis, who is the president of SportsCorp consulting firm and is close with many NFL owners, thinks a decision on Tom Brady‘s suspension appeal will come “sooner rather than later,” writes Howard Ulman of The Associated Press. Ganis points out that the league has already been criticized for the way the DeflateGate situation has dragged on, though I think the NFL is unlikely to speed things along now after moving deliberately for months. I don’t expect we’ll hear a ruling on Brady’s appeal until at least mid-July.
- Titans GM Ruston Webster recently suggested that it wouldn’t be a big deal if unsigned first-round pick Marcus Mariota missed a few days of training camp, but the QB tells NFL Media’s Tiffany Blackmon that training camp is still a “long ways off,” as Gregg Rosenthal of NFL.com details. “It’s the furthest thing from my mind,” Mariota said. “My agent is going to do his job. He’s going to do whatever it takes. It’s a business deal it takes some time. I’m happy to be a part of the organization and I’m sure it will work out.” I’d be very surprised if Mariota still didn’t have a contract in place by the time Tennessee’s training camp begins.
- In his latest piece for Over The Cap, Jason Fitzgerald identifies Joe Flacco‘s contract with the Ravens as the least team-friendly quarterback deal in the NFL.
- Taking into account the Ravens‘ roster patterns from recent seasons, Jeff Zrebiec of the Baltimore Sun predicts what this year’s squad might look like.
Tom Brady Updates: Wednesday
The appeal hearing for Tom Brady‘s four-game suspension lasted over 10 hours yesterday, but things eventually wrapped up, and another session won’t be necessary. While the hearing came to an end on Tuesday, we probably shouldn’t expect a ruling until July, as arbitrators typically take at least a couple weeks to announce their decisions on appeals.
Still, we have plenty of reactions and updates on Brady’s appeal to pass along, so let’s dive in and round up the latest….
- The post-hearing briefs in the Brady appeal are due late next week, sources tell Mike Garafolo of FOX Sports (Twitter link). That will give Goodell even more information to consider, so his ruling won’t come until some time after that.
- As expected, the reviews on Brady’s Tuesday performance from NFL sources weren’t quite as glowing as the one’s from Brady’s side, writes Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk. Florio cites a league source who says that the Super Bowl MVP simply reiterated that he wasn’t involved and didn’t have knowledge of any tampering with the footballs. When pressed on certain issues, Brady’s answers were “regarded by some in the room as not entirely credible,” says Florio.
- Within the same PFT piece, Florio suggests that it’s unlikely Brady will be completely exonerated, and notes that the NFLPA’s defense for Brady hinged in large part on attacking the science in the Wells report.
Earlier updates:
- Sources tell Adam Schefter of ESPN.com that Brady came off as “very genuine, earnest, and persuasive” during his testimony on Tuesday. According to Schefter, the Patriots quarterback every issue raised in the Ted Wells report, with one source calling it “an A+ performance.” I have to imagine Schefter’s sources are on the NFLPA’s camp rather than from the NFL side.
- Within Schefter’s piece, NFLPA rep Jeffrey Kessler indicated that Brady and the union put forth a “very compelling case,” adding that no timetable for a decision was provided.
- The transcript of Tuesday’s hearing won’t be released, though that could change if Brady and the NFLPA file a lawsuit against the NFL challenging the outcome of the appeal, writes Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk.
- Florio has two more pieces up on the DeflateGate saga, pointing out that the NFL only seems to come out to contradict erroneous reports when it benefits the league to do so, and suggesting that the NFL ought to study the inflation level of its footballs during the coming season to accumulate more scientific data on the subject.
- Given all the gray area and lack of hard evidence in the case, Jarrett Bell of USA Today believes DeflateGate will end up being no more than a footnote to Brady’s legacy.
Latest On Tom Brady’s Appeal
As I detailed this morning, Tom Brady‘s appeal hearing finally got underway today, with Roger Goodell acting as arbitrator while Brady and the NFLPA make the case for the quarterback’s suspension to be reduced or removed. A handful of updates have trickled out in the hours since then, so let’s check in on the latest….
