AROUND THE NFL

Daily Briefing

An eerie calm settles over the sports world as it is announced the NFL has labor peace for the next decade.  And the NFL will dominate the news this week – as it is business as usual with the league year opening today.  We can thank the NFLPA per ESPN:

The NFL’s new league year will start on time as planned this week, according to a memo sent to teams Sunday.

The memo, which was obtained by ESPN, informs teams that the player-team negotiation window will start at noon ET on Monday and that the league year will start Wednesday at 4 p.m. ET — both as were planned before the coronavirus outbreak.

A source told ESPN’s Adam Schefter that the NFL had wanted to move back the start of the year, but the players’ association would not provide consent, arguing that working on deals did not require travel or in-person meetings. The first day of the legal tampering period for free agents typically opens with a slew of meetings between teams and players or their representatives.

The NFLPA was also concerned about how long the delays could last, given the uncertain timeline of the global pandemic, a source said.

The NFL last week maintained that the new league year would start on schedule, though team officials had grown skeptical in recent days about the date staying put given the outbreak. However, before the memo was sent Sunday, a different tone had taken root across the league, with multiple sources coming to anticipate that the date would not be moved.

There also has been guidance from the league for teams, players and agents to do business remotely, a source told Schefter.

The NFL already has taken measures to adhere to calls for social distancing when it comes to meeting with draft hopefuls, prohibiting “all in-person, pre-draft visits involving draft-eligible players,” according to an earlier memo obtained by ESPN’s Dan Graziano.

That memo came amid a wave of statements from individual teams announcing they were pulling their scouts and player personnel staff from the road amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The league also has canceled its annual meeting, which was scheduled to be held in West Palm Beach, Florida, from March 29 through April 1.

The NFL has adjusted to a truncated calendar before. In 2011, amid a lockout that ran from March to August, the league year did not begin until Aug. 4, with preseason games starting a week later.

Peter King says that the GMs he is talking to are upset (presumably at the NFLPA):

One owner and two general mangers I spoke with Sunday were somewhere between frustrated and furious that Wednesday’s 4 p.m. start of the free-agency period hadn’t been delayed. The owner called it “tone deaf” to be proceeding with business as usual with the coronavirus hanging over the world.

“Tone deaf is right!” one of the GMs told me by phone, breathing fire. “The world has stopped. We’re in a national emergency as a country and we do this? It’s awful. We’re telling the rest of the world we don’t care. Can you imagine the reaction to some player signing a $60-million contract this week and that being in the headlines while thousands and thousands of people are losing their jobs because of this virus! It’s ridiculous.”

To change the starting date of the league year, Goodell and (NFL honcho DeMaurice) Smith must agree, because it’s a collectively bargained issue. I’m told Smith “wouldn’t budge” (a source’s words, not mine, and backed by ESPN’s Adam Schefter), because he wanted the signing period to begin—and because there wouldn’t necessarily be a better time if the league pushed it back two weeks or two months.

“It’s arrogant,” the other GM said. “It looks gross. We need to chill out for a while. The optics of it are going to be awful.”

Mike Florio implores Roger Goodell to overrule DeMaurice Smith and take the heat, legal or otherwise:

The NFL plans to proceed with the unofficial launch free agency at noon ET on Monday. If it happens, it will be one of the biggest mistakes the NFL ever has made.

It’s no longer about the bad optics of big contracts being handed out in deeply troubled times, although the optics remain less than optimal. It’s about the NFL doing its part to send a clear message that, at least for now, the world has fundamentally and dramatically changed. The new normal is that nothing is normal, and any effort to make things seem normal necessarily will be abnormal.

The NFL realizes that it’s a mistake to proceed; that’s why the NFL is working so hard to mobilize its friends and employees in the media to place blame on the union. When history chastises the NFL in the same way that it still does for playing games two days after the assassination of JFK, the NFL wants to be able to credibly say, “Don’t blame us, blame them.”

Baloney. The NFL still runs the sport. If the NFL wants to slam the brakes on free agency, it can. And if the NFL Players Association wants to file a charge with the National Labor Relations Board accusing the league of unfair labor practices because it implemented without bargaining a delay in free agency, so be it.

Maybe the truth is that the NFL wants to proceed with free agency, but that it also wants to deflect the P.R. fallout to someone else. If so, the union needs to make it clear that the league is pushing to go forward as aggressively as the players are.

If the NFL truly wants to press pause, there’s still hope that the NFL Players Association can be persuaded to see the light before the market opens at noon ET. As we reported last night, the NFL and NFL Players Association will be talking today about the situation. Tom Pelissero of NFL Media adds to this that the conversation will include “guidelines for how to conduct free agency — travel, medicals, etc. — amidst our national emergency.”

Maybe, just maybe, it will become obvious during these conversations that it will be impossible to properly handle the logistics and finalize the deals before the inevitable (and, yes, it’s inevitable) national quarantine is imposed by the President. When that happens, millions in tentative deals will plunge into limbo, with both team and player having days, weeks, or months to back out. Then will come the physicals. If the player fails the physical, he’ll be back on the market months after believing that his bank accounts will be flush with life-changing money.

The smart move continues to be pressing pause, for however long it takes. In 2011, the league delayed free agency until August, due to the lockout. Now, with much more at stake than winning a labor negotiation, the NFL needs to show real leadership amid this crisis and do the right thing for the game, the players, and the nation.

And, yes, this message ultimately is directed at one person: The man whose autograph appears on every NFL football.

Barry Wilner of the AP on the CBA:

NFL players have approved a new labor agreement with the league that features a 17-game regular season, higher salaries, increased roster sizes and larger pensions for current and former players.

The deal, which runs through the 2030 season, was accepted by the 32 team owners last month. The NFL Players Association’s membership spent the last week voting on the 439-page document after its executive board narrowly rejected it by a 6-5 vote, and the player representatives voted 17-14 in favor, with one abstention.

