Sean Payton Tests Positive For Coronavirus
Saints head coach Sean Payton has tested positive for coronavirus (Twitter link via ESPN.com’s Adam Schefter). Payton is the first NFL figure, that we know of, to test positive for COVID-19. Unfortunately, given the rapid spread of the virus, he might not be the last.
The longtime coach did not feel well Sunday and took a coronavirus test Monday, Schefter reports. He did not receive the results until Thursday afternoon. Payton said he has no fever or cough, per Schefter, but is resting at home.
Payton says that he is going public with his diagnosis in order to stress the importance of taking proper precautions against the virus. He wants people to stay inside, behave responsibly, and follow government protocols as the world looks to keep a lid on the pandemic.
“This is not just about social distancing,” Payton told ESPN. “It’s shutting down here for a week to two weeks. If people understand the curve, and understand the bump, we can easily work together as a country to reduce it. Take a minute to understand what the experts are saying. It’s not complicated to do what they’re asking of us. Just that type of small investment by every one of us will have a dramatic impact.
“I was fortunate to be in the minority, without the serious side effects that some have. I’m lucky. Younger people feel like they can handle this, but they can be a carrier to someone who can’t handle it. So we all need to do our part. It’s important for every one of us to do our part.”
Payton, 56, is set to enter his 14th season as the Saints’ head coach. A Super Bowl-winning head coach, Payton ranks fifth among active NFL HCs with 131 wins and 27th all time. He has overseen eight of the Saints’ nine playoff victories.
As the NBA, NHL and college basketball halted their seasons — with March Madness being canceled — the NFL opted to proceed with free agency. The league went against several anonymous executives’ wishes on that front. The NFL has, however, nixed pre-draft visits and shut down team facilities. Free agents are not allowed to visit teams. Payton’s positive test may serve as an ominous sign for the league, which has also postponed OTAs.
As of midday Thursday, the United States has seen nearly 12,000 coronavirus cases. That number has multiplied steadily over the past several days. Those days have doubled as some of the strangest in the history of American sports.
Rams Release RB Todd Gurley
The Rams shopped Todd Gurley in trades but now are making a major decision. They have released the All-Pro running back.
This move comes less than 15 minutes before Gurley would have been guaranteed $10.5MM. It will send the 25-year-old running back into free agency. The Rams will eat a staggering $20.15MM in dead money in total, though they’ll spread it out over two years via the post-June 1 designation (via Field Yates of ESPN.com). The Rams will also see $5.5MM in cap savings, starting on June 2.
Gurley’s four-year, $57.5MM contract reset the running back market in 2018, and the superstar all-purpose back was one of the NFL’s best players for most of the 2018 season. But a late-season knee injury ended up altering his career. Gurley has not looked like the same player, for the most part, since.
An explosive talent since coming to St. Louis in the 2015 first round, Gurley shook off an ACL tear he sustained while at Georgia to win offensive rookie of the year honors that season. His peak stretch occurred from 2017-18, when he totaled 40 touchdowns and nearly 4,000 scrimmage yards. Gurley resided as the centerpiece of Sean McVay‘s attack during the Rams’ resurgence over this time, finishing second in the 2017 MVP voting. But last season, his workload and per-touch averages plummeted.
Although Gurley played in 15 games last season, his per-carry average dropped from 4.9 to 3.8. A year after a 59-reception, 580-yard season, Gurley totaled just 31 catches and 207 yards in 2019. The Rams worked backup Malcolm Brown into the offense more, which followed Gurley’s sudden timeshare with C.J. Anderson in the 2018 playoffs. Brown and 2019 third-round pick Darrell Henderson now reside as the Rams’ top running backs.
Both McVay and Gurley danced around the topic of Gurley’s injury over the past year and change, but that matter will soon be another team’s to discuss. Gurley will not command the kind of money he received with the Rams ($21.9MM fully guaranteed) but will be a somewhat attractive commodity on the market given his production. However, the NFL’s COVID-19 policies figure to impede Gurley’s path to another team. Players are not allowed to visit teams, which will prevent other medical staffs from examining the talented back.
This marks another bad sign for high-end running back deals. Gurley resetting the market led to David Johnson, Le’Veon Bell and Ezekiel Elliott landing contracts averaging north of $13MM per season. The Johnson and Bell deals quickly became onerous for their respective franchises. With the talented 2017 running back class now extension-eligible, it will be interesting to see how teams proceed given the early returns from the new running back market.
Lions To Trade Darius Slay To Eagles
The Lions and Eagles have reached agreement on a trade that will send cornerback Darius Slay to Philly, as Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets. The Eagles will send a third-round pick and a fifth-round pick to the Lions and give Slay the lucrative new contract he has been seeking. 
