Adrian McDonald

Sunday Roundup: Fitz, Amendola, Panthers

By Rory Parks | at May 15, 2016 12:49 pm

Rich Cimini of ESPNNewYork.com believes that the Jets‘ willingness to wait until training camp to re-sign free agent quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick–if the re-sign him at all–could backfire. After all, if there is no Fitzpatrick deal by late July and the Jets decide to move on, they will have wasted valuable time that could have been used to break in another veteran quarterback. And if the team completes its four weeks of offseason practices, which begin on May 24, with only Geno Smith, Bryce Petty, and Christian Hackenberg on the quarterback depth chart, Cimini says the Jets will have essentially handed the starting job to Smith, since Petty and Hackenberg are not ready to be starters and since another veteran signal-caller would not be able to arrive in New York in July and win the job by Week 1. Plus, Cimini says, even if Smith is arguably better than other veteran options that could be available, like Nick Foles and Josh McCown, Petty and Hackenberg are not even adequate backups at this point in their careers, so the team would still need to bring in someone else.

Now let’s take a look at some more links from around the league:

• Earlier this month, Danny Amendola took a significant pay cut to remain with the Patriots. When weighing whether he should accept the pay cut or decline and perhaps try his luck on the open market, Amendola says one of the most significant factors impacting his decision to accept was the presence of the newly-signed Chris Long. Amendola and Long were teammates on the Rams from 2009-12, and Amendola said, “[Long]’s a great teammate and one of my best friends,” adding that it will be “a lot of fun” to share a locker room again with Long (link via Mike Reiss of ESPNBoston.com).
• Panthers head coach Ron Rivera has liked what he has seen thus far from the trio of cornerbacks that the team drafted last month–James Bradberry, Daryl Worley, and Zack Sanchez–and as Joe Person of The Charlotte Observer writes, Carolina is not currently in the market for cornerback help. Rivera did, however, leave open the possibility that the Panthers could add a veteran corner later in the summer.
• In his latest mailbag, Eric D. Williams of ESPN.com looks at a few undrafted free agents that have the best chance of cracking the Chargers‘ roster. Williams names Washington State receiver Dom Williams, Houston safety Adrian McDonald, and Navy fullback Chris Swain as three players with fairly good odds. Williams points out that four UDFAs made San Diego’s roster in 2015.