Clearly, there was some strong player opposition to this collective bargaining agreement, though. Many stars, including Aaron Rodgers, Russell Wilson, J.J. Watt and Todd Gurley, spoke out against it. The total vote, among the nearly 2,500 union members who participated, was 1,019-959.

Ratification required a simple majority, and results were announced Sunday.

“We are pleased that the players have voted to ratify the proposed new CBA, which will provide substantial benefits to all current and retired players, increase jobs, ensure continued progress on player safety, and give our fans more and better football,” NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said in a statement. “We appreciate the tireless efforts of the members of the Management Council Executive Committee and the NFLPA leadership, both of whom devoted nearly a year to detailed, good faith negotiations to reach this comprehensive, transformative agreement.”

The 2020 NFL business season begins Wednesday with free agency and trades — though a delay is possible given league restrictions on travel as a safeguard against the new coronavirus. A 17-game schedule won’t happen before the 2021 season. The mechanics for an uneven number of games — neutral sites or which teams get nine home games — will be worked out in the interim.

Extending the season was a nonissue with the players in 2011, when the current 10-year deal was finalized after a 4 1/2 month lockout. But the gains they make in the new agreement in sharing “a bigger portion of the growing pie,” according to outgoing NFLPA President Eric Winston, swayed the vote this time.

Among those gains:

— An increase from the 47% of league revenues given to the players, with that percentage dependent on the length of the season.

— A reduction of the preseason, initially from four games to three. More time off during training camps.

— Upgraded pensions, with the addition of groups of previous players not included in past agreements.

— Two more roster spots per team, from 53 to 55; that’s 64 more jobs.

— Larger practice squads with fewer limitations on movement of those players.

— Narrowing the testing period for players for marijuana use, plus lowered discipline for using it; and a reduction in on-field fines.

Adding two playoff teams was not part of the bargaining process; the owners can do so without union approval. That is expected to occur this season, with only the top team in each conference getting a wild-card bye.

With labor peace for the rest of the decade, the NFL now will turn to negotiating new deals with its broadcast partners. Results of that, including digital media, should, as Winston mentioned, substantially grow the financial pie.

The vote was close, and Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk.com looks ta the numbers.

“NFL players have voted to approve ratification of a new collective bargaining agreement by a vote tally of 1,019 to 959,” the union announced on Twitter. “This result comes after a long and democratic process in accordance with our constitution. An independent auditor received submitted ballots through a secure electronic platform, then verified, tallied and certified the results.”

The numbers (if my math is correct, and that’s a big if) translate to 1,978 votes, with 51.5 percent voting yes and 48.5 percent voting no. And with roughly 2,500 dues-paying members of the union, the vote generated a turnout (although no one had to actually go anywhere) of 79.12 percent.

It’s amazing that the percentage wasn’t higher, given the stakes and the controversy. Which shows that plenty of players simply weren’t (and still aren’t) paying attention.

The good news (if there can be any at this time) is that we can all stop paying attention to labor issues, with a caveat to be explained in a subsequent post.

If 30 of the 1,978 votes had switched, the union would have turned it down.  Or if the vote of the 500 or so abstaining had been 220 in favor, 280 against.

The positive vote owes itself to CoVid19.  More from Florio:

If the world hadn’t turned upside down this week, the proposed CBA likely would have been turned inside out.

Multiple sources and observers have expressed to PFT in the aftermath of the news that the NFL Players Association has narrowly ratified a new labor deal that the public-health and economic crises of recent days pushed the vote over the top.

As one source said, based on communications with multiple players (some of whom had in turn communicated with multiple players), the vote was “definitely failing” until the COVID-19 crisis sparked a stock-market crash and demonstrated conclusively that the “fear of what may happen” (which some who opposed the CBA cited derisively) is a real and legitimate factor in matters of this nature.

Broncos kicker Brandon McManus, the team’s NFLPA representative, told Mike Klis of 9News.com that McManus believes recent events saved the CBA.

“I’d definitely say yes,” McManus said. “Most of the votes were already in [before the events of recent days] but I’d say at least 60 people voted on Saturday that could have swayed it.”

The vote was narrow — 51.5 percent to 48.5 percent. As to ballots cast since Thursday, when the sports leagues shut down and the Dow Jones industrial average suffered its biggest hit since October 1987, the outcome should have been a landslide. Without that landslide, the NFL and NFLPA could have been sliding toward a work stoppage in 2021.

Josh Alper of ProFootballTalk.com reports this on the salary cap:

The NFLPA announced that its membership approved the new Collective Bargaining Agreement on Sunday morning and that announcement was followed quickly by word on the size of the salary cap for the 2020 season.

The NFL has informed teams that the cap will be $198.2 million for the coming year. There was talk that the cap could rise to $200 million or more, but that milestone will have to wait until at least 2021.

It is still a $10 million increase from last season, which marks the seventh straight year that the cap has increased by at least that much money.

Overall player costs per team, which include benefits and performance-based pay, will come in at $242.9 million.

Peter King thinks this:

I think this is a factoid that no modern NFL fan will want to hear, but it is true:

• Roger Goodell took over as commissioner on Sept. 1, 2006, and it’s uncertain how long he will reign. But he has now set up the league for 25 straight seasons of labor peace, with the new labor deal set to last through 2030.

• Pete Rozelle, in his last eight years as commissioner, oversaw two work stoppages, in 1982 and 1987. The second saw three regular-season weeks of replacement players while the real players walked a picket line.

• Regular-season games lost under Goodell: zero. Regular-season games lost under Rozelle: 112, plus the 42 replacement games if you count those.

 I think, in the sense of fairness for a commissioner who’s been bashed about the head for years, it’s fair to say Goodell has kept the games going in very litigious times.

NFC EAST

DALLAS

The Cowboys (and the Titans) have a reason to rue the passing of the CBA.  Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk.com:

The NFLPA has ratified the CBA, which is bad news in the short term for two franchises that would love to have two tags.

