NFL - NEWS & NOTES

Jonathan Allen has grown into one of the better defensive tackles in football. Now he's getting paid like it.

The Washington Football Team is finalizing a four-year, $72 million extension with Allen, NFL Network Insider Ian Rapoport reported via Allen's agency. The new deal includes a $30 million signing bonus and runs through 2025, Rapoport added.

Washington drafted the Alabama star in the first round four years ago to be a defensive building block. That's been a gradual process, with Allen tallying 14 sacks between 2018-19 and evolving into a stout run defender last year.

He was also the team's Walter Payton Man of the Year nominee.

His improvement on the field, compounded by the presence of AP NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year Chase Young, proved pivotal to Washington becoming one of the best defenses in football last season. Its success on that side of the ball catapulted WFT to the NFC East title. Its long-term investment in Allen signals an expectation for all parties to improve.

NFL.com

 

Safety Malik Hooker is officially a member of the Dallas Cowboys.

Hooker visited with the team a couple of times this offseason and word late last week was that he’d be signing with the team if all checked out physically. That process took a few days, but the move became official on Tuesday.

The Cowboys placed tackle Mitch Hyatt on injured reserve to open a roster spot for Hooker. Hyatt has a knee injury.

Hooker missed most of the 2020 season with a torn Achilles and recorded 125 career tackles and seven interceptions during four seasons with the Colts.

The Cowboys also signed Damontae Kazee and drafted Israel Mukuamu at safety this offseason. The three newcomers join Reggie Robinson and Donovan Wilson as options in the secondary.

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NFL notifies teams of updated preseason COVID-19 protocols, including fines for refusing a virus test, to wear a tracker

With NFL training camps beginning in full force this week, the league sent clubs updated camp and preseason COVID-19 protocols Tuesday night, notably including discipline for all players -- regardless of vaccination status -- for refusal to wear tracking devices or submit to required virus testing.

The memo, obtained by NFL Network's Tom Pelissero, outlines protocols that remain most stringent for unvaccinated players, as they must wear masks at all times – including lifting in the weight room and at practices "except when doing so would interfere with their ability to engage in athletic activity"

The league's latest memo comes five days following the NFL informing clubs that coronavirus outbreaks among unvaccinated players could lead to forfeited games during the upcoming 2021 regular season.

As of a Tuesday report from Pelissero, 85% of NFL players have received at least one dose of a COVID vaccine.

In Tuesday night's preseason memo, which was agreed upon by the league and NFL Players Association, teams and players were notified that the aforementioned refusal to submit to virus testing or wear a tracking monitor would result in fines of $50,000 and $14,650, respectively.

An equal $14,650 fine will be issued to unvaccinated players who don't follow restrictions to abstain from attending bars, concerts, sporting events, etc.

Other protocol tweaks, as noted by Pelissero, are that unvaccinated inactive players must wear masks on the sideline and that cardiac screening is now only required in specific cases where players had moderate to severe symptoms. For unvaccinated players and Tier 1 and 2 staff, entry testing cadence has been shortened from five to two days.

NFL.com

 

Randall Cobb announces return to Green Bay



The much-discussed return of Randall Cobb to Green Bay is officially happening.

Cobb himself announced on Twitter that he is “COMING HOME,” with a picture of himself in a Packers uniform.

It has not yet been reported what the Packers are giving up to acquire Cobb in a trade with the Texans.

Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers, who has never made a secret that he hasn’t been happy with the team’s personnel decisions at the wide receiver position, has been lobbying behind the scenes to get Cobb back. Cobb was drafted by the Packers in 2011 and played with them through 2018. He then spent 2019 in Dallas and 2020 in Houston.

In Cobb’s best season in Green Bay, in 2014, he caught 91 passes for 1,287 yards and 12 touchdowns. It seems unlikely that he can approach that level of production again, but he should get plenty of playing time, while giving Rodgers both another receiver to throw to and a sense that he finally has a voice in the Packers’ personnel.

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Myles Garrett: I’m trying to win first, competing for defensive player of the year second



Browns defensive end Myles Garrett put himself into contention for defensive player of the year in 2020 by recording 9.5 sacks and four forced fumbles through the first nine games of the regular season, but a bout with COVID-19 kept him out of the lineup for two games and left him feeling less than 100 percent upon his return to action.

