WFT Will Have New Name After 2021 Season
The Washington Football Team will operate under the same bromidic moniker in 2021, but it is expected to have a new name by 2022.
Today, the team launched a website called WashingtonJourney.com (h/t Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk), wherein fans can submit their ideas for a new team name, their reasons for choosing that name, and their proposed logo/uniform. As of the time of this writing, some of the “featured submissions” include the Washington Rhinos, the Washington Justice, and the Washington Redtails.
Of course, owner Dan Snyder elected to change the name in July following years of pressure to do so, but there was not enough time to choose something other than the placeholder “Washington Football Team” for the 2020 campaign. The change came not long after investment firms worth about $620B asked Nike, FedEx, and PepsiCo to end their relationships with the team, so while Snyder’s decision was probably not motivated by the former name’s racial overtones, those pushing for a change got what they wanted just the same.
The website will take fans through the name change process, and the organization says it will run everything it hears through research before narrowing down its choices and reaching the best decision. Florio suggests that if WFT should win the Super Bowl next year, there may be a push to keep the Washington Football Team nickname, but assuming that doesn’t happen, the ever-dangerous WFT acronym will be a thing of the past by 2022.
WFT Didn’t Want Alex Smith To Return?
Where (and if) Alex Smith will play in 2021 remains an open question. If the 36-year-old QB returns to the Washington Football Team, he will need to do so on a reworked contract. WFT could also release him, thereby clearing nearly $15MM off its books, but the team would need to find a suitable replacement first.
Smith’s return from a horrific injury suffered in November 2018 was one of the best stories of last season, and though he didn’t light the world on fire, Washington did go 5-1 in games that he started. The club finagled a division title thanks to their strong finish with Smith at the helm, and there was no reason to believe that there might be bad blood between WFT and the veteran signal-caller.
But in a recent interview with Clay Skipper of GQ, Smith said the team initially did not want him back. “When I decided to come back, I definitely threw a wrench in the team’s plan,” Smith said. “They didn’t see it, didn’t want me there, didn’t want me to be a part of it, didn’t want me to be on the team, the roster, didn’t want to give me a chance.”
He did not mention anyone by name, but he said the “new regime” — led by head coach Ron Rivera, who was hired last January — viewed him as a liability. He continued, “[T]hey tried to put me on PUP for two weeks, then they tried to IR me. I felt like I still hadn’t had my fair shake at that point. I wanted to see if I could play quarterback and play football, and I feel like I hadn’t been given that opportunity yet to find that out.”
Ultimately, Smith said he and the team “worked through all that stuff,” but one wonders why WFT was opposed to having him return. After all, his 2020 salary of $16MM was fully guaranteed, so it wouldn’t have made any sense to release him, and his career accomplishments dwarf those of Dwayne Haskins — a player the new regime was also unhappy to inherit — and Rivera import Kyle Allen. Rivera’s presence added immediate legitimacy to an organization that badly needed it in the wake of the Bruce Allen years, but Smith’s comments recall the type of dysfunction that has long plagued Dan Snyder‘s outfit.
We recently heard that Smith was unlikely to retire, and while he reiterated in the GQ interview that he has a lot of football left in him, he still needs to “have a very real conversation” with his wife about the matter. So at this point, it seems that retirement remains on the table.
WFT Looking To Extend Brandon Scherff
The Washington Football Team can keep Brandon Scherff from the open market with a second franchise tag. However, the team remains focused on ironing out a long-term extension with the standout offensive guard, according to Nicki Jhabvala of The Washington Post.
The franchise tag window runs from Tuesday through March 9. Washington, in theory, could tag Scherff and take the negotiations from there — the franchise tag extension period would give them roughly four months to work with, before the July 15 deadline. That second tag would come at a 20% increase from his previous one, making it an $18.04MM salary for 2021.
The NFL’s collective bargaining agreement still lumps guards, tackles, and centers into the same offensive lineman bucket, which effectively means that the tag pays Scherff as an elite tackle. Typically, the tag increases leverage for the team. In Scherff’s case, it gives him solid ground to stand on.
Washington does have the cap flexibility to re-up Scherff for one year, but they’d much rather lock him down through his prime years with a smoother cap hit from year to year. A brand new deal could reset the market for interior linemen, giving him $15MM+ per year to trump Brandon Brooks‘ $14.1MM average annual value.
“I’ve always said I want to stay where I got drafted,” the Pro Bowler said recently. “And I’ve been here for six years, and I absolutely love it here. … We are building something here to absolutely make a run for it in the future.”
