HEADLINES

Jabrill Peppers

NFC Rumors: Giants, Saints, Adams, Bears

July 10th, 2021 at 8:41pm CST by Sam Robinson

Part of 2019’s Odell Beckham Jr. trade, Jabrill Peppers is going into his fifth-year option season. However, the Giants‘ three-year, $31MM extension for Logan Ryan back in December may well have signaled they are OK moving on from the former first-round pick after this season, Dan Duggan of The Athletic writes (subscription required). The Giants signed Ryan shortly after Xavier McKinney suffered a broken foot and extended him toward the end of the year. By season’s end, the team had Ryan, Peppers and McKinney available. Ryan and McKinney are signed through 2023, though Ryan has no guarantees beyond this year. While Peppers (25 starts as a Giant) would attract interest as a 2022 free agent, his role and performance this season will go a long way toward determining his long-term value.

Of the players that changed teams in that 2019 deal, Peppers, Beckham and Dexter Lawrence — the first-round pick the Browns sent to the Giants — remain with their teams. Kevin Zeitler and Olivier Vernon are not. With Beckham’s long-term status in Cleveland uncertain and Peppers in a contract year, Lawrence may be the only holdover from this trade come 2022. Here is the latest from the NFC:

  • Despite Lorenzo Carter going down with an Achilles tear in October, the Giants are prepared to reinstall him as a starter, Duggan notes. Carter returned for the Giants’ offseason program. The former third-round pick out of Georgia has 9.5 career sacks and, like Peppers, is entering a contract year. The Giants have not been especially aggressive at outside linebacker during Dave Gettleman‘s GM tenure, but they did use a second-round choice this year on USC’s Azeez Ojulari. He, 2019 third-rounder Oshane Ximines and fourth-round rookie Elerson Smith are in the mix to start opposite Carter, per Duggan. The Giants added veterans Ryan Anderson and Ifeadi Odenigbo as well, but they appear to be competing for rotational work.
  • Marcus Williams is one of this year’s seven remaining franchise-tagged players. The Saints surprised most when they created cap space to tag the talented safety, but if they cannot complete an extension by July 15, they should not be expected to entertain a second tag in 2022, Joel Corry of CBS Sports writes. Marshon Lattimore playing this season on his fifth-year option would make him a higher-priority free agent come March, and whoever wins New Orleans’ quarterback job — set to be a Jameis Winston–Taysom Hill competition — could fall into the 2022 tag mix as well.
  • One factor complicating the Seahawks‘ Jamal Adams talks: the Pro Bowl safety wanting not only to become the highest-paid player at the position but seeking to end up on his own financial tier. Adams does not want to be viewed as a pure safety, and thus be confined to the position’s salary range, Corry adds. Adams does not rate as a top-tier coverage safety, but he is a historically productive pass rusher for the position and is used in myriad capacities. With Seattle having traded two first-rounders for him, a deal is expected to come to fruition soon.
  • The Bears made a couple of changes to their scouting staff. They promoted Jeff King to the pro scouting director post. King joined the team as a pro scout in 2016. The former NFL tight end interviewed for the Panthers’ assistant GM job in May. Chicago also promoted Sam Summerville from area scout to national scout. The Fritz Pollard Alliance named Summerville, a Bears scout since 2012, as its NFC scout of the year in 2019.

Giants Pick Up 2021 Options For Evan Engram, Jabrill Peppers

April 29th, 2020 at 8:53pm CST by Sam Robinson

The Giants will extend the contracts of 2017 first-rounders Evan Engram and Jabrill Peppers through the 2021 season, the team announced.

This marks the final year fifth-year options will be guaranteed for injury only. Beginning in 2018, teams must fully guarantee players fifth-year salaries if they pick up options. The injury component will be key for Engram.

The fourth-year tight end is coming off a second straight injury-marred season. Engram underwent foot surgery in December. While the Giants would obviously prefer he stay healthy and earn the 2021 salary coming to him, they would only be able to cut Engram free of charge if he can pass a physical by the start of the ’21 league year. Engram has missed 13 games between the 2018-19 seasons.

Engram, however, has given Eli Manning and Daniel Jones an intriguing weapon when healthy. He averaged a career-high 58.4 yards per game last season but only played in eight contests. Engram’s 722 yards as a rookie were the most of any rookie tight end during the 2010s.