Sportsbooks have installed Garrett as one of the favorites again this season and Garrett said on Wednesday that he expects to be in the running for the award with other players around the league. He also said that he’s prioritizing the team’s success above any individual honors.

“Got a lot of guys who can win it, who have the ability, the talent, so I’ll be competing against them but, most of all, I’m just trying to help my team win, so whatever they ask me to do, they call for me to do, I’m going to do that and make the plays that I’m supposed to make,” Garrett said, via Dan Labbe of Cleveland.com.

Garrett was also in the running for the award when he was suspended for the final six games of the 2019 season, which makes staying on the field a big plus on that front. It would also help the Browns’ chances of winning games, so it would be a win-win for all involved in Cleveland.

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Kevin Stefanski: Odell Beckham Jr. is doing well



The Browns begin training camp with realistic high expectations — one of the few times that’s happened since the team returned to the league in 1999.

One of the reasons the team’s offense could be better than it was last year is the return of receiver Odell Beckham Jr.

By all accounts, Beckham is healthy and ready to roll entering training camp after tearing his ACL midway through last season. On Wednesday, head coach Kevin Stefanski said the team has a plan to bring Beckham along in the lead up to the season.

“With Odell, very similar to a lot of guys, they have an individual plan that’s tailored to them and where they are in their rehab,” Stefanski said, via Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com. “We’ll bring him along at the discretion of our doctors, our medical team, and Odell, and see how he’s feeling. I had a good meeting with him last night. He’s doing well.”

Beckham said at a youth football camp over the weekend that “everything feels great” as it relates to his knee. But Beckham did not put a timetable on his return to being full speed.

That Beckham wasn’t placed on the physically unable to perform list is a good sign for his potential availability in Week One against the Chiefs.

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Sean Payton: Michael Thomas surgery should have happened sooner



Saints coach Sean Payton seems to be unhappy with how long he’s going to have to wait to get wide receiver Michael Thomas on the field this season.

Thomas had surgery last month on the ankle he injured during the 2020 season, and Payton said today that the surgery should have been done earlier in the offseason so that Thomas would have had more time to recover and get ready to start the 2021 season.

“It appears we’re going to have to spend some time without him,” Payton said, via Amie Just of NOLA.com. “We would have liked that to have happened earlier. Quite honestly, it should have.”

Saints General Manager Mickey Loomis also said the team wishes Thomas’s surgery had been done earlier. But at this point, Thomas may miss the first half of the season while the Saints wait to get the 2019 NFL offensive player of the year back on the field.

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New lawsuit accuses Julio Jones, Roddy White of black-market cannabis sales



Titans receiver Julio Jones and former NFL receiver Roddy White have been sued. That’s not uncommon; people get sued all the time. This specific lawsuit, however, includes some unusual allegations.

In a nutshell, a lawsuit filed by Genetixs LLC accuses Jones and White of involvement in efforts to divert cannabis products from an otherwise legal cultivation and distribution operation in order to make black-market sales. The lawsuit alleges that Jones, White, and multiple other defendants have sold since March 2021 a whopping $3 million per month of cannabis products on the black market, and that they laundered money arising from those sales.

News of the lawsuit first appeared on LarryBrownSports.com. The Tennessean has since posted the civil complaint, filed July 21 in a California court.

“The vague allegations against SLW Holdings LLC and its members Roddy White and Julio Jones are meritless,” attorney Rafe Emanuel said in a statement issued to the Tennessean. “In May, SLW obtained a temporary restraining order in a related civil case to prevent unlawful conduct involving Genetixs LLC. In reply, the defendants argued conspiracy theories that were not proven by evidence in court, nor were they substantiated before any agency.”

Meritless or not, the 26-page civil complaint looks and reads like a normal lawsuit, and normal lawsuits normally run through the normal process. That process involves, in many cases, an initial effort to get the case dismissed and then, if the case survives (most of the time it does), an effort commences to gather the evidence that proves (or disproves) the allegations. This means that, eventually, Jones and/or White likely will be placed under oath and asked a bunch of direct and aggressive questions about their knowledge and activities. Before that happens, emails and text messages and other relevant documents will be collected and reviewed.

At this point, there’s nothing about the lawsuit that screams “frivolous” or “goofy” or “conspiracy theory.” The lawsuit makes allegations, and a lawyer believes that the allegations are true or sufficiently close to true to justify attaching his name to it.

