If 49ers wanted to change kickers, it can’t be Cundiff

At this point, the 49ers almost have no choice but to stick with kicker David Akers.

But if they did decide to bring in another one, their first choice is off the table. Billy Cundiff, who was signed to light a fire under Akers’ seat earlier this month, would be ineliglble to return, according to Matt Maiocco of CSNBayArea.com.

For the same reason disgruntled running back Brandon Jacobs was effectively stashed once the playoffs began (since waiver claims aren’t filed until after the Super Bowl), Cundiff can’t come back to play for the 49ers after they released him Friday.

Akers hit the upright with a 38-yard field goal yesterday, the latest in a series of shaky performances this year, which will doubtless undermine whatever bit of confidence they had left in him.

The Jets plan to hire Collette Smith as an intern working with defensive backs during training camp, making her just the third woman to work in a coaching capacity for an NFL team.

“I’m over the top. I’m humbled and I’m proud,” Smith, a lifelong Jets fan, told the New York Daily News. “This could have happened with any NFL team. But it just so happened that it was with my beloved New York Jets. This is bigger because of that. God forbid it would have been with the Patriots. But I still would have done it.”

The 44-year-old Smith played three seasons for the New York Sharks of the Independent Women’s Football League. She spent some time last year observing Jets practices and speaking with head coach Todd Bowles, who was impressed enough from their discussions to offer her a role with the team during camp.

Smith joins Jen Welter, a coaching intern with the Cardinals in 2015, and Kathryn Smith, a quality control coach with the Bills in 2016, as the only women to work on NFL coaching staffs.

Getty Images

After a few defections this offseason, the Chiefs have announced some additions to their personnel staff.

The team announced a number of moves, including hiring Chris Shea as the club’s salary cap and legal executive and Tim Terry as director of pro personnel.

Shea was most recently with the Eagles, while Terry joins from the Packers (with General Manager John Dorsey dipping into his background there.

The Chiefs have also promoted Brandt Tilis to director of football administration, named Ryan Poles director of college scouting, Ryne Nutt assistant director of college scouting, Dan Zegers college scouting coordinator, and Jim Noel pro scout. Daniel Ricci has been added as a player personnel assistant.

The Chiefs lost Chris Ballard to the Colts, among other changes.

AP

If the Chargers plan to contend in 2017, they need better blocking. They may be on the verge of getting it on the left side of their line.

“[Russell Okung] and [Matt] Slauson there together on that left side have been fun to watch in practice,” River’s told the team’s official website. “I think those two can cause some problems for a defense.  They both really seem to already work well together.  You’ve heard me say I think more than quarterback [and] receiver getting on the same page, it’s those linemen [that’s more important].  So, in the short time that Slauson has been back at left guard and Russell’s been here [it’s been awesome].  They communicate all the time.  They enjoy that part of it. We’ll see how it plays out.”

Rivers is particularly pleased with the arrival of Okung, who joined the Chargers after a year with the Broncos.

“Russell’s been awesome,” Rivers said.  “He’s been what you expect.  I didn’t know him, but I’ve known of him [from] his time in Seattle and last year in Denver. He’s a true pro.”

Slauson slides to left guard after spending his first year with the Chargers at center. If they can stay healthy (which has been an across-the-board problem for the Chargers in recent years), the Chargers could improve enough not only to climb out of the basement of the AFC West but also to get themselves in contention for the postseason.

Getty Images

The Saints took a tackle in the first round of this year’s draft and Ryan Ramczyk will be a starter up front at some point if all goes according to plan, but Zach Strief is still the top guy at right tackle and the Saints have reportedly funneled a little more money his way.

Nick Underhill of the New Orleans Advocate reports that the team has bumped Strief’s base salary by $700,000 to $1.7 million for the 2017 season. He’s also reportedly getting another $300,000 in roster bonuses, which makes him eligible to make another $1.7 million if he’s on the active roster every week this season.

Strief’s cap hit goes from $5.1 million to $6.1 million as a result. He has a $5.1 million cap charge for the 2018 season as well.

Strief, a 2006 seventh-round pick in New Orleans, has started every game he’s played since the start of the 2011 season and has only missed two games over the last four seasons.

Getty Images

Giants receiver Odell Beckham Jr. has opted to skip voluntary offseason workouts with the team. Arguably, he’s getting even better preparation for what he’ll be facing in the fall from Josh Norman and others.

