Bills Notes: Ryan, Carpenter, A. Williams
While Rex Ryan has always been very unlikely to be a one-and-done coach in Buffalo, there was talk around the league last week that Bills ownership was “none too pleased” with the team’s recent play, says Mike Garafolo of FOX Sports. As such, the team’s Sunday win over Houston likely has Ryan breathing a little easier.
If the Bills miss the playoffs this year, I expect Ryan to get at least one more shot in 2016 at making the postseason. As Garafolo notes though, the team’s owners are in win-now mode, having OK’d big-money maneuvers such as the trade and extension for LeSean McCoy, as well as lucrative contracts for Charles Clay, Jerry Hughes, and Marcell Dareus, among others.
Here’s more out of Buffalo:
- Kicker Dan Carpenter missed a field goal and an extra point during Sunday’s win over the Texans, and has now missed four of each for the season. However, his job isn’t in danger, according to Ryan, who declared that “we’re not getting rid of” Carpenter (link via Jay Skurski of The Buffalo News). “Moving that [extra point] back, there’s a lot of people who miss kicks,” Ryan said. “Look, we’ve got a veteran kicker. You guys know he can kick in the conditions, and not everybody can do that.”
- Safety Aaron Williams, who is on injured reserve with the designation to return, has a 50/50 chance of returning to the field for the Bills this season, per Ryan (Twitter link via Skurski).
- The injury sustained by cornerback Stephon Gilmore on Sunday isn’t expected to be a season-ender, according to Ryan (Twitter link via Skurski). There has yet to be an official diagnosis or recovery timeline announced for Gilmore.
Eagles Release Miles Austin
The Eagles have parted ways with veteran wide receiver Miles Austin, tweets Howard Eskin of FOX 29 in Philadelphia. Austin will have to clear waivers before becoming a free agent, but he’s unlikely to be claimed, given the money left on his deal and his performance this season.
Austin, who signed a one-year, $2.5MM contract with the Eagles in March, has been a disappointment for the team this season. Despite seeing a decent amount of playing time, the ex-Cowboy has hauled in just 13 of 31 targets, for 224 yards and a touchdown. He was inactive for his final game with the Eagles.
While Philadelphia could add another receiver to the roster to replace Austin, the team still has plenty of depth at the position on the 53-man squad. The move could result in a few extra snaps for players like Josh Huff and Jonathan Krause.
Rams Fire OC Frank Cignetti
The Rams have become the latest team to fire an offensive coordinator, announcing today that they’ve parted ways with OC Frank Cignetti (Twitter link via Myles Simmons of STLouisRams.com). St. Louis is the fourth NFL club to fire its offensive coordinator this season, joining the Colts, Dolphins, and Lions.
According to the team, assistant head coach and tight ends coach Rob Boras will take over as offensive coordinator for the rest of the season. Boras received consideration for the job before Cingetti was promoted last winter, but ultimately lost the competition — however, he received a new assistant head coach title at the time, and was in charge of the running game in addition to coaching the team’s tight ends.
Cignetti, who replaced former Rams offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer, only lasted 12 regular season games in the role. However, the move doesn’t come as a real surprise. St. Louis has arguably had the league’s worst offense this season, even with Todd Gurley enjoying a handful of big games. Football Outsiders ranks the club dead last in offensive DVOA, with the passing offense – led by Nick Foles and Case Keenum – grading well below that of any other team in he league.
After Sunday’s loss to the Cardinals, head coach Jeff Fisher admitted that he was “almost out of answers” for how to solve the Rams’ offensive problems. Boras will be tasked with providing some answers in the next four weeks, but if the unit doesn’t show any improvement, both he and Fisher may be at risk of losing their jobs in January.
Kwon Alexander Suspended Four Games
DECEMBER 7, 1:13pm: Alexander will begin serving his four-game suspension this week, a source tells Roy Cummings of the Tampa Tribune (Twitter link). That would rule out the linebacker for the rest of the regular season, making him eligible to return either for the first game of the postseason or the 2016 opener.
