Jonathan Vilma Announces Retirement
Former Jets/Saints linebacker Jonathan Vilma has announced his retirement from the NFL, according to a statement issued by the Saints. Vilma, 33, is set to be honored later today before New Orleans’ game against Carolina.
“I’m excited to be retiring from my playing career as a member of the New Orleans Saints,” said Vilma. “I loved everything about being a Saint and was fortunate to be surrounded by so many outstanding coaches and teammates for six years and to be a part of the team that won Super Bowl XLIV. I would also like to thank our fans for making my playing career in New Orleans so memorable. I will never forget the amazing fans here and the experiences we shared together.”
Vilma, a first-round draft pick in 2004, played four seasons with New York before heading to the Saints in a 2008 trade. The former Miami Hurricane would spend the next six seasons in New Orleans, starting starting 68 games during that time. Injuries sapped Vilma’s ability during the 2013 season, and though he drew free agent interest during the summer of 2014, he never latched on with another club. The three-time Pro Bowler finishes his career with more than 600 tackles, 10.5 sacks, and 12 interceptions.
Off the field, Vilma was just as productive, starting the Jonathan Vilma foundation in 2010 to help victims from the devastating 2010 Haitian earthquake. Vilma, whose parents both hail from Haiti, helped raise more than $400K, and was a key figure in establishing three new charter schools in his parents’ native country. He was named the Saints’ 2010 “Man of the Year.”
“Jonathan Vilma is one of the most talented, dedicated and determined players that I have had the pleasure to coach,” said said Saints head coach Sean Payton. “Whether it was on the practice field, in the meeting room or in the weight room, Jonathan’s leadership, preparation and effort were second to none. He was an enormous asset to our team and was an integral part of us winning a Super Bowl.”
Image courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Week In Review: 11/29/15 – 12/6/15
The headlines from the past week at PFR:
Key News:
- Having already fired their head coach and defensive coordinator earlier in the year, the Dolphins continued to clean house, firing offensive coordinator Bill Lazor, promoting quarterbacks coach Zac Taylor to take his place.
- The 49ers made a change in their front office, reassigning team president Paraag Marathe; however, he’ll continue to lead the club’s salary cap.
- The NFL made two rules changes this week, shortening the legal tampering period to two days, and allowing the trading of compensatory draft picks beginning in 2017.
Extended:
- Cardinals – Justin Bethel, CB (through 2018)
- Chargers – Tom Telesco, GM (through 2019)
Signed:
- Browns – Terrelle Pryor, QB (link)
- Panthers – Cortland Finnegan, CB (link)
Waived:
- Dolphins – C.J. Mosley, DT (link)
Injuries:
- Browns – Josh McCown, QB (IR)
- Cardinals – Chris Johnson, RB (IR-DTR)
- Colts – Ahmad Bradshaw, RB (IR)
- Falcons – Leonard Hankerson, WR (IR)
- Giants – Geoff Schwartz, G (IR)
- Jaguars – Toby Gerhart, RB (IR)
- Seahawks – Jimmy Graham, TE (IR) and Paul Richardson, WR (IR)
Sunday Roundup: Payton, Lacy, Osweiler
As Week 13 gets underway in full force, let’s take a look at some news and notes from around the league:
- The Saints will not release head coach Sean Payton, but the team is warming to the idea of trading him for draft picks, per Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports. New Orleans though, would not deal Payton to a team he does not wish to coach, and Payton would not sign an extension with any team that does not appeal to him.
- 2015 has been nothing short of a disappointment for Packers RB Eddie Lacy, and his on-field struggles are just one cause for concern. Per Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (article via Conor Orr of NFL.com), Green Bay is troubled by Lacy’s off-field behavior–Lacy was, of course, disciplined for a curfew violation Wednesday night–and the team in fact cut fellow RB Alonzo Harris and did not resign him to the practice squad because he is a close friend of Lacy’s and the Packers apparently believe Harris is a bad influence on their star back.
