Uncategorized - Pro Football Rumors

Extra Points: Houston, Tucker, Dez, Los Angeles

July 18th, 2015 at 12:27pm CST by Ben Levine

It took a while for the Chiefs and linebacker Justin Houston to agree to a lucrative extension, but the three-time Pro Bowler was always confident a deal would get done.

“When the season ended, coach Reid pulled me into the office saying, ‘It’s going to get done, just be patient,’” Houston told BJ Kissel of KCChiefs.com. “So that’s what I did.”

Houston was clearly thrilled that the team inked him to the richest deal in franchise history.

“It just made me feel like they really believed in me,” Houston said. “For them to do this, just like your family back home, your mom, your parents, they believe in you. It gives you an extra edge on the field when you know you’ve got people really believing in you and what you can do.”

Let’s check out some more notes from around the league…

Following Stephen Gostkowski‘s extension with the Patriots, Aaron Wilson of the Baltimore Sun believes the Ravens and kicker Justin Tucker now have a framework that they can work with. Tucker will be a free agent following the season, and Wilson says it will “cost a lot of money” to retain the accurate kicker.
The Cowboys didn’t add any “special protections” to Dez Bryant‘s contract, reports Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk.com. Instead of loading up the contract with opportunities to void guaranteed money (like Dallas did with Byron Jones), Bryant’s contract instead includes the “standard language for voiding guaranteed payments.”
Angels Stadium in Anaheim likely won’t be submitted as an option to become a temporary home for a relocating NFL team, reports Scott M. Reid of The Orange County Register. The stadium was previously the home of the Rams.

NFC Mailbags: Giants, Panthers, Cowboys

July 18th, 2015 at 11:37am CST by Ben Levine

We took a look at ESPN.com’s AFC mailbags earlier this morning. Let’s now shift our focus to the NFC…

General manager Jerry Reese deserves more criticism for the current state of the Giants roster than head coach Tom Coughlin, says Dan Graziano. Regardless, the writer points to the organizations lack of turnover at the position (three different GMs in 37 years), which leads him to believe that Reese will be sticking around.
The Panthers have some room to work with under the cap, but David Newton writes that there’s no need to rush negotiations with their extension candidates. The team has Luke Kuechly wrapped up through the 2016 season, and the same goes for Star Lotulelei and Kawann Short. Cornerback Josh Norman is set to become a free agent following the season, but Newton isn’t convinced that the team will pay him what he may be seeking.
Todd Archer believes fans shouldn’t be counting on the Cowboys to sign another running back. As the writer describes, the coaching staff seems set on their current grouping of Joseph Randle, Darren McFadden and Lance Dunbar.
Archer is also a fan of the Dez Bryant contract, and he believes the wideout received a fair amount of money. Meanwhile, Archer disagrees with the theory that the Cowboys haven’t invested in their defense. He points to the contracts handed out to Brandon Carr, Sean Lee and Orlando Scandrick, as well as the drafting of Morris Claiborne, Byron Jones and Randy Gregory.

Extra Points: JPP, Kromer, Jets

July 14th, 2015 at 9:37pm CST by Zachary Links

The NFL hasn’t had a developmental league since NFL Europa ended in 2007, but that could all change soon. Former Giants coach Jim Fassel told SiriusXM NFL Radio (on Twitter), “Don’t be surprised if there was a very good spring league opening next year in the NFL,” Fassel said. Plenty of “minor league” football organizations have come and gone over the years, but it stands to reason that a domestic NFL developmental league could find a way to support itself. Here’s more from around the NFL..

Giants defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul has been discharged from the South Florida hospital where he had his right index finger amputated, Dan Graziano of ESPN.com writes. There has still been no formal contact between Pierre-Paul and the Giants regarding the next steps in his rehab, but the team hopes to communicate with him as soon as possible about what he and they can expect. JPP has yet to sign his $14.813MM franchise player tender, but the Giants have no plan to rescind it.
The AFC East staff writers at ESPN.com all weighed in on who they think is the No. 1 rising star in the division. James Walker cast his vote for Jets rookie defensive lineman Leonard Williams. The USC star was the best player available at No. 6 and even though the Jets didn’t need another stud defensive lineman they pounced anyway. Things are a bit crowded on the line, but Walker believes that new Jets head coach Todd Bowles is a smart enough defensive mind to find ways to get Williams on the field.
The Walton County Sheriff’s office says it’s now also pursuing charges against Zachary Kromer, the son of Bills offensive line coach Aaron Kromer, according to Mike Garafolo of FOX Sports (Twitter links). Zachary Kromer allegedly put his hands around the throat of one of the friends of the boy who claimed to be assaulted by Aaron Kromer.

