NFL News

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NFL finds 56 of 61 taunting calls met standard for penalty, so emphasis on rule is expected to remain

Posted by Charean Williams on March 1, 2022, 3:15 PM EST

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The NFL’s emphasis on taunting was not popular with anyone last season save the league’s decision-makers.

Officials threw 61 flags for taunting in 2021, the most in at least two decades, and an internal review found only five did not meet the league’s standard for a foul, Kevin Seifert of ESPN reports.

Thus, the taunting standard is expected to remain largely unchanged, NFL executive vice president of football operations Troy Vincent told Seifert on Tuesday.

“We have to stand on sportsmanship,” Vincent said. “That was universally in agreement. . . . But there are areas we need to clean up.”

Steelers edge rusher T.J. Watt‘s taunting penalty against the Ravens in a Week 13 game is one of the five penalties that officials should not have called, Vincent said. Watt exchanged words with a Ravens player as he was walking away.

“We’re not looking for that,” Vincent told Seifert. “The referee can inject, separate them, give them an opportunity [to keep playing]. ‘Celebrate with your teammates’ was a phrase that was pretty clear. Don’t go back toward your opponent.”

Some clear cases of taunting went unpenalized, including Tyreek Hill flashing a peace sign at the Bills’ safeties before he scored. Hill was fined.

[Futureshock]

Bruce Arians: Buccaneers won’t accommodate Tom Brady, if he wants to play for a new team

Posted by Mike Florio on March 1, 2022, 3:07 PM EST

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Tom Brady is retired. Unless he isn’t. In recent days, a sense has emerged that he specifically has retired from the Buccaneers, and that he’d perhaps like to play somewhere else.

If that’s the case, Buccaneers coach Bruce Arians won’t be inclined to facilitate any such attempt.

“Nope,” Arians told reporters at the Scouting Combine on Tuesday, via Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times. “Bad business.”

Asked what it would take to get Brady, Arians said, “Five No. 1’s.”

Brady may have a different opinion, especially since he originally signed a two-year deal before extending it by a season in 2021, primarily for cap reasons. Also, it ultimately may not be the head coach’s call as to whether the Buccaneers show gratitude to Brady by making it easier for him to leave, if that’s what he eventually wants.

Arians doesn’t believe that’s what he’ll eventually want, based on what he said when asked whether the door is open on a Brady return.

“He slammed it shut when I talked to him,” Arians said.

Of course, Arians may not have the best ability to read Brady. Arians, after all, went from saying he’d be shocked if Brady retires to, just a few weeks later, saying he’ll be shocked if Brady comes back.

It’s Brady who said “never say never” and, more importantly, that he isn’t sure how he’ll feel when June or July roll around.

Bottom line? If he decides he wants to play for a new team, Brady will find a way to make it happen. And the Buccaneers shouldn’t try to stand in his way.


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[Futureshock]

Joe Schoen: Giants want to build through the draft, then reward our own

Posted by Michael David Smith on March 2, 2022, 11:05 AM EST

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New Giants General Manager Joe Schoen plans to build his team primarily through the draft, and not free agency.

Schoen said that his goal is to draft well enough that the big contracts the Giants are signing are second contracts for their own players.

“Ultimately I’d like to build it through the draft and then reward our own” with new contracts, Schoen said, via NJ.com. “Free agency, it’s an unknown commodity when you’re signing somebody from outside the building and you don’t know their injury history, you don’t know how they learn, you don’t know what they do off the field … you can’t necessarily do all the research you need to do.”

The Giants have both the fifth overall pick and the seventh overall pick (thanks to last year’s trade with the Bears) in this year’s draft, plus all their own picks in every round and the Bears’ fourth-round pick as well. Schoen has good draft capital to start building up that roster.

[jaadam4]

That’s pretty shit of Arians. Brady did him a favor of winning him a SB

[chemiclord]

Arians is pretty shit in general.

[jaadam4]

He's trying to out asshole Belichick and he's succeeding. Why even bother saying something like that?

[Futureshock]

Where things stand with the Houston Texans and Laremy Tunsil

Aaron Wilson - March 2, 2022
Houston Texans general manager Nick Caserio touched on the future of Laremy Tunsil at the 2022 NFL Combine.

