NFL - NEWS & NOTES

We’re keeping a running list of the players who choose to opt out of the 2020 season, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. All players who have opted out are listed below:

Chiefs offensive lineman Laurent Duvernay-Tardif.

Ravens kick returner D’Anthony Thomas.

Seahawks offensive lineman Chance Warmack.

Cowboys cornerback Maurice Canady.

Patriots fullback Danny Vitale.

Washington defenive lineman Caleb Brantley.

Patriots guard Najee Toran.

Patriots offensive lineman Marcus Cannon.

Patriots linebacker Don’a Hightower

Patriots linebacker Brandon Bolden.

Ravens offensive lineman Andre Smith.

NBC

 

A fourth member of the Patriots is opting out of playing the 2020 season and this one will leave a big hole in their defense.

Adam Schefter of ESPN reports that linebacker Dont'a Hightower will not be suiting up this year.

 

Chiefs offensive lineman Laurent Duvernay-Tardif.


For very valid reasons Will..........he is a Doctor in an extended care Home and does not want to infect any player's in the NFL.

 

Pats hit hard by opt outs with Hightower and Chung.

Bears NT Eddie Goldman also opting out.

 

49ers GM: Deebo Samuel 'may miss some games' to start season

When Deebo Samuel suffered a broken foot back in June, the receiver suggested he'd be back in 10 weeks, before the season kicked off.

The San Francisco 49ers brass isn't as optimistic.

GM John Lynch said Tuesday on KNBR radio Samuel might be out to open the season.

"Not going to put an exact timeline on it, but it's fair to say he may miss some games at the start of the year," Lynch said, via Cam Inman of the San Jose Mercury News.

Lynch's caution fits closer to the normal timeframe of Samuel's injury.

The 49ers aren't going to rush the young, impressive receiver back too soon from a foot injury. If he's not able to fully cut or there is risk of re-injury, the Niners should hold Samuel out a few weeks into the season until he's 100 percent. We've seen foot injuries linger for wideouts in the past and disrupt full seasons.

Ensuring the YAC demon is full-go for the bulk of the campaign is the priority, not having him ready for Week 1.

NFL.com

 

Steelers sign Wendell Smallwood



The Steelers have added another running back to the roster.

The team announced the signing of Wendell Smallwood on Tuesday. He joins the team as veterans are reporting for the first wave of COVID-19 testing that kicks off this year’s training camp.

Smallwood was a 2016 fifth-round pick by the Eagles and appeared in 37 games for them over his first three seasons. He landed in Washington after failing to make the roster in Philly out of camp last year.

Smallwood has 233 carries for 931 yards and five touchdowns and 56 catches for 452 yards and two touchdowns over the course of his career.

He joins James Conner, Benny Snell, Jaylen Samuels and fourth-round pick Anthony McFarland in the Steelers backfield.

NBC

 

Up to 6 opt outs for the Pats now.

 

Report: Chargers, Joey Bosa agree to a five-year, $135 million extension



No wonder Joey Bosa took his time getting to training camp.

He surely had a big smile underneath his mask when he entered the team facility.

The Chargers and the defensive end reached agreement on a five-year, $135 million extension that goes through the 2025 season, Adam Schefter of ESPN reports. Bosa will receiver $78 million fully guaranteed at signing and $102 million guaranteed, Schefter adds.

It’s $2 million more in guaranteed money than Myles Garrett recently received from the Browns.

Bosa was scheduled to make $14.36 million this season in the final year of his rookie contract.

The third overall pick of the 2016 draft made 40 sacks his first four seasons.

NBC

 

VOLUNTARY OPT-OUTS

Baltimore Ravens: KR De'Anthony Thomas, OL Andre Smith

Buffalo Bills: DT Star Lotulelei

Dallas Cowboys: CB Maurice Canady, WR Stephen Guidry

Green Bay Packers: WR Devin Funchess

Houston Texans: DT Eddie Vanderdoes

Kansas City Chiefs: OL Laurent Duvernay-Tardif

New England Patriots: LB Dont'a Hightower, FB Dan Vitale, RB Brandon Bolden, OL Najee Toran

Seattle Seahawks: OL Chance Warmack


Tennessee Titans: OL Anthony McKinney

HIGHER RISK OPT-OUTS
Minnesota Vikings: DT Michael Pierce

New England Patriots: OL Marcus Cannon

Washington Football Team: DE Caleb Brantley

UNSPECIFIED OPT-OUTS
Carolina Panthers: UDFA LB Jordan Mack

Chicago Bears: DT Eddie Goldman


Denver Broncos: DT Kyle Peko

New England Patriots: S Patrick Chung

New Orleans Saints: TE Jason Vander Laan, TE Cole Wick

New York Jets: OL Leo Koloamatangi

Philadelphia Eagles: WR Marquise Goodwin

 

Does anyone have information on how players salary, team salary cap and tenure (accrued seasons) will be handled for those players that opt out for the entire season?

