NFL Shortens Legal Tampering Window
WEDNESDAY, 12:38pm: The NFL has officially shortened the legal tampering window prior to free agency from three days to two days, tweets Mark Maske of the Washington Post.
TUESDAY, 12:05pm: At this week’s NFL meetings in Dallas, team owners will vote on whether to shorten the league’s “legal tampering” window during free agency from three days to two days, tweets Ian Rapoport of NFL.com.
The legal tampering period refers to the three days in March when clubs can talk to agents and negotiate possible deals for free agents from other teams, but aren’t yet allowed to officially sign those players. Teams and agents aren’t supposed to discuss specific year and dollar amounts or reach agreements in principle during that legal tampering window, though that rule has generally been ignored in recent years.
In March 2015, Ndamukong Suh‘s massive deal with the Dolphins was one of many instances where the exact terms of a contract agreement were reported during the legal tampering window, well before Suh was officially permitted to put pen to paper for Miami. The league investigated the Dolphins following the free agent period, but no penalties were handed out.
Reducing the legal tampering window from three days to two days could help ensure that fewer deals are agreed upon during that time, saving more of the contract drama for the first few hours and days after free agency officially opens.
Here are a few more items of interest related to this week’s league meetings:
- Owners will also vote on whether or not teams will be allowed to trade compensatory draft picks, which has been recommended by the competition committee, tweets Rapoport. A November report indicated that this change is likely to be approved.
- Los Angeles will be a subject of discussion this week, but there are no votes or presentations on L.A. planned for now, tweets Albert Breer of the NFL Network.
- According to Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune (Twitter link), the NFL will hold a special owners meeting in January. That may be the time when a vote on Los Angeles relocation takes place, though that’s not set in stone yet.
Ryan Mallett Working Out For Ravens
With Joe Flacco out for the year, the Ravens are currently moving forward with Matt Schaub and Jimmy Clausen as their quarterbacks. However, the team appears to be keeping an eye on the free agent market as well. According to Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle, the club is working out former Texans signal-caller Ryan Mallett today.
Mallett, who initially joined the Texans prior to the 2014 season, started six games over the last two years for the team, totaling 1,170 passing yards, five touchdowns, and six interceptions during his time in Houston. He was cut by the Texans in October after missing the team’s charter flight for a game in Miami — it was the second time this year tardiness was an issue for Mallett, who also missed a training camp practice.
It’s not clear at this point whether the Ravens are considering signing Mallett, or whether the team is merely taking a look at him to assess his value as a potential insurance policy in case Schaub gets injured, or perhaps as an offseason target.
Austin Davis To Start For Browns
With Josh McCown out for the rest of the season with a broken collarbone, the Browns won’t hand the reins back to Johnny Manziel — at least not yet. The team announced today in a press release that Austin Davis will get the start in Week 13 against the Bengals.
“Austin took advantage of his opportunity on Monday night. He was prepared, played well and put us in position to win,” said head coach Mike Pettine in a statement. “He’s been great in the quarterback room all season and he has earned the right to start on Sunday. We expect him to play well.”
Davis was called upon on Monday when McCown went down, with Manziel serving as the No. 3 quarterback in that game, so today’s decision doesn’t come as a real surprise. Still, it shows that the Browns are serious about disciplining the second-year signal-caller for his off-field behavior.
Manziel, who turns 23 this coming Sunday, was removed from the starting job last week after photos surfaced of him partying at a nightclub in Austin. Reports indicated that the Texas A&M product lied to the Browns about the photos, though the club never confirmed that.
At some point, particularly if Davis struggles mightily or goes down with an injury of his own, the Browns may determine that it’s worth getting a look at Manziel down the stretch, with the team well out of playoff contention. For now though, he’ll serve as Davis’ backup as the Browns prepare for Cincinnati.
Browns Place Josh McCown On IR
WEDNESDAY, 9:35am: The Browns have officially ended McCown’s season by placing him on injured reserve, the team announced today in a press release.
TUESDAY, 2:09pm: Browns quarterback Josh McCown is done for the season with a fractured collarbone, coach Mike Pettine told reporters (Twitter link via Ian Rapoport of NFL.com). When asked about who will start the team’s upcoming game, Pettine indicated that things are still up in the air.
McCown finishes the year with fairly respectable numbers. The Browns only won one of his eight starts, but he completed 63.7% of his passes, throwing for 2,109 yards, 12 touchdowns, and just four interceptions. Having signed a three-year contract with Cleveland, McCown still has some guaranteed money left on his deal in 2016, so he’s a good bet to return either as the starter or backup.
