Draft Rumors: Chaisson, Titans, Raiders
While they have been rumored to be deciding on a left tackle or Isaiah Simmons, the Giants are now being connected to another name at No. 4. Strong buzz has emerged on the Giants liking LSU edge rusher K’Lavon Chaisson, Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports notes. Chaisson has not been mentioned as a top-five candidate previously, and La Canfora still mocks Tristan Wirfs to New York. But with Dave Gettleman shocking most by drafting Daniel Jones at No. 6 last year, an off-the-board pick should not be ruled out. The Giants are fairly desperate for edge rushers, having traded away Jason Pierre-Paul and Olivier Vernon in consecutive offseasons and having not re-signed 2019 sack leader Markus Golden.
Here is the latest from the draft world, with less than five hours remaining until showtime:
- Simmons’ versatility may be working against him in some circles. The do-it-all Clemson linebacker may be dropping, with Albert Breer of SI.com writing that teams’ issues with Simmons’ potential fit could well result in him tumbling Thursday night. Noting that a team needs a detailed plan to get the most out of Simmons, Breer does not expect him to go in the top seven.
- Having lost Jack Conklin hours into free agency, the Titans have done a lot of work on offensive linemen in this year’s class, La Canfora adds. Ezra Cleveland‘s rise may play him out of Tennessee’s range (No. 29) at this point, but La Canfora points out the Titans are high on Louisiana tackle Robert Hunt as well.
- Despite their 14-2 season, the Ravens did not fully replace C.J. Mosley. They have since lost inside linebacker Patrick Onwuasor. They may be in the hunt to fortify that spot tonight. The Ravens have been calling around on linebackers, Breer adds, potentially for a trade-up to land one of this draft’s best. Mel Kiper’s most recent mock draft has Baltimore taking LSU’s Patrick Queen at No. 28, with Oklahoma’s Kenneth Murray going ahead of him. But the Ravens may want to make sure they are in position to land one of these two players by moving up.
- A footnote in the Raiders‘ blockbuster Khalil Mack trade: they lost their 2020 second-round pick. The team holds two first-round picks but “would love” to drop into Round 2 and stockpile draft capital in doing so, Breer notes.
- The 49ers have engaged in conversations regarding potential trades of both their first-rounders — Nos. 13 and 31 — but Breer hears San Francisco would prefer to move down from 31 instead of 13. With the higher pick, the 49ers have been linked to top wide receivers. They have visited with CeeDee Lamb and are believed to be interested in Henry Ruggs.
Bucs, Titans Talk With QB James Morgan
Add the Buccaneers and Titans to the list of teams with Florida International quarterback James Morgan on the radar (Twitter link via Mike Wells of ESPN.com). His market could be heating up as a whole host of teams have chatted with him in recent days. 
As previously reported, the Jets, Patriots, Packers, Bears, Raiders, Giants, Bills, and Dolphins have also checked in with the young passer. The Colts, per Wells, have had multiple video meetings with him.
Morgan hasn’t gotten the same kind of hype as other QBs in this class. In all likelihood, he’ll be available well after Joe Burrow, Tua Tagovailoa, Justin Herbert, Jake Fromm, and other big names have been spoken for. Still, Morgan’s stock has been steadily rising, thanks in part to strong showings at the combine and the East-West Shrine Game. He might not be the complete package, but he offers one of the strongest arms in the draft, plus football IQ and leadership qualities.
After an up and down run at Bowling Green, Morgan transferred to FIU in 2018. In his first season in the state of Florida, he earned Conference USA Newcomer of the Year honors by completing over 65% of his passes for 26 touchdowns and seven interceptions. Last year wasn’t quite as strong, but he’s still well liked by evaluators.
Minor NFL Transactions: 4/21/20
Here are Tuesday’s minor moves, with the list being updated throughout the day.
Dallas Cowboys
- Waived: WR Lance Lenoir
Miami Dolphins
- Waived/injured: DE Jonathan Ledbetter
Seattle Seahawks
- Claimed off waivers from Dolphins: CB Linden Stephens
Tennessee Titans
- Signed: CB Tye Smith
2020 NFL Draft Picks By Team
The 2020 NFL Draft is just days away and it’s just a matter of time before picks are swapped and shuffled at lightning speed. Before the trading frenzy starts, let’s take a look at the draft picks owned by each team.
[RELATED: 2020 NFL Draft Order By Round]
Updated: 4-17-20 (5:00pm CT)
Arizona Cardinals
1-8:
3-72:
4-114:
4-131: (from Houston)
6-202: (from New England)
7-222:
Atlanta Falcons
1-16:
2-47:
3-78:
4-119:
4-143: (from Baltimore*)
7-228: (from Tampa Bay, via Philadelphia)
Baltimore Ravens
1-28:
2-55: (from Atlanta, via New England)
2-60:
3-92:
3-106*:
4-129: (from New England)
4-134:
5-170: (from Minnesota)
7-225: (from Jets)
Buffalo Bills
2-54:
3-86:
4-128:
5-167:
6-188: (from Cleveland)
6-207: (from Baltimore via New England)
7-239: (from Minnesota)
Titans Won’t Rule Out Jadeveon Clowney
Will the Titans be the team to land Jadeveon Clowney? Titans GM Jon Robinson won’t rule it out. 