- After ten hours, Brady hearing has drawn to a close, as Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets. No further hearings are scheduled.
- Brady’s appeal is ongoing and Ben Volin of The Boston Globe (on Twitter) guesses that both sides want to wrap things up today rather than have it drag into Thursday.
- The NFLPA called upon Troy Vincent, Ted Wells, and a scientific expert as witnesses, Tom Pelissero of USA Today Sports tweets.
- Schefter clarifies his earlier report (outlined below), noting that a June 15 letter from Levy referenced a four-hour time limit for Brady’s defense team. However, in a June 22 letter, Levy added that if “good cause” was shown, he’d grant up to one additional hour for the defense. In a tweet, Schefter provides a copy of that June 15 letter.
- According to Ben Volin of the Boston Globe (via Twitter), the NFL will get about two hours to give its own testimony, with today’s proceedings expected to end around 5:30pm eastern time.
Earlier updates:
- Brady is testifying under oath during today’s session, a source tells Adam Schefter of ESPN.com (Twitter link). That’s the sort of thing you generally hear in actual court cases, but as former Packers executive Andrew Brandt notes (via Twitter), Goodell – as the arbitrator – sets the rules for the hearing, and Ray Rice‘s appeal also featured sworn testimony.
- Patriots owner Robert Kraft was unable to testify on behalf of Brady over the phone, tweets Ian Rapoport of NFL.com. Instead, per Schefter (Twitter link), Kraft wrote an affidavit to be introduced during the appeal, supporting Brady’s character.
- According to Schefter (via Twitter), Brady’s defense team was given four hours today to present its case, and the hearing is expected to wrap up today rather than continuing on Thursday. NFL spokesman Greg Aiello countered Schefter’s report, tweeting that there’s no strict four-hour time limit for Brady’s team, and their presentation is expected to go longer than that.
- Alongside Goodell, CBA expert and outside counsel Gregg Levy is heavily involved in overseeing Brady’s hearing, tweets Rapoport.
Tom Brady Appeal Hearing Gets Underway
The long-anticipated appeal hearing for Tom Brady‘s suspension gets underway this morning. Brady, commissioner Roger Goodell, and several other key players from the NFL and NFLPA arrived today in advance of the session, which was scheduled to begin at 9:30am eastern time.
Brady and the NFLPA will make the case that the quarterback’s four-game suspension should be reduced or eliminated altogether. However, as a league source tells Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (Twitter link), if Brady says the same thing during his appeal hearing that he did to DeflateGate investigator Ted Wells, his ban won’t change.
Goodell, who appointed himself the arbitrator for the hearing, turned down an NFLPA request to recuse himself, in part because he wants to look Brady in the eye, as he put it. Of course, the former MVP’s comments won’t be the only factor in the union’s case — witnesses central to the AEI report that criticized the Wells report are expected to speak on behalf of the NFLPA.
Still, whereas the AEI report questioned the Wells report’s findings, Brady will have to prove his innocence to get his penalty reduced, tweets Albert Breer of the NFL Network. As Tom Pelissero of USA Today observes (via Twitter), the key question for Brady will be whether he can explain the 57-minute conversation he had on the phone with Pats employee John Jastremski after the initial story broke following the AFC Championship game.
Although the appeal hearing is beginning today, there’s no guarantee it will last just one day, and even if it wraps up by this evening, a decision won’t come immediately. For comparison’s sake, Greg Hardy‘s appeal hearing for his 10-game suspension took place in late May, and arbitrator Harold Henderson has yet to announce his ruling, several weeks later.
Additionally, if Brady and the NFLPA don’t agree with the outcome of this appeal, it’s very possible – perhaps even likely – that they file a lawsuit and take the case to court, challenging Goodell’s involvement in the process. With about two and a half months until the regular season gets underway, the saga could conceivably stretch through the rest of the offseason.
