2013 NFL Preseason News

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Setting this thread up for the crap load of news coming after the draft.

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We have more evidence making it quite clear running back Brandon Jacobs wants to return to the Giants, something the New York Post reported earlier in April.

Giants running backs coach Jerald Ingram said Jacobs is “hoping and praying” to re-sign with New York, Jenny Vrentas of the Newark Star-Ledger reported Wednesday night.

Both Vrentas and Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN New York reported Ingram said the Giants might have at least pondered the prospect of Jacobs getting a second shot with the team that drafted him.

That said, Ingram also made it clear that the club wants to give David Wilson and Andre Brown chances to perform, Vrentas and Tom Rock of Newsday reported on Twitter Wednesday night.

The Giants invested a first-round pick on Wilson in 2012, and they tendered Brown at the second-round level in restricted free agency earlier in the offseason. Those commitments alone suggest Wilson and Brown will have important roles in the backfield.

The Giants could perhaps use a little more running back depth, and Jacobs and the still-unsigned Ahmad Bradshaw know the offense. However, the team previously parted ways with each veteran back. Jacobs is 31, and Bradshaw is coming off foot surgery.

Bradshaw and Jacobs have a combined 1,999 regular-season carries for the Giants. That work helped New York win two NFL titles. Both backs don’t ever have to step foot on the field again for the Giants to have legacies with the club.

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It’s fitting, we suppose, that a team owned by a guy who runs a truck-stop company would employ a player who got arrested for doing something that many regard as a widespread practice at truck stops.

Browns linebacker Quentin Groves was arrested last week for solicitation of prostitution, as part of a sting operation in Cuyahoga County. The Browns, who offered the perfunctory “[w]e are aware of the situation and do not have any further comment” comment, now have to decide what they plan to do.

Apart from the fact that he hasn’t already been cut, Groves’ contract points toward the player getting a second chance. Per a source with knowledge of the deal, Groves already has received a $500,000 roster bonus, and he has a base salary of only $715,000 this year. Next season, his base salary is $1 million with a $100,000 workout bonus.

And so the Browns could be inclined to keep him around. Especially if getting a second chance makes Groves even more motivated to make a great first impression when it’s time to get down to business other than, you know, the world’s oldest profession.

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After winning Super Bowl XLVI, the New York Giants were unable to return to the postseason last year after posting a 9-7 record in 2012.

Defensive end Chris Canty earned a Super Bowl ring with the Giants two season ago and saw the team fail to live up to expectations of a return trip to the playoffs last season. Canty signed this offseason with the Baltimore Ravens, a team coming off a Super Bowl victory of their own.

Canty knows what to expect for a team looking to ascend to the top of the NFL again and warns the Ravens about complacency in trying to repeat as Super Bowl champions.

“[The] Super Bowl hangover is real,” Canty said, via Jenny Vrentas of the Newark Star-Ledger. “[You] can’t just show up and win a championship.”

Despite winning the Super Bowl, the Giants entered the 2011 playoffs after sneaking into the playoffs as a wild card team. They just happened to get hot at the right time and rode that momentum to a 21-17 victory over the New England Patriots for their second Super Bowl title in five years. The Giants shouldn’t have had the mindset that they could just show up on cruise control and repeat as champions and it cost them a postseason berth.

With the players they’ve lost this offseason, the Ravens shouldn’t feel they can show up and have wins fall at their feet either. While they still have a very talented roster, Baltimore will have to work for their victories. With his experience in New York, Canty has an opportunity to prepare his teammates so the Ravens don’t suffer the same fate as the Giants this fall.

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The Dolphins’ pursuit of Chiefs tackle Branden Albert has been a big storyline of late, but that may not be the only trade talk the Dolphins have engaged in recently.

Sean Jensen of the Chicago Sun-Times reports that the Browns are “seriously considering” making a trade with Miami to acquire wide receiver Davone Bess. Other teams are also reportedly interested in Bess and Jensen is hearing that mid-round draft picks are being discussed as the compensation heading back to the Dolphins.

