Terron Armstead

Dolphins To Place T Austin Jackson On IR

September 16th, 2022 at 10:41am CST by Sam Robinson

After suffering an injury during the Dolphins’ season opener, Austin Jackson will be shut down for a stretch. Mike McDaniel said the third-year offensive lineman is headed to IR.

The Dolphins stationed Jackson at right tackle to start this season, having signed Terron Armstead to man the left side. Jackson suffered a sprained ankle in Miami’s Week 1 win. Greg Little, who replaced Jackson against the Patriots, is expected to start on the right side in Week 2.

Jackson played 14 offensive snaps against the Pats, beginning a full-time foray at right tackle. Drafted to be the Dolphins’ long-term Laremy Tunsil replacement at left tackle, Jackson did not stick at that position and spent much of his 2021 season at guard. The Dolphins, who have been keen on moving O-linemen around the formation in recent years, shuttled Jackson to right tackle after giving Armstead a five-year, $75MM deal in March.

A former Panthers second-round pick, Little arrived in Miami via August 2021 trade (for a seventh-round pick). Little has not started a game since the 2020 season. Little’s Panthers tenure did not take off; the Ole Miss product made just six starts with Carolina. The contract-year O-lineman will have another chance to make an impression Sunday.

Should Little falter, the Dolphins added some insurance this week. Brandon Shell signed with Miami’s practice squad. Shell, 30, has been a full-time right tackle starter since 2017. The former Jets and Seahawks blocker would make sense as Jackson relief, having made 61 starts in his six-year career.

Armstead, whose Saints career included a number of injuries, is battling a toe issue. McDaniel expects the 10th-year left tackle to play through it, however. With fourth-year interior lineman Michael Deiter and 2021 UDFA Robert Jones residing the team’s only O-line backups on the active roster, more help will be added once Jackson’s IR move processes. Jackson cannot return to action until Week 6.

AFC East Notes: Patricia, Dolphins, Armstead, Jets

August 20th, 2022 at 12:44pm CST by Ben Levine

If you’re keeping track at home, Matt Patricia now appears to be the favorite to be New England’s offensive play-caller. As Charean Williams of ProFootballTalk.com writes, Patricia was the only coach calling plays from the Patriots sideline during last night’s preseason contest. This is a change from the preseason opener, when Patricia alternated play-calling duties with Joe Judge.

Bill Belichick has continued to play coy on the entire situation, and he even hinted after the game that Patricia was merely communicating with Mac Jones vs. calling plays. Regardless of who ends up calling plays on offense, it’s clear that the organization is going with a committee approach to replace departed offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels.

“It’s still a process,” Belichick told reporters after the game (via NESN.com). “He (Matt Patricia)… communication with the quarterback? Yeah. But as far as calling the plays, there’s a whole other process on that.

However, if you ask some NFL sources, then it may be neither Patricia nor Judge calling offensive plays for the Patriots in 2022. As Albert Breer of SI.com writes, there are a “lot of smart NFL people who know the Patriots well” and believe it will ultimately be Belichick who ends up calling plays for Jones and the Patriots offense. Breer cautions that the head coach will end up calling plays “at some point this season,” perhaps a hint that the organization may role into the season with one of Patricia/Judge but will be prepared to pull the plug on the experiment.

More notes out of the AFC East…

A Patriots‘ seventh-round rookie may end up missing the entire season. According to ESPN’s Mike Reiss, offensive tackle Andrew Stueber doesn’t have a timetable for his return from the NFI list. Stueber suffered an injury while training after the draft, and Reiss hints that the injury could end up delaying the Michigan product’s NFL debut until the 2023 season.
Dolphins owner Stephen Ross has told league executives that he intends to leave the Dolphins organization to his family, according to Ben Fischer of Sports Business Journal (on Twitter). While this isn’t a huge surprise, it seems pretty clear that Ross won’t be leaving the franchise to limited partner Bruce Beal. Both Ross and Beal were slapped with suspensions following Miami’s tampering investigation.
The Dolphins inked left tackle Terron Armstead to a massive deal this offseason. However, the offensive lineman has never been able to make it through an entire season healthy, and that includes a 2021 campaign when he was limited to only eight snaps. If Armstead is forced to miss any time, Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald suggests (on Twitter) that the coaching staff could end up moving right tackle Austin Jackson or guard Liam Eichenberg to LT, although the reporter notes that coach Mike McDaniel prefers to keep players at their starting position instead of shifting them around.
Duane Brown‘s two-year, $22MM deal with the Jets includes a $7.88MM signing bonus and three void years, according to ESPN’s Field Yates (on Twitter). As a result, the offensive tackle’s cap hit for the 2022 season is only $3.69MM. The veteran will earn a base salary of $1.12MM in 2022, but he’ll see that number jump to $9MM.

