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The Minnesota Vikings have some options.
Minnesota has maneuvered through a cash-strapped offseason fairly well, signing players in free agency and renegotiating with players already on the roster.
Now, it’s August and the Vikings still have some 2021 salary cap space to work with. Minnesota could use that money to sign another player. Or maybe the team wants to use it to lock a player into the future.
Here are four things the Vikings can do in the 2021 offseason with their remaining space:
The Atlanta Falcons are expected to release veteran guard James Carpenter on Tuesday according to reports from NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero and Ian Rapoport.
Two years after signing James Carpenter as a free agent, the Atlanta Falcons are expected to release the veteran guard on Tuesday, according to reports from the NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero and Ian Rapoport.
The #Falcons are releasing veteran guard James Carpenter, source said.
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) March 9, 2021
The Falcons will be releasing OL James Carpenter, source said.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) March 9, 2021
Reports of Carpenter’s release come just a few hours before the NFL’s franchise tag deadline. While the team is not expected to tag safety Keanu Neal, Atlanta still has time to change course with a few more moves to free up space.
According to OverTheCap’s salary cap projections, the Falcons were $19.5 million over the projected 2021 cap before cutting Carpenter, and should free up roughly $4 million once the move becomes official.
Don’t be surprised to see the Falcons add a guard in the upcoming NFL draft. Last year, the team selected versatile interior lineman Matt Hennessy in the third round.
Hennessy split reps with Carpenter at left guard early in 2020, but with center Alex Mack likely leaving in free agency, the team has two offensive line spots up for grabs.
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The Falcons won their Week 12 matchup over the Las Vegas Raiders, 43-6, but lost two players during the game due to injury.
The Falcons won their Week 12 matchup over the Las Vegas Raiders, 43-6, but lost two players during the game due to injury. In the first half, wide receiver Olamide Zaccheaus exited with a toe injury and did not return.
Later in the fourth quarter, starting left guard James Carpenter had to be carted off the field.
Cart coming out now for starting guard James Carpenter. Hate to see it. May get to see third-round pick Matt Hennessy now.
— William McFadden (@willmcfadden) November 29, 2020
Assuming Carpenter’s injury is serous, Falcons third-round pick Matt Hennessy could in line for the start next week at left guard. Hennessy split reps with Carpenter earlier in the season, but Carpenter’s play became steady enough that the team stopped rotating him out.
Falcons kicker Younghoe Koo also appeared to hurt his leg during a missed field goal when a Raiders defender rolled into him. Koo toughed it out, though, and finished a perfect 5-for-5 on field goals, and went 4-for-4 on extra points.
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Falcons rookie Matt Hennessy, a third-round pick out of Temple, looks poised to win the job over James Carpenter and Matt Gono.
The Atlanta Falcons host the Seattle Seahawks in Week 1 on September 13, which is now just over two weeks away. One of the team’s most intriguing position battles is at the left guard spot.
Falcons rookie Matt Hennessy, a third-round pick out of Temple, looks poised to win the job over James Carpenter and Matt Gono. Hennessy has been primarily running with the first-ream offense over the past two weeks.
The team even released expensive backup Jamon Brown earlier this week just one year after signing a three-year contract in 2019. According to head coach Dan Quinn, though, the competition is still open, per William McFadden’s below Tweet.
Dan Quinn says the LG competition is still underway and they haven't named a leader yet.
— William McFadden (@willmcfadden) August 26, 2020
Meanwhile, Hennessy is preparing like he’s going to be the starting left guard. As tweeted by Kelsey Conway after Wednesday’s practice, the rookie lineman said he was ready to do whatever the Falcons need from him this season.
Matt Hennessy: Whatever the team needs me to do, I’ll be ready to role. #Falcons
— Kelsey Conway (@FalconsKelsey) August 26, 2020
You can watch Hennessy talk about staying ready below, as shared by ESPN’s Vaughn McClure.
Rookie Matt Hennessy on if he’s ready to start at left guard. pic.twitter.com/7qYpja2rjM
— vaughn mcclure (@vxmcclure23) August 26, 2020
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The Falcons revamped their offensive line prior to the 2019 season, signing Brown and James Carpenter, while drafting Chris Lindstrom and Kaleb McGary in the first round of last year’s draft.
One season after signing a three-year, $18.75 million contract with the Atlanta Falcons, offensive lineman Jamon Brown was released by the team on Monday.
We have released OL Jamon Brown. https://t.co/KVQy4ss6JL
— Atlanta Falcons (@AtlantaFalcons) August 24, 2020
The Falcons revamped their offensive line prior to the 2019 season, signing Brown and James Carpenter, while drafting Chris Lindstrom and Kaleb McGary in the first round of last year’s draft.
