When the New York Giants traded All-Pro wide receiver, Odell Beckham Jr. to the Cleveland Browns this offseason many joked that running back, Saquon Barkley was now the team’s best wide receiver. Just three days into training camp that might be true.
On the first day, the Giants lost starting wide receiver Sterling Shepard for a few weeks after he fractured his thumb. The team officially lists him as day-to-day but the expectation is that he could miss Week 1 of the 2019 NFL season.
Next, speedster Corey Coleman—who was supposed to serve as the team’s deep threat with Beckham now in the AFC—went down in the team’s second practice. The former Baylor standout suffered a torn ACL in New York’s second training camp practice.
That left Golden Tate (who the team signed in the offseason to replace OBJ) as the last healthy potential starter available. However, news broke today that Tate is facing a six-game suspension for violating the NFL’s policy on performance-enhancing substances. The suspension hasn’t been announced by the league yet but Tate has let it be known that he plans to appeal the suspension.
Without Tate, Shepard, and Coleman these are the players left at wide receiver for the Giants: Benny Fowler, Cody Latimer, Russell Shepard, Darius Slayton, Alonzo Russell, Brittan Golden, Reggie White Jr., Alex Wesley, and Da’Mari Scott.
The preseason will now give those 10 players a bigger opportunity to make their mark with this team. Fowler and Latimer both started their NFL careers in 2014 with the Denver Broncos and Shepard is a seven-year veteran.
Even before the injuries and suspensions, there was intrigue surrounding how the franchise would replace a talent like Beckham Jr. and now the question reverberates even larger for the Giants.
With training camps officially underway for all 32 NFL teams, the storyline early has been about the players who didn’t show up. Pro Bowl players like Melvin Gordon, Ezekiel Elliott, Michael Thomas, Trent Williams, and Yannick Ngakoue have opted to start the 2019 season as holdouts.
In Seattle, the Seahawks have not had any drama with their elite players. On the contrary, the team just announced that they have agreed to a three-year, $54 million extension with stud linebacker, Bobby Wagner (according to Turner Sports’ Taylor Rooks). The All-Pro inside linebacker had made it known to the team that he was looking for a new deal as he was entering the final year of his previous contract.
Wagner was drafted by the Seahawks in the second round of the 2012 NFL Draft and ever since then his presence has been a staple of Seattle’s defense.
Last season, another big piece of the team’s defense, Earl Thomas, was upset over his lack of a new deal prior to the start of the season. No new contract was agreed upon and Thomas ended up fracturing his leg—and relationship with Pete Carroll—and ultimately ended up signing with the Baltimore Ravens this offseason.
By locking down Wagner before the season, any talk or supposed distraction about Wagner’s future in Seattle is gone and the team can fully focus on what’s happening on the field.
Becoming the highest paid linebacker in football isn’t the first accolade for Wagner this summer. A few weeks ago it was announced that he would be part of the Madden 20 “99 Club” (one of four players to be awarded with the game’s highest ranking).
2013 Outback Bowl, Michigan versus South Carolina. First and 10, Michigan ball, leading 22-21 with 8:32 left in the fourth quarter. This was the moment when Jadeveon Clowney announced his presence to the football world at large.
The Wolverines snapped the ball and Clowney shot through the line from the right end and met running back, Vincent Smith in the backfield as the ball was handed off. Then Monday Night Football announcing tandem Mike Tirico and Jon Gruden were on the call, Gruden recapped what just happened best, “Clowney says, ‘I’ll take care of business'”.
It would be a full year before Clowney would enter the NFL draft, but that highlight along with his combination of freakish athletic ability, strength, and size would make the defensive end the first overall pick in the 2014 NFL Draft.
With that smashing hit still fresh on everyone’s minds, Clowney was expected to immediately dominate in the league, especially with a player like J.J. Watt bookending the other side of the Houston Texans defensive front.
However, Clowney dealt with injuries and inconsistent play for the better part of his first three seasons in the NFL. By 2016, the Texans announced that they were going to move Clowney from outside linebacker to defensive end in their 3-4 alignment. After making a name for himself rushing off the edge at South Carolina, Houston was opting to kick him inside and use him more as a run defender and edge setter.
Yet, halfway through that season, a confluence of injuries along the Texans front seven resulted in Clowney moving back to outside linebacker and getting to try his hands again at being a pass-rushing presence off the edge. He registered three sacks through the first 12 weeks but he recorded a sack in each of the games from Week 14 through Week 16.
In their Wild Card win over the Oakland Raiders Clowney had an interception multiple quarterback pressures, and two deflected passes helping the underdog Texans hold their opponents to just 14 points.
Clowney would be named to the Pro Bowl that same year.
Since then, he’s been operating at outside linebacker, or “JACK” as it is listed on the Texans official website. His presence has been very important and entering this offseason the Texans opted to place the franchise tag on him to ensure that they would keep him with the team for at least one more season.
Yet, that tag is the reason for some recent controversy between Houston and Clowney. When a player is tagged by a team, they receive a one-year salary that is the average of the five-highest contracts for players at their position. The problem, what position is Clowney?
He wants to be tagged as a defensive end, where Houston wanted him to play in 2016. That would make his salary $17.13 million for the 2019-20 NFL season. The Texans want to tag him as an outside linebacker, where he’s been playing on and off for the team since being drafted in 2014. His salary would drop to $15.44 million for the upcoming year.
Clowney is at his best when he can attack off the edge, in 3-4 defenses those players are usually listed as outside linebackers but in 4-3 defenses, those players are usually listed as defensive ends. This confusion has led to draft prospects similar to Clowney to be billed as “EDGE” defenders rather than a defensive end or an outside linebacker.
