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Kelvin Sheppard

Extra Points: Dolphins, Bears, Vikes, Lions, Draft

January 2nd, 2016 at 9:56pm CST by Connor J. Byrne

The Dolphins’ front office and coaching staff apparently aren’t the only areas they’re going to overhaul during the offseason. The team will also make big changes to its 27th-ranked defense, according to Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald.

Miami ranks 24th in passing yards allowed and 25th in rating against (98.8), so it plans to strengthen its secondary in the coming months. That means adding two new cornerbacks, asking veteran corner Brent Grimes ($9.5MM cap hit in 2016) to restructure his contract, and finding another safety to complement Reshad Jones. Free agent-to-be Eric Weddle, a three-time Pro Bowler with San Diego, would be open to an offer from the Dolphins, Jackson writes. He and Jones would form an excellent tandem, but it will cost the Dolphins (or anyone else) a lot to land Weddle.

Along the front seven, the Dolphins want to keep end Cameron Wake, who tore his Achilles’ tendon in October. Doing so might require the soon-to-be 34-year-old to restructure his deal, as he’s set to count nearly $10MM against the club’s cap next season. The Dolphins hope to continue pairing Olivier Vernon with Wake to generate a pass rush, but Vernon is a free agent and retaining him might be unrealistic.

“I only get one shot [at free agency], so I’m not [doing] a hometown discount,” said Vernon.

Miami also needs to upgrade at linebacker, where Jackson believes the team will look to add one or two new starters. They could either cut Koa Misi or move him back to the middle if they’re unable to find a better outside solution than MLB Kelvin Sheppard.

More from around the NFL:

  • The Bears are open to a long-term deal with receiver Alshon Jeffery, CSNChicago.com reports. The 6-foot-3, 216-pounder landed on injured reserve Wednesday after totaling 54 catches, 807 yards and four touchdowns this year in just nine games. The soon-to-be 26-year-old is primed to cash in soon, be it with the Bears or someone else, having accumulated 228 receptions, well over 3,000 yards and 21 touchdowns over the last three years (41 games).
  • Like Jeffery, Vikings right guard Mike Harris is also a pending free agent. His ideal scenario includes re-signing with Minnesota rather than testing the open market. “That’s the hope,” Harris said, according to Chris Tomasson of the St. Paul Pioneer Press. “It’d be wonderful. It’d be a dream come true.” The fourth-year man has made a career-best 15 starts this season and earned a positive assessment from Pro Football Focus (subscription required), which ranks him 24th out of 81 qualifying guards.
  • Continuing the soon-to-be free agent theme, Lions safety Isa Abdul-Quddus is scheduled to hit the market in the offseason. That’s good timing, notes Kyle Meinke of MLive.com, as Abdul-Quddus is in line for a payday thanks to a career year. Abdul-Quddus, whom PFF ranks an impressive 20th out of 87 qualifying safeties, is hoping that payday comes in Detroit. “I love it here,” the 26-year-old told Meinke. “I love the coaching staff. I love Coach (Jim) Caldwell. I love everything here man, and I’d love to come back.”
  • Ohio State linebacker Darron Lee will enter the 2016 draft, Chase Goodbread of NFL.com tweets. Lee, a redshirt sophomore, is following the same path as teammates Joey Bosa, Ezekiel Elliott and Cardale Jones – all of whom declared for the draft earlier this week.

Dolphins Rumors: Tannehill, Misi, Taylor

March 28th, 2015 at 10:12pm CST by Sam Robinson

As the May 3 deadline looms in the near future for the Dolphins to pick up Ryan Tannehill‘s fifth-year option, which they will do barring an unlikely extension in the next five weeks, the Miami Herald’s Armando Salguero doesn’t think a new contract is necessary for the improving quarterback.

The Dolphins’ most reliable 21st-century quarterback, Tannehill is due $16.1MM in 2016 once the Dolphins use that option. He’s also the 17th-highest paid player on the team, excluding dead-money anchors Mike Wallace and Dannell Ellerbe, that just signed Ndamukong Suh to a $114MM deal.

