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Devin Taylor

NFC Notes: Giants, Redskins, Saints, ‘Boys

June 23rd, 2017 at 7:03pm CST by Connor J. Byrne

The Giants’ decision to hand defensive end Devin Taylor a minimum salary benefit deal last month has mostly generated positive reviews around the NFL, with one source calling it a “great signing,” reports Jordan Raanan of ESPN.com. One NFC source took a less enthusiastic tone, however, calling Taylor “just a guy.” But, considering what they’re paying him, the Giants aren’t expecting Taylor to do much more than provide passable depth behind stars Jason Pierre-Paul and Olivier Vernon. Taylor, who started in all 16 of the Lions’ games last season and piled up a respectable 4.5 sacks (down from seven in 2015), will rotate at defensive end with the Giants and could see time as an interior rusher on passing downs, according to Raanan.

More from the NFC:

  • Late-March free agent signing Brian Quick won’t be long for the Redskins’ roster if he doesn’t impress in training camp, writes Rich Tandler of CSNMidAtlantic.com. Quick didn’t perform well during offseason practices, and the team has a few locks at wide receiver, leaving the 28-year-old on the bubble as camp nears, per Tandler. The 2012 second-round pick spent his first five years as a member of the Rams, with whom he exceeded the 20-catch plateau only twice. To his credit, though, Quick posted a career year in 2016, hauling in personal highs in catches (41), targets (77), yards (564) and touchdowns (three).
  • Saints left tackle Terron Armstead underwent successful surgery for a torn labrum on Monday, reports Herbie Teope of NOLA.com. While that’s a relief for Armstead and the Saints, it’s not going to change his expected recovery timeline. He’s still set to miss between four to six months, which will leave the club without arguably its best offensive lineman until sometime in the fall.
  • Cowboys receiver Brice Butler will head into camp with his roster spot in jeopardy, relays David Moore of the Dallas Morning News. Butler could face a challenge from rookie seventh-round pick Noah Brown, notes Moore, and the Cowboys also have shoo-ins to make the roster in fellow wideouts Dez Bryant, Terrance Williams, Cole Beasley and fourth-rounder Ryan Switzer. Butler was a seventh-rounder himself not long ago, in 2013, and put up his first 16-game campaign last year. All told, he caught 16 passes for 219 yards and a career-high three scores.

NFC East Notes: Redskins, Cousins, Giants

June 21st, 2017 at 9:28am CST by Zachary Links

Redskins safety DeAngelo Hall wants to be a coach or a GM when his playing days are done.

“I see myself in a suit doing something,” Hall said (via John Keim of ESPN.com). “I don’t see myself on the field coaching. I see myself in the front office….I feel I can see talent.” “I’m not saying I’m a mastermind or Bill Belichick…But when you play the game, or you’re asked to do other things, like Doug, you have a little more feel than the guy who has been in the office his whole life. I wish it was the NBA where you could stop and go be a head coach or GM like that. I understand it’s a process, but it’s definitely something I want to get involved in.”

Hall, 34 in November, recently took a pay cut for the 2017 season so that he could remain on the roster. The veteran obviously isn’t in a hurry to begin his post-playing career, but he has a pretty good handle on what he’d like to do when it’s all over. It wouldn’t be a surprise if 2017 was his final season on the field.

Here’s more from the NFC East:

  • Talk of an extension for the Redskins and Kirk Cousins doesn’t mean a whole lot in June, one source tells Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk. “So much noise,” said a source with knowledge of the situation. When asked whether progress has been made, the source added, “Nothing to report. Will be interesting to see what happens mid-July.” Recently, the NFL pushed back the deadline for teams to sign franchise players to long term deals – from July 15 to July 17 – and it’s likely that talks won’t really progress until the hourglass is almost out of sand. Cousins’ agent, Mike McCartney, may be seeking upwards of $52MM guaranteed at signing, representing the total of this year’s salary ($23.94MM) and next year’s transition tender ($28.7MM). The Redskins, presumably, are hoping to chip away at that number.
  • The Giants‘ deal for defensive end Devin Taylor is a minimum salary deal with just $40K guaranteed, Jordan Raanan of ESPN.com tweets. The advanced metrics haven’t been crazy about Taylor’s play, but he did record 11.5 combined sacks over the last two seasons.
  • Jason Peters could be playing guard for the Eagles down the road.
  • Will the Cowboys regret losing Barry Church to free agency? One beat writer believes that will be the case.