Sunday Roundup: Bills, L.A., Dalton, McClain

July 12th, 2015 at 8:57pm CST by Rob DiRe

Among all the chaos surrounding Aaron Kromer in Buffalo, the Bills are more than likely going to be looking for a new offensive line coach for the upcoming season. Jason Cole of Bleacher Report is asked if the organization could convince former Bills offensive line coach Jim McNally out of retirement.

McNally spent 28 seasons as an NFL offensive line coach, retiring in 2007 after a four-year tenure in Buffalo. He semi-unretired in 2010 to serve as a consultant to the Jets under Rex Ryan for two years, before taking on a similar role with the Bengals, where he began and spent most of his NFL career.

Cole notes that at 71 years old, McNally isn’t a prime candidate for the job, but that he does have the background to make him an interesting option (via Twitter).

Here are some more notes from around the NFL:

With all the excitement surrounding the possibility of a team coming to Los Angeles, Sam Farmer of the Los Angeles Times makes several predictions about what to expect in the coming months from the NFL regarding the potential move. Among them, he opines that San Diego and St. Louis will present their cases at the owners’ meeting in New York but Oakland will not, that the league will sign leases with one or two temporary stadiums by the end of the year, and that the NFL will begin counting potential season ticket holders this fall.
Bengals quarterback Andy Dalton took some swings during the Legends and Celebrity Softball Game as part of All-Star Weekend in Cincinnati, but he arrived to a mix of boos and cheers among the hometown fans, writes Paul Dehner Jr. of Cincinnati.com. Dalton was not worried about the reaction, and went on to hit two mammoth home runs during the game, to which brought the cheers in the stadium, and plenty of snark from the Twitter faithful, many of which Dehner compiled in his piece.
With linebacker Sean Lee set to return for the Cowboys and Rolando McClain suspended for the season’s first four games, Bob Strum of the Dallas Morning News says he wouldn’t assume McClain will stick with Dallas all year, suggesting the club may decide at some point that the off-field issues aren’t worth it.
The Broncos have until Wednesday to reach a long-term deal with franchise player Demaryius Thomas, leading Benjamin Hochman and Mark Kiszla of the Denver Post to debate as to the receiver’s value. Noting that Denver has a limited Super Bowl window given Peyton Manning‘s age, the scribes agree that the club will want to work out an extension, ultimately landing on a five-year deal in the neighborhood of $65-70MM. PFR’s Luke Adams projected the exact same figures last June.
Staying in Denver, Broncos general manager John Elway is still positive that the disappointing 2014 draft class will have a bigger impact, even with a brand new coaching staff, according to Jeff Legwold of ESPN.com. Only Bradley Roby saw significant snaps, with a number of the players selected not seeing any action at all. Second-round pick Cody Latimer saw only 37 snaps at receiver for the season, but the group should see significantly increased roles in 2015.

Luke Adams and Dallas Robinson contributed to this post.

East Notes: Mathis, Cowboys, McClain

July 2nd, 2015 at 9:14pm CST by Zachary Links

Here’s a look at the latest from the AFC and NFC East..

Former Eagles guard Evan Mathis may need to agree to a performance-based contract, FOX Sports’ Alex Marvez told 560 WQAM in Miami (audio link). Marvez hesitates to say that agent Drew Rosenhaus overplayed in hand, but he believes that the guard might have to be open to an incentive-laden contract if he wants to get above the $5.5MM threshold he wanted with the Eagles. Mathis, 33, has graded out as one of the very best guards in the NFL for several years running.
Babe Laufenberg of The Dallas Morning News says it’s time for the Cowboys to seriously considering cutting linebacker Rolando McClain. McClain, of course, was handed a four-game suspension earlier today for violating the league’s substance abuse policy. For a long time it seemed as though McClain had turned his life around and also his NFL career after having a resurgence in 2014. While he still stands as a very effective linebacker, Laufenberg fears that the cons now outweigh the pros.
The Dolphins, on paper, have their most talented squad since Joe Philbin took over as coach four years ago. That means that they’ll have some especially hard decisions to make when it comes to cutdowns. James Walker of ESPN.com looked at one such tough call in tight end Arthur Lynch. The 2014 fifth-round pick didn’t make an impact in his rookie year due to injury and the tight end position is strong with Jordan Cameron and Dion Sims on the depth chart. All in all, Walker gives Lynch a 33% chance of making the team.

