Tag: 2017 NFL Draft

Patrick Mahomes’ mega-extension a reminder the Panthers passed on him

Patrick Mahomes is now the richest man in the NFL who doesn’t own a team.

Patrick Mahomes is now the richest man in the NFL who doesn’t own a team. According to a report by Adam Schefter at ESPN, he’s agreed to a 10-year deal with the Chiefs that is worth at least $400 million and will include a percentage of the salary cap.

Now is probably an awkward time to remind fans that the Panthers had a chance to draft Mahomes back in 2017, but they chose to pick a running back instead. Even though Christian McCaffrey has blossomed into the best back in the NFL, every team that passed on Mahomes is going to look pretty bad as long as he’s the league’s best quarterback.

To recap, the first nine picks of that year’s draft were as follows:

No. 1: Browns – DE Myles Garrett
No. 2: Bears – QB Mitch Trubisky
No. 3: 49ers – DE Solomon Thomas
No. 4: Jaguars – RB Leonard Fournette
No. 5: Titans – WR Corey Davis
No. 6: Jets – S Jamal Adams
No. 7: Chargers – WR Mike Williams
No. 8: Panthers – RB Christian McCaffrey
No. 9: Bengals – WR John Ross

With the next pick, Kansas City landed their franchise quarterback of the future. It only took him two years to lead them to a Super Bowl and score the most lucrative contract in the history of the NFL.

It’s tough to fault the Browns and the Jets for making the picks they did. Both Garrett and Adams should continue to dominate at their respective positions for a long time. However, unless Baker Mayfield and Sam Darnold both ball out in 2020 those two teams could be looking for another quarterback as soon as the next draft.

The Bears naturally take the hardest hit here, as they traded up for the privilege of taking Trubisky, who turned out to be the worst starter in the league. The 49ers also whiffed pretty hard on Thomas at No. 3. The Jaguars also have to be feeling pretty foolish, as they got the far inferior running back in Fournette compared to McCaffrey.

Speaking of which, McCaffrey is a special talent and at the time Cam Newton was just one season removed from winning the MVP award, so Carolina can only get so much blame for passing on Mahomes. That said, even the best running back in football isn’t nearly as valuable as a quality QB.

Hats off to Andy Reid and the Chiefs, who appear to be on the cusp of the next great dynasty in the NFL.

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What if the Bears had drafted Mahomes or Watson instead of Trubisky?

Bears fans will be pestered with questions regarding the Bears’ decision to draft Mitchell Trubisky over Patrick Mahomes and Deshaun Watson.

For the duration of Patrick Mahomes and Deshaun Watson’s careers, Chicago Bears fans will be pestered with questions and statements regarding the Bears’ decision to draft Mitchell Trubisky rather than either of those players.

It’s a storyline that’s already played out over the last couple of years on several occasions, and it doesn’t appear to be losing steam anytime soon. Especially as Mahomes and Watson’s stocks continue to rise.

Sports Illustrated asked the question Bears fans have been asking for a couple years now — what if Chicago had drafted Mahomes or Watson instead of Trubisky? That “what if” ranks among the NFL’s 10 biggest what-ifs of the last decade.

If the Bears had taken Mahomes, and still fired John Fox after his rookie year, and still hired Andy Reid protege Matt Nagy, would the team find the same level of success? If Mahomes was not given the chance to sit his rookie season behind Alex Smith and smooth out the rough patches in his game, would he emerge as the same firebrand? If Watson was a Bear, without the comically high catch radius of DeAndre Hopkins and a foundationally sound offense (Trivia Question: Who led the Bears in receiving yards in 2017? Kendall Wright with 614!), what would’ve become of him?

Obviously all three quarterbacks’ situations were different. Mahomes got to sit behind Alex Smith his rookie season and learned from one of the best in Andy Reid. Watson went to a Texans team with a good enough offense and one of the game’s best receivers in DeAndre Hopkins.