NOVEMBER 22, 4:35pm: Alexander claims the substance was in an energy drink he consumed, and he will appeal the suspension, tweets Roy Cummings of the Tampa Tribune.
8:32am: Buccaneers rookie linebacker Kwon Alexander has tested positive for a performance-enhancing drug and faces a four-game suspension, per Rick Stroud of The Tampa Bay Times, who adds that the banned substance is believed to be contained in an over-the-counter supplement that Alexander consumed (Twitter links).
According to Stroud, Alexander has been aware of the positive test for several weeks, but the NFL has not yet notified the team. Once the Bucs are formally notified, Alexander will have five business days to file an appeal. In the meantime, Alexander will continue to play, and in fact is expected to start against the Eagles this afternoon (Twitter links). Jenna Laine of Sports Talk Florida has tweeted confirmation of the news.
Although Tampa Bay is a full two games out of a wild card spot, the team has won two of its last three contests and is seeing a noticeable improvement in play from rookie signal-caller Jameis Winston. However, any playoff push it may make would be significantly hindered by losing Alexander, who has been one of the Bucs’ best defensive players this season and who is third on the team in solo tackles. The former LSU product, selected in the fourth round of this year’s draft, has added two interceptions and two sacks in head coach Lovie Smith‘s linebacker-driven defense. Alexander has started all nine of the team’s games this year.
General manager Jason Licht has not commented on this development, as he is still awaiting notification from the league (Twitter link via Stroud). Should Alexander lose his appeal, or should he opt to not file one, Bruce Carter could see an increase in playing time.
Los Angeles Rumors: 12/7/15
The Chargers‘ and Raiders‘ joint stadium plan for Carson seems to have momentum at this point than the Rams‘ Inglewood proposal, writes Peter King of TheMMQB.com in today’s Monday Morning Quarterback column. As King explains, the reason is fairly simple: owners around the league want to support Chargers owner Dean Spanos, whom they feel has done all he can to try to make a stadium work in San Diego.
King’s piece includes plenty of interesting tidbits on the Los Angeles situation, so let’s dive in and round them up….
- The Committee on Los Angeles Opportunities will likely vote 4-2 or 5-1 in favor of the Carson project, a source tells King. However, that prediction hinges on how solid the St. Louis stadium proposal is — if any of the six owners on the committee are uncertain about St. Louis’ proposal, they could switch to the Inglewood plan.
- Looking ahead to the league-wide vote involving all 32 owners, neither side is close to having the 24 votes necessary to approve a relocation plan, according to King.
- Disney CEO Robert Iger has been a major boon to the Carson side, with one source suggesting to King that Iger “feels like a partner to people like Roger Goodell and Bob Kraft.” One ownership source believes that if the Carson plan just involved the Chargers, Spanos, and Iger, it would already have 24 votes from league owners — some owners, however, view the Raiders as a drag on the project.
- While the league would like to finalize its Los Angeles plan during the January meetings in Houston, that’s not a lock. It’s probable, but not certain, says King.
- If Kroenke’s Inglewood project doesn’t come to fruition, no one knows what he’ll do, writes King. If Kroenke doesn’t like St. Louis’ stadium plan, it could be “an ugly shotgun marriage,” perhaps with the Rams owner “refusing to go to the altar.”
- One more L.A. note from Daniel Kaplan of the SportsBusiness Journal (Twitter link): Oakland city leaders have talked to the NFL about developing a stadium in Oakland. While those discussions are ongoing, it’s hard to imagine the city putting together a concrete plan within the next few weeks.
2016 NFL Free Agents
Pro Football Rumors’ up-to-date list of 2016 NFL free agents is below. These are players who are eligible for restricted or unrestricted free agency after the 2015 season. The player’s 2016 age is in parentheses. Players are generally sorted by the position at which they played most in ’15, or the position at which their most recent team listed them.