Pro Football Rumors On Social Media, RSS

June 29th, 2015 at 12:17pm CST by Luke Adams

Training camps for the 2015 NFL season are still about a month from getting underway, but there are plenty of storylines to follow on Pro Football Rumors in the coming weeks, as I detailed last Friday, and you don’t necessarily have to keep refreshing our site to keep tabs on them. There are a handful of different ways you can follow us to get the latest updates on NFL news and rumors all year.

You can like us on Facebook, and receive headlines and links for all our posts via your Facebook account. You can also follow us on Twitter to have all our posts and updates sent directly to your Twitter feed. Meanwhile, our Google+ page is located here, and if you’d like to follow us using your RSS reader of choice, you can find our RSS feed right here.

If you prefer to receive updates only on roster moves such as signings, cuts, and trades, you can follow our transactions-only feeds via RSS and Twitter. And don’t forget to check out our app for iOS and Android, which is available right here.

Following Specific Players On PFR

June 25th, 2015 at 9:03am CST by Luke Adams

As we’ve outlined before, there are a number of different ways to follow Pro Football Rumors via Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and RSS. If you don’t want to follow all the site’s updates, you can subscribe to team-specific or transaction-only Facebook, Twitter, and RSS feeds. Although we don’t have Facebook pages or Twitter feeds for specific players, it’s easy to follow all our updates on your favorite player.

If, for instance, you want to keep track of all the latest news and rumors on Russell Wilson as he enters the final year of his contract and considers an extension with the Seahawks, you can visit this page. If you’re interested in keeping tabs on the latest rumors involving Tom Brady‘s suspension appeal, you can find Brady’s page right here. In addition to players, we also maintain archives for certain specific topics. For example, all our posts relating to the city of Los Angeles can be found here.

Every player we’ve written about has his own rumors page, and each of those players also has his own RSS feed, making it even easier to follow the latest updates. Links to RSS feeds for specific players are all located on this page. You can also find links to RSS feeds for various miscellaneous categories there. For instance, if you only want to receive one update every Sunday recapping the week’s notable headlines, you can subscribe to our Week in Review RSS feed, right here.

East Notes: Bryant, Williams, Henderson, Jets

June 17th, 2015 at 8:53am CST by Luke Adams

With a couple dozen June minicamps around the NFL taking place this week, let’s check in on a few East teams whose sessions got underway yesterday….

A Cowboys source tells Clarence Hill Jr. of the Star-Telegram (on Twitter) that the Dez Bryant holdout threat is “not in our control.” Of course, the team certainly will play a part in determining whether or not the star wideout gets a new contract by the July 15 deadline. If that deadline passes without an agreement though, there’s not much the Cowboys can do for Bryant until after the season.
Appearing on SiriusXM NFL Radio (audio link), Cowboys COO Stephen Jones said that there’s currently “too big of a divide” between the team and Bryant. Jones also indicated that it’s difficult to ascertain Bryant’s value since other top wide receivers around the league are also waiting for new deals. It’s possible that once A.J. Green, Demaryius Thomas, Julio Jones, or Bryant signs a new contract, the others will follow suit.
We heard yesterday that offensive lineman Chris Williams and Seantrel Henderson were absent for the start of the Bills‘ minicamp. In a pair of pieces for ESPN.com, Mike Rodak explains that Williams did show up and participate on Tuesday, while “travel issues” kept Henderson away.
Rich Cimini of ESPNNewYork.com identifies outside linebacker Calvin Pace, running back Stevan Ridley, and guard Willie Colon as a few Jets veterans who could be on shaky ground once training camp rolls around.
Ryan Fitzpatrick of the Jets and Mark Sanchez of the Eagles rank as the NFL’s top backup quarterbacks heading into training camp, in the view of John Clayton of ESPN.com. New York acquired Fitzpatrick in a trade this offseason, while Sanchez signed a new contract to remain in Philadelphia.

