MONDAY MORNING QUARTERBACK

All $41 million against the cap in 2025, that’s rough, but about status quo now.

 

It is ridiculous, but no way can they let him walk out the door, in my opinion. FA market is weak, and they have no one signed for next year but a wounded unproven rookie. Big cash now, might be the way to go and worth it. Tough call to make for sure.

 

Teddy Bridgewater is back.

Not long after saying that he planned to return to the NFL following his successful pursuit of a state championship in his first year as a high-school football coach, Bridgewater is returning to the Lions, according to NFL Network.

A first-round pick of the Vikings in 2014, Bridgewater spent last season in Detroit. He’ll now re-join the Lions as they battle with the Vikings for the No. 1 seed in the NFC.

Bridgewater, 32, presumably will join the practice squad, with Jake Fromm likely getting the short straw.

The Lions have Jared Goff as the starter, with Hendon Hooker serving at the No. 2. Goff is clearly the guy.

 

Eagles QB Hurts is dealing with a concussion. Never a good thing, especially at this point in the 24 season. He's unlikely to play vs the Cowboys, but my opinion is 'so what'. He needs to get healthy and be ready for the 'real deal' when the Playoffs start.

 

On Cousins: the main thing that jumps out at me about Cousins' poor play during his last five games was that he'd become tentative - he'd make a poor throw and would hesitate to pull the trigger on downfield shots afterwards. Apparently the reason is that his arm strength just isn't there. But his reaction to the poor throw (the tentativeness afterwards) tells me it's catching him by surprise when it happens. It makes me think there's credibility to the reports that I'm reading that say it's because of his Achilles' injury.

Yeah, I didn't buy it at first either. But the idea is that he rushed back (which is absolutely true) and that he had a weaker push-off in his throwing motion, compensating for it by putting more power into his delivery with his upper body. And basically his body is giving out of gas because of it. If nothing else, that fits - he was throwing deep balls pretty well in mid-October and was in full command of the offense. A month later he was a completely different quarterback. There's almost certainly a specific reason for it. You don't change that quickly in a month just because of age.

So... shut him down completely if possible, let him rest during the off-season and ditch the bad habits he developed in his motion this year, and let him start again in May with a properly healed Achilles' tendon.

Now, will that be with Atlanta or elsewhere? If it's up to me, I keep him. Spending the mega-bucks to get him in the first place wasn't what I had in mind, but now that he's here I see a lot more positives in keeping him for 2025 than in moving on from him. The best thing is that he and Penix have had a terrific partnership in the locker room and film room. That can still continue for 2025. Don't name a starter. Let them have a healthy competition. If Cousins wins it, Penix still knows he's the future. If Penix wins it, Cousins knows he's still getting PAID (27.5 million fully guaranteed on top of the signing bonus he already got paid), and he and the team can amicably (and reasonably quietly) work out a trade before the deadline if he does want to try elsewhere for the 2025 season.

But more importantly, just rest him for now and see if he can get some strength back. There's a chance Atlanta will be in the postseason, and they might need him.

I'm also seeing one report claiming that "insiders" say the team is going to move him immediately after the season to save a $10 million roster bonus that he's due on the fifth day of the new league year. If I read the contract details correctly, that's a load of crap. Yes, he gets a 10 million bonus if he's on the roster on the fifth day of the league year... in 2026. Not 2025.

 

Cowboys team web site has a news article on Cooper Rush with a really wild tidbit... he now has 13 career starts, and he has racked up wins against FOUR Heisman-winning QBs: Joe Burrow, Jayden Daniels, Bryce Young and Baker Mayfield.

 

I just know or have a gut feeling, its injury related. Ive seen him make some incredible throws on a consistant basis. Imagine yourself as being Cousins... you sign a huge contract and when the war on the gridiron starts you realize you got problems that are hindering your movement and the ability to throw. Id be hesitant to say anything myself and would probably think... next week will be better. Things didnt get better, but Kirk kept trying. A rock and a hard place.

The off-season should divulge some answers.

 

Josh Allen confirms he broke his left hand Week 1

Bills quarterback Josh Allen confirmed a report that he fractured his left hand on a fourth quarter touchdown run in the Week 1 win over the Cardinals.

He appeared on the practice report in Weeks 2-11 with a non-throwing hand injury but didn’t miss a practice or a game.

“Yeah,” Allen said this week, via Katherine Fitzgerald of The Buffalo News. “It’s the left one, so it don’t really matter that much.”

PFT
_________________

He is an American badass!