The two sides discussed a possible trade prior to the deadline last season, but were unable to come to terms. Talks picked up steam on Wednesday, as Josina Anderson of ESPN.com (on Twitter) noted.
The Eagles will give Slay a three-year, $50MM contract extension with $30MM guaranteed, according to Rapoport (Twitter link). The new deal places Slay at the top of the cornerback market; the salary is commensurate with his talent, unlike his previous deal. Slay outperformed his four-year, $48MM contract as the market advanced and he was unhappy about the prospect of playing out that final year.
Slay, 29, notched 46 tackles and two interceptions last year en route to his third straight Pro Bowl. The advanced metrics weren’t high on his work, but he’s fared much better in previous seasons. In 2018, for example, Slay ranked 23rd among 112 eligible CBs. And, in 2017, he graded out as one of PFF’s best as he hauled in a league-leading eight interceptions.
The deal leaves the Lions with a major hole to fill, but their reloaded draft stockpile should help. The deal will bring them the Nos. 85 and 166 overall picks in the draft and they now own five of the top 85 picks. Their first pick comes at No. 3 overall and they could stretch their ammo even further by trading down.
Way back on Monday, March 16th (it’s been a long week), Byron Jones became the league’s highest-paid cornerback by signing a five-year, $82.5MM deal with the Dolphins. That mantle now belongs to Slay, who clocks in with an average annual value of $16.67MM.
Saints To Sign Malcolm Jenkins
It didn’t take long for Malcolm Jenkins to find work. The former Eagles safety is on the cusp of a deal with the Saints, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (Twitter link) hears. Jenkins agreed to terms, and Jeff McLane of the Philadelphia Inquirer tweets it’s a four-year, $32MM deal with $16.5MM fully guaranteed.
It’s a homecoming for Jenkins, who entered the league as a first-round pick of the Saints back in 2009. Now 32, Jenkins could finish his career with Sean Payton & Co. Last year, Payton expressed regret about letting Jenkins get away in the first place.
“Probably one of the bigger mistakes that we’ve made, and you have to ask yourself how did that happen? Letting him out of the building certainly wasn’t a smart decision,” said Payton (Twitter link via NFL.com’s Mike Garafolo).
They replaced Jenkins with Jairus Byrd in 2014, handing him a six-year, $56MM deal with $28MM in guarantees. In 2016, Byrd lost his footing in the starting lineup. In 2017, they released him outright.
Between his first five years in New Orleans and his last six in Philly, Jenkins offers eleven years of high-caliber play on his resume. Along the way, he’s collected three Pro Bowl nods and two Super Bowl rings, one with each team.
This likely means the end of the line for Vonn Bell in New Orleans. The free agent safety who the Saints drafted 61st overall back in 2016 is likely to walk now, and we’ve heard that NFC South rival Carolina is interested in his services. Considering the Panthers just cut loose Eric Reid, that would make a lot of sense.
Jenkins has been a leader of the Eagles’ defense and in the locker room, and he will be a nice veteran presence as the Saints gear up for one more Super Bowl run with Drew Brees. He’s remained reliable even at his somewhat advanced age, starting all 16 games in each of his six seasons with Philly.
Chris Harris To Sign With Chargers
Another key domino will fall, and the Chargers now have another key commitment from a veteran. Chris Harris will sign with the Bolts, Josina Anderson of ESPN.com tweets. 
The Harris sweepstakes included numerous teams. The Eagles and Saints joined the fray later in the process, but Harris will defect from his nine-year post as one of the Broncos’ best players to join another AFC West team. Harris follows the likes of Trai Turner, Bryan Bulaga and Linval Joseph as experienced cogs headed to Los Angeles.
The path for Harris to join the Chargers was cleared earlier today when the team decided to roll with Tyrod Taylor as their starting quarterback and put their cash elsewhere. Harris is set to earn $20MM over two years, James Palmer of NFL.com tweets.
Harris, 31 in June, has spent all nine of his NFL seasons to date with the Broncos. In the past, the Broncos have made an effort to keep him, though their offer of a $12MM/year deal before the 2019 trade deadline fell short. Reportedly, that offer included only one guaranteed season. Even though he didn’t play up to his usual standards in 2019, Harris set out to find something better.
“I didn’t really do what I’ve done in the past,” Harris said recently. “I (previously) played everywhere on the field on the defensive side, getting everybody lined up, telling them what’s about to happen and things like that. But when really, when you just have me at corner, I’m just playing corner. I’m not doing everything that I’m doing on the football field.”
The Chargers weren’t the AFC West rival to chase Harris. The Raiders also made a play for him, Manish Mehta of the Daily News hears (via Twitter), but he did not want to play for them.