“We’ll see,” Robinson said (via Jim Wyatt of the team website). “Like I said a couple of weeks ago, we’ve had some discussions there and we’ve had some dialogue back and forth. You never close the door on anything.”
So, there’s a chance that the Titans will make a serious run at the former No. 1 overall pick, even though they’re not the favorites to sign him. In a recent PFR poll, less than 8% of you predicted that Clowney would be heading to Nashville. By all accounts, the incumbent Seahawks and Browns (not necessarily in that order) are the most likely destinations for Clowney.
At one point, the Seahawks were offering Clowney a deal worth $13-$15MM per year. That could be enough, or close to enough, to get something done. Clowney has backed down from his initial ask of ~$20MM per season and, realistically, he’ll have to scale back his expectations as time goes on.
The Titans currently have about $21MM in cap room, but their incoming draft class will chip away at that number. They could still eek out enough space for Clowney, but they might prefer to spend in another area after picking up Vic Beasley. Beasley, the No. 8 pick in the 2015 draft, tallied eight sacks last year. Clowney, meanwhile, had only three sacks.
Draft Rumors: Henderson, Dobbins, Davis
Are you ready for surprises on draft day? It sounds like you should be. “The media is wronger about mock drafts this year than you guys have ever been,” one NFL general manager told Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (Twitter link). That’s undoubtedly because of the ongoing certainly involving COVID-19, which has caused the league to upend its predraft process. As Daniel Jeremiah of NFL.com tweets, “group think” is less likely to occur in 2019 because scouts and executives were unable to congregate at pro days, events where evaluators typically will — intentionally or not — develop something of a consensus on prospects.
After deciding whether “wronger” is actually a word, let’s take a look at more on the upcoming draft:
- The Falcons held a predraft video meeting with Florida cornerback C.J. Henderson last week, according to Vaughn McClure of ESPN.com (Twitter link). Atlanta currently holds the 16th overall pick, but recent reports have indicated general manager Thomas Dimitroff & Co. could be interested in moving up the board. Henderson is considered the draft’s second-best cornerback behind Ohio State’s Jeffrey Okudah, although some decision-makers may rate Henderson No. 1.
- Ohio State running back J.K. Dobbins has held video meetings with several NFL teams, including the Chiefs, Packers, Bills, Lions, Saints, Dolphins, reports Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle. This isn’t the first time Dobbins has been linked to Miami, as he took a predraft visit with the Dolphins before such meetings were shut down due to COVID-19. Indeed, Dobbins left that visit feeling Miami was “infatuated” with him.
- Alabama defensive tackle Raekwon Davis says the 49ers, Packers, Dolphins, Ravens, and Eagles are the teams that have contacted him most, as Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk writes. A massive presence at 6’6″, 310 pounds, Davis a first-round projection and comparisons to DeForest Buckner from NFL.com’s Lance Zierlein. Mike Renner of Pro Football Focus, however, ranks Davis just 10th among interior defender prospects, noting his lack of development as a pass-rusher.
- The Ravens, 49ers, Panthers, Titans, and Seahawks have all held video sessions with TCU defensive tackle Ross Blacklock, per Wilson. Blacklock, who stock has risen during the predraft process, missed the 2018 campaign with an Achilles injury but was productive during both his freshman and junior seasons. Last year, he posted 40 tackles (nine for loss) and 3.5 sacks.
2020 NFL Draft Capital By Team
Every NFL team automatically gets seven draft picks per season, but thanks to lots of trades and the compensatory pick process, many clubs end up with more (or less) than their original seven selections. After running down the NFL Draft round-by-round, let’s take a look at how much draft capital each club has amassed:
Updated: 4-16-20 (6:00pm CT)
14 picks
- Miami Dolphins
12 picks
- Jacksonville Jaguars
- Minnesota Vikings
- New England Patriots
10 picks
- Denver Broncos
- Green Bay Packers
- New York Giants
9 picks
- Baltimore Ravens
- Detroit Lions
8 picks
- Carolina Panthers
- New York Jets
- Philadelphia Eagles
7 picks
- Buffalo Bills
- Chicago Bears
- Cincinnati Bengals
- Cleveland Browns
- Dallas Cowboys
- Houston Texans
- Indianapolis Colts
- Las Vegas Raiders
- Los Angeles Chargers
- Los Angeles Rams
- Seattle Seahawks
- Tampa Bay Buccaneers
- San Francisco 49ers
- Washington Redskins
6 picks
- Arizona Cardinals
- Atlanta Falcons
- Pittsburgh Steelers
- Tennessee Titans
5 picks
- Kansas City Chiefs
- New Orleans Saints
2020 NFL Cap Room By Team
The biggest names in NFL free agency might be off the board, but there are still plenty of noteworthy players on the board and high-profile cuts on the way. And, while some teams did their spending early, others are still sitting on lots of cash.