Meanwhile, Trubisky had to take guidance from John Fox and Dowell Loggains — and the ball was taken out of his hands for most of the season — and the lack of offensive weapons in the passing game was laughable.

Still, it’s clear that Ryan Pace made the wrong decision in choosing Trubisky over Mahomes and Watson. Although I guess we’ll never know how Mahomes or Watson would’ve panned out in a Bears uniform. Maybe they’re better off for it.

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Trade request was only card Jamal Adams had to play to get what he wants

Jamal Adams chose the nuclear option in contract negotiations with the Jets. 

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Jamal Adams chose the nuclear option in contract negotiations with the Jets. 

Frustrated by the team’s unwillingness to sign him to a long-term extension, Adams told the Jets he’d like to be traded – preferably to one of seven contenders. It’s the apex of an eight-month rift between Adams and the Jets which began when reports surfaced that Joe Douglas fielded calls for Adams at the October trade deadline during the 2019 season. That continued throughout this offseason as contract negotiations faltered in Adams’ quest to become the highest-paid safety in the NFL.

At the end of the day, this was the only move Adams could make to get what he wanted.

Douglas and the Jets want to give Adams a new contract and have no intention of trading him. Joe Douglas even famously said he wanted to make Adams a “Jet for life.” Adams, though, wanted his new deal before this upcoming season after he made his second Pro Bowl and earned his first All-Pro selection. Those accolades, plus his impressive stats and status as a leader in the locker room and on the field, validate Adams’ desire to be paid earlier than most three-year players. The Jets disagree,and want to wait until after the 2020 season to pay Adams.

That timetable is why the rift widened, and why Adams publicly bashed the Jets this offseason multiple times while he waited for negotiations to heat up. The Jets opened up talks at the NFL combine earlier this year and told Adams they wouldn’t seriously negotiate until after the NFL draft in April. But Adams recently said he hasn’t seen any actual proposal and aired his frustrations on Instagram last week.

This trade request by Adams will attempt to force the Jets’ hand – one way or another – during an offseason of exasperation for the all-pro safety.

If the Jets’ reported stance on Adams is true, then the team will pay him now. If it’s not true, then he’s gone. Both scenarios are a win for Adams – he either gets his money or he gets to play for a winning team. Adams even reportedly won’t ask for an extension from a collection of teams if he’s sent there.

Many will vilify Adams for his decision to request a trade, especially to a playoff team, but it was the only move he could make given the state of his negotiations. Adams doesn’t have any leverage in his contract negotiations since the Jets control his contract through the 2021 season and for as long as through the 2023 season. For a player as good, young and vocal as Adams, this move is the closest he’ll get to control his own destiny as a three-year player. Adams knows the importance of earning long-term stability as quickly as possible – he watched his dad suffer a career-ruining injury less than two years into his NFL career. 

Is the situation pretty? Absolutely not. It paints a selfish picture of a player who epitomized camaraderie and leadership on a mediocre Jets team that is 16-32 since Adams was drafted in 2017. But unless Adams publically spoke up, the Jets had no obligation to make any move to pay Adams for at least two years. Sure, Adams could hold out to force his point even further, but then he’d incur team fines and lose even more money. That would defeat the purpose of his quest. Players like Le’Veon Bell and Melvin Gordon tried missing games to get paid and that didn’t work out for them. It’s made even worse by the idea that the safety position is notoriously undervalued relative to other positions. 

Neither side is “right” on this issue. Adams deserves to be paid like one of the best players in the league because he is. The Jets, meanwhile, need to make a decision that doesn’t decimate their financial status. If the Jets think the relationship with Adams is salvageable, they’ll work out an arrangement that either includes a new contract or the promise of a new contract in the future. In all likelihood, though, the Adams situation will play out like another former All-Pro Jets defensive back – Darrelle Revis –  who the Jets traded away a season after he threatened to hold out.

There won’t be a clean conclusion with Adams right away, but the safety may have said it best at the end of his most recent Instagram rant.

“Maybe it’s time to move on!”