Extra Points: Incognito, Davis, Wright

June 11th, 2015 at 9:42pm CST by Zachary Links

The Bills‘ offseason signing of Richie Incognito raised some eyebrows, but coach Rex Ryan says that the guard has been nothing but “outstanding” so far this spring, per Mike Rodak of ESPN.com. Incognito has long been regarded as one of the better interior lineman in the NFL. However, the bullying scandal of 2013 put his career on halt and his future in jeopardy. After missing half of 2013 and all of 2014, Incognito signed with Buffalo on a one-year deal with a base salary of $900K.

Panthers linebacker Thomas Davis anticipates landing a contract extension before the start of training camp, Joseph Person of the Charlotte Observer writes. Davis, 32, is entering the final year of a contract that will pay him $7.25MM this year, with a salary cap number of $9.9MM. Davis has averaged 77 tackles a year since returning from the third ACL reconstruction on his right knee in 2012. The Panthers drafted his likely successor when they took former Washington linebacker Shaq Thompson with the 25th overall pick this year, but he’s still confident that Carolina will present him with a fair deal.
With the Patriots having waived tight end Tim Wright, Mike Reiss of ESPN.com revisits the trade that brought Wright to New England last summer for Logan Mankins. As Reiss observes, the Pats also received cap relief and a draft pick in that trade, so Wright may not have been the key piece in the deal, but it’s still a bit surprising that the club parted ways with him.
Head coach Gus Bradley and the Jaguars expect to see veteran pass rusher Chris Clemons at next week’s mandatory minicamp, as Ryan O’Halloran of the Florida Times-Union writes. Clemons hasn’t been present for Jacksonville’s voluntary OTAs this year, but would forfeit his workout bonus if he doesn’t show up next week.
Frustrated with injuries, Eagles outside linebacker Travis Long nearly walked away from the game before ever seeing live action, as Geoff Mosher of CSNPhilly.com writes.

Luke Adams contributed to this post.

AFC Notes: Gipson, Jets, Chargers, Bengals

June 9th, 2015 at 10:21am CST by Zachary Links

Safety Tashaun Gipson, the league’s only unsigned restricted free agent, almost certainly took notice when the Browns added a $2MM+ salary to their payroll for a punter (Andy Lee) this past weekend, writes Pat McManamon of ESPN.com. As McManamon points out, Gipson wasn’t thrilled when the team assigned him a second-round tender, and is believed to be seeking a long-term deal that assures him of some guaranteed money up front.

Here’s more from around the AFC:

Brian Costello of the New York Post ran down the top storylines to watch for in Jets camp, including the return of Muhammad Wilkerson, who is in the building today, as expected (Twitter link via Kristian Dyer of Metro New York). It’ll also be interesting to see whether offseason addition Ryan Fitzpatrick can eventually leapfrog Geno Smith for the starting job. For now, Jets coaches say that Smith will be under center unless he totally flames out this summer.
San Diego mayor Kevin Faulconer is now going on the offensive against the Chargers and the team isn’t happy about it, as Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk writes. “This new negative advertising campaign against the Chargers — launched just as the team began negotiations with the city — speaks volumes about what the Mayor and his political operatives have really been up to on this issue from the start,” Chargers special counsel Mark Fabiani said of the mayor’s sponsored Facebook post going after the club. “They have always seemed more concerned with political cover than with actually building a stadium.”
Former NFL wide receiver T.J. Houshmandzadeh is among the intern coaches on the Bengals‘ staff for the 2015 season, according to Paul Dehner Jr. of the Cincinnati Enquirer (via Twitter). Houshmandzadeh, who spent most of his career in Cincinnati and earned a Pro Bowl spot as a Bengal in 2007, last played for the Raiders in 2011.
As Field Yates of ESPN.com details, Joe Cardona‘s rookie contract with the Patriots features only a $100K signing bonus rather than the $190K his draft slot calls for. However, Cardona can earn up to $100K in roster bonuses over the next three seasons if he’s on the team, so the Pats are presumably protecting themselves a little in case the long snapper has to serve in the Navy.

Luke Adams contributed to this post.

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