- Jason Fitzgerald of OverTheCap.com examines the type of deal that Broncos QB Brock Osweiler might command in the offseason. The Broncos may offer him a contract with an AAV of roughly $12MM–which is what Nick Foles is earning with the Rams–but assuming Osweiler finishes the regular season with a 6-1 or 5-2 record as a starter, he would have no reason to accept such an offer, as there would be plenty of teams willing to shell out much more than that in free agency. Instead, Denver may be forced to extend Von Miller and use the franchise tag–which it planned to use on Miller–on Osweiler.
- In a separate piece, Fitzgerald examines the 2016 class of free agent defensive ends.
- Although he lost the opportunity to finish the season as the Browns‘ starting QB several weeks ago, Johnny Manziel has been told by the club that he will start again this season, according to ESPN’s Chris Mortensen. When that will be, however, is anyone’s guess.
- After failing in his attempts to purchase the Bills, Jon Bon Jovi is still attempting to buy an NFL club, and La Canfora writes that Bon Jovi, along with a number of other potential suitors, is paying close attention to the Titans, a team that other owners believe could formally come for sale in the spring or fall as the Adams family continues to sort through tax and estate issues.
- Texans right guard Brandon Brooks, who has dealt with a number of stomach ailments over the past year, experienced nausea this morning at Ralph Wilson Stadium and went to a Buffalo-area hospital for further evaluation, per Aaron Wilson of The Houston Chronicle. Needless to say, Brooks was scratched from Houston’s game with the Bills this afternoon.
- Matt Barrows of The Sacramento Bee tweets that the 49ers have not yet determined if they will move rookie WR DeAndre Smelter off the NFI list. The deadline to do so is tomorrow, and the team’s decision could be impacted by its injury situation after today’s clash with the Bears.
Tom Telesco To Remain With Chargers
Although it had been previously unannounced, Chargers GM Tom Telesco signed a multiyear extension with the club over the summer, per Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports. His job is therefore secure and he will return to the team next season, but head coach Mike McCoy remains on the hot seat, as the Chargers will evaluate all of their coaches after the season. According to Michael Gehlken of The San Diego Union-Tribune (Twitter links), the extension runs through 2019 and was not originally reported because it was signed very close to the start of the season and the team did not want to create a distraction.
We heard just two weeks ago that both Telesco and McCoy were in danger of losing their jobs at the end of the 2015 campaign, but La Canfora’s report is consistent with a mid-November story that Telesco would get at least one more year to right the ship. Sources familiar with the inclinations of John Spanos, the Chargers president of football operations, say Spanos prefers continuity among his top decision-makers, and Spanos apparently believes that injuries, more than poor roster construction, are to blame for the Chargers’ 3-8 record. Of course, Telesco’s predilection for small and speedy players could be a cause of the team’s rash of injuries, and it also has had a direct impact on the team’s performance. After all, the defense is undersized and not especially physical, and even before the injuries started to mount, there were not many players on the defensive side of the ball that were worthy of a starting job.
On the other hand, Telesco did manage to piece together a contending club during his first two seasons in San Diego despite inheriting the an aging roster, and it’s not as though many of the players who are currently struggling with injury had any type of injury history in college that should have made Telesco wary of drafting them. While Telesco has been an abject failure in free agency, the team was willing to reaffirm its faith in its first-time GM by granting him a contract extension.
The Chargers are facing a very uncertain future, both in terms of officials and location, but they apparently believe Telesco is the right personnel man to lead them into their next era. When the offseason rolls around, Telesco’s first priority may be to find a new head coach to replace the one who joined the organization at the same time he did.
East Notes: Kelly, McDaniels, Coughlin
Just a week after Eagles head coach Chip Kelly was said to be “despondent” and “mulling all options” on the heels of back-t0-back blowout losses, Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports writes that the head coach is likely to return to the Philadelphia sidelines in 2016. Owner Jeffrey Lurie remains a staunch Kelly supporter, even though he is aware of some dissension in the locker room, and per La Canfora, Lurie “did not hand Kelly total control to the roster a few months ago to consider launching a new search for a coach and GM now.” Although it is not inconceivable that Kelly could return to the college ranks in 2016, those vacancies are filling up quickly and team officials would be shocked if Kelly left the Eagles before completing his fourth season with the club.