AFC East Rumors: Carter, Scarlett, Armstead, Dolphins

July 20th, 2022 at 7:57pm CST by Ely Allen

In addition to three first-round picks, the Jets also selected the first running back of the 2022 NFL Draft, taking Iowa State’s Breece Hall in the second round at 36th overall. After New York finished the 2021 NFL season as a bottom-10 team in rushing yards, last year’s starter, Michael Carter, is expected to take a back seat to Hall in 2022, according to Mike Kaye of Pro Football Network.

After watching Tevin Coleman and Ty Johnson start in Weeks 1 and 2, respectively, Carter got his turn in Week 3 and held on to become the team’s leading rusher. The fourth-round rookie carried the ball 147 times (63 more times than the next closest back) for 639 yards and 4 touchdowns.

With Hall expected to take over as the starter, Carter is “likely to be the change-of-pace back” for the Jets. Coleman and Johnson return and will compete with La’Mical Perine and undrafted rookie Zonovan Knight for the remaining roster spots behind Hall and Carter.

Here are a few more rumors from the AFC East, all hailing from South Beach:

After spending his first season in Miami working with the linebackers, former Texan Brennan Scarlett has been working with the defensive ends more this offseason, according to the Miami Herald’s Barry Jackson. This could open the door for a bit more playing time for Scarlett, as he returns to the role he had some success with in Houston. In his two most successful seasons with the Texans, Scarlett totaled 5.5 sacks and 9.0 tackles for loss to go along with 80 total tackles. The Dolphins would love to see that production return in 2022.
After only appearing in eight games last year with the Saints, offensive tackle Terron Armstead is not guaranteed to start the 2022 season healthy for the Dolphins, according to Adam H. Beasley of Pro Football Network. Armstead was shut down in mid-December with arm and knee injuries, undergoing surgery for his knees. Miami has been careful with Armstead, who’s dealt with plenty of health issues in his past, holding him out for all spring activities. Beasley points out that a healthy Armstead could be crucial for the development of young quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, considering “the Dolphins were last in pass-block win rate (47%) and 18th in sack rate (6.5%)” in the NFL last year.
The Dolphins added to their front office last week with the hire of new football analytics staff assistant Jeremy Stabile. He announced the hiring, himself, on his Twitter last Thursday. Stabile’s first job in football came with Syracuse University as a recruiting/analytics intern. He’s also spent time with football analytics websites working as an analyst with Pro Football Focus and PlayerProfiler.com. This is Stabile’s first job in the NFL.

AFC Rumors: Jaguars, Williams, Van Roten, Leonard, Browns, Griffin III

May 8th, 2022 at 5:29pm CST by Ely Allen

After the Jaguars fired former head coach Urban Meyer, it became public that Jacksonville had no intentions of paying Meyer the remaining money on his contract, as he was being fired for cause. There was speculation at the time that the parties may follow existing precedents and negotiate a settlement in order to avoid a legal situation.

According to Jarrett Bell of USA Today, an anonymous source with knowledge of the situation informed the columnist that, to date, the two sides have been unable to strike a settlement agreement.

Here are a few other rumors from around the AFC, starting with a rumor out of South Beach:

The Dolphins should have plenty of options for their offensive line configuration, but it most likely hinges on what they do with interior offensive lineman Connor Williams. According to Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald, Miami isn’t quite sure what to do with Williams, working him at center and left guard over the past three weeks. The good news, is that it gives them plenty of options. With Terron Armstead solidified at left tackle and Robert Hunt solidly at right guard, Williams could fit at either position. If you put Williams at left guard, the team would likely have Michael Deiter start at center and leave Liam Eichenberg and Austin Jackson to compete for the starting right tackle job. If you start Williams at center, Eichenberg can slide in to the left guard job and Jackson can man the right tackle position.
The Jets recently released guard Greg Van Roten. According to Ralph Vacchiano of SNY, head coach Robert Saleh claimed that they released Van Roten because they believe he has the potential to start for other teams in the league. His release is meant to allow him to find those teams that would provide him a starting opportunity. Saleh was quoted saying they’d “love to have him back,” if he fails to find such opportunities.
Colts linebacker Darius Leonard had ankle surgery in June last year before the season. The surgery helped him to get healthy for the season, where he played every game but one and was named a first-team All-Pro for the third time in his career. While the ankle is still ailing him, Joel A. Erickson of the Indy Star reported that Leonard says the ankle is better now than it was at this point last year. This is an encouraging sign for Leonard and a scary message for the other teams in the AFC South. Leonard has been named to an All-Pro team every year of his career while being nagged by his ankle ailment. A healthy Leonard is a dangerous weapon for opposing teams to have to game-plan against.
With the return of free agent wide receiver Jarvis Landry seeming less and less likely, Mary Kay Cabot of cleveland.com believes the Browns will be able to push a bit harder now for free agent pass rusher Jadeveon Clowney to return. Cabot points out that drafting UAB pass rusher Alex Wright makes the need to sign Clowney a little less urgent, but also mentions that fellow pass rusher Myles Garrett wants Clowney back, which could help his case. Cabot claims that, if the two parties can’t agree to a new deal, Cleveland will consider former Bills defensive end Jerry Hughes instead.
We’ve all seen Rich Eisen of NFL Network run the 40-yard dash for charity. Well, this year, former NFL quarterback Robert Griffin III, currently an analyst for ESPN, participated and reportedly was clocked at 4.48 seconds. Mike Florio of NBC Sports reports that on Eisen’s show, Griffin made the claim that some teams took notice of his impressive run and reached out to him. This doesn’t necessarily mean that any teams have offered to bring him back to the NFL, but Griffin has publicly stated his desire to return to football in the past, even claiming that his contract with ESPN would allow him to sign with an NFL team if the opportunity presents itself. Griffin last spent time in the league as Lamar Jackson‘s back up on the Ravens. He filled in multiple times leading many to wonder if he still had the ability to lead an NFL offense based on his brief appearances.

Contract Details: Armstead, MVS, Douglas, Peterson, Peppers, Butler, Barnett, Harris

March 31st, 2022 at 5:59pm CST by Sam Robinson

Here are the latest details from contracts recently agreed to around the NFL:

Terron Armstead, T (Dolphins): Five years, $75MM. In addition to a $12MM signing bonus, Armstead’s $43.37MM guarantee includes his 2022 and ’23 base salaries ($1.1MM, $9MM), Aaron Wilson of ProFootballNetwork.com tweets. Armstead’s $13.25MM 2024 base salary is guaranteed for injury at signing. The deal includes $2.5MM-per-year incentives for playing time and Pro Bowl accolades, Wilson adds (on Twitter).
Marquez Valdes-Scantling, WR (Chiefs): Three years, $30MM. Valdes-Scantling’s $18MM guaranteed includes a $6MM signing bonus and a fully guaranteed 2022 base salary ($2.56MM), Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk notes. The Chiefs have some flexibility in 2023. MVS has $6.4MM of his $8.6MM 2023 salary guaranteed for injury at signing; that shifts to a full guarantee if the wideout is on Kansas City’s roster on Day 3 of the 2023 league year. Valdes-Scantling’s $11.6MM 2024 base is nonguaranteed.
Rasul Douglas, CB (Packers): Three years, $21MM. The Packers gave Douglas a $5.3MM signing bonus and have him tied to base salaries of $1.1MM, $2.25MM and $6.25MM, Wilson tweets. Douglas will collect a $2MM roster bonus if he is on Green Bay’s roster on Day 3 of the 2023 league year.
Derek Barnett, DE (Eagles): Two years, $13.2MM. Barnett will see $7MM fully guaranteed, which includes $5.5MM in Year 1 and $1.5MM in Year 2, Jeff McLane of the Philadelphia Inquirer notes (Twitter links). The Eagles guaranteed $1.5MM of Barnett’s 2023 salary and will guarantee $2MM more of that $7.5MM figure if he is on their roster on Day 3 of the 2023 league year. There are $9MM in incentives available, Wilson tweets.
Malcolm Butler, CB (Patriots): Two years, $9MM. The Patriots only guaranteed the recently unretired cornerback $750K, Ben Volin of the Boston Globe tweets. That comes via a $500K signing bonus and a $250K guarantee of Butler’s 2022 base salary. Butler’s cap numbers check in at $2.22MM and $2.75MM.
Patrick Peterson, CB (Vikings): One year, $4MM. In addition to the $3.5MM guaranteed Peterson will collect, Wilson notes the Vikings included $1MM in playing-time and playoff incentives (Twitter link). The team tacked a void year onto the deal.
Anthony Harris, S (Eagles): One year, $2.5MM. The Eagles are guaranteeing $1MM of Harris’ $2MM base salary, Wilson tweets.
Jabrill Peppers, S (Patriots): One year, $2MM. The Patriots are giving Peppers a $300K signing bonus and guaranteeing his $1.1MM base salary, Tom Pelissero of NFL.com tweets. The deal includes $3MM in playing-time incentives.

