West Rumors: Beckham, 49ers, Seahawks
Odell Beckham Jr. was viewed as a potential target for the 49ers, but trading up for him just wasn’t in the cards, as GM Trent Baalke explained to Eric Branch of the San Francisco Chronicle (Sulia link): “We certainly liked him as a football player, no doubt about it. But… the price of doing business when you’re trying to move from [No. 30] up into the top 10 or close to the top 10 becomes pretty stiff. And you’re giving up a lot of football players to go get one football player. And if you look at history, a lot of time it works against you,” said the GM.
- The Seahawks had their eye on defensive tackle Dominique Easley before the Patriots drafted him at No. 29, tweets Ian Rapoport of NFL Network. When the Florida product was off the board, they traded out to the Vikings, who selected Teddy Bridgwater. Seattle had a connection with Easley: defensive coordinator Dan Quinn recruited him at UF.
- Chiefs General Manager John Dorsey declined to say whether he had real interest in drafting Johnny Manziel, but he did infer that the Browns called to try and trade for their pick before they ultimately struck a deal with the Eagles, writes Terez A. Paylor of the Kansas City Star.
- The Chiefs’ pick of Auburn defensive end Dee Ford at No. 23 raised a few eyebrows, but Dorsey told reporters, including Adam Teicher of ESPN.com (Twitter link), that the team viewed Ford as the second-best pass rusher in the draft.
Luke Adams contributed to this post.
Texans Working To Acquire Ryan Mallett?
4:50pm: Brian T. Smith of the Houston Chronicle tweets that the Mallett rumors hold some weight, and confirms that a deal may be completed soon. According to Smith, a potential trade appears to have no bearing on the first overall pick. Smith also tweets that Mallett may have to agree to a contract extension before the Texans would finalize a trade.
3:57pm: A league source tells Ben Volin of the Boston Globe that “the buzz is real” about the Pats and Texans discussing Mallett (Twitter link).
3:36pm: Curran throws a bit of cold water on his own report, tweeting that a second source says there’s “nothing doing” on the Mallett talks at the moment. My guess is that if anything gets done, it will happen after tonight’s first overall pick — if the Texans trade down from No. 1, the team could still draft a quarterback. If Houston selects Jadeveon Clowney first overall, then maybe a Mallett deal becomes more probable.
3:31pm: The Texans and Patriots appear to be in discussions on a trade that could change both teams’ approaches to this week’s draft. Tom E. Curran of CSNNE.com reports (via Twitter) that a deal sending backup New England quarterback Ryan Mallett to Houston “may soon be done.” In a second tweet, Curran adds that nothing’s official yet, but that “the machinations have begun.”
A report back in March suggested that the Texans had inquired on Mallett and had some interest in the former third-round pick, though at the time John McClain of the Houston Chronicle shot down the idea that Houston would acquire the Pats’ backup. Perhaps after taking a longer look at this year’s class of quarterbacks – and maybe deciding to go in a different direction with the first overall pick – the Texans are circling back to Mallett.
As for the Patriots, there have been rumblings that the team is considering drafting a quarterback this year, in part because Tom Brady probably only has a few more seasons left in him, and also because Mallett is entering a contract year. Taking a signal-caller on day two or three of this year’s draft could have provided New England with an insurance policy for Mallett’s potential departure in free agency — if the team decides to move its backup before the draft, a quarterback would become an even more significant priority.
Draft Notes: Power Brokers, Kiper, Tackles, DB Prospects
In possession of 11 picks, including six in the top 100, the 49ers are positioned as the draft’s power brokers, writes NFL.com’s Albert Breer, who lists five more teams with the means to dictate action and manipulate the board: The Rams, Browns, Jets, Ravens and Jaguars.
Here’s a handful of miscellaneous draft links:
- In his final mock draft, Mel Kiper of ESPN.com (Insider subscription required) has the Texans selecting Jadeveon Clowney No. 1 and the Rams (if they stay at No. 2) taking tackle Greg Robinson. From there, he has the Jaguars going with linebacker Khalil Mack at No. 3, Sammy Watkins to the Browns at No. 4, and Mike Evans going to the Raiders at No. 5.
- Kiper’s ESPN colleague Todd McShay’s final mock draft (Insider subscription required) has an identical top five. In McShay’s estimation, three quarterbacks will go in the first round, and if he’s right, there will be no shortage of drama, as he’s projected Blake Bortles to the Titans at No. 11, Johnny Manziel to the Cowboys at No. 16 and Teddy Bridgewater to the Browns at No. 26.
