Seahawks Acquire OT Duane Brown
The Seahawks have acquired offensive tackle Duane Brown from the Texans, according to Adam Schefter of ESPN.com (Twitter links). Houston will receive cornerback Jeremy Lane, a 2018 fifth-round pick, and a 2019 second-round pick.
Seattle had been considered an ideal landing spot for Brown in recent weeks, so while the deal doesn’t come as a complete surprise, the trade still represents a massive talent shift of talent from the Texans to the Seahawks. Acquiring an offensive lineman was perhaps the most obvious move Seattle general manager John Schneider could make before tomorrow’s deadline, as the Seahawks’ front five ranks in the bottom half of the league in both adjusted line yards and adjusted sack rate.
Brown will take over at left tackle for Seattle, a position that’s been bereft of a solid starter for some time. Rees Odhiambo, a third-round pick in the 2016 draft, had been serving as the Seahawks’ blindside protector following a season-ending injury to George Fant, but Odhiambo has graded as the NFL’s second-worst offensive tackle through eight weeks, per Pro Football Focus.
Brown, 32, should represent a massive upgrade over Odhiambo — the former first-round pick offers 133 starts worth of experience, and has consistently earned positive marks from PFF. He’s also been remarkably durable, with only 12 injury-related missed games over nine seasons in the NFL. And of course, Brown should be well-rested after missing the first seven weeks of the 2017 campaign in a contractual holdout.
That holdout was the primary driver behind Houston’s decision to trade Brown, as the Texans and general manager Rick Smith gave no indication they were willing to give Brown a new deal. Brown is due roughly $4.7MM for the rest of the season, and that will require cap space the Seahawks don’t currently possess (hence the inclusion of Lane). Brown is signed through the 2018 season with a cap charge of $9.75MM next year, though Seattle will presumably rework his contract.
Lane is earning a fully guaranteed $4MM base salary in 2017, so the Texans are now responsible for roughly $2MM for the remainder of the year. He’s also under contract through 2019 with base salaries of $6MM in each season. While acquiring Lane will help Seattle offset Brown’s salary, he’s also a much-needed piece for a beat up Houston secondary.
Although he had recently lost his starting role in Seattle, Lane has starting experience, including all 16 games in 2016. Lane, whom the Seahawks were shopping during the preseason, is probably best utilized as a slot corner, but he can also play outside. He’ll be valuable for the Texans in either role, as Houston is currently relying on two age-29+ corners in Johnathan Joseph and Kareem Jackson (plus a recovering Kevin Johnson).
The Texans also picked up two draft picks in this trade, selections that will help them defray the cost of deals they’ve pulled off in the past year. Houston is already without its two top picks in 2018, having dealt them to Cleveland in order to move up for Deshaun Watson and rid itself of Brock Osweiler, respectively. While they won’t receive Seattle’s second-rounder until 2019, the Texans still managed to pick up draft assets while bringing in a possible starter in Lane.
On a macro level, the trade of Brown represents the first domino to fall in the offensive line trade market. The Eagles, who are now without veteran Jason Peters for the rest of season, were “monitoring” the Brown situation, and could now look elsewhere in their search for offensive line help, per Jason La Canfora of CBSSports.com (Twitter link).
Pats RB Dion Lewis Drawing Trade Interest
Multiple clubs are attempting to pry running back Dion Lewis away from the Patriots, but a deal is unlikely to occur, according to Michael Lombardi of the Ringer (Twitter link).
Lewis has rebounded from injury-marred 2015 and 2016 campaigns to become New England’s lead back in a running back rotation that also includes Mike Gillislee, Rex Burkhead, and James White. Although he still trails Gillislee in total carries, Lewis has led the Patriots in rushes in each of the past three games (all victories), and has now totaled 329 yards and two touchdowns on the season. Among backs with fewer than 55 carries, Lewis is second in Football Outsiders‘ DYAR, a metric which attempts to quantify a player’s value over replacement.
This isn’t the first time Lewis has been mentioned in trade rumors — New England received inquiries on the veteran back just before the start of the season, but no swap was ever completed. Despite his injury history, Lewis remains a critical part of the Patriots’ No. 2-DVOA-ranked offense. As such, rival teams may have a better chance at trading for Gillislee than Lewis at this point, tweets Ben Volin of the Boston Globe.
