Antonio Gates Leaning Towards Return
This may be the end of the line for Ravens wide receiver Steve Smith and Broncos linebacker DeMarcus Ware, but Antonio Gates feels that he still has lots of football left in him. The veteran says that he is “definitely leaning toward coming back,” Michael Gehlken of U-T San Diego tweets. 
[RELATED: Chargers Move Kenneth Farrow To IR]
“This is not the way I expected to be done. I’m definitely leaning toward coming back,” Gates said in a likely reference to the Chargers’ 5-10 record heading into the season finale.
In 13 games this year, Gates has 48 catches for 493 yards and six touchdowns. Even though he’ll turn 37 in June, it seems like Gates can still be a highly productive tight end. Hunter Henry may be next in line at the position, but the Bolts surely want to keep Gates around for as long as possible. He is under contract for 2017 with a base salary of $4.5MM.
Gates and the Chargers will wrap up the season against the Chiefs on Jan. 1. As of this writing, the Chargers are slated to have the No. 7 overall pick in the draft.
Minor NFL Transactions: 12/27/16
A rundown of Tuesday’s minor moves:
Arizona Cardinals
- Promoted from practice squad: S Christian Bryant (signed from Giants practice squad)
- Placed on injured reserve: S Tony Jefferson, G Taylor Boggs
Carolina Panthers
- Promoted from practice squad: S Travell Dixon, DE Larry Webster
- Placed on IR: S Tre Boston, DE Ryan Delaire
Cincinnati Bengals
- Promoted from practice squad: WR Jake Kumerow, LB Trevor Roach
Jacksonville Jaguars
- Promoted from practice squad: RB Joe Banyard
- Placed on IR: LB Sean Porter
Philadelphia Eagles
- Placed on IR: RB Ryan Matthews
San Francisco 49ers
- Claimed off waivers: DL Zach Moore
- Placed on IR: RB Carlos Hyde
San Diego Chargers
- Promoted from practice squad: RB Andre Williams
Seattle Seahawks
- Promoted from practice squad: WR Kasen Williams
- Placed on IR: WR Tyler Lockett
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
- Placed on IR: CB Jude Adjei-Barimah
Tennessee Titans
- Promoted from practice squad: QB Alex Tanney
- Placed on IR: QB Marcus Mariota
Washington Redskins
- Placed on waivers: RB Silas Redd (Twitter link via Howard Balzer of BalzerFootball.com)
Chargers Move Kenneth Farrow To IR
The Week 17 backfield for the Chargers will look somewhat strange, but that’s become the norm in San Diego this season. Kenneth Farrow‘s season will end on IR due to a shoulder injury, Eric Williams of ESPN.com reports.
Farrow injured the shoulder in the Chargers’ loss to the Browns but returned to the game. His rookie season concludes with 192 rushing yards on 60 carries. A UDFA out of Houston, Farrow saw action thanks to numerous injuries to San Diego ball-carriers. Melvin Gordon‘s status has yet to be determined, but it would be surprising if the Bolts sent their starter back out there in a meaningless game against the Chiefs.
This makes three backs on San Diego’s IR, with Farrow joining Branden Oliver and Danny Woodhead. Dexter McCluster also sustained a non-football injury and is out for the season. Coupled with Gordon’s status, Farrow’s unavailability will leave Ronnie Hillman as the top able back for the Chargers, who are going to finish with back-to-back losing seasons for the first time since 2000-01. Andre Williams remains on the practice squad, so that is a move the Bolts could make to supplement Hillman if they hold out Gordon this weekend.
Farrow will look to secure a backup job next season. Woodhead is a looming UFA, Oliver will be an RFA, and Hillman will venture back into free agency as well, clouding the Bolts’ backfield behind Gordon going forward.
2017 NFL Draft Order Through Week 16
This weekend, the Browns got the best of both worlds when they won their first game of the 2016 season while the 49ers also found their way to victory. Now, the 1-14 Browns remain in the top spot as we head into the final week of the NFL season.
Here’s where we stand through Week 16. (Note: Ties are broken by strength of schedule):
- Browns 1-14
- 49ers 2-13
- Bears 3-12
- Jaguars 3-12
- Rams (pick belongs to Titans) 4-11
- Jets 4-11
- Chargers 5-10
- Bengals 5-9-1
- Panthers 6-9
- Eagles (pick belongs to Browns) 6-9
- Cardinals 6-8-1
- Bills 7-8
- Colts 7-8
- Vikings (pick belongs to Eagles) 7-8
- Saints 7-8
- Titans 8-7
- Ravens 8-7
- Buccaneers 8-7
- Broncos 8-7
- Redskins 8-6-1
Chargers Likely To Begin Coaching Search Soon
Although the Chargers have not yet formally relieved head coach Mike McCoy of his duties, the club is fully expected to do so and will commence its search for a new coach in the near future, sources tell Jason La Canfora of CBSSports.com.
