NFL News

[Cody_Russell]

Wow, that’s all Miami had to give up to get Jalen Ramsey?

3rd RD pick + basically a young Will Heller (Hunter Long).

[jaadam4]

That's it? No way, there has to be more.

[Futureshock]

I still don't understand. What would help us is teams needing QBs and thus trading up in front of us to take QBs. If Richardson's combine makes it so that he's taken top 5 and we have 4 QBs taken ahead of us, we get basically the #2 overall pick since we don't need a QB. If smugface goes to the Jets, the Jets are out of the conversation of trading up in front of us.

What if Rodgers (no one knows) would have went to Indy. Now they too would be in front of us and looking for what we want.

Takes an option away from the QB needy teams in front of us. Stands at 3 right now.

[Cody_Russell]

It might have been crazy Lions or Rams fans, but I saw some people float the idea that the Lions would have to give up pick #18 for Ramsey. Way off!

I was thinking one of the 2nd RD picks for Ramsey. Oh well. Maybe the Lions can try for Slay…

[ghandi]

I dont know if I like the "rent a corner" approach...Both Slay and Ramsey are expensive and getting near the later stages of their career....maybe Miami feels they are one player away?

[Futureshock]

Rams will trade Jalen Ramsey to Dolphins for Hunter Long and a third-round pick
Posted by Michael David Smith on March 12, 2023, 2:23 PM EDT
Jalen Ramsey is heading to Miami.

The Rams and Dolphins have agreed to a trade that will send Ramsey to Miami and send Hunter Long and the Dolphins’ 2023 third-round pick (No. 77 overall) to Los Angeles, according to multiple reports.

The trade cannot become official until the new league year begins on Wednesday, but both teams have agreed to do it.

Ramsey is still playing at a high level, but his massive salary cap hit and the Rams’ precarious cap situation made the Rams eager to trade him. Ramsey has a $17 million base salary for 2023. The trade will save the Rams $5.6 million in cap space this year.

Long is a 2021 third-round pick who has barely played in his first two NFL seasons.

For the Dolphins, it’s a big move that shows they’re serious about being contenders this season. For the Rams, it’s a big reminder that the team they’re fielding in 2023 will look very different from their Super Bowl-winning roster of 2021.

[Futureshock]

Report: Buccaneers to target Baker Mayfield in free agency

Posted by Josh Alper on March 12, 2023, 12:17 PM EDT

Baker Mayfield may be on his way back to the NFC South.

NFL Media reports that the Buccaneers are expected to target Mayfield once they are allowed to begin negotiating with free agents from other teams on Monday. Mayfield opened last season as the starting quarterback in Carolina and ended the year as the starter for the Rams after being waived by the Panthers.

Kyle Trask is currently the only quarterback under contract in Tampa and head coach Todd Bowles has said that the 2021 second-round pick will compete to be the starter as the Bucs move into life without Tom Brady.

Mayfield would provide some experienced competition for Trask and the coming days should bring more of an idea if that’s how things will be shaping up in Tampa

[Futureshock]

Here’s a look at how collusion happens among NFL owners
Posted by Mike Florio on March 12, 2023, 11:24 AM EDT

In recent years, the word “collusion” has come up in various contexts. As used with respect to the NFL, collusion typically means owners coordinating their business practices in ways not permitted by the Collective Bargaining Agreement or the law.

The CBA permits coordinated practices for the player workforce, because the NFL and the NFL Players Association have created a “multi-employer bargaining unit.” Specific rules like the salary cap and the draft would violate the antitrust laws, but for the existence of the union. (That’s why the union’s first move in the 2011 lockout was to shut down operations and to sue the NFL for violation of the antitrust laws.)

As it relates to things the teams are permitted to do by the CBA (e.g., give players fully-guaranteed contracts), an agreement among teams or a directive from the league (usually, the Management Council) to refrain from doing such things becomes impermissible collusion.

So how does it happen? Well, it potentially happens four times per year, when the owners meet. NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith said during an October appearance on #PFTPM that the union refers to those quarterly ownership meetings as “collusion meetings.”

