Falcons coaches spreading read-option plans

Reuters

With offseason work time limited like never before, teams have to be focused on what they can install during the offseason.

So when a day is devoted to one thing, it’s obviously important.

The Falcons have been careful to study college defenses as they work up a plan to counteract the pistol and read-option stuff they’ve seen in the past from the Panthers and 49ers and others. Coaches studied with the Clemson staff, and began sending out instructions to players.

“We’ve already put one day in the books, where it was pretty much just about the way we are defending the read-option,” Falcons linebacker Sean Weatherspoon said, via D. Orlando Ledbetter of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “We’re heading in that direction.”

In addition to two against the Panthers and Cam Newton, the Falcons will also play against the 49ers, Seahawks and Redskins, all of whom employ some degree of the system.

That’s 30 percent of their schedule, which is why the time spent is necessary.

“We’re definitely crossing the T’s and dotting the I’s because the league is kind of coming to that, with these athletic quarterbacks,” Weatherspoon said. “It’s kind of becoming a little bit like college in that aspect and some teams are multiple [threats]. They do the regular, traditional-style offenses as well as going to the pistol and the read-option. That’s something that you really have to focus on.”

How the read-option is able to last (or not) where the Wildcat did not will be one of the intriguing storylines of the coming season.

But rest assured, if it continues, it won’t be because opponents are unprepared.

Getty Images

With free agency opening next week, the biggest name in the running back market belongs to Texans tailback Ben Tate.

After four years in Houston, Tate plans to become one of the top running backs in the league.

“I think I can bring you an elite running back,” Tate told Mark Berman of FOX 26 in Houston.  “I’ve learned a lot being behind Arian [Foster].  Definitely, when I’m healthy I think I’m an elite running back in this league, and I feel like I can show my abilities and my numbers and my play will speak for itself, and guys will be able to see that I am a guy who is a top-five running back in this league, which I believe once I get out there and get to show that on a consistent basis.”

Tate ranks as the best available running back on lists like this one, and this one, and oh let’s see this one.  He values the recognition.

“It lets me know that my hard work hasn’t gone unnoticed,” Tate said.  “Even with my limited, I guess you would say my limited amount of snaps and my limited amount of being able to be out there and play, that my talent is still recognized. It’s very much appreciated.”

Tate says he has come to terms with the fact that he’ll have to leave Houston.

“I have, I have,” Tate said. “I’m very grateful for the Texans selecting me and giving me an opportunity coming out of college.  Without a doubt I’m very grateful for that.  I just see it as a chapter closing in my life and opening a new chapter.”

The old chapter consisted of 1,992 yards in three seasons with the team, after breaking an ankle in the preseason opener of his rookie season.  In 2011, he gained 942 yards, averaging 5.4 yards per carry.

It’s unclear whether his potential production will result in a major payday.  In recent years, veteran tailbacks receive roughly $3 million to $4 million per year.  Few running backs get much more than that, because teams tend to skew younger at the tailback position.  When the 2014 season starts, Tate will be 26.

AP

Former NFL safety Darren Sharper, previously on bail for rape charges in California, has been jailed there since an arrest warrant making similar allegations was filed last week in Louisiana.  Unless formal charges are filed in Louisiana, Sharper could be back out of jail soon.

As explained by Brent Schrotenboer of USA Today, Judge Renee Korn described the question of whether Sharper should remain jailed in California for merely an arrest warrant in Louisiana an “extremely hard call.”

“The Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office is working in close concert with New Orleans law enforcement and prosecutors . . . to unlawfully hold Mr. Sharper in custody,” attorney Blair Berk argued on Sharper’s behalf.

Judge Korn may release Sharper on bail next Thursday, if charges aren’t filed in Louisiana before then.

Attorney Gloria Allred, who represents one of the alleged California victims, told Schrotenboer that her client wants the California case to proceed before the Louisiana case.

In all, Sharper is suspected of nine rapes and 11 druggings in five different states, in a period of time covering only four months.

