Tag: Luke Gifford

What Titans are getting in ex-Cowboys LB Luke Gifford

Cowboys Wire managing editor KD Drummond gave us some great insight into new Titans LB Luke Gifford.

The Tennessee Titans have added a linebacker to their roster in free agency, with the team agreeing to terms with now-former Dallas Cowboys linebacker, Luke Gifford.

Gifford’s deal comes in at a base of two years and $4 million, but he can make up to $5 million with incentives. Check out the full breakdown of Gifford’s contract right here.

The 27-year-old has played predominantly on special teams over the course of his four-year career, but ESPN’s Todd Archer notes that Cowboys coaches believed he could take on more in terms of defensive snaps.

So, with the Titans needing two new starters, it begs the question: is Gifford actually capable of securing and being good in an expanded role on defense in Tennessee?

In order to get an answer to that question and to find out more about the newest Titans linebacker, we turned to Cowboys Wire managing editor KD Drummond and asked him three questions about Gifford.

Contract details for Titans’ signing of LB Luke Gifford

More details on the contract Luke Gifford and the Titans have agreed upon.

The Tennessee Titans reportedly made their second signing of free agency on Tuesday when the team agreed to terms on a two-year deal with former Dallas Cowboys linebacker, Luke Gifford.

Gifford, who is expected to play on special teams mostly and challenge for a role on defense, can make up to about $5 million in his deal, per ESPN’s Todd Archer.

For more specifics on the contract, we turn to Aaron Wilson of KPRC2, who reports the deal is for two years and $4 million at its base, with $1 million guaranteed and a $500,000 signing bonus.

It can reach up to $5 million via $500,000 in annual playtime incentives, and Gifford can make an extra $15,000 per game with active roster bonuses. The contract carries base salaries of $1.24 million ($500,000 guaranteed) in 2023 and $1.745 million in 2024.

The signing of Gifford comes on the heels of Tennessee not re-signing David Long, who ended up with the Miami Dolphins. Gifford could help plug that hole, but he doesn’t figure to land a full-time starting job.

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Cowboys lose LB Luke Gifford to Tennessee Titans

Primarily a special-teamer, Gifford reportedly had an offer to stay in Dallas but will be moving instead to the Titans on a 2-year deal. | From @ToddBrock24f7

The Cowboys linebacker corps is suddenly a little thinner.

Luke Gifford has agreed to terms with the Tennessee Titans, as first reported by ESPN’s Todd Archer on Tuesday. The 27-year-old, who played mostly on special teams over four seasons with Dallas, will sign a two-year deal worth $5 million, with $1 million guaranteed.

The former Nebraska Cornhusker had been a favorite of the Cowboys staff since joining the club as an undrafted free agent in 2019. His playing time increased with each season, and coaches believed he would be in line to take more snaps with the regular defense in 2023.

Gifford led the Cowboys in special teams snaps and special teams tackles in 2022. He recovered a fumble in a master-class performance against Green Bay in Week 10 and forced a fumble against Minnesota seven days later.

Current Cowboys linebacker Leighton Vander Esch is on the verge of hitting the open market, as is Anthony Barr.

The Cowboys reportedly made Gifford an offer to stay, as per Michael Gehlken of the Dallas Morning News, but Tennessee’s package apparently proved more attractive to the free agent linebacker.

Gifford’s signing by the Titans comes one day after the team lost David linebacker David Long to Miami via free agency. Mike Moraitis of Titans Wire speculates that Gifford could compete for a defensive role in Tennessee but will likely continue to play primarily on special teams.

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Titans and Cowboys fans, media react to Luke Gifford signing

How fans and media of the Titans and Cowboys reacted to the Luke Gifford signing.

The Tennessee Titans made a much-needed addition to their linebackers room on Tuesday morning when they reportedly agreed to terms with ex-Dallas Cowboys linebacker, Luke Gifford.

According to ESPN’s Todd Archer, Gifford’s deal with the Titans is for two years and worth up to $5 million.

Gifford has played predominantly on special teams during his career, and the money would indicate he won’t be a starter. That said. as Archer points out, Cowboys coaches believe he could take on a bigger role.

More likely than not, Gifford will play a similar role to Dylan Cole, where he’s mostly a special teams teams contributor, but I think we’ll see Gifford on defense a bit more than Cole was when everyone was healthy.

As far as reaction is concerned, Cowboys fans and media praised Gifford and were sad to see him go. Meanwhile, Titans fans and media were fine with the move but understandably not totally excited about it.

Titans agree to terms with ex-Cowboys LB Luke Gifford

The Titans have reportedly agreed to terms on a two-year deal with linebacker Luke Gifford.

After letting David Long walk in free agency to the Miami Dolphins on Monday, the Tennessee Titans have reportedly added another linebacker.

According to ESPN’s Todd Archer, the Titans and former Dallas Cowboys linebacker Luke Gifford have agreed to terms on a two-year contract worth up to $5 million.

An undrafted free-agent signing of the Cowboys in 2019, Gifford has played almost all of his snaps in the NFL on special teams. He has just 74 career snaps on defense over the last three seasons.

However, as Archer points out, there was belief among his coaches in Dallas that Gifford could handle a bigger role if needed.

Based on his contract amount, I don’t think the Titans view him as a locked-in starter and probably more along the lines of a Dylan Cole-type player who can compete for work on defense but will play mostly on special teams.

As far as what Tennessee could expect from Gifford if he does see defensive snaps, it’s hard to gauge with such a little sample size, and that’s especially true in coverage, with Gifford only being targeted seven times in his career.

On the special teams side, Gifford is a really good player, as he posted the fourth-best Pro Football Focus grade on special teams in 2022 (H/T Mike Herndon).

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Cowboys’ Fassel on Week 10’s unsung special teams hero: ‘Like nothing I’ve seen before’

Luke Gifford tied his career-high in tackles and got his first fumble recovery on just 26 snaps Sunday, impressing the special teams guru. | From @ToddBrock24f7

Within the highly-focused world of special teams, John Fassel has certainly seen some stuff.

In 2012 with the Raiders, his entire three-man kicking battery (kicker, punter, long snapper) made the Pro Bowl. With the Rams, his specialists combined for seven Pro Bowls. Over his time with that franchise, his players won NFC Special Teams Player of the Week honors 15 times.

To be sure, in almost a quarter-century of coaching, Fassel’s been around plenty of exemplary special teams play.

But what Cowboys linebacker Luke Gifford did on Sunday in Green Bay left even the 48-year-old coordinator grasping for adjectives.

“Like nothing I’ve seen before,” Fassel told reporters on Monday. “Five legitimate tackles in one game, on special teams. I haven’t ever been a part of a game where one guy had that many tackles. And he had a fumble recovery, too. He was very productive; he actually missed one [tackle] on a punt at the end of the game. It could have been six.”

And Gifford, the undrafted Nebraska product who’s been with the club since 2019, did it while playing just 26 snaps, all on special teams. It’s the same stat line that safety Jayron Kearse delivered… only it took Kearse 57 snaps.

“Really proud of him,” Fassel said of Gifford. “He said this morning, ‘When it rains, it pours.'”

Gifford’s latest pop-up shower represents an absolute downpour of points on an in-house scoring system that Fassel uses to grade his special teams players.

“We’re doing the math on it right now, and it shot him up the chart,” he said. “It might be a 100-point game. For the season, the benchmark is 500 points, so you see 100 points in one game, that’s a lot.”

Fassel employs the scoring system as just one way to motivate his guys, who are often younger or less experienced players- like Gifford- just trying to do enough to earn a chance on offense or defense.

“Bonus points for tackles, fumble recoveries, forced fumbles,” Fassel explained. “Proud of him, because he’s been under the radar, playing really good football. Maybe the stat sheet doesn’t show it. Also his leadership. I think the best is yet to come for him.”

Gifford has gotten in on defense over his three-plus seasons, but very sparingly. He’s played with the regular defensive unit in just seven games; he logged double-digit snaps exactly once.

But on special teams, the third-string linebacker has been a mainstay. He’s participated in over half of the special teams snaps in 33 of the 38 games he’s dressed for as a Cowboy.

So Fassel’s leaderboard may be his best shot at getting noticed within a position group that includes phenom Micah Parsons, fan favorite Leighton Vander Esch, veteran Anthony Barr, and high-potential newcomers Jabril Cox and Damone Clark.

