Jets To Sign Round 2 RB Breece Hall, Wrap 2022 Draft Class Deals
Jets rookies report to training camp Tuesday, and the team will not have any official holdouts. The Jets will have Breece Hall under contract before the team’s first workout, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets.
The Iowa State product has been in the team’s building Tuesday morning and will soon be under contract through 2025. Hall entered the day as one of 11 unsigned second-round picks. He is the final Jets 2022 draftee to sign.
It has been seven years since the Jets rostered a 1,000-yard rusher (Chris Ivory), but Hall will likely be put in position to snap that streak while attached to his rookie deal. The Jets traded up to No. 36 with the Giants to land him; they had tried to trade back into the first round for the former Big 12 star. A trade back into Round 1 would have been historic, seeing as the Jets made three previous first-round picks this year. Only the 2000 Jets have made four first-round picks in a draft.
Although the Jets have Michael Carter and Tevin Coleman on their roster, Hall is expected to be their backfield centerpiece this season. Hall, 21, dominated with the Cyclones, scoring 23 touchdowns in each of his final two seasons. He surpassed 1,450 rushing yards in each of those campaigns and became this year’s first running back selected.
The Jets have made a few attempts to staff their running back position since Ivory’s departure. The most notable of those, of course, being Le’Veon Bell. Since Bell’s Big Apple flameout, the Jets had not made major investments at the position. Hall, who was connected to a few teams as a first-round pick, changed that. Here is how Gang Green’s 2022 draft class rounded out:
Round 1: No. 4 Ahmad Gardner, CB (Cincinnati) (signed)
Round 1: No. 10 (from Seahawks) Garrett Wilson, WR (Ohio State) (signed)
Round 1: No. 26 (from Titans) Jermaine Johnson II, DE (Florida State) (signed)
Round 2: No. 36 (from Giants) Breece Hall, RB (Iowa State) (signed)
Round 3: No. 101 (from Saints through Eagles and Titans) Jeremy Ruckert, TE (Ohio State) (signed)
Round 4: No. 111 (from Panthers) Max Mitchell, OT (Louisiana) (signed)
Round 4: No. 117 (from Vikings) Michael Clemons, DE (Texas A&M) (signed)
Steelers Sign USFL DL Doug Costin
More USFL-to-NFL connections are happening ahead of training camps opening. The Steelers became the latest team to tap into the spring-summer league Tuesday, signing defensive lineman Doug Costin.
The Steelers announced a one-year deal for Costin, who worked out for the team Monday. Costin secured a 90-man roster spot after auditioning along with four other USFL players. Defensive end Freedom Akinmoladun, defensive tackle Domenique Davis, defensive tackle Dondrea Tillman and defensive tackle Willie Yarbary rounded out the workout, Field Yates of ESPN.com tweets.
While Costin played in the USFL this year, he has NFL starting experience. Costin started nine games for the Jaguars in 2020. The Miami University (Ohio) product recorded 32 tackles (three for loss) as a rookie but only played in one game with the Jags in 2021. He spent time on the Bengals’ practice squad leading up to Super Bowl LVI last season.
Costin joins select other USFLers in receiving an NFL opportunity. The Cowboys signed linebacker Christian Sam, and the Commanders added defensive backs DeJuan Neal and Channing Stribling. The Saints are also set to work out USFL running back Darius Victor.
Minor NFL Transactions: 7/18/22
Today’s minor transactions:
New England Patriots
- Waived: LS Ross Reiter
Philadelphia Eagles
- CB Craig James
Giants Sign Round 2 WR Wan’Dale Robinson, Round 4 S Dane Belton To Wrap Draft Class
The Giants will not go into training camp with any unsigned rookies. They became the latest team to round out their draft class deals Monday, signing both second-round wide receiver Wan’Dale Robinson and fourth-round safety Dane Belton.
Chosen in what became a gray area, thanks to the guarantees in the No. 37 overall pick Jalen Pitre and No. 44 choice John Metchie‘s Texans contracts earlier this offseason, Robinson represents the latest early-second-round pick to sign. Eleven second-rounders remain unsigned. This year’s No. 43 overall choice will vie for playing time in a crowded Giants wideout situation.
