HEADLINES

Darren McFadden

Extra Points: Panthers, Chargers, Browns

September 11th, 2015 at 9:04pm CST by Connor J. Byrne

The Panthers locked up star linebacker Luke Kuechly to a long-term deal Thursday, but it doesn’t appear that teammate and fellow defensive linchpin Josh Norman will receive similar treatment. Negotiations between the Panthers and the cornerback stalled this week, reports Joseph Person of The Charlotte Observer. Because general manager Dave Gettleman doesn’t negotiate new deals during the season, Norman looks poised to play out 2015 as a contract year.

Norman, whom the Panthers took in the fifth round of the 2012 draft, is coming off a season in which he totaled 48 tackles and a career-best two interceptions. More impressively, Norman held opposing quarterbacks to a paltry 53.2 rating when they attacked him, according to Pro Football Focus (subscription required). That ranked fourth out of the 70 corners who played at least 50 percent of their teams’ defensive snaps in 2014.

Here’s more from around the NFL:

  • San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer set a Friday deadline for the city and the Chargers to agree on a new stadium that would keep the team from heading to Los Angeles next year. The two sides failed to meet it, according to Elliot Spagat of The Associated Press. That means there won’t be time for a measure to be put to voters on a Jan. 12 ballot, which Faulconer wanted. It seems, then, that the Chargers’ potential relocation to L.A. is becoming likelier.
  • The Browns finished last season in a tie for the league’s third-lowest yards-per-carry average, and they’re still without an obvious solution at running back. Current starter Isiah Crowell, who averaged 4.1 per carry and scored eight touchdowns in 2014, thinks he can fill the role. “I’m ready,” he said, according to Nate Ulrich of Ohio.com. “I always knew I had what it takes.”  Offensive coordinator John DeFilippo added, “Nothing has shown to me that Crow can’t be that workhorse for us.”
  • Like Cleveland, the Cowboys also lack a top-end running back. They had the league’s rushing champion last season in DeMarco Murray, but he signed with Philadelphia in the offseason. So, Dallas will try to replace him with a committee consisting of Joseph Randle, Darren McFadden, Lance Dunbar and Christine Michael. Owner Jerry Jones is optimistic about the quartet. “If they are healthy, I will take the skill and what they can bring to our offense,” he said, per Eric Prisbell of USA Today.
  • Rookie free agent quarterback Phillip Sims will work out for the Seahawks on Monday, reports ESPN’s Adam Caplan (via Twitter). Simms, whom NFC West rival Arizona released last week, went undrafted out of Winston-Salem State this year.

NFC Notes: AP, Bridgewater, Dotson, Cowboys

June 13th, 2015 at 5:54pm CST by Connor J. Byrne

Vikings quarterback Teddy Bridgewater had a solid rookie year despite being without the services of six-time Pro Bowl running back Adrian Peterson, who missed all but one game in 2014 because of domestic-violence issues. The newly reinstated Peterson is hoping his return will help Bridgewater’s game reach new heights this season.

“Hopefully my presence will be able to lose a guy or two by bringing guys in that focus on stopping the run,” Peterson said, per ESPN’s Tania Ganguli.

Peterson won’t just aid Bridgewater as a runner, but he’s expecting to be a useful option in the passing game.

“With coach [Norv] Turner’s offense, there’s so much that he throws out there, so I’ll be more involved in the pass game, being out wide, presenting myself for Teddy to check down,” said the 30-year-old.

Here’s more from around the NFC:

  • Buccaneers right tackle Demar Dotson is optimistic that ending his brief holdout and reporting to minicamp next week will help him get the new contract he’s seeking. “I think we can get a deal done pretty quickly,” Dotson said, according to Roy Cummings of the Tampa Tribune. “We were pretty close before. I’m hoping if I show up we can get it done. I really don’t want to miss any workouts or training camp.” Dotson, 29, has two years remaining on his contract, but he’s just the 22nd-highest-paid right tackle in the NFL. That doesn’t jibe with his on-field performance, as Pro Football Focus (subscription required) ranked the six-year veteran an impressive 28th among 84 qualifying offensive tackles last season.
  • Thanks to DeMarco Murray‘s departure in free agency, the Cowboys don’t have a clear No. 1 running back as the summer nears, but offensive coordinator Scott Linehan believes someone – be it Darren McFadden, Joseph Randle or Ryan Williams – will separate himself from the pack and earn the job as the team’s go-to ball carrier. “I think before it’s all said and done, that person will rise to the top. What’s interesting and exciting is that we’re going to find out,” said Linehan, according to Rainer Sabin of the Dallas Morning News.
  • When asked if the Lions’ addition of Garrett Gilbert meant that backup quarterback Dan Orlovsky could be on the way out, Dave Birkett of MLive.com responded that the chances of that happening are slim (via Twitter).