Drafted two spots after Engram three years ago — at No. 25 overall — Peppers came over in last year’s Odell Beckham Jr. trade. The former Browns draftee started 11 Giants games last season before suffering a transverse process fracture in his back. Pro Football Focus graded the Michigan product as a middle-of-the-pack safety in 2019. Peppers registered 76 tackles, which were only three shy of his career-high figure despite an injury-shortened season, and intercepted one pass — which he took back for a touchdown.

Giants Place S Jabrill Peppers On IR

December 7th, 2019 at 11:35am CST by Ben Levine

The Giants have made a series of roster moves this morning, via ESPN’s Jordan Raanan (via Twitter). The team placed safety Jabrill Peppers and linebacker Chris Peace on injured reserve. Linebacker Kareem Martin was activated from the injured reserve, and safety Sean Chandler is being promoted from the practice squad.

The Giants acquired Peppers in the Odell Beckham Jr. trade this past offseason. The former first-rounder was on pace to have his best NFL season, as he had compiled 76 tackles, five passes defended, three forced fumbles, and one pick-six in 11 starts. The 24-year-old suffered a transverse process fracture during the Giants’ late-November loss to the Bears, but coach Pat Shurmur had expressed optimism that Peppers would be able to finish the season. Peppers didn’t play in last weekend’s loss to the Packers.

Peppers will be replaced on the roster by Chandler, a former undrafted rookie out of Temple. The 23-year-old has spent his two professional seasons with the Giants organization, and he’s compiled 23 tackles and one sack in 25 career games. Chandler was waived by New York in early November, and he later caught on with the team’s practice squad.

Martin spent the first four seasons of his career with the Cardinals before landing a three-year, $21MM ($7.5MM) deal with the Giants in 2018. He appeared in all 16 games (seven starts) during his first season in New York, compiling a career-high 48 tackles and 1.5 sacks. The 27-year-old suffered a knee injury in Week 1 and was placed on the injured reserve. He was designated for return in late November.

Peace, an undrafted rookie out of Virginia, was claimed off waivers from the Chargers back in September. The linebacker has appeared in four games for the Giants this season. He was listed on the injury report with a knee issue earlier this week.

Giants S Jabrill Peppers Suffers Fracture

November 25th, 2019 at 5:01pm CST by Marc Delucchi

Giants safety Jabrill Peppers was diagnosed with a traverse process fracture, according to a team press release. While it is not uncommon for fractures to end a player’s season, Ryan Dunleavy of the New York Post reports that head coach Pat Shurmur told reporters he does not expect the injury to be season ending. The training staff does not seem to think that Peppers would be at greater risk of suffering a major injury if he played with the injury, but pain is still a large concern.

In the third season of his professional career, Peppers has avoided missing time with any major injuries, starting 40 of his team’s 43 games. Acquired last offseason in the trade that sent Odell Beckham Jr. to the Browns, Peppers has been one of the most productive players on New York’s defense. He has recorded 76 tackles, 5 tackles for loss, 5 passes defended, and one pick-six.

According to Paul Schwartz of The New York Post, Peppers suffered the injury after returning a kickoff in the first half of the Giants 19-14 loss to the Bears. Normally, Peppers only handles the team’s punt returning duties, but convinced special teams coach Thomas McGaughey to give him a shot. He had returned a punt for 40 yards earlier and felt like he was in a good spot to make a big play.

Julian Love replaced Peppers on Sunday, but defensive back Michael Thomas is listed as the backup strong safety on the team’s website. Thomas is a veteran special teamer and may be hesitant to remove him from that role. Furthermore, Love, a fourth-round selection in the 2019 draft, recorded an interception in his first extended playing time on the defensive side of the ball.

Giants To Use Jabrill Peppers In Return Game?

July 5th, 2019 at 11:09am CST by Rory Parks

New Giants safety Jabrill Peppers, whom the Browns selected in the first round of the 2017 draft, is still highly-regarded in NFL front offices. Peppers, of course, was a key part of the trade that sent Odell Beckham to Cleveland, and Browns GM John Dorsey was loathe to let him go, while Giants GM Dave Gettleman was adamant that the former Michigan star be included in the deal.

We have already heard that Big Blue envisions a versatile role for Peppers. Although the club sees him as a classic strong safety, Peppers will not line up in the same position from snap to snap and will be asked to line up deep, up near the line, at slot cornerback, and at nickel linebacker. And, as Ryan Dunleavy of NJ.com writes, the Giants had their starting safeties on the field for almost all of the team’s defensive snaps last year, so Peppers — who didn’t play more than 76% of the defensive snaps in either of his two seasons with the Browns — could be looking at a healthy increase in playing time.