Rams Sign OLB Leonard Floyd
The Rams are making their first big splash of free agency. Los Angeles is signing outside linebacker Leonard Floyd to a one-year deal, Adam Schefter of ESPN.com tweets.
It’s a $10MM deal that can be worth up to $13MM, Schefter reports. Floyd was cut by the Bears yesterday when Chicago signed fellow outside linebacker Robert Quinn, and it didn’t take him very long to find a new home. We heard word that the Giants were interested in Floyd, so Rams GM Les Snead likely had competition for his services. Floyd would’ve earned $13.2MM in 2020 under his fifth-year option had the Bears kept him, so his release won’t end up hurting him too much financially if at all.
The ninth overall pick back in 2016 Floyd was a bit of a disappointment in Chicago, but he’ll now get the chance to prove himself and re-enter unrestricted free agency at this time next year. The Georgia product became a starter as a rookie and showed plenty of flashes, racking up seven sacks in 12 games in his first year as a pro.
Unfortunately he never really progressed from that point, and his sack totals actually declined in each of the past three years. Still only 27, he has a lot of theoretical talent. He’ll slide in more or less as the replacement for Dante Fowler Jr., who just left the Rams to sign a three-year, $48MM deal with the Falcons less than an hour ago.
When the Rams next take the field looking to put their disappointing 2019 season behind them, their defense is going to look quite a bit different. Not only did they trade away cornerbacks Marcus Peters and Aqib Talib midway through last year, they’ve now seen a string of departures in free agency.
Safety Eric Weddle retired; Cory Littleton, Michael Brockers, and Fowler Jr. have now all departed in free agency, and the team just declined their option on usual slot corner Nickell Robey-Coleman. They’ve also replaced defensive coordinator Wade Phillips with Brandon Staley, so it’s safe to say that side of the ball is getting a complete makeover after Sean McVay’s dissatisfaction with the previous structure became evident.
Jaguars Trade Nick Foles To Bears
The Jaguars have agreed to trade Nick Foles to the Bears, according to ESPN.com’s Adam Schefter (on Twitter). In exchange, the Bears will send a compensatory fourth-round pick to the Jags. The former Super Bowl MVP will restructure his hefty contract as part of the trade, Mike Garafolo of NFL Network tweets.
It’ll be new surroundings for Foles, but he’ll have plenty of familiar faces to help him adjust. Head coach Matt Nagy is among the staffers that have worked with him in the past, which will help with the learning curve.
The Bears have been exploring alternatives to former first-round pick Mitchell Trubisky this offseason, though they’re not necessarily out to replace him. Instead, Foles figures to serve as competition for the soon-to-be 26-year-old.
Trubisky showed plenty of promise in 2018 as he led the Bears to an 11-3 mark in 14 starts, a campaign that resulted in his first ever Pro Bowl nod. However, things got really rocky last year – Trubisky had just 17 touchdowns against ten interceptions and the Bears’ D couldn’t make up for the shortcomings. The Bears went 8-7 in Trubisky’s 15 starts and finished .500 on the season, leaving them short of the playoffs.
Chicago initially insisted after the year that they’d roll with Trubisky in 2020, but reports soon emerged that they were going to look for a veteran to push Trubisky. They’ve been connected to a number of signal-callers including Foles, Andy Dalton, and Teddy Bridgewater, and we heard Monday that they were focused on trading for either Foles or Dalton.
The Bears will take on the last three years of Foles’ contract, which pays a base value of $50M before the restructure. The Jaguars will be left with a substantial dead money hit of $18.75MM in 2020 and a mid-round pick. Jacksonville seems prepared to turn things over to Gardner Minshew, the sixth-rounder who went 6-6 last year as a rookie and finished the season with a top-10 interception rate.
Foles has had plenty of success at Soldier Field, as his last win as a starting quarterback was in Chicago in the wild card round of the playoffs two seasons ago in the infamous ‘double-doink’ game. While the Bears have insisted they aren’t giving up on Trubisky, it would be highly unusual to pay a backup quarterback as much money as Foles is getting, and it would be surprising if he doesn’t take over at some point.
Chicago now has even less draft capital, as they’ve already shipped out a bunch of picks in previous deals. They now have the 43rd and 50th overall selections in next month’s draft, but no other picks in the first four-rounds, Brad Biggs of the Chicago Tribune notes in a tweet breaking down all of their picks.
Tom Brady Expected To Sign With Bucs
It looks like the Tom Brady sweepstakes are coming to a close. The expectation is that Brady will sign with the Buccaneers, sources told Jeff Darlington and Adam Schefter of ESPN.com (Twitter link). Tampa’s offer is “roughly” $30MM annually, Ian Rapoport of NFL Network tweets, although the duration is unclear.
Rapoport added that the Buccaneers have been confident all day about landing him. It’s not at all unexpected given today’s developments, but it still is a wild conclusion to an unpredictable saga. A couple of years ago we got the first reports that Brady might want out of New England, but nobody at the time could’ve predicted it would end with him teaming up with Bruce Arians in Tampa Bay. It became clear in recent months that Brady leaving was a very real possibility, and earlier this morning the legendary quarterback announced he wouldn’t be back with the Patriots in 2020.
We heard just a little while ago that the Chargers were out of the running, which left the Bucs as the only known team aggressively pursuing Brady. The Raiders had been floated at various points, but they recently signed Marcus Mariota and the same report that had the Chargers out indicated Brady wanted to stay closer to his family on the east coast.
The Patriots were one of the best teams in the league last season, but it was mostly because of the defense and not the offense. Brady had one of his worst seasons statistically, averaging his lowest yards per attempt (6.8) since the 2002 season. The Pats were widely criticized for not providing him with enough weapons, and that won’t be an issue in Tampa.
The Bucs have arguably the best receiving duo in the league, with Chris Godwin and Mike Evans forming a matchup nightmare for any opposing secondary. Their defense also made major strides down the stretch last season under DC Todd Bowles, and they’ll now be considered an instant contender in 2020.
Brady spent 20 incredible years in New England, helping to create one of the most iconic dynasties in sports history. He’ll leave the Patriots at the age of 42, having won six Super Bowls with the team. We may never know exactly what happened the last few years, but it seems clear that Brady wanted a fresh start. His frustration with the offense was evident toward the end of last season, and it culminated in an embarrassing home loss to the Titans in the first round of the playoffs.
As for the Buccaneers, they’ll obviously be moving on from Jameis Winston, who they drafted first overall back in 2015. The game of quarterback musical chairs has almost ended, and there aren’t too many starting jobs left available for Winston to nab.
Cowboys To Bring Back Sean Lee
Despite the Cowboys bringing in a new coaching regime for the first time in 10 years, they will bring back one of the team’s leaders. Sean Lee and the Cowboys have agreed on a deal that will keep the linebacker in Dallas for an 11th season, according to Lee’s agent (Twitter link).
Lee will earn $4.5MM on a one-year deal, according to Mike Garafolo of NFL.com (on Twitter). The longtime Cowboy cog will receive $2MM in full guarantees. This will be Lee’s age-34 season.
In February, Lee vowed not to retire. But the Cowboys at that point had not yet decided to bring him back. They have now, and Lee will return to his post as the veteran in Dallas’ linebacking corps.
While Lee himself has been injury-prone during his Cowboys tenure, he played a key role last season after Leighton Vander Esch‘s season-ending setback. Lee started 13 games and worked in a three-down role with Jaylon Smith. He made 86 tackles in Dallas’ disappointing 2019 season. Vander Esch is expected to be ready by training camp, but Lee will be back in uniform as a high-profile insurance policy.
Chargers Out Of Running For Tom Brady?
Momentum for Tom Brady going to the Buccaneers continues to build. The Chargers believe they are out of the running for the quarterback, according to Jim Trotter of NFL Network (Twitter link).
Everything we had heard indicated that the Chargers and Bucs were the two teams with strong offers on the table for Brady, and if the Chargers are out then there aren’t many other known suitors outside Tampa. In a different tweet, Trotter reports that Brady’s camp “led the Chargers to believe he is going to stay back East because of family considerations.” Obviously Brady’s family lives in the New England area, and Tampa would certainly be a lot closer than Los Angeles.
Many had speculated that Brady might choose the Chargers because Los Angeles would provide a better pivot for off-field ventures like the entertainment industry a la LeBron James and the Lakers, but that apparently wasn’t the case. The Raiders just agreed to terms with Marcus Mariota and they’re out West as well, which likely takes them off the table too.
At this point, it seems like it’ll either be the Buccaneers or a mystery team swooping in that we haven’t heard much reporting about. That’s not out of the question given how wild things have been this week, but as of right now Tampa seems to be considered the solid favorite. Ian Rapoport of NFL Network said when free agency opened that it was down to the Bucs, Chargers, and Patriots, and two of those teams have since been eliminated.
As for the Chargers, they’re in an interesting spot. They decided to let long-time quarterback Philip Rivers walk this offseason, and most of the top free agent passers are now off the board. They could turn their attention to the trade market and go after someone like Cam Newton, or they could focus on the draft where they could theoretically get Tua Tagovailoa or Justin Herbert with the sixth overall pick.