MONDAY MORNING QUARTERBACK

Reports indicate, Aaron Rodgers has left his 'darkness retreat' ... Id be willing to bet, he's still in the dark.

 

Michael Bidwill: Cardinals need to 'figure out' QB room with Murray, McCoy recovering from injuries

New Cardinals head coach Jonathan Gannon stepped into a quarterback quandary when he took the job in Arizona.

link-placeholder-0] suffered [a torn ACL in December and isn't expected to be ready for the start of the regular season. Veteran backup Colt McCoy is also dealing with an injury.

Cardinals owner Michael Bidwill joined The Dave Pasch Podcast for an episode published Wednesday and said McCoy's unspecified injury would curtail the QB's participation this offseason.

"Colt is coming back from an injury that is going to limit him in the offseason," Bidwill said, via the team’s official website. "It's another set of dynamics that (offensive coordinator) Drew (Petzing) and JG (Jonathan Gannon) have to work through, and (general manager) Monti (Ossenfort).

"We'll see what exactly the plan is. That's not for me to figure out, that's for those guys to figure out."

So Gannon sets forth with Petzing to install a new system without his top two quarterbacks. Yippy!

David Blough and Trace McSorley each started games for the Cardinals last season, but neither is under contract in 2023. Blough is a restricted free agent and can easily be brought back. McSorley is set to be a free agent. With McCoy not around, the Cards will need to sign at least a couple of backup QBs to fill offseason practices.

Then the question will be who starts the season under center if McCoy's injury lingers.

Murray's late-season ACL tear means he's likely to miss the start of the season, but Bidwill said for now, the QB looks ahead of schedule and hopes to return before the midseason mark.

"I think (his return) is going to be earlier than this midseason, so hopefully, it's toward the beginning of the season, but I don't want to put any specific dates," Bidwill said. "There could be setbacks, the progress could slow. But he's a young man, it looks like he is a fast healer, things are going well. Let's hope that keeps going the way it is."

With so much money sunk into Murray and needs elsewhere on the roster, the Cards aren't in a position to spend heavily for an early-season stand-in. McCoy is set to count $5 million on the salary cap, with $2.5 million in guaranteed money in 2023.

NFL.com

 

ESPN's Dianna Russini reports Lamar Jackson is receiving "guidance" from the NFLPA in his ongoing contract negotiations with the Ravens.

Through his first five years in the league, Jackson has famously operated without an agent. While he continues to work out a contract negotiation without an agent, Russini says Jackson "is not negotiating alone" as the NFLPA has been assisting him in his efforts to work out a deal with the Ravens this offseason. Arguably the most interesting contract negotiation of any that will take place this offseason, Jackson and the Ravens are reportedly $100 million apart at this time, which could ultimately lead to the team franchise tagging him before the start of the season. Whether or not Jackson would play on the tag is another question that's yet to be answered, as the Ravens could look to trade him for a substantial haul if he threatens to hold out.

 

ESPN's Jamison Hensley and Jeremy Fowler report "all of" Lamar Jackson's counteroffers to the Ravens in contract talks "were for fully guaranteed contracts that exceeded" what Deshaun Watson got.

In other words, more than $230 million guaranteed. The quote making the rounds from this story is a Ravens source saying that "it feels like anything is possible." The real question that comes out of this report is probably: Will any team be willing to guarantee Lamar Jackson's next contract in full? "Multiple rival team officials reached by ESPN said the thought of relinquishing at least two first-round picks -- the baseline asking price, based on the non-exclusive tag -- for the right to pay Jackson between $230 million and $250 million in guaranteed money could give teams pause," the story notes. It's Jackson's right to push this as far as he can, and nobody could blame the team signing him to that deal based on his leverage in this, but it's possible that the contract ask will make it hard for a team to give up the capital to trade for him.

 

This feels like the kind of information that the Ravens would want in the public sphere so that they could sell to the fanbase that they are negotiating in good faith, but Lamar won't budge.

Non-Exclusive tag may be incoming...

 

Sam Howell “super excited” to be Washington’s QB1, ready to work with Eric Bieniemy



Washington head coach Ron Rivera has declared Sam Howell the team’s starting quarterback, and Howell says he’s up to the task.

“I was obviously super excited, and I’m super grateful to Coach Rivera for giving me that opportunity,” Howell said. “But really the work starts now. I’ve got to take advantage of the opportunity that I do have and do everything to try and give this team a chance to win every time single game that we play. The process doesn’t change, I’ve always tried to get better, but with this opportunity, I’ve got to take advantage of it.”


Washington will be installing a new offense with coordinator Eric Bieniemy’s arrival, and Howell looks forward to working with him.

“We haven’t had the chance to talk football yet,” Howell said of Bieniemy. “I am super excited to get going. I am a big fan of his, just listening to him talk here I’m super impressed with just the man he is. Obviously, he comes from a team that’s had a lot of success, especially on the offensive side of the ball so I’m just excited to learn all that stuff and get started with him.”