 

From what I've read if you voluntarily opt out you don't accrue a season. You receive a 150K stipend deductible from your salary that would have been due this season. Your contract is moved forward one year...so 2020 number moves to 2021, 2021 to 2022 and so on as applicable. Teams get the cap space back minus any bonuses already paid.

A high risk opt out accrues a season and gets 350K and contract moves forward the same way.

 

If this season gets played covid 19 will have more to do with the championship than the rosters the teams thought they would be using this season. If many more players opt out maybe the league will just cancel the season.

 

they are a LONG way away from that. You’ll need some pretty big names before they even consider it.

They have until Monday.. to be continued

 

LeSean McCoy’s NFL career isn’t over just yet.

McCoy, the veteran running back who was largely phased out of the Chiefs’ offense last season, will get another shot with the Buccaneers.

The Bucs and McCoy agreed to a one-year contract today, agent Drew Rosenhaus confirmed.

In his one and only season with the Chiefs last year, McCoy carried 101 times for 465 yards and four touchdowns and also added 28 catches for 181 yards and another touchdown. But most of that production came early in the season. In the postseason, McCoy never touched the ball.

Now the Bucs will see if McCoy has any gas left in the tank, and an offense that has already brought in Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski adds another veteran with a Pro Bowl pedigree.

NBC

 

The Steelers have signed free agent safety Curtis Riley, Ian Rapoport of NFL Media reports. Riley took a physical in Pittsburgh on Thursday.

Riley, 28, played all 16 games, including three starts, for the Raiders last year. He made 34 tackles, one pass breakup and a forced fumble.


Riley started every game for the Giants in 2018, seeing action on 96 percent of the defensive snaps.

He also played 11 games for Tennessee over the 2016-17 seasons.

Riley originally signed with the Titans in 2015.

NBC

 

The NFL’s chief medical officer believes the league has the right plan in place to play a full season during a pandemic, even as he acknowledges that won’t be easy.

Dr. Allen Sills said the virus may be with us throughout the 2020 NFL season, but the league has protocols to keep players, coaches and staff safe.

“I remain cautiously optimistic because we’ve spent a tremendous amount of time and energy with these protocols and preparing, trying to mitigate risk to the best that we can,” Sills told the Houston Chronicle. “At the same time, we have to realize that this is going to be hard. This is going to be really hard because this is a tough opponent. This virus is a highly contagious virus, and it remained very endemic across our country.

“It’s going to be a real challenge for us at every level of the league, but our teams are very committed to this. I know our players are very invested, as are all of our coaches and staff. We’re all going to put our very best foot forward to try to mitigate risk and see if we can carry forward and coexist with a virus. As much as we’d like it to go away, I think it’s clear that it’s unlikely to be eradicated at any time in the very near future.”

Major League Baseball managed to play only a few days before one team was shut down because of an outbreak of the virus and another team was shut down because it played against that team. The NFL is hoping to avoid similar problems, and hoping its plan proves workable for this most challenging of seasons.

NBC

 

NFL, NFLPA deal to be signed “hopefully today”

One week ago, the NFL and NFL Players Association worked out an agreement on a revised Collective Bargaining Agreement that accommodates pro football in a pandemic. As of this moment, the formal paperwork still hasn’t been finalized.

Per a source with knowledge of the situation, the agreement will be signed “hopefully today.”

If that happens, the opt-out deadline will arrive next Friday, August 7. This means that all players have another full week, at a minimum, to make their irrevocable decision as to whether to play or to not play in 2020.

More players than most expected already have opted out. Whether and to what extent more do remains to be seen. For now, they have at least one full week to decide.

NBC

 

It's looking like the NFL has no control over Covid 19 so many OPT-OUTS

 

I’m sure there will be more, but at the moment it’s only 31. An average of one per team. I actually expected more at this point.

 

Patriots Receiver Marqise Lee Is Opting Out...