Akeem Ayers

Colts Sign Akeem Ayers

The Colts have signed outside linebacker Akeem Ayers, as Mike Chappell of CBS4 tweets. In related moves, the team has waived cornerback Neiko Thorpe and added cornerback Frankie Williams to the practice squad. The team has confirmed the moves via press release. Akeem Ayers (vertical)

Ayers, a second-round pick of the Titans in 2011, was cut by the Rams over the weekend. That move surprised a lot of people since Ayers started eleven games for the club last season. Los Angeles cleared his entire $3.3MM of his cap charge from the books by dropping him and they hoped to re-sign him to a cheaper deal after the 53-man cutdowns were through. Unfortunately, for L.A. the Colts have spoiled those plans.

The release of Thorpe could mean that Darius Butler will be ready to go for Week 1. The Colts, of course, are thin at CB following Vontae Davis‘ injury.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Rams Cut Akeem Ayers, Move To 53

The Rams have announced the following moves as part of moving their roster to 53 players:

Cut:

Placed On IR:

Ayers is perhaps the most surprising release, given that the 2015 free agent signee started 11 games for the club last season. Los Angeles will clear all $3.3MM of his cap charge by parting ways.

Contract Details: Morgan, Gilchrist, Cameron

Here are some details on several of the new contracts agreed to or signed by free agents within the last few days:

AFC deals:

  • Derrick Morgan, OLB (Titans): Four years, $27MM base value. $10.5MM fully guaranteed. $6MM signing bonus (Twitter link via Aaron Wilson of the Baltimore Sun).
  • Marcus Gilchrist, S (Jets): Four years, $22MM base value. $10MM guaranteed (Twitter link via Ian Rapoport of NFL.com).
  • Jordan Cameron, TE (Dolphins): Two years, $15MM base value. $5MM fully guaranteed. $4MM signing bonus (Twitter link via Wilson).
  • Paul Fanaika, OL (Chiefs): Three years, $6.5MM. $1.75MM signing bonus. Incentives and escalators available (Twitter links via Wilson).
  • Alan Branch, DT (Patriots): Two years, $4.3MM base value. $700K signing bonus. Option for 2016 (all Twitter links via Wilson).
  • Tyrod Taylor, QB (Bills): Two years, $3.35MM base value. $1.15MM fully guaranteed. $400K signing bonus. Third year voids (all four Twitter links via Wilson).

NFC deals:

  • Jasper Brinkley, LB (Cowboys): Two years, $6.5MM base value. $2MM guaranteed, $2MM option bonus in 2016 (Twitter link via Wilson).
  • Akeem Ayers, LB (Rams): Two years, $6MM base value. $2.75MM guaranteed. $1.3MM roster bonus in 2015 (Twitter links via Wilson).
  • Andrew Gachkar, LB (Cowboys): Two years, $5.2MM base value. $1.2MM signing bonus. Up to $1MM in annual incentives (Twitter link via Wilson).
  • Nick Fairley, DT (Rams): One year, $5MM base value. $1.5MM roster bonus in 2015. Sack and playoff incentives available (Twitter links via Wilson).
  • Erik Pears, OL (49ers): Two years, $4.7MM base value. $1MM guaranteed. $500K signing bonus (Twitter links via Wilson).
  • Kurt Coleman, S (Panthers): Two years, $2.8MM base value. $600K signing bonus (Twitter links via Wilson).
  • O’Brien Schofield, DE (Falcons): One year, $1.7MM base value. $255K signing bonus (Twitter links via Wilson).
  • Chris Conte, S (Buccaneers): One year, $1.5MM base value. $1.25MM fully guaranteed (Twitter link via Adam Caplan of ESPN.com).

Rams To Sign Akeem Ayers

8:28pm: Ayers’ deal is for $6MM, with $3MM guaranteed, tweets Jim Thomas of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. It could reach as much as $10MM with incentives.

7:19pm: The Rams have agreed to terms on a two-year contract with linebacker Akeem Ayers, reports Jim Thomas of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch (via Twitter).

The coaching staff has familiarity with the former Titan, writes Nick Wagoner of ESPN (via Twitter). Head coach Jeff Fisher never overlapped with Ayers tenure, but Gregg Williams and Frank Bush both spent time with him in Tennessee.

Ayers experienced success in 2014 after being acquired by the Patriots via trade midseason. The team was able to move on from him without hesitation after signing Jabaal Sheard, who Ben Volin of the Boston Globe considers an upgrade at the position (via Twitter).