Now, the question becomes whether Pettine will install Johnny Manziel or Austin Davis as the starting quarterback going forward in 2015. After Manziel was removed from the starting job, he was moved down to No. 3 on Cleveland’s depth chart behind Davis. Technically speaking, that would put Davis in line for the temporary starting role, but the organization ostensibly would want to see what they have in Manziel rather that Davis, whose ceiling is likely as a backup in the NFL.
Browns Re-Sign Terrelle Pryor
WEDNESDAY, 9:33am: The Browns have officially re-signed Pryor, who will be a wide receiver and a third quarterback for the team if and when he’s active, tweets Cabot.
TUESDAY, 4:23pm: Head coach Mike Pettine confirmed to reporters that the team is talking about signing Pryor, though there is “nothing official” on that front (Twitter link via Tony Grossi of ESPN.com). Pettine went on to say that bringing in another QB is on the table for discussion, Nate Ulrich of the Beacon Journal tweets.
10:49am: Nearly three months after cutting him, the Browns are bringing back Terrelle Pryor, reports Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com (Twitter links). According to Cabot, Pryor had been getting set to meet with the Bears today, but is now signing with the Browns instead.
Pryor, 26, made the transition from quarterback to wide receiver this offseason, and impressed the Browns’ coaching staff in the preseason. However, he ended up being the 54th man on the squad heading into the regular season — he survived the initial cutdown to 53 players before being dropped when Cleveland claimed Robert Turbin off waivers, just days before the team’s Week 1 game.
Since then, Pryor has worked out for several teams across the NFL, including the Giants, Niners, Steelers, Seahawks, Jets, and Patriots. About a month ago, agent Drew Rosenhaus expressed optimism that those auditions would eventually result in a deal, telling ESPN’s Ashley Fox, “We’re confident that it’s just a matter of time until one of these teams decides to make the move.”
As expected, the Browns are signing Pryor as a wide receiver rather than a quarterback, tweets Jason La Canfora of CBSSports.com. Still, it’s worth noting that starting QB Josh McCown is expected to miss the rest of the season after suffering a possible broken collarbone in Monday’s game against the Ravens. If McCown lands on IR, Pryor could serve as an emergency third option behind Austin Davis and Johnny Manziel.
AFC Notes: M. Williams, Reich, Broncos, Jets
There are only 10 NFL players who will have higher cap hits than Mario Williams in 2016, and eight of those players are quarterbacks. As such, Mike Rodak of ESPN.com thinks it would be wise for the Bills to give serious consideration to moving on from the standout defensive end in the offseason. Buffalo could use the cap room, and simply releasing Williams would give the club much more flexibility than trying to restructure his contracts.
Here’s more from around the AFC:
- Chargers offensive coordinator Frank Reich, who received consideration for a couple NFL head coaching positions last winter, interviewed this week for the head coaching job at the University of Maryland, according to Don Markus of the Baltimore Sun.
- Even if Brock Osweiler continues to have success for the Broncos down the stretch, the quarterback could likely be signed on a multiyear deal worth about $10MM per year, Mike Klis of 9News suggests in his latest mailbag. In Klis’ view, there’s virtually no chance that Von Miller doesn’t get the franchise tag from the Broncos.
- When Osweiler took over as the Broncos‘ starting quarterback, Troy Renck of the Denver Post thought the team may look to bring back James Casey as a fullback. However, he concedes that adding a fullback would be a luxury for Denver at this point.
- With Brandon Marshall having emerged as the “go-to guy” for quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick, Brian Costello of the New York Post writes that the Jets‘ acquisition of the veteran receiver is looking like a steal for general manager Mike Maccagnan.
- New Patriots slot wide receiver Damaris Johnson will probably factor into the mix in 2016 if things go well, Mike Reiss of ESPN.com tweets. Johnson inked a two-year deal with the Patriots on Tuesday and he’s ostensibly being brought aboard for his return skills.
Zach Links contributed to this post.
Extra Points: 49ers, Gase, Rice
As the 49ers get set to take on the Bears, Matt Maiocco of CSNBayArea.com can’t help but reflect on how either Chicago offensive coordinator Adam Gase and defensive coordinator Vic Fangio could have wound up as head coach in San Francisco. As the 49ers’ defensive coordinator, Fangio gave the 49ers a top five defense, but, of course, he was ultimately passed over for Jim Tomsula.
Maiocco hears that if Gase got the 49ers’ head coaching job, he would have kept Fangio on staff and given him full autonomy over the defense. GM Trent Baalke floated the idea of Tomsula taking over as defensive coordinator to Gase, according to one source, but Gase was wary about giving that job to someone with no experience regarding the secondary.