[RELATED: Assessing Giants’ Offseason Decisions]
Although Big Blue’s receiver setup is currently jampacked, Robinson profiles as the safest bet to stay with the team into the mid-2020s. The Giants roster Sterling Shepard, Kenny Golladay, Kadarius Toney and Darius Slayton. But Robinson is the only member of this intriguing wideout quintet to be brought in by the Joe Schoen–Brian Daboll regime. Slayton has become a trade candidate, while Shepard restructured his deal to stay for a seventh season. The longest-tenured Giant is now set to be a 2023 free agent. Golladay underwhelmed after signing a four-year, $72MM deal in 2021, and unavailability has been Toney’s defining NFL trait thus far.
Robinson zoomed onto the second-round radar after a 104-catch, 1,334-yard, seven-touchdown 2021 season at Kentucky. The 5-foot-8 slot player had been a Wildcats contributor during his underclassman years, but 2021 brought a breakthrough. Even without the Giants’ offseason injury issues at receiver and Slayton’s potential preseason departure, Robinson should be expected to have a steady role as a rookie. Both he and Belton are now signed through 2025.
The Giants are less situated at safety, giving Belton an interesting opportunity. The team cut Logan Ryan and allowed Jabrill Peppers to sign with the Patriots this offseason, leaving some uncertainty opposite Xavier McKinney. Julian Love is tentatively expected to start alongside the former second-round pick, but Belton — a first-team All-Big Ten player last season — will have a say in that plan during camp. As a junior at Iowa, Belton intercepted five passes in 2021. That tally tied for the second-most in the conference last season.
Here is how the Giants’ draft class looks ahead of camp:
Round 1: No. 5 Kayvon Thibodeaux, DE (Oregon) (signed)
Round 1: No. 7 (from Bears) Evan Neal, OT (Alabama) (signed)
Round 2: No. 43 (from Falcons) Wan’Dale Robinson, WR (Kentucky) (signed)
Round 3: No. 67 Joshua Ezeudu, G (North Carolina) (signed)
Round 3: No. 81 (from Dolphins) Cor’Dale Flott, CB (LSU) (signed)
Round 4: No. 112 (from Bears) Daniel Bellinger, TE (San Diego State) (signed)
Round 4: No. 114 (from Falcons) Dane Belton, S (Iowa) (signed)
Round 5: No. 146 (from Jets) Micah McFadden, LB (Indiana) (signed)
Round 5: No. 147 D.J. Davidson, DT (Arizona State) (signed)
Round 5: No. 173 (from Chiefs through Ravens) Marcus McKethan, OG (North Carolina) (signed)
Round 6: No. 182 Darrian Beavers, LB (Cincinnati) (signed)
CB Jason McCourty Retires After 13 Seasons
While Devin McCourty signed another contract to continue his career this offseason, his twin brother is walking away from the game. Jason McCourty announced his retirement Friday (via Instagram).
This wraps a 13-year run for Jason McCourty, who began his NFL career a year before Devin did. After playing alongside his twin at Rutgers in the late 2000s, Jason entered the NFL in 2009 as a sixth-round Titans pick. The longtime NFL cornerback went on to play 173 games with four teams, collecting a Super Bowl ring along the way. Jason’s decision comes less than a month from his 35th birthday.
McCourty signed a five-year extension with the Titans just before the 2012 season, and he nearly played out that contract. Being released by the Titans during the 2017 offseason led McCourty to three other teams — the Browns, Patriots and Dolphins — and five more NFL seasons.
Tennessee certainly received considerable value from the 2009 sixth-rounder. McCourty’s 108 games are the most by a Titans cornerback since the franchise’s 1997 relocation. They trail only Cris Dishman and Zeke Moore‘s 109; both played exclusively with the Oilers. The Titans had interest in keeping McCourty in 2016, but at a different price. That led to a separation and McCourty playing the 2017 with the Browns. Although the Patriots showed interest in 2017, McCourty chose Cleveland. That Browns edition went 0-16.