Jimmy’s finally getting upset.

Less than 12 hours after we pointed out that Saints tight end* Jimmy Graham has been a good soldier during four years of playing under a rookie contract that the team never ripped up and replaced with something approach market value, Graham has sounded off on Twitter about the team’s recent roster decisions.

“Wow unbelievable,” Graham said.  “Shocked and disappointed on everything that’s gone on this offseason.”

He’s presumably referring to the release last month of linebacker Will Smith, cornerback Jabari Greer, and safety Roman Harper, Friday’s release of receiver Lance Moore, the news that running back Darren Sproles will be traded or cut, and the likely trade or release of running back Pierre Thomas.

It’s all happening because Graham is in line for a new contract, presumably one that he hopes will pay an average of more than $10 million per year.  Because of the salary cap, certain moves had to be made.

Maybe Graham doesn’t understand the connection between his contractual expectations and the need to dump cap space.  If he doesn’t, we’ve got a feeling some of the folks on Twitter will let him know.  Loudly.

AP

The Jets have locked up starting tight end Jeff Cumberland for three more years.

Cumberland has agreed to terms on a new three-year contract, according to Manish Mehta of the New York Daily News.

There’s no word on the financial terms of the contract, but the source tells Mehta that the Jets believe Cumberland is a young player who’s ready to take the next step. Now they’re committed to him as a key part of their offense.

The 26-year-old Cumberland started 12 games at tight end last year and caught 26 passes for 398 yards and four touchdowns.

Getty Images

Last night, we explained that the possibility of Vikings running back Adrian Peterson getting his apparent wish for the team to sign quarterback Mike Vick possibly hinges on whether quarterback Matt Cassel returns.

With Cassel now back, Vick won’t be a Viking.

And now we’ll all watch Peterson’s Twitter page for a potential reaction.

Cassel had a direct hand in each of the team’s five wins last year, either as the starter or the relief option.  Cassel presumably will join Christian Ponder as two of the quarterbacks on the depth chart for 2014, unless the Vikings opt to trade Ponder.

Keeping Ponder makes plenty of sense.  With a base salary of $1.76 million for 2014, that’s less than what a veteran quarterback to back up Cassel would cost on the open market.

The strength of Cassel’s grip on the starting job depends on the value of his contract.  He opted out of a contract that was supposed to pay him $3.7 million in 2014.  If he’s getting $5 million or more per year to stick around, he’s likely the starter.

The move possibly takes the Vikings out of play for a first-round quarterback.  Or perhaps it means the Vikings won’t reach for a quarterback based on need in that spot, like they did with Ponder three years ago.

AP

As the Steelers continue their now-annual game of salary-cap limbo, their 2011 and 2013 MVP has done the team a favor.

The favor, of course, doesn’t require much of a sacrifice.  In lieu of collecting a total of $6 million in game checks from September through December, Brown took most of it right now.

The restructuring, first reported by ESPN’s Adam Schefter, creates $4 million in cap space.  The actual number, assuming that the Steelers maximized the ability to convert salary to signing bonus by reducing Brown to the minimum base salary for his level of experience ($715,000), comes out to $3,963,750.

Under that approach, Brown gets $5.285 million now.  The bonus money gets spread over the final four years of his current contract.  At $1,321,250 per year, the signing bonus nudges a total of $3.96 million into future cap years.

Other candidates for a restructuring, a no-raise extension, or a release include linebacker LaMarr Woodley, cornerback Ike Taylor, and linebacker Lawrence Timmons.

AP

With Chad Henne breaking the seal on the backup-quarterbacks-for-teams-that-need-starters market today, it’s fair game for the rest of them.

Thus, the Vikings have held onto Matt Cassel, as Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network reports Cassel has agreed to a new two-year deal.

The process was doubtless helped along by new coach Mike Zimmer’s realization that he needed some degree of stability, and as bizarre as it might seem, Cassel presented just that.

As with Henne in Jacksonville, the key will be what the Vikings do to fill the spot above Cassel on the depth chart.