Lewis is scheduled to become a free agent at the conclusion of the 2017 season. He’s earning $1.2MM in base salary this year as part of a two-year extension he signed in 2015, and an acquiring club would be responsible for the remainder of that figure. The Patriots wouldn’t incur any dead money on their salary cap by trading Lewis given that he’s in the final season of his contract.
Jaguars Designate Dede Westbrook For Return
The Jaguars have officially designated wide receiver Dede Westbrook for return. The team now has 21 days to activate him to the 53-man roster or otherwise shut him down for the season. 
[RELATED: Jaguars Interested In Calvin Johnson?]
Westbrook was placed on IR with a core injury prior to the team’s Week 1 game. The hope from the get-go was that he would be able to return midway through the season and it appears that he is on schedule.
Per league rules, each team can designate to two players to return from IR each season. If an IR-DTR player is not placed on the roster within the three week window, the bullet is still used. So, if Westbrook is not activated to the 53-man roster within 21 days for some reason, the Jaguars will have only one IR-DTR opportunity remaining.
The Jaguars could use some extra oomph on offense – they’re even said to be interested in trading for Calvin Johnson, if he’s willing to play again – so they’ll be happy to have Westbrook in the mix.
Westbrook, an Oklahoma product, was selected with a fourth-round pick in this year’s draft. He had 80 grabs for 1,524 yards and 17 scores last year, catapulting him to fourth place in Heisman voting.
Jaguars, Eagles Interested In Calvin Johnson?
As of this writing, wide receiver Calvin Johnson is still retired. But, if he decided to play again, it sounds like the Lions would be open to trading his rights between now and Tuesday’s deadline. If Megatron can be coaxed out of retirement, the Jaguars would have interest in acquiring him, ESPN.com’s Chris Mortensen (video link) hears. The “speculation” is that the Eagles would also be among those to look into acquiring Johnson. 
Even if Johnson does have the itch to play again, there would be a number of hurdles for all parties to work through. The wide receiver’s contract runs through 2019 and includes a cap number $21MM for this year. He’ll also have to pass a physical on the first try and that’s not a slam dunk given how long he has been away from the game.
Any team getting into bed with Megatron will also want to know that he is firmly committed to playing football. He has been asked about a potential return at various points but has denied any interest.
“I’m not coming back, man,” Johnson said back in December. “Look, man. I got stuff that’s going to hurt for the rest of my life. I got a finger that’s literally bone-on-bone. This bad boy, it gets smaller. The more and more I do, it grinds bone-on-bone. Literally from last year, I went this year to get another X-Ray and this is after I retired, I knew it was messed up but I didn’t know to what degree because it was hurt.”
The 7-1 Eagles could use a pass catcher like Johnson, but they might want to put their resources towards acquiring a left tackle instead. The 4-3 Jaguars, meanwhile, have already taken on a sizable contract by acquiring former Bills defensive tackle Marcell Dareus.
Bears LB Jerrell Freeman Suspended
Bears linebacker Jerrell Freeman has been suspended once again for violating the NFL’s policy on performance enhancing drugs, the league announced. This time around, it’s a ten-game ban. 
Freeman suffered a torn pectoral muscle on the first play of Bears’ opener against the Falcons in Week 1. He was placed on injured reserve after the game, but he remarkably still played roughly 95 percent of the Bears’ defensive snaps and racked up 10 tackles in their 23-17 defeat.
The linebacker was likely done for the year anyway, but this new ban seals the deal since there are just eight games left in the year. His suspension begins immediately, per the NFL, so he will not receive his salary while on IR.
Freeman has now accrued two PED bans inside of a year. This latest suspension will cost Freeman upwards of $2MM in take-home pay.
Freeman will be eligible to play early in 2018, but this could be the end of the line for him in the NFL. In a statement released on Twitter, Freeman explained that he has been dealing with a significant head injury. That injury, he says, led him to self-medicate with pills that triggered his positive test.
“I hate to [say] I’m sorry again but I am sorry. I’ve been on IR all year and you try and stay out of sight, but sorry for the distraction. I had been lying to friends, family, and loved ones when it came to the question of, “Are you okay?,” Freeman wrote. “Knowing my career may be over due [to] everything that came with the head injury {that’s been purposely downplayed by me), memory loss and all, has actually been a bit of a struggle. That being said, there’s no excuse to cope with any problems by taking any kind of pills. I don’t know my future but a big thanks to the Bears and the NFL, if I would have used their programs and services earlier than I did, I wouldn’t be in this situation. Sorry again for the distraction.”
