NFL - NEWS & NOTES

49ers hold onto Arik Armstead with five-year deal

The 49ers didn’t tag defensive lineman Arik Armstead before Monday’s noon deadline to do so, but he won’t be hitting the open market when the new league year opens on Wednesday.

PFT reported shortly after the deadline that Armstead and the Niners were still talking about a long-term deal that would keep the 2015 first-round pick from leaving town. Ian Rapoport of NFL Media reports that those talks came to fruition on Monday afternoon.

Per Rapoport, it is a five-year dear worth up to $85 million. There’s no word on guarantees or structure at this point.

Armstead was No. 17 on our list of the top 100 free agents this year. He had 54 tackles, 10 sacks and two forced fumbles while helping the Niners reach the Super Bowl last season.

NBC

 

Along the lines of the coaching philosophy, that has been a huge issue with the Falcons for the last couple of years too. I'm hoping Dan Quinn finally saw the light in midseason when it was clear his job was in jeopardy. He made changes that basically undid mistakes he made last offseason, and it worked - Atlanta went 6-2 in the back half.

Howie Long said a couple of times on the FOX pregame / midgame / postgame shows that it was as if he just drew names out of a hat, saying you coach this position, you coach that group, and somehow it worked.

Howie had it backwards. Drawing names out of a hat was pretty much what he had done to open the season - he had Raheem Morris (former defensive coordinator) coaching WRs, had last years WR coach working with the RBs (had never been a RB coach in his life), had last year's RB coach (an actual RB) working as a special teams assistant, and had a defensive line coach who had been the coach of the local high school team only three years earlier.

It was insane, it didn't work, and other teams were openly laughing at how easy it was to beat the defensive scheme. He fixed that at the bye week, but the damage had already been done.

This season, the team's fate will again be riding on the coaching. I'd almost go so far as to say the personnel moves in free agency and the draft won't make a damn bit of difference. If OC Dirk Koetter doesn't work the blocking scheme to fit the guys he has, and if he and Quinn don't add in more assistants with real experience at developing prospects at those specific positions (no more having TE coaches work with offensive linemen, please), the season is already over.

 

The part you hit on at the end is what intrigues me most @Torgo .

The idea that there is sufficient talent on the OL for the group of RBs they’ll field this season to succeed is going to hinge on that.

 

@Torgo Do you think Devonta Freeman has anything left in the tank? I was sort of surprised to see the Falcons part ways, but similar to the Christian Kirksey situation in Cleveland, I think injuries just derailed everything....

 

This is a good take that often gets overlooked.

 

He also says another big trade of a name not expected to be on the block is coming soon. Let's see. His previous stuff said could simply be good guess on odds, almost like cold reading.

 

It took a long, tumultuous road to get there, but Ereck Flowers is headed home.

Flowers has agreed to a three-year, $30 million deal with the Miami Dolphins, NFL Network Insider Ian Rapoport reported. The contract includes $19.95 million in fully guaranteed money, Rapoport added.

Flowers' signing is rather remarkable. After he was a first-round bust as a tackle with the Giants, Flowers made his way to Washington where he moved inside to guard, spent a season learning under seasoned offensive line coach Bill Callahan and played well. Now, he's guaranteed nearly $20 million when his professional football career was in doubt a year ago.

It's not the first time a tackle has struggled, switched to guard and found success, but considering where Flowers was early in the 2018 season, it would've been considered preposterous for any team to pay him $10 million per season. The value of hard work and proper guidance cannot be denied, though, and is evident in this development. Now, the former Miami Hurricane returns to South Florida to suit up for the Dolphins.

NFL.com

 

Banner's actually not too bad with it.

He's not Allbright, Schefter or Glazer, but I don't think he goes after things in bad faith.

 

The big thing there actually goes back to last year. Before last year's free agency period, the team made it clear that they weren't abandoning the outside zone blocking scheme completely but were looking to add more power/inside stuff to it. That was a bit of a red flag, but Dirk Koetter is an experienced offensive mind, so you had to give him the benefit of the doubt that he knew what he was planning to do and simply not spelling out all the details.

So... they sign James Carpenter and Jamon Brown in free agency. Great moves if you really are going to more of a man scheme. But they basically kept playing outside zone. WTF? You're really going to ask a 340-pound guard who is new to the team to play those moving pockets and outside stretch runs??? That's a holding call waiting to happen.

But if they do go to a true man scheme, the picture on the line suddenly changes pretty drastically. Matthews, Carpenter, Mack, Lindstrom and McGary would make a pretty good starting five. Even without Sambrailo (who would not be such a good system fit), they have a reasonable group of backups as well.

One big question for me... if they do go away from the outside zone, I'm not sure if the line coach is really the right guy for that.

 

He should. The significant injuries are now two years behind him. Last year's stats are misleading, as the RBs were typically getting hit behind the line on those outside stretch runs. He should still have enough in the tank to be worthwhile, but the bigger question is whether he (or any FA running back for that matter) is worth the big bucks. Personally, I say no. I'd rather take late round draft picks or sign UDFA rookies and develop them. Falcons have been doing that with Qadree Ollison and (if he's resigned) Brian Hill.

If they get the blocking figured out, Ito Smith and Ollison should be a really good one-two punch, and they can fill in the group with cheaper players and prospects. And if they can't settle on a blocking scheme, it wouldn't matter if they had Gale Sayers and Jim Brown in their prime.



The really interesting twist along those lines is that Freeman and Tevin Coleman both had their best success here with Bobby Turner as the RB coach. Turner went to SF with Shanahan after the 2016 season. He goes where the Shanahan family goes.

Atlanta hasn't really had a steady RB coach or a steady WR coach since all of those assistants left. Some assistants went to SF, others to the Rams and Packers. And so far, I haven't seen anything on the offensive side to make me think they have really addressed it for this year. Big changes in the defensive staff, but so far one retirement (Mike Mularkey, who was coaching TEs last year) has been the only noteworthy change on offense.

I've considered it a major issue for years now - as you probably recall (as I think at least one of the trades was with you), I've even traded draft picks for offensive coaches in the GMO mocks because I considered the offensive coaching to be the team's most glaring deficiency. And for the last three years, I've been proven right on that one.

 

Agreed 100%

 

One thing to keep in mind here is that the Falcons had an extra second rounder from the Mohamed Sanu trade. With the reduced cap Sanu would likely have been a cap casualty anyway. So... essentially Sanu has just become Hayden Hurst. Works because the team couldn't afford to keep Sanu or win the bidding war to keep Austin Hooper anyway.

 

Didn't take Atlanta long to find a replacement...

 

Haven't heard anything yet about the Falcons allegedly getting Calais Campbell from the Jags. Obviously they can't trade the same pick twice, so there's an error in the reporting somewhere.

The Falcons also released TE #2 Luke Stocker. No idea who else they might add at the position, but when Koetter was OC here the first time around, he was pretty big on having a "human tank" type of blocking TE. Those guys are cheap - he used UDFAs / practice squad guys for that role before.

 

Ravens got him using the pick they got from Atlanta.

 

Got him for a cool $1.5m in the GMO...lol! The move to the interior of the O-line resurrected his career. Good for Ereck. The weirdest spelling of that name ever.

 

Yep, he'll do.

Most Falcon fans would disagree with me on this, but I see the roster shaping up quite nicely - if the coaching staff gets it together on both sides of the ball. I think they are there on the defensive staff. I'm skeptical on offense.

 

Gotcha. Ravens already used the pick. I misunderstood that in Rapoport's tweet.