- Although Kelly surely appreciates Lurie’s loyalty, Jeff McLane of The Philadelphia Inquirer wonders if Kelly himself is too loyal to under-performing players. During Kelly’s tenure with the Eagles, he has never released or benched a player for poor performance, and McLane thinks certain members of the club may have become complacent.
- Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels is once again a hot head coaching candidate, and La Canfora writes that he is open to speaking with teams this offseason. Of course, given McDaniels’ disastrous stint in Denver, he would only go to a team that has a strong organizational structure from ownership down, since another failed tenure would likely spell the end of his head coaching opportunities. Many clubs are enamored with McDaniels’ offensive mind and ability to extract a great deal of production from an offense that has to continually reinvent itself, and McDaniels is viewed as the closest thing to a Belichick clone to emerge from the Belichick coaching tree.
- If McDaniels is to leave the Patriots, Ben Volin of The Boston Globe sees the Lions as the most likely landing spot, given that the team has a good young quarterback in place and ownership that has shown patience in the past. The Titans have been viewed as a fit, and they may be, but their ownership situation is unstable, and Volin does not believe McDaniels would disrespect New England by going to a team like the Dolphins or Colts that has a history of bad blood with the Patriots.
- Giants head coach Tom Coughlin may be on the hot seat, but as Ralph Vacchiano of The New York Daily News writes, Coughlin typically thrives with his back to the wall. Of course, the team had a chance to take a commanding lead in the NFC East last week and failed to do so, which means that the Giants’ string of four straight seasons without a playoff berth is in danger of continuing. If that happens, Coughlin’s two Super Bowl rings and respect from team ownership may not be enough to save him.
Los Angeles Updates: 12/6/15
A source with knowledge of the situation expects that there will be a solution to the Los Angeles relocation dilemma in early January, according to Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk. Of course, we learned several days ago that NFL owners would convene in Houston on January 12th and 13th and may vote on relocation at that time. Florio’s latest report indicates that the vote will, in fact, take place.
There had been rumblings that this process could be dragged out until 2017, but league owners and league officials understand the importance of resolving the matter as soon as possible. Keeping three teams in limbo for an extended period of time could degrade the markets in those three cities, which could make it difficult for the clubs that do not relocate to thrive in the future, and per Florio, “the league seems to understand that fans of every team in every city are growing fatigued by the process.” Ultimately, Florio writes that Roger Goodell or Panthers owner Jerry Richardson–the de facto Los Angeles committee chairman–could force the hands of the other owners in January by refusing to terminate the meetings until 24 votes are cast in favor of one outcome or another.
Although it has appeared for the past several months that the Carson project–the proposal that would see the Raiders and Chargers share a venue just outside of LA–enjoys the majority of ownership support, that proposal did take something of a hit recently. According to Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (article via Conor Orr of NFL.com), a 200-acre piece of land that had been viewed as parking and additional development space for the Carson project is no longer available. That tract of land, the Links at Victoria Golf Course, was part of the league’s vision to turn its future Los Angeles outpost as a grandiose centerpiece, and its loss could theoretically be a blow to the Oakland/San Diego relocation efforts. Carson advocate Carmen Policy, however, does not think so. According to Policy:
“We have our core piece of land, we don’t need anything else. Obviously, if the league gives its approval, we’ll be looking at other developments and expansion ideas in the entire area.”
AFC East Notes: Dolphins, McDaniels, Burgess
Within his latest column, Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald explores several of the personnel decisions facing the Dolphins in the coming weeks and months. Jackson suggests that the team would like to add at least one defensive end, though that doesn’t rule out the possibility of Olivier Vernon and/or Derrick Shelby returning. Quinton Coples is also in the club’s plans for 2016, albeit at a reduced salary, says Jackson.