The rules of the last year of the 2011 CBA would have given all teams both one franchise tag and one transition tag to use on impending free agents. The new CBA cuts it to one or the other, but not one of each.

This means that the Cowboys will have to try to get quarterback Dak Prescott or receiver Amari Cooper signed to a new deal, so that the other can be tagged. Ditto for the Titans, who need to figure out how to keep quarterback Ryan Tannehill and running back Derrick Henry.

As to the Titans, it won’t be easy, because both players are represented by the same firm, CAA. For the Cowboys, it won’t be easy because Dak has remained dug in, refusing to accept an offer from March 2 that would make him the highest-paid player in league history.

And this about RYAN TANNEHILL and QB DAK PRESCOTT per Peter King:

The Cowboys have waited too long to get Dak Prescott’s contract done. The longer they wait, the more it’s going to cost. Latest illustration why: In Ryan Tannehill’s contract with the Titans, reached Sunday, Tannehill—per Mike Florio—will make $91 million in his first three seasons. Only Russell Wilson ($107 million), Aaron Rodgers ($103 million) and Matt Ryan ($94 million) will have made more in the first three years of their deal than Tannehill. And by waiting, the Cowboys, very likely to put the franchise tag on Prescott today, will just pay more and more for a quarterback who, like Tannehill, was in the right place at the right time—though Prescott’s clearly been better over his career.

NEW YORK GIANTS

The Giants will tag DT LEONARD WILLIAMS.  Darin Gantt of ProFootballTalk.com:

The Giants didn’t trade for Leonard Williams in a contract year during a losing season just to let him be a short-term rental.

So apparently, they’re going to keep him.

According to Adam Schefter of ESPN.com, the Giants are expected to franchise tag the defensive lineman today.

Efforts were apparently unsuccessful in working out a long-term deal with the former Jets first-rounder.

The Giants acquired him in a rare cross-town trade last season, sending their 2020 third-rounder and another pick in the deal. If they retain him with a deal before the deadline, it’s a 2021 fourth-rounder. If not, it’s a 2021 fifth-rounder, and a particularly egregious case of draft pick arson.

NFC SOUTH

ATLANTA

CB DESMOND TRUFANT hits the market, with talent but a string of injuries.  Kevin Patra of NFL.com:

Despite glowing words from the coaching staff a week ago, Desmond Trufant is getting cut.

NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero reported Monday that the Atlanta Falcons plan to release the corner this week, per a source informed of the decision. The team tried to trade Trufant to no avail, added NFL Network Insider Ian Rapoport.

The news comes less than a week after defensive coordinator Raheem Morris spoke glowingly about Trufant bouncing back from his injury-plagued 2019 campaign.

“He came on last year and probably had one of his more productive seasons,” Morris said last week, per the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “Grabbing four picks … he had two in one game and two in another. He played well. We look forward to all of those guys coming back.”

The positive talk from the coaching staff still couldn’t stop Trufant from getting his walking papers.

The 29-year-old cornerback dealt with a toe injury early in the season that wiped out four games, then he suffered a season-ending broken forearm in Week 14. He finished the year with 18 tackles, seven passes defended and four INTs.

When healthy, Trufant remains a stellar veteran corner, capable of gluing to top-flight receivers. Heading into his age 30 season, however, the Falcons decided it best to move on in 2020.

Cutting Trufant saves the Falcons $4.95 million in salary-cap space while leaving $10.2 million in dead money. For a team tight against the salary cap like Atlanta, cutting Trufant won’t be the only difficult move for the Falcons this week.

The Falcons did keep DT TYLER DAVISON. 

NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero and Mike Garafolo reported the deal is worth $12 million with $4.5 million guaranteed. In his first year in Atlanta, Davison recorded a career-high 55 tackles and four tackles for a loss while starting 12 games.

TAMPA BAY

Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk.com:

The music is beginning to slow down, and the greatest quarterback in league history may find himself with not many seats from which to choose.

Chris Simms reports (stay out of my back yard, hippie) that the 49ers have decided not to pursue Tom Brady.

“It was Tom Brady’s No. 1 choice . . . to go to San Francisco and be the starting quarterback,” Simms says, adding that the 49ers eventually declined to pursue Brady.

The 49ers have instead decided to stick with Jimmy Garoppolo, Brady’s former understudy in New England who was traded from the Patriots to the 49ers in 2017.

With the Titans re-signing Ryan Tannehill, the primary potential designations for Brady appear to be the Patriots and the Buccaneers. One factor for Brady (and for the Patriots) could be the distinct possibility that world events will result in a reduced or eliminated offseason program. That will make it harder for Brady to make the adjustment to a new team, new offense, new coaching staff, new everything — and it will make it more likely that he’ll want to let it ride for one more year in New England.

But, Peter King has some signs that add up to QB TOM BRADY donning pewter and red.

The Market for Tom Brady

It had become fashionable in the past couple of weeks to link Brady with the Titans and former teammate Mike Vrabel, and with San Francisco, the team Brady grew up idolizing. Tennessee signed Ryan Tannehill on Sunday, and NBC’s Chris Simms—close to Niners coach Kyle Shanahan—reported Sunday that the Niners are out on Brady . . . and that the Patriots and Bucs are the final two in line for him.

Neither piece of news should be a surprise. Tannehill, 31, is coming off the NFL’s highest-rated passing season since 2013, and is in a very good partnership with offensive coordinator Arthur Smith. It seems the Niners seriously considered Brady to replace Garoppolo, 28, but what real sense did that make—unless Shanahan lost complete confidence in him? Brady turns 43 in August and, through little fault of his own, didn’t play great last year; his supporting cast was one of the worst he’s ever had.

If Brady goes to Tampa Bay—early in the process, I heard Bruce Arians had significant interest, though I believe the Bucs could still ink Teddy Bridgewater—Brady would have two prime wideouts, Mike Evans and Chris Godwin.

