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The Longhorns could realistically produce two first-round draft picks in the 2021 NFL Draft.
It’s never too early to take a glance at the top prospects eligible for the 2021 NFL Draft.
Continue reading “Top 50 prospects for 2021 NFL Draft includes two Longhorns”
Houston Texans left tackle signed a three-year contract extension with the club. Why not four years? The Pro Bowler explains.
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Pro Bowl left tackle Laremy Tunsil reached a three-year contract extension with the Houston Texans worth $22 million annually. It gives the Texans the security of having the highest paid offensive lineman in the game protecting the blindside of franchise quarterback Deshaun Watson.
Why didn’t Tunsil sign a longer deal with the Texans and give himself even more security?
“Just to give me another opportunity to get into the market,” Tunsil told reporters on April 27. “I just felt like three years was better than four, just to give me another opportunity to get in the free market and just to go from there.”
The rationale is on par with a player who represented himself in the negotiations. Tunsil is about maximizing a time in his life where the earning potential is unparalleled compared to the rest of the world.
“I’ll get to free agency around 28, 29, so I feel like that was the best opportunity for me,” said Tunsil.
For now, it means the Texans will have a quality bookend for the next three seasons as Watson enters even further into his prime. In the future, it means the Texans will have another decision to make as to the direction they want to take at left tackle.
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Houston Texans left tackle Laremy Tunsil says that he was not thinking about an extension when the Miami Dolphins traded him to the AFC South club.
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Laremy Tunsil says that a contract extension was not on his mind when the Miami Dolphins traded him to the Houston Texans at the end of last preseason.
The former 2016 first-round pick, who earned his first career Pro Bowl at the end of his first season in Houston, was just trying to get ready to play football when the trade occurred on Aug. 31, 2019.
“That’s a great question because an extension wasn’t really on my mind,” Tunsil told reporters on Monday. “I was just in shock that I got traded from Miami to Houston and then I had play in the game in a couple of days. So, an extension wasn’t really on my mind.”
The Texans took on the New Orleans Saints in Week 1 last season. Tunsil and the Texans at least had the advantage of the season opener being on Monday Night Football, even if it was on the road at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome.
Nevertheless, the former Ole Miss Rebel is thankful to have a new contract with the Texans.
“I’m glad we got it done with the Texans,” Tunsil said. “I’m glad to be a Texan for the next three or four years, and excited to be in this position.”
Tunsil is the highest-paid offensive lineman in the NFL with an average annual salary of $22 million.
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The Broncos have less than a week to decide if they are going to pick up Garett Bolles’ fifth-year contract option.
Teams that selected a player in the first round of the 2017 NFL Draft have the option to add a fifth year to that player’s contract for the 2021 season. The deadline to exercise fifth-year options is May 3.
So far, five players from 2017 have had their fifth-year options picked up: CB Marshon Lattimore, CB TreDavious White, OT Ryan Ramczyk, DE Myles Garrett and TE David Njoku.
In Denver, the Broncos will have to make a decision on left tackle Garett Bolles. Right now, it appears that Bolles is poised to start again in 2020 but it’s unclear if the team wants to commit to him beyond that.
“We have to get better [at tackle], there’s no question about it,” GM John Elway said after the draft. “That’s a position we have to get better at.”
Elway said Bolles will compete with Elijah Wilkinson for the starting job this offseason (assuming there will be an offseason with training camps).
“We still feel like we can be very competitive with the tackle situation that we have and the open competition. The best player is going to play.”
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Jason Peters and Kelvin Beachum are available. Should the Broncos sign one of them?
The Broncos did not engage in trade talks with the Redskins about left tackle Trent Williams because Washington’s asking price was too high. Denver also opted to not select any offensive tackles in this year’s draft.
So, as of now, the Broncos are poised to have Garett Bolles and Elijah Wilkinson compete for the starting left tackle job this offseason.
That’s not exactly an ideal scenario given that Bolles has struggled with penalties throughout his career and Wilkinson is a swing guard/tackle.
Are there any other options?
