Daily Slop – 22 Mar 24 – Breer: teams trying to trade up to #2 “have been met with polite no’s” from Commanders

A collection of articles, podcasts & tweets from around the web to keep you in touch with the Commanders, the NFC East and the NFL in general

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Washington Times

LOVERRO: Rivera’s ballyhooed ‘roster building’ meant zilch to new brain trust

Dan Quinn and Adam Peters really didn’t think much of Ron Rivera’s roster building.

I mean, the Washington Commanders coach and his boss, the general manager, took that roster apart like a butcher slicing up Bambi.

Speaking of a deer in headlights, when they got to the heart of Rivera’s Commanders championship construction — his prize quarterback acquisition, Sam Howell — they sent him packing.

Remember this Rivera quote about Josh Harris? “If we go 8-8-1 this year and he fires me, and next year they win the division with 40 of the 53 players we drafted, and it’s the same quarterback, I’m vindicated,” he told ESPN in September. “Send me my Super Bowl ring.”

I’m betting they’ve lost Rivera’s forwarding address.

I think at last count the new Commanders regime brought in 16 new players and counting since free agency began. Will they be any better than the Rivera players they are replacing? No one knows yet.

What kind of odds do you think you wouldn’t have gotten that Oct. 5 Thursday night at the field formerly known as FedEx if you suggested Howell would bring a better return than Fields in a trade?

Peters pulled off a trade deserving of optimism.

The free agent deals? The newcomers seem to share some special qualities.

Wagner will be 34 when the season starts. Remarkably, he was on the field in Landover when Robert Griffin III went down with his devastating knee injury in Seattle’s 24-14 win over Washington in the wild-card game on Jan. 6, 2013 — seemingly another lifetime ago. But he is coming off one of his best seasons in his return to Seattle last year.

What’s more important, though, is that he and Luvu are actual linebackers, better than anything Rivera and his defensive coordinator, Jack Del Rio put on the field during their four years here.

Commanders Wire

The Commanders have shown no interest in trading the No. 2 pick so far

Listening to offers for the second overall pick would be good business in a normal year. Not in 2024. The Commanders have been looking for a franchise quarterback for what seems like decades. And it’s not often you hold the No. 2 overall pick in a draft that features three top quarterback prospects.

[S]ays Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated.

Inquiries with the Bears, Commanders and Patriots at the combine didn’t go very far—none of the three were willing to move, at least not at that early juncture.

In his latest mailbag this week, Breer reiterated that stance.

I’d say the Minnesota Vikings move to No. 4 for J.J. McCarthy, but that’s not to say they prefer the Michigan quarterback (though they might, I don’t know one way or the other). It’s because of what it sure seems like is going to happen within the top three. And at this point, my information, and we reported this in my Kirk Cousins story Monday, is that teams that have tried to trade into that range have been met with polite no’s from the Chicago Bears, Washington Commanders and New England Patriots.

Commanders Wire

Commanders signing linebacker Frankie Luvu named one of the NFL offseason’s top 10 moves

Luvu’s signing has been touted as one of the more underrated moves of the offseason. Cody Benjamin of CBS took that a step further, calling Luvu’s signing one of the 10 best moves of the offseason thus far.

Bobby Wagner is the bigger name joining new coach Dan Quinn’s defense in Washington, but Luvu has the makeup of a real building block. The former Carolina Panthers standout is going on 28 but appears to be just entering his prime, emerging as a fast, physical, downhill pocket disruptor. He’s got the potential to be a tone-setter for a franchise in transition.

Washington fans will love Luvu, and don’t be surprised if he’s a popular jersey among fans next season.

Commanders.com

Five things to know about Bobby Wagner

3. He’s getting better with age.

There comes a time in every player’s career when they realize they’re not able to have the same level of impact as they want to on the field. It’s a harsh, but inevitable part of being in the NFL, and that moment comes for everyone.

Wagner might be an exception to that rule, though.

Wagner, 33, entered his 12th NFL season with the Seahawks after a one-year stint in Los Angeles. He’s always been productive — he’s recorded at least 100 tackles in each season — but anyone who thought the linebacker might be on the decline was quickly proven wrong. Not only did he lead the league with 183 tackles, but he also set a career high in the twilight of his career.

The 2023 season was the latest example of why Wagner is likely headed to the Hall of Fame. He started off the year with 18 tackles against Rams and recorded double-digit stops in 11 of 17 games. He finished off the year with four straight games where he had at least 11 tackles, getting 24 solo stops in the process.

Even more impressive was that Wagner rarely left the field. He played every defensive snap in all but three games.

Commanders Wire

Commanders add another NFL cornerback to roster

Pierre, age 27, was undrafted out of Florida Atlantic in 2020. He was signed by and joined the Steelers in 2020 and has played four seasons in Pittsburgh (2020-23).

It looks like perhaps another depth signing, as Pierre has managed to start only six games in his four seasons in the NFL. He has collected two interceptions and forced three fumbles, recovering one.