Adding to the Buc intrigue Sunday night: New England signed safety Devin McCourty and special-teams ace Matthew Slater for an average of about $14 million a year. That’s heavy for a team that entered the weekend about $38 million under the cap. To add Brady and offensive firepower the teams would need to compete would be quite hard to do. Not impossible. The Brady pursuit might not involve as many teams as we thought.

This from Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times:

@NFLSTROUD

The #Bucs will be placing the franchise player tag on LB Shaquil Barrett this morning.

Which means QB JAMEIS WINSTON is a free agent. 

NFC WEST

SAN FRANCISCO

Peter King:

“It was Tom Brady’s number one choice, to go to San Francisco and be the starting quarterback.”

—Chris Simms, NBC NFL analyst and former Patriots assistant and very good friend of Niners coach Kyle Shanahan, reporting Sunday that San Francisco decided to stick with Jimmy Garoppolo as its starting quarterback.

LOS ANGELES RAMS

There will be a lively market for LB CORY LITTLETON this week.  Josh Alper of ProFootballTalk.com:

The Rams are bracing for the loss of some key defensive players in free agency this offseason and linebacker Cory Littleton is part of that group.

Littleton can start talking to other teams at noon on Monday and there’s word on a couple of teams that will be trying to hit him up. Vic Tafur of TheAthletic.com reports that the Packers and Raiders “are going to be all over” Littleton once they are able to start talking to him.

Blake Martinez is headed for free agency in Green Bay and Littleton would slide right into his spot on the Packers defense. The Raiders have several free agents in their linebacker group and the loss of Vontaze Burfict to a suspension last year left a hole in the middle of their defense.

Rams edge rusher Dante Fowler and defensive lineman Michael Brockers are also set for free agency, which could lead to a very different looking unit in L.A. come the 2020 season.

AFC WEST

KANSAS CITY

Josh Alper of ProFootballTalk.com says that RB DAMIEN WILLIAMS will be a Chief in 2020.

The Chiefs will be holding onto one member of their Super Bowl-winning offense.

Ian Rapoport of NFL Media reports that the team will exercise their option on running back Damien Williams‘ contract for the 2020 season. Williams is set to make $2.3 million in salary and bonuses this year.

Williams missed five games with injured ribs last season and ran 111 times for 498 yards and five touchdowns in the regular season. He also caught 30 passes for 213 yards and two touchdowns.

Williams added 46 carries for 196 yards and four touchdowns and 11 catches for 94 yards and two touchdowns in the postseason. His touchdown catch in the fourth quarter of the Super Bowl put the Chiefs ahead of the 49ers and a 38-yard scoring run a short time later accounted for the final points in a 31-20 win.

AFC NORTH

BALTIMORE

If DE CALAIS CAMPBELL still has anything in the tank, bolstering the Ravens defense came easy.  Michael DiRocco of ESPN.com:

The Jacksonville Jaguars have agreed to trade defensive end Calais Campbell to the Baltimore Ravens for a fifth-round pick in the upcoming NFL draft, league sources told ESPN’s Adam Schefter on Sunday.

Campbell is due to make $15 million with a salary-cap figure of $17.5 million in the final year of the four-year, $60 million contract he signed in March 2017. The trade will become official when the new league year begins Wednesday.

The Ravens will sign Campbell, 33, to a contract extension through the 2021 season once the trade is official, a source told ESPN’s Dan Graziano.

“I think that the Ravens had a special season last year,” Campbell told ESPN’s Josina Anderson. “I feel like I can add some value in a couple places. I feel like this is a team where everyone has bought in. The goal next season is to get a championship. I’m still chasing a ring.”

Campbell will go down as the best free-agent signing in Jaguars history; he signed for $30 million guaranteed. Campbell had 31.5 sacks in 48 games and made the Pro Bowl three times in three seasons with the Jaguars.

@CalaisCampbell

(1/6) Like anything in life, they say great things only last for so long. My time in Jacksonville has been a once-in-a-lifetime experience filled with love, support and pure joy from the Duval community.

Campbell also was a first-team All-Pro in 2017 and was the 2019 Walter Payton Man of the Year for his charitable works. Campbell spent the first nine years of his career with Arizona, which selected him in the second round of the 2008 draft.

Campbell has 88 sacks, 14 forced fumbles and 11 fumble recoveries in his 12-year career.

The Ravens’ top priority in the offseason is upgrading the pass rush, and the addition of Campbell certainly helps that. The team also placed the franchise tag on pass-rusher Matthew Judon on Friday.

The Jaguars, who agreed to trade cornerback A.J. Bouye to Denver for a fourth-round pick earlier this month, now have 11 picks in the upcoming draft. The pick from the Ravens was acquired in a trade with the Vikings for backup kicker Kaare Vedvik, who lasted three weeks in Minnesota before getting cut.

“Two weeks ago I wouldn’t have even thought it was possible that I would get traded,” Campbell said. “Then once I saw A.J. leave, that made me pause. Then I was told to stay by my phone and now I’m a Raven. I am excited to play along with that Ravens secondary.”

Peter King marvels that teams keep giving the Ravens good to great players for almost nothing:

I think this is excellent draft management by the Ravens and GM Eric DeCosta, acquiring two players who should be vital to their 2020 defense for really not very much:

• Traded a fourth-round 2019 draft choice (linebacker Kenny Young, the 122nd overall pick), and a fifth-round 2020 draft choice, the 173rd overall, for an above-average starting cornerback, Marcus Peters. Signed Peters to a contract through the 2022 season.

• Traded a fifth-round 2020 pick (170th overall, obtained from Minnesota for kicker Kaare Vedvik) to Jacksonville for defensive lineman Calais Campbell—PFF’s top-rated 3-4 defensive end in football in 2019.

Think of it: The Ravens, five months apart, got Peters and Campbell for the 122nd pick in 2019 and the 173rd pick in 2020—and a kicker they could not keep.

PITTSBURGH

Peter King with a name to watch:

Pittsburgh defensive tackle Javon Hargrave is going to get paid. Lots of talk about him.