Using the Andy Dalton contract as an example of a premature splurge on a player who hadn’t yet warranted it, Salguero argues the Dolphins’ best course of action is to let Tannehill play under this deal ($4MM cap number in 2015) while he attempts to ascend further as a fourth-year player and take Miami to the playoffs for the first time since 2008.

Tannehill’s average salary on the rookie contract he signed in 2012 ($3.17MM per season) is 34th in the league, according to OverTheCap.

For some additional Dolphins notes …

  • A debate is ongoing in the organization about what to do with the middle linebacker position, reports Adam H. Beasley. Koa Misi‘s future, in the minds of Joe Philbin and DC Kevin Coyle, remains at the middle spot he played last season, while new front office exec Mike Tannenbaum views the 28-year-old as a better fit on the outside where he played the previous four seasons. Misi’s graded positively on Pro Football Focus’ metrics the past three campaigns, topping out as the 12th-best inside backer last season (subscription required).The front office, per Beasley, eyes the younger Kelvin Sheppard to have a shot to start inside in the Fins’ 4-3 alignment.
  • With the youngest wideout stable in the league at 23.3 years old, the Dolphins look to supplement the Jarvis Landry– and Kenny Stills-fronted corps with a high draft pick and veteran free agent. Beasley mentioned Greg Jennings or Michael Crabtree to potentially be added to balance out a unit that lost 2014 starters Wallace and Brian Hartline.
  • Also from Beasley: despite the signing of Brice McCain, third-year player Jamar Taylor will probably have a chance to start across from Brent Grimes. The 2013 second-rounder started three games in two seasons.

Dolphins To Re-Sign Kelvin Sheppard

March 10th, 2015 at 1:27pm CST by Zachary Links

The Dolphins have signed linebacker Kelvin Sheppard, according to Adam Beasley of the Miami Herald (on Twitter). The move is a depth signing for the Dolphins who needed reinforcements at the position.

Sheppard, 26, spent the 2013 season with the Colts after two years in Buffalo. His best season came in 2012, when he was a starter for the Bills and racked up 80 tackles to go along with a pair of sacks. Pro Football Focus’ grades (subscription required) suggest Sheppard has typically fared better against the pass than the run, scoring much better in pass coverage and as a pass rusher than as a run stopper.

Miami picked Sheppard up in September when Dannell Ellerbe‘s second year with the team has been prematurely cut short due to injury.

Dolphins Sign Kelvin Sheppard; Ellerbe To IR

September 8th, 2014 at 12:58pm CST by Luke Adams

After recording 100 tackles in his first season with the Dolphins, Dannell Ellerbe‘s second year with the team has been prematurely cut short. Head coach Joe Philbin confirmed today that Ellerbe would land on Miami’s season-ending injured reserve list after sustaining a hip injury in the club’s opener against the Patriots (link via James Walker of ESPN.com). The Dolphins will sign linebacker Kelvin Sheppard using the open roster spot vacated by Ellerbe.

Sheppard, 26, spent the 2013 season with the Colts after two years in Buffalo. His best season came in 2012, when he was a starter for the Bills and racked up 80 tackles to go along with a pair of sacks. Pro Football Focus’ grades (subscription required) suggest Sheppard has typically fared better against the pass than the run, scoring much better in pass coverage and as a pass rusher than as a run stopper.

As for Ellerbe, his $6MM base salary this year is fully guaranteed, but only a portion of next year’s $8.425MM salary is currently guaranteed, as Adam Caplan of ESPN.com tweets. Whether or not the linebacker returns to Miami for the 2015 season will depend in part on how his recovery goes, but his cap number figures to be considered as well.

NFC Notes: Bulaga, Winston, Rams, Panthers

September 5th, 2014 at 8:05pm CST by Dallas Robinson

The Packers’ offensive line didn’t fare too well after right tackle Bryan Bulaga went down last night, and Green Bay’s front five will be without the 2010 first-rounder for a while longer. According to Adam Schefter of ESPN (via Twitter), Bulaga has suffered a torn MCL. While the Packers are lucky Bulaga didn’t re-tear his ACL, Rob Demovsky of ESPN.com tweets that the 25-year-old will miss two-to-four weeks while recovering from the injury. Derek Sherrod, whom Pro Football Focus (subscription required) handed a -6.4 grade on just 42 snaps in last night’s contest, will fill in at RT.