Does Jamal Adams deserve a new deal now despite his position’s lack of value?

Safety is notoriously undervalued in the NFL, but Jamal Adams might be the exception to the rule.

This may come as a surprise, but Jamal Adams doesn’t play a premium position. He doesn’t play quarterback, defensive end, cornerback or wide receiver. While he may sometimes lineup elsewhere, he’s a safety at the end of the day.

Nevertheless, Adams deserves to be the highest-paid player at his position.

Adams would like that title now, though, and he’s been outspoken about his request this offseason. The Jets appear unwilling to oblige him just yet. Precedent could have something to do with that – only 16 first-round picks since 2011 have earned a contract extension before their fourth season. Positional value, however, could be another reason why the Jets are waiting.

Myles Garrett, the No. 1 overall pick in 2017, is in line to become the second first-round pick from Adams’ draft class to receive a long-term contract after the Panthers paid eighth-overall pick Christian McCaffrey earlier this year. Adams, who went sixth overall, blasted the Jets in an Instagram comment after seeing the Garrett report. He claimed the Jets haven’t even sent him a contract proposal and called him “selfish.” 

Garrett and McCaffrey play more impactful positions than Adams and therefore earned bigger contracts earlier. This isn’t to disparage Adams’ ability as a versatile safety – he proved in 2020 he can be a force both in coverage and in the pass rush. It’s more about value relative to other positions, and that value’s effect on a team’s salary cap.

The simplest way of identifying positional value is by looking at the franchise tag, which takes the average of the top-five players at each position to create a one-year salary. If you look at the 2020 numbers, defensive end ranks third-highest out of 11 core positions with a salary of $17.78 million. Safety ranks eighth at $11.4 million, per Over The Cap. Quarterback, obviously, ranks first. 

This is not an exact science, but it’s a solid barometer of value relative to each position. 

Perhaps a better means of measurement is the average percentage of the salary cap per position. For defensive end, the top-five highest-paid players account for, on average, roughly 10 percent of their respective team’s salary cap. Safety, meanwhile, accounts for only 7.41 percen. Strong safety is even lower at 3.34 percent.

For reference, the highest-paid running backs average only 7.11 percent of a team’s salary cap, and they’re one of the most devalued positions in the league. The highest-paid quarterbacks and receivers take up an average of 18 percent and 10.35 percent, respectively.

This doesn’t mean Adams doesn’t deserve the biggest contract for a safety of all time. He absolutely does. Adams is arguably the best player at his position in the league, and someone will pay him at least $14.7 million per year, which would eclipse the current high-mark set by the Bears’ Eddie Jackson.

The Jets want to pay him, just not yet. And that’s where the negotiations are likely getting clogged.

Adams probably perceives the lack of urgency as a slight against his ability and production as a two-time Pro Bowler as he watches others earn long-term deals. But the Jets control Adams’ contract for at least two more seasons and as many as four more. Why would they rush to eat up salary cap and pay top-dollar for safety, a position that doesn’t offer as much game-changing ability as, say, pass rusher or quarterback?

That’s why Garrett will undoubtedly earn a new contract earlier than Adams. He simply offers more opportunities to break open a game, as evidenced by his 30.5 career sacks and 65 quarterback hits in 37 games. McCaffrey’s position is notoriously devalued in the modern NFL, but he, unlike Adams, scores touchdowns (39 in three seasons).

The safety position simply isn’t a top priority for most teams. Historical contract numbers and production data back this idea up. Adams could buck the trend this offseason if the Jets cave and either pay him or trade him to a team that will, but for now it seems the two sides remain at a contentious impasse.

Titans’ 2017 Draft ranks in the middle of the NFL

How do the Titans’ selections in the 2017 NFL Draft compare to the rest of the league?

The Tennessee Titans have put together what seems to be a winning team that can be a regular playoff contender — if it can maintain consistency.

There’s a lot that went into building the product we see on the field now, between multiple staff changes, trades, signings and draft selections.