AFC SOUTH

HOUSTON

For teams needing receiver help, is there a Nuk-lear Option?  Peter King:

File This Under You Never Know

It might be just pre-draft chatter, but two teams over the weekend told me to watch Houston and DeAndre Hopkins, who has three years and a reasonable $40 million left on his contract, and who’d cause only a $3-million cap hit to the Texans if they traded him. Houston is currently in draft hell, without a top-50 pick in 2020 and 2021, and coach Bill O’Brien has huge needs to fill on his offensive line, in the secondary and overall youth on the front seven; J.J. Watt and Whitney Mercilus will play this year at 31 and 30.

What could hurt O’Brien if he’s serious about moving Hopkins is he’ll play this year at 28, and he wasn’t as explosive last year as he’d been . . . and the fact that this is one of the best years in history for wideouts in the draft. How tempting Hopkins would be, though, to teams with cap money. The Patriots, at 23, would be a fascinating match (they might need a mid- or late-round pick back with Hopkins), or the Niners at 31, Giants at 36 or Dolphins at 39.

Houston’s need across the roster is big, and it’d take a big pick to pry Hopkins. Over the last three years, Hopkins has 15 more catches, 14 more touchdowns and 12 fewer dropped passes than the great Julio Jones. Pretty tempting to consider.

Hopkins would be a great fit with QB TOM BRADY.

– – –

The Texans did spend some cash on CB BRADLEY ROBY.  Nick Shook of NFL.com:

Bradley Roby is staying in Houston.

The cornerback agreed to a three-year, $36 million deal with the Texans, NFL Network Insider Ian Rapoport and NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo and James Palmer reported, per sources informed of the deal.

Roby’s career arc has been a roller coaster of sorts. A year ago, most were talking about Roby’s potential while also immediately pointing out inconsistency as his main issue. In terms of traditional statistics, Roby has remained mostly steady, recording double-digit pass defends in four of his six seasons and one or two interceptions in each of his six campaigns. Roby’s production was commendable in 2019, when he recorded 38 tackles, one sack, eight passes defended, two interceptions (including one returned for a touchdown) and one forced fumble.

Roby’s Pro Football Focus overall grade has been up and down, though, peaking at 78.3 in 2017 and bottoming out at 59.9 in his final year in Denver.

Bill O’Brien’s Texans signed Roby to a one-year, $10 million deal in 2019, and his play in 10 games was enough for Houston to pursue him for multiple seasons. His 2019 grade of 66.8 points toward further improvement, but his history has been too volatile to make that a completely realistic expectation. A second season in Houston in the same defensive system under Romeo Crennel should help Roby’s performance stabilize, a hope that is reflected in his new contract with the team

INDIANAPOLIS

The Colts now have the highest paid OL in the NFL.  Nick Shook of NFL.com:

Anthony Castonzo decided after serious consideration to return to play football in 2020, and the Colts are paying him accordingly.

Indianapolis and Castonzo have agreed to terms on a new contract, the team announced Sunday. NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero reported the deal is for two years and worth $33 million.

At an average annual salary of $16.5 million, the 31-year-old lineman becomes the highest-paid left tackle in the NFL, even if his deal is not incredibly long. Interestingly, he still trails Philadelphia Eagles right tackle Lane Johnson in that department, as Johnson leads all linemen in annual average salary at $18 million per season.

Castonzo posted an overall grade of 81.3 in 2019, tying him with fellow veteran Joe Staley (San Francisco 49ers) for the No. 7 tackle rating in the entire NFL, per Pro Football Focus. Castonzo was especially effective in the passing game, allowing just five quarterback hits and 34 total pressures in the entire 2019 season.

Indianapolis’ deal with Castonzo is both a wise investment and a demonstration of appreciation for Castonzo, who seriously thought about retiring after the 2019 season. Colts general manager Chris Ballard was happy to announce at the NFL Scouting Combine that Castonzo had decided to return. All that was left was getting a deal done with the tackle, who was scheduled to hit free agency at the start of the new league year. Now that that is finished, the Colts can move onto pressing needs elsewhere.

TENNESSEE

The Titans cast their lot with QB RYAN TANNEHILL.  Nick Shook of NFL.com:

Ryan Tannehill can start shopping for a home in Nashville.

The Tennessee Titans and Tannehill have agreed to terms on a four-year extension worth $118 million, including $62 million in fully guaranteed money and $91 million in total guarantees, NFL Network Insider Ian Rapoport reported Sunday.

This deal is significant for two reasons: First, the Titans lock up who they see as their quarterback for the next three to five years, and commit a significant amount of money to do so. Secondly, they get one important deal done and clear the runway to potentially use the franchise tag on running back Derrick Henry, who’s also headed toward free agency.

Tannehill, the reigning NFL Comeback Player of the Year, earned the extension by coming off the bench to help the Titans turn their season around, posting the league’s best passer rating in 2019 (117.5) and completing 70.3 percent of his passes for 2,742 yards and a 22-6 touchdown-to-interception ratio. Tannehill also handed the ball to Henry plenty, so much that the latter finished as the league’s rushing king. Tennessee’s postseason run to the AFC Championship Game followed a similar path, with Henry racking up 446 rushing yards and two touchdowns on 83 attempts in three playoff games, while Tannehill attempted just 60 passes combined between those three games (for a sterling 5-1 TD-INT ratio and 98.5 passer rating).

The latter detail could be held against Tannehill to diminish his contributions, but the results are undeniable. With Tannehill starting under center, the Titans won seven of their final 10 games to earn a wild-card berth, upset the Patriots at home, stunned the Ravens in Baltimore and competed with the Chiefs before the eventual Super Bowl LIV champions pulled away in the latter stages of the AFC title game. That outcome was a far cry from how the Titans were performing with former No. 2 overall pick Marcus Mariota at the controls, and Tennessee deemed it worthy of a healthy extension.