It might be helpful to remind Commanders fans that NFL teams can take 90 players on their roster when they go to training camp. Consequently, there will be these types of signings where Adam Peters is attempting to accomplish two things.

Pierre’s claim to fame is that his cousin is a well-established quarterback in the NFL. In fact, his cousin was an MVP twice (2019, 2023). His cousin is Ravens’ quarterback Lamar Jackson.

Commanders fans will recall another player from Florida Atlantic who had much success wearing the Burgundy and Gold. Running back Alfred Morris was drafted in the 2012 draft in the sixth round by Washington.

Riggo’s Rag

Did COVID restrictions cause Commanders to miss critical Chase Young red flag?

This was a difficult year to properly evaluate prospects. The COVID-19 restrictions placed across the country meant reports were sketchy and in-person assessments were almost non-existent. Something that could have caused the Commanders to miss a critical piece of information where Young is concerned.

According to a recent report from Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated, that’s exactly what transpired.

Commanders could have spotted Chase Young’s neck issue pre-draft

After Young signed for the New Orleans Saints in free agency, revelations about a neck issue surfaced. He’s having surgery to potentially resolve the complication once and for all. The preseason stinger suffered against the Cleveland Browns and the long recovery that followed not only raised concerns further, it also impacted his trade value before the deadline and his quest to find another home in free agency.

“Scans on his neck made it tough to find a suitor. No one would clear him on his physical. The condition was initially found after he had a stinger last year vs. the Browns in preseason. He’ll have neck surgery. The idea in doing the 1-year deal with the Saints, with $5.01 million guaranteed, and $7.99 million in per-game rosters, was to allow for Young to get locked in with a team, go through the 3-5 month rehab from surgery, and have a chance to make the money back. The neck condition was a factor, too, in his trade market back in October. The Bears weren’t comfortable with the scans. The Niners were. He was part of that 2020 draft class that had its process messed up because of COVID. There’s a decent chance, given a full process, someone would’ve found the neck condition.”

– Albert Breer via X

Had the Commanders discovered this neck condition during their pre-draft evaluations, it could have changed the landscape completely. Whether it was cutting corners or restrictions preventing the proper medical assessments from taking place is debatable. Washington might not have even cared if it came up, such was their conviction in the pass-rushing phenom.

Podcasts & videos

Frankie Luvu is a Dawg ‘Point. Blank. Period.’ | Free Agency Friday | Washington Commanders

Photos

PHOTOS | Bobby Wagner brings veteran leadership to Washington

Take a look at some of the moments from Bobby Wagner’s career. (Photos via The Associated Press)

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Snyder purchased part of the property from the estate of King Hussein and Queen Noor of Jordan in 2001 for $8.64 million. He went on to acquire additional parcels, amassing 15 total acres, according to property records. The 30,000-square-foot estate, which he named River House, was completed in 2004.

The home, which served as Snyder’s primary residence for close to two decades, went on the market in February 2023 with an asking price of $49 million. Snyder reduced the price to $34.9 million after it sat on the market for six months.

The listing was removed on Monday, according to Zillow.

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Bleeding Green Nation

Report: Eagles sign former Giants wide receiver

Parris Campbell played for the Giants in 2023, and will now join Saquon Barkley in Philly.

Howie Roseman and the front office were interested in drafting Campbell back in 2019, but ultimately ended up taking J.J. Arcega-Whiteside after Jeffrey Lurie reportedly intervened. Campbell went on to be drafted by the Colts, and was on the roster for two years under then-OC Nick Sirianni.

Injuries were a problem early in his career, the WR suffered three (abdominal strain, fractured right hand, foot fracture) throughout his rookie season, and ended up missing 9 total games. He missed most of the 2020 season after he sprained his MCL/PCL in Week 2, and then had another abdominal sprain and foot sprain that kept him sidelined for 10 total games in 2021.

The WR played in 12 games for New York, only starting in three of them, and had 20 catches for 104 yards and no TDs. Campbell ended up being a healthy scratch in Week 14 and didn’t play another game for the Giants after that.

Campbell had tons of potential coming out of Ohio State in 2019, but as a second-round pick, hasn’t been able to take his game to the next level.

He’s now joining a room in Philly with A.J. Brown, DeVonta Smith, and DeVante Parker — plus a handful of first and second-year players. Campbell’s signing could mean that Quez Watkins and Olamide Zaccheaus are not in the Eagles’ plan for 2024.

Blogging the Boys

Making sense of Dak Prescott’s current contract and the Cowboys’ options

Dak Prescott’s contract status with the Dallas Cowboys is going to remain a talking point until it is resolved.

Dak Prescott’s $55.5 million salary cap hit is a key issue for the Dallas Cowboys’ offseason. It’s among the reasons they’ve been quiet so far in free agency, having the least amount of cap space among all NFL teams. They could open up salary cap from other restructures, but so far they have eschewed that option. How did we get here, and what hope can we reasonably have for the future?