As explained by Gary Myers of the New York Daily News, Beckham spent Thursday not at OTAs but working out with Hall of Famer Cris Carter, who is using tough love in an effort to help Beckham better deal with the verbal abuse he gets from opponents.

“I told him, ‘It’s the first time you’re the second best wide receiver in the building. I know you don’t like that, but get used to it. I’m the one with the [gold] jacket,” Carter told Myers. “His mind is in a great place. He knows what’s at stake. He wants to work out to get better. Sometimes a personal trainer is better than the strength coach for the team.”

Carter realizes that Beckham faces extra agitation because of who he is and how he has reacted in the past.

“With Odell, they go to extremes because it is him,” Carter said. “In 108 days, he will be ready to play against the Dallas Cowboys. Is he with the Giants at OTAs? I don’t care. It’s not my job. My job as a former player is to help young players understand about the business. I’m committed to helping Odell get better. So as far as OTAs, that’s somebody else’s responsibility.”

Still, with Beckham’s effort to work with people like Johnny Manziel (“Odell needed someone to throw him the ball,” Carter explained) and Carter coming one some of the same 10 days when the Giants have full-squad offseason practices aimed at preparing for the season, some are wondering whether he still doesn’t get it, whether he still hasn’t matured the way the team wants.

“Odell is going to grow up,” Carter said. “That why’s he is bringing other people in his life so he can grow up. If he wasn’t trying to grow up, he wouldn’t be calling Cris Carter. He’s getting people to tell him all the right stuff. He wants to be better. Not only as a player, but emotionally, as a son, friend and teammate. He’s in the process of doing that.”

Some would say Carter also has some growing up to do as a mentor, given that past stints have included a too-outlandish-to-be-true effort to advise incoming rookies to avoid criminal scrutiny by pre-arranging for a designated-driver-style “fall guy.”

“Being a mentor, that was one of the worst moments I’ve had,” Carter said. “You never want it to affect your ability to get access to young kids. I deeply regret the word choice. What I was trying to get across was these guys have crews. Stop driving the car. Stop having drugs in the car. Smart people realized what I was trying to say. The choice of words was bad and I would never, never give anyone advice about breaking the law.”

The “smart people” who realized what Carter was trying to say apparently didn’t include Carter himself, given that he seemed to realize what he said and what it meant when he profusely apologized for the remarks after they came to light.

“It’s really hard to go through my thought process,” Carter said in August 2015. “I can’t make an excuse for what my mindset was. My heart was in the right place. I didn’t use words that I was very proud of. It’s not the kind of advice I would offer young people. I would never tell young people to break the law or avoid prosecution. It was bad advice. I really, really regret my words when I heard them come back to me. And more importantly it hurt young people and it hurt them in their approach to the National Football League. So I take it very, very seriously. I do regret that day. I hope moving forward that the NFL still has enough trust in me and has me connected to their young people.”

Here are the comments that caused the kerfuffle: “If you all got a crew, you got to have a fall guy in the crew. If you all have a crew, one of those fools got to know, he’s the one going to jail. We’ll get him out.”

So while Carter likely won’t urge Beckham to get a “fall guy,” he’s also not urging Beckham to show up for OTAs.”

“I recommend he should do what he wants to do,” Carter said.

Beckham doing what he wants to do is one of the reasons he’s in a position where everyone watches what he chooses to do, because he’s done too many things that have caused problems for the team and for him. His latest choice — to work out away from team property — could become problematic more for him than the team, because a serious injury suffered while working out with Manziel or Carter or anyone else would jeopardize both Beckham’s $1.839 million salary for 2017 and his injury-guaranteed fifth-year option of $8.459 million.

Getty Images

The Raiders are finally joining the majority of the NFL in signing draft picks.

According to Michael Gehlken of the Las Vegas Review-Journal, the Raiders are signing three seventh-round picks today.

Safety Shalom Luani, tackle Jylan Ware, and defensive lineman Treyvon Hester are putting their names on contracts. The team also announced the signing of fourth-round tackle David Sharpe, fifth-round linebacker Marquel Lee, and seventh-round running back Elijah Hood, leaving three unsigned picks.

That leaves just the Saints and Rams as the only two teams who haven’t signed picks yet (the Vikings started this week). The Rams have held back on the process in the past to allow players to go through some financial orientation before they put bonus money in their hands.