- “College left tackles picked in the first round and asked to play right tackle almost always struggle that first year and sometimes never quite arrive at all,” asserts Armando Salguero of the Miami Herald. With the exception of Patriots RT Nate Solder, Salguero makes a convincing argument by citing recent history littered with college left tackles (drafted highly) who struggled converting to the right side. Accordingly, with the Dolphins in desperate need of a right tackle, Salguero has projected Tennessee’s Ja’Wuan James, who started 49 career games at right tackle, as the team’s first-round pick.
- This year’s draft crop includes three big-bodied defensive backs who stand to benefit from copycat nature of the NFL in the wake of the Seahawks winning a Super Bowl with a dominant, physically imposing secondary. Eric Branch of sfgate.com profiles Nebraska’s Stanley Jean-Baptiste, Utah’s Keith McGill and Lindenwood’s Pierre Desir.
- Despite technological advances, freely available game tape, overwhelming amounts of information, dizzying oversaturation and decades of precedent to (presumably) learn from, the draft remains an inexact exercise, writes the Star-Ledger’s Conor Orr: “The best general manager sifts through all of the information and makes the right decision, though most admit that, even after all the preparation, there is indecision that lingers well into the allotted 10-minute pick.” Orr also unearthed a significant statistic to illustrate the crapshoot nature of the draft, noting 180 of the 255 players drafted in 2010 are no longer with their original team.
- Everyone but the NFL league office hates the draft in May, says SI.com’s Robert Klemko, who lists the reasons why.
AFC East Notes: Bills, Goodell, Patriots
Commissioner Roger Goodell is confident that the Bills will continue to be successful in Western New York but says they need a new stadium, writes Jay Skurski of The Buffalo News. “We said at the time when they entered into their new lease, that this is really a short-term solution. We need to find the right long-term solution that is good for the community and can help the Bills continue to be successful in Western New York, and I’m confident we’ll get there,” he said. More from the AFC East..
- The Bills have been rumored to be talking about moving up for weeks, but it’ll come at a serious cost if they do, writes Mark Gaughan of The Buffalo News. It’s hard to see Buffalo moving up from No. 9 into the top three without giving up their top pick in 2015. The Dolphins moved from No. 12 to No. 3 in a deal with the Raiders last year and only threw in the No. 42, but the top of this year’s draft is stronger than last year’s.
- Unlike last year, when the Patriots‘ focus was on wide receivers, it’s very hard to tell what their target will be this time around, writes Mike Reiss of ESPNBoston.com. One major dynamic to watch, however, will be to see if top quarterbacks slide down the board. The Pats are obviously set at QB but a quarterback-needly club could wind up overpaying for their No. 29 selection. If they want to groom someone to take over Tom Brady‘s job eventually, they could tap Pittsburgh’s Tom Savage later on.
- Tom E. Curran of CSNNE.com explains why the Patriots may trade out of the first round tomorrow night.
Draft Rumors: Mosley, Texans, Evans, Watkins
If you want to move up to the No. 1 overall pick, it’s going to cost you big time. When a team with a Top 10 pick contacted the Texans to ask what it would cost them to move up, FOX Sports’ Jay Glazer (video link) says Houston responded that they wanted the Robert Griffin III package. Two years ago, the Redskins gave up three first-round picks and a second-round pick to get their franchise quarterback. Of course, a team in the top five won’t have to give up as much as a team towards the back end of the top ten, so that’s not a flat asking price for everyone. The latest draft news from around the NFL..
- Alabama linebacker C.J. Mosley told Bob Glauber of Newsday that he thinks he’ll go somewhere in the top half of the first round and maybe even be one of the first ten players off the board on Thursday night. “I heard top 10, I talked to my agent, I heard eight through 17,” Mosley said. “But at the end of the day, you never know. Teams trade up, they pretty much know who they’re going to pick, but they’re just looking to try to get the upper hand on other teams. I’m just going to go in with my family and my friends, just have fun and be happy wherever I get drafted.”
- Ian Rapoport of NFL Network (on Twitter) wouldn’t be surprised to see Texas A&M wide receiver Mike Evans go in the top five. The expectation is that if Sammy Watkins out of Clemson goes before him, Evans doesn’t last much longer.
- Johnny Manziel is still the guy generating most conversation among execs, tweets Albert Breer of NFL Network (on Twitter). The perception around the NFL is the Buccaneers, Rams, and Vikings could all be in play for the polarizing Texas A&M star.
- Don Banks of Sports Illustrated hears that Manziel’s family doesn’t want him to go to the Texans for fear that he won’t be able to distance himself from his “Johnny Football” persona. On top of that, he hears Manziel himself doesn’t want to play for the Jaguars.