On Sunday, The Gazette‘s Woody Paige tweeted that he believes Denver will bring in a free agent veteran offensive tackle. Paige pointed out that Kelvin Beachum (31) played under offensive line coach Mike Munchak with the Steelers and Jason Peters (38) is also available. Cordy Glenn (31) remains a free agent as well.
Would any of those players be a better option than Bolles? Last year, Bolles was penalized 10 times and allowed four sacks. Beachum was penalized seven times and allowed four sacks in three fewer games.
Peters was penalized nine times and allowed three sacks in the same amount of games as Beachum. Glenn only started five games last year and he wasn’t penalized at all but he did allow three sacks.
Simply judging from the numbers, it doesn’t appear that any of those free agents would be much of an upgrade.
Should the Broncos take a shot on one of those veteran tackles? Voice your opinion by voting in the poll below:
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The Broncos opted against trying to trade for left tackle Trent Williams.
The Redskins listened to trade offers for left tackle Trent Williams during the draft and ultimately decided to trade him to the 49ers in exchange for third- and fifth-round draft picks.
During a post-draft Zoom conference call with reporters, Broncos general manager John Elway said Denver needs “to get better” at left tackle but did not talk with Washington about potentially trading for Williams.
“No, we did not talk to them,” Elway said. “We had heard what was going on, but we also had heard what the compensation was.
“I think Tampa was in on it, Cleveland, several other teams were in on it, but where the compensation was, we didn’t feel like it was something that we wanted to get involved in.”
The Broncos also didn’t draft a tackle so as of now, Garett Bolles and Elijah Wilkinson are set to compete for the team’s starting left tackle job.
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Elijah Wilkinson and Garett Bolles will compete for the Broncos’ starting left tackle job this offseason.
The Denver Broncos selected two offensive linemen in the draft but neither of them were an offensive tackle. During a post-draft Zoom conference call with reporters on Saturday evening, Broncos general manager John Elway said Elijah Wilkinson and Garett Bolles will compete for the left tackle job this offseason.
“It’ll be an open competition at the left tackle with Eli and Garett Bolles,” Elway said. “We just didn’t feel like we were in a situation to where we could add to that. I think with where we were and what our game plan was, the tackle never fell for us as far as something we thought that there was a player there that could help us at that position.
“We still feel like we can be very competitive with the tackle situation that we have and the open competition. The best player is going to play.”
Wilkinson has been Denver’s top backup swing tackle/guard over the last two seasons. He filled in for an injured Ja’Wuan James at right tackle last year and allowed eight sacks in 15 games (12 starts), according to STATS LLC.
Bolles has been the Broncos’ left tackle since 2017 and he has struggled with holding penalties and inconsistent performances. If he doesn’t beat out Wilkinson for the left tackle job this offseason, Bolles will probably be nearing the end of his tenure in Denver.
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Boise State offensive tackle Ezra Cleveland was selected by the Minnesota Vikings in the NFL Draft.
The Minnesota Vikings selected Boise State offensive tackle Ezra Cleveland with the 58th overall pick in the second round of the 2020 NFL Draft on Friday evening.
Cleveland (6-6, 311 pounds) ran a 40-yard dash in 4.93 seconds and bench-pressed 225 pounds 30 times at the combine earlier this offseason. NFL.com’s Lance Zierlein has described Cleveland as a prospect who “has the athleticism to play swing tackle for a zone-based offense but needs to get much stronger to hold up as a starter.”
Cleveland earned first-team All-Mountain West honors in 2019 after starting 13 games at left tackle for college football’s Broncos. He was a two-time all-conference selection at Boise State and was an honorable mention All-MWC pick as a freshman in 2017.
Cleveland was the 10th-best offensive tackle in this year’s class, according to Luke Easterling’s rankings for Draft Wire. The top three tackles this year were Georgia’s Andrew Thomas, Alabama’s Jedrick Wills and Iowa’s Tristan Wirfs.
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The Houston Texans have signed Pro Bowl left tackle Laremy Tunsil to a three-year contract extension worth $22 million a year.