Time will tell whether this deal proves to be wise or foolish. But it draws a thick, red line through a massive task on Tennessee’s offseason to-do list, allowing the Titans to proceed toward retaining Henry. And it also silences any rumblings of a potential marriage with Tom Brady in Nashville.

AFC EAST

NEW ENGLAND

Is it significant to the Brady watch (or the idea that the Patriots will spend to replace him), that New England signed CB DEVIN McCOURTY?  Jelani Scott of NFL.com:

The Patriots have signed another one of their key cogs from the past decade.

In an effort to reinforce their top-notch defense, the Pats re-signed safety Devin McCourty to a two-year, $23 million contract with $17 million guaranteed, NFL Network Insider Ian Rapoport reported Sunday, per sources informed of the situation. The team confirmed the new deal Sunday evening.

McCourty has been with the Patriots since he was selected 27th overall in the 2010 NFL Draft. During the 2019 season, McCourty registered his fourth consecutive season of 16 starts, and contributed 58 tackles, seven passes defensed, two forced fumbles and five interceptions, his highest total since 2012.

Rapoport noted earlier Sunday the Patriots were looking to lock up the veteran defensive back for the rest of his career. The 32-year-old McCourty has been a vital member of the team’s last three Super Bowl wins. His twin brother, cornerback Jason McCourty, was also a member of the 2018 championship team and has been with the franchise since being traded from the Browns prior to the start of that season.

The first domino in keeping the brothers in New England fell earlier this month, as Rapoport reported the Pats intend to pick up Jason’s option from the extension he signed last year.

In other Patriots news, the organization is giving offensive lineman Jermaine Eluemunor the original round draft RFA tender, per Rapoport via an informed source. He added that the tender is a fifth-rounder from New England, which traded for him last year.

THIS AND THAT

THE CBA

Dan Graziano of ESPN.com put together a nice primer on the new CBA.  He says two bye weeks are still possible:

We thought you might have some questions about what’s in it. Thanks to a copy of the memo the National Football League Players Association (NFLPA) sent to its members, we have some answers:

You said 11 years? I thought this was a 10-year deal.

Yeah, important point there, and it depends on how you look at it. The proposed new deal runs through 2030, which means it runs for 10 years after the current deal was set to expire. There are significant changes to certain rules and league structures that will go into effect in 2020 if the deal is approved by the players, however.

So you could call it an 11-year deal that tears up the final year of the previous CBA and runs for the next 11 years. Or you could call it a 10-year deal that begins in 2021 but alters some rules for the final year of the current deal. Either way, it will run through the 2030 season.

All right. And the 17-game season?

Owners will have a window from 2021 to 2023 to expand the regular season from 16 games to 17 games, should they choose to do so (and it’s expected they will).

At this point, the two sides haven’t had substantive discussions about how the 17-game season actually will work — i.e., which team gets the extra home game and whether there will be more bye weeks — which is why many think 2022 is the soonest it could happen. But it’s very likely to happen.

I thought the players didn’t want that.

Some don’t, and that’s the reason the voting process at the NFLPA leadership level has been so contentious. Expanding the regular season is not a well-liked idea among NFL players who already view 16 as too hard on their bodies, so they want to make sure they’re getting enough in return to justify agreeing to something they don’t want to do.

So, what are the players getting?

For starters, more money, in the form of a higher share of league revenue beginning in 2021. This year, players will get 47% of all league revenue, in keeping with their number from the current CBA. The expansion of the postseason by two teams will generate an estimated $150 million, according to the NFLPA memo, and 47% of that is $70.5 million. So that will be additional revenue going to the players that they wouldn’t have received without the playoff expansion.

Starting in 2021, the players will get at least 48% of all league revenue, and that figure could get higher depending on how the league does in negotiating new TV deals. Once the league moves to a 17-game season, the players’ share of revenue includes a “media kicker,” which constitutes an additional share of revenue based on the size of the TV contracts. According to the NFLPA memo, if the league’s TV revenues increase by 60%, the players’ share of revenue increases to 48.5%. That share can climb as high as 48.8% if the league’s TV revenues increase by 120% or more, and it cannot be reduced via “stadium credits” — meaning that any money the owners take off the top of the revenue pile for stadium construction and renovation cannot push the players’ share of revenue below 48% (or whatever the media kicker brings it to) during the life of the deal.

The new deal also will give the players 70% of incremental revenue from the league’s Los Angeles Stadium project, meaning 70% of any revenue that exceeds projections in any given year. And they’d get a share of revenues from legal gambling operations conducted in stadiums, whether that gambling is on NFL football or other sports.

Which players will benefit the most from the new system?

It seems the lower-earning players — roughly 60% of NFL players operate on minimum-salary deals — will get the most significant bumps in pay, at least right at the beginning. Minimum salaries are increasing by around 20% immediately. A player with less than one year of NFL experience is set to earn $510,000 this year under the current deal. That number rises to $610,000 in 2020 if the new deal is signed, and the minimum salary for players with less than one year of experience rises incrementally throughout the deal, reaching $1.065 million in 2030.

Minimum salaries for players in other experience brackets rise too. Players with one year of experience will earn a minimum of $585,000 in 2020 under the current deal and $675,000 under the proposed new one, and that number goes to $1.185 million by 2030. Players with seven or more years of experience will have a minimum salary of $1.05 million in 2020 under the new deal, up from either $810,000 (for players with seven to nine years of experience) or $910,000 (for players with 10 or more years of experience). The minimum salary for that group rises to $1.48 million by 2030.

What about existing contracts that run into seasons that could expand to 17 games? Will those be adjusted?

Yes. Any player who is under contract when the new CBA is signed and remains on that contract in a year in which the league plays 17 games will receive a bonus of 1/17th of his salary if he’s on the roster on the date of that 17th game.

So, to make it simple: If your current contract says you’re scheduled to earn $17 million in 2021, and the league expands to 17 games that season, you get an extra $1 million as long as you’re on the roster on the date of that 17th game.

