Tag: Austin Hooper

Patriots TE Austin Hooper looking forward to reuniting with Alex Van Pelt

Austin Hooper is excited for reunion with Patriots OC Alex Van Pelt

New England Patriots tight end Austin Hooper had positive reviews of offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt, as the two are set to unite once again.

Hooper played under Van Pelt from 2020-2022 in Cleveland. He recorded 84 catches for 780 yards and seven touchdowns during his time with the Browns.

Now, he will be looking to help add depth to a Patriots’ tight end room that is headlined by Hunter Henry.

“Really smart guy. Good energy in the building. That’s a huge part of it,” said Hooper, via ESPN’s Mike Reiss. “Most people just think of the three hours you see on Sunday, but there’s many more hours throughout the week where you’re spending a lot of time together, and it makes work so much better when you enjoy the people you work with. His style, his approach, his offense, his understanding of his personnel, and who he is as a man and coach, it’s going to make it really fun to be in the building every day.”

Cooper signed a one-year contract with New England after the departure of Mike Gesicki.

It will be interesting to see how the tight end fits in the offense. Familiarity with the way Van Pelt runs things will be important, especially if New England drafts a rookie quarterback.

Having veteran familiarity could go a long way in the quarterback’s development process.

7 free agent tight ends Giants could target to replace Darren Waller

If Darren Waller opts to retire, here are seven free agent tight ends the New York Giants could target as a replacement option.

One year after acquiring tight end Darren Waller via trade with the Las Vegas Raiders, the New York Giants may be forced into replacing him.

Waller told the New York Post on Friday that he’s “still undecided” about his future and could opt to retire.

“I have not made a decision either way,” Waller told the Post.

If Waller does return in 2024, he will be owed a base salary of $10.5 million which accounts for a cap hit of $14 million. If he opts to retire, the Giants will clear $6.2 million in cap space but be left with a dead cap hit of roughly $7.9 million.

Because of Waller’s transparency with the Giants, they have already begun to pour over the names slated to become available in free agency.

With Waller’s future uncertain and a need at the position beyond just 2024, here’s a look at seven free agent tight ends the Giants could consider.

What Condition the Position is in: Assessing Raiders level of need at TE ahead of free agency

What Condition Raiders Position is in: Tight end

With free agency under a month away, it’s time to check in on the Raiders’ tight end position to give it a condition of either Strong, Stable, Unstable, Serious, or Critical.

Starter: Michael Mayer
Depth: Zach Gentry, Cole Fotheringham, John Samuel Shenker
Free Agents: Austin Hooper, Jesper Horsted

Mayer didn’t come bursting out the gates as some thought he might as the 35th overall pick in the draft. But around midseason, he started to show some of the skills that were expected of him, before being lost to injury late. The veteran Hooper was the team’s number two tight end. All others played sparingly or not at all.

Condition: Stable

Even if Hooper leaves in free agency, the team is set with Mayer as their starting tight end. He is no sure thing, but expect the Raiders to ride with him for now to see if he can develop. They would simply look to bolster the position with a mid level free agent or mid round draft selection, which shouldn’t be difficult.

7 Tight ends the Vikings should pursue in free agency

Do the Minnesota Vikings sign a tight end to fill in for T.J. Hockenson? From Noah Fant to Hunter Henry, these 7 options are intriguing

The Minnesota Vikings are in an interesting position at tight end going into free agency. They theoretically are set with T.J. Hockenson and Josh Oliver as the top two tight ends in the room. However, that is murky for 2024 with the torn ACL suffered on Christmas Eve by Hockenson since he didn’t have surgery to repair the injury until the end of January.

What should the Vikings do at the position? If they plan on redshirting Hockenson, would they end up signing a bridge player to get them through 2024? Do they choose to bring back Johnny Mundt and ride with the three guys in the room?

With how general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah has pursued things so far, a bridge tight end makes a lot of sense. Here are seven different tight ends that could fit the bill and be that bridge player.