- Manziel’s agent Erik Burkhardt told Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk that any talk of the QB not wanting to play for the Jaguars is untrue.
- Concordia defensive end Zach Moore tells Chris Tomasson of the St. Paul Pioneer Press (Twitter link) that he had private workouts with the Patriots, Dolphins, Panthers, and Falcons. We had previously heard that Moore visited the Chargers, Cardinals, and Raiders.
- The Jets and Eagles have some interest in Syracuse defensive tackle Jay Bromley, tweets Ralph Vacchiano of the New York Daily News.
- The Broncos are more than open to moving up tomorrow night, tweets Rapoport.
East Rumors: Manziel, Pats, Jets, Eagles
Within his latest article for Bleacher Report, Mike Freeman drops a few nuggets relating to NFC and AFC East clubs, writing that the Cowboys and Eagles both definitely have interest in Johnny Manziel, but are very unlikely to land him. Meanwhile, one scout tells Freeman he thinks there’s a “90% chance” the Patriots draft a quarterback this week, since New England knows the Tom Brady era will end within the next few years.
Let’s round up several more items from out of the NFL’s East divisions….
- Ian Rapoport of NFL.com reported previously that the Jets are trying to move up in the first round, and Manish Mehta of the New York Daily News is hearing similar rumblings. A source tells Mehta that the Jets have been telling other teams they’re interested in trading up.
- The Patriots hosted free agent guard Davin Joseph for a visit, according to Field Yates and Mike Reiss of ESPNBoston.com. New England’s current projected starting guards, Logan Mankins and Dan Connolly, are both entering their age-32 seasons, so having a veteran like Joseph around for insurance purposes could be beneficial for the club.
- Jeff McLane of the Philadelphia Inquirer (Twitter link) keeps hearing that the Eagles really love Virginia Tech cornerback Kyle Fuller, who probably won’t still be on the board at No. 22. If Philadelphia decides to move up in the first round, Fuller could be the team’s target, though Rapoport adds (via Twitter) that the Steelers, who pick several spots ahead of the Eagles, are also high on the young corner.
- Cornerback Prince Amukamara said he was “definitely relieved” that the Giants decided to pick up their fifth-year option on his rookie contract last week, as Ebenezer Samuel of the New York Daily News details.
Draft Updates: Cowboys, Watkins, Ealy, Pryor
As Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk pointed out last month, since Jerry Jones have overseen Cowboys drafts, the team has traded up or down in the first round in 20 of 25 instances, or 80% of the time. That would suggest there’s a good chance Dallas won’t stand pat on Thursday, but it doesn’t sound like the club is too engaged in trade talks yet.
“We haven’t heard a lot from other clubs,” Jones said today, according to Jon Machota of the Dallas Morning News. “We haven’t found that to be particularly productive. That’s day-of-draft type dynamics. I’d be surprised if there are not trade opportunities by the time you get to where we’re going to be picking or certainly afterwards.”
Here’s more on the 2014 NFL draft, which is now just a little over 50 hours away:
- The Lions have frequently been linked to wide receiver Sammy Watkins, and Watkins confirmed today to Bart Hubbuch of the New York Post (Twitter links) that Detroit was the only team to meet with him more than once. “That sounds like they really want me, but you never know,” said the Clemson wideout.
- If two meetings are a signal of legit interest, count the Cowboys, Falcons, and Bears among the potential landing spots for defensive lineman Kony Ealy. As Hubbuch tweets, all three clubs met with Ealy multiple times.
- The Jets‘ interview of Calvin Pryor was extensive, the Louisville safety told Hubbuch (Twitter link). “They really seemed interested,” according to Pryor.
- Aaron Wilson of the National Football Post passes along updates on Florida State running back Devonta Freeman and Utah cornerback Keith McGill. According to Wilson, Freeman met with the Steelers and worked out for the Falcons, Patriots, and Dolphins, while McGill either visited or worked out for the Cowboys, Buccaneers, Redskins, and Raiders, among other teams.
La Canfora On Raiders, Browns, Cards, 49ers
Albert Breer of the NFL Network suggested earlier today that Johnny Manziel could end up on a team whose owner likes the idea of injecting some life into his franchise, and Jason La Canfora of CBSSports.com makes a similar case in his latest column, pointing out that you should never underestimate the role an owner can play in the selection of a quarterback.
According to La Canfora, in the case of the Raiders, owner Mark Davis “is smitten” with Derek Carr. Fifth overall is too high to draft Carr, but if Oakland trades down, or perhaps decides to acquire a second pick later in the first round, it could be a sign that the team is targeting the Fresno State signal-caller.