With the unproven Howell as their starter, the Commanders have one of the biggest question marks at quarterback in the NFL. Howell sounds confident that he can answer all the questions.

PFT

 

Report: Russell Wilson tried to get Pete Carroll, John Schneider fired before he was traded



Shortly before he was traded to Denver, Russell Wilson lost a power struggle in Seattle.

That’s the word from TheAthletic.com, which reports today that Wilson asked Seahawks ownership to fire both head coach Pete Carroll and General Manager John Schneider in February of 2022.

Weeks after that, the Seahawks traded Wilson to the Broncos. Carroll and Schneider remain in their jobs a year later.

The report also says that Wilson wanted the Seahawks to hire Sean Payton as their head coach if they fired Carroll. Payton is now the coach of the Broncos, so Wilson got his wish a year later.

The report cites unnamed sources, and Wilson’s camp denies it. A lawyer for Wilson wrote a letter to TheAthletic.com that called the story of Wilson trying to get Carroll and Schneider fired “entirely fabricated.”

PFT

 

Lamar Jackson’s camp leaks some information to Stephen A. Smith

The Ravens have stayed quiet regarding the offers that previously have been made to quarterback Lamar Jackson. Jackson has not been quiet, directly or indirectly leaking bits and pieces of the negotiations to the media.

On Friday’s First Take on ESPN, Stephen A. Smith said that Jackson’s camp reached out with some specific information.


First, Smith said that Jackson’s camp claims that Jackson has never demanded a fully-guaranteed contract from the Ravens.

If that’s true (and, frankly, I don’t think it is), why hasn’t that come out sooner? For months, it’s been believed that Jackson wants the same structure as Deshaun Watson.

Five years, fully guaranteed.

Indeed, the NFL Players Association filed a grievance last season accusing teams of colluding to not give “certain quarterbacks” (e.g., Lamar Jackson) fully-guaranteed contracts. And the NFLPA definitely has been assisting Jackson in his negotiations with the Ravens, since Jackson doesn’t have an agent.

So, no, I don’t believe the contention that Lamar never asked for a fully-guaranteed contract is true.

Second, Smith said something that both Chris Mortensen reported in September and Ryan Clark reiterated in January. The Ravens’ best offer before the 2022 season included $133 million fully guaranteed.

As explained last month, it’s IMPOSSIBLE to properly evaluate the fairness of an offer without knowing more than the amount that would have been fully guaranteed at signing. The most important piece of information that Jackson and/or the NFLPA have not yet leaked to Mortensen, Clark, Smith and/or any other ESPN reporter or personality is this — how much more money initially guaranteed for injury would have become fully guaranteed in March 2023?

That amount, whether $5 million or $50 million or somewhere in between, becomes part of the practical guarantee at signing, because the Ravens weren’t going to cut him after giving him $133 million for one season. Thus, without knowing it, we don’t know the truth about the Baltimore offer.

Smith concluded by posing the following public question to the Ravens: “Did you or did you not lowball this man with an offer of 133 million guaranteed? Because that is a lowball offer. If that answer is ‘yes,’ you are trying to screw him over.” I’ll apply a twist to Smith’s query, and direct it to Lamar: “Did the Ravens or did they not offer significant additional injury guarantees that would have become full guarantees in March 2023? Because that is important information to knowing whether they made you a lowball offer or a fair offer. If that answer is ‘yes,’ you are trying to paint an inaccurate picture as to what the Ravens have truly offered.”

Indeed, why not put the whole offer out there? The Ravens have refused to do it, out of respect to Lamar. The constant leaks from Lamar’s camp of something less than the full truth, however, disrespect the Ravens.

At some point, the Ravens need to stop absorbing body blows and start counterpunching. Every time someone else from ESPN parrots the “$133 million guaranteed” report, it makes the Ravens look worse and worse.

PFT

 

Wilson denies it.

Maybe just another fabrication from the Athletic.

 

Lamar's side is now denying they were asking for 'fully guaranteed' cashola... both sides seem to be a bit miffed at one another and I dont see this ending well.

 

Report: Derek Carr wants $35 million per year



Free-agent quarterback Derek Carr got a one-month head start on the open market. Nearly two weeks into it, he still hasn’t signed.

When he does, he’s got a specific financial goal in mind.


Dianna Russini of ESPN recently said that Carr wants a contract with an average value of $35 million per year. Russini also said that Carr “doesn’t need to be the first quarterback to sign.”

If true, that contradicts the prior vibe from Camp Carr. He wanted to join a new team so that he could help the team recruit other free agents.

The fact that Carr doesn’t have a deal doesn’t mean he won’t get the financial package he’s looking for. It just means interested teams may want to see whether other specific quarterbacks are available before committing to Carr.