Scherff, who just turned 29 in December, has started in all 78 of his games for Washington.
Browns Lead NFL In Salary Cap Carryover
Earlier today, the NFL Players Association announced (via Twitter) the salary cap carryover amounts for all 32 NFL teams for the 2021 season. Effectively, teams are able to rollover their unused cap from the previous season. So, when the 2021 salary cap numbers become official, they can be added to each team’s carryover amount to determine that individual club’s official cap for 2021.
This follows news from earlier today that the NFL has raised its salary cap floor to $180MM for 2021. This total could clue us in to the salary cap maximum, which could end up landing north of $190MM. The salary cap was $198.2MM for the 2020 campaign.
As the NFLPA detailed, the league will rollover $315.1MM from the 2020 season, an average of $9.8MM per team. The Browns lead the league with a whopping $30.4MM, and they’re the only team in the top-five to make the playoffs. The NFC East ($68.8MM) and AFC East ($65.3MM) are the two divisions will the largest carryover amounts.
The full list is below:
- Cleveland Browns: $30.4MM
- New York Jets: $26.7MM
- Dallas Cowboys: $25.4MM
- Jacksonville Jaguars: $23.5MM
- Philadelphia Eagles: $22.8MM
- New England Patriots: $19.6MM
- Denver Broncos: $17.8MM
- Washington Football Team: $15.8MM
- Miami Dolphins: $15.2MM
- Detroit Lions: $12.8MM
- Cincinnati Bengals: $10.8MM
- Houston Texans: $9.2MM
- Indianapolis Colts: $8.3MM
- Los Angeles Chargers: $8.1MM
- Chicago Bears: $7MM
- Los Angeles Rams: $5.7MM
- Kansas City Chiefs: $5.1MM
- Arizona Cardinals: $5MM
- Pittsburgh Steelers: $5MM
- New York Giants: $4.8MM
- Tampa Bay Buccaneers: $4.6MM
- Minnesota Vikings: $4.5MM
- Carolina Panthers: $4.3MM
- New Orleans Saints: $4.1MM
- Buffalo Bills: $3.8MM
- Green Bay Packers: $3.7MM
- Las Vegas Raiders: $3.6MM
- Tennessee Titans: $2.3MM
- San Francisco 49ers: $1.9MM
- Atlanta Falcons: $1.8MM
- Seattle Seahawks: $956K
- Baltimore Ravens: $587K
Latest On Washington’s Quarterback Plans
The Washington Football Team attempted to trade for Matthew Stafford last month, offering a package headlined by the No. 19 overall selection in the 2021 draft in exchange for the longtime Lions passer. Although Detroit opted to take the Rams’ offer instead, there are five other quarterbacks from outside the organization that Washington wants to explore, as John Keim of ESPN.com writes.
Keim’s source did not name those QBs, but it’s safe to assume that WFT is at least kicking the tires on trade candidates like Deshaun Watson, Carson Wentz, and Sam Darnold. The club’s interest in Stafford and other signal-callers obviously suggests that it is not entirely sold on having Alex Smith return as the starter next season, but that scenario remains on the table.
If he does return, though, he would need to rework his contract. He is presently scheduled to count $24.4MM against the cap in 2021, and that is simply untenable. The newly-minted Comeback Player of the Year was a remarkable story in 2020, completing his recovery from a devastating leg injury suffered in November 2018 to start six games for WFT (winning five of them) and lead the club to a playoff berth. But he was more of a game manager than anything else, as he threw for six touchdowns against eight interceptions and posted a poor 78.5 QB rating.
Plus, he will be 37 when the 2021 season starts, and he missed three of the team’s final four games — including the wildcard round matchup with the Bucs — due to a bone bruise. So it’s far from a sure thing that he will be able to handle a full 16-game slate at this point, and even if he can, he no longer possesses the type of mobility that had become a key feature of his game.
He could theoretically agree to a pay cut to stay with WFT, or he and Washington could come to terms on an extension that reduces his 2021 cap number. Keim suggests that WFT would be willing to go the extension route, as the club is concerned that forfeiting draft capital for a different quarterback would limit its ability to strengthen the rest of the roster. On the other hand, it’s unlikely that Smith would play to the end of the extension, so Washington could be saddled with substantial dead money in the future.