[Futureshock]

Chris Grier takes partial blame for Miami Dolphins’ dysfunction, points to brighter future

Adam H. Beasley - March 2, 2022
Miami Dolphins general manager Chris Grier spoke at the NFL Combine about some of the issues surrounding the team.

Miami Dolphins Free Agency Update: Chris Grier on Mike Gesicki, Emmanuel Ogbah, and Christian Wilkins

Adam H. Beasley - March 2, 2022
Miami Dolphins free agents Emmanuel Ogbah and Mike Gesicki are both expected to make over $10 million annually. Can Miami keep both?

Miami Dolphins formally shut door on Deshaun Watson — and go all-in on Tua

Adam H. Beasley - March 2, 2022
Miami Dolphins GM Chris Grier ruled out trading for Houston Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson and threw support behind Tua Tagovailoa.

[Futureshock]

Keyshawn Johnson told Giants to take him off their board when they wanted a psychological evaluation

Posted by Michael David Smith on March 3, 2022, 6:52 AM EST

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For decades, the NFL has used intelligence tests and psychological tests to evaluate draft prospects, and for decades some players have felt those tests are overly invasive. This year, the NFL stopped implementing the Wonderlic test, although individual teams can still give it to prospects.

The Giants, however, were famous — or infamous — for many years for giving prospects a very lengthy psychological profile, asking college players to sit down for hours to be evaluated. Many players didn’t like it, but most felt that they couldn’t say anything, because they were eager to get drafted and didn’t want to alienate any team that might pick them.

Keyshawn Johnson, the first overall pick in the 1996 NFL draft, said on his radio show this morning that the Giants, who owned the fifth overall pick that year, asked him to sit down for hours to do a psychological evaluation.

“The Giants, Jeremiah Davis [a longtime scout for the team], was the head guy at the time in the scouting department. He said, ‘Keyshawn, we’re thinking about taking you at 5. . . . But you have to take this psychological evaluation test that we give to all our prospective draftees,'” Johnson said.

When Johnson asked Davis how long the test would take, Davis said a couple hours, and Johnson told him he didn’t want to devote that much time to a psychological evaluation.

“He said, ‘You have to do it or else we have to take you off our board, which means we will not draft you at 5 and you may fall,'” Johnson recalled. “I said, I ain’t gonna do it. Go ahead and take me off your board.”

Johnson could do that because he had been in close contact with both the Jets at No. 1 and the Jaguars at No. 2, and he was sure that he would be off the board before the Giants picked at No. 5. Other draft prospects weren’t of Johnson’s caliber, however, and had to sit for the Giants’ test.

And Johnson wasn’t the only one: Deion Sanders told a similar story about the Giants wanting him to take the test in 1989. Sanders went fifth overall and the Giants had the 18th pick, and Sanders was also confident enough that the Giants weren’t drafting him that he didn’t feel the need to sit down for two hours and take their test.

George Young, the longtime General Manager of the Giants, was the driving force behind the Giants’ psychological test. When coach Dan Reeves left the Giants at the end of the 1996 season, he blamed Young’s test for many of the team’s personnel failures, saying that he fundamentally disagreed with Young wasting everyone’s time with such a long exam when there was so much more important information that could be gleaned from simply watching the player’s college tape.

“My contention is that a young man in college who goes to a Combine and has to go through all kinds of tests in the Combine and then you ask him to sit down and take a two-hour test, he’s not that excited,” Reeves said. “So how valid is a two-hour test?”

Johnson didn’t think it was valid at all. Neither did Sanders. And they had every right to blanche at the Giants’ request. Unfortunately, most players sat through the test because they felt they had no choice.

[Futureshock]

Haason Reddick is expected to hit the open market

Posted by Josh Alper on March 3, 2022, 6:25 AM EST

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Haason Reddick broke out in 2020 with 12.5 sacks for the Cardinals and the edge rusher landed a one-year, $8 million deal with the Panthers to show that he could provide the same kind of production two years in a row.

The Panthers didn’t have much success as a team in 2021, but Reddick did his part to show that he wasn’t a one-hit wonder. Reddick recorded 11 sacks, two forced fumbles, and a fumble recovery for Carolina and it looks like he’ll be taking those numbers onto the open market.