One class that factored into it all was the 2017 NFL Draft class, which saw the Titans select wide receiver Corey Davis, cornerback Adoree’ Jackson, wide receiver Taywan Taylor, tight end Jonnu Smith, linebacker Jayon Brown, offensive guard Corey Levin, linebacker Josh Carraway, offensive tackle Brad Seaton and running back Khalfani Muhammad.

Obviously, some of those players are no longer on the team, and some have made a much more significant impact than others.

The Athletic’s Dane Brugler ranked Tennessee’s 2017 draft haul at No. 17 compared to rest of the NFL, behind the New York Jets, and ahead of the Green Bay Packers.

He listed Jackson as the team’s best overall player, and Brown as the best value pick.

“While I don’t know that Jackson has necessarily lived up to being a top-20 pick, he deserves credit for consistently improving in coverage,” he wrote of Jackson. “He has only two career interceptions but has become more of a cornerback than just an athlete playing the position. Still only 24, Jackson has yet to reach his ceiling.”

Brugler consider Davis to be the Titans’ biggest miss from that year.

“Davis has been productive, averaging 47 catches for 622 yards and two touchdowns per season as a pro,”he wrote. “But as a top-five pick, there come certain expectations (fair or unfair) that he has been unable to reach. While he has the talent to carve out a decade-long career, it seems unlikely Davis will ever live up to his draft spot.”

Davis will have a chance to prove whether or not Brugler is right or wrong about that last bit when the Titans return to the field this fall.

Matt Nagy: Mitchell Trubisky will never escape comparisons to Mahomes, Watson

Mitchell Trubisky’s entire NFL career will be defined by what Patrick Mahomes and Deshaun Watson accomplish and what Trubisky doesn’t.

Super Bowl champion Patrick Mahomes and Deshaun Watson are gearing up for massive paydays from the Kansas City Chiefs and Houston Texans, respectively, following impressive starts to their young NFL careers. In just three seasons, Mahomes and Watson have established themselves as the future of the league.

Meanwhile, Mitchell Trubisky — a fellow member of that 2017 draft class and the first quarterback taken — is fighting to keep his starting job over former Super Bowl MVP Nick Foles, who the Bears traded for this offseason following a disappointing effort by Trubisky.

While Trubisky was far from the only issue on offense, he was definitely the biggest concern. The Bears traded up to draft him No. 2 overall — over Mahomes and Watson — and his performance hasn’t lived up to that billing.

Just as Bears fans can’t escape the constant reminders that Chicago drafted Trubisky over Mahomes and Watson, it’s something that will follow Trubisky for his entire career.

“What I would say with Alex [Smith], here’s a No. 1 pick in the NFL draft, he’s being compared to Aaron Rodgers his whole career,” Bears head coach Matt Nagy said, via Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated. “Same thing, it’s never gonna leave Mitchell, being compared to Patrick and Deshaun.”

Not that it’s Trubisky’s fault, exactly. He didn’t choose to be the No. 2 overall draft pick over Mahomes and Watson — that was all Bears general manager Ryan Pace. But that won’t stop the comparisons.

Trubisky is entering the most important year of his NFL career, where he has a chance to rewrite the narrative surrounding him as one of the worst signal callers in the league after one bad year. Still, Trubisky’s entire career will be defined by what Mahomes and Watson accomplish and what Trubisky doesn’t.

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Is this the last chance for offensive lineman Ethan Pocic?

The 2017 NFL draft has been full of duds, including offensive lineman Ethan Pocic. Is it time for the Seattle Seahawks to cut bait?

The Seattle Seahawks’ 2017 NFL draft class is not shaping up to be one of their best.

Pro Bowl corner Shaquill Griffin was a strong pick in the third round, and the team used their second seventh round pick on Chris Carson, but outside of those two picks the class as a whole has disappointed.

Malik McDowell, Amara Darboh, Nazair Jones, and Tedric Thompson are among the early round picks who either never suited up for Seattle, or are no longer with the club thanks to poor performances.