Ranking 2024’s top 12 free-agent tight ends

Top tight ends hitting free agency this offseason:

Even after last year’s signing of Hayden Hurst, could the Carolina Panthers be in the market for a new tight end?

If so, here are some of the best that free agency has to offer:

These 17 Raiders are slated to be free agents in March

There are no more games for the Raiders to play this season. And several of the players who suited up for the team this season won’t be back. Over the final couple weeks of the season the players begin thinking about coveting the time they have …

There are no more games for the Raiders to play this season. And several of the players who suited up for the team this season won’t be back.

Over the final couple weeks of the season the players begin thinking about coveting the time they have together, because the way this business is it’s unavoidable that the locker room will not be the same by the time they re-convene in April.

Some players will be in demand should they hit the market. Others will not. The ones who are re-signed are not necessarily the ones the team wants more. Likewise the ones that get away are not necessarily the ones they didn’t want. There are always a few free agents they may have wanted to bring back, but got an offer they liked better elsewhere.

At least 17 of those players will hit free agency unless the Raiders re-sign them beforehand.

5 Raiders offensive players on pace for career-low seasons

5 Raiders offensive players on pace for career-low seasons

We are eight games into the 2023 season. Once upon a time, this would have been the halfway mark, giving us a strong sample size as to what pace each player is on.

When you look at the numbers for some of the Raiders players on offense, you can see why the team moved on from their supposed offensive guru head coach Josh McDaniels.

Raiders Week 3 snap counts vs Steelers: Not much spreading the ball around on offense

Not much spreading the ball around on offense for Raiders

Sunday night, the Raiders offense was pretty clearly running through Davante Adams. Jimmy Garoppolo went to him early and often. The end result was Adams putting up 13 caches for 170 yards and two touchdowns.

At some point, Jakobi Meyers got into the act as well. He would finish with seven catches for 85 yards.

As for anyone else? Not so much.

There were five other wide receivers and tight ends who were active for this game for the Raiders. Among them they played a combined 146 snaps. In those snaps, they combined for four targets. Not catches. Targets.

Here’s how that broke down:

Austin Hooper: 55 snaps, 0 targets
Hunter Renfro: 37 snaps, 2 targets
Michael Mayer: 34 snaps, 1 target* (INT)
Tre Tucker: 12 snaps, 0 targets
DeAndre Carter: 8 snaps, 1 target

*Mayer also had caught the pass on the two-point conversion, though those targets don’t count in the totals. And, honestly, that play should never have happened. The initial two-point conversion attempt was for Meyers, and Minkah Fitzpatrick was called with a bogus pass interference.