The Browns, who had signed McCourty to a two-year deal worth $6MM in 2017, traded the contract to the Patriots. One of the Pats’ pick-swap deals — a sixth-round pick for McCourty and a seventh — was enough to reunite the twin DBs. This led to the most memorable chapter of the McCourtys’ career, with Jason and Devin playing together for the next three seasons. After being part of a winless team, Jason McCourty made major contributions to a Super Bowl-winning squad a year later. McCourty’s lengthy sprint to break up a likely Jared Goff-to-Brandin Cooks touchdown connection helped the Pats become the second team to keep an opponent out of the end zone in a Super Bowl.
McCourty re-signed with the Pats on a two-year, $10MM deal in 2019 and ended his New England run with 36 starts — including all three Pats playoff games during their 2018 Super Bowl LIII run. Then-Dolphins HC Brian Flores brought in his former charge in 2021, but a foot injury limited him to just seven games last season.
For his career, Jason McCourty finishes with 18 interceptions and nine forced fumbles. He turned two of his five fumble recoveries into touchdowns and returned an INT for a score as well. Devin McCourty signed a one-year, $9MM deal to stay with the Patriots in March.
OL Richie Incognito Announces Retirement
Richie Incognito announced Friday he will retire from the NFL. Most recently a member of the Raiders, the veteran guard retired as a member of the team.
Known for both high-level performance and off-field incidents that led to multiple season-long absences, Incognito played from 2005-2020. Incognito caught on with the Raiders in 2019, after missing the 2018 season, and started 12 games. The Raiders reached an extension with the veteran blocker late in 2019 and, after scrapping that deal during the 2021 offseason, came to another agreement with him last year. Incognito did not play last season, with health issues again impeding him, and will call it quits at age 39.
The former Rams third-round pick played 164 career games (all starts) and made four Pro Bowls. Three of those honors came with the Bills, when Incognito helped LeSean McCoy reach two 1,000-yard seasons, but the other came with the Dolphins. Incognito’s Dolphins tenure will probably be what is most remembered about his career, but he capitalized on the additional chances given to him by the Bills and Raiders.
At the center of the bullying scandal involving then-Miami O-lineman Jonathan Martin, Incognito was suspended by the team and did not play in 2014. The NFL’s investigation found Incognito harassed Martin with racial and homophobic remarks. Despite being sidelined in his age-31 season, Incognito came back and signed two Bills contracts — the second of which a three-year, $15.75MM deal during the 2016 offseason. The Nebraska alum played two years on that second Buffalo deal, helping the McCoy- and Tyrod Taylor-driven attack lead the league in rushing in 2016.
The Bills released Incognito during the 2018 offseason, and he claimed he was retiring at that point. A subsequent an altercation at a Florida gym led to Incognito being placed on an involuntary psychiatric hold by police, and an arrest for a separate incident later that offseason led to a second full-season Incognito absence.
The Rams had previously cut Incognito during the 2009 season, after a game during which he received multiple personal foul penalties for headbutting, and he ended up with the Bills initially via waiver claim. The Dolphins gave Incognito a one-year deal in 2010 and extended him in 2011. Prior to the bullying scandal that broke midway through the 2013 season, Incognito started 55 games with the Dolphins.
After the Raiders gave the polarizing lineman another chance in 2019, he helped Josh Jacobs to a 1,150-yard rushing debut — a season in which Oakland ranked in the top 10 in rushing DVOA. The Raiders gave Incognito a two-year, $14MM extension in December 2019, but the early-season foot injury he suffered in 2020’s second game ended up sidelining him for most of that year. A calf injury shut down Incognito for all of the 2021 season.
This was certainly one of the more unique careers in modern O-line history. Despite injuries and controversies, Incognito became the rare lineman to play into his late 30s.
Commanders Add Two USFL CBs
A pair of former USFL standouts have found NFL gigs. The Commanders have signed defensive back DeJuan Neal (per ESPN’s John Keim on Twitter) and cornerback Channing Stribling (per Josh Alper of ProFootballTalk.com). To make room on the roster, Washington has cut cornerbacks Nijuel Hill and Devin Taylor.
Neal, a former Division II standout, got his first NFL gig with Washington as an UDFA in 2019, but he didn’t end up making it to the regular-season roster. Since then, he had a stint in the XFL and most recently the USFL. He played for the New Jersey Generals during the 2022 campaign, and while he battled injuries for much of the season, he still contributed 16 tackles.
Stribling went undrafted out of Michigan in 2017 and has had plenty of NFL gigs, spending time with the Browns, Colts (two stints), 49ers and Chargers. Since getting cut by the Chargers during the 2018 season, Stribling has had gigs in the AAF, CFL, XFL, and USFL. In seven games this past season, the 27-year-old had seven interceptions.
Hill, a UDFA out of California, and Taylor, a UDFA who spent time at Bowling Green, Virginia Tech, and Illinois State, were both added to the Commanders roster earlier this offseason.
Cowboys Sign LB Malik Jefferson
Malik Jefferson is heading back home. The former Longhorns linebacker is signing with the Cowboys, reports Jori Epstein of USA Today (via Twitter). To make room on the roster, Dallas has waived running back JaQuan Hardy, per ESPN’s Todd Archer (on Twitter).
Jefferson was a standout during his time at Texas, including a 2017 campaign where he earned Big 12 Co-Defensive Player of the Year honors. Despite warnings from the College Advisory Board that he should stay in college, Jefferson decided to forego his remaining college eligibility and enter the 2018 NFL draft. While he was originally expected to be a second-round pick, he ended up sliding to the Bengals in the third round (No. 78).
The linebacker struggled to see the field during his rookie season; while he got into 12 games, he primarily played on special teams. Jefferson was let go by Cincinnati the following preseason, and he’s since bounced around the NFL, spending time with the Browns, Chargers (two stints), Titans, and Colts. After getting into a career-high 13 games with Los Angeles during the 2020 season, the 25-year-old was limited to only one game with Indy in 2021.
Hardy went undrafted out of Tiffin University in 2021. He caught on with the Cowboys last offseason and spent much of the season on the practice squad. He ended up getting into three games for Dallas, collecting 29 rushing yards and one touchdown on four carries.
Minor NFL Transactions: 7/13/22
Today’s minor transactions:
Chicago Bears
- Waived: LS Antonio Ortiz
The Bears moved on from the long snapper to make room for wide receiver N’Keal Harry, who was acquired from the Patriots. Ortiz spent four season at TCU, earning three Academic All-Big 12 First Team nods and being named a semifinalist for the 2021 Patrick Mannelly Award, which is handed out to the nation’s best long snapper.
After earning minicamp invites from both the Bears and Cowboys, Ortiz joined Chicago as an undrafted free agent back in May. This transaction likely means that veteran Patrick Scales will keep his LS gig with the Bears for an eighth season.
Falcons Sign Round 2 OLB Arnold Ebiketie
A handful of second-round picks have not signed their rookie contracts, with Texans decisions on guarantees believed to be holding up early-second-round draftees’ contract agreements. One of those players, Falcons linebacker Arnold Ebiketie, finalized his deal Wednesday.
The Falcons now have Ebiketie, this year’s No. 38 overall pick, signed through 2025. Desmond Ridder is now the only unsigned Falcons rookie. Fewer than 25 draft choices have yet to sign their rookie deals.
Ebiketie is slated to be an edge rusher for the Falcons, who have retooled on the edge this offseason. Ebiketie and third-rounder DeAngelo Malone join Georgia native Lorenzo Carter — a former Giants third-round pick — as new additions to the group this offseason.
Ebiketie is not a lock to start for the Falcons in Week 1, but his draft slot and the team’s lack of impact players on the edge would make such a reality unsurprising. As the new Falcons regime’s top edge investment thus far, Ebiketie should be a full-time player at some point during his rookie season.
A Temple recruit who later transferred to Penn State, Ebiketie broke out as a senior in 2021. He registered 9.5 sacks (third in the Big Ten) and 18 tackles for loss, helping the Nittany Lions rank seventh in Division I-FBS scoring defense. Ebiketie recorded two sacks against College Football Playoff-bound Michigan and notched at least one TFL in all but one game last season.