It’s no different than the CEOs of McDonald’s, Burger King, Wendy’s, Taco Bell, Subway, Long John Silver’s, KFC, and every other fast-food (good food quickly) restaurant meeting four times per year to compare notes on how they’ve been doing business and how they’ll be doing business. These are competitors, not partners. Any effort to, for example, cap wages or restrict employee movement from one good-food-quickly restaurant to the next would be an antitrust violation.

For the NFL, it’s a little more complicated. The 32 owners are both partners and competitors. As it relates to the things the CBA allows each of them to do, they are competitors. If they partner up and agree not to do those things (e.g., if they refuse to give out fully-guaranteed contracts), they are illegally colluding.

As it relates to Lamar Jackson, the seeds of collusion (if any) were planted last year, with the blowback the Browns experienced for giving quarterback Deshaun Watson a five-year, fully-guaranteed contract. Multiple owners spoke out against the deal, a stunning move that gives credence to collusive behavior. Later in the year, the NFLPA filed a grievance alleging that the owners were colluding to keep “certain quarterbacks” from receiving fully-guaranteed deals.

It’s no surprise, then, that multiple teams have preemptively slammed the door on pursuing Jackson. If they never engage him in negotiations, they never have to say “no” to his request for a fully-guaranteed deal. Which means that there’s never a parade of teams that refused to give Lamar a fully-guaranteed deal.

While the failure of any team to pursue him (if that’s what happens) would be proof of collusion, more evidence would likely be required than that to show that the decision was coordinated and not coincidental.

It’s similar to what happened several years back, during the shunning of Colin Kaepernick. His grievance gathered enough evidence to result in a seven-figure settlement. While that’s peanuts when spread among 32 teams, the NFL would have fought like hell if the NFL believed it would have won.

So as free agency begins, the subtext becomes whether evidence of collusion can be harvested if/when Jackson is ignored. It would be far easier to harvest that evidence if Jackson had an agent interacting with teams.

Maybe, for this reason, the NFLPA should consider nudging Jackson to hire an agent. Apart from the fact that it’s currently (and has been) in Jackson’s best interests to do so, it’s now in the union’s best interests to have an agent pounding the pavement for a potential contract offer for Jackson, since it will be easier to develop know-it-when-you-see-it proof of collusion if/when the agent keeps pestering team after team after team and getting nowhere at all.

Regardless, it will never be easy to prove collusion conclusively. The teams are smart enough to not create paper trails. And they don’t need to, not when the owners get together at least four times per year to potentially collude not through texts or emails or phone records but through conversations that happen behind closed doors and/or during cocktail-party harrumphs and guffaws while holding a drink in one hand and a small plate of hors d’oeuvres in the other

[Futureshock]

If Jets don’t get Aaron Rodgers, would they turn to Matthew Stafford?
Posted by Mike Florio on March 12, 2023, 10:36 AM EDT
The waiting game continues for Aaron Rodgers. He says a decision is coming soon, but who knows how he defines the term?

Assuming that the Jets find out by Wednesday whether Rodgers will accept a trade to New York, and in the event Rodgers decides not to change teams, the question becomes what will the Jets do?

There aren’t many obvious options. Jimmy Garoppolo becomes an instant short-list candidate. Baker Mayfield could be an option, too. They surely wouldn’t bring back Sam Darnold, and Tom Brady is retired. (At least for now.)

It’s possible that the Jets would become sufficiently desperate post-Rodgers to offer Lamar Jackson the five-year, fully-guaranteed contract he has yet to get from Baltimore and may not realize from any other team.

There’s another name that’s been rattling around, even though his current team has said he won’t be traded. (Then again, if they ever say they have “no intention” to trade him, that’s when the trade will happen.)

Matthew Stafford.

Would it be crazy for the Rams to trade Stafford only two seasons after giving up Jared Goff, two first-round picks, and a third-round pick to get Stafford? Absolutely. But trading him before Friday would be the only way to avoid having another $57 million in future compensation to become fully guaranteed.

The Jets currently are prepared to pay Aaron Rodgers nearly $60 million for what could be only one year of employment. Stafford’s $57 million covers 2023 and 2024. That makes it easy for the Jets to justify the move, financially.