NFC Notes: Bradford, Eagles, Seahawks, Saints

Before the Eagles finalized their acquisition of Sam Bradford, there were other teams in the mix for the former first overall pick, says Peter King of TheMMQB.com (via Twitter). Per Jeff McLane of the Philadelphia Inquirer (Twitter link), the Browns may have been one of those teams. However, no other club was willing to give up as much as Chip Kelly and the Eagles, who had eyed Bradford for weeks and believe he has the goods to be a franchise quarterback, according to Dave Spadaro of PhiladelphiaEagles.com.

As we recover from what’s been a surprising and hectic day of action around the NFL, let’s round up a few more leftover NFC items….

  • Former Dolphins guard Shelley Smith, who was just cut by the team earlier today, already has a visit lined up with the Seahawks for Wednesday, reports Adam Caplan of ESPN.com (via Twitter). Seattle is in the market for some interior line help after trading Max Unger and losing James Carpenter in free agency.
  • Appearing on SiriusXM NFL Radio today, Saints general manager Mickey Loomis acknowledged that the team will “obviously” look to add another tight end after trading Jimmy Graham, and added that he never asked Drew Brees to restructure his contract this offseason because it “wasn’t necessary for us” (Twitter links via Tom Pelissero of USA Today).
  • The 49ers aren’t in the running for their own free agent cornerback Perrish Cox, writes Eric Branch of the San Francisco Chronicle.
  • Nick Wagoner of ESPN.com (Twitter link) suggests keeping an eye on linebacker Akeem Ayers as a potential free agent target for the Rams, and Jim Thomas of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch (Twitter link) agrees that the club has interest.

East Notes: Fins, Clay, Pats, Ayers, Washington

The Dolphins would like to re-sign impending free agent tight end Charles Clay, and are preparing an offer with the intention to submit it to Clay’s representatives in the coming weeks, according to Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald. Clay, who turns 26 in about three weeks, earned $1.431MM in base salary last season, and should be in for nice pay increase despite a somewhat disappointing campaign that saw him catch 58 passes for 589 yards and three touchdowns. I profiled Clay as an extension candidate before the season, and while the four-year, ~$21MM contract I projected at the time now seems a tad high, a $4MM AAV isn’t out of the question.

Let’s look at some more notes from the two East divisions:

  • In the same article, Jackson passes along some other Dolphins news, including Miami’s visit with defensive tackle prospect Danny Shelton, and league-wide interest in Dolphins executives Chris Grier and Adam Engroff.
  • The NFL bears significant responsibility in the DeflateGate scandal, argues Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk. Despite vowing to investigate the matter fully, the league hasn’t discovered much in the way of evidence or intent, writes Florio. Instead, the Patriots and the NFL as a whole are now being tarnished in what is the most important week in the league calendar.
  • Akeem Ayers doesn’t have any hard feelings towards the Titans regarding the trade that sent him to the Patriots, as the linebacker tells Mark Daniels of the Providence Journal. “They made a decision that they felt like they needed to make,” said Ayers. “…I just took it as motivation and especially being here on this team, I feel like they did me a favor, honestly…I came here and I did a good job here and we’re going to the Super Bowl.” New England acquired Ayers and a seventh-round pick for a 2015 sixth-rounder. A free agent at season’s end, the 25-year-old Ayers registered 20 tackles and four sacks in nine games with the Pats.
  • Washington would like to speak with Packers senior personnel executive Alonso Highsmith about its director of personnel position, but hasn’t heard back from Green Bay as of yet, tweets Mike Garafolo of FOX Sports.

Poll: Best Post-Draft Trade Acquisition

There have been a number of NFL trades since the 2014 NFL Draft ended in May, with 13 players and 11 future draft picks switching teams. The Patriots were the most active on the trade market, participating in five deals, while the Buccaneers ultimately made three trades, including a pair with New England.

Let’s quickly remind ourselves of the trades made post-2014 NFL draft…

A couple of the players acquired in these trades had little impact on their new squads. Neither Justin Green or Ben Bass played a snap this season, while T.J. Yates only threw four attempts serving as Matt Ryan‘s backup. Ryan Mallett‘s opportunity as the Texans quarterback only lasted 158 snaps, while Mark Barron Jonathan Casillas, and Akeem Dent primarily served in backup/platoon roles with their new squads.

That leaves six players who played more than 300 snaps following their trade, according to Pro Football Focus (subscription required): Mankins, McClain, Ayers, Harvin, Wright and Burley. So, which of those players ended up having the biggest impact on their new squad?

Mankins led that group with 937 snaps, and his 4.8 rating on PFF ranked him as the third-best offensive player on Tampa Bay (however, he only ranked as the 22nd-best guard in the league). The 32-year-old was still very reliable for the Bucs, starting all 16 games.