The NFLPA is expected to file a grievance for Clowney in an attempt to secure him a higher salary.
With Houston electing to bypass having a true general manager it isn’t a surprise that the two sides couldn’t come to a long-term agreement but a dispute over $2 million dollars could create some bad blood and tension between the team and player when it comes time to negotiate a new deal next offseason–unless they choose to tag Clowney again.
Clowney isn’t the first player to face this problem and likely won’t be the last. With CBA talks intensifying as a lockout looms on the horizon, it’ll be interesting to see if the NFL adopts “EDGE” as a position like draftniks has recently.
Early Wednesday morning news broke that the Houston Texans had requested to interview New England Patriots director of player personnel, Nick Caserio for their newly vacant general manager position. This isn’t the first time that Houston came sniffing around New England’s front office. In January of 2018, the Texans made a request to speak with Caserio that the Patriots swiftly denied.
This time around it seems as if Bill O’Brien and Houston were not taking no for an answer. Without receiving the official okay from New England, rumor has it that the Patriots believe that the Texans have tampered in their pursuit of Caserio. The connection, former Patriots chaplain and current Houston executive vice president of player development, Jack Easterby. Easterby was present at New England’s Super Bowl ring ceremony on Friday–the same night that the Texans announced they were firing general manager Brian Gaine after one year on the job.
If New England feels that Easterby had conversations with Caserio about the Texans opening that could verify filing tampering charges. According to the NFL’s anti-tampering policy: “Any interference by a member club with the employer-employee relationship of another club or any attempt by a club to impermissibly induce a person to seek employment with that club or with the NFL.”
Caserio is a critical part of New England’s front office, while Bill Belichick has the title of general manager and often has the final say in decisions, Caserio is easily the Robin to his Batman. In a December 2014 interview, Belichick said Caserio, “contributes in a lot of different ways and I’m glad I have him. I need him.” In 2017 Belichick noted that Caserio’s impact in coaching and scouting are part of his “rare” role that he couldn’t envision another person in the NFL being able to pull it off. The last time the Patriots gave an opposing team permission to interview Caserio for a front office position was in 2014 when the Miami Dolphins requested it.
Caserio received a finance degree from John Carroll University–aka Patriots U; six members of New England’s staff attended John Carroll including offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels. The ties to the lone organization the 43-year-old has worked for are deep and strong, however, with the league flush with cash Caserio could be attempting to gauge his value in the open market. Houston, led by two former Patriot employees (Easterby and O’Brien) would definitely have to pay up to steal him away, but having familiarity with the higher-ups already in place and a talented roster are big bonuses for the Texans in their chase of Caserio.
With New England not committing to allowing Houston to speak with Caserio it’s likely that he remains with the Patriots and sees either a pay raise or a change of title. Either way, it’s clear that New England feels that Houston has crossed the line in their attempts to get Caserio to speak to them. With multiple black spots on their franchise resume, it will be interesting to see how this plays out for the Patriots. After “Spygate” and “Deflategate” finally settled into the back of the collective fans’ minds, are we about to enter “Interviewgate”? Only time will tell.
After starting the season 6-2 the Carolina Panthers looked well on their way to becoming one of the top teams in the NFL. The reason? Quarterback Cam Newton was setting the league ablaze in his first year operating within offensive coordinator, Norv Turner’s system. Newton had logged 15 touchdowns to just four interceptions. If that production had remained level for the rest of the season Newton could’ve challenged Patrick Mahomes in the 2018 NFL MVP race.
Yet, the Panthers lost six of their final seven games and ultimately missed the playoffs. What changed during the second half of the season? Cam Newton’s health. The team reported in Week 16 that he had been experiencing pain in his throwing shoulder and with Carolina’s postseason hopes all but gone they opted to rest the face of the franchise for the remainder of the season. By then, Newton petered off and finished with 24 touchdowns and 13 interceptions on the year.
Newton would undergo an arthroscopic procedure on his right shoulder nearly a month later on January 24th. It would be his second shoulder surgery–rotator cuff surgery in March 2017–in as many years, doubt was seeping in around the organization of what the future would look like for their superstar quarterback. The Panthers would even select West Virginia quarterback Will Grier in the third round this spring.
It is obviously great news that Newton is on the field and throwing a ball less than five months after surgery, however, Newton was still slightly limited. The pecking order for reps went as follows: Will Grier, Kyle Allen, Taylor Heinicke, Cam. Also during the drills shown Newton was selective in the attempts he took. Newton connected with D.J. Moore (twice), Chris Hogan (twice), Curtis Samuel, and Greg Olsen on a combination of shorter routes (hitches, quick outs, drags, and speed ins).
Word out of Carolina is that he’s limited right now to throwing to stationary targets only. The feeling is that the team doesn’t want to stress the shoulder so early into his recovery with throws that would put more force and wear on the surgically repaired shoulder. The Panthers felt that before Newton was sidelined for the final two games a year ago that when he was healthy he showed great progress in the footwork department and had the requisite zip and tight spiral on his throws.
It is unknown whether or not Carolina will choose to stream a portion of practice for the remainder of their minicamp, but even if they don’t, this short glimpse of Cam on the field served its purpose. Though the attempts were few and far between and the reps didn’t always come with the first-team, Newton looked like his usual self. He was bouncing around, dancing, laughing, talking, being an energetic and exuberant presence that the team could rally around.
The Panthers firmly believe that they have the necessary pieces around Newton to be an elite team. In the end, it won’t matter how great those players are if Cam can’t get back and stay on the field.