Most defendants who get sued call the claims “meritless” at this stage of the proceedings. Time will tell whether this case has any real merit. If it does, Jones could have a real problem.

And the Titans — who traded for Jones in June and who may be expected to give Jones a new contract after the 2021 season — surely will be paying attention. For now, per the Tennessean, the Titans had no comment.

PFT

 

really 3 million dollars $ a month in weed sales and nobody noticed,the timing of this news is strange

 

I don't think anything about the timing is odd, other than.. Wow that was fast. It just started in March, so there must be some pretty compelling arguments to file already in July. It usually takes months just to gather evidence, then more months to write the suit. This had to have only taken a matter of weeks to put together.

 

your right that was fast the timing I thought was strange 3 million $ in weed sales and nobody noticed to bring that kinda suit and there was no talk going around the NFL that Julio Jones and Roddy White was big time weed players,just thought it was strange cause I never heard any talk about it doesn't mean there wasn't any talk about it this news is new to me

 

If there is proof of the sales they could wind up with criminal charges against them. The black market sales of weed is the same as selling moonshine

 

Nick Bosa: Everything is trending toward playing Week 1



The 49ers played without defensive end Nick Bosa for almost all of the 2020 season, which was a serious blow for their defensive hopes last year.

While the timing of the injury was bad on that front, it should leave their defense in a good position to open this season. Bosa avoided the physically unable to perform list at the start of training camp and said on Thursday that he’s on track to be in the lineup against the Lions in the season opener.

“I looked at the schedule but I knew when it was an early injury, I for the most part would be ready to go for Week 1 and everything now is trending toward that,” Bosa said, via Cam Inman of the San Jose Mercury News. “I’m hoping to ramp it up toward that and give it all I’ve got Week 1.”

Bosa said the injury was “really rough” on him mentally, but that he has improved in that space as his body recovered. Assuming that process continues over the next few weeks, the 49ers should be in good shape on their defensive front come Week 1.

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Rashaad Penny says he feels explosive, faster in return from knee injury



Seahawks running back Rashaad Penny appeared in just three games for the team last season due to an extended recovery from a torn ACL suffered late in the 2019 season.

Penny had an additional cleanup procedure on his knee earlier in the offseason that kept him out of work throughout OTAs. However, Penny was ready to go for the start of training camp with Seattle and believes he’s in the best position he’s been in a long time to leave his mark on the Seahawks.

“I feel 100 (percent). This is the lightest I’ve ever been. I feel very explosive. Honestly feel like I’m back in high school again, like, I feel way faster,” Penny said on Thursday.

“He looks great,” head coach Pete Carroll added. “He worked out here all throughout the offseason and it really paid off. Best he’s looked since we’ve seen him.”

Penny, a first-round pick of the Seahawks in 2018, is entering the final year of his rookie contract with the team after Seattle declined to pick up his fifth-year option. Penny has had a few different things that have helped keep him from popping during his first three years in Seattle. A broken finger as a rookie kept him from getting much work in training camp and he fell behind. Additionally, making the transition from a mostly I-formation offense at San Diego State to a shotgun-heavy scheme in Seattle proved a bit of a learning curve.

But Penny looked to be finding his footing in 2019 prior to his knee injury. Penny had 14 carries for 129 yards and a touchdown against the Philadelphia Eagles and followed that up with 74 yards and a touchdown on 15 carries and a receiving touchdown as well against the Minnesota Vikings the following week. It was then on his first touch of the next game against the Los Angeles Rams when he tore his ACL.

Chris Carson remains entrenched as Seattle’s lead running back after re-signing with the team this offseason. But Penny is looking to show what he truly is by remaining available this season. His contract situation will take care of itself at that point.

“I’ve never focused on any of that,” Penny said. “I’m just happy to be available. Just my consistency alone that’s all I got to do to put it together. I mean, those are two biggest areas I’m worried about.”

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Lions hope to use D’Andre Swift, Jamaal Williams like Saints used Alvin Kamara, Mark Ingram



First-year Lions coach Dan Campbell has spent the last five seasons as an assistant on the Saints’ staff, and that gave him plenty of ideas for how to use his running backs.

Campbell said he envisions D'Andre Swift and Jamaal Williams being similar to Alvin Kamara and Mark Ingram when they were teammates on the Saints, according to Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press.