 

The Cleveland Browns and quarterback Deshaun Watson have agreed to a contract restructure, a source confirmed to ESPN on Friday. The move signals that Watson is likely to return to Cleveland in 2025 despite his on-field struggles and back-to-back season-ending injuries.

Watson has two years remaining on the five-year, fully guaranteed $230 million deal that he signed upon being traded to Cleveland before the 2022 season. The Browns owe Watson $46 million in each of the next two seasons, and he has a cap hit of $72.9 million in 2025 and 2026 -- both the second highest in the NFL.

The reworked contract adds two void years to the deal, allowing the Browns to push out his dead salary cap into 2030, sources said. Watson's contract contained two void years (2027-28) before the restructure. Now, it has four. He's still under contract for the next two years and set to be a free agent in 2027.
Releasing Watson after the season with a pre-June 1 designation would have triggered a league-record dead cap hit of $172 million.

Watson, 29, has been sidelined since late October with a right Achilles tendon tear. In seven games, Watson posted the lowest total QBR of qualifying passers in the NFL.

Watson has played in just 19 games since the Browns traded three first-round picks for him and gave him what -- at the time -- was a record amount of guaranteed money in a contract. He served an 11-game suspension in 2022 after more than two dozen women accused him of sexual assault and inappropriate conduct during massage sessions. Watson was limited to just six games in 2023 because of injuries and missed the final eight after undergoing season-ending shoulder surgery.

In recent months, the Browns have been noncommittal on Watson's standing as the starting quarterback when healthy. General manager Andrew Berry said it's "possible" when asked if Watson could return as the team's starter. Owner Jimmy Haslam told ESPN earlier this month that he was supportive of Berry and coach Kevin Stefanski but that it was too early to make any decisions regarding the quarterback position.

The Browns also restructured Watson's contract before the season, creating $44.79 million in cap space that the team is expected to carry over to become cap compliant in the 2025 offseason.

ESPN

 

4 void years is absolutely abysmal, but i guess they was little choice. Just a wild situation all the way round.

 

Colts downgrade Anthony Richardson to out for Sunday’s game

The Colts downgraded quarterback Anthony Richardson to out for Sunday’s game against the Giants.

Richardson was listed as questionable with back and foot injuries, but it seemed unlikely he would play after not practicing all week.

Joe Flacco will start a fifth game in place of Richardson this season in what could be the final start of the veteran quarterback’s career. Richardson missed two games with an oblique injury, and the Colts benched him for two games.

In his second season, Richardson has completed 48 percent of his passes for 1,814 yards with eight touchdowns and 12 interceptions in 11 games. He’s also rushed for 499 yards with six touchdowns.

PFT

 

Dolphins downgrade Tua Tagovailoa to doubtful for Sunday vs. Browns

Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa is unlikely to play on Sunday against the Browns.

Tagovailoa has been downgraded to doubtful on the injury report. Tagovailoa was initially listed as questionable with a hip injury. Skylar Thompson has also been elevated to the active roster from the practice squad.

If Tagovailoa can’t play, Tyler Huntley would get the start for the Dolphins, who are clinging to slim playoff hopes in the AFC wild card race.

Tagovailoa suffered a serious hip injury in college at Alabama, and now a hip injury in the NFL looks like it will keep him off the field.

 

NBC posted something interesting about the Sunday night game... it will be the first ever prime time game with two rookie first rounders as the starting QBs.

 

Washington and CHicago played earlier in the year, not prime time but # 1 and #2 overall picks, starting QBs played vs. each other.

 

OverTheCap doesn't have any actual numbers yet on Cleveland restructuring Watson. They do have one more void year listed, but no numbers listed for it. Articles from different sources also seem to disagree on whether it's one extra void year or two. I'm thinking they've set something up that will trigger the 2029 year being added in 2025 and the 2030 year being added in 2026.

The other significant item in one article I saw - if correct - is that the contract doesn't void until at some point after the first day of the 2027 league year, making it feasible for the team to release him with a post-June 1 designation just before the contract voids. This will be vital when that time comes.

What really hit me when I saw it was the REST of their cap situation. The Browns already have $39.7 million dead money listed for 2025 from other players, and that's not even counting the $14 million that will become dead money when the Jedrick Wills and Jameis Winston contracts become void. So they're already north of $50 million dead money, and we haven't even hit the off-season yet. Ouch...

This is where the other restructuring mentioned at the end of the ESPN article that Willie reposted becomes significant. They got extra cap space for this season (though I think the article might have misstated the savings) - and they did NOT use it. They will carry it forward to 2025 instead and use it to cover the majority of the dead money that they already have on the books.