David Moore, Lano Hill, and Ethan Pocic are still with the team, but all three of them could be roster casualties if they don’t prove they deserve another chance during the 2020 season.

Pocic was the first one selected of the group, coming to the Seahawks as a late second round pick. The versatile offensive lineman only played in four games last year, starting one and appearing in 91 total offensive snaps before suffering a season-ending knee injury.

All told, Pocic has appeared in 30 games for the Seahawks, playing every position on the line except left tackle. That versatility is what made him appealing to Seattle in the first place, but his performance thus far has not been enough for him to earn a starting role.

Heading into year four, the door may look more open after the team’s release of D.J. Fluker and Justin Britt, two starters from last year’s line, but the addition of free agents B.J. Finney and Chance Warmack and the selection of hulking guard Damien Lewis in the draft seem to indicate the team is going in a different direction.

Lewis, Finney and Warmack will compete with a host of other interior offensive linemen, including Jordan Simmons, Mike Iupati, Phil Haynes, Joey Hunt and Jordan Roos, for spots on the offensive line in 2020.

Pocic’s best chance of making the roster is at backup center, where Finney is expected to start. He’ll be in direct competition with Hunt, the team’s backup center since 2016, and could face competition from Kyle Fuller and Haynes, who played some center in practice last year.

Pocic could theoretically challenge for a backup spot at tackle as well, where there is considerably less depth, but considering his best performances (which still aren’t great) have been on the interior, it’s unlikely he’d have what it takes to make it at that spot either.

The big question is if Seattle is willing to move on from a second round pick this quickly into his career, but considering the recent move to release both Jones (third round) and Thompson (fourth round) it might be time to cut bait on Pocic and admit that, outside of Griffin, Moore, and Carson, the 2017 draft just didn’t get the job done in the Emerald City.

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What if the Bears had taken QB Deshaun Watson before the Texans in the 2017 NFL Draft?

Deshaun Watson says Chicago Bears never talked to him during the draft process. What would the Houston Texans have done if Chicago took him in 2017?

Whether one believes Deshaun Watson that the Chicago Bears never talked to him during the draft process, or they did, the fact is the Houston Texans were dealt an opportunity to get out of Quarterback Hell in the 2017 NFL Draft.

The Bears took Mitch Trubisky with the second overall pick out of North Carolina. That left Watson available at 12th overall, though it took giving up their first-rounder in 2017 and 2018 to get the franchise quarterback.

If the Bears had taken Watson, the Texans’ quarterback situation would have been far better than it is now or far worse.

There is no question the Texans were going to be players in the first round. Early in the offseason, Houston traded Brock Osweiler, their starting quarterback from 2016, who they signed to a four-year, $72 million deal, to the Cleveland Browns to offset his salary cap hit and start over. The Texans’ quarterbacks going into the draft were Tom Savage and T.J. Yates — hardly anybody a team could compete with.

If Chicago had taken Watson at No. 2 overall, that would have left Trubisky and Patrick Mahomes on the board. The Kansas City Chiefs ended up jumping the Texans by two picks in a deal with the Buffalo Bills to take Mahomes. Kansas City gave up their first and third from 2017 and a first-rounder from 2018 to get to 10th overall. Maybe with Watson off the board, Houston gives up more and they take Mahomes. Objectively, that would have been better than what the Texans have now, but only because Mahomes earned NFL MVP in 2018 and Super Bowl MVP at the end of the 2019 season.

If Kansas City jumped the Texans and still got Mahomes, then the Texans would have been left with Trubisky. If they didn’t want him in the first round, there was always DeShone Kizer, Davis Webb, C.J. Beathard, Joshua Dobbs, Nathan Peterman, Brad Kaaya, and Chad Kelly. In other words, the pickings were slim to truly upgrade Houston’s quarterback situation.

For the Texans, it is a good thing the Bears decided to make their selection and keep Sid Luckman’s legacy safe.