Brown, 27, had just returned to the team from the NFL’s concussion list. He was likely to be a backup this season to Chris Lindstrom and James Carpenter, so his release isn’t a total surprise.
Atlanta drafted versatile offensive lineman Matt Hennessy in the third round of the 2020 NFL Draft, and the rookie has been playing left guard with the first-team offense over the past week.
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The Falcons have most of their offensive line returning from last year, but the starting left guard job is still up for grabs.
The Falcons have most of their offensive line returning from last year, but the starting left guard job is still up for grabs.
Veteran James Carpenter has the most experience, which could make him the favorite, but his play on the field wasn’t overly impressive at any point during 2019. Entering 2020, It’s clear that the team is looking hard at both backup tackle Matt Gono and rookie OL Matt Hennessy for the starting left guard role.
On Thursday, the team held its first scrimmage of training camp, and it was Hennessy getting the starting reps with the first-team offense, according to Jason Butt of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Falcons practice is over. Some notes:
Matt Hennessy was at first-team LG for most of the scrimmage. James Carpenter repped there in two-minute, though.
Matt Gono with second-team LT. With Evin K. injured, team is down numbers wise at OT.
Mykal Walker with a nice INT.
— Jason Butt (@JasonHButt) August 20, 2020
Ideally, Hennessy winning the job would be the best-case scenario for Atlanta this season. All-Pro center Alex Mack could potentially be playing his last year with the team. Starting Hennessy out there between both Mack and left tackle Jake Matthews could give the rookie a big advantage if he takes the field in Week 1.
The Falcons started two rookies — RT Kaleb McGary and RG Chris Lindstrom — in the last season’s disastrous Week 1 loss to the Vikings. Atlanta will hope for better results when the season kicks off against the Seattle Seahawks in a few weeks.
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This time, we will be focusing on another former Alabama football star, James Carpenter.
Since Nick Saban’s arrival to Tuscaloosa in 2007, Alabama has not only become a team that has created a dynasty winning national championships, but it also has become a program that sends players to the NFL every year.
With the 2020 NFL Draft happening in less than a month, it’s the perfect time to start a new series in which we will go over all of the Tide’s 29 first-round draft picks. The first player we went over was Andre Smith, who finished his career at Alabama with 15 awards and honors and was drafted by the Cincinnati Bengals as the No. 6 pick in the 2009 NFL Draft. The second player we went over was former Alabama star linebacker Rolando McClain who would not only win many incredible awards while at Alabama, but was drafted by Oakland Raiders as the No. 8 pick in the 2010 NFL Draft. The 3rd Alabama player drafted in the first round for the Tide was Kareem Jackson who would go on to be drafted by the Houston Texans as the No. 20 overall pick in the first round of the 2010 NFL Draft. The 4th player to become drafted under Nick Saban was Marcell Dareus. Number 5 was Julio Jones who has spent his entire career in Atlanta after being the 6th overall pick in the 2011 Draft by the Falcons.
This time, we will be focusing on another former Alabama football star, James Carpenter.
James Carpenter is the 6️⃣th of Nick Saban’s 29 First Round draft picks at Alabama. @JEcarpenter77 #29andCounting #BamaFactor pic.twitter.com/rTZuV0qWDP
— Alabama Football (@AlabamaFTBL) March 30, 2020
Carpenter went on to start every single game at left tackle for the Crimson Tide in both 2009 and 2010.
Not only did he have a huge impact on the Crimson Tide’s offense, he impressed teams in the NFL for his speed at such a big size.
He was drafted by the Seattle Seahawks with the 25th overall pick in the 2011 NFL Draft where he played from 2011-2014.
In 2015, Carpenter signed a 4 year, $19.1 million dollar contract with the New York Jets where he stayed from 2015-2018.
In 2019, Carpenter signed a 4 year, $21 million dollar contract with the Atlanta Falcons. This past season, he was named the Falcons starting left guard, and started 11 games before suffering a concussion and being added to the injury reserve list.
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The Seattle Seahawks have had a new starter at left guard in each of the last six seasons, a streak that will likely continue in 2020.
Russell Wilson has been the starting quarterback for the Seattle Seahawks since the 2012 season. Who has lined up in front of him, particularly at the left guard spot, has been new nearly every single year.
With Mike Iupati set to hit free agency, and seemingly an unlikely candidate to be re-signed, the Seahawks are almost certainly going to have a different starter at left guard for the seventh(!) consecutive year.
Since James Carpenter made 39 starts for the Seahawks from 2011-2014, most of them at left guard, the team has cycled through Justin Britt (2015) Mark Glowinski (2016) Luke Joeckel (2017) J.R. Sweezy (2018) and now Iupati (2019).
Wilson will never talk badly about anyone or any situation he is faced with, but considering how often he has stressed the importance of continuity along the offensive line, this has to be a source of chagrin for the franchise quarterback.