If Zimmer is intent on hanging onto the Christian Ponder experiment (or wants to start Cassel), the move isn’t a very good one in a vacuum.

But in the presence of the right starter, Cassel has proven a solid piece to have around. Like Henne with the Jaguars, the Vikings played their best football last year with Cassel under center.

Keeping him from getting there too often will determine how much progress they’re going to make.

Getty Images

Hall of Fame coach Joe Gibbs is all for eliminating the extra point. But why stop there?

Gibbs told Colin Cowherd on ESPN Radio that he wouldn’t mind getting rid of field goals in addition to extra points. Why should 11 football players have to march the ball down the field only to put the team’s fate on the foot of a puny kicker? Gibbs thinks that if you want to give out partial points to a drive that gets stopped short of the end zone, award points for a team that gets inside the 10-yard line or the 5-yard line but fails to score.

“Even field goals, you know what I mean? I was one who wanted to let the team decide,” Gibbs said. “You get to the 10 you get one point, you get to the 5 you get two. I’m for anything like that where the team — that’s 11 guys — help determine the outcome of the game. Not one person kicking something.”

Gibbs is an old-school coach whose career started back in the days when men were men and kickers were expected to play another position, not just specialize. So it’s not surprising that when Gibbs thinks of a team of 11 guys determining the outcome of a game, he’s not thinking of one of those guys being a kicker.

But eliminating field goals isn’t even up for discussion in the NFL. Anyone who wants to de-emphasize kicking would be wise to keep the focus on extra points.

AP

The Saints are reportedly releasing one of their key running backs.

According to Ian Rapoport of NFL Network, the Saints are cutting Darren Sproles, the 30-year-old pass-catching back who’s spent the last three seasons with New Orleans.

However, a league source tells PFT’s Mike Florio that New Orleans has yet to release Sproles and that efforts to trade him continue. However, Sproles will be released if he cannot be dealt.

Sproles hauled in 71 passes for 604 yards and two TDs in 2013. He also rushed for 220 yards and two scores on 53 carries.

The apparent impending departure of Sproles is the latest move by the Saints to retool a skilled-but-aging roster. Moreover, a trade or release of Sproles would save the Saints quite a bit of money; Sproles is due $3.4 million in salary and a $100,000 workout bonus, per Rotoworld.com salary data.

AP

Three years ago, the Seahawks signed wide receiver Doug Baldwin as an undrafted free agent.

Clearly, Seattle found itself a steal, a point that has been driven home time and again, perhaps never more than in the 2013 postseason, when Baldwin hauled in 13 passes for 202 yards and a touchdown for a Super Bowl-winning club.

On Friday, we were reminded again of Baldwin’s value. According to NFL writer Brian McIntyre, the Seahawks have given Baldwin a second-round tender as a restricted free agent. Teams interested in signing away Baldwin would have to surrender a second-round pick, and the Seahawks would have the right to match any offer.

The second-round tender is a one-year, $2.187-million contract for 2014.

Give the lack of action in restricted free agency in most years, it’s likely Baldwin — No. 74 on PFT’s Free Agent Hot 100 — will stay put in Seattle another season, and if he plays out his one-year deal, he could potentially test unrestricted free agency next March.

AP

Ohio State linebacker Ryan Shazier didn’t run the 40-yard dash at the Scouting Combine because of a tweaked hamstring.  At his Friday Pro Day, he tweaked it again at the end of the run.

And yet he still covered the 120 feet in 4.36 seconds.  Unofficially.

Yes, a linebacker ran the 40 in 4.37 seconds.  And he weighed 237 pounds, more than the scouts expected.

“I feel like I can gain 10 more pounds if I had to,” Shazier said, via Cleveland.com.  “I feel good right now.”

At the Scouting Combine, Shazier also sprang 42 inches in the vertical jump, more than anyone.

The buzz is that Shazier has moved into the first round.  Then again, if every player about whom there was first-round buzz was actually taken in the first round, there would be 100 players taken in the first round.