The latest cap figures from OverTheCap show that several teams are poised to pounce in the latter waves of free agency, starting with the Browns. The numbers also show that teams like the Rams still have work to do in order to sign their upcoming draft class. Also, the Eagles’ 2020 figure doesn’t quite tell the whole story – thanks to high-priced multi-year deals including Darius Slay’s new contract, they’re already overcommitted on dollars for 2021.
Here’s the complete rundown for all 32 teams, in descending order of cap space:
- Browns – $40.2MM
- Lions – $29.5MM
- Eagles – $27.1MM
- Colts – $24MM
- Dolphins – $23.9MM
- Redskins – $23.8MM
- Chargers – $22.3MM
- Titans – $21.5MM
- Bills – $20.9MM
- Texans – $18.6MM
- Broncos – $17.5MM
- Giants – $17.1MM
- Jets – $15.5MM
- Jaguars – $14.6MM
- Cowboys – $13.6MM
- Buccaneers – $13.5MM
- 49ers – $13.4MM
- Seahawks – $12.6MM
- Vikings – $12.3MM
- Ravens – $11.3MM
- Packers – $11.08MM
- Bears – $11.03MM
- Panthers – $9.4MM
- Raiders – $8.8MM
- Bengals – $7.3MM
- Steelers – $7.2MM
- Cardinals – $7MM
- Saints – $5.3MM
- Chiefs – $2.9MM
- Falcons – $2.4MM
- Patriots – $1.2MM
- Rams – (-$5.3MM)
Titans To Bring In Another Kicker
The Texans lost D.J. Reader to an unlikely team, with the Bengals deviating from a long-conservative free agency philosophy to sign the breakout defensive lineman to a four-year, $53MM deal. Bill O’Brien confirmed (via the Houston Chronicle’s Aaron Wilson, on Twitter) the Texans wanted to keep Reader. The seventh-year Texans HC/first-year Texans GM said team brass had “good conversations” with the interior defender’s camp about a new deal but acknowledged the team “couldn’t get that one done.” The Bills, Broncos and Titans were among the known Reader suitors before the Bengals swooped in. The Texans initially came in with a $6MM-per-year offer before the 2019 season, but Reader’s bet on himself translated into $13MM-plus-AAV deal. Houston has not made a move to replace Reader up front. The Texans have $35MM in cap space but are working on a Laremy Tunsil extension and obviously have a Deshaun Watson deal to consider.
- Coming off one of the worst kicking seasons in modern NFL history, the Titans are bringing back late-season addition Greg Joseph. But they will add competition soon, GM Jon Robinson confirmed (via Jim Wyatt of TennesseeTitans.com). Robinson said the team will look in both free agency and the draft for its second kicker. The Titans went a ghastly 8-for-18 on field goals last season. Joseph did not attempt a field goal in two regular-season games with Tennessee and only attempted one — a make — in the Titans’ three playoff games. The former Browns kicker made all 18 of his extra point tries, however, and was successful on 25 of 29 field goal tries during his 2018 season in Cleveland.
Latest On Jadeveon Clowney
Jadeveon Clowney is surprisingly still on the market this late in the process, and he’s one of the most interesting situations left to monitor. A couple of days ago we heard that Clowney had lowered his asking price from around $20MM a year to $17-18MM annually after not receiving the offers he was hoping for.
Now we’ve got a new batch of notes on his status, courtesy of John Clayton of ESPN 710 Seattle. Clayton writes that the Seahawks are taking a wait and see approach with Clowney and are being patient. He thinks Seattle might be willing to only pay between $13-15MM for him, which would be a steep discount. New York has been talked about as an interested team, but Clayton writes to “scratch the thoughts on the Jets.”
Clayton writes the Jets’ discussions consisted of only one phone call to his agent and that they haven’t made him an offer, so it sounds like their interest has possibly been a bit overstated. Clayton acknowledges that the Titans are interested, but thinks it might be hard for Tennessee to fit him into their cap after they already gave fellow outside linebacker Vic Beasley a $9MM contract.
Of course Titans head coach Mike Vrabel coached Clowney during their time in Houston, so maybe he’ll be extra motivated to make it work. Clayton opines that had Clowney lowered his demands in the first couple of days of free agency, he would’ve had a deal. The Seahawks by all accounts want to bring him back, and it sounds like they might end up getting a great deal if Clowney’s leverage continues to decrease. We’ve also heard the next best free agent rusher Everson Griffen is interested in joining the Seahawks, so that could be their backup plan if Clowney heads elsewhere.