And $35 million per year isn’t unreasonable. It’s Kirk Cousins money, and Carr is basically on par with Cousins — good enough to win games, not great enough to win a championship absent plenty of help.

As always, the truth will be in the details of any deal Carr signs. If it’s important to him to get to an average of $35 million, the back end can be inflated to get there. The far more important factors will be the signing bonus, the other full guarantees at signing, and the guarantees that flip from injury-only to full guarantees after one year, and after two years.

Carr has visited the Jets and Saints. The Panthers were installed as the betting favorites to land Carr. He has yet to visit them. And coach Frank Reich was coy was when asked recently about the possibility.

Under Carr’s contract with the Raiders, he had a salary of $32.9 million for 2023. Carr was released the day before the payment would have become fully guaranteed, along with $7.5 million in 2024 base salary.

Carr’s brother, David, has said that Derek’s search for a new team will be a long process. In the end, it could make sense for Derek to see how the first wave of free agency plays out. Although there’s a risk that budgets will be largely exhausted by then, there’s also a chance that a quarterback-needy team will be feeling desperate if other options don’t pan out.

That raises the question of whether a team that doesn’t acquire a new quarterback early in free agency will wait to see what happens in the draft, which could delay Carr’s signing into late April or early May.

However it plays out, there’s surely a landing spot for Carr. In today’s NFL, there aren’t nearly enough just-good-enough quarterbacks to good around.

PFT

 

Recent DeMaurice Smith interview made it clear that Lamar Jackson wants a fully-guaranteed deal

On Friday, ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith claimed after speaking with someone from Lamar Jackson’s camp that the Ravens quarterback never asked for a fully-guaranteed deal. The surprising claim contradicted months of conventional wisdom that Lamar wants the same thing that Deshaun Watson got from the Browns.

The sudden notion that Lamar Jackson doesn’t want a fully-guaranteed contract directly disputes the content of an important interview that NFL Players Association DeMaurice Smith recently had with The Pivot podcast. The entire premise of the conversation regarding guaranteed contracts was that the NFLPA is helping Lamar Jackson get a fully-guaranteed contract that will “bookend” (as Smith said it) the Watson deal, and in turn lay the foundation for other quarterbacks to secure fully-guaranteed deals, too.

There are three possible explanations for the recent report. One, the information provided to Smith is incorrect. Two, Jackson wants a fully-guaranteed contract, but is claiming otherwise for P.R. reasons. Three, Jackson has changed his mind about wanting a fully-guaranteed contract.

If the last point is the truth, then maybe he and the Ravens will work out a long-term deal before March 7, the deadline for applying the franchise tag. If not, and if the Ravens choose to use the non-exclusive tag, maybe another team will sign him to an offer sheet that isn’t fully guaranteed — and maybe the Ravens will match it.

Regardless, it’s important to note that this claim Jackson never wanted a fully-guaranteed contract cuts against everything that everyone was led to believe for months, up to and including the things that the head of the union publicly said, just last month. If that has truly changed, it potentially changes everything.

PFT

 

Or four, someone is a liar.

 

Stephen A. Smith getting something wrong and blowing hot air up everyone's kilts? INCONCEIVABLE!



And now we know why Carr said he'd refuse a trade. $32.9 million fully guaranteed this season wasn't good enough for him.

My head is still spinning.

 

ESPN says 3 new teams have connected with free agent QB Derek Carr

( that's a link ^^^ )

The writer says that it feels like a smoke screen from Carr's agent. That's always possible, but I don't think so - not from his particular agent (Tim Younger).

There's no telling how serious the talks with the new teams have been, but I'm quite willing to believe that at least three more teams have contacted Younger at least to express interest in negotiating for Carr.

 

Commanders cut Carson Wentz



Less than a year after he arrived, Carson Wentz is done in Washington.

The Commanders released Wentz today, making the obviously necessary move official.


Last year Washington acquired Wentz in a traded that cost the Commanders two third-round draft picks. The Commanders also cost themselves $28.3 million in salary cap space by acquiring Wentz for one year.

In Wentz’s only season in Washington, the Commanders went 2-5 in games Wentz started, 5-3-1 in games Taylor Heinicke started and 1-0 in games Sam Howell started. It’s not a stretch to say the Commanders cost themselves a playoff berth in 2022 by trading for Wentz.

Now Wentz will hit free agency. He’ll likely have some offers to be a backup quarterback, but after failing in three straight seasons with the Commanders, Colts and Eagles, his days as a starter are done.

PFT

 

Falcons not naming Desmond Ridder starting QB amid rumors



Atlanta Falcons head coach Arthur Smith isn't anointing 2022 rookie Desmond Ridder his starting quarterback at this stage of the offseason.