Here’s more from around the NFL:
- Even though Chris Johnson has been placed on IR-DTR and Andre Ellington is dealing with a toe injury, the Cardinals still have no interest in signing Ray Rice, according to Kent Somers of the Arizona Republic (on Twitter). Despite not playing in an NFL regular season game since 2013, and not receiving a workout this year, Rice continues to train in the hopes of getting another shot at the NFL.
- NFL executives have been informed by the league office that the 2016 salary cap will likely come in between $147MM-$155MM, per Jason Cole of Bleacher Report (on Twitter). If the cap comes in at the higher end of that range, it will represent a significant increase over this year’s cap of $143MM.
- The NFL is likely to do away with the Veteran Combine it ran early this year, Cole tweets. Apparently, the league felt that they did not get enough of a return on the combine given the cost of holding it.
- Baylor wide receiver Corey Coleman has indicated to multiple sources that he’s strongly considering entering the NFL Draft, Rand Getlin of NFL.com tweets.
AFC East Notes: Gronkowski, Pats, Bills
Here’s a look at the AFC East:
- The Patriots issued a statement regarding the status of injured tight end Rob Gronkowski (Twitter link via CBSSports.com’s Will Brinson): “During Sunday night’s game, Rob Gronkowski sustained a bone bruise/sprain of his right knee. His status will be evaluated on a week-to-week basis and listed accordingly on the practice participation and injury reports. There is no timetable for his readiness to return, which will be determined in the days or hours prior to the appropriate game. Any timetable reported prior to that final determination would be speculative.”
- The Patriots had veteran defensive back Zackary Bowman in for a workout, according to Mike Reiss of ESPN.com (on Twitter). Reiss adds that the Pats are keeping their emergency lists fresh, so it doesn’t sound like we should expect a deal to happen this week.
- Rex Ryan’s honeymoon with Bills fans appears to be over, but players still stand behind the first-year coach, as Vic Carucci of The Buffalo News writes. In a sampling of player opinions, on and off the record, Carucci found that the support for Ryan is unwavering.
Cowboys Will Not Place Tony Romo On IR
The Cowboys do not plan on placing Tony Romo on IR, Jason La Canfora of CBSSports.com tweets. The Cowboys want to keep Romo on the roster in the event of a long playoff run. Of course, with a 3-8 record good for last in the NFC East, a playoff appearance doesn’t seem terribly likely.
Romo re-injured his collarbone in Thursday’s loss to the Panthers and that hairline fracture in his clavicle will keep him off the field for some time. Initially, the Cowboys had been holding out hope that Romo hadn’t broken the clavicle for the second time this year. However, a CT scan last week confirmed the club’s fears.
Of course, the Cowboys are likely headed for a top-10 draft pick rather than vying for a postseason spot. After the way this season has played out for Romo, one has to wonder if the Cowboys might look to tap their quarterback of the future in April.
NFC East Notes: Cowboys, Manziel, Hardy
Here’s a look at the NFC East:
- In a radio interview, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones revealed that quarterback Johnny Manziel was rated among the top 5-6 players on the team’s board, as Ed Werder of ESPN.com tweets. Jones’ fondness for Manziel was well documented prior to the 2014 draft. The Browns demoted Manziel to the No. 3 spot on the QB depth chart earlier this season after more questions arose about his off-field behavior. However, with Josh McCown done for the season, Cleveland could conceivably turn to him as its starter rather than Austin Davis, who is penciled in as the No. 2 signal caller.
- Many have assumed that Greg Hardy‘s time with the Cowboys is up since he has only 4.5 sacks and Dallas has lost seven of the eight games he’s started. That’s not quite the case, Jean-Jacques Taylor of ESPN.com writes. Hardy will be a free agent at season’s end, but the defensive end is unlikely to get the long-term deal he wants thanks to his reputation. Other teams might choose to steer clear of Hardy altogether, and Taylor theorizes that could pave the way to a reunion between Hardy and the Cowboys. Taylor cautions fans not to be shocked if the Cowboys re-sign Hardy, provided that they can get him on another deal that protects them in the event of an off-the-field issue.
- On Monday, Eagles head coach Chip Kelly denied a report that he met recently with USC officials regarding their head coaching job. For his part, offensive tackle Jason Peters says that he didn’t need the reassurance from Kelly, but he did feel that some of the younger players needed to hear it, Jeff McLane of the Philadelphia Inquirer tweets. Kelly addressed the rumors with his players first thing in morning and told them that he’ll be staying put as long as the Eagles will have him (link).