But will that increase carry over to special teams? Dunleavy observes that the Giants’ return game was a mess last season, and Peppers could help in a big way. He was a quality return man with the Wolverines, and while he has not been as electric in that regard at the professional level, he has been at least serviceable. New York’s coaching staff thinks he can thrive as a returner if he continues to get the opportunity.

Special teams coordinator Thomas McGaughey said, “[Peppers] is a for-sure ball-handler. Can make all the cuts full speed. He just brings juice.”

It remains to be seen whether Peppers’ heavier workload on the defensive side of the ball will force the Giants to keep him on the sidelines when they send out the special teams units. But Dunleavy expects Peppers to be the primary punt returner and to flank Corey Coleman on kickoff returns (Dunleavy believes Coleman will remain the team’s No. 1 kickoff returner given the stability he brought to that role last season).

If Peppers does need a breather, the club also has the sure-handed Golden Tate and rookie Darius Slayton at its disposal.

AFC North Notes: Dennard, Browns, Steelers

March 17th, 2019 at 9:50pm CST by Sam Robinson

Still unsigned, Darqueze Dennard remains an option for the Bengals. But the franchise looks to have given the cornerback a price point. The Bengals have not closed the door on a reunion with the sixth-year cornerback, according to Paul Dehner Jr. of the Cincinnati Enquirer, but they have since signed B.W. Webb and retained some of their own free agents. The most recent negotiations between Dennard and the Bengals revealed a disconnect, with the team viewing him as strictly a slot cornerback — and one they may not consider paying at the top-market slot price Justin Coleman just reset with the Lions. Dennard’s camp came in with an offer north of what Coleman just signed, proposing a deal north of $10MM per year with the Bengals, Dehner reports, adding the corner’s representation never came back to the table with the Bengals. The team was willing to keep Dennard at around $8.5MM AAV, but that was before reaching a deal with Webb. The new Bengal corner played for first-year DC Lou Anarumo with the Giants.

Dennard was scheduled to visit the Chiefs this weekend. Shifting first to a higher-profile AFC North situation, here is the latest out of this division:

  • John Dorsey called Dave Gettleman on Monday to ask if Odell Beckham Jr. was indeed available. The Giants’ GM had twice said in 2019 he did not extend the wideout to trade him, but Gettleman told Dorsey he was, in fact, willing to move Beckham, Mary Kay Cabot of cleveland.com notes. Dorsey had several Beckham trades planned, but Cabot adds the talks never included Emmanuel Ogbah or Duke Johnson. Both of those pre-Dorsey Browns investments are now on the trade block.
  • As for the player the Giants did obtain for Beckham, Jabrill Peppers profiled as one the Browns did not want to let go. Despite being a Sashi Brown-era draft choice, Dorsey wanted to keep the improving safety, per Cabot. But Cleveland’s second-year GM was not going to let Peppers stand in the way of acquiring Beckham. Gettleman was “adamant” about Peppers’ inclusion in this trade because of the Giants’ recent decision to let Landon Collins walk in free agency, Cabot adds. The Giants are planning a versatile role for the third-year safety. Peppers can be under Giants control through 2021 via the fifth-year option.
  • The Steelers‘ acquisition of Mark Barron will likely not preclude them from using another early-round pick on a linebacker, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s Gerry Dulac (on Twitter). Pittsburgh did not elect to devote significant resources to replacing Ryan Shazier last year but has used four first-round picks on linebackers since 2013 — Jarvis Jones, Shazier, Bud Dupree and T.J. Watt. Shazier’s unfortunate circumstances may again prompt the Steelers to use a first-round choice on an off-ball ‘backer.
  • Eli Rogers‘ latest Steelers contract is for two years, not one, the team announced. The auxiliary receiver may have a bigger role in Pittsburgh’s 2019 offense, considering Antonio Brown is out of the picture and Rogers is entering an offseason healthy. He tore an ACL in the Steelers’ 2017 divisional-round game and only played in three games last season.

NFC Notes: Verrett, Peppers, Packers

March 17th, 2019 at 12:24pm CST by Rory Parks

The 49ers are placing a lot of faith in their training and medical staffs, as Eric Branch of the San Francisco Chronicle observes (Twitter link). The club’s two major offseason acquisitions, Kwon Alexander and Dee Ford, come with medical red flags, as do new cornerback Jason Verrett and the recently re-signed Jimmie Ward. But Verrett could offer the most bang for San Francisco’s buck.