Bess has caught 321 passes over the last five years with Miami and has spent long stretches as the team’s most reliable receiver over that period. With Mike Wallace and Brandon Gibson joining Brian Hartline at the top of the depth chart, the Dolphins could be looking to unload Bess’ $2.6 million contract now that they no longer need him to play a prominent role.

Last season was the first time that Bess averaged more than 10.5 yards per reception so he’d clearly be a possession guy for Cleveland. Josh Gordon gives them a deep threat, but Greg Little’s hands have been problematic so the consistency Bess brings to the table is likely appealing to Rob Chudzinski and the rest of the offensive staff.

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If the Bengals are going to re-sign right tackle Andre Smith before the start of the draft, they’re going to have to act pretty quickly.

Bengals coach Marvin Lewis said earlier this week that he was hopeful the team would get a deal done with Smith prior to the start of the draft, perhaps banking on the possibility that the Bengals would draft a younger player spurring Smith to accept whatever was on the table. There are a few hours left for things to change, but it looks like Lewis’ hopes may be dashed.

Geoff Hobson of the team’s website reports that nothing looks imminent on the contract front, significantly raising the likelihood that the Bengals will go into the draft without an obvious choice at right tackle. The team has been adamant that Smith’s situation will not impact their selections by pointing to Anthony Collins and Dennis Roland as in-house options for the spot, but both men have had enough starting experience to know that there’s plenty of space to upgrade over what’s already on hand.

The market for Smith never developed despite his strong 2012 season, something that has seemed to be pushing him back to Cincinnati for a while now. The last step back into a Bengals uniform has proven to be a difficult one to take, though, and it doesn’t look like the coming draft has done anything to make it easier.

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With a draft class of quarterbacks that has been deemed uneven at best, the Patriots appear ready to add a name to the pool that might attract more interest.

According to Greg Bedard of the Boston Globe, the Patriots have fielded multiple calls for backup Ryan Mallett.

The Patriots drafted the damaged-goods Mallett in the third round of the 2011 Draft, but seem willing to move him.

With long-time proponent Mike Lombardi in Cleveland, the Browns will always be on the list of usual suspects, though there’s apparently interest from other teams as well.

The Patriots would have to add one to replace him, as Mike Kafka is the only other quarterback on the roster behind Tom Brady.

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Chiefs General Manager John Dorsey said Wednesday that compensation coming back from the Dolphins is the sticking point in the Branden Albert trade talks and a report from Ben Volin of the Palm Beach Post may explain the hangup.

Volin heard from a source Thursday that the Dolphins don’t believe trading a second-round pick is worth what they’d be getting in return. There’s no word on what the Dolphins would prefer to pony up to acquire Albert as the clock ticks on their chance to swing a deal before the moment passes both teams by.

Any trade for the tackle would include a long-term deal with Albert believed to be looking for something in the neighborhood of $9 million a year to put his name on the dotted line, a neighborhood the Dolphins weren’t willing to travel to when Jake Long wound up signing with the Rams. Armando Salguero of the Miami Herald reports that the Dolphins are on board with the financial compensation for Albert, which meshes with Dorsey’s comments about the trade compensation being the snag.

Signing Long wouldn’t have cost them any picks, obviously, so it’s reasonable to believe that the Dolphins think Albert is the better player for their offensive scheme. Whether that’s enough to push them to give up what the Chiefs are looking for in an Albert trade looks like one of the biggest questions we’ll have answered in the next few days.

[chefcraig]

The Dolphins’ pursuit of Chiefs tackle Branden Albert has been a big storyline of late, but that may not be the only trade talk the Dolphins have engaged in recently.

Word has it locally that Dolphins GM will be out on his ass, no matter how things go at season's end. He's managed to foul up every draft during his entire "career" here, and owner Steve Ross doesn't seem to be offering much in the way of admiration, let alone support.