“That’s my vision of this 1-2 punch,” Campbell said. “That’s how I see Jamaal Williams for us, for Detroit. He’s high energy, he’s a bit of a hammer and I think he’s a guy your team can feed off of a little bit. I said that when we signed him. That was always what Mark was for [the Saints] and Latavius Murray when Mark left us. That’s what Jamaal is.”

The Saints, of course, also had a future Hall of Fame quarterback in Drew Brees, while the Lions have Jared Goff. Success running the ball tends to flow from success passing the ball, which means running back is far from the biggest concern for the Lions this season.

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49ers signing Jordan Matthews



The Jets worked out free agent tight end Jordan Matthews this week. The 49ers are signing Matthews, Mike Garafolo of NFL Media reports.

Matthews, 29, spent time with the team the past two seasons, appearing in three games for the 49ers. He saw action in two games in 2020 but had no receptions.

He added 30 pounds and spent the summer working out at Louisville with receivers coach Gunter Brewer and assistant tight ends coach Stu Holt as he converted from receiver. Matthews weighed 215 pounds as a receiver.

He entered the league as a second-round choice of the Eagles in 2014.

Matthews has 274 career catches for 3,288 yards and 22 touchdowns in his career.

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Justin Houston signing one-year deal with Ravens worth up to $4 million

Justin Houston's NFL career will see another year -- or at least another training camp.

Houston is signing a one-year deal with the Ravens worth up to $4 million, NFL Network's Tom Pelissero reported.

Once seen as a premier edge rusher in Kansas City, Houston spent the last two seasons in Indianapolis, where he recorded 19 sacks and 21 tackles for loss between 2019 and 2020. While not quite the player he was at his peak, Houston has at least proven himself to be reliable when it comes to bringing down the quarterback, especially considering he's played 65 percent or less of total defensive snaps in each of his last two campaigns.

Having said that, Houston is experiencing a regression common with aging in the NFL. After posting a quarterback pressure percentage of 15.1 percent in his final season in Kansas City (2018), Houston hasn't broken 12 percent in a campaign. His disruption percentage has also fallen over the last two seasons from a high of 16.4 percent to 13.4 percent in 2019 and 11.6 percent in 2020, per Next Gen Stats.

Houston has become more of a pass-rushing specialist in his last two seasons, playing on at least 95.1 percent of possible pass rushes in Indianapolis in 2019 and 2020. That helps explain his sack total, which is still valuable even as his pressure and disruption rates have fallen.

Such value earned Houston another contract with a team in need of edge-rushing help. He'll likely end up occupying a similar role with the Ravens, who list veterans Calais Campbell, Derek Wolfe and Pernell McPhee as the team's primary pass rushers.

With the Ravens planning to contend for the AFC crown once again, they're unafraid of adding experienced contributors. Houston is the latest to jump on Baltimore's bandwagon with the goal of helping the Ravens win the AFC North and more.

NFL.com

 

Giants guard Shane Lemieux (knee) won't need surgery

Just days after fearing the worst, the Giants have received positive news regarding a projected starter at a key position.

Guard Shane Lemieux is expected to miss just a couple of weeks with a knee injury suffered during the team's first week of training camp, NFL Network Insider Ian Rapoport reported. Lemieux will not need surgery on the injured knee following a battery of tests, providing the Giants with significant relief.

Lemieux is projected to start at left guard, while Will Hernandez is expected to replace departed veteran Kevin Zeitler at right guard in 2021. Worse news would have sent the Giants scrambling to identify a viable replacement for the second-year guard, but thankfully for the Giants, they won't have to return to the drawing board as the calendar turns to August.

Lemieux replaced Hernandez on the left side last season after Hernandez was sidelined by COVID-19 and performed well enough to convince the Giants they could move on from Zeitler and promote Lemieux to a starting role in 2021. While he still has plenty of room for improvement, Lemieux is expected to play well enough to answer any questions the Giants might have about the state of the position.

He'll have a couple of weeks to get right physically before resuming his pursuit of becoming a quality starter for the Giants.

NFL.com

 

Still enjoy that he seems to have made it.
As I recall he was projected as a midround pick until he put up combine numbers that were very bad.

I thought he was a pretty nasty run blocker at Oregon.