Players who finished the 2015 season on an NFL roster but don’t have a contract for 2016 are listed below, along with a few other notable free agents who didn’t finish the 2015 season on an NFL roster, and several players who have been cut since the season ended.
Players eligible for restricted free agency are marked with (R), while non-exclusive franchise and transition players will be marked with (F) and (T) respectively. Exclusive rights free agents are not included. All other free agents are assumed to be unrestricted.
If you have any corrections or omissions, please contact us. For instant free agent updates, be sure to follow us on Twitter @pfrumors.
Updated 12-8-16 (10:29am CT)
Quarterbacks
Jimmy Clausen (29)
Matt Flynn (31)
Josh Freeman (28)
Bruce Gradkowski (33)
Tarvaris Jackson (33)
Ryan Lindley (27)
Johnny Manziel (24)
Sean Renfree (26)
Michael Vick (36)
Charlie Whitehurst (34)
T.J. Yates (29)
Running Backs
Montee Ball (26)
Joe Banyard (27)
Ahmad Bradshaw (30)
Bryce Brown (25)
Donald Brown (29)
Anthony Dixon (29)
Kendall Gaskins (26)
Toby Gerhart (29)
Jonas Gray (25)
DuJuan Harris (28)
Roy Helu (27)
Kendall Hunter (28)
Fred Jackson (35)
Steven Jackson (33)
Isaiah Pead (26)
Trent Richardson (26)
Stevan Ridley (27)
Zac Stacy (25)
C.J. Spiller (29)
Daniel Thomas (29)
Pierre Thomas (32)
George Winn (25)
Fullbacks
Tyler Clutts (32)
Derrick Coleman (26)
Austin Johnson (27)
Jorvorskie Lane (29)
Will Tukuafu (32)
Darrel Young (29)
Wide Receivers
Jared Abbrederis (25)
Seyi Ajirotutu (29)
Miles Austin (32)
Jason Avant (33)
Brenton Bersin (26)
Dwayne Bowe (32)
Vincent Brown (27)
Jeremy Butler (25)
Andre Caldwell (31)
Michael Campanaro (25)
Marques Colston (33)
Riley Cooper (29)
Jerricho Cotchery (34)
B.J. Daniels (27)
Aaron Dobson (25)
Brandon Gibson (29)
Chris Givens (26)
Leonard Hankerson (27)
Brian Hartline (30)
Stephen Hill (25)
Damaris Johnson (27)
Jacoby Jones (32)
James Jones (32)
Greg Little (27)
Denarius Moore (28)
Marlon Moore (28)
Joe Morgan (28)
David Nelson (30)
Hakeem Nicks (28)
Chris Owusu (26)
Rueben Randle (25)
Jerome Simpson (30)
Marcus Thigpen (30)
Kenbrell Thompkins (28)
Brian Tyms (27)
Bryan Walters (29)
Nate Washington (33)
Wes Welker (35)
Griff Whalen (26)
Myles White (26)
Roddy White (35)
Kyle Williams (28)
Mike Williams (29)
Tight Ends
Scott Chandler (31)
Orson Charles (25)
Owen Daniels (34)
Dorin Dickerson (28)
Jim Dray (29)
Daniel Fells (33)
Chase Ford (26)
Garrett Graham (30)
Brian Leonhardt (26)
Anthony McCoy (29)
Matthew Mulligan (31)
Brian Parker (24)
Bear Pascoe (30)
Andrew Quarless (28)
Allen Reisner (28)
Konrad Reuland (29)
Alex Smith (34)
Matt Spaeth (32)
Tackles
Jason Fox (28)
Bryce Harris (27)
Lamar Holmes (27)
Jamon Meredith (30)
Erik Pears (34)
Byron Stingily (28)
J’Marcus Webb (28)
Guards
Jon Asamoah (28)
Mackenzy Bernadeau (30)
Willie Colon (33)
Paul Fanaika (30)
Andrew Gardner (30)
Tyronne Green (30)
Todd Herremans (34)
Josh LeRibeus (27)
Lance Louis (31)
Jacques McClendon (28)
Mike McGlynn (31)
Brandon Mosley (28)
Patrick Omameh (27)
Garrett Reynolds (29)
Geoff Schwartz (30)
Amini Silatolu (28)
Shelley Smith (29)