Coincidentally, Ireland's contract is up at the end of the year. Good riddance.

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Word has it locally that Dolphins GM will be out on his ass, no matter how things go at season's end. He's managed to foul up every draft during his entire "career" here, and owner Steve Ross doesn't seem to be offering much in the way of admiration, let alone support.

Coincidentally, Ireland's contract is up at the end of the year. Good riddance.

Albert is decent but he is NOT worth the bucks he is asking for, Fins will be better off if they just draft line help in my opinion.

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Now that Cowboys owner Jerry Jones has given quarterback Tony Romo a six-year, $108 million contract, Jones wants to see Romo make his entire life revolve around football.

“Peyton Manning-type time on the job,” Jones said he wants Romo to work, via the Dallas Morning News.

Jones said he and Cowboys coach Jason Garrett would love to see Romo spend the majority of his waking hours at the team facility.

“If Tony, for instance, would be here Monday through Saturday . . . from seven in the morning to six o’clock at night all over this place then that’s better than the way it’s been,” Jones said. “We’ll have more success, and Jason believes that. It’s certainly at quarterback but he believes it at the other positions. Tony is going to have more time, more presence, not only in the offseason but when the season starts, beginning Monday, assuming we played Sundays. He’s going to have more time on the job. A part of what we agreed with was extra time on the job, beyond the norm.”

Fair or not, Romo has taken criticism at times in his career for a perception that he doesn’t always have all his focus on football: Whether it’s working on his golf game, dating celebrities or going on vacations during bye weeks, Romo has heard talk that he has too many outside distractions.

Jones recently called that criticism “ridiculous,” but Jones also says he admires the way Manning doesn’t just do what is required of an NFL quarterback, and he hopes Romo will use Manning as his role model.

“Anybody will tell you that Peyton Manning’s involvement in what they do is a bonus as opposed to what the general commitment is of top quarterbacks in the NFL,” Jones said. “That’s a bonus. Again, because I haven’t been in meetings with Peyton for a long time, but we’re committed and [Romo's] committed to that type of in-season and off-season approach for these years under his contract.”

Romo is certainly being paid enough to work overtime.

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Now that Cowboys owner Jerry Jones has given quarterback Tony Romo a six-year, $108 million contract, Jones wants to see Romo make his entire life revolve around football.

“Peyton Manning-type time on the job,” Jones said he wants Romo to work, via the Dallas Morning News.

Jones said he and Cowboys coach Jason Garrett would love to see Romo spend the majority of his waking hours at the team facility.

“If Tony, for instance, would be here Monday through Saturday . . . from seven in the morning to six o’clock at night all over this place then that’s better than the way it’s been,” Jones said. “We’ll have more success, and Jason believes that. It’s certainly at quarterback but he believes it at the other positions. Tony is going to have more time, more presence, not only in the offseason but when the season starts, beginning Monday, assuming we played Sundays. He’s going to have more time on the job. A part of what we agreed with was extra time on the job, beyond the norm.”

Fair or not, Romo has taken criticism at times in his career for a perception that he doesn’t always have all his focus on football: Whether it’s working on his golf game, dating celebrities or going on vacations during bye weeks, Romo has heard talk that he has too many outside distractions.

Jones recently called that criticism “ridiculous,” but Jones also says he admires the way Manning doesn’t just do what is required of an NFL quarterback, and he hopes Romo will use Manning as his role model.

“Anybody will tell you that Peyton Manning’s involvement in what they do is a bonus as opposed to what the general commitment is of top quarterbacks in the NFL,” Jones said. “That’s a bonus. Again, because I haven’t been in meetings with Peyton for a long time, but we’re committed and [Romo's] committed to that type of in-season and off-season approach for these years under his contract.”

Romo is certainly being paid enough to work overtime.

