HEADLINES

Kyle Van Noy

Lions Acquire Seahawks’ No. 40

May 9th, 2014 at 6:42pm CST by Zachary Links

The Seahawks have traded down again, this time sending their No. 40 pick to the Lions, according to Jason La Canfora of CBSSports.com (on Twitter). With the pick, the Lions grabbed linebacker Kyle Van Noy out of BYU (link).

Josh Katzowitz of CBSSports.com (on Twitter) has the goods: Seattle sent the No. 40 and their fifth round pick (No. 146) for Detroit’s No. 45, No. 111 (fourth round), and No. 227 (seventh round).

Van Noy was highly coveted by several teams, including the Broncos. By vaulting up the draft boards, Detroit was able to leapfrog all of the other potential suitors.

NFC North Rumors: Bears, Reynaud, Lions

April 24th, 2014 at 9:24pm CST by Zachary Links

With the draft rapidly approaching, Rich Campbell of the Chicago Tribune looks at the wide receivers the Bears might target. With wide receiver being a position of moderate need, Thompson suggests they could look at South Carolina’s Bruce Ellington, Saginaw Valley State’s Jeff Janis, and others.

  • Kick returner/running back Darius Reynaud worked out for the Bears yesterday, according to Adam Caplan of ESPN.com (on Twitter). Reynaud, 29, could be brought in to fill the sizable shoes of Devin Hester as a return man. Last season, the veteran spent time with the Titans and Jets.
  • Aaron Wilson of the Baltimore Sun (Twitter link) has the goods on George Johnson‘s one-year deal with the Lions. The defensive end gets $730K with no guaranteed money. He’ll have a $570K cap number thanks to the minimum salary benefit.
  • The Lions hosted former BYU linebacker Kyle Van Noy on a pre-draft visit today, tweets Tim Twentyman of DetroitLions.com. Van Noy, who has gotten first-round and second-round grades from analysts, has also met with the Ravens, Jaguars, and Falcons.

Extra Points: Landry, Thompson, Texans

April 13th, 2014 at 10:57am CST by Rory Parks

Let’s have a look at some notes from around the league on this relatively slow news day:

  • Greg Gabriel of the National Football Post takes a look at some of the most significant pro day workouts from this past week. LSU and Penn State were the major programs to host pro days, but smaller schools McNeese State and Bloomsburg also boast several draftable prospects.
  • LSU WR Jarvis Landry will be an intriguing player to watch at next month’s draft. He carried a first-round grade into the combine, but performed poorly there, and though he showed improvement at his pro day this week, it won’t be enough to get him back in the first round. Gabriel expects him to be taken in the third or fourth round, but does note that Landry’s game tape is phenomenal and there are plenty of other top-flight receivers who have had mediocre workout numbers.
  • BYU linebacker Kyle Van Noy has had a number of official visits already, and he recently met with the Ravens, according to Aaron Wilson of the Baltimore Sun. Van Noy has received first- and second-round grades from draft analysts.
  • In a separate piece, Wilson writes that the felony and misdemeanor drug charges that Ravens WR Deonte Thompson was facing have been dropped by Florida prosecutors. Thompson may be crowded out of the Ravens roster this year, as the team added to its receiving corps this offseason and expects to add at least one more receiver in the draft, but at least he no longer has legal troubles hanging over his head.
  • Mike Reiss of ESPN.com, noting that the Patriots have a penchant for drafting highly-talented players whose stock has taken a hit for medical reasons, wonders if Clemson guard Brandon Thomas, who carried a second-round grade before tearing his ACL in a pre-draft workout last week, might be a target in the middle to late rounds of this year’s draft.
  • The Patriots are still in the mix for free agent OLB/DE Will Smith, according to Christopher Price of WEEI.com.
  • John McClain of the Houston Chronicle gives an excellent description of the dilemma the Texans, picking first overall for the third time in their young history, face in the 2014 draft.

South Notes: Jaguars, Texans, Falcons

April 9th, 2014 at 4:44pm CST by Luke Adams

The Jaguars have been at the center of a number of NFL stories this week, with the team reportedly on the verge of signing Alex Mack to a five-year offer sheet and hosting some of 2014’s biggest prospects on pre-draft visits this week. Jacksonville continues to pop up in the news cycle, with the team playing a part in a couple of our late-afternoon updates out of the NFL’s South divisions. Let’s dive in….

  • Offensive lineman Rich Ohrnberger, who re-signed with the Chargers today, drew interest from the Jaguars before he agreed to return to San Diego, tweets Michael Gehlken of the San Diego Union-Tribune. It’s not likely that the Jags viewed Ohrnberger and Mack as equal commodities, but perhaps missing out on the former prompted the team to push harder to finalize an offer sheet with the latter.
  • Add LSU running back Jeremy Hill to the list of prospects visiting the Jaguars tomorrow, says Ryan O’Halloran of the Florida Times-Union (via Twitter).
  • Notre Dame defensive end Stephon Tuitt, who met with the Jags today, will visit the Texans tomorrow, according to Gil Brandt of NFL.com (via Twitter).
  • The Falcons have a visit lined up for next Wednesday with BYU outside linebacker Kyle Van Noy, tweets Vaughn McClure of ESPN.com.

South Notes: Bucs, Draft Visits, Jaguars

April 8th, 2014 at 11:05am CST by Luke Adams

We’ve already checked in on a pair of AFC South teams this morning, with posts on the Titans and Jaguars, but there are a few more items related to teams in that division and its NFC counterpart, so let’s dive right in….

  • As Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times details, wide receiver Mike Williams is determined to prove that the Buccaneers made a mistake by trading him to the Bills, and claims that not all of the stories about his off-field incidents are actually true.
  • The torn ACL suffered by Clemson offensive lineman Brandon Thomas occurred during a private workout with the Saints, a league source tells Aaron Wilson of the Baltimore Sun (Twitter link).
  • According to Wilson (Twitter links), Lavelle Hawkins and Major Wright both received minimum salaries from the Buccaneers, though Hawkins didn’t get a signing bonus, while Wright got one worth $65K.
  • Ball State cornerback Jeff Garrett will work out for the Colts on April 16, tweets Wilson.
  • We rounded up reports this morning of several notable prospects who are visiting the Jaguars, but we didn’t quite get them all. Ryan O’Halloran of the Florida Times-Union tweets that the team is also hosting BYU linebacker Kyle Van Noy and Notre Dame defensive lineman Stephon Tuitt while Ed Werder of ESPN.com says (via Twitter) Blake Bortles is due to visit on Thursday.