Texans have finalized a three-year contract extension worth $22 million per year with Pro Bowl left tackle Laremy Tunsil, according to league sources. The deal includes $57 million guaranteed, which includes a $13 million signing bonus
— Aaron Wilson (@AaronWilson_NFL) April 24, 2020
Laremu Tunsil wasn’t getting away.
According to Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle, the Houston Texans signed the Pro Bowl left tackle to a three-year contract extension that includes $57 million guaranteed, a $13 million signing bonus, and will cost the AFC South club $22 million a year.
Tunsil is now the highest-paid offensive lineman in the NFL.
“Laremy and I have been in touch quite a bit,” coach and general manager Bill O’Brien told reporters on April 16. “Laremy is a great guy, a great part of our team. We’ve been in a lot of contact. I don’t want to get into the details of that but we’re working hard to try to get a deal done.”
The deal is done, and the Texans now have their Pro Bowl left tackle able to protect franchise quarterback Deshaun Watson through the middle part of the upcoming decade.
On Aug. 31, 2019, the Texans traded cornerback Johnson Bademosi, tackle Julien Davenport, a 2020 first-round pick, a 2021 first-round pick, and a 2021 second-round pick to the Miami Dolphins for Tunsil, receiver Kenny Stills, and a 2020 fourth-round selection.
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Optimism surrounding a Trent Williams trade came crashing down in on Thursday night, leaving Redskins with few options going forward.
Talk about a roller-coaster 24 hours for Trent Williams, huh?
In the early morning hours on Thursday, the Washington Redskins’ left tackle made some waves on social media when he posted a semi-cryptic message to his Instagram story that seemed to signal that he knew something that fans didn’t. Many took this to mean that he would soon be traded away from the Redskins, something seemingly everyone who has an opinion on the situation wants at this point.
As the world was getting prepared for the 2020 NFL Draft to start on Thursday night, rumors started to swirl about Williams’ potential departure, with teams like the Cleveland Browns, New York Jets, Minnesota Vikings, Miami Dolphins, and Tampa Bay Buccaneers being thrown out as potential landing spots for the seven-time Pro-Bowler. If you were to take the pulse of the room at 7:59 p.m. ET, I bet you about 90% of Redskins fans would have told you that they felt confident Williams would be traded within the next 24 hours.
If you were to check that pulse again now, less than 12 hours later? That confidence level has dropped significantly, and it’s now become a question of who in the NFL wants Williams anymore?
So what happened during that time? Well, it started with the 10th pick in the draft, when the Browns selected Alabama OT Jedrick Wills, removing their name from the Trent Williams lottery. Then, a pick later, the Jets drafted Louisville’s OT Mekhi Becton with the 11th pick. At No. 13, the Bucs drafted Iowa LT Tristan Wirfs, and then at No. 18, Miami took USC OT Austin Jackson. And just like that, four of the five teams who may have had an interest in trading for Williams found themselves with future answers at that position. The only team remaining on that list is the Vikings, and while they may have been the least likely team to trade for him earlier in the day, their massive amount of draft capital — along with a lack of another bidder — has vaulted them into first place.
This really could end soon or just continue. Skins will hold firm for an asking price. Or, at least, don't want to just give him away now. So willing to wait. Not a distraction; nobody's in the building now anyway and might not be for months.
— John Keim (@john_keim) April 24, 2020
So where do the Redskins go from here? According to ESPN’s John Keim, there are reportedly still three teams who have shown interest in Williams, with the Vikings being one of them. The other two teams are unknown as of now, but it could viably be any team in the NFL when you consider that Thursday’s lack of action likely caused Williams’ value to tank. It is hard to imagine the Redskins will receive a second- or third-round pick in return for the veteran LT anymore, and they may have to settle for a mid-rounder at best. There isn’t a team in the NFL who wouldn’t give a fourth-round pick up for a player like Trent Williams.
So will this all come to an end on Friday at long last? It’s possible, but no longer probable. Will it drag on through another offseason and potentially result in another holdout? We can no longer say it’s out of the question. As has been the case with Trent for the past year, something will happen when it happens, and we have to be patient until then. It’s hard to predict when a trade will take place in the NFL, but the Redskins will keep their phone lines open until it does.
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