While defensive end is one key situation worth monitoring in Miami, the Dolphins will also face decisions on cornerback Brent Grimes, linebackers Koa Misi and Earl Mitchell, running back Lamar Miller, and pass-catchers Rishard Matthews and Jordan Cameron, as Jackson details.
Here’s more from out of the AFC East:
- Armando Salguero of the Miami Herald also looks ahead to the Dolphins‘ offseason, writing that the team’s greatest areas of need are at defensive end, middle linebacker, and cornerback. As Salguero observes, with the club set to hire a new head coach and coaching staff, many of the decisions Miami makes in the next few weeks will determine the direction of the franchise for the next several years.
- Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels is generating “a lot of buzz” as a potential head coaching candidate, writes Ben Volin of the Boston Globe. Having already had one head coaching job that went south, McDaniels will have to be selective this time if he has the opportunity to interview for offseason vacancies. Volin suggests that the Lions may be a fit for McDaniels, if Detroit looks to replace Jim Caldwell.
- British rugby star Tom Burgess, who worked out for the Giants last week, also auditioned for both the Jets and Bills, per Adam Schefter of ESPN.com (Twitter link). If Burgess is serious about giving the NFL a shot, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see him land a reserve/futures contract at season’s end with one of the teams trying him out this month.
2016 Cap Outlook: Dallas Cowboys
Through the 2015 NFL season, Pro Football Rumors has been looking ahead to the 2016 offseason, gauging the salary cap situation for a number of teams with significant cap charges for next season. The cap for 2016 hasn’t been set yet, but we can still assess the salary commitments made by a club and determine whether or not that club will be in good financial shape going forward.
In addition to evaluating each team’s overall cap situation, we’ll focus in on a few key players who may be candidates to be extended, restructured, or released by their current teams. These lists aren’t comprehensive, and depending on a player’s 2015 performance and health, he could drop off one of these lists – or be added to one – as the season goes on. For now though, these are some players to watch.
Using data from Over The Cap, we’re making our way through NFL teams in order of total salary commitments for 2016. Today’s team is the Dallas Cowboys, who currently have the eighth-highest total for their ’16 cap.
Let’s dive in….
Top 10 cap hits for 2016:
- Tony Romo, QB: $20,835,000
- Tyron Smith, LT: $14,000,000
- Brandon Carr, CB: $13,817,000
- Dez Bryant, WR: $13,000,000
- Tyrone Crawford, DT: $8,750,000
- Jason Witten, TE: $8,612,000
- Orlando Scandrick, CB: $7,782,271
- Sean Lee, LB: $5,950,000
- Doug Free, RT: $5,500,000
- Cole Beasley, WR: $3,356,000
Current 2016 cap number for top 51 players: $140,409,470
With the cap figures on extensions for Smith and Bryant set to increase significantly in 2016, many of the Cowboys’ top cap numbers belong to key contributors, which is generally a good thing. Still, it can sometimes provide a more difficult path to clearing room.
Consider the Cowboys’ division rivals in Washington, for instance — Scot McCloughan and co. can quickly clear $16MM+ in cap space by parting ways with Robert Griffin III in the offseason. Outside of Carr’s deal, the Cowboys don’t have many potential short-cuts to gaining big chunks of cap room this winter, so it’ll be interesting to see what moves the team makes if it needs extra space.
Candidates for extension:
- Barry Church, S
Church isn’t the only player the Cowboys will consider extending this offseason. Travis Frederick, who currently rates as the league’s best center, according to Pro Football Focus’ grades, will be extension-eligible, and the team will certainly try to lock up its Pro Bowl center sooner or later. Church, however, is the only obvious extension candidate whose cap number could be reduced with a new deal.