This is the final year of the four-year, $160 million extension Prescott signed following the 2020 season. The current cap hit has swelled due to past restructuring; converting base salary into signing bonus money and creating more cap space while increasing the cap hits in future years. Remember all those times that you heard Dallas was “robbing Peter to pay Paul?” Well, Peter’s found us and he’s looking for revenge.

You’ve probably also heard about “void years” on Prescott’s contract. That came up just recently as the QB and the team worked out an agreement to create $4 million in cap space by adding void years to the current deal. Void years are an accounting mechanism that pushes dead money beyond the actual endpoint of the contract. To borrow another common idiom, if you’re kicking the can down the road, void years are a way of extending the road.

Even with void years now in place through 2028 on his contract, Prescott still becomes an unrestricted free agent in 2025. The Cowboys’ logic has been that they’d be in business with Prescott for the long haul, and a new contract extension would absorb those future cap concerns and give them more ability to massage and manage things. If the NFL’s salary cap keeps going up like it did this year, that becomes progressively easier.

But what if a deal is not struck for an extension and Prescott actually signs elsewhere next year? The void years mean he’d still count about $40 million in dead money against the 2025 salary cap despite the contract expiring. It would accelerate all the pushed-out money into that offseason the same as when a player gets released in the middle of a contract. The void years from 2026-2028 wouldn’t be there anymore, but it would mean an astronomical amount of cap space tied up in a guy who’s playing for another team.

Blogging the Boys

In their minds, the Cowboys may think they are set for the NFL draft

A stingy approach to free agency has left the Cowboys with a lot of holes ahead of the NFL Draft.

This leaves them with some serious holes to fill in the NFL draft. It’s a bad year for that, with only seven picks, and a big gap between their third-round selection and their next one near the end of the fifth. Normally, we feel confident they will get good bang for the buck with what they have, but last year’s dismal performance by the draft class creates a bit of unease. We have to hope that was an aberration and not a signal they have run out of some luck. That could be a really bad thing, because the overall strategy for roster building is to rely on the draft for the best talent while using bargain-bin free agent shopping to plug holes with patches rather than real solutions.

There is still a bit over a month until the draft starts to add more players, but their cap space is tight. They seem to be holding out on their usual restructuring of contracts. The implication is that cap maven Stephen Jones is trying to get away from the annual pushing of cap hits to later years to help pay for those big contracts mentioned above. In a win now league, they just do not seem prepared to pay for doing so. This is the contract year for Mike McCarthy and the rest of the coaching staff. The ownership is doing them no favors with the roster.

It is illogical since it says they don’t have complete faith in their quarterback and need a “show us” season to re-sign him. But if there is real doubt about how far Prescott can take this team, Jones and his father may be open to letting Prescott go in free agency and act all proud of the resulting comp pick.

That may sound cynical. Well, it is. It is born of years of watching the stubbornness of the team in the approach that has led to so much playoff disappointment. There is absolutely no evidence that is going to change. It would take a much more significant free agent move or a bit of a daring trade to change our minds. Neither of us think that is going to happen.

While most fan bases in the league are looking at their team’s free agent acquisitions and dreaming big, we have to deal with having our expectations lowered by the way the team conducts business. It is hard to see this team having another twelve-win season in an increasingly competitive NFC East.

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Articles

The Athletic (paywall)

Michael Penix Jr.’s draft ceiling: What film shows about Washington QB’s NFL potential

At first glance, Micheal Penix Jr. looks like a sure-fire first-round quarterback. He has experience, gaudy statistics, size, arm talent, played in a pro-style-ish offense and he has won some big games, leading Washington to the national championship game.

What will worry scouts is his age and medical history. Penix turns 24 in May and he has had six years playing college football, so there will inevitably be questions about how much room he has left to grow. At Indiana, he tore his right ACL twice and has had serious injuries to both his shoulders. NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reported that Penix got “positive medical news” at the combine. If that means teams feel good about his health moving forward, Penix cleared a major hurdle and teams can focus on his film, which is spectacular, but like any prospect, it comes with some concern.

An important stat that has proven to translate to the next level well is pressure-to-sack rate. Penix has the third lowest pressure-to-sack rate (7.6 percent) among qualifying passers. But he doesn’t avoid sacks by escaping pass rushers like Anthony Richardson, who also had a low pressure-to-sack rate last season. Penix avoids sacks by quickly getting rid of the ball, which is a double-edged sword. It’s good to get rid of the ball, but it could lead to low-quality passes if a quarterback is rushing throws against pressure rather than maneuvering the pocket to buy a little time or create a better platform for throwing.

Overall, Penix has hard traits to teach, including arm talent and controlled aggressiveness, but he has some concerning flaws that don’t typically improve at the next level. His ceiling might be a quarterback who requires a lot of talent around him and not one who could necessarily raise the ceiling of his team to the next level like Kirk Cousins — that’s not a stylistic comparison. That type of quarterback can win a lot of games in the league, but it may not be one you draft early in the first round.

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