Meanwhile, the player he was traded for ended up being a red-zone force for the Patriots. Wright finished the season with 26 catches for 259 yards, a far cry from his 54 catch, 571-yard season in 2013. The 24-year-old did set a career-high in touchdowns, though, catching six. Across the division, the Jets were hoping Harvin could provide a spark to their struggling offense. The wideout compiled 29 catches for 350 yards and a touchdown in eight games for New York. The skill player also added 22 rushes for 110 yards.

McClain had a bounce back season in 2014 following his one-year retirement. The former first-round pick made 13 appearances for the Cowboys, finishing with 81 tackles, two interruptions, a forced fumble and a sack. He also ranked eighth in PFF’s list of the top inside linebackers. The other linebacker on that list, Ayers, filled in adequately for the injured Jerod Mayo. Ayers played in nine games for the Patriots, including four starts, compiling 20 tackles and four sacks.

Finally, Burley managed to carve out some playing time in a very deep Seattle secondary. In 13 games, the 24-year-old compiled 25 tackles and an interception, while also earning a positive rating from PFF. His 1.7 rating was actually higher than teammates Byron Maxwell, although he played about half the snaps.

So, focusing on the six players who had played more than 300 snaps, which player acquired via trade had the biggest impact on their new club? Should one of the omitted players have made the list? Let us know in the comments.

Updates On Players Traded At Deadline

The trade deadline passed a little over a month ago, and while the NFL never sees the level of activity that do other sports, there were several notable players dealt. With 33 days worth of observation, we can begin to assess how certain trades have worked out for the acquiring teams, and if the players involved will remain on their new clubs’ rosters for the long term. Using our list of 2014 NFL trades, here’s a look at the four deals that occurred within a month of the October 28 deadline:

Jets WR Percy Harvin (acquired from Seahawks on 10/18):

  • After sending a conditional 2015 fourth-round pick to Seattle for Harvin, the Jets have employed their new weapon on roughly 68.3% of their offensive snaps. He’s responded by catching 18 passes on 32 targets, totaling 176 yards; he’s also rushed the ball 11 times. New York has utilized Harvin on special teams as well, where he’s returned 11 kickoffs, averaging nearly 24 yards per return. The Jets are turning back to Geno Smith at quarterback, so perhaps the club will use the final five games to determine if Harvin meshes with the second-year QB (although it’s far from guaranteed that Smith will return as the starter next season). Because it acquired Harvin via trade, New York isn’t responsible for any of his prorated bonus money, meaning the club essentially holds a year-to-year option on the receiver. The 26-year-old is owed nearly $10MM in 2015 base salary, and given the Jets’ abundance of cap room, I’d tentatively expect them to retain Harvin.

Patriots LB Akeem Ayers (acquired from Titans on 10/22):

  • It’s odd to think that a player who seemingly couldn’t find a place on the defense of a 2-5 team could immediately slot in as a contributor to one of the best defensive units in the league, but that’s what happened with Ayers, whom the Patriots acquired for just a 2015 sixth-round pick. Ayers, a 2011 second-rounder, has already notched three sacks in only four games with New England. He’s played on about 72.7% of the the Pats’ defensive snaps, after seeing action in just one game (10 snaps) with Tennessee. Ayers is still just 25 years old, and though it’s only been a month since the trade, it looks like the Titans may have given up on a player with untapped potential. Ayers will hit unrestricted free agency after the season.

Patriots LB Jonathan Casillas (acquired from Buccaneers on 10/28):

  • Casillas hasn’t had nearly the impact in New England that has Ayers, as he’s played on less than 16% of defensive snaps. That number is a bit skewed however, as his role has been slowly growing each week — after playing just one snap in his Patriots debut, he saw action on 12 and 22 snaps in Weeks 11 and 12, respectively. Casillas, 27, is a reserve on a talented linebacking corps that includes Dont’a Hightower, Jamie Collins, and Ayers, so while he might not play much, he could be a valuable piece if a starter suffers an injury. New England actually gave up more (a 2015 fifth-round pick) for Casillas than they did for Ayers; like Ayers, Casillas will be a free agent at season’s end.

Rams S Mark Barron (acquired from Buccaneers on 10/28):

  • Barron garnered the highest draft pick compensation of any of the four players traded near the deadline, as the Rams surrendered 2015 fourth- and sixth-round picks to acquire the 25-year-old defensive back. After playing on nearly half of St. Louis’ defensive snaps in Week 10, his role has been drastically reduced — he saw time on just 25 of 136 snaps during Weeks 11 and 12. Barron, the seventh overall pick in 2012, seems to have fallen behind both T.J. McDonald and Rodney McLeod on the Rams’ depth chart. He’s under contract for 2015 at a base salary of roughly $2.363MM. St. Louis holds a 2016 option on Barron, but if his playing time doesn’t increase, it could signal that the club doesn’t view him as a integral part of its future.