Without seeing the numbers yet, it looks like this new restructuring will do the same thing with his 2025 base and create a 2029 void year. Whether it's already set in stone yet or not, the team will almost certainly repeat the process by converting 2026 salary to bonus and adding the 2030 void year.

If we use 1.25 million as the new base salary for both years (should be close enough that the difference to the actual number won't matter), spreading 2025 out through 2029 and spreading 2026 out through 2030, then they will end up with 89.5 million in dead money when the contract voids in 2027. If they can release him then with a post-June 1 designation, they would take 35.8 million of that in 2027 and the remaining 53.8 million in 2028.

It's ugly, but they can work through it knowing that it's coming. Over half the league has at least $50 million of dead money on the books in 2024, so they aren't insurmountable numbers. The catch is that Cleveland will have to start taking measures in 2025 to minimize their other dead money for 2027-2028. That might mean biting the bullet in 2025 or 2026 the way the Bears and Falcons did in 2022.

 

If I'm not mistaken, Watson is buying himself a year to stick around while keeping the money the same but essentially tacking on an extra year that he'll never play. It's win-win minus the optics.

 

Jalen Hurts remains in concussion protocol

Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts remains in concussion protocol, coach Nick Sirianni said Monday. That’s all Sirianni would allow about Hurts’ health.

The Eagles do not have to release their first practice report for this week until Wednesday.

Sirianni said after Sunday’s victory over the Giants that Hurts was “progressing” through the protocol and had attended the team’s walk-through Saturday. That is more than Hurts has done in the past two weeks.

A player in concussion protocol must make it through five steps, one of which is attending meetings and practicing. Clearance from an independent neurologist is the final step.

Hurts has not practiced since being diagnosed with a concussion in the first quarter of the Dec. 22 game against the Commanders. He has missed the past two games, with Kenny Pickett starting against the Cowboys in Week 17 and Tanner McKee starting Sunday.

Pickett left the game against the Cowboys with an injury to his ribs.

McKee, the Eagles’ sixth-round pick in 2023, has completed 66.7 percent of his passes with four touchdowns and no interceptions and a 117.2 passer rating in his first career action over the past two weeks.

With Pickett’s injury and McKee’s standout play, the Eagles would face an interesting decision about who to start against the Packers if Hurts isn’t cleared.

“I’ll be ready whether I’m the one, the two, the three, the six, whatever it is,” McKee said Sunday, via Martin Frank of the Delaware News Journal. “It’s just doing my own thing.”

PFT

 

Matt LaFleur: I think Jordan Love, Malik Willis are “going to be OK”

The Packers had a few injury concerns coming out of Sunday’s loss to the Bears but at least when it comes to their quarterbacks, they should be alright.

Head coach Matt LaFleur told reporters in his Monday press conference that he’s not sure if Jordan Love or Malik Willis will be limited in practice this week. Love dinged his elbow but could have come back after the game. Willis did not exit after being shaken up.

“I talked to both of those guys. They seem to be doing alright,” LaFleur said. “But as far as their limits — I think they’re going to be OK, but we’ll find out over the next two days.”

LaFleur confirmed that receiver Christian Watson tore his ACL and will be out for the foreseeable future.

“It’s a big-time loss. Just his presence on the field alone — he’s so versatile in his ability to play multiple positions,” LaFleur said. “[Y]ou can move him all over the place. Obviously, he’s got an element in terms of his size and speed that’s tough to replicate. There’s not many built like him around the league. And I just, I hurt for him. I obviously hurt for our team, but just more for him, just because I know how much he’s put into this thing — just like all our guys. You never want to see that. It’s an unfortunate part of our game.

“But, like I told him, I know he’ll attack it the right way. He’ll handle the adversity. It’ll just be a bump in the road for him and I think he’ll come back better. That’s just how he is built, that’s how he’s wired. And so, I do think that there will be good. It’s just going to be down the road.”

LaFleur added that he’s optimistic about linebacker Quay Walker potentially returning for Sunday’s playoff matchup against the Packers.

Green Bay’s first injury report of the week will be released on Wednesday.

PFT

 

The Steelers franchise needs to be all-in on a QB. They will not win meaningful games until that point and they'll never bottom out under Tomlin. I don't know how or who. But if that isn't their singular focus this next offseason they haven't been paying attention the last 6 years.

 

The Browns have a franchise QB that is available for immediate transfer as soon as the new league year begins. We will pay all fees, you will only be responsible for his minuscule salary in 2025 and 2026. Quite the bargain for a franchise QB.

Edit: We will also give you a second round draft pick to help you out...