Panthers General Manager Scott Fitterer said he’s spoken with Reddick’s agent and that the expectation is that Reddick is going to become an unrestricted free agent in a couple of weeks.

“Haason has earned the right to go out and see what he can get,” Fitterer said, via Jonathan M. Alexander of the Charlotte Observer. “He’s got two years in a row with double-digit sacks. He’s going to command a lot of money on the market. I’m happy for him. We just want the dialogue to be open, give us a chance, and we’ll see where it goes.”

The Panthers re-signed Frankie Luvu last month and head coach Matt Rhule said Wednesday that he is “a guy who is going to start for us and play at a high level,” which leads to more of an expectation that Reddick will be moving on in free agency.

[Futureshock]

Louisiana Supreme Court will hear arguments in killing of Joe McKnight

Posted by Charean Williams on March 3, 2022, 12:40 AM EST

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Louisiana’s Supreme Court will decide whether the man who killed former NFL running back Joe McKnight in 2016 can be tried again for murder after his conviction on a lesser charge was overturned, the Associated Press reports.

Ronald Gasser shot McKnight in a road rage killing. Prosecutors argued Gasser was the aggressor, while his attorneys argued he shot McKnight in self-defense.

Authorities in the New Orleans suburb of Jefferson Parish originally charged Gasser with second-degree murder. The jury instead convicted Gasser of manslaughter.

That verdict was overturned by a United States Supreme Court ruling in 2020 that outlawed split-jury verdicts. The jury in Gasser’s trial convicted him in a 10-2 vote.

A state district judge in Gretna ruled, and a state appellate panel agreed in a 2-1 ruling, that trying Gasser again on the murder charge would violate his constitutional protection against double jeopardy.

The Louisiana Supreme Court has not yet set a date to hear arguments.

McKnight played three seasons for the Jets and one with the Chiefs.

[Futureshock]

Chris Grier on whether Tua Tagovailoa can be elite: I can’t say he can’t be

Posted by Charean Williams on March 2, 2022, 10:20 PM EST

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The Dolphins had interest in Deshaun Watson at the trade deadline in October. But General Manager Chris Grier said Wednesday “the door is shut on Deshaun.”

If Grier means what he says, the Dolphins are committed to Tua Tagovailoa.

Tagovailoa met with his new coaches — head coach Mike McDaniel, offensive coordinator Frank Smith and quarterbacks coach Darrell Bevell — at the team facility last month. Tagovailoa is working out in South Florida with his personal quarterbacks coach Nick Hicks.

“Mike and the staff have come in to do a lot of work, studied a lot of Tua, and they feel good about his developmental upside, what he can be and then the fit in the offense,” Grier said at the NFL Scouting Combine. “I think we’re good with Tua.”

The quarterback drafted ahead of Tagovailoa in 2020, Joe Burrow, has played in a Super Bowl. The quarterback drafted immediately after Tagovailoa, Justin Herbert, has made the Pro Bowl.

In two seasons, Tagovailoa has a 13-8 record as a starter. He has been up and down, with 27 touchdowns, 15 interceptions and an 88.8 passer rating.

Do the Dolphins believe Tagovailoa can become what the Bengals and Chargers already know their quarterback is?

“I can’t say he can’t be,” Grier said of Tagovailoa’s chance to become elite.

Maybe he will. Maybe he won’t. The Dolphins seem willing to give him another year to find out.

[Futureshock]

Kevin Stefanski on Jarvis Landry: There are situations that are hard

Posted by Charean Williams on March 2, 2022, 9:46 PM EST

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The Browns already moved on from Odell Beckham Jr. Now, it appears they are headed for a breakup with Beckham’s best friend, Jarvis Landry.

Since the season ended, Browns General Manager Andrew Berry twice has sounded as if he was saying goodbye to Landry. Berry said Tuesday he was “grateful” for everything Landry had done in Cleveland.

Browns coach Kevin Stefanski said nothing Wednesday to change the thinking that Landry is headed elsewhere.

“With all of these things, you wait and see how it all plays out,” Stefanski said, via Nate Ulrich of the Akron Beacon Journal. “I think you guys know how I feel about Jarvis. I know Jarvis knows how I feel about Jarvis. We’ll see how it all plays out.

“I think you’ve seen countless examples of this is a business. I think the players understand that, and sometimes there are situations that are hard. We’ll work through all of those. Ultimately, we just have to let this one play out.”