Of course, Washington could also release Smith, but that would only happen if the team has already acquired or is prepared to acquire another quarterback. A release would save WFT $13.6MM in cap space this year, and it would also allow the team to avoid the possibility of carrying Smith-related charges on its books beyond the 2021 season. Interestingly, multiple NFL execs, coaches, and scouts tell Keim that they view Smith as a backup at this point in his career, which might make Smith more receptive to a pay cut (though that is just my speculation).
Smith could also retire, but he did not seem ready to hang up the cleats in a recent interview. And Keim says retirement is the least likely scenario at this point, so one way or another, Washington will need to be the one to make the call on Smith’s future.
All of this suggests that WFT is not going to entertain the notion of having Taylor Heinicke open the 2021 season as the starter, despite some tongue-in-cheek calls for him to do so. The team did recently hand the near-playoff hero an extension, and while it was originally reported as a two-year, $8.75MM deal, a lot will need to go right for the soon-to-be 28-year-old to max out that contract. Nicki Jhabvala of the Washington Post has the full breakdown, which includes a $1MM salary in 2021, a $1.5MM salary in 2022, and $1.25MM in per game roster bonuses over the next two seasons (Twitter link). Field Yates of ESPN.com adds that Heinicke will pocket a $1MM signing bonus, so it’s really a two-year deal with a base value of $4.75MM and up to $4MM in incentives (Twitter link).
Meanwhile, Keim says Washington will retain Kyle Allen via an exclusive rights free agent tender. Allen followed head coach Ron Rivera from Carolina to Washington and makes for a solid third-string option if nothing else.
Matthew Stafford Addresses Lions Exit, Trade Options, Injuries
A week after Matthew Stafford‘s January trade request surfaced, the Rams made a deal to acquire him for Jared Goff and three draft picks. But a Detroit departure was on the 12-year veteran’s mind ahead of the 2020 season as well.
Rumors circulated about a Stafford trade last year, when he was coming off an injury-abbreviated 2019 season, but those quickly fizzled. Stafford played 16 Lions games last season, but the team’s 5-11 record led to a regime change and the official trade request. Now set for a rebuild, the Lions hired ex-Rams exec Brad Holmes as GM and Dan Campbell as head coach.
“To be honest, Kelly and I probably started talking about it before last season,” Stafford said of he and his wife’s discussions about a possible Detroit exit (via Mitch Albom of the Detroit Free Press). “It was one of those things where, you know, we were hoping that, golly, let’s go, I hope this thing takes off and we play great. But if it doesn’t, you just knew what was going to happen. They were going to tear it down and rebuild.
“And anytime you switch GMs and a head coach, you know that they’re going to want to bring their own people in, and that’s going to take time. And I, frankly, didn’t feel like I was the appropriate person to oversee that time.”
Stafford, who turned 33 last week, generated trade inquiries or offers from nearly half the league. The Panthers offered their first-round pick (No. 8 overall) and Teddy Bridgewater for him; Washington offered its No. 19 overall choice and more as well. The Broncos’ offer did not come in on that level, but they joined the Colts, 49ers, Bears and Patriots as other suitors. Stafford was believed to be against a New England trade.
“I thought all the places that everybody else thought. Indianapolis. San Francisco — although you didn’t know what was gonna happen with Jimmy (Garoppolo),” Stafford said. “Washington, but we obviously didn’t know what was gonna happen there. I just didn’t know how (the Rams) would ever be able to (execute a trade). I’m not a salary cap guru. It kind of got to a point where I’m like, OK, I can’t sit there and go crazy. I just tried to let it happen, and L.A. aggressively jumped into it.”
Between 2013-18, the Lions won between six and nine games in five seasons. Stafford will head to a Rams team that has made three of the past four playoff brackets, after missing the previous 12.
“I’ve always wanted to play in those big games; I feel like I will excel in those situations. I wanted to shoot my shot,” Stafford said, via Albom. “… In my mind, I felt like I was going to be able to help us go win six, seven, eight games, because I wasn’t gonna let us lose more than that, you know? But I probably wasn’t good enough (by myself) to help us win more than that. And maybe we don’t ever get those top picks that we needed.
Although the Rams are set to upgrade at quarterback, they will acquire a player coming off some recent injuries. Back trouble caused Stafford to miss eight games in 2019, and he said he suffered a torn UCL in his left elbow during Detroit’s Thanksgiving game. Stafford also told Albom he suffered a partial UCL tear in his right thumb and a broken rib and encountered multiple leg issues this past season. The former No. 1 overall pick, however, has only missed eight games in the past 10 years.