Meanwhile, Demovsky adds (on Twitter) that while Green Bay might consider adding free agent tackle Eric Winston, there’s “nothing concrete” on that front as of yet. Winston, 30, signed with the Seahawks on July 29 but was released just a month later.

Let’s look at some more news items from the NFC:

  • The Rams tried out veteran linebackers Pat Angerer and Kelvin Sheppard today, according to Field Yates of ESPN (Twitter link). Angerer spent most of his career with the Colts before latching on with the Falcons for the summer, while Sheppard was cut by Indianapolis last week.
  • Panthers tight end D.C. Jefferson, a second-year player out of Rutgers, has been suspended four games for violating the league’s substance abuse policy, writes Joseph Person of the Charlotte Observer. Jefferson is currently on Carolina’s injured reserve after being waived-injured late last month.
  • Jason Fitzgerald of Over the Cap breaks down the details of Junior Galette‘s extension with the Saints, which includes a roster bonus and escalators which come into play if Galette notches 12 sacks in 2014. Fitzgerald also notes that New Orleans will likely have to restructure the pass-rusher’s deal as soon as next offseason due to its cap management woes.
  • Most teams carry only one fullback and some don’t even bother to have one at all. So why do the Vikings have two in Jerome Felton and Zach Line? “In college, no one has them anymore. They don’t have any fullbacks in college football,” coach Mike Zimmer said, according to Matt Vensel of the Star Tribune. “So typically you’re taking a tight end — if they have those. There’s hardly any blocking tight ends anymore. So you’re taking them and making them fullbacks or taking linebackers and making them fullbacks. When you find one, if you have a fullback offense, you keep them.”

Zach Links contributed to this post.

AFC Notes: Burfict, Allen, Dolphins, Wright

September 3rd, 2014 at 10:15pm CST by Zachary Links

Aaron Wilson of The Baltimore Sun (Twitter links) has the details on Vontaze Burfict‘s new $19MM, three-year deal with the Bengals. Burfict gets a $3.1MM signing bonus, a $3.8MM roster bonus on Aug. 30th, and a $3.15MM roster bonus due on the fifth day of 2015 year. Burfict has non-guaranteed base salaries of $700K, $1.05MM, $2.85MM and $3.75MM with cap figures of $5.279MM, $5.175MM, $3.825MM, $4.725MM. More out of the AFC..

  • The Steelers will cut off contract negotiations with all their players come Sunday, which means time is ticking on a new deal with Cortez Allen, writes Mark Kaboly of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. It wouldn’t be unprecedented for PIttsburgh to get something done at the 11th hour, however. Troy Polamalu signed an extension in 2011 at the airport on the Saturday before the start of the season as the team was about to depart for Baltimore.
  • The Dolphins gave tryouts to five linebackers, according to Howard Balzer of USA Today (on Twitter). Miami worked out Zac Diles, Brandon Hepburn, Terrell Manning, Etienne Sabino, and Kelvin Sheppard.
  • New Patriots tight end Tim Wright is making a solid impression on offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels, writes NFL.com’s Chris Wesselling. “We just got him, and he was able to come in here and learn enough to be able to go out there and play for us in a preseason game for 40-some snaps or whatever it was,” McDaniels said. “He’s working hard, certainly a bright kid and has some talent that hopefully we can utilize, and he just seems to fit in good and has a good attitude and work ethic. I’m just excited about seeing what we can do going forward.”

Colts Finalize Roster, Deal Burley To Seahawks

August 30th, 2014 at 3:22pm CST by Luke Adams

The Colts have finalized their 53-man regular season roster, according to the team, which announced in a press release their roster moves to get down to 53 players. In addition to the moves listed below, the team also pulled off a trade, sending defensive back Marcus Burley to the Seahawks for a 2015 sixth-round pick, according to the Colts’ Twitter account.

Here’s Indianapolis’ full list of transactions:

Waived:

Released:

Waived-injured:

Placed on reserve-suspended list: