Stephen Jones

NFC Notes: Freeney, Berger, McClain, Hall

June 4th, 2016 at 8:00pm CST by Sam Robinson

The Cardinals could still probably use Dwight Freeney this season, but depth chart and financial issues are complicating a reunion. The former All-Pro’s most recent employer plans to see what its younger pass-rushers are capable of before committing to another Freeney contract, Kent Somers of the Arizona Republic reports.

Chandler Jones‘ arrival via trade fills a key need for one of the Super Bowl favorites, with less-experienced incumbents Alex Okafor and Shaq Riddick, along with CFL signee Tristan Okpalaugo representing the younger contingent opposite Markus Golden that are causing the team to pass on signing the 36-year-old Freeney for now. Another matter comes from Arizona’s preference to sign either Tyrann Mathieu, Michael Floyd or Calais Campbell to an extension this year, with the team’s preference that it be Mathieu.

The Cardinals possess $4.6MM in cap space and could probably afford Freeney on a veteran-minimum-type deal — the former Syracuse star played for $875K with $800K in incentives upon signing during last season — but are willing to gamble the productive situational sack artist will be available if they need him.

Freeney has visited the Falcons and Bengals in the last two weeks but indicated a seeming preference to return to Arizona, where he registered nine total sacks (one in the playoffs) in 12 games. Like Steve Keim, Dan Quinn didn’t rule out a signing down the road, so some options still likely exist for the former first-round pick.

Here’s the latest from around the NFC.

The Vikings are assembling one of the most experienced offensive lines in the NFL, but as OTAs progress, they don’t have a certain place in their starting lineup for Joe Berger. Pro Football Focus’ second-best center last season, Berger returns to the backup center spot he occupied before John Sullivan‘s season-ending injury last August. Minnesota should find a way to try him at another position — which would almost certainly be guard if the Vikes intend to do so — to maximize their talent up front, Sid Hartman of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune writes. Berger rated as by far the best Vikings blocker last season, per PFF, and has started 26 games over the past two seasons after starting nine in his previous three campaigns in the Twin Cities. Hartman indicated next week the Vikes might reshuffle their line, which now houses Alex Boone and Andre Smith as potential right-side starters, in the near future.
Although the Cowboys‘ selection of Jaylon Smith in the second round this year points to a potential changing of the guard at middle linebacker in Dallas, that isn’t likely going to come in 2016. After signing a one-year, $5MM deal in March to stay in Dallas, Rolando McClain remains the projected starter there, but he’s absent from OTAs. Brandon George of the Dallas Morning News points to additional issues perhaps surrounding the 26-year-old McClain’s absence. George didn’t specify, but McClain has endured a complicated career that included a brief early retirement and continued with a four-game suspension for violation of the substance-abuse policy to start 2015. Jason Garrett said McClain’s absence during the first two weeks of OTAs is related to a family matter. Combining that and the injury-related absences of Sean Lee and Barry Church should cause some concern, George writes. “It’s certainly disappointing when [players are] not here,” Stephen Jones said recently. “But at the same time we know there’s always circumstances where guys are gonna miss. And that doesn’t necessarily indicate if that guy’s gonna have a good year or a bad year. I think it certainly gives them a better chance to have a good year when they’re in our competitive offseason conditioning programs, the OTAs, all those things.”
DeAngelo Hall looks prepared to claim one of the Redskins‘ starting safety positions, Tarik El-Bashir of CSNMidAtlantic.com writes. The 32-year-old Hall made the switch last season, but this represents his first full offseason working as a safety. He rated as Pro Football Focus’ No. 57 safety last season. David Bruton leads the competition for Washington’s strong safety spot.

NFC East Notes: Robinson, Weddle, Giants

March 20th, 2016 at 7:12pm CST by Sam Robinson

Here’s the latest from the NFC East as Week 2 of free agency concludes.

Patrick Robinson and Alfred Morris are scheduled to meet with Cowboys position coaches tonight and Monday after arriving in Dallas today. The former Chargers cornerback and Washington running back, however, spent time on the phone with Jason Garrett before he left for the NFL Owners’ Meetings in South Florida, Cowboys executive VP Stephen Jones told media, including David Moore of the Dallas Morning News. “Jason’s spent some good time on the phone with them,” Jones said. “So have we. Obviously, we tried to get them in there before we left but in their particular cases it didn’t work out that way.”
Jones told media, including Moore, Eric Weddle was interested in joining the Cowboys, but the team wasn’t ready to go where the Ravens were financially to secure the 31-year-old safety’s services. Interested in coming to Dallas partially due to special teams coach Rich Bisaccia having been on the Chargers’ staff in 2011-12, Weddle ended up landing in Baltimore for four years and $26MM. Both Bisaccia and Garrett contacted Weddle during free agency, however, Moore reports.
John Mara and his top front office assistants thought the Giants had a realistic shot of signing two of the three high-priced players on Big Blue’s list of durable, in-their-prime free agents, Jordan Raanan of NJ.com reports. The cap-rich Giants instead landed their preferred defensive trio of Olivier Vernon, Damon Harrison and Janoris Jenkins in hopes of fixing their last-ranked defense. Mara did concede that troika proved to be pricier than anticipated. “The three guys were a little more expensive than I thought they were going to be, but they are all young, they are all healthy and they fulfill needs,” Mara told media, including Raanan. Jenkins has missed four games in four seasons, while Vernon suited up for every Dolphins contest since 2012. Harrison played and started in each Jets contest since 2013. The Giants were the most injured team in the NFL in each of the past three seasons, per Raanan.
After allocating more money to this year’s class of free agents than they did in the previous four seasons combined, the Giants expect to dial it back significantly next spring, Mara told media, including Raanan (Twitter link). “I certainly don’t see us being this aggressive next year,” Mara said.

Cowboys Backing Away From Greg Hardy?

March 20th, 2016 at 6:16pm CST by Sam Robinson

The Cowboys haven’t spoken with Greg Hardy during free agency, executive VP Stephen Jones told media, including David Moore of the Dallas Morning News.

Arguably the best player still on the market, the mercurial defensive end represents a PR risk for any team that begins negotiations with him. Entering his age-28 season, Hardy finished two seasons with over 10 sacks — including a career-high 15 in 2013 — but has missed 19 games in connection with a domestic violence incident and wasn’t exactly a model citizen in Dallas last season.

“[He’s] a free agent we haven’t had discussions with, if you want to say that,” Jones told media.

Earlier this week, we heard two teams were interested in Hardy but were trying to keep their interest under the radar in fear of attracting bad publicity.

Even amid Hardy’s struggles to acclimate in Dallas, the Cowboys said at multiple junctures they’d like to keep Hardy long-term. But the team steadily backed off that stance as the season went along. Hardy finished last season with six sacks after missing the first four games of the season due to a suspension.

Hardy ranked 21st on PFR’s Top 50 Free Agents list, behind only Ryan Fitzpatrick (No. 19) among still-available UFAs.

Photo courtesy USA Today Sports Images

Extra Points: Cowboys, Wilkerson

September 12th, 2015 at 8:07pm CST by Connor J. Byrne

The Cowboys made the wise decision to select ex-Notre Dame offensive guard Zack Martin 16th overall in the 2014 draft, but they did so against owner Jerry Jones’ wishes, chief operating officer Stephen Jones – Jerry’s son – told David Moore of the Dallas Morning News.

“Let’s go over this quarterback thing one more time,” said Jerry Jones, despite hearing endorsements of Martin from Stephen Jones, senior director of college/pro personnel Will McClay, head coach Jason Garrett and offensive coordinator Scott Linehan.

The Cowboys then tried – and failed – to move down in the draft before settling on Martin.

“Son, if you want to do special things in life, you can’t keep picking and doing things down the middle,” Jerry said to Stephen afterward. “What we just did was down the middle.”

Martin did special things as a rookie, earning Pro Bowl and All-Pro honors. Quarterback Johnny Manziel, whom Dallas could have taken instead of Martin, had a poor first year both on and off the field and enters his second season backing up journeyman Josh McCown in Cleveland.

Here’s more from around the NFL:

CBS Sports’ Jason La Canfora reported earlier Saturday that the Jets and defensive lineman Muhammad Wilkerson are far apart on contract talks and unlikely to continue negotiating when the season starts Sunday. However, there is not – nor has there ever been – a hard Sunday deadline to get a deal done, according to Manish Mehta of the New York Daily News (Twitter link). That means the two sides could still hammer out a long-term extension during the season.
Titans head coach Ken Whisenhunt, speaking to SiriusXM NFL Radio (Twitter link), showered praise on rookie quarterback Marcus Mariota. “It was amazing how quickly our team bonded with Mariota. He has a businesslike professional approach. Doesn’t get rattled.” Mariota, the second overall pick in this year’s draft, will square off against the No. 1 selection, Bucs QB Jameis Winston, on Sunday.
The Browns won’t improve on their 7-9 record from 2014 without another big year from their defensive backfield, writes Tom Reed of Cleveland.com. The group includes three Pro Bowlers in Joe Haden, Tashaun Gipson and Donte Whitner. Gipson believes he’s part of the best secondary in the league. “Any time you get together this kind of talent nothing bad can go wrong in our eyes,” he said. “If we execute the game plan and play fast I feel there’s no better secondary out than us.”
The five-year, $45MM extension the Cowboys signed Tyrone Crawford to Saturday makes the Eagles’ recent four-year, $29MM pact with Mychal Kendricks look better, opines former Eagles and Browns executive Joe Banner. Kendricks’ deal is the best one any team has given out this year, Banner thinks (Twitter link).

Extra Points: Rice, Peterson, Bell, Miller

July 25th, 2015 at 5:24pm CST by Sam Robinson

Ray Rice is exhausting his NFL contacts in an effort to secure a chance at reviving his career, Ed Werder of ESPN.com reports.

The embattled running back and his former coach at Rutgers, Greg Schiano, among others, are making contact with teams in hopes of the 28-year-old runner resuming his once-promising tenure in the league. Werder reported one team was seriously interested in offering a deal to Rice but balked due to the potential backlash after video of his domestic assault on his then-fiancee/now-wife emerged last September.

Money is not motivating the former Pro Bowler here, according to Werder, with Rice having earned in excess of $20MM in his career.

Rice seeks the same second chance his 2014 suspended compatriots Adrian Peterson and Greg Hardy have. Of course, those two players have more recent track records of success than Rice, whose position is arguably the easiest non-specialty role to replace. Per Werder, NFL GMs view Rice as a declining player at a young man’s position. His yards per carry, which had hovered above four per tote in each of his first four seasons, dipped to 3.1 in 2013.

Here are some other news items from the league on the final Saturday without eventful NFL action for nearly seven months.

Despite staunch holdout threats this offseason before finally agreeing to rejoin the Vikings, Peterson said would have played out the season on his previously nonguaranteed contract, reports Chris Tomasson of the St. Paul Pioneer Press. “I’m definitely happy,’’ Peterson told media at Vikings training camp in Mankato, Minn. “If (this week’s restructuring didn’t occur), I’d would have just been like, you know what, I’ll just play this year out and not redo the contract. I’m happy to be a Viking.” It’s doubtful the 30-year-old running back iterated that stance to Vikings management, but the team will have its star running back in a more content state this season after he missed almost all of the last. Peterson’s new deal guarantees him $13MM this season and $7MM against injury in 2016.
Le’Veon Bell is still awaiting an appeal date for his marijuana-induced suspension, reports Dan Hanzus of NFL.com. The Steelers‘ breakout backfield star is set to miss three games.
Ohio State standout Braxton Miller‘s switch to H-back may help his NFL draft status. The top-10 Heisman Trophy finalist in 2012 and 2013 has been playing at his new spot for three months after missing the 2014 season, reports Pete Thamel of SI.com. According to one NFL scout interviewed by CBS Sports’ Dane Brugler, this will enhance the senior’s earning potential come 2016. “We currently have two grades on him, one as an ‘athlete’ and one as a quarterback,” an NFC scout told Brugler. “The grade of him as an athlete is much…better. Because that’s when he’s at his best – with the ball in his hand.
Cowboys executive VP Stephen Jones isn’t exactly pleased with the progress made by the league this offseason in terms of rectifying the catch process, according to Dallasnews.com. In a lengthy analysis, Jones said there is still “some work to do” on avoiding controversial ruling like the one involving Dez Bryant that essentially eliminated the Cowboys from the playoffs in January.
Jameis Winston‘s trial in a sexual battery lawsuit won’t occur until May 2017, according to a Tampa Bay Times report. The alleged incident occurred in December 2012. The Buccaneers‘ No. 1 overall pick was not charged or arrested for this reported incident.

Latest On Cowboys/Broncos Collusion Allegations

July 13th, 2015 at 6:55pm CST by Zachary Links

6:55pm: The NFLPA letter to the Broncos and Cowboys doesn’t spell out specific transgressions but it does ask clubs to preserve certain documents and communications, Breer tweets.

6:04pm: Evidence of possible collusion between the Cowboys and Broncos stems from a conversation that took place between Dez Bryant and Cowboys COO Stephen Jones, a league source tells Mike Florio of PFT.

Jones explained to Bryant that the Calvin Johnson contract, which is the most lucrative deal for a wide receiver in the NFL, has no relevance to other receivers because of the unique circumstances surrounding those negotiations. Then, according to Bryant’s account (per the source), Jones told the receiver that he talked to Broncos GM John Elway about the situation. Because the Broncos also have a franchise-tagged receiver in Demaryius Thomas, the admission that Jones and Elway communicated about the situation constitutes evidence of collusion.

There could be significant penalties for the Cowboys and Broncos as the league’s collective bargaining agreement prohibits such contact. However, it could also be hard to find the smoking gun. Bryant could give testimony to support his claims, but if there is no tangible evidence of a conversation between Elway and Jones, the investigation might not get far.

July 15th is the deadline for franchised players to sign long-term extensions with their teams — if no agreement is reached by that date, a player who received the franchise tag will have to play on a one-year deal in 2015, if he intends to play at all. Given the relatively similar statistical production posted by Bryant and Thomas – as well as Bengals wideout A.J. Green and Falcons receiverJulio Jones, who are playing on fifth-year options this year – there’s been a sense that everyone is waiting for one team to extend its star receiver to establish the market.

The NFLPA letter containing the collusion claims against the Broncos and Cowboys went to the clubs today, Albert Breer of NFL.com tweets.