Latest On Bears TE Zach Miller
On Monday, Bears tight end Zach Miller had major surgery on his dislocated knee. As first reported by ESPN.com’s Chris Mortensen (video link), the injury put him at risk for potentially losing his leg. The early word on the operation is good, however, with the Bears terming it as “successful”.
“Successful surgery was performed immediately on Sunday by the UMC vascular surgeons to stabilize his injury,” the team said in a statement. “Zach remains at UMC, along with Bears medical personnel, where he will stay under further evaluation. We are thinking of Zach and his family and support from our entire organization goes out to them.”
A dislocated knee is a complicated injury and especially scary because of the arteries involved. When there is significant vascular damage, surgeons will sometimes have to graft an artery from one leg to the other. If proper circulation cannot be restored, then the patient may wind up losing the limb. Needless to say, Miller’s season is over and his football future is also in jeopardy, but he has a much larger battle to focus on at the moment.
Miller, who spent the first three seasons of his career as an afterthought in Jacksonville, has done his best work over the past three seasons with the Bears. In 2016, Miller caught a career-high 47 passes and 486 yards with four touchdowns. This year, he was on pace for similar stats with 20 grabs for 236 yards and two TDs.
Colts WR T.Y. Hilton Available Via Trade?
T.Y. Hilton‘s name has popped up as a player who could be traded before Tuesday’s deadline, according to Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk. While the asking price for the Colts’ No. 1 wideout would presumably be sky-high, a source tells Florio “where there’s smoke, there’s fire” in relation to a potential deal.
Hilton, 28 next month, has no interest in leaving Indianapolis, per Florio, and also wouldn’t be amenable to altering his contract in order to ease a trade. The Colts inked Hilton to a five-year, $65MM extension prior to the 2015 campaign, and he still has three years remaining on his current pact. The former third-round pick has non-guaranteed base salaries of $11MM, $13MM, and ~$14.5MM over the next three seasons, all of which are relative bargains for a pass-catcher of Hilton’s caliber.
The Colts have struggled in 2017 without Andrew Luck under center, but despite the lack of quality talent on Indianapolis’ roster, there’s been no indication the club is ready to undergo a complete rebuild under general manager Chris Ballard. In 10 months as the Colts’ top decision-maker, Ballard hasn’t traded away any key pieces, as his most high-profile deals have included spare parts in tight end Dwayne Allen and wide receiver Phillip Dorsett.
Dealing Hilton, though, would signal Indy’s intention to revamp its roster, as he’s been the team’s top offensive weapon for four-plus seasons. From 2013-16, Hilton averaged 81 receptions, 1,250 yards, and six touchdowns per season, and while his numbers in 2017 aren’t as eye-popping given the absence of Luck, Hilton has still managed 512 receiving yards through seven games.
Hilton isn’t the only Colts player to be mentioned in trade rumors today, as left tackle Anthony Castonzo and cornerback Vontae Davis have also been bandied about as potential candidates to be shipped out prior to Tuesday.
Players Coalition Requests Meeting With Roger Goodell, Colin Kaepernick, Bob McNair
The Players Coalition, a group of roughly 40 players that was formed this year to help with criminal justice reform in various communities, have requested a face-to-face meeting with Roger Goodell, Texans owner Bob McNair, and Colin Kaepernick, as ESPN’s Jim Trotter tweets. The Coalition has requested that the meeting take place tomorrow in Philadelphia.
The full request is available in Trotter’s tweet above and was seemingly triggered by a recent ESPN The Magazine story wherein McNair was quoted as saying, “we can’t have the inmates running the prison.” Although that is a common idiom, and although McNair clarified the comment by saying that he was referring to how the league has been making significant strategic decisions without adequate input from ownership, anything that could be construed as a social comment probably will be in today’s racially-charged NFL, and the Coalition certainly appeared to take it as such. The request stated that the “events” that have unfolded the last several days — it is unclear what events the request is referring to outside of McNair’s quote — demonstrate the “lack of seriousness that some league officials are approaching our discussions [sic].”
The Coalition goes on to say that it believes the only way towards progress is open dialogue, which is why it wants to meet with the Commissioner, McNair, and the player who is at the epicenter of the league’s social reform discussions. As ESPN’s Josina Anderson tweets, the Coalition believed it was important for Kaepernick to make his voice heard at the meeting.