Here are more highlights from La Canfora:
- The Browns‘ ideal situation may involve taking a player such as Sammy Watkins or Greg Robinson at No. 4, then nabbing a QB like Carr or Teddy Bridgewater at No. 26. As La Canfora notes, Carr may not be available that late in the first round, and if ownership gets involved, that may tip the scales toward Manziel early in the first round. For what it’s worth, head coach Mike Pettine told Aditi Kinkhabwala of NFL.com today that there are five or six guys he’d be happy to land with that fourth overall pick (Twitter link).
- La Canfora continues to hear that teams who aren’t being frequently linked to quarterbacks will be the ones to draft them, and perhaps higher than expected. He goes on to cite affordable fifth-year options as one reason why clubs will pounce on QBs in the first round, though I feel as if seeing Christian Ponder, Blaine Gabbert, and Jake Locker have their options turned down last week will remind teams that the fifth-year option isn’t really a factor if you don’t select the right player.
- La Canfora “would be surprised” if the Cardinals didn’t select Carr or Blake Bortles with the 20th overall pick. Peter King of TheMMQB.com tweeted this afternoon that, after sending Bortles to the Browns at No. 26 in his early-morning mock draft today, he now thinks that’s too low, and that the Browns or Cardinals will target him earlier in the first round.
- Four tackles could come off the board within the first 12 picks on Thursday, and two or three more could be selected in the first round, says La Canfora.
- The 49ers are likely to trade up if possible, with wideouts Odell Beckham Jr. and Brandin Cooks among their potential targets.
- Several evaluators strongly believe A.J. McCarron will be the fourth or fifth quarterback drafted, and rave about his film.
- La Canfora thinks Aaron Donald will be the third defensive player off the board, likely no lower than eighth overall.
- The Patriots may end up drafting multiple tight ends, including a late-round project, in La Canfora’s view.
AFC Notes: Bills, Dolphins, Ravens, Jets
Let’s round up a few Tuesday items from around the AFC….
- At The MMQB.com, Peter King’s first-round mock draft includes a few notable nuggets. King notes that the Bills “love” wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. and that he expects the Dolphins to try to trade up to land offensive tackle Zack Martin.
- Sources tell Tony Pauline of DraftInsider.net that tight end Eric Ebron is the Ravens‘ top target in the first round. Ebron may still not be on the board at No. 17, but Pauline hears that the Giants (No. 12) are souring a little on the tight end due to possible personality red flags.
- The Jets are keeping in contact with quarterbacks projected to be first-round picks, according to Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (Twitter link), who suggests that perhaps the club is simply keeping its options open in case one of those players falls.
- Amidst rumors that Browns owner Jimmy Haslam covets Johnny Manziel, Albert Breer of the NFL Network suggests (via Twitter) that Haslem may not be the only team owner who could step in and push his club to draft Johnny Football.
- Mock negotiations continue between former agent Joel Corry and former team exec Ari Nissim, who are conducting hypothetical contract talks between J.J. Watt’s agent and the Texans. Part three of the enlightening series has now been published at the National Football Post.
- Michigan wide receiver Jeremy Gallon tells Mark Snyder of the Detroit Free Press that he views the Patriots and Broncos as potential fits for him, given his size and the success players like Wes Welker and Julian Edelman have had in those systems.
Patriots, Will Smith Agree To Terms
TUESDAY, 10:12am: Smith’s one-year deal with the Patriots has a base salary of $855K, and bonuses of up to $65K, which means it qualifies as a minimum salary benefit contract, tweets Mike Reiss of ESPN.com.
MONDAY, 1:37pm: The Patriots have agreed to sign veteran defensive lineman Will Smith, according to ESPN.com’s Mike Reiss (on Twitter). Terms have not yet been released.
Smith, 32, was a first-round pick of the Saints in 2004 out of Ohio State, and had spent his entire career in New Orleans until being released just before the start of free agency. He missed all of last season after suffering a torn ACL during the preseason. In 2012, Smith played in all 16 games and garnered six sacks, but graded out as the second-worst 4-3 defensive end in the league, according to Pro Football Focus (subscription required).
Smith, who has been linked to the Pats for several months, had stated he would be open to either a 4-3 or a 3-4 defense. New England, then, rates as an excellent landing spot for the pass-rusher, as the Patriots often play a mix of both schemes. While he has no experience as an 3-4 OLB, he did spend the 2013 offseason preparing to be an outside linebacker in Rob Ryan’s defense before tearing his ACL, so perhaps that knowledge will come in handy. In New England, he adds experience to a front seven that contains a lot of youth in Jamie Collins, Chandler Jones, and Jake Bequette.