[RELATED: Latest On Chargers’ Relocation]
Given that the Chargers are likely to relocate to Los Angeles, the team is now willing to expend resources in order to revamp its coaching search as it competes for talent with the Rams, who recently fired their head coach in Jeff Fisher. The Rams have already been linked to a number of candidates, including Jon Gruden, New Orleans head coach Sean Payton, and Atlanta offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan, although Gruden has maintained that he is not interested in returning to coaching at this time.
McCoy, meanwhile, has led the Chargers to a 5-10 record this season, and yesterday lost to the previously winless Browns. During his San Diego run, McCoy has posted a career mark of 27-36, and recently confirmed that the club has not offered him an extension (he’s currently signed only through 2016). For what it’s worth, Ben Volin of the Boston Globe indicated this morning that McCoy was unlikely to be fired after the season.
Latest On Chargers’ Relocation Decision
Although Dean Spanos on Sunday categorized himself as being closer to taking the Chargers to Los Angeles than keeping them in San Diego, he continues to exhaust options after the city voted down the team’s stadium proposal.
As an exercise in assessing the statuses of potential contributors to a long-sought-after new stadium, the Chargers president met with mayor Kevin Faulconer, county supervisor Ron Roberts and San Diego State Elliot Hirschman, Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune reports. Both the Chargers and the NFL have said they require specifics from city officials before the team makes a decision on L.A., one that as of now needs to be made by Jan. 15.
Acee reports some sources familiar with Spanos’ thinking here continue to say the Inglewood move remains the better bet, but Spanos will not make a decision until after the season ends Jan. 1. Faulconer and Roger Goodell remain in talks. Goodell, though, did not speak highly of proposals coming out of San Diego or Oakland lately. After several months of dormancy, Oakland is now further along in a proposal to keep the Raiders than San Diego is to retain the Chargers after the team’s preferred plan was soundly defeated at the ballot box last month.
The Chargers are preparing to some degree on relocating, securing 3.2 acres in Costa Mesa, Calif., for what would be their headquarters if they moved, Scott Reid of the Orange County Register reports. They are also working with Costa Mesa city officials to secure permits for practice fields nearby, per Reid. Costa Mesa is located near Irvine, nearly 40 miles south of Los Angeles.
Spanos is expected to survey several sites for the Chargers’ Los Angeles/Orange County headquarters, with Costa Mesa expected to receive consideration to become the team’s long-term base site. The Bolts will also have offices in Inglewood in the event they move, Reid reports. However, the agreed-upon lease with the Costa Mesa site would be terminated should the Bolts stay in San Diego. This marks the second time Spanos has sought temporary headquarters in Orange County, having submitted a plan for an indoor practice facility before opting to try for a downtown-San Diego venue.
While San Diego’s now seen as the underdog here despite the Bolts’ roots being there and questions about where they would fall in the Los Angeles sports hierarchy, sources familiar with NFL relocations tell Acee a solution still exists to keep the Chargers where they are — in the nearby suburb of Mission Valley. The Chargers went around the city’s wishes for their new stadium to be located near their current venue in Mission Valley when they went all in on the downtown venture, and Spanos has long said the Mission Valley site is not a workable solution. But some around the league wish the Chargers president would compromise on this issue to help this last-ditch effort by the city.
Sources also told Acee a downtown stadium could work as well, only without the convention center attachment, but the Chargers might be uneasy about making another run at this after the last one fell wildly short of the required votes threshold. The San Diego-based writer added that the recent events — a strange proposal by city council members of a 99-year lease at Qualcomm featuring $1 annual payments by the Chargers, unproductive talks with the city, and Raiders fans enveloping Qualcomm on Sunday in a 19-16 Bolts loss — have left Spanos more despondent than he was after the seminal L.A. vote went the Rams’ way in January.
Acee maintains the NFL will find a way to keep the Chargers where they are, but concrete solutions have yet to emerge on this front with the current L.A. deadline three weeks away.
2017 NFL Draft Order Through Week 15
With just two weeks to go, the NFL playoff picture is starting to get clearer. The Cowboys, Seahawks, Patriots, and Raiders have already punched their playoff tickets while the Chiefs, Steelers, Falcons, and Giants are considered near locks by the forecasts at Five Thirty Eight.
Here’s a look at where the draft order stands for the teams not currently slated to make the cut (Note: Ties are broken by strength of schedule):
1. Browns 0-14
2. 49ers 1-13
3. Jaguars 2-12
4. Bears 3-11
5. Jets 4-10
6. Rams (pick belongs to Titans) 4-10
7. Eagles (pick belongs to Browns) 5-9
8. Chargers 5-9
9. Cardinals 5-8-1
10. Bengals 5-8-1
11. Panthers 6-8
12. Saints 6-8
13. Bills 7-7
14. Colts 7-7
15. Vikings (pick belongs to Eagles) 7-7
16. Redskins 7-6-1
17. Titans 8-6
17. Ravens 8-6 (Note: The Titans and Ravens are currently knotted up in terms of both record and strength of schedule. In all statistical likelihood, the SOS logjam will be broken by the end of the season.)