Giants Sign Devin Taylor

May 24th, 2017 at 6:19pm CST by Connor J. Byrne

The Giants have signed defensive end Devin Taylor to a one-year contract, tweets Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk. The addition of Taylor is the second of the evening for New York, which reached a deal with safety Duke Ihenacho earlier Wednesday.

Devin Taylor (vertical)[RELATED: Updated Giants Depth Chart]

The 27-year-old Taylor went to Detroit in the fourth round of the 2013 draft and ended up spending his first four seasons there, appearing in 61 of a possible 64 games and totaling 18 starts. Taylor also registered a respectable 15 sacks, 11.5 of which came from 2015-16 (four last year), and is coming off his first 16-start campaign. But Pro Football Focus wasn’t exactly enamored of Taylor’s output in 2016, as it ranked his performance 108th among 109 qualified defensive ends, and he drew no known interest in free agency before his meeting with the Giants this week.

Unlike the Lions, the Giants won’t lean on Taylor as a starter. Big Blue already has an elite defensive end duo in Olivier Vernon and Jason Pierre-Paul, so Taylor will give the club further depth behind those two. Taylor offers the most proven track record among a group of backup Giants DEs that includes Romeo Okwara, Owa Odighizuwa and fifth-round rookie Avery Moss, among others.

Giants Meet With DE Devin Taylor

May 22nd, 2017 at 8:59am CST by Zachary Links

Former Lions defensive end Devin Taylor is visiting the Giants today, as Adam Schefter of ESPN.com tweets. This marks Taylor’s first known visit since free agency kicked off more than two months ago. Devin Taylor (vertical)

Last year, Taylor started in all 16 regular season games for the first time in his career. The former fourth-round pick had 4.5 sacks and 28 total tackles on the year, but the advanced numbers at Pro Football Focus portrayed him as the second-worst qualified edge defender in the NFL. For what it’s worth, in the prior year, Taylor had 7.0 sacks and an overall score of 68.5 – a significantly better showing than his 39.1 mark in ’16.

Taylor is not a starting-caliber player at this point in his career and that suits the Giants just fine as they arguably have the league’s most fearsome DE duo in Jason Pierre-Paul and Olivier Vernon. There are a number of reserve DEs under contract behind them including Romeo Okwara, fifth-round rookie Avery Moss, and Owa Odighizuwa, but there has been some chatter this offseason about Odighizuwa stepping away from football. Right now, it seems like Odighizuwa will play, but if he has a change of heart, someone like Taylor could serve as an insurance policy.

Top 2017 Free Agents By Position 3.0: Defense

March 15th, 2017 at 6:23pm CST by Dallas Robinson

The initial wave of NFL free agency is now complete, and while many of the league’s top available players are now off the board, there are still plenty of quality options still on the open market.

Listed below are our rankings for the top 15 free agents at each defensive position. These rankings aren’t necessarily determined by the value of the contracts – or the amount of guaranteed money – that each player is expected to land in free agency. These are simply the players we like the most at each position, with both short- and long-term value taken into account.

Restricted and exclusive-rights free agents, as well as players who received the franchise tag, aren’t listed here, since the roadblocks in place to hinder another team from actually acquiring most of those players prevent them from being true free agents.

We’ll almost certainly be higher or lower on some free agents than you are, so feel free to weigh in below in our comments section to let us know which players we’ve got wrong.