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Deshaun Watson says Bears never met with him prior to 2017 NFL draft

You have to believe Deshaun Watson has the Bears game circled on his calendar, as he tweeted they didn’t talk to him before the NFL Draft.

It’s been over three years since the 2017 NFL Draft, but new information keeps popping up regarding the Chicago Bears and their decision to draft quarterback Mitchell Trubisky with the second overall pick – and who they chose to pass over instead.

It was clear Trubisky was general manager Ryan Pace’s top choice at the position and reports have surfaced over the last few months detailing how their scouting process with the other two prospects at the time, quarterbacks Patrick Mahomes and Deshaun Watson. Now, one of the quarterbacks revealed just how little interest Pace and the Bears had in him.

Watson, who was drafted by the Houston Texans with the 12th overall pick in the 2017 draft, tweeted that the Bears didn’t talk with him once during the predraft process while responding to a tweet by FOX Sports’ Doug Gottlieb that discussed the idea of race playing into the decision to draft Trubisky over him and Mahomes.

The revelation, unfortunately, doesn’t come as a shock. According to the Chicago Tribune’s Dan Wiederer and former writer Rich Campbell, the Bears put all their eggs into the Trubisky basket, but did entertain Mahomes throughout the process. Watson was never on their radar. Pace and members of his scouting staff did attend Watson’s pro day at Clemson — and they did speak on the phone with him — but chose not to have a private dinner like they did with Trubisky and Mahomes. Ultimately, the Bears traded up for Trubisky, the Kansas City Chiefs moved up to grab Mahomes with the 10th overall pick, and the Houston Texans followed suit, trading up to grab Watson.

As we all know now, Mahomes has quickly ascended to become the game’s most exciting quarterback, racking up an MVP award and a Super Bowl ring in his first three seasons, while Watson continues to amaze and has become a top-three quarterback in the AFC. As for Trubisky? He’s currently fighting for his job this summer against newcomer Nick Foles as the Bears continue to search for their franchise quarterback.

We’ll likely never know the true reasons the Bears decided to pick Trubisky instead of one of the other quarterbacks. But like Mahomes, Watson will have his chance to exact revenge against the Bears at Soldier Field this coming season in front of Pace and the entire Bears faithful. Perhaps he will have the final word when it’s all said and done.

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Seahawks cut ties with 2017 3rd round pick Nazair Jones

Nazair Jones’ NFL career got off to a hot start, now he finds himself released with a failed physical designation after missing all of 2019.

In his first NFL game, in fact on his first NFL snap, Seattle Seahawks defensive tackle Nazair Jones made quite the impression by intercepting a pass from Aaron Rodgers and returning it 64 yards for a touchdown back in September of 2017.

The touchdown may have been nullified by a block in the back, but the interception stood and, more importantly, it looked like the Seahawks had themselves a star in the making on the defensive line.

Now, less than three years later, Jones has been waived with a failed physical designation, part of four cuts the team made to accomodate 12 new rookie undrafted free agent signings.

Jones finished 2017 with stellar numbers, recording 19 combined tackles and two sacks in 11 games, but he regressed considerably in 2018 – only appearing in nine games and making just seven combined tackles.

The plan in 2019 was for him to make the transition to defensive end, where he would compete at five-tech. However, a knee injury prevented him from seeing the field at all in 2019, and is apparently bad enough for the team to give him the axe before training camp even begins.

Seattle’s depth on the interior defensive line was already thin and is now even thinner without Jones. Jarran Reed and Poona Ford will be the starters, but outside of that only Bryan Mone, an undrafted free agent in 2019, has any NFL experience on the roster.

A veteran signing, like they’ve done in the past with Al Woods and Shamar Stephen, seems all but certain – and a few names they could consider include Mike Daniels, Damon Harrison, and Brandon Mebane.

Jones’ career in Seattle started out with a bang, but unfortunately ends before it ever really got going, leaving Seattle’s 2017 draft class even less represented on the active roster.

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