Dallas Thomas (27)
Johnnie Troutman (29)
Louis Vasquez (29)
Centers
Brian De La Puente (31)
Brian Folkerts (26)
Khaled Holmes (26)
Lemuel Jeanpierre (29)
Doug Legursky (30)
Will Montgomery (33)
Drew Nowak (26)
Mike Person (28)
Dallas Reynolds (32)
Trevor Robinson (26)
Lyle Sendlein (32)
James Stone (24)
Bryan Stork (25)
Fernando Veslasco (31)
Julian Vandervelde (29)
J.D. Walton (29)
Ryan Wendell (30)
4-3 Defensive Ends
Frank Alexander (27)
Kroy Biermann (31)
Alex Carrington (29)
Quinton Coples (26)
Demarcus Dobbs (29)
Larry English (30)
Wallace Gilberry (31)
Greg Hardy (28)
Chris McCain (24)
Damontre Moore (24)
Ropati Pitoitua (31)
George Selvie (29)
Matt Shaughnessy (30)
Josh Shirley (24)
Bjoern Werner (26)
C.J. Wilson (29)
Jarius Wynn (30)
3-4 Defensive Ends
Chris Canty (34)
Clifton Geathers (29)
Defensive Tackles
Brandon Bair (32)
Da’Quan Bowers (26)
Red Bryant (32)
Barry Cofield (32)
Dwan Edwards (35)
Kenrick Ellis (28)
Andre Fluellen (31)
Bruce Gaston (24)
Nick Hayden (30)
John Hughes (28)
Ishmaa’ily Kitchen (28)
Terrance Knighton (30)
Sammie Lee Hill (30)
Mike Martin (26)
Henry Melton (30)
C.J. Mosley (33)
Louis Nix (25)
Leon Orr (24)
Randy Starks (33)
Alameda Ta’amu (26)
Ian Williams (27)
4-3 Outside Linebackers
James Anderson (33)
Jayson DiManche (26)
Darius Fleming (27)
Khaseem Greene (27)
A.J. Hawk (32)
David Hawthorne (31)
Danny Lansanah (31)
Jamari Lattimore (28)
Travis Lewis (28)
Orie Lemon (29)
Nick Moody (26)
Eric Pinkins (25)
O’Brien Schofield (29)
Tony Steward (24)
Jason Trusnik (32)
3-4 Outside Linebackers
Jason Babin (36)
Adam Hayward (32)
Manny Lawson (32)
Dezman Moses (27)
Andy Mulumba (26)
Mike Neal (29)
Jonathan Newsome (25)
Calvin Pace (36)
Scott Solomon (28)
Lamarr Woodley (32)
Inside Linebackers
Jasper Brinkley (31)
Kavell Conner (29)
Shelby Harris (25)
Amarlo Herrera (25)
Nate Irving (28)
Nico Johnson (26)
James Laurinaitis (30)
Curtis Lofton (30)
Casey Matthews (27)
Joe Mays (31)
James-Michael Johnson (27)
Sio Moore (26)
DeMeco Ryans (32)
Andy Studebaker (31)
Justin Tuggle (26)
Uani ‘Unga (29)
Cornerbacks
Phillip Adams (28)
Cortez Allen (28)
Alan Ball (31)
Bill Bentley (27)
E.J. Biggers (29)
Zackary Bowman (32)
Jalil Brown (29)
Tarell Brown (31)
Brandon Browner (32)
Crezdon Butler (29)
Perrish Cox (29)
Antonio Cromartie (32)
Chris Culliver (28)
Pierre Desir (26)
Ras-I Dowling (28)
Greg Ducre (24)
Randall Evans (24)
Cortland Finnegan (32)
Jamell Fleming (27)
Charles Gaines (24)
Jayron Hosley (26)
Demontre Hurst (25)
Tramain Jacobs (24)
Charles James (26)
Keenan Lewis (30)
Nick Marshall (24)
Trumaine McBride (31)
Demetrius McCray (25)
Dee Milliner (25)
Chris Owens (30)
Shaun Prater (26)
Denzel Rice (23)
Cassius Vaughn (29)
Darrin Walls (28)
Melwin White (26)
Cary Williams (32))
Safeties
Antonio Allen (28)
Will Allen (34)
Larry Asante (28)
Dion Bailey (24)
Omar Bolden (27)
Terrence Brooks (25)
Sergio Brown (28)
Stevie Brown (29)
David Bruton (29)
Josh Bush (27)
Chris Clemons (31)
Craig Dahl (31)
Louis Delmas (29)
Josh Evans (25)
Dashon Goldson (32)
Winston Guy (26)
Will Hill (26)
Jaiquawn Jarrett (27)
Don Jones (26)
Jordan Kovacs (26)