19. Texans 8-6
20. Buccaneers 8-6
Chargers HC Mike McCoy: No Extension Offer
In January, the Chargers made sure that Mike McCoy would not be a lame duck coach by giving him a one-year extension to take him through the 2017 season. In the midst of a disappointing year, the coach confirmed that he has yet to receive another extension, as Tom Krasovic of U-T San Diego writes.
The Chargers are now 5-9 on the year and they’ll finish with their second straight losing season. In his four years at the helm, the Bolts are just 27-35. The Chargers made it to the AFC Divisional round under McCoy in 2013, but they have not returned to the playoffs since. In a “What have you done for me lately?” league, patience is wearing thin with McCoy. The Chargers are unwilling to commit to him beyond 2017 and it’s not necessarily guaranteed that he’ll keep his job this offseason, either.
Already, we have two coaching vacancies in the league. Both the Rams and Jaguars will be seeking new coaches in the New Year. The Chargers, in theory, could join that group.
Chargers President Leaning Towards L.A. Move
Nothing is set in stone for the Chargers, but their top executive is now on record saying that he is closer to leaving than staying. Before yesterday’s game, Chargers chairman Dean Spanos told CBS’ Scott Kaplan he is leaning toward moving to Los Angeles.
[RELATED: Roger Goodell On The Future Of Chargers, Raiders]
“I said I was not going to make up my mind until after the season,” Spanos said when asked about his comments (link via Kevin Acee of U-T San Diego). “He asked the question, ‘Are you closer to leaving than staying?’ I said, ‘That would probably be an accurate statement.’ I also said I’m not going to make up my mind until after the season. … Everything is in place. I’m waiting on the city of San Diego.”
Spanos also added that the team would have stayed in San Diego had Measure C – a proposal to give the Chargers a great deal of public funds – received 50% of the vote. We won’t know about the fate of the Chargers until the spring, but it sounds like they are likely to bolt about 120 miles north.
Latest On Futures Of Raiders, Chargers
NFL commissioner Roger Goodell once again expressed a desire to keep the Raiders and Chargers in their current cities Wednesday, but he admitted that neither Oakland nor San Diego has made much progress toward a new stadium.
“There’s not a stadium proposal on the table that we think addresses the long-term issues of the club that’s in those communities. So we need to continue to work at it,” said Goodell (via Eric D. Williams of ESPN.com).
Raiders owner Mark Davis plans to relocate the franchise to Las Vegas, and though Goodell would reportedly like to prevent that from happening, he spoke favorably of Sin City on Wednesday.
“There are some real strengths to the Las Vegas market,” Goodell said. “It’s clear that the Las Vegas market has become a more diversified market, more broadly involved with entertainment and hosting big events.”
Goodell also indicated that “there is a growth” to the Las Vegas market, which is much smaller than the Raiders’ current home in the Bay Area. In an effort to keep the Raiders from leaving the Bay Area, officials from the city of Oakland and the Ronnie Lott-led Fortress Investment Group have proposed a $1.3 billion stadium to replace the Oakland Coliseum. Both the Alameda County board of supervisors and Oakland city council voted to approve that plan Tuesday, per Lorenzo Reyes of USA Today. However, there’s little optimism it’ll lead anywhere, with one league executive calling the bid a “carbon copy” of previous failed attempts.
The Raiders’ relocation window is set to open Jan. 2, but the date will move back until the actual end of their season, per Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (Twitter link). That means the likely playoff-bound club won’t have the opportunity to vie for relocation until February if it makes the Super Bowl, and the deadline to file is Feb. 15. Regardless of how far the Raiders go this season, Steelers chairman Art Rooney II doesn’t expect the league to vote on their relocation plan until March, per Judy Battista of NFL.com (Twitter link). Fellow owner Jim Irsay, who runs the Colts, seems to think relocation for the Raiders and Chargers is a mere formality.
“There just isn’t any opportunity in Oakland or San Diego,” Irsay said. “As owners, we’re aware of that. It’s unfortunate. You don’t like to see it. But it’s reality.”
Owners unanimously approved the Chargers’ nearly year-old agreement to share the Los Angeles market with the Rams on Wednesday. They also signed off on allowing the Bolts to use a debt waiver to finance part of the $650MM relocation fee. Chargers owner Dean Spanos has until Jan. 15 to decide whether to take his franchise to LA, and while he could perhaps extend that deadline, Irsay argues that there wouldn’t be a purpose.
“This process has been going on for a very, very long time in San Diego,” Irsay said. “That being said, to extend it, I think, would be fruitless. I really do.”
Spanos, meanwhile, reiterated that he won’t make a choice until 2017.
“I’m not going to make any decisions until after the first of the year,” he told Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune. “That’s really all I have to say.”