Tag: Marcus Davenport

Jonathan Greenard, Andrew Van Ginkel recognized in PFF’s edge rusher rankings

Jonathan Greenard and Andrew Van Ginkel were ranked in the top 32 edge rushers by PFF.

The 2024 Minnesota Vikings defense will look slightly different when they take the field this fall. The Vikings lost vets like Jordan Hicks, Danielle Hunter, and D.J. Wonnum. But the team brass did a great job at filling the roster with quality players and drafted some talent as well.

Minnesota signed two free agent edge rushers — former Dolphin Andrew Van Ginkel and former Texan Jonathan Greenard — to fill the void left by the losses of Hunter, Wonnum, and Marcus Davenport.

Van Ginkel had 69 tackles and a career-high six sacks in 2023 with Miami. Greenard also had a career year. The former third-round pick had 52 tackles and 12.5 sacks in ’23, topping his previous best of eight sacks in 2021.

With both having career years last season, Pro Football Focus had both of them listed in their top 32 edge rusher rankings. You can find a couple of other familiar names on the list as well.

Van Ginkel came in at No. 24.

Van Ginkel had a career year in almost every category in 2023, earning a 91.2 overall grade with a 90.6 pass-rush grade. His 53 quarterback pressures and 18.1% pass-rush win rate were both by far the best marks of his career. We’ll see if he can continue that impactful play with the Minnesota Vikings.

Greenard was ranked at No. 30.

Greenard enjoyed his best season as a pro in 2023, with a 78.2 overall grade thanks to a 73.2 pass-rush grade. He finished the year with 12.5 sacks and a 12.8% pass-rush win rate. He’ll now look to build on that as a member of the Minnesota Vikings.

It’s worth noting that Hunter was ranked at No. 16. Although he didn’t play much last season, Davenport was ranked No. 32 overall.

Marcus Davenport tabbed as the Lions top bounce-back candidate for 2024

Marcus Davenport tabbed as the Lions top bounce-back candidate for 2024 by PFF, and we added a couple other choices too

Marcus Davenport has not even been through a fully padded practice with the Detroit Lions yet, but he’s already carrying some interesting expectations. The pass rusher, signed as a free agent this offseason, was tabbed as the Lions player who is the best candidate for a bounce-back season by the analysts at Pro Football Focus.

Davenport was up-and-down in his five seasons with the New Orleans Saints, and his last year there was a down one. The 2018 first-rounder from UTSA notched just 0.5 sacks in 15 games in 2022, a season after bagging nine sacks and nine other TFLs in 2021, his best season. Davenport’s 2023 was entirely forgettable for him and regrettable for the Vikings, who signed him as a free agent only to see him battle a high ankle sprain for four games and miss the rest of the season.

If there’s anything left in Davenport, Detroit does seem a good place to coax the rebound. As PFF notes,

In New Orleans, though, Davenport proved to be a regularly disruptive defensive lineman. He generated 30 or more pressures in each of his first five seasons and especially peaked toward the end of his first contract, with an 88.8 overall grade in 2021.

The Lions’ defensive line should be formidable this year with Aidan Hutchinson, D.J. Reader and Alim McNeill, but don’t discount Davenport looking more like himself and also wreaking havoc.

While PFF didn’t list any other candidates for any of the teams, Detroit does have a couple other potential bounce-back prospects. Defensive lineman John Cominsky saw his overall play and his pass rushing productivity slip quite a bit in 2023, his second season in Detroit. Punter Jack Fox quietly had his worst season in 2023 too, finishing almost 2.5 yards per punt shy of his average over the first three years of his career.

EDGE listed as the Lions’ biggest weakness by PFN

EDGE listed as the Lions’ biggest weakness by PFN after the 2024 NFL draft

The NFL draft is all about filling needs on a team. Some of those needs might be immediate, while others shoot for a longer view in the team-building process. Not every need gets filled, however.

For the Detroit Lions, the 2024 NFL Draft left a couple of positions that were generally seen as team needs untouched. Pro Football Network went through each team and identified the biggest remaining need. For Detroit, it was the EDGE group.

Here’s what Pro Football Network wrote about the Lions’ biggest weakness,

“The Detroit Lions couldn’t have done a better job of filling their cornerback holes during the draft. But Dan Campbell and company came up empty at edge rusher.