"We're not naming any starters right now," Smith told Tori McElhaney of the Falcons' website. "There are a lot of things that can happen. We're very excited about Des, no different than we are about (running back) Tyler Allgeier and (wide receiver) Drake London and the improvements they've made and guys who are currently on our roster. As always, all options are on the table. Anything that we can do to improve this team and help us win - and to ultimately win championships - that's what we're looking for."

The Falcons used a third-round pick in last year's draft to acquire Ridder and then sat him behind Marcus Mariota through the middle of December. In total, the 23-year-old completed 63.5% of 115 pass attempts for 708 yards with two touchdowns and no interceptions.

During his comments, Smith praised Ridder for not repeating "a lot of the same mistakes" as a first-year pro. However, such kind words likely won't stop the Falcons from being linked with other signal-callers through at least early March.

Multiple in-the-know individuals have predicted that the Falcons will consider making a bold move for Baltimore Ravens star Lamar Jackson.

Jackson is a pending free agent who may or may not be looking for a fully guaranteed deal from the Ravens or a different team this offseason, and it's assumed Baltimore will retain his rights via the franchise tag ahead of the March 7 deadline for clubs to use their tags.

The Ravens could utilize the exclusive franchise tag on Jackson and then ask for more than two first-round draft picks from a team such as the Falcons in return for the one-time NFL Most Valuable Player before the upcoming draft gets underway on April 27.

Additionally, ESPN's Jeremy Fowler recently reported during an on-air segment that the Falcons are a "natural fit" for Jimmy Garoppolo of the San Francisco 49ers.

Garoppolo mentored youngsters Trey Lance and Brock Purdy during his San Francisco tenure and is on track to hit free agency next month.

It's unknown if Garoppolo would be willing to share a quarterback room with a prospect such as Ridder or if he'd look to sign with a different team that would automatically name him its QB1.

YARDBARKER
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Frankly, I dont buy the Lamar Jackson rumors to Atlanta or the Jimmy G stuff either, but thats just me. I believe HC Smith is just holding his cards close to his vest in leu of the up-coming draft. Falcons need help at Edge, DB's and WR's in my opinion and having the #8 pick overall gives him room to make some deals. I believe with all my guts, Ridder is going to be the starting QB.

 

This is another example of Smith not quite getting his point across to the media. He's quite literal, and if you add context to anything he says, you're at real risk of going down the wrong path. If he meant what you're thinking, he probably would have said it.

In this case he just said the team isn't naming starters yet - at any position. Kyle Pitts isn't officially the starting TE at this point, Younghoe Koo hasn't been named the team's kicker for this season, and A.J. Terrell isn't being named as a starting cornerback yet.

I'm with you in thinking Smith is taking this approach to keep the team's plans close to the vest, and not just for the draft or potential trades. Free agency is just a couple of weeks away.

He didn't say anything at all to suggest that he doesn't have confidence in Ridder.

But, as usual for the offseason, the media is taking what he didn't say and is running with it. The Lamar Jackson talk is interesting, of course, and the Falcons do have the cap space to make it happen. I just hope they don't make that deal because I don't want to give up all the draft picks. Those picks could go a long, long way towards giving the team a strong defense.

One site is reporting that Mariota's release is imminent. Gee... did they figure this out all by themselves?

The more interesting Mariota story is that he's one of three QBs in the upcoming NFL Films/Netflix series tracking their 2022 seasons. So at last we might get good media coverage on the family having their first child. At the time, the press reports made it out that Mariota left the team because he was pissed about being benched. But his wife was in the hospital at the time for the birth of their child. It was a week later when a few outlets (mainly the TV station KHON in Honolulu) reported the details about the baby.

 

Im not sold on Lamar myself. I think his success in 2019 and 20 was fantastic... 2021 and 22 showed me nothing exceptional. He's trending downward and it may not be all on him as there are factors involved (schemes, WR's) and injuries. I just think he's becoming a 'high risk' target at the moment. I wouldnt give up a ton a picks and money to get him on my team as it currently stands, he just seems unpredictable too me.

 

Report: Panthers, Saints, Jets set to meet with Derek Carr at Combine

Word on Monday night was that free agent quarterback Derek Carr will meet with a handful of teams at the Scouting Combine in Indianapolis this week and he’s familiar with a couple of those teams already.

Carr has already visitied with the Saints and Jets and Ian Rapoport of NFL Media reports that he will be meeting with both of those teams again. Carr is also reportedly going to meet with the Panthers and could add other teams to the list.

Panthers head coach Frank Reich said last week that the team was “really not ready” to say if a meeting with Carr was in the cards, but there is a clear need for a quarterback in Carolina.

Carr’s brother said last week that the free agent process will be a long one and the wait for word about Aaron Rodgers‘ plans may be tied to any developments that will take place with Carr’s own search for a new place to play in 2023.

PFT