Rob DiRe contributed to this post.

NFC East Notes: McFadden, Gregory, Eagles

May 3rd, 2015 at 7:49pm CST by Sam Robinson

To the surprise of many, the Cowboys did not address their DeMarco Murray-less running back corps this weekend, but they may be in the market for veteran help.

“Just because this is our current group of running backs doesn’t mean it will stay that way,” Cowboys executive vice president Stephen Jones said to Jon Machota of the Dallas Morning News. “We are always looking to improve our football team.”

But going into the season with Darren McFadden, Lance Dunbar and Joseph Randle doesn’t quite resemble an understaffed corps, considering the Dallas offensive front that lifted Murray to what could amount to an outlier campaign last year remains elite. Although Jerry Jones did note the team wanted to draft a tailback, indicating the corps could well see a notable addition before the season.

“We would have liked to have drafted a running back,” the Cowboys owner and general manager told Machota. “But at the same token, we didn’t think at any given time that we should pass at the player that was there, even with the running backs [available].”

ESPN’s Mel Kiper Jr. noted to Machota the spot for the Cowboys to add to their backfield came in the third round in ex-Michigan State runner Jeremy Langford, when the team instead selected former Florida tackle Chaz Green, who the ESPN prospects guru viewed as a reach.

Here are some additional news items from the NFC East.

  • The Cowboys landing Randy Gregory at No. 60 is “worth the risk,” according to ESPN’s Todd McShay, via Machota. With Greg Hardy out for 10 games, Dallas had a need for a pass-rusher despite its depleted backfield.
  • With Dwayne Harris gone, the Cowboys have a need at returner. Jason Garrett mentioned to Rainer Sabin of the Dallas Morning News that McFadden could be an unlikely candidate to do so. The former No. 4 overall pick has three career kick returns.
  • For the first time in the draft’s 80-year history, the Eagles went two years without selecting an offensive lineman. After letting veteran Todd Herremans go and openly putting All-Pro Evan Mathis on the trade market, the Eagles face questions on their front, reports CSNPhilly.com’s Reuben Frank. “We hadn’t drafted DBs in recent years, so it’s just kind of you can’t take them all,” Chip Kelly told Frank. “You only have a certain amount of picks.” The Eagles invested significantly at cornerback this offseason, signing Byron Maxwell and Walter Thurmond and now drafting Eric Rowe in Round 2, and they have a solid line that saw four players — Mathis, Jason Peters, Jason Kelce and Lane Johnson — receive top-13 grades at their positions last season, according to Pro Football Focus.
  • Philadelphia did add four undrafted offensive linemen, and Kelly’s blueprint for adding to an aging offensive front isn’t that different from how the league’s four championship-qualifying teams have done so, reports Mike Sielski of the Philadelphia Enquirer. The Eagles now house 16 offensive fronters, with 50% of them undrafted. That similar to the Patriots, Colts, Seahawks and Packers, whose rosters collectively have 49% of their blockers coming into the league undrafted, according to Sielski.

Cowboys Notes: Hardy, McFadden, Peterson

April 6th, 2015 at 2:50pm CST by Zachary Links

Not sure who to root for in Monday’s NCAA basketball championship game between Duke and Wisconsin? Well, the Dallas Morning News decided to pit Wisconsin fan Aaron Rodgers against Duke fan Tony Romo to better handicap the odds. While we wait to see whether the Cowboys quarterback will be celebrating tonight, here’s a look at the latest out of Dallas..

  • The NFL has viewed the seven photos it wanted to see from the Greg Hardy domestic violence case and as agreed upon dropped its complaint, David Newton of ESPN.com tweets. Of course, the league’s investigation will continue, as a league spokesman told Newton (link). The NFLPA will reportedly fight hard for the Cowboys star if he is given a penalty stiffer than a two game suspension.
  • Newly acquired Cowboys running back Darren McFadden joined the NFL Network to talk about his new team and he explained that the rumors about Adrian Peterson have not bothered him. “Coming into it, that wasn’t a question I asked,” McFadden said, via The Dallas Morning News. “Once DeMarco Murray was released, I felt like it was an opportunity for me step in there and try to go in and get whatever carries I could. Whether they decide to sign Adrian Peterson wasn’t going to make my decision change.”
  • The Cowboys are confident that they can get the most out of McFadden, David Moore of The Dallas Morning News writes. In 2008, the year that the Cowboys selected Felix Jones, Dallas spent a great deal of time studying McFadden and also met with him, as head coach Jason Garrett explained. While injuries have set him back, Garrett is optimistic that he can stay healthy since his problems have been related to soft tissue-type injuries.