East Notes: Brady, Ted Wells, Dez Bryant
The weeks in the NFL’s calendar between June minicamps and the beginning of training camps are typically fairly quiet, but that’s not the case this week. All eyes will be on Patriots quarterback Tom Brady and the NFLPA tomorrow, as they make their case to arbitrator Roger Goodell for Brady’s suspension to be reduced.
According to Albert Breer of the NFL Network (all Twitter links), Ted Wells will be among those at the hearing tomorrow, in order to take everyone through his DeflateGate report, and to provide his view on the AEI report that was critical of his findings. In addition to Goodell, Wells and Brady, NFLPA reps Tom Depaso and Jeffrey Kessler, along with NFL reps Jeff Pash, Adolpho Birch, and Kevin Manara, will be in attendance.
Here’s more on Brady’s appeal, along with other items out of the NFL’s two East divisions:
- Tom Pelissero of USA Today provides a breakdown of all the key facts you need to know for Brady’s appeal hearing.
- It’s time for Cowboys owner Jerry Jones to open up his wallet and get Dez Bryant locked up to a multiyear extension, writes Matt Bowen of Bleacher Report. With the help of cap expert Joel Corry, Bowen pegs Bryant’s value at about $14MM per year and $35MM in guaranteed money on a long-term contract.
- Rich Cimini of ESPNNewYork.com gets some input from his fellow ESPN.com scribes and checks in on how several former Jets – including Percy Harvin, Nick Bellore – are doing so far with their new teams.
Klemko On Heyward, Brady, Mathis, Wilson
With Peter King taking his summer vacation, Robert Klemko of TheMMQB.com stepped in this week to publish the latest Monday Morning Quarterback column, and his piece includes a number of interesting tidbits, including an explanation for why teams ought to attempt two-point conversions more often now that the extra-point kick has been moved back. Here are a handful of other notable items from Klemko’s piece:
- Cameron Heyward is entering the final year of his contract, and is negotiating an extension with the Steelers, though he says he’d rather not think about his contract situation. The defensive lineman tells Klemko that he thinks he can play better than he did in 2014, when he ranked as Pro Football Focus’ sixth-best 3-4 defensive end. “I hope last year wasn’t a breakout season because I think I can achieve way more,” Heyward said. “I still have a mentality where I think of myself as a bust. I’ve got to prove everybody wrong including myself. I want to get better, and I want to shut people up.”
- Tom Brady‘s camp will call many of the witnesses central to the AEI report – which criticized the Ted Wells report – to testify during the Patriots‘ signal-caller’s appeal, a source tells Klemko. As Klemko points out, Brady and the NFLPA could file a lawsuit in federal court after the appeal process is complete, challenging Roger Goodell for violating due process by declining to recuse himself as arbitrator. However, Klemko thinks that Brady’s four-game ban will be reduced to a one-game suspension, and the QB will forgo legal action to put the issue to rest.
- Klemko hears that 10 teams are interested in Evan Mathis, which echoes what agent Drew Rosenhaus said last week. The MMQB.com scribe views the Dolphins as the favorite for the Pro Bowl guard, who may have drawn interest from even more teams if he had reached the open market sooner.
- Based on the numbers Klemko is hearing out of the Russell Wilson extension talks, he believes the team and the player are divided on the QB’s value. Klemko predicts that the Seahawks will ultimately franchise Wilson after the 2015 season, then perhaps let him walk a year later.
- Klemko disagrees with Titans GM Ruston Webster, who said last week that he wouldn’t be concerned if Marcus Mariota misses the first few days of training camp while the two sides finalize his rookie contract. As Klemko writes, that may be fine for a defensive tackle or safety, but a rookie quarterback – who is expected to start – needs all the training camp reps he can get. I’m inclined to agree that Webster’s comments are “a bad attempt to gain leverage” — there’s really no reason the Titans shouldn’t be able to agree to terms within the next few weeks.