Verrett’s one-year deal carries a cap charge of just $1.5MM and maxes out at just $3MM. As Branch writes in a separate piece, Verrett has been told that the starting cornerback position opposite Richard Sherman is up for grabs, and Verrett, a 2015 Pro Bowler, is determined to make the most of his chance. He said, “[t]he opportunity is there for me. Wide open. It’s just there for me to take. It’s just for me to get back healthy and get back there on the football field and do what I love to do.” Verrett’s primary competition for the job is Ahkello Witherspoon and Tarvarius Moore.

Now for more from the NFC:

  • Eli Manning will not collect his $5MM roster bonus until tomorrow, per Ralph Vacchiano of SNY.tv (via Twitter). It had previously been reported that Manning earned his bonus yesterday, all but ensuring that he will remain with the Giants in 2019. But Vacchiano says Manning is still expected to return next season and that he will not be cut within the next 24 hours.
  • Paul Schwartz of the New York Post writes that the Giants are very excited about the acquisition of Jabrill Peppers, part of New York’s return in the Odell Beckham Jr. trade. Per Schwartz, Big Blue sees Peppers as a classic strong safety, but the club will take full advantage of his versatility. Peppers will not line up in the same position from snap to snap and will be asked to line up deep, up near the line, at slot cornerback, and at nickel linebacker. New York brass has been heavily criticized for the OBJ deal, but if Peppers can live up to his draft pedigree, that will go a long way towards the Giants’ rebuild.
  • Eagles top personnel executive Howie Roseman has made it abundantly clear that he does not value the running back position, as Eliot Shorr-Parks of 94WIP.com observes. Roseman has invested neither top dollar nor top draft capital in running backs, and that remains an area of glaring need at the moment. But since Roseman has built a strong offense and a roster that is in win-now mode, and since he has again avoided the free agent market for running backs, one has to think that he will use one of his three picks in the first two rounds of the 2019 draft to add some talent to the offensive backfield.
  • The Packers made a rare foray into the top end of the free agent market this year, and thus far they have dished out free agent contracts with a total value of $184MM (though less than one-third of that figure is guaranteed). But as Pete Dougherty of PackersNews.com notes, Green Bay ranks near the bottom of the league in 2020 salary cap room, and it opted for smaller salary cap hits on its big-ticket FAs this year in exchange for bigger hits down the road. That means that at least a couple of the club’s major signees — Za’Darius Smith, Preston Smith, Adrian Amos, and Billy Turner — will have to pan out, and GM Brian Gutekunst will have to have a successful draft in order to field a competitive team over the next several seasons, as he will not be able to splurge again next year.

Final Terms Of Odell Beckham Jr. Trade

March 13th, 2019 at 4:39pm CST by Dallas Robinson

The trades of Odell Beckham Jr. and Olivier Vernon were originally reported as separate moves, but the Browns and Giants have have each announced the acquisitions as one large transaction. Additionally, as Art Stapleton of NorthJersey.com first reported, the fourth- and fifth-round picks that were originally part of the Vernon/Kevin Zeitler trade are no longer involved in the swap.

Here are the full terms of the stunning trade:

Browns acquire:

Giants acquire:

Giants Trade Odell Beckham Jr. To Browns

March 12th, 2019 at 6:59pm CST by Ben Levine

Odell Beckham Jr. is finally on the move. Mike Garafolo of NFL Network reports (via Twitter) that the Giants are trading the wide receiver to the Browns.

It sound like New York has received a relative haul for their star receiver. ESPN’s Adam Schefter reports (via Twitter) that the Giants will be receiving a 2019 first-rounder (No. 17 overall), a 2019 third-rounder (No. 95), and safety Jabrill Peppers. The deal will leave $16MM in dead money for the Giants, who inked the receiver to a five-year, $95 million contract ($65MM guaranteed) back in August. The move will open up $5MM in cap space, according to NFL.com’s Tom Pelissero (via Twitter).

This would seem to be a relatively big haul for Beckham, especially when you consider what the Steelers recently received for Antonio Brown. While Brown is older and desired a new contract, Pittsburgh was still only able to fetch a third-round pick (No. 66 overall) and fifth-round pick (No. 141) from the Raiders. Of course; Beckham may also be seeking a new deal; NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport tweets that the receiver is expected to ask Cleveland for a new contract.