East Notes: Cowboys, Jets, McAdoo

Less than two weeks ago, the Cowboys were 6-1 and sitting pretty atop the NFC East. Then, late in a Week 8 loss to the Redskins, Tony Romo went down with a back injury that will hinder him for the rest of the season, and Dallas went on to drop last week’s contest to the Cardinals to fall to second place in the division. Although the Cowboys have a good chance to right the ship today against the 1-8 Jaguars, all is apparently not well in Big D.

NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport tweets that 20 Cowboys players missed curfew on Friday night, and that the club’s coaches and veteran players are “frustrated.” Furthermore, Rapoport notes in a series of tweets that Dallas harbors off-the-field concerns with star receiver Dez Bryant, who is due for a massive contract extension. Rapoport notes that DeSoto City Police have been called to Bryant’s home six times in four years, for a variety of reasons, and that explains why the Cowboys were only willing to guarantee $20MM of the 10-year, $114MM extension they offered to Bryant. Ben Volin of the Boston Globe believes, justifiably, that this “news” regarding the frequent police activity at Bryant’s house is simply an attempt for the Cowboys to gain leverage in negotiations with Bryant. As Volin tweets, “the annual ‘smear Dez Bryant’s reputation’ campaign is here.”

In any event, the Cowboys must find some way to quickly subdue their bubbling inner turmoil lest a once-promising season gives way to another winter nightmare.

Now for some more notes from the league’s east divisions:

  • The Jets, who also find themselves in disarray, recently employed what Rapoport (via Twitter) termed an “egregious example of heavy-handed coaching.” According to Rapoport, before Geno Smith threw one of three interceptions in the team’s Week 8 loss to Buffalo, the Jets coaching staff told Smith to throw the ball to Percy Harvin. Apparently, this was not a way to get the team’s new wideout more involved in the game, it was a way to try and simplify the game for Smith by dictating his reads. Looking for some way to improve Smith’s performance, an increasingly desperate coaching staff tried to play the game for him, and it predictably backfired.
  • Nonetheless, Manish Metha of the New York Daily News believes a bye week coaching change would make very little sense for the Jets and that Rex Ryan has earned the right to fight with his team to the end of the season.
  • There are rumors that this could be Tom Coughlin‘s last year with the Giants, and Ralph Vacchiano of the New York Daily News writes that New York sees a future head coach in current offensive coordinator Ben McAdoo.
  • Mike Reiss of ESPNBoston.com describes how the Patriots caught a break with Akeem Ayers and Ryan Wendell this season.

AFC East Notes: Ayers, Brady, Jets, Pryor

Akeem Ayers finds himself in a much different situation with the Patriots than he with his previous team, the Titans. The former second-round pick apparently fell out of favor with Ken Whisenhunt and his coaching staff, but the 25-year-old is happy for a chance to contribute in New England. Via Jeff Howe of the Boston Herald

“I’m pretty much just happy to be here. Obviously, I wasn’t playing there, and I just happened to get in a good situation here,” Ayers said. “As I’m learning the playbook, I’m trying to simplify things as much as I can and the coaches are helping me out with that. We’re trying to keep things simple and try to learn to the best I can to play as fast as I can when I’m on the field.”

Let’s check out some more notes from the AFC East…

  • ESPNBoston.com’s Mike Reiss believes Tom Brady will finish his career with the Patriots. However, based on the team’s previous handling of franchise players, Reiss warns that it isn’t a guarantee.
  • While Bill Belichick has received some criticism for releasing veteran Tommy Kelly, Reiss points out that the veteran didn’t put forth much effort in the team’s preseason opener. The writer opines that Kelly wanted out and forced Belichick’s hand.
  • Following an eight-win season in 2013, the Jets should have done a better job of addressing some of their weaknesses in free agency, writes Manish Mehta of the New York Daily News. Entering the season with the league’s second-highest salary-cap surplus is an “embarrassing truth,” the writer opines.
  • Among the Jets disappointments this season has been first-rounder Calvin Pryor. Coach Rex Ryan attributed the rookie’s struggles to a missed interception earlier in the season. “Probably started with the first game when he dropped that pick-six. But, he hasn’t had the impact necessarily that I think all of us had expected, but quite honestly, our defense has been played a little differently than maybe we had anticipated,” Ryan said (via Josh Alper of ProFootballTalk.com). “So, I think we’ve had to make some of those adjustments along the way. It hasn’t gone according to plan so to speak.”