AP

The Broncos have signed all of their draft picks.

Mike Klis of KUSA reports that third-round wide receiver Carlos Henderson has agreed to terms on his four-year rookie deal with the team, which leaves all eight members of their draft class with contracts.

Henderson was one of two wide receivers (fifth-rounder Isaiah McKenzie was the other) and one of two Hendersons (along with sixth-round running back De’Angelo) to join the Broncos in the draft. He caught 82 passes for 1,535 yards and 19 touchdowns at Louisiana Tech last season and also finished second in the nation in kickoff return average.

Special teams work is often the surest way for rookies to get on the field and Henderson figures to get a long look as a returner. With no sure third receiver behind Demaryius Thomas and Emmanuel Sanders, the rookie could also land a nice role on offense if he impresses during the preseason.

Getty Images

Earlier this week, Falcons G.M. Thomas Dimitroff visited 30 Rock in New York City for an extended, no-time-limit interview on PFT Live. Ultimately, we talked for 70 minutes.

Pieces of that discussion have been posted here, and broadcast on Friday’s show. Now, you can see and hear the entire interview.

All 70 minutes, start to finish. Uninterrupted, unedited (as far as I know), unabridged.

Thanks to Thomas for taking the time to create it, and thanks to you for taking the time to listen to it. You’ll know a lot more about football, Dimitroff, and the Falcons if you do.

Getty Images

Vikings coach Mike Zimmer wasn’t at the team’s Organized Team Activities this week, but quarterback Teddy Bridgewater was in attendance and, as seen in a video posted on the Vikings website, working on the field.

General Manager Rick Spielman noted that Bridgewater has not been fully cleared after last year’s knee injury and that there are plenty on unknowns about how things will play out from here, but the video provided some optimism about Bridgewater’s ability to return to action. Zimmer, whose plans to return to the team after eye surgery were announced on Friday, counted himself among those pleased by what they saw when asked about Bridgewater in a conference call.

“I saw that tape, too,” Zimmer said, via ESPN.com. “He’s throwing the ball well. He’s got good velocity, accurate. He’s working his rear end off. It just makes you proud for him. He’s still got a long ways to go. But he’s progressing as well as anybody could expect, I would think.”

The Vikings have been guarded about discussing any kind of timeline for Bridgewater’s recovery and they’ll likely remain that way until there’s enough evidence that talking a return to action has moved from an optimistic thought to a realistic one. This week felt like a step toward that point and the quarterback will be watched closely the rest of the offseason for others.

Getty Images

Seahawks defensive end Michael Bennett and Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman took issue with Seth Wickersham’s ESPN The Magazine article regarding the dysfunction in Seattle. Others didn’t.

“I don’t blame him for having that reaction,” Wickersham said during a Friday visit to PFT Live regarding Bennett. “I’ve been doing this for a long time. I mean, he knows what’s going on. I got so many texts from players and people in the Seahawks building yesterday telling me how I nailed it.”

If anything, Wickersham is surprised by the idea that anyone would dispute the idea that there have been problems with the Seahawks.

“I was not being some sort of expert detective here,” Wickersham said. “I mean, this stuff is an open secret in the NFL,  and I just spent a couple weeks trying to show it as best I could and talk to as many people as I could in the building; I took two trips out to Seattle.”

The deeper problem is that the offense hasn’t been taking enough trips to the end zone.

“You see [Russell] Wilson after games, he’s relentlessly positive and on message, and he’ll say, ‘You know we made a lot of great plays in this game, we just came up short.’ He said that after they played the Rams, and they scored three points. And here’s a defense, in an era of offense, keeping them in these games, thinking that they’re going to make everybody forget the Steel Curtain, and the offense is putting three points up on the board and he’s being treated in the building like he’s their Aaron Rodgers. That to me I think is the biggest deal. Those defensive players are smart, they’ve played against the best quarterbacks in the NFL, and they know the difference between very, very good and future Hall of Fame.”

The ability of some of those defensive players to make the Hall of Fame may hinge on winning more championships. If the offense isn’t pulling its weight, if the defense knows it, and if the coaching staff won’t do anything about it, it will be hard to keep everyone on the same page.