Dolphins To Sign T Terron Armstead

March 22nd, 2022 at 6:36pm CST by Sam Robinson

Terron Armstead‘s Miami visit has produced an accepted contract offer. The veteran tackle is signing a five-year deal with the Dolphins, Adam Schefter of ESPN.com tweets.

The sides agreed on a five-year contract worth $75MM, Tom Pelissero of NFL.com tweets, with Schefter adding the Dolphins will guarantee Armstead $43.37MM (Twitter link). Armstead can earn up to $87.5MM on the deal through incentives.

While Armstead delayed his decision by a bit, keeping the door open with New Orleans, he will head to Florida to give the Dolphins a high-end left tackle option. Pro Football Focus ranked the Dolphins’ offensive line 32nd in 2021. The unit featured multiple starters change positions either ahead of last season or during the campaign. Armstead’s role figures to be solidified.

Armstead operated as the Saints’ starting left tackle for the past eight seasons. While the former third-round pick missed some time due to injury, including an extended stretch last season, he hit the market as one of the top players available. The 30-year-old blocker is a three-time Pro Bowler who played a key role in the Saints’ late-2010s resurgence. Elbow and knee trouble limited Armstead in 2021, a season in which he played eight games. The decorated veteran underwent knee surgery this offseason.

This contract is similar to the one he inked back in 2016, a five-year deal worth $64.5MM. While quality left tackles in their prime do not hit the market often, the Saints prioritized the younger Ryan Ramczyk by extending their right tackle on a top-level deal last year. Ramczyk’s contract contains escalators that would change the terms of the deal if the former first-rounder excels at left tackle. Regardless of New Orleans’ plan with its well-regarded right tackle, this ends a five-year Armstead-Ramczyk partnership.

Miami’s left tackle spot has been in flux since the team dealt Laremy Tunsil to Houston in 2019. Successor option Austin Jackson, a 2020 first-round pick, has since been moved to guard. The Dolphins used 2021 second-round pick Liam Eichenberg at left tackle extensively last season, but the Notre Dame product will not keep the gig. Armstead and Connor Williams have committed to Miami, with the latter likely claiming one of the team’s guard jobs. The Dolphins moved Robert Hunt from tackle to guard during the 2021 offseason, and PFF graded Hunt as the team’s best O-line regular last season.

The team may not be done up front. They are planning to add a center, Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald tweets. But new running backs Raheem Mostert and Chase Edmonds already have multiple well-paid blockers set to clear lanes for them.

Terron Armstead To Visit Dolphins

March 20th, 2022 at 5:53pm CST by Adam La Rose

Linked to one another throughout the offseason, including earlier today, there is more news regarding the Dolphins and left tackle Terron Armstead. NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reports (on Twitter) that the top free agent is flying to Miami tonight, and he will meet with the team tomorrow.

The Dolphins have made it clear they have prioritized upgrading their offensive line this offseason. They’ve already made a move on that front by signing former Cowboy Connor Williams, but the tackle position is widely seen as another area for improvement.

That – along with the Dolphins’ cap situation, putting them in better shape financially than most other teams – has led to them being named as one of the most logical landing spots for the longtime Saint. Given the news from a matter of hours ago that Miami was the first team named as having serious interest in Armstead, it comes as no surprise that he will meet in person with them.

The 30-year-old has been in New Orleans since 2013, and became the team’s starting blindside protector one year later. He was named a Pro Bowler for three consecutive seasons from 2018 to 2020, and followed that up with a PFF grade of 75.9 this past campaign. While offseason knee surgery could be cooling his market, he is likely to earn a sizeable raise from the $13MM-per-season average he made on his most recent contract.

With La’el Collins signing with the Bengals earlier today, another top tackle is off the market. If all goes according to plan tomorrow, Armstead may very well become the next to find a new home.