Washington Extends Taylor Heinicke
Taylor Heinicke briefly lit the NFL world on fire with his electric performance in a wild card playoff loss to the Bucs, and Washington isn’t about to let him walk out the door. Washington has given Heinicke a two-year extension worth $8.75MM to keep him around, sources told Ian Rapoport of NFL Network (Twitter link).
Rapoport adds that there are “also incentives depending on how many games he starts.” Washington’s quarterback situation is very unsettled, so it makes sense why they’d want to at least have Heinicke as a fallback option. Alex Smith is sounding like he wants to keep playing and is under contract for 2021, although the team can get out of it and they probably don’t want to pay him his hefty salary.
Heinicke has one of the most remarkable stories we’ve seen in some time, as just a couple of months ago he was out of the league and taking classes at Old Dominion, where he starred in college. He hadn’t been with an NFL team since training camp of 2019, when Washington signed him to their practice squad on December 8th.
An injury to Smith put him on the active roster, and then Dwayne Haskins was so ineffective he was benched for Heinicke in Week 16. He played surprisingly well, but Smith returned for Week 17. Washington got the win to get them in the playoffs, but Smith’s calf still wasn’t right, leading to Heinicke getting the postseason start.
He very nearly pulled off a massive upset, keeping them close against eventual Super Bowl champion Tampa Bay the entire way. He had previously only made one start, a spot start in 2018 with the Panthers in place of an injured Cam Newton. His familiarity with Ron Rivera and OC Scott Turner from those Panthers days ended up paying off for him, and that gutsy performance against the Bucs flipped him from working a day job to making millions as an NFL quarterback.
Marty Schottenheimer Passes Away At 77
Longtime NFL coach Marty Schottenheimer passed away at the age of 77, as ESPN.com’s Chris Mortensen tweets. Schottenheimer, who spent 21 years in the league, has been battling Alzheimer’s for the past six years.
Schottenheimer served as a head coach for the Browns, Chiefs, Chargers, and the Washington Football Team. All together, he compiled a regular season record of 200-126-1. Running back LaDainian Tomlinson, who spent five years under Schottenheimer in San Diego, praised Schottenheimer as the best head coach he ever had.
“I never went into a game with Marty as coach feeling like I wasn’t fully prepared to win,” Tomlinson said (via ESPN.com). “He really wanted you to understand every detail of the game plan..I will remember him more for the life lessons that he taught me.”
Schottenheimer last coached in 2006, leading the Chargers to a 14-2 regular season record. Though his teams never reached the Super Bowl, he was a highly-respected football mind and mentor throughout his career. His coaching tree spawned the likes of Tony Dungy, Bill Cowher, Mike McCarthy, and Bruce Arians, who is fresh off of a dominant championship victory. Meanwhile, his son, Brian Schottenheimer, has been coaching in the league for more than two decades. Just last week, Brian signed on for his latest position with the Jaguars’ staff.
Washington DBs Coach Chris Harris Name To Watch?
The Bears made a staff move Monday that will surely have a lot of people in the NFL universe connecting dots. Chicago has promoted John DeFilippo to be passing game coordinator and quarterbacks coach, the team announced. He had previously just been QBs coach, and replaces Dave Ragone after he left to be Atlanta’s new OC. Thee promotion is eyebrow-raising because the Bears are reported to be pursuing Carson Wentz, and DeFilippo has an extensive history with the embattled Eagles quarterback.
DeFilippo, of course, was Wentz’s quarterbacks coach for his breakout 2017 season when the Eagles went on to win the Super Bowl. He also coached Wentz during his rookie season before the Super Bowl earned him the job of Vikings offensive coordinator. He immediately clashed with Mike Zimmer, and was fired by Minnesota midway through the 2018 season. He was then hired as Jacksonville’s OC for 2019, and was fired after the season when he couldn’t recapture the magic he had previously with Nick Foles. The Bears making this move will do nothing to decrease the chatter about them acquiring Wentz, and now we wait.
Here’s more from the coaching ranks:
- Washington DBs coach Chris Harris was the runner up for the Packers’ DC job that went to Joe Barry and is a name to watch moving forward for other openings, Albert Breer of SI.com tweets. As Breer points out, he’s still only 38. Harris spent eight years in the league as a safety from 2005-12, and got his first coaching gig as a defensive quality control coach with the Bears in 2013.