Of course, the Cowboys’ ability to get something done with Church without increasing his 2016 cap charge will depend on whether the two sides can agree on his value. I wouldn’t consider Church one of the NFL’s top safeties, but he has started every game for Dallas since the start of the 2013 season, and his box-score stats have been impressive — he averaged 122 tackles in 2013 and 2014, and has racked up another 78 this year. If the Cowboys think they can extend him without giving him a significant raise, that would be a deal worth exploring.
Candidates for restructure:
- Tyrone Crawford, DT
- Tony Romo, QB
- Orlando Scandrick, CB
- Tyron Smith, LT
- Jason Witten, TE
The most ideal contracts for restructuring, from a team’s perspective, are ones without much future dead money, and ones where the cap hits in future seasons don’t increase too significantly. The deals for Crawford, Romo, and Smith don’t exactly fit that bill, but the sheer size of them makes them logical candidates to be reworked if the Cowboys need to create significant cap savings. Dallas could clear close to $5MM in cap space by restructuring Crawford’s contract, nearly $6MM by restructuring Romo’s, and over $7MM by restructuring Smith’s.
Still, if they can avoid it, the Cowboys would be wise to avoid reworking those deals and pushing more dead money to future years. Romo’s, in particular, is starting to look unwieldy, and even if owner Jerry Jones thinks his quarterback still has four good years left in him – which is debatable – the team would be wise to minimize the risk on those later seasons as much as possible.
Smith’s deal is a solid candidate for a restructure, and so is Scandrick’s, which has a significantly higher cap charge in 2016 than in future seasons. Witten’s is a trickier case — the veteran tight end had 703 receiving yards in 2014, the lowest mark of his career besides his 2003 rookie season, and he’s on track for about the same number this year.
With his production on the decline, Witten’s cap hit will rise to $8.6MM in 2016. The club could ask him to take a pay cut on his $6.5MM base salary, perhaps giving him the opportunity to earn back some of that amount in incentives, but given how much he has meant to the franchise on and off the field over the last decade, that may be a conversation the Cowboys prefer to postpone for another year. A restructure could accomplish that.
Candidates for pay cut or release:
- Brandon Carr, CB
- Andrew Gachkar, LB
As noted earlier, Carr seems extremely unlikely to return to the Cowboys with the Cowboys’ third-highest cap number next year. Of course, I wouldn’t have thought he’d still have the team’s second-highest cap hit in 2015 either, so I can’t say with 100% certainty that the Cowboys will adjust his deal or cut him. But the club’s leverage will certainly increase this winter — if Dallas had parted ways with Carr last winter, it would have created less than $1MM in cap savings. This time around, the team could clear nearly $6.4MM from its cap by releasing him, so he’ll be under more pressure to accept a reduced salary if he wants to remain in Dallas.
As for Gachkar, his $1.9MM cap number isn’t exactly a huge drain on the Cowboys’ 2016 cap, and we usually focus on players with cap hits of $2MM+ in this space. But given how little he has played on defense for the Cowboys this year, Gachkar looks like a release candidate, unless the team is fine with paying him that salary for his contributions on special teams. Dallas could create $1.3MM in cap savings by cutting him.
Contract information from Over The Cap was used in the creation of this post.
Draft Updates: Ramsey, Goff, Underclassmen
With five weeks remaining in the NFL regular season, not many teams are looking ahead to the draft yet, but the NCAA year is winding down and many underclassmen are determining whether or not to declare their intent to enter this year’s draft class. Here’s the latest on a few prospects:
- Florida State defensive back Jalen Ramsey and his family have spent “meaningful time” vetting potential agents as he considers entering the draft, tweets Rand Getlin of Yahoo! Sports. That’s no surprise, considering Ramsey is a potential top-10 pick.
- A pair of receivers, Florida’s Demarcus Robinson and Pitt’s Tyler Boyd, are strongly considering entering the draft, according to Getlin (Twitter links). Getlin adds that one of Boyd’s family members has been looking into possible representation.
- Sources close to Cal quarterback Jared Goff indicate that there’s a 99% chance he’ll enter the draft, and wide receiver Kenny Lawler is expected to declare as well, writes Tony Pauline of DraftInsider.net. Bengals receiver Marvin Jones has been a common point of comparison for Lawler, per Pauline.