Dolphins Pursuing LT Terron Armstead

March 20th, 2022 at 8:06am CST by Rory Parks

We heard before free agency opened that the Dolphins would be aggressive in their efforts to upgrade their offensive line. The ‘Fins agreed to terms with free agent guard Connor Williams earlier this week, and Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald hears from two trusted sources that the club is pursuing free agent LT Terron Armstead (Twitter link).

As the Chiefs elected to place the franchise tag on Orlando Brown, Jr., Armstead is likely the top LT option on the open market (a case could be made for Duane Brown, but he is six years older than Armstead, who will turn 31 in July). Still, despite his three consecutive Pro Bowl bids from 2018-20, and despite a typically strong 75.9 overall score from Pro Football Focus in 2021, there has not been a great deal of reported interest in Armstead at this point.

Indeed, as of the time of this writing, only the Dolphins have been even speculatively linked to the lifelong Saint. Perhaps that is because he missed significant time with a knee injury last year, an injury that will require offseason surgery. Plus, Armstead may have been willing to return to New Orleans on a hometown discount if the Saints had been able to acquire former Texans QB Deshaun Watson via trade.

Now that Watson has been dealt to the Browns, Armstead may be turning his full attention to other suitors. In Spotrac’s estimation, the Arkansas-Pine Bluff product is worth a four-year, $95.8MM contract, and while that would obviously be a hefty investment for the Dolphins, Armstead’s presence should be well-worth such a commitment, assuming there are no complications with his knee surgery.

Just yesterday, Jackson reported that the Dolphins were “monitoring” the recently-released La’el Collins, but the Miami Herald scribe says the club is putting its Collins pursuit on pause while it tries to seal the deal with Armstead. Even if the Dolphins do sign Armstead, Jackson suggests they could subsequently try to acquire Collins to play right tackle.

Latest On FA OL Terron Armstead

March 15th, 2022 at 7:51pm CST by Ben Levine

Terron Armstead should earn himself a nice pay day this offseason, but it sounds like he’d consider taking a discount with the Saints depending on their QB situation. According to Aaron Wilson of ProFootballNetwork.com (on Twitter), Armstead is waiting to see if Deshaun Watson lands in New Orleans before figuring out his next step.

While Armstead is a free agent, he’s presumably among the Saints players actively recruiting Watson to New Orleans, according to Wilson.

Armstead is among the top free agents remaining on the board. The veteran has spent his entire career with the Saints, earning three-straight Pro Bowl nods between 2018 and 2020. The lineman has seen time in 97 career games (93 starts).

The 30-year-old started each of his eight games in 2021. He missed a handful of games with a knee injury, and he’ll reportedly need offseason surgery to repair the ailment.

Dolphins Set To Be Aggressive In Upgrading Offense

March 10th, 2022 at 11:52am CST by Adam La Rose

Changes to the Dolphins’ offense have already begun on the sidelines, principally with the hiring of Mike McDaniel as head coach. On the field, the team is preparing to add significant pieces to the unit, according to NFL Network’s Cameron Wolfe (video link).

In 2021, the team ranked 22nd in the league in points and 26th in yards, so there is certainly room for improvement in addition to developing quarterback Tua Tagovailoa. Wolfe names Amari Cooper as someone the team is “watching closely” in the event he is cut from the Cowboys. Given the lack of teams interested in trading for the four-time Pro Bowler – and taking on the weighty cap hit his contract carries as a result – it seems likely he will be released.

If that happens, Miami will certainly have competition to land such an accomplished wideout. With more than $50MM of unused space, however, the team will certainly have the spending power to offer Cooper a deal that would at least be close to what he would have made with the Cowboys. In any event, Wolfe notes that the Dolphins are looking to add a third impact piece to their pass-catching corps, in addition to Jaylen Waddle and Mike Gesicki.

With that said, Wolfe names the offensive line as the team’s “top priority”. With the potential for upgrades existing across the front, the team is looking at free agents at each position. Chief among those is tackle Terron Armstead; perhaps the top free agent of any kind this year, the Dolphins would, like with Cooper, need to win a bidding war for his services. Interior options they are watching reportedly include guard Laken Tomlinson and center Ryan Jensen, other established veterans who would help in both run blocking and pass protection.

Whether along the offensive line or amongst skill-position options, the Dolphins are set up to make at least one notable signing next week. Who that will be – and what further moves the team makes – will certainly be worth keeping an eye on in the coming days.

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