Do the players get guaranteed contracts?

No. As we’ve been trying to explain for years now, the CBA isn’t the place to secure those. NBA and MLB players were able to make guaranteed contracts the standard in their sports because they insisted on them individually in contract negotiations with teams throughout the years. If NFL players want guaranteed contracts, that’s what they’d have to do.

There is one change in the new CBA that could help, however. For years, teams have cited the antiquated “fully funded rule” as a reason they couldn’t guarantee large sums of money in contracts. That rule, which dates to the wobbly early days of the league when there was some doubt about teams’ abilities to reliably pay their players, requires a team to hold in escrow an amount of money equivalent to the amount of guaranteed money (minus a $2 million deductible) in a player’s contract.

So, when Kirk Cousins signed for three years and $84 million fully guaranteed two years ago, the Vikings had to put $82 million into an escrow account (the guaranteed amount minus the $2 million deductible). The new deal will raise the deductible to $15 million in the years 2020-28 and to $17 million in 2029 and 2030. The thought is that this could create more fertile ground for players and agents to demand and receive more guarantees in contracts.

How about expanded rosters?

Yes. More jobs. That’s another way the players benefit. The game-day active roster will increase from 46 to 48 players (although one of the extra players must be an offensive lineman, which will give teams more flexibility to have three extra linemen). Practice squads will expand from 10 players to 12 in 2020 and 2021 and to 14 starting in 2022. Practice-squad salaries also are going up — the minimum salary is $8,000 per week in the current CBA, and it will rise to $11,500 by 2022 — and those players will be eligible for 401(k) and tuition assistance benefits.

Two practice-squad players per week may be elevated to the team’s roster, meaning game-week roster sizes could effectively increase from 53 to 55. And a player elevated from the practice squad to the 55-man roster could be sent back to the practice squad two times without having to clear waivers.

The changes will give teams more flexibility in managing their rosters and, if utilized fully, will offer more opportunity for practice-squad players to earn active-roster salaries.

Will the franchise and transition tags still exist?

Yes. Eliminating those is a non-starter for owners, so they remain. The only change in the franchise/transition rules is that, in the final league year (2030), teams will not have the ability to use two tags in the same offseason, as they do if 2020 turns out to be the final year of the current deal.

So, players won’t get to free agency earlier?

Not in the vast majority of cases, no. Shorter rookie contracts are not among the gains players made in the proposed new deal. There are a couple of helpful modifications to rookie deals, including:

Second-round draft picks are now eligible for the proven performance escalator that used to apply only to players drafted in Rounds 3-7. That’s the kicker that increases their fourth-year salary if they play a certain percentage of their team’s snaps in the first three years.

Players picked outside the first round will be eligible for a new performance escalator based on Pro Bowl selections. (This and the previously mentioned escalator will apply beginning with the 2018 draft class.)

There will be no more distinction, when calculating fifth-year option prices for first-round picks, between players picked in the top 10 and players picked between 11 and 32. Under the new deal, everyone’s fifth-year option will be based on performance and can be as high as the franchise tag number for his position.

If a team exercises the fifth-year option on its first-round pick, that option is fully guaranteed. As of now, a fifth-year option is guaranteed for injury only at the time it’s exercised and doesn’t convert to a full guarantee until the start of the league year in which the fifth-year option applies. Teams have to decide on fifth-year options in advance of the player’s fourth season (which is not a change from the previous deal), so having to fully guarantee it at that time could affect some teams’ decisions.

Any other financial changes that help the players?

Yes. For one, players will now be paid over 34 weeks (or 36 weeks once the season expands to 17 games). As of now, players are paid in 17 weekly installments during the regular season. The new system will allow them to collect paychecks for eight months of the year instead of just four.

And there’s a new “Veteran Salary Benefit” that allows a team to re-sign up to two of its own players per year (provided they have at least four years of service time) and exclude as much as $1.25 million of each player’s base salary from each year’s salary cap. Here’s an example: Let’s say you’re a four-year veteran on the Jets, and they want to re-sign you. They can offer you a one-year, $6.25 million deal, and only $5 million of it will count against their salary cap if they designated you as one of their two VSB exceptions. If you left and signed with, say, the Patriots, for one year and $6.25 million, the Patriots will have to count all $6.25 million against their cap. It’s sort of a starter version of the NBA’s midlevel exception rule, as I understand it.

The new deal also will provide increases in offseason pay, preseason game pay, performance-based pay, postseason pay and benefits for current and former players.

Did they make any changes to the drug policy?

Yes, they did. The new CBA will eliminate suspensions for positive marijuana tests, limit the testing period to the first two weeks of training camp and raise the threshold for a positive test from 35 to 150 nanograms of THC. The idea is to focus the drug program on clinical care as opposed to punishment. Basically, if you test positive, your test gets reviewed by a board of jointly appointed medical professionals to determine whether you need any kind of treatment. The NFLPA deal memo also says that “violations of law for marijuana possession generally will not result in suspension.”

The policy on performance-enhancing drugs will change as well. A first failed test for stimulants or diuretics will result in a two-game suspension. A first failed test for anabolic steroids will result in a six-game suspension. And “manipulation and or substitution and use of a prohibited substance” will land players an eight-game suspension. A second violation for stimulants or diuretics results in a five-game suspension. A second violation for anabolics results in a 17-game suspension.

The new deal also increases the punishment for DUI to a three-game suspension.

Suspended players now will be permitted to be at the team facility during the second half of their suspension period.

Will the commissioner still be judge, jury and executioner on the discipline policy?

Sounds like no. The new deal will provide neutral arbitration for most discipline cases, including personal conduct policy violations. And the NFLPA memo says the deal carries “significant reductions” in club fines and on-field player fines.

This has been a point of contention among players who have felt the discipline and appeals process has been unfair since the people in charge of imposing the discipline have been the ones who hear the appeals. That will no longer be the case in most discipline matters, according to the memo.