Offense Spec Tms
Player Pos Num Pct Num Pct
Dylan Parham G 72 100% 3 10%
Kolton Miller T 72 100% 3 10%
Jermaine Eluemunor T 72 100% 3 10%
Andre James C 72 100% 0 0%
Jimmy Garoppolo QB 72 100% 0 0%
Greg Van Roten G 71 99% 3 10%
Davante Adams WR 70 97% 0 0%
Jakobi Meyers WR 62 86% 0 0%
Josh Jacobs RB 59 82% 0 0%
Austin Hooper TE 55 76% 0 0%
Hunter Renfrow WR 37 51% 0 0%
Michael Mayer TE 34 47% 3 10%
Ameer Abdullah RB 12 17% 18 62%
Tre Tucker WR 12 17% 5 17%
DeAndre Carter WR 8 11% 12 41%
Jakob Johnson FB 7 10% 11 38%
Thayer Munford T 3 4% 3 10%
Zamir White RB 1 1% 12 41%
Jordan Meredith G 1 1% 3 10%
Defense Spec Tms
Player Pos Num Pct Num Pct
Robert Spillane LB 62 100% 7 24%
Marcus Epps SS 62 100% 0 0%
Tre’von Moehrig FS 62 100% 0 0%
Jakorian Bennett CB 62 100% 0 0%
Marcus Peters CB 62 100% 0 0%
Maxx Crosby DE 59 95% 5 17%
Divine Deablo LB 52 84% 5 17%
Nate Hobbs CB 51 82% 9 31%
John Jenkins DT 42 68% 5 17%
Bilal Nichols DT 35 56% 5 17%
Jerry Tillery DT 33 53% 6 21%
Malcolm Koonce DE 25 40% 26 90%
Adam Butler DT 20 32% 3 10%
Byron Young DT 18 29% 5 17%
Isaac Rochell DE 17 27% 6 21%
Tyree Wilson DE 11 18% 0 0%
Luke Masterson LB 5 8% 26 90%
David Long CB 4 6% 6 21%
Special Teams Spec Tms
Player Pos Num Pct Num Pct
Roderic Teamer SS 0 0% 26 90%
Brandon Bolden RB 0 0% 26 90%
Jesper Horsted TE 0 0% 21 72%
Isaiah Pola-Mao FS 0 0% 20 69%
AJ Cole III P 0 0% 8 28%
Jacob Bobenmoyer LS 0 0% 8 28%
Daniel Carlson K 0 0% 7 24%
Amik Robertson CB 0 0% 6 21%
Curtis Bolton LB 0 0% 3 10

Several Raiders players get new numbers as they make 53-man roster

Raiders once had a 00. Now they have a 0 for the first time in franchise history.

Camp is over, which for many players means their camp numbers are gone too. With so many players being cut from the roster, it opens up a lot of possibilities for number changes as well.

A few players took advantage of the opportunity to change up their numbers.

0 – CB Jakorian Bennett

He becomes the first Raiders player to ever wear the number 0. The Raiders, of course, had 00 Jim Otto, but no single zero. Bennett was number 29 in camp and preseason.

14 – WR Tre Tucker

The rookie gets himself a number in the teens. He was wearing number 89 in camp and preseason while Chase Garbers wore number 14,

29 – S Chris Smith II

Smith nabs the 29 worn by Jakorian Bennett. Smith wore the number 42 in camp.

81 – TE Austin Hooper

Hooper gets the Tim Brown special. Cam Sims had worn it in camp while Hooper had worn number 82.

99 – DT Nesta Jade Silvera

Silvera wore number 97 in camp while Jordan Willis wore 99 and was cut.

Raiders standouts on Day 1 of joint practices with 49ers

Raiders standouts on Day 1 of joint practices with 49ers

Finding the best performances in these joint practices was not easy from the media vantage point. Getting a view of anything requires a good set of binoculars and sometimes even that’s not enough because there are players lined up in the way of all team sessions.

That being said, there were a few standout performers on the Raiders on their first day lining up against an opponent and I will try my best to give them all a mention.

Marcus Peters

Had his third interception of camp, picking off 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy. Earlier in practice, he was getting in the face of a 49ers receiver. He then backed it up. Just what the Raiders want from him.

Duke Shelley

Also had an interception, and it occurred right after the Peters jawing incident. So, clearly there’s an energy in this secondary and Shelley is feeding off of it.

Amik Robertson

Had a couple of pass breakups on the day, one of which came in the endzone to keep the 49ers from scoring to finish out a team session.

Chandler Jones

Worked over 49ers right tackle Colton McKivitz. Drove him up field and then put an inside spin move on him to get a straight shot at the quarterback.

Nesta Jade Silvera

Silvera showed great strength inside on the rush. And apparently I missed his best stuff while I was watching the other side, but he drew raves from several other members of the media independently. Worth watching the seventh round rookie.

Jimmy Garoppolo

No turnovers against his former team. And he connected with all his top receivers, spreading the ball around.

Austin Hooper

Garoppolo found Hooper in the back right corner of the end zone with defenders on each side of him for the touchdown.