There had been conflicting reports regarding Beckham’s availability in recent days. Despite general manager Dave Gettleman‘s consistent insistence that Beckham was not available, we learned yesterday that the Giants had been discussing a trade. We heard earlier today that an AFC North team was engaged in conversations with the Giants, and we’ve now learned that the team was Cleveland.

The Browns seemed like a relatively natural fit for Beckham and his $18MM salary. Despite signing Jarvis Landry to a lucrative deal last offseason, Cleveland’s front office was still hunting around for a big-name addition. The 26-year-old surely fits that bill, as he’ll team up with Landry, quarterback Baker Mayfield, and running backs Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt to form one of the more talented offenses in the NFL.

The 26-year-old was still productive in 2018 despite missing four games due to a quad injury. In 12 games, Beckham hauled in 77 receptions for 1,052 yards and six touchdowns. The former first-rounder is all over the Giants all-time leaders list, with top-five appearances in receptions, receiving yards, and touchdown receptions.

While the focus of the trade will surround Beckham, Peppers is an intriguing inclusion in the deal. The former Michigan standout had spent the first two seasons of his career in Cleveland, including a 2018 campaign where he compiled 79 tackles, one sack, and five passes defended. While the 23-year-old hasn’t necessarily displayed the talent that earned him a first-round selection, he’s still an intriguing asset for the Giants. While the team recently added Antoine Bethea, Peppers could theoretically supplant Michael Thomas in the starting lineup.

North Notes: Vikings, Bakhtiari, Dupree

August 5th, 2018 at 6:52pm CST by Sam Robinson

Prior to Teddy Bridgewater‘s career-defining injury at Vikings practice two Augusts ago, Mike Zimmer assumed the 2014 first-round pick would be his quarterback for the remainder of his head-coaching tenure. But the gruesome leg injuries Bridgewater suffered eventually led him out of the Twin Cities and to the Big Apple. Now, the 62-year-old head coach envisions Kirk Cousins, attached to a three-year contract, as the quarterback for the rest of his run as Vikings HC.

“I always thought Teddy was going to be my quarterback for my career and these are the way things go,” Zimmer said during a Sirius XM Radio interview. “Now, I hope that Kirk is the quarterback for my career … and it’s long, too. Not one year.”

Zimmer expanded a bit on what drew him to Cousins, though Minnesota certainly wasn’t alone in the rare pursuit of a franchise-level quarterback on the market. But the Vikings weren’t viewed as the obvious choice from the outset, given Case Keenum‘s success in 2017.

“Part of it was his accuracy,” Zimmer said of the Cousins pursuit during the interview. “He threw the ball into a lot of tight windows, and we’re seeing that here in camp. Very consistent in the things he was able to do. So I think that was part of it. You know, not too many times is a quarterback that’s really entering his prime at 28 (Cousins turns 30 later this month) get out on the free agency market that’s thrown for 4,000 (yards) for three straight years. I think he’s my fifth quarterback in five years, so I’m hoping we’ve stabilized the quarterback position.”

Here’s the latest from a Vikings rival and the AFC North.

  • The Packers received a scare when a cart transported cornerstone left tackle David Bakhtiari from the practice field Saturday night, but Ian Rapoport of NFL.com notes (on Twitter) Bakhtiari suffered a sprained left ankle. He won’t return to action immediately, but at this point, it doesn’t look like the sixth-year lineman will miss regular-season time.
  • Bud Dupree suffered a setback this weekend and is in concussion protocol, Jeremy Fowler of ESPN.com reports (on Twitter). The Steelers will be without their starting right outside linebacker for a bit, per Fowler, after seeing the fourth-year player start camp strong. Anthony Chickillo and Keion Adams reside as the top backups, per Pittsburgh’s first 2018 depth chart, and will see more time while Dupree is sidelined. Adams was a 2017 seventh-round pick who did not play last season.
  • Jabrill Peppers kept his starting spot after the Browns released their first depth chart, but Nate Ulrich of the Akron Beacon Journal tweets the battle between the 2017 first-rounder and Derrick Kindred is not over. Both continue to receive first-team reps opposite Damarious Randall, and Ulrich adds each will play plenty in three-safety looks this season (Twitter link). It would, however, be notable if Peppers couldn’t keep his starting job considering what the Browns invested in him. A 2016 fourth-rounder, Kindred’s started 15 NFL games.
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