Wow. Sounds like the players will be able to get away with just about anything!

No, not anything. One thing the owners set out to get in this deal was stricter punishment for training camp holdouts, and it looks as if the new deal will increase fines for holdouts and players who leave camp without permission.

A “player playing under a contract signed as a veteran who fails to report to his club’s preseason training camp on time or reports and leaves the club for more than five days” cannot have his fines waived by the team upon return and will not earn an accrued season for that season. Harsh, but note that it specifies “a contract signed as a veteran.” So it seems as if the new anti-holdout rules won’t apply to players holding out for more at the end of their rookie contracts, as Ezekiel Elliott did last year, for example.

How’s training camp going to work under the new deal?

The players got some concessions here as well, although not to the extent that vocal anti-17-gamers such as Aaron Rodgers were seeking in last week’s meeting with NFL owners. There will be a limit of 16 padded practices in camp, and no more than three in a row. (The previous limit was 28, and no restrictions on consecutive days except built-in days off.) There will be a five-day “acclimation period” at the start of camp with restrictions on the types of activities permitted. After the acclimation period, players can be on the field for no more than four hours per day between their two practices, and no practice can last longer than 2.5 hours. Players are not allowed to be at the team facility for more than 12 hours in any given day, and that number decreases in subsequent seasons. And in any 17-game season, players will get a mandatory “bye week” after the third preseason game.

Teams also are not permitted to add any padded practices in the regular season once the season expands to 17 games.

How about these expanded playoffs? How will that work?

Each conference will have seven playoff teams instead of six, meaning three wild-card teams and a total of six playoff games on the first weekend of the postseason. The 2019 first-round matchups would have been Chiefs-Steelers, Patriots-Titans and Texans-Bills in the AFC and Packers-Rams, Saints-Vikings and Eagles-Seahawks in the NFC. Only one team in each conference would get a bye, so the 2019 bye-week teams would have been the Ravens and the 49ers.

One key change: In the past, players on teams that had bye weeks in the first round of the playoffs didn’t get paid for that week, while players who were playing in games that week did. That will change under the new deal. Starting in 2021, players on division winners will get $42,500 for that weekend while players on wild-card teams will get $37,500. Players participating in the divisional round will get $42,500. Players playing in conference championship games will get $65,000. Players on the losing team in the Super Bowl will get $75,000 and players on the Super Bowl champion team will get $150,000. And those amounts will increase in subsequent years.

And the expanded season? Is this just the beginning? Is the NFL eventually going to 18 games?

Not until 2031 at the earliest. This deal specifies that 17 is the maximum number of games that can be played in any of its seasons.

The deal also limits the number of international games the league can hold to 10 in any season through 2025. After that, players and owners could meet to determine whether more international games are warranted. If a team plays more than one international game in a season, its players each get $5,000 stipends for each additional game. This will help offset the tax implications of, say, the Jaguars having to play two home games a year in London.

Looking through this, the DB doesn’t know how so many players could have opposed it.  Lots of tasty nuggets for the players.

Peter King on the 17^th game:

The 17th game. I won’t be surprised if a smart coach says to his five or six most senior every-down players, I’ll try to find 50 to 60 snaps to pull you during the season, so you’re not playing 17 full games—you’d be playing the equivalent of 16. For now, the league is operating on the belief that all NFC teams one season will play nine home games and eight on the road one year, and the next year, all AFC teams will be home nine times and away eight. And no, there won’t be neutral-site games, or a huge increase in games outside the United States. The 16 additional games could be used, all or in part, to create a lucrative new package of games to be streamed by an Amazon or Facebook, a deep-pocketed new media company.

2020 DRAFT

Frank Schwab of YahooSports.com with an update:

The NFL is going on with free agency as planned. The draft might be a different story.

There has been no announcement about the league plans for its draft, which was to be held in Las Vegas on April 23-25. But it seems impossible the league will go forward with the draft as planned, given the coronavirus pandemic that is shutting down most of the country.

The latest sign came Sunday, when MGM said it would be temporarily suspending operations at its resorts in Las Vegas and wouldn’t be taking incoming reservations until May 1. That’s a week after the scheduled NFL draft.

NFL draft hasn’t been changed yet

Two companies operate most of the hotels on the Las Vegas Strip: Caesars and MGM. Yahoo and MGM have a sports betting partnership.

With so many rooms in Las Vegas off limits for the foreseeable future, it makes no sense for the draft to happen as scheduled. Along with the CDC’s recommendation against 50-person gatherings for at least eight weeks, there doesn’t seem to be any hope that the draft will go as scheduled. The NFL seems to understand that reality.

@CharlesRobinson

Speaking to a few #NFL team execs this weekend, it was clear that one pertinent reality was keeping the start of the league year and free agency on track: NFL expects it will take MONTHS to get to a better set of circumstances than now. A few weeks will not solve current hurdles.

No announcement has been made yet, but that could happen soon.

NFL will have to decide what’s next with draft

The NFL will have to consider its options when it comes to the draft.

Like free agency, the league could hold its draft mostly behind closed doors and without a large crowd. Networks could broadcast the picks as they come in. Given the lack of live events in sports for the next couple months, television ratings would still do very well for a stripped-down NFL draft.

Las Vegas, which is getting the Raiders this season, was a prime destination for fans and would have been a great way for the NFL to embrace its newest market. The NFL could decide to push the draft way back to still hold the draft in Las Vegas but that seems imprudent, especially with no idea when large sporting events will be OK again.

The draft could look a lot different. It used to be a much smaller scale affair, held in a ballroom, and that might be what it looks like in 2020. There wouldn’t be the same pomp and circumstance we’ve seen the past few years as the NFL has turned the draft into a huge three-day event, but players would still be picked by teams and could start their professional careers. The NFL offseason would be limited, but mostly would follow the normal schedule, in terms of player transactions.

The NFL will have to weigh its options for the draft. About the only unrealistic option is going forward with the draft as planned in Las Vegas next month.