Fassel says he adopted the special teams point system from one of his early coaching stops.

“I got it back when I was an assistant with the Baltimore Ravens in 2006,” he recalled. “I worked for Frank Gansz Jr., who was a coordinator. And his dad, Frank Gansz Sr.- arguably the most legendary special teams coach in the National Football League- I kind of got it from him. We’ve obviously changed it over the course of all the years with how do you score points, how much this production is worth, a tackle’s worth this many points, a forced fumble’s worth this many points, a blocked punt’s worth this many points, just doing your job is worth this many points. So it has to do with two things: participation and production. And 500 points is the goal for the end of the season. Usually we have about six players, on average, that will hit 500 points per year.”

Being the year-end winner would earn Gifford plenty of recognition- plus an added bonus- from one of the top special teams minds in today’s game.

“A lot of love, and a lot of cool other something,” Fassel laughed. “Maybe a big old dinner at the house or something.”

But what would be even better for Gifford is if his ultra-rare special teams performance simply leads to more regular chances in the defensive huddle.

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Predicting 7 players Cowboys will make inactive vs Buccaneers

Here’s @KDDrummondNFL taking a look at the Cowboys roster, where they have surplus and what their strategy might be in choosing the group that will be inactive.

The Dallas Cowboys have announced their 55-man talent pool they have to choose from for Sunday night’s season opener against the Pirate Ship Brady. Of course NFL rules don’t allow the club to bring all 55 players into the water, rather they have to leave some of their roster on the sideline, playing dress up, hopefully getting motivated to force their way to the game-day roster.

For now though, the Cowboys coaching staff led by Mike McCarthy has another job to do, after the week worth of swim lessons. He and the coordinators will have a battle over which seven end-of-roster guys will be best served staying on the beach.

Starting in the 2020 season, game-day active rosters, which used to be limited to 46 players per team, can be bumped up to 48, as long as at least eight of those 48 are offensive linemen. The Cowboys have eight lineman on the regular roster, and all three backups are much needed. Here’s our best guess at the seven players, who almost to a man have waited all offseason for their chance to play, just to get it snatched from them in a numbers game.

Vander Esch, Gifford signings provide Cowboys improvable depth at LB

The Dallas Cowboys re-signed linebackers Leighton Vander Esch and Luke Gifford to bolster up a position that’s in need of quality and depth. | From @BenGrimaldi

The Dallas Cowboys continue to maintain their reputation of being a team that loves to sign their own players in free agency. Their latest deal was bringing back linebacker Leighton Vander Esch on a one-year deal, worth up to $3 million.

In an interesting plot twist, the Cowboys declined to use the fifth-year option for $9.145 million on Vander Esch last offseason and get him back at a significantly reduced price in this year. For a team that tends to make questionable decisions with their money, this one worked in Dallas’ favor.

Vander Esch’s career trajectory has been on the way down, but he’s still a solid player who can help at a position in desperate need for the Cowboys. The team limited the LB’s snaps during the 2021 season and got good results. After an All-Pro first season, Vander Esch’s play has fallen off due to injuries to his neck and collarbone, which led to his reduced role to keep him on the field.

He responded with 77 tackles, two pass deflections and his first career interception. For a fraction of the cost, the Cowboys are gambling that level of productivity is his floor moving forward, and if not the investment isn’t overwhelming.

The teams lack of depth at LB surely played a role the decision. With Vander Esch and fellow LB’s Luke Gifford, Keanu Neal and Francis Bernard free agents, the defense needed bodies.

That left star LB Micah Parsons and last year’s fourth-round pick Jabril Cox as the only hold overs at the position. Cox will be coming off a torn ACL and played limited snaps as a rookie, so he’ll still have a bit of a learning curve.

Parsons was the only LB on the roster who had significant playing time at the position in 2021, but he is also expected to get pass rushing snaps at defensive end. And if the Cowboys don’t address DE further after losing Randy Gregory, there’s an outside chance that he’ll get even more opportunities to rush the passer.

The Cowboys also used former safety Neal as a LB in 2021, but he didn’t play his best football. Neal arrived because of his familiarity with defensive coordinator Dan Quinn, but his time with the team appears done.