Getty Images

Last year, the Dolphins traded a third-round pick, a fourth-round pick and a sixth-round pick to the Vikings to acquire Minnesota’s third-round draft pick, which Miami used on receiver Leonte Carroo. Obviously, the Dolphins thought highly of Carroo’s talents to make a trade like that.

A year later, Carroo has been so disappointing that he may not even make the 53-player roster.

That’s the word from Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald, who reports that it is far from certain that Carroo will make the team at the end of the preseason.

The Dolphins gave Carroo every opportunity to contribute as a rookie, putting him in the starting lineup in Week One. But after catching two passes in that game, he caught just one more pass for the rest of the season and was inactive for the last two games of the regular season, and for the playoffs.

That was a disappointing first season in Miami, and if he doesn’t turn things around in a hurry, he won’t even have a second season in Miami.

Getty Images

A narrative has emerged from the relaxation of the celebration rules, and it should cause the league’s players to keep one hand on their wallets.

As explained by Albert Breer of TheMMQB.com, the effort to change the “No Fun League” to the “Now, Fun League” comes from a desire by Commissioner Roger Goodell to mend fences with players.

“The Commissioner has made an effort to do it,” Giants co-owner John Mara told Breer. “Going around and meeting with them on the celebration rule, I think, is just one example. That’s important. We try to engage with them on the Competition Committee with the rules changes every year. We get good feedback and put a lot of that into effect.

“So I think that’s always important to do that, and I know Roger has made that a priority, and hopefully that’ll pay off for both sides in the end.”

“Pay off” is the key word, because it doesn’t take an excessive dose of cynicism to realize that the NFL realizes that the labor deal expires in less than four years. And so before Goodell and his partners can once again be the “bad cop” at the bargaining table, Goodell needs to spend some time playing the role of “good cop.” Especially since the fumes are still lingering from Goodell’s Judge Dredd approach to the bounty scandal and #DeflateGate — not to mention a fairly blatant instance of the NFL playing fast and loose with the accounting.

“The players’ perspective is important — we truly are partners in the business,” Chiefs owner Clark Hunt told Breer. “And that’s something certainly from an ownership standpoint that we’ve never lost sight of. I think the Commissioner’s initiative here in recent years to try and include them more in the decision-making process is a positive. That should serve us both well going forward.”

It will definitely serve the owners well if the players can be persuaded to believe that take-and-take has become give-and-take until the time comes to take and take and take some more. And that time comes in fewer than four years.

Getty Images

There are plenty of people working in politics in Washington, D.C. who can’t agree on anything, but that’s not the case for the football team.

Cornerback Fabian Moreau signed with the Redskins on Friday, leaving them with all of their draft picks signed heading into Memorial Day weekend. Moreau, a third-round pick in April and one of 10 overall selections, agreed to the standard four-year deal for players drafted outside of the first round.

Moreau started 40 games at UCLA and is coming off a two-interception season as a senior. Moreau turned in a fast 40 time and showed well in other drills during the Scouting Combine in Indianapolis, which likely helped him move up a bit come draft day.

Moreau is one of eight corners on the Washington roster and will vie for snaps behind Josh Norman and Bashaud Breeland as a rookie.

Getty Images

The Vikings started signing draft picks yesterday, and now they’re nearly halfway finished with the process.

The team announced deals with three more picks today, giving them five of their 11 selections with signed contracts.

Today’s signings include fourth-round defensive tackle Jaleel Johnson, fourth-round linebacker Ben Gedeon, and fifth-round guard Danny Isidora.

They had previously signed fifth-round wide receiver Rodney Adams and seventh-round defensive lineman Ifeadi Odenigbo.

The Vikings dealt in bulk this draft, without a first-rounder but four sevenths, giving them plenty of guys to sift through.

Getty Images

Vikings coach Mike Zimmer is taking some time away from the team in the wake of his eighth eye surgery.

At the time of his departure, the team said they anticipated he would be back to work in a few weeks and they provided more information about the timeline on Friday.

The Vikings announced that Zimmer, who is recuperating at his ranch in Kentucky, plans to return to Minnesota on June 4. He has an appointment with doctors on June 5 and hopes to receive clearance to resume working at that point.

If that happens, Zimmer, who General Manager Rick Spielman said is in regular communication with the rest of the staff, will be back in time for the final set of OTA practices and the team’s mandatory minicamp, which runs from June 13-15.