Sherrod Martin (32)
Taylor Mays (28)
Danny McCray (28)
L.J. McCray (25)
Tevin McDonald (24)
Brandon Meriweather (32)
Rahim Moore (26)
William Moore (31)
Ryan Mundy (31)
Nick Perry (26)
Sean Richardson (26)
Antrel Rolle (34)
Brandian Ross (27)
Cooper Taylor (26)
Ross Ventrone (30)
Brock Vereen (24)
Jimmy Wilson (30)
Kickers
Josh Brown (37)
Travis Coons (24)
Jordan Gay (26)
Shayne Graham (38)
Garrett Hartley (30)
Zach Hocker (25)
Josh Scobee (34)
Blair Walsh (26)
Punters
Britton Colquitt (31)
Tim Masthay (29)
Long Snappers
Danny Aiken (28)
Clint Gresham (30)
Rick Lovato (24)
Over The Cap and FOX Sports were used in the creation of this post.
Coaching Notes: Giants, Chargers, Lions
With less than a month remaining in the NFL regular season, we’re getting to that time of year when every poor performance by a sub-.500 team can raise questions about a head coach’s job security. A few coaches, in particular, are on the hot seat after bad Week 13 showings, so let’s round up the latest on a handful of situations around the NFL….
- The Giants aren’t the sort of team that would fire a head coach – particularly one with two Super Bowl wins under his belt – for clock management. However, at some point, after so many terrible losses this season, “the accumulation of disappointment erodes even the most formidable reservoir of goodwill,” writes Dan Graziano of ESPN.com in his discussion of Tom Coughlin.
- Giants co-owners John Mara and Steve Tisch may love Coughlin, but the head coach is making their choice on his future easier with a series of bad losses, writes Gary Myers of the New York Daily News.
- Jordan Raanan of NJ.com identifies 13 potential head coaching candidates for the Giants in the event that the team decides to replace Coughlin at season’s end.
- Wholesale changes to the Chargers‘ coaching staff are necessary, according to Eric D. Williams of ESPN.com. That could mean parting ways with head coach Mike McCoy, though Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune hears from a highly-placed source that team management has mulled the possibility of retaining McCoy and making changes to his staff on both offense and defense.
- While the Lions would like to get a permanent general manager in place before deciding on the future of head coach Jim Caldwell, sticking to that plan may result in the team missing out on some top candidates, as Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press observes. At the very least, the club likely wouldn’t be involved in the first interview window for assistants on teams with first-round byes.
Extra Points: Eagles, Bengals, Browns, Steelers
Some assorted notes from around the league as we wrap up the weekend…
- While Chip Kelly may not be considered the Eagles bona fide general manager, there’s no denying that he was controlling personnel decisions this offseason. Based on the team’s underwhelming performance in 2015, NFL Media’s Michael Robinson believes the organization needs a more traditional GM. “He needs a guy that’s going to come in and help him evaluate talent,” he said (via Conor Orr of NFL.com).