Here’s our breakdown of the current top 15 free agents by defensive position for 2017:

Edge defender:

  1. Dwight Freeney
  2. Elvis Dumervil
  3. Chris Long
  4. Mario Williams
  5. Connor Barwin
  6. Paul Kruger
  7. Trent Cole
  8. Erik Walden
  9. Jason Jones
  10. Darryl Tapp
  11. Devin Taylor
  12. Eugene Sims
  13. Howard Jones
  14. Wallace Gilberry
  15. Sam Acho

The pass rushing market has been completely depleted during the first week of free agency, as 14 of our original top 15 edge players have now been franchised, signed, or, in the case of DeMarcus Ware, retired. As such, a 37-year-old with 15 NFL seasons under his belt is now the best pass rusher on the market. Dwight Freeney played on roughly a third of the Falcons’ defensive snaps in 2016, and posted three sacks and 18 hurries. Capable of playing in either a 4-3 or 3-4 scheme, Freeney can still help out a club on the cheap.Dwight Freeney (Vertical)

Three players on this list — Elvis Dumervil, Connor Barwin, and Eugene Sims — were released by their respective clubs last week, meaning they won’t count against the compensatory formula if and when they’re signed. Dumervil, now 33, was hampered by injuries last season but still earned strong pass-rushing marks from Pro Football Focus. Barwin, meanwhile, wasn’t a good fit in Jim Schwartz‘s 4-3 defense, but he should flourish if he signs with a team running a 3-4 look. So far, he’s met with the Bengals (who use a 4-3) and Rams (3-4).

Chris Long has already indicated he won’t be returning to the Patriots, indicating he wants to join a roster where he’ll earn more playing time. Erik Walden, too, won’t re-sign with his 2016 club (the Colts), but he has taken a visit with the division rival Titans. Further down the list, Howard Jones has also met with at least one club, as he was hosted by the Jets on Tuesday. Jones, 27, is recovering from a torn ACL, but did post five sacks in five starts last season.

Interior defensive line:

  1. Johnathan Hankins
  2. Dontari Poe
  3. Jared Odrick
  4. Vance Walker
  5. Sen’Derrick Marks
  6. Ricky Jean-Francois
  7. Roy Miller
  8. Al Woods
  9. Tony McDaniel
  10. Cullen Jenkins
  11. Frostee Rucker
  12. Cam Thomas
  13. John Jenkins
  14. Tyson Jackson
  15. Tyson Alualu

Although top-flight players such as Calais Campbell and Brandon Williams have already been signed, the crop of interior defenders remains strong at the top. The buzz around Johnathan Hankins has been virtually non-existent, as the only club that’s been even tangentially linked to the 25-year-old is the Redskins. He’s one of the youngest free agents on the market, and therefore is probably looking for a massive payday. But the lack of interest around Hankins may be an indication that he’s simply asking for too much money.Johnathan Hankins (Vertical)

The same issue could be surrounding Dontari Poe, although he’s not wanting for meetings around the league. He’s visited with the Colts, Falcons, Jaguars, and Dolphins, while the 49ers and Raiders also reportedly have some level of interest. Clubs may have concerns about Poe’s lingering back issues, and he might have to accept a one-year deal in order to prove he’s healthy and willing to provide full effort.

The remaining defensive interior players are mostly over-30 veterans, with names such as Tony McDaniel, Cullen Jenkins, Frostee Rucker, and Tyson Jackson still looking for new deals. While most of these guys can still play, they may have to wait awhile — possibly into the summer — before signing on with their next club. Jared Odrick (Patriots) and Vance Walker (Bears) have both taken visits, but the most intriguing lineman here may be Sen’Derrick Marks, who offers a good amount of pass rush from the interior.

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Lions Notes: Iloka, Ngata, Reiff, Ansah, Taylor

February 28th, 2016 at 4:05pm CST by Dallas Robinson

The Lions plan to target Bengals safety George Iloka when the free agent period begins Match 9, according to Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press. Cincinnati director of pro personnel Duke Tobin recently said his club would be “proactive” when it comes to re-signing Iloka and the team’s other free agents, but there’s no question the 25-year-old Iloka is set up for a big payday. PFR’s Connor Byrne pointed to Iloka as a possible solution for the Lions at safety in his recent preview of Detroit’s offseason.