Cowboys Agree To Sign Darren McFadden

March 13th, 2015 at 10:08am CST by Luke Adams

10:08am: McFadden’s two-year deal can be worth up to $5.85MM, and includes a modest $200K signing bonus, tweets Todd Archer of ESPNDallas.com.

9:38am: A day after losing the NFL’s leading rusher to their division rivals in Philadelphia, the Cowboys are set to sign a free agent running back of their own, albeit one who won’t replicate DeMarco Murray‘s production. According to Charean Williams of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram (via Twitter), the club has agreed to terms on a two-year deal for former Raiders running back Darren McFadden, pending a physical.

McFadden, 27, was selected fourth overall by the Raiders back in 2008 out of Arkansas. Outside of a 2010 campaign in which he posted 1,157 rushing yards and added another 507 yards through the air, McFadden has never been able to stay healthy and put it all together for a full season. 2014 was the first year in which he played all 16 games for Oakland, but he was underwhelming, averaging just 3.4 yards per carry, his third straight season with a mark of 3.4 or lower.

In Dallas, McFadden should have an opportunity for a fresh start behind perhaps the league’s best offensive line. Although Murray certainly has plenty of talent, that offensive line played a significant part in his massive 2014 numbers, so if McFadden can stay on the field, Dallas looks like a nice spot for him.

Assuming things get finalized with McFadden, the Cowboys likely won’t add any other notable free agent running backs to the mix, opting instead to address the position in the draft. The club currently has Joseph Randle and Ryan Williams under contract, with a restricted free agent tender assigned to Lance Dunbar.

AFC Mailbags: Chiefs, Jaguars, Ravens, Bengals

January 31st, 2015 at 10:00am CST by Ben Levine

It’s Saturday morning, and ESPN.com’s NFL writers are opening their mailbags to answer questions from the readers. Let’s check out some notes from the AFC…

  • Adam Teicher believes Bryan Bulaga would make sense for the Chiefs, but he cautions that the team may need to back out if the bidding gets too high. As an alternative, the writer suggests the team could re-sign Ryan Harris to a much cheaper deal.
  • The Jaguars need to target a veteran wideout in free agency, writes Michael DiRocco. The teams young core of receivers, including Allen Robinson, Allen Hurns and Marqise Lee, played well in 2014, but the writer believes quarterback Blake Bortles would benefit from having a more seasoned target.
  • Jamison Hensley says there needs to be a “compromise” between the Ravens and cornerback Lardarius Webb. The organization won’t be able to pay the 29-year-old the $8MM he’d owed in 2015, and the team also wouldn’t have much of an incentive to cutting the player. Hensley notes that Webb could play “hardball” with the Ravens, but the writer believes they’ll ultimately restructure the contract.
  • Focusing on wide receivers, Hensley believes the Ravens best course would be re-signing Torrey Smith and drafting a wideout in the first two rounds. For running backs, the writer opines that Justin Forsett may be too pricey for the team. Instead, Hensley suggests former first-rounders Mark Ingram, Darren McFadden and Ryan Mathews as options.
  • The Bengals top concerns this offseason should be re-signing offensive guard Clint Boling and linebacker Rey Maualuga, according to Coley Harvey. Outside of the organization, the writer suggests the team could target Browns tight end Jordan Cameron.

AFC Mailbags: Jags, McFadden, Chiefs, Jets

January 24th, 2015 at 8:58am CST by Ben Levine

It’s Saturday, and that means ESPN.com’s NFL writers are opening their mailbags and answering questions from readers. Let’s start off the morning by checking out some notes from the AFC…

Extra Points: Zimmer, 49ers, Texans, Bengals

June 2nd, 2014 at 11:05pm CST by Dallas Robinson

A few assorted items to close out this Monday evening:

  • The union between the Vikings and new head coach Mike Zimmer almost didn’t happen, writes Mike Garafolo of FoxSports.com. Having missed out on the Titans job, Zimmer felt as though his opportunity for a head coaching job might never come. “I almost didn’t go (on the second interview with Minnesota), yeah. I was so disappointed,” said Zimmer. “It was like, ‘Why even do this?’ It was to that point. I figured I was getting too old. I thought, ‘Forget this.'” Zimmer had been a successful defensive coordinator for the past 14 seasons.
  • The 49ers are creating more cap space to make room for a Colin Kaepernick extension, according to Matt Barrows of the Sacramento Bee. San Francisco got $6.6MM in relief when Carlos Rogers‘ contract (a post-June 1 designation) was cleared off the books, and received another $2.6MM after NaVorro Bowman converted some of his base salary into a signing bonus.
  • Keshawn Martin will face competition for the Texans’ returner job, per David Barron of the Houston Chronicle. “There are many candidates for those jobs,” said head coach Bill O’Brien. “Preseason is when we really have to get a true evaluation of the guys who are back there and who is going to return punts, who are going to be the kickoff return guys, and who will be the emergency guys if something happens to the starters.”
  • New Bengals offensive coordinator Hue Jackson thinks that right tackle Andre Smith is entering the upcoming season with a new fire, writes Geoff Hobson of Bengals.com. “In my opinion, this Andre Smith is a different Andre Smith than the one I’ve ever seen,” said Jackson. “He’s a more focused, agile, hungry guy after something.” Pro Football Focus rated Smith as the 20th-best offensive tackle in the NFL last season (subscription required).
  • It might just be the usual preseason platitudes, but Raiders coach Dennis Allen claims there is no official depth chart as of yet, and states he is especially looking forward to the running back competition between Darren McFadden and Maurice Jones-Drew. “We’re going to put the best players on the field, and the guys that give us the best opportunity to win, whoever that may be,” said Allen. “I do know this: I do know throughout the course of a 16-game season, you’re going to need everybody. I think it’s great when you have multiple players that you feel confident that they can come in and do the job. We’ll let the competition dictate who plays and how much they play. It’s a good feeling to know that you’ve got some qualified people in the running back room that can carry the loads for you.”

AFC Notes: Jones-Drew, Blount, Collie

March 28th, 2014 at 6:49pm CST by Peter Sowards

As new Raiders running back Maurice Jones-Drew restarts his career in Oakland, he won’t be handed the starting job. Jones-Drew told Vic Tafur of the San Francisco Chronicle that it’s a “wide-open” competition at running back (Twitter link), presumably between himself and incumbent Darren McFadden, who was re-signed to a one-year deal earlier this month.

Neither runner did much of anything in 2013, with McFadden rushing for 379 yards in 10 games, while Jones-Drew totaled 803 yards rushing in 15 games, averaging 3.4 yards per carry, just 0.1 yards better than McFadden. Behind McFadden and MJD are Latavius Murray, Kory Sheets and Jeremy Stewart, none of whom have starting experience.

Jones-Drew said on his conference call today that he’s looking forward to playing for an organization that he has loved since he was a little kid, and that he feels he was done wrong by the Jaguars (Twitter links).

Catch more AFC notes in the links below:

  • The Patriots were interested in re-signing running back LeGarrette Blount, but only for one year, reports Boston Globe writer Ben Volin (via Twitter). Blount ended up signing a two-year deal with the Steelers worth $3.85MM.
  • Looking to add weapons to a somewhat depleted receiving corps, Boston Herald beat reporter Jeff Howe tweets that the Patriots could re-sign Austin Collie and add a “Miles Austin-type” in the future.
  • The Texans are still almost $9MM under the salary cap after signing safety Chris Clemons to a two-year deal worth $2.7MM, reports John McClain of the Houston Chronicle (via Twitter).

West Rumors: McFadden, 49ers, Rams

March 12th, 2014 at 11:37am CST by Zachary Links

Darren McFadden re-signed with the Raiders but he could have gone elsewhere for more money. “We did have real interest from four or five other teams — one offered more money,” McFadden’s agent Ian Greengross told Jerry McDonald of Bay Area News Group. “Darren wanted to stay a Raider. He felt like he still had something to prove in silver and black.” The tailback came back to Oakland on a one-year, $1.75MM deal with $2.25 million in incentives and just $100K guaranteed. The latest out of the AFC and NFC West..

  • The 49ers are in the market for a tall, long-armed cornerback and they have their eye on Vikings free agent corner Chris Cook, writes Matt Barrows of the Sacramento Bee. San Francisco also likes fellow free agent CB Nolan Carroll. Meanwhile, things are quiet around Tarell Brown and that could benefit the 49ers, writes Matt Maiocco of CSNBayArea.com.
  • Versatile defensive lineman Alex Carrington is drawing strong interest from the Rams and Browns, a source tells Ian Rapoport of NFL Network (on Twitter). Carrington played in just three games for the Bills last season due to injury.
  • Free agent cornerback Mike Jenkins is on the Cardinals‘ radar, tweets Kent Somers of the Arizona Republic. However, no visit is scheduled yet for the former first round pick. Jenkins spent last season with the Raiders.
  • Justin Tuck isn’t the only player visiting the Raiders today. Adam Schefter of ESPN (on Twitter) says that Giants cornerback Terrell Thomas is also in Oakland.
  • We can add a third Giant to the delegation visiting the Raiders. Running back Andre Brown is in Oakland as well, tweets Ralph Vacchiano of the New York Daily News.
  • Rams free agent guard Shelley Smith will make a visit with the Patriots, according to Tom E. Curran of CSNNE.com. The 26-year-old started in two games for St. Louis last season and can play either left or right guard. He has build a reputation as a solid run blocker who can pull well.
Load More Posts