Landry is entering the final season of a five-year, $75.5 million deal he signed upon being traded from Miami in 2018. Landry carries a $16.4 million cap number, but the Browns would save $14.9 million against the cap if they were to release him. They’d have $1.5 million in dead cap money if they chose that route.

In 12 games, Landry caught 52 passes for 570 yards with a pair of touchdowns in 2021.

Without Landry agreeing to a restructure, all signs point to the Browns releasing the receiver.

[Futureshock]

Like last year, Washington is calling every team that may have a quarterback available

Posted by Mike Florio on March 2, 2022, 7:13 PM EST

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On Tuesday, Washington coach Ron Rivera made it clear that the team is covering all bases in the search for a new coach. On Wednesday, Washington G.M. Martin Mayhew made it clear that the team is literally doing just that.

“We feel we have canvassed the league effectively,” Mayhew told reporters, via John Kein of ESPN.com. “We’ve spoken to every club that has a quarterback who might be available.”

Mayhew said the Commanders did the same thing a year ago.

“If you don’t have a franchise quarterback, you have to have urgency about [finding one] every year,” Mayhew said. “We were very urgent about it last year. I’m not sure that was a fair fight for Matthew [Stafford] last year, I’ll leave it there. We did everything we could to find the right guy.”

It wasn’t a fair fight for Stafford, for a couple of reasons. First, then-new Lions G.M. Brad Holmes had landed the job after working for the Rams. It was an open and easy line of communication. Second, the Rams needed to find a broader deal into which the Jared Goff contract could be tucked, in order to save face as to the God-awful contract they’d given him.

Mayhew isn’t the first to express dismay that the competition for Stafford wasn’t as open as it could have been, or arguably as it should have been. The Lions may have gotten more by holding an open auction for Stafford. Then again, there were teams for which Stafford didn’t want to play. He clearly wanted to play for the Rams, and it obviously worked out.

This year, Washington is actively looking. And it may not necessarily happen via trade.

“This is a quality quarterback class this year,” Mayhew said. “As of right now, I think there may be some separation here at the Combine. We may see some of that happening. But we’re aware of what our options are as far as next year too. We are looking to address it now, if possible. And that’s where our focus is.”

Taylor Heinicke may not be thrilled about that, but he’s had his chance to become the guy Washington needs him to be. He hasn’t. So now they’ll look elsewhere. And they’ll keep looking until they find one.

[Futureshock]

Kevin Stefanski supports Baker Mayfield but won’t rule out competition

Posted by Charean Williams on March 2, 2022, 6:44 PM EST

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The Browns are saying all the things they have to say about Baker Mayfield in early March. Coach Kevin Stefanski answered with a simple “yes” Wednesday when asked whether he still has full confidence in Mayfield as the starter in 2022.

It reiterated what General Manager Andrew Berry said a day earlier about “fully” expecting Mayfield to return as the Browns’ starter.

But both left open the possibility of adding competition at the position.

“I think every day those guys understand that it’s a challenge,” Stefanski said, via Marla Ridenour of the Akron Beacon Journal. “In terms of the room and those types of things, I’m not going to get into that necessarily. But I think Baker, all of our players understand that it’s a competition. You’re getting challenged every single day. They treat every day like a challenge, so I’m comfortable with how that goes.

“But how the rest of the offseason goes, I think we’ll see.”

Mayfield tore the labrum in his left shoulder in Week 2 but played through it with the help of a harness. He underwent surgery Jan. 19. He had the fewest passing yards (3,010), the fewest touchdowns (17) and the lowest passer rating (83.1) in his career, but Stefanski wouldn’t use the shoulder as an excuse.

The coach did acknowledge opponents took away the rollouts that made Mayfield effective in 2020.

“It was not the shoulder. We were not limited in what we were doing with Baker as he worked through the injuries,” Stefanski said.

The Browns could open the competition to veteran backup Case Keenum, but Mary Kay Cabot of cleveland.com reports a $1 million roster bonus due March 19 could impact their decision on Keenum. He has a cap hit of $8.43 million in 2022.

If the Browns don’t sign a quarterback such as Mitchell Trubisky to challenge Mayfield, they could bring back Keenum at $8.43 million, Cabot reports.