- The Bengals have denied both USC and Miami’s request to interview offensive coordinator Hue Jackson for their previous head coaching vacancies, reports Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk.com. If Jackson doesn’t receive an NFL offer, Florio believes he could eventually replace Marvin Lewis in Cincinnati.
- Firing Mike Pettine with four games to go makes little sense for the Browns, writes Marla Ridenour of Cleveland.com. The writer believes the move would “do more harm than good,” as owner Jimmy Haslam‘s “quick trigger” may make it hard to find a competent replacement.
- Steelers return man Jacoby Jones botched a pair of kicks in the first half of Sunday’s game against the Colts. The veteran has been benched for the second half, and Florio wonders if his tenure with Pittsburgh may be over.
Mike Pettine, Browns Haven’t Discussed Coach’s Job Security
It was exactly 13 months ago when the Browns topped the Bengals to gain sole possession of the AFC North. Since then, the team has gone 3-16, including losses in 15 of their past 17 games. Predictably, some pundits have questioned Mike Pettine‘s job security.
The head coach added some fuel to the fire following Sunday’s loss to the Bengals, telling Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com that he hasn’t received any assurances from owner Jimmy Haslam regarding his job status for the rest of the season.
“We haven’t had those discussions,” Pettine said. “Jimmy and I had good conversations. We talk every week. Frankly, there’s a lot of football left to be played. We’re evaluated every day, whether we’re evaluating ourselves or whether it is coming from him.
“We’re just going to fall back on what we know how to do. We’re going to come in every day, prepare relentlessly like we do, we’re going to coach our players hard and we will see what happens.”
As Cabot points out, Haslam previously said that he wouldn’t “blow things up” following this season. However, those statements followed a promising 7-9 campaign, and things haven’t gone so well for the organization since. Embattled quarterback Johnny Manziel has had a tumultuous sophomore campaign, and the Browns have gotten little production from their recent first-round picks.
The writer believes Haslam will let Pettine stick around for the rest of the season, although there’s no guarantee beyond that. The owner has already fired a pair of coaches in Pat Shurmur and Rob Chudzinski.
NFC Notes: Cardinals, Browner, Coughlin
Before signing a three-year extension with the Cardinals yesterday, cornerback Justin Bethel was set to hit free agency following the season. The special teams ace could have made more than $9MM guaranteed on the open market, but he told Darren Urban of AZCardinals.com that he wanted to stay in Arizona.
“You never know,” Bethel said. “You want to stay with the team that brought you in. You talk with your agents, you talk with your family, you want to do what’s best for you and your career. Not everybody plays the game for a long time. I didn’t want to go and be greedy if they gave me a really good deal, which they did. I’m thankful.”
Let’s check out some more notes from the NFC…
- Brandon Browner‘s brutal first season with the Saints got even worse in today’s loss to the Panthers. The cornerback was called for three penalties, was beat by Devin Funchess for a touchdown, and was a part of the failed coverage that led to another score by Ted Ginn. The veteran was also caught arguing with teammate Jairus Byrd and defensive coordinator Dennis Allen. This led to Hall of Fame tight end Shannon Sharpe tweeting that Browner should be released, citing the distraction that accompanies the defensive back.
- On the flip side, Jeff Duncan of NOLA.com notes (via Twitter) that the Saints are too depleted to let go of Browner, noting that both Delvin Breaux and Damian Swann are currently banged up.
- Leading by 10 with less than nine minutes to go, Giants coach Tom Coughlin opted to go for the touchdown instead of a field goal. Eli Manning‘s pass ended up being picked off, setting the way for the Jets’ comeback victory. The New York Post’s Steve Serby believes that play could signal “the beginning of the end” for the long-time Giants coach.