AFC Notes: Tarell Brown, Gipson, Fins
The Ravens‘ secondary was their weakest unit last season, and it may have cost them a chance at the AFC Championship game. To that end, the team has added Kyle Arrington and Cassius Vaughn in free agency this offseason, and Aaron Wilson of The Baltimore Sun believes Baltimore may not be done bolstering its cornerback corps. Wilson writes that the Ravens have shown interest in 30-year-old free agent corner Tarell Brown, who played for the Raiders last season after spending the first seven years of his career with the 49ers.
Although Brown finished with a -4.6 overall rating last year per Pro Football Focus’ advanced metrics (subscription required), placing him 75th out of 108 eligible corners, he did play through a broken foot, and he finished with strong ratings in each of the previous three seasons, even ranking as the 13th-best corner in the league in 2012. He also brings significant starting experience, having started 114 games in his career while amassing 295 tackles and 11 interceptions. Brown may not be a top-flight corner, but he would offer solid production and invaluable depth for a relatively modest price.
Let’s take a look at a few more notes from around the AFC:
- Unless the Browns make Tashaun Gipson a blockbuster offer, Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com believes Gipson will play out the 2015 campaign on his second-round tender and take his chances on the open market next offseason.
- Terry Pluto of The Plain Dealer saw Johnny Manziel practice recently, and Pluto writes that Manziel did make “a few good medium throws” and is reportedly limiting his pre-snap issues, but he did struggle with red-zone drills and appears to have difficulty seeing the whole field. Pluto writes that Manziel is currently “not even close to the caliber of play that Josh McCown has shown at quarterback.”
- Troy E. Renck of The Denver Post examines the five biggest issues the Broncos face heading into training camp next month, including their left tackle and inside linebacker positions.
- Ben Volin of The Boston Globe examines the Patriots‘ salary cap situation, noting that despite carrying over $14MM in dead money, New England is sitting pretty with just under $10MM in cap space. Of course, considering the number of departures the team has had to deal with this offseason, it is not surprising that the Pats have some spending flexibility.
- The Dolphins have a good problem in that it will be more difficult for the team to pare the roster to 53 players than it has been in recent seasons, according to Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald. Jackson writes that there is a glut of high-ceiling, if unproven, talent in Miami’s secondary, and the team will have to make sacrifices in other areas to retain that talent.
- In the same piece, Jackson writes that the Dolphins may have interest in Evan Mathis, but they are not currently interested in “consolation prize” guards like Dan Connolly and John Moffitt.
- Ryan O’Halloran of The Florida Times-Union offers his projections on the Jaguars‘ 53-man roster.
Poll: What Should Tom Brady’s Suspension Be?
When Tom Brady was handed his four-game suspension, all signs pointed to the four-time Super Bowl Champion being guilty, even if there was some surprise to the severity of the penalties associated with DeflateGate.
However, since the suspension was announced, a lot has happened that may have changed the public opinion on the subject. Brady predictably appealed the suspension, and although the NFLPA asked Roger Goodell to recuse himself from the hearing, the commissioner refused.
When Brady and Roger sit down together on Tuesday, it will be with a load of new information since the Wells Report was released. In the past week, both the American Enterprise Institute and Science Now have published lengthy reports that have raised doubt in the accuracy and focus of Ted Wells’ findings, providing Brady’s case with reasonable doubt from a scientific and procedure standpoint.
Of course, that doesn’t nullify the evidence Wells collected via text message, video, and interviews during his investigation.
Of course, not many fans and pundits expect the appeal hearing with Goodell to completely exonerate the reigning Super Bowl MVP, but Brady could still see his suspension reduced to two games. If that happens, and especially if it stays at four, Brady and the NFLPA will have the option to further a pursue an appeal in court.
Either way, it should be interesting to see how this turns out for both Brady and the league.
In light of all the information we have now, how long should Brady’s suspension be?
How Long Should Tom Brady's Suspension Be?
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No suspension 41% (711)
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Suspension should be longer 25% (423)
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Remain as four games 24% (410)
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Reduced to two games 10% (181)
Total votes: 1,725