- Boise State edge defender Kamalei Correa, who has received second-day grades, has been interviewing agents and is very likely to enter the draft, says Pauline. Maryland defensive lineman Quinton Jefferson and San Diego State cornerback Damontae Kazee are also likely to enter the draft, according to Pauline.
- Indiana guard Dan Feeney, Mississippi State defensive tackle Chris Jones, and Mississippi defensive back Tony Conner are waiting to hear back from the advisory committee before making a decision on the draft, per Pauline.
- Ole Miss tackle Laremy Tunsil, defensive lineman Robert Nkemdiche, and receiver Laquon Treadwell are all expected to enter the draft, says Pauline.
- Other underclassmen considering making the jump to the NFL, according to Pauline:
- Texas A&M defensive end Daeshon Hall
- Alabama cornerback Eddie Jackson
- Louisville safety Josh Harvey-Clemons
- Mississippi tight end Evan Engram
Minor NFL Transactions: 12/5/15
Here are Saturday’s minor transactions from around the NFL, including practice squad moves:
- The Falcons have released an injury settlement with tackle Lamar Holmes, releasing him from the reserve/PUP list, tweets Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle. Holmes’ four-year rookie deal had been set to expire at season’s end, but since he was on track to spend all year on the PUP list due to a foot injury, his contract would’ve tolled, keeping him on Atlanta’s roster. Instead, he’ll reach the open market a little early.
- To fill the roster spot formerly held by Trent Robinson, whose release was noted below, Washington promoted linebacker Carlos Fields from its practice squad, Tarik El-Bashir of CSNMidAtlantic.com reports. The 25-year-old Fields should serve as depth for a depleted Washington linebacking corps Monday night, with Mason Foster and Will Compton expected to start. Perry Riley remains out, and Keenan Robinson is questionable, so Fields figures to see extensive special teams time.
Earlier updates:
- Darius Jennings joins the Browns‘ active roster after the team promoted the wide receiver from their practice squad. Cleveland cut linebacker Darrian Miller to make room, Mary Kay Cabot of the Cleveland Plain Dealer reports (on Twitter). A former Virginia wideout, Jennings caught on with the Browns after a minicamp tryout this May. Miller played in two games as a backup after spending nine weeks on the team’s practice squad prior to his promotion.
- The Dolphins signed defensive end Jordan Williams from their practice squad and cut tight end Brandon Williams to make room, James Walker of ESPN.com tweets. Initially signing with the Jets as a rookie UDFA this offseason, Jordan Williams signed to the Dolphins’ practice squad in October.
- The Giants waived cornerback Leon McFadden and signed linebacker James Morris to take his spot on the 53-man roster, Dan Graziano of ESPN.com reports (on Twitter). A 24-year-old inside backer, Morris played in three games with the Giants this season after spending time with the Patriots in 2014.
- Washington waived/injured safety Trent Robinson, per Master Tesfatsion of the Washington Post (via Twitter). Robinson was backing up Dashon Goldson and Kyshoen Jarrett previously. If Robinson clears waivers, he’ll land on Washington’s IR, per Jay Gruden (via Tarik El-Bashir of CSNWashington.com, on Twitter).
- The Bills have promoted running back Michael Gillislee to the active roster, reports Joe Buscaglia of WKBW in Buffalo (via Twitter). The former fifth-round pick hasn’t played in the NFL since a three-game stint with the Dolphins in 2013. To make room on the roster, the team has waived offensive lineman Gabe Ikard. The Oklahoma product has only made three appearances this season, although Buscaglia believes his absence will lead to Ryan Groy being active for the first time.
- With the Bengals dealing with a banged up secondary, the team has promoted cornerback Troy Hill from the practice squad, reports ESPN’s Coley Harvey (via Twitter). To make room on the roster, the team waived cornerback Chris Lewis-Harris, who was injured during last week’s victory over the Rams.