Still, it wouldn’t be easy for the Rams to justify making the move. As recently noted, the Rams would take a $48 million cap charge by trading Stafford this week.

So what’s worse for the Rams? Allowing another $57 million in guarantees to vest for a quarterback who might not have the supporting cast to play well and stay healthy, or removing the Band-Aid, taking the $48 million cap charge, collecting extra draft picks, and moving on?

Like many teams, the Rams will not give any credence to a possible trade of such an important player until the moment it happens. Also, Stafford would have to be willing to uproot his family from L.A. and take them all the way to the other side of the country.

It’s currently hard to imagine a Stafford trade happening. It’s also not exactly easy to imagine the Rams pouring another $58.5 million onto the $61.5 million the team paid Stafford a year ago.

He turned 35 last month. It feels like an old 35 — partially because it feels like he’s been in the NFL forever and partially because he’s taken plenty of hits and endured plenty of injuries.

It’s actually kind of amazing to think Stafford is days away from having $120 million vest in the aftermath of winning a Super Bowl. If the Rams truly hope to “remodel” (as G.M. Les Snead recently put it), they need to quit giving such gigantic contracts to quarterbacks that end up not being the long-term answers at the position.

It started with Goff and the ill-advised second deal he received after only three NFL seasons, and who lasted only two seasons after signing it. It’s continuing with Stafford, who may have only two more years at most in L.A.

There’s a chance, albeit slim, that he may have only two more days in L.A. Especially if there ends up being no chance of Rodgers joining the Jets

[Futureshock]

Aaron Rodgers: It won’t be long before I make my decision, there’s a time limit for all this

Posted by Michael David Smith on March 12, 2023, 4:52 AM EDT



Aaron Rodgers has not decided what he’ll be doing for the 2023 season, but he says he’ll decide soon.
Rodgers did a brief interview with former NFL receiver Brandon Marshall on Saturday, and when Marshall asked Rodgers how long we’ll have to wait to learn his plans, Rodgers said he’s conscious of the importance of making a decision soon.
“Well, I think it won’t be long. There’s a time limit for all this,” Rodgers said.
At the moment, the most likely result appears to be a trade to the Jets. Marshall asked Rodgers about his recent meeting with Jets owner Woody Johnson, but Rodgers didn’t say much.
“It’s always interesting meeting important figures in the sport. That’s all I’m giving you. Stay tuned,” Rodgers said.
The football world will continue to stay tuned, and the Packers and Jets will continue to wait, as Rodgers makes up his mind about where and whether he’s playing this year

[Futureshock]

Darius Slay: I do want to finish my career with the Eagles
Posted by Charean Williams on March 11, 2023, 8:49 PM EST
Pro Bowl cornerback Darius Slay clarified Saturday he has not asked for a trade and hopes to remain with the Eagles for the rest of his career.

The Eagles have granted Slay’s agent, Drew Rosenhaus, permission to seek a trade as they work through a resolution to his contract situation. He is entering the final year of his current deal with a $17 million base salary and a cap hit of $26.1 million.

“I know what’s going on. I hear the rumors. I hear everything,” Slay said on Big Play Slay, via Dave Zangaro of NBCSportsPhiladelphia.com. “I see everything all over the globe, all over the internet, and I just want my fans to know Slay did not ask to be traded. But this is part of the business. There’s no bad blood against neither one of us, me or [General Manager] Howie [Roseman]. None of that. We all good, great understanding. It’s just the business part of it. A lot of guys go up for trades, you know. They got a lot of money involved in this situation, so it’s nothing big, nothing too serious. It’s just part of the business, man.

“I do want to finish my career as an Eagle, but we’ll see. We be looking forward to it, man. Got time here. But best believe, I do want to be an Eagle. But if my job requires me to go elsewhere, then I’ll go. . . . I got a lot of years left in this game and I love this game, man. So it’s only right for me to finish off strong.”

The Eagles want to lower Slay’s cap hit. Slay wants a contract extension. A trade before June 1 would save the Eagles only $3.7 million with a $22 million dead cap hit.