Here’s the latest out of the Motor City, all courtesy of Birkett:

  • Free agent defensive lineman Haloti Ngata is “increasingly likely” to return to Detroit, per Birkett. The two sides reportedly aren’t far off in negotiations, and the Lions and Ngata’s representatives have until March 9 to work out what Birkett terms a “bridgeable gap.”
  • While general manager Bob Quinn last week said that Riley Reiff will remain with the Lions at $8MM+ salary, Birkett says that is not an indication the the club is sold on Reiff as its left tackle of the future. Quinn, in fact, would like to upgrade the position, but it’s unlikely that Detroit will be able to find a better option on the free agent market.
  • There’s no indication that the Lions will work out extensions with defensive lineman Ziggy Ansah or Devin Taylor this offseason, according to Birkett. Of course, the club doesn’t need to be in any rush, as it controls both players through the 2016 season (and realistically, through 2017 for Ansah, as Detroit hold a fifth-year option on the defensive end).
  • Punter Sam Martin, like Ansah and Taylor a member of the Lions’ 2013 draft class, has changed agents, which could be a sign that he wants a new deal, writes Birkett.
  • The Lions will be in the market for a receiver if Calvin Johnson follows through on retirement, and Birkett hears that the top free agent pass-catchers — outside of the franchise-tagged Alshon Jeffery, the class is headed by Travis Benjamin and Marvin Jones — are expected to target $6MM per year. For what it’s worth, a report earlier this month indicated that Jones would actually look for $7MM annually.

Sunday Roundup: AFC North, Broncos, Lions

June 1st, 2014 at 12:50pm CST by Rory Parks

Let’s have a look at some notes from around the league as we head into the afternoon of this ever-important June 1:

  • Greg Gabriel of the National Football Post identifies a few second-year players in the AFC North that might break out in 2014.
  • Matt Zenitz of the Carroll County Times identifies a few free agents the Ravens could target to address their biggest needs, right tackle and cornerback.
  • Mark Kaboly of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review writes that the Steelers are working hard to reestablish their identity has a running team, and Gerry Dulac of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette similarly notes that LeGarrette Blount hopes to provide a strong complement to Le’Veon Bell.
  • In his weekly mailbag, Tony Grossi of ESPNCleveland.com notes that although Browns coaches are excited about the potential of the team’s offensive line, they are reserving judgment until they see how the unit adapts to offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan‘s zone-blocking scheme.
  • Mike Klis of the Denver Post notes that the Broncos are currently carrying seven running backs on their roster, none of whom have a regular season start. Klis believes the team should not go after one of the remaining veteran free agents–Felix Jones, Michael Bush, and Ronnie Brown, for instance–to take reps away from Denver’s stable of young-but-intriguing RBs, but he concedes that it will be a tough call.
  • In a separate piece, Klis writes that Broncos‘ QB Peyton Manning intends to play out his contract with Denver, which runs through 2016 (Manning will turn 40 in March of that year).
  • In two separate pieces, Ryan O’Halloran of the Florida Times-Union discusses how a healthy Roy Miller will impact the Jaguars‘ defense and Gus Bradley’s creation of the “Otto” linebacker, who will replace the traditional “Sam” linebacker and serve as a “physical/athletic/versatile player who will be positioned along the line of scrimmage.” Dekoda Watson will enter the season as the team’s “Otto.”
  • Brian T. Smith of the Houston Chronicle writes that second-year wideout DeAndre Hopkins surprisingly became one of the few holdovers from the Texans‘ tumultuous 2013 season, and he is essentially a rookie again in 2014. Smith notes, however, that Hopkins has prepared himself well for the challenge.
  • Kevin Meinke of MLive.com writes that Lions‘ defensive end Devin Taylor is an integral component of new defensive coordinator Teryl Austin‘s desire to bring pressure from all three levels of the defense, and, in a similar vein, Josh Katzenstein of the Detroit News writes that players believe aggressiveness will be a hallmark of the Lions’ defense in 2014.