Detroit ranked 23rd in the league with 41 sacks last season. The Lions need more explosiveness on the edge opposite Aidan Hutchinson, who’s a phenomenal player but likely will draw many double teams in 2024.

Who will step up if opposing teams neutralize Hutchinson?”

The Lions do have some credible in-house potential. Third-year players Josh Paschal and James Houston have shown promise, especially Houston with his eight sacks in six games near the end of his rookie season. Both have been dogged by injuries, which is also true of top free agent addition Marcus Davenport. CFL standout Mathieu Betts is also in the mix.

None of those options are sure things, however. The Lions are hoping one of those question marks at EDGE turns into an answer.

Vikings give DL Jonah Williams a modest contract

The contract details for Minnesota Vikings DL Jonah Williams reveal a modest contract value.

Though the fanfare of the NFL’s free agency period has come and gone, there are still plenty of moves to be made and players to be signed. The Minnesota Vikings continue to make moves to fill out their roster, signing defensive lineman Jonah Williams last week to a one-year deal.

The specifics of that contract have now emerged, giving us a better idea of just how much the Vikings committed to their new signing. Williams signed a one-year deal worth $1.5 million. Included in that is a $1.1 million base salary with $250K guaranteed at signing. The deal also includes a $100K signing bonus and up to $275K in per-game bonuses and a $25K workout bonus.

Williams, originally an undrafted free agent out of Weber State, spent his first three seasons in Los Angeles with the Rams, where he worked his way into the starting lineup last season. Williams turned that starting opportunity into 49 tackles, two sacks, and four TFLs.

Williams now joins a Vikings defense that was one of the league’s best in 2023, but saw a lot of upheaval in free agency. Gone from the defense is Danielle Hunter, Marcus Davenport, Jordan Hicks, D.J. Wonnum, and Khyiris Tonga, among others. Williams is a small part in replacing those losses, but there’s more work to be done to fill out the roster.

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Detroit Lions Podcast: Bish and Brown on Lions first week of free agency

Detroit Lions Podcast: Bish and Brown on Lions first week of free agency, draft prospect fits and more

On another episode of the Detroit Lions Podcast with Bish and Brown, the guys are back to talk about the Lions first week of free agency! Join Russ and Scott as they are talking about the players the Lions signed and traded for during the start of free agency. Here’s some of the things the guys discussed:

  • Lions sign Marcus Davenport, Amik Robertson and traded for Carlton Davis!
  • Player Fit at Pick 29 of the 2024 NFL Draft: Zach Frazier, IOL, West Virginia
  • Prospect of the Week | Powered by Restore!

Saints guaranteed every dollar of Chase Young’s $13 million contract

The New Orleans Saints guaranteed every dollar of Chase Young’s $13 million contract. But his real salary cap hit might be much lower:

Whew. This is a big deal. The New Orleans Saints guaranteed every dollar of their $13 million contract with free agent defensive end Chase Young, as reported by ESPN’s Adam Schefter and confirmed by CBS Sports’ Josina Anderson.

But as is always the case with this team, don’t expect that to mean a simple $13 million salary cap charge on their accounting books. Depending on how this deal is structured, Young’s cap hit for 2024 could be as low as $3.5 million. Here’s how the accounting would look with four “ghost years” set to void at the end of the 2024 league year:

  • 2024 salary: $1,125,000; signing bonus proration: $2,375,000
  • 2025 signing bonus proration: $2,375,000
  • 2026 signing bonus proration: $2,375,000
  • 2027 signing bonus proration: $2,375,000
  • 2028 signing bonus proration: $2,375,000

The risk in doing this is that the Saints would be left with a dead money cap charge of $9.5 million next offseason should Young not re-sign on a new deal.

But the Saints have shown us before they’re comfortable paying that if need be. Andrus Peat is counting against the cap by more than $13.6 million and Marcus Maye has a dead money hit of $8.1 million for 2024 — and they both visited the Tennessee Titans on Monday as free agents who the Saints chose to let go. They paid comparable dead money hits in 2023 for David Onyemata ($10.1 million) and Marcus Davenport ($7.6 million).

If this is