Rosenhaus, though, could get a better idea of Slay’s market by talking to other teams.

Three other players in the Eagles’ secondary — James Bradberry, C.J. Gardner-Johnson and Marcus Epps — are scheduled to become free agents next week.

Slay also knows that he might not stay in Philadelphia, and to that end, he’s seen the recruiting that’s gone on around the NFL from other players.

“I appreciate my NFL brothers. I see all the love y’all showing me,” Slay said. “I appreciate it. It shows me y’all got a lot of respect for my game. Y’all believe I can come to y’all organization and help win. I appreciate that. Shout out to my boy Quandre [Diggs]. Shout out to Micah [Parsons], but I know about Dallas. Tough one. But shout out to everyone. Cordarrelle [Patterson], my draft mate, back at home, back in Georgia, Atlanta. That’s the crib. And my boy MVS [Chiefs receiver Marquez Valdes-Scantling], man, we be having great battles up there in Green Bay. So I see you too little bro. I saw the tweet even though you beat us. I’m over it almost. But hey, man, I’m hoping for anything, any great opportunity to go out and help an organization win. I’m looking forward to seeing this. I’ve been here before and I end up as an Eagle. So we’ll see where I end up now.

[Futureshock]

Odell Beckham Jr. is still looking for $20 million per year
Posted by Mike Florio on March 11, 2023, 8:45 PM EST

At one point during the 2022 season, a report emerged that free-agent receiver Odell Beckham, Jr. wants $20 million per year. We’re told that Beckham still has that number in mind.

It’s hard to imagine it happening, without Beckham proving that he can play at a high level. He was indeed playing at a high level in the 2021 postseason, but he suffered a torn ACL in Super Bowl LVI. He likely needs to re-establish himself before he can get what he’s looking for.

Again, it’s possible that he’ll do a deal that gets reported as being worth $20 million per year but that will be in fact a one-year, prove-it type deal. But if Beckham hopes to save face, that’s the way to do it.

It’ll be interesting to see what happens. There’s a chance he’ll be able to play at a high level. There’s less of a chance someone will make a major financial investment without knowing it.

[The King]

We’ll see how Ramsey ages while kicking it in South Beach for two years.

[jaadam4]

Report: Buccaneers to target Baker Mayfield in free agency

Posted by Josh Alper on March 12, 2023, 12:17 PM EDT

Baker Mayfield may be on his way back to the NFC South.

NFL Media reports that the Buccaneers are expected to target Mayfield once they are allowed to begin negotiating with free agents from other teams on Monday. Mayfield opened last season as the starting quarterback in Carolina and ended the year as the starter for the Rams after being waived by the Panthers.

Kyle Trask is currently the only quarterback under contract in Tampa and head coach Todd Bowles has said that the 2021 second-round pick will compete to be the starter as the Bucs move into life without Tom Brady.

Mayfield would provide some experienced competition for Trask and the coming days should bring more of an idea if that’s how things will be shaping up in Tampa

F Baker Mayfield.

That's all i have to say about that

[jaadam4]

Odell Beckham Jr. is still looking for $20 million per year
Posted by Mike Florio on March 11, 2023, 8:45 PM EST

At one point during the 2022 season, a report emerged that free-agent receiver Odell Beckham, Jr. wants $20 million per year. We’re told that Beckham still has that number in mind.

It’s hard to imagine it happening, without Beckham proving that he can play at a high level. He was indeed playing at a high level in the 2021 postseason, but he suffered a torn ACL in Super Bowl LVI. He likely needs to re-establish himself before he can get what he’s looking for.

Again, it’s possible that he’ll do a deal that gets reported as being worth $20 million per year but that will be in fact a one-year, prove-it type deal. But if Beckham hopes to save face, that’s the way to do it.

It’ll be interesting to see what happens. There’s a chance he’ll be able to play at a high level. There’s less of a chance someone will make a major financial investment without knowing it.

He's out of his mind. He's on the wrong side of 30 and hasn't produced at that level since his years in New York. Even his first season in Cleveland when they were feeding him the ball he wasn't that great,