Getty Images

The Jaguars re-signed quarterback Chad Henne on Friday, something they’ve said they wanted to do since the start of the offseason even though Henne himself knows that the team is looking for a young quarterback who can be a long-term answer to the position.

That young quarterback isn’t guaranteed to be the short-term answer, though. Coach Gus Bradley said Friday, via the Florida Times Union, that Henne will be first on the depth chart heading into OTAs and would likely be the starter come Week One even if the team uses the third pick in the draft on a quarterback.

This is not the time of year to take anything coaches or general managers say about free agency and the draft at face value and Jaguars fans who remember Byron Leftwich and David Garrard know that being called the starting quarterback doesn’t mean a thing until you actually start a game at quarterback.

That said, bringing Henne back gives the Jaguars flexibility not to reach for a quarterback if they don’t feel he’s worth taking with the third pick. Blaine Gabbert is still on the roster as an example of how wishing doesn’t make it so with highly drafted quarterbacks. The Jaguars may decide that the quarterback they want will come later in the draft and need some time before he’s ready to take over, which would make giving Henne the reins of an offense he already knows an easy decision.

AP

In an annual rite that is as discussed and as worried-about and as inevitable as potty training infants, the Cowboys are under the salary cap before the start of the league year.

Amazingly, it happened again.

Via Clarence Hill of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, the final touches came Friday with the release of center Phil Costa and a restructuring for guard Mackenzy Bernadeau.

Of course, every team in the league has to be under the cap for the start of the league year, so it’s not as if the Cowboys have actually achieved anything. But it’s the Cowboys, so their ability to do it earns them notice beyond the normal participation certificate.

The Cowboys created most of the cap room over the course of the week, by re-doing the deals of linebacker Sean Lee, cornerback Orlando Scandrick and quarterback Tony Romo, whose contract has undergone more restructures than Joan Rivers’ face.

They can create more room to actually make moves by doing something with defensive end DeMarcus Ware’s contract, or by cutting wide receiver Miles Austin.

Of course, all those moves also make it more difficult for them to get under the cap again next year, since all the restructures just add to future liabilities.

But we’ll talk about that next year. We always do.

AP

When we last heard from former Northern Illinois quarterback Jordan Lynch, he was saying he had been told by NFL scouts that he could be a pro quarterback. But at his Pro Day workout today, NFL scouts wanted to see how he looked doing drills as a running back or defensive back.

Lynch hadn’t prepared to do any position drills on defense, but when some coaches who attended the Pro Day asked him to, Lynch obliged.

“A few teams really like me at running back and I did some safety footwork drills today out of the blue and got some positive feedback there. They said I have nice feet, quick feet,” Lynch told 670 The Score in Chicago.

There’s no doubt that Lynch has quick feet: His time of 6.55 seconds in the three-cone drill wasn’t just the fastest of any quarterback at this year’s Combine, but was faster than any running back as well. Lynch has the athletic talent to play some position at the next level.

But for all his success as a Heisman Trophy finalist in college, he’s probably not a good enough passer to play quarterback in the NFL, even if he’s still holding out hope that he can.

“I helped myself today,” Lynch said. “I threw every NFL route today. Threw on time, threw on target, threw everything. Maybe a few incomplete passes here and there.”

If Lynch helped himself today, it was most likely because of his willingness to work out at a position other than quarterback.

AP

Free agents will have to wait until Tuesday to actually put their names on contracts with new teams, but they can start getting a sense of their value on the market on Tuesday.

A 72-hour negotiating window for agents and teams opens on Saturday, allowing for discussions that will be the first step in the slew of signings we expect to see once the gun goes off on Tuesday afternoon.

On Friday’s Pro Football Talk on NBCSN, we’ll discuss the logistics about how things will work over the weekend as part of our continuing preview of free agency. We’ll run down all the news from Friday to see how it impacts the landscape for Tuesday and beyond.

It all gets underway at 5:30 p.m. ET on NBCSN.