So give a guy 108 million when you don't think he shows enough commitment to the team and his job. Smart move Jerry.

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A day after the Jets organization said everything it needs to say regarding the future of Mark Sanchez by using a high second-round pick on quarterback Geno Smith, offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg said some more things about the fifth overall pick in the 2009 draft.

“Mark knows what I think about him, I was excited to get here and, about two weeks ago we started the process,” Mornhinweg said, via Conor Orr of the Newark Star-Ledger. “I have spoken to him, we speak quite often but he understands, this is competition now, let’s rock and roll. Here we have four, or even more quarterbacks, who say hey, I’ve got an opportunity to win a job here. That thing’s going to filter out with competition.”

It’s funny that Mornhinweg doesn’t know how many quarterbacks the Jets have. Jets fans may use a different word to describe it.

The correct number is six. And Mornhinweg previously said Sanchez would have a “leg up” on the job. Now that the team has put a “leg up” in a different way on Sanchez, the powers-that-be will continue to say “competition” when it comes to Sanchez because they know it’s a competition he’ll ultimately lose.

Either way, the fun starts Monday, when Phase Two of the offseason program begins.

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The NFL announced Tuesday that Jaguars wide receiver Justin Blackmon has been suspended for the first four games of the 2013 season for violating the NFL Policy and Program for Substances of Abuse and Blackmon has issued a statement in response to the league’s decision.

“I’ve made a mistake and I have no excuse. I am truly sorry and disappointed in myself for putting the Jaguars in this situation, and I look forward to putting this behind me and maturing and growing as a person. I will have a productive training camp and pre-season with my team, and during the suspension I will work hard to stay in top football shape and be ready to help the Jaguars when I return. I have chosen to be accountable for my poor decision, and I sincerely apologize to my teammates, coaches, the front office and Jaguars fans for the impact of my mistake on the team.”

General Manager David Caldwell also issued a statement that says the team is “disappointed” in Blackmon and “confident he understands the obligations ahead of him” while adding that the team will not allow this news to slow down the progress they’ve made over the last three months. Thanks to two DUIs before he signed with Jacksonville, there are significant protections written into Blackmon’s contract that wipe out his remaining guarantees in the event of a suspension. The Jags could, therefore, cut him without owing another dime.

Caldwell’s statement offered no indication that the team plans to do that, but we saw the Bucs rework their contract with cornerback Eric Wright under similar circumstances this offseason.

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This time last year, Jets coach Rex Ryan had a lot to say about all the different ways the Jets would use Tim Tebow.

It was a prelude to ESPN cameras on site during training camp, secret practices to keep the world guessing about Tebow’s role and a season filled with shots of Tebow on the sideline watching the Jets go 6-10. Ryan had a lot to say about how little Tebow played during the season, but it never added up to much of an explanation for why the Jets traded for Tebow and never played him.

Ryan said that Tebow had a chance to compete for playing time and that a rib injury robbed him of a chance to play during an appearance on 98.7 ESPN in New York with Stephen A. Smith and Ryan Ruocco Tuesday before getting around to the way the team used him.

“When you look at it with the advantage of hindsight, obviously it wasn’t a good situation for Tim. It wasn’t a good situation for the Jets or anything else,” Ryan said. “I looked at it like he would have had success and we were going to use him in a multiple of ways. Unfortunately that didn’t happen … We really didn’t take advantage, in my opinion, of his skill set. That’s nobody’s fault, ultimately it’s my fault.”

There’s more than a little something off with hearing a head coach say that it was unfortunate that a player was used in a particular way given the ability a head coach has to change the way a player can be used, but it’s not like Tony Sparano’s around anymore to raise an objection to being thrown under the bus. Ryan said that his interfering in the offense “probably isn’t the smartest thing” when asked about how involved he’d be on that side of the ball this year. That’s likely true, although Ryan probably won’t get the chance to point the finger at another offensive coordinator if the Jets have another losing season.