Dallas needed to find a way to build up the position that didn’t have much past Parsons and Cox. Vander Esch was the first domino to fall. After being allowed to test the market early in free agency and not getting a larger deal elsewhere, Vander Esch opted to return to the Cowboys.

Also agreeing to a deal with the Cowboys on Friday was fellow free agent Gifford. The fourth-year undrafted free agent inked a one-year deal to stay in Dallas as well.

Gifford’s main role is as a core special teams player, but he can play LB if called upon.

It might not excite the fan base that’s still asking for a bigger fish in free agency, but Vander Esch can play and Gifford adds valuable depth. Vander Esch is just 26-years old and has an All-Pro on his resume, so the ability is there to have an impact. He might not play to that level again, but  can be a starter if necessary and covers the Cowboys in case they don’t add a high-level LB before the draft.

Vander Esch’s meager contract also allows the Cowboys to go after an elite level defender in free agency. Former Quinn protégé Bobby Wagner remains available and would make an exceptional addition to the Cowboys’ defense. Wagner is one of the few players still available that could make a significant difference for Dallas and the team has the resources to make the move.

Whether they pull the trigger on Wagner or not remains to be seen, but Vander Esch and Gifford’s signings have little bearing on any decisions about Wagner. Friday’s re-signings have more to do with adding depth at a position of need and to bolstering the Cowboys’ special teams.

The Cowboys still need help at LB.

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Gifford blocked punt leads to controversial goal-line turnover for Cowboys

Following a great special teams play, Dak Prescott appeared to score but the controversial ruling resulted in a goal-line turnover.

On two straight drives, the Dallas defense denied the Patriots from scoring after looking pedestrian against Mac Jones on the first two touchdown drives. Defensive end Randy Gregory’s strip-sack sparked the defense after New England was setting up to score more points.

The Cowboys forced a three-and-out on the next drive but special teams coordinator John Fassel had a trick up his sleeve, sending a block unit on the punt and linebacker Luke Gifford made the play.

Fassel has been questioned during his Cowboys tenure but the blocked punt had a sense of redemption. Quarterback Dak Prescott and the offense made it down to the Patriots 1-yard line after a 13-yard completion to wide receiver Cedrick Wilson.

After being stuffed twice, Prescott appeared to score on a sneak and had his entire upper half in the endzone before going down.

The Patriots with Bill Belichick are already a tough test no matter the roster and after head coach Mike McCarthy wasted the coaches challenge in the first quarter, the referees decided not to review it. Prescott leaped over the top on fourth down and after initially ruling it a touchdown, the referees reviewed it and ruled it a fumble after Ja’Whaun Bentley forced Prescott to juggle the football.

New England starts the second half with the football and Dallas will have their hands full down 14-10 in Foxborough.

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Cowboys News: Prescott pops, COVID updates, IR loss, that ‘Hard Knocks’ drone shot

Dak Prescott got rave reviews at practice while the Cowboys add players to (and get one back from) the COVID list, plus Rico Dowdle’s loss. | From @StarConscience, @Cdburnett7, and @ToddBrock24f7

In the final week of preseason football, the Dallas Cowboys have a lot to figure out. A multitude of players and coaches are currently in COVID protocol, limiting their preparation for Week 1 and raising questions about when they’ll each be back. Running back Rico Dowdle has also been lost, but his absence will be felt for longer after being placed on season-ending IR.

The Cowboys won’t have to wait much longer to unleash Dak Prescott, though; the starting quarterback rejoined team drills on Wednesday to rave reviews. Cowboys team owner Jerry Jones spoke highly of backup Cooper Rush, though, saying the offense would be efficient if he had to be the starter during the regular season. Jones also made headlines of a different sort with one NFL agent who had some harsh words for the Dallas boss.

In the player countdown to the regular season, there are four new entries with the profiles on linebackers Leighton Vander Esch and Luke Gifford, defensive end Bradlee Anae, and left guard Connor Williams.

And the story behind that epic Hard Knocks drone shot is as crazy as the three-minutes of footage that opened this week’s episode. This is Wednesday’s Cowboys News and Notes.