The streak likely won’t end in 2020, unless the team re-signs Iupati, but there is hope that it won’t extend beyond that.
Assuming Iupati is not retained, the Seahawks could look to replace him with one of the many young, internal options they have been collecting over the past few years.
Jamarco Jones, originally drafted as a right tackle, filled in for Iupati and Fluker a handful of times this year, and looked really good as a potential NFL guard. Considering how much he struggled when he was asked to play tackle, his future may be on the interior, and he seems like a prime candidate to challenge for a starting job next season.
He’ll have to compete with 2019 rookie Phil Haynes, who thanks to a sports hernia only managed to play in two games last year. He looked pretty good in the second half against Green Bay however, and is primed to take over a bigger role in 2020.
Haynes and Jones are the primary competitors, but Ethan Pocic could be in the mix if he is not handed the starting center job by virtue of Britt’s release. Jordan Simmons and Demetrius Knox missed the entire season with injuries, but Simmons in particular looked good as a fill-in in 2018 and could be in the mix as well – and of course Seattle could use an early pick in the 2020 NFL draft to bring in some starting competition.
Seattle will almost certainly have a new starter at left guard again in 2020, but Wilson and the fans can hope whoever it is ends up sticking around for a while, creating continuity up front for a team that sorely needs it.
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The Jets Wire names the Jets 2010’s all-decade team with New York’s franchise-worst 10-year stretch ending with a 7-9 finish.
The Jets’ decade started with an AFC Championship appearance, but since then they’ve endured one of the worst stretches in franchise history.
New York has only had one season since in which it was over .500 and failed to return to the playoffs. The Jets have now gone nine consecutive seasons without a playoff berth and a record four straight losing seasons after faring 10-6 in 2015.
To finish off the decade, the Jets went 6-2 after a 1-7 finish, but they still have yet to play meaningful football beyond the first week of January. It seems Gang Green has its quarterback of the future, but does it have enough to start off the next decade with a playoff trip?
Decisions for the future are coming. For now, let’s take a look at the Jets’ 2010s all-decade team:
QB Mark Sanchez: Sanchez was consistently average during his time in New York, but that’s enough to be the team’s best quarterback of the decade. He was the only one to lead Gang Green to the playoffs in this decade. During his time as New York’s signal-caller, Sanchez went 33-29, a much more impressive record than what Geno Smith, Ryan Fitzpatrick and Josh McCown. The hope is that Sam Darnold will do more to earn the nod 10 years from now.
RB Chris Ivory: Acquired via trade in one of John Idzik’s first moves as New York’s general manager, Ivory had a rather productive three-year tenure in green and white. He ran for over 800 yards in all three seasons, including going over 1,000 yards in 2015.
WR Brandon Marshall: Marshall spent just two seasons with New York, but his 2015 was enough to garner a mention on this list. Marshall set the team record for catches and yards and tied Don Maynard for touchdowns. In 2015, Marshall had 109 catches for 1,502 yards and 14 touchdowns.
WR Eric Decker: Paired with Marshall, the Jets had one of the most dynamic passing attacks in the league. He could never establish himself as a No. 1 target, but Decker put up those numbers opposite of Marshall. In 2015, Decker had 80 receptions for 1,027 yards and 12 touchdowns.
WR Santonio Holmes: While Holmes’ Jets career ended on a sour note, he is still largely responsible for helping New York reach its second AFC Championship Game in as many seasons. While his statistics don’t tell the whole story because of his four-game suspension to the begin the season, Holmes was as clutch as can be when it counted.
TE Dustin Keller: One of the more productive tight ends in the history of the franchise, the Jets have been unable to replicate Keller’s success since he departed New York. He finished his six-year tenure with the Jets catching 241 passes for 2,876 yards and 17 scores.
OT D’Brickashaw Ferguson: Ferguson was a staple on the Jets offensive line. He was the glue that kept the left side together and New York never had to worry about it quarterback’s blindside when he was on the field.
OG James Carpenter: Carpenter was the best the Jets had to offer at left guard during the decade. He was a reliable fixture brought in by Idzik and started every single game for New York from 2015-17.
C Nick Mangold: An All-Pro in 2010, Mangold would appear in five of his seven Pro Bowl appearances during the 2010s. The Jets are still itching to find a competent center as his replacement.
OG Brandon Moore: Moore is more famous for Mark Sanchez running into his behind, but he is the best the Jets had at right guard from 2010 on.
RT Damien Woody: While Woody has now spent more time as an ESPN personality than with Gang Green this decade, he provided the most stability at a position that has been a thorn in the Jets’ side.
Honorable Mentions: QB Ryan Fitzpatrick, RB Bilal Powell, RB Shonn Greene, WR Robby Anderson, OG Brian Winters, OT Kelvin Beachum.