However, Cam Inman of the Mercury News tweets that the NFL has no update as to whether the Coalition’s requested meeting would take place tomorrow. Per Anderson, the Coalition is not taking the league’s silence very well (Twitter link), but it seems likely that some response will be forthcoming. There is already a social activism-based meeting scheduled for players and owners this week, a meeting that Kaepernick has agreed to attend, so the league could feel that the Coalition’s request is largely redundant.
Dolphins Prepared To Move On From Ndamukong Suh?
12:02pm: The Dolphins have strongly denied that they will move on from Suh at season’s end, as Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald reports. Defensive coordinator Matt Burke recently expressed an appreciation for Suh both as a player — and, as stated below, Suh has been playing well — and as a mentor for younger players, and the team has said La Canfora’s report is “100 percent not true.”
8:00am: Dolphins DT Ndamukong Suh will once again find himself in hot water with the league office after grabbing the throat of Ravens backup QB Ryan Mallett during Thursday night’s blowout loss in Baltimore, and according to Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports, Suh’s continued bad behavior will help trigger his departure from Miami at the end of the season.
Now 30, Suh was one of the most lavish free agent signings in league history when he signed a six-year, $114MM deal with the Dolphins in March 2015. While he has played well for Miami, he has not helped elevate the defense as a whole. The team was among the league’s worst at stopping the run in 2015 and 2016, and while the Dolphins are in the top ten in that regard this season, the defense is still a middle-of-the-pack unit in terms of points allowed.
Suh’s signing, of course, predates the arrival of head coach Adam Gase, and he is seen as a largely aloof leftover of the old regime with dubious leadership skills. And, while cutting him would create some salary cap difficulties, La Canfora says the Dolphins are willing and able to deal with those difficulties to rid themselves of a player whose negatives have begun to outweigh his positives.
The full guarantees in Suh’s contract have been paid out already, and the Dolphins would save $17MM in cash and $17MM in cap space by designating him a post-June 1 cut in 2018. That would create a $13MM dead cap number in 2019, but La Canfora says the team is willing to absorb that. If Suh is still on the roster by the fifth day of the 2018 league year next March, then $8.5MM of his 2018 salary becomes guaranteed, so if Miami does release Suh, it would happen prior to that date.
Latest On Roger Goodell Extension
It’s been a week since we’ve discussed Roger Goodell‘s anticipated contract extension, so it’s high time we talk about it again, lest anyone forget. Last Sunday, we heard that the extension had been papered and was ready to be finalized but that discussions concerning the national anthem issue were holding things up (though multiple reports disputed the notion that the anthem issue was the cause of the delay). However, it still sounded as if the extension would get done in short order.
Now, though, Adam Schefter of ESPN.com says the extension might not be the slam dunk it once appeared to be. Per Schefter (who was the one who reported that the anthem discussions were impeding the extension), 17 NFL owners held a conference call Thursday that discussed the possibility of halting the extension. Unsurprisingly, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones was a “leading voice on the call,” but outside of the Cowboys, it is unclear which teams were represented. Falcons owner Arthur Blank, the chair of the compensation committee, was not part of the call.
It still seems unlikely that Goodell would be fired, as 24 of the league’s 32 owners would need to sign off on his dismissal, and it does not sound as if Goodell has lost that much support. Plus, as ESPN’s Jim Trotter tweets, owners do not know who would replace Goodell at this point. Nonetheless, there is growing dissatisfaction with Goodell’s performance as commissioner, according to Schefter, and with the league at something of a crossroads in light of player protests, declining ratings, etc., at least some owners do not believe Goodell is a good enough problem-solver. Said one owner, “You don’t get to have this many messes over the years like Roger has had and survive it.” Added another, “Maybe [Blank] and [the compensation committee] think they’re on track [to complete an extension], [b]ut they have a lot more resistance than they counted on — and maybe they don’t know how the resistance is growing as we speak.”
Once again, though, Schefter’s report is being contradicted by another prominent national writer. Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports says Goodell’s extension is done, it just has not been announced yet. La Canfora says it may not be announced until the the week of the Super Bowl, as the NFL knows it will create a great deal of conversation, much of it negative, and it simply does not want to deal with it right now while there are so many other issues to publicly contend with. The CBS scribe says Jones is indeed trying to hold things up, but it is unlikely he has 16 other owners in his corner, and that while the other owners on the conference call do want change in the league office, they do not want to remove Goodell.
Tune in next week for yet another thrilling installment of the Goodell drama, where conflicting reports and plot twists abound.