- DeFilippo isn’t the only coach who got a promotion on Monday, as the Browns announced they were promoting Ben Bloom to be their new defensive run game coordinator. Bloom spent the 2020 season as a general defensive assistant with the team, and clearly impressed. He was previously the linebackers coach of the Cowboys from 2018-19.
- The Chiefs lost the Super Bowl yesterday, and they’re also losing a staff member. Kansas City running backs coach Deland McCullough is leaving to become an associate head coach at Indiana University, sources told FootballScoop (Twitter link). The news was confirmed in a subsequent tweet from Ian Rapoport of NFL Network, who notes that McCullough’s ultimate goal is to become a college head coach.
- The Bears made another recent shuffling of Matt Nagy’s staff, hiring Michael Pitre to be the new running backs coach, Adam Rittenberg of ESPN tweets. Pitre had been the running backs coach and recruiting coordinator at Oregon State. He’ll replace Charles London, who left Chicago along with Ragone to be the new quarterbacks coach with the Falcons.
Alex Smith To Play In 2021?
Perhaps the best story of the unprecedented 2020 NFL season was the improbable return of Alex Smith. Not only did Smith shockingly return to the starting lineup for Washington, something nobody in their right mind saw coming, he also went 5-1 as a starter and led them to a playoff berth. He didn’t always look too mobile, and a calf injury to the same leg he had his devastating infections in cut his season short prematurely. But if you were expecting Smith to ride off into the sunset after his incredible triumph, you might be in for a surprise. In a recent interview with the Rachel Ray show, the quarterback certainly didn’t sound like someone dead-set on retiring.
“For me, this year was such a crazy rush to be out there, practicing out there every single day. To be able to put on my cleats and helmet. But for me, the crazy thing was how well my body responded to that. I just feel like I continued to get stronger and stronger and better and better,” the Washington signal-caller said. “I still feel like I’m kind of a kid right now headed into the offseason. I’m excited for this offseason to see what I can go do — football and everything else. Skiing, snowboarding — I plan on doing as much as I can. I had such an amazing time playing. I felt so good out there. It was crazy after that first game how comfortable I felt back out on the field.”
If Smith does want to keep playing he might have to do it with a new team, as Washington appears to be looking to upgrade at the position. They reportedly were aggressive in going after Matthew Stafford, offering their first-round pick and then some. Smith is under contract for two more seasons, but Washington can get out of it fairly easily this offseason. No matter what happens next, Smith has already shattered all expectations and can hold his head high.
Here’s more from around the league:
- If you were a Texans fan hoping that controversial exec Jack Easterby would quietly slink into the background after all the Deshaun Watson drama, you might be disappointed. “Easterby is still making calls to agents on behalf of the team and is very much involved in football side,” Lance Zierlein of NFL.com hears (Twitter link). As Zierlein points out, that would conflict with Houston’s stated spin that Easterby is merely a pastor and ‘character coach’ of sorts. He seems to be very much involved in football ops alongside new GM Nick Caserio. For whatever reasons, Easterby seems to be sitting pretty in his role and clearly has a great deal of influence with owner Cal McNair. We haven’t heard the last of him, and this saga has no end in sight.
- The Browns are coming off an incredibly successful season that saw them make it back to the playoffs for the first time in nearly 20 years, but there will still be changes coming in Cleveland. One of the biggest could be the departure of defensive tackle Larry Ogunjobi. Ogunjobi will likely be allowed to hit free agency and the Browns “probably won’t want to pay him what he can get on the open market,” Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com writes. Ogunjobi has been a very solid player for Cleveland, starting at least 15 games each of the past three seasons, but with Sheldon Richardson still also manning the middle and fellow defensive tackle Andrew Billings set to return from COVID opt-out in 2021, Kay Cabot thinks he’s expendable.
- Chiefs OC Eric Bieniemy has gotten a lot of attention for getting passed over for head coaching jobs, but Buccaneers head coach Bruce Arians is similarly upset about the other offensive coordinator coaching in the Super Bowl. “I was very, very pissed that Byron [Leftwich] didn’t at least get an interview this year for the job that he’s done,” Arians said, via Jenna Laine of ESPN.com (Twitter link). “I get way too much credit and so does Tom Brady for the job that Byron has done.” Strong words from Arians in support of his OC, the former quarterback who spent 10 years as a player in the league from 2003-12. Leftwich got his coaching start as Arians’ quarterbacks coach with the Cardinals in 2017, and was then hired as his OC when he took the job in Tampa in 2019. If the Bucs have this kind of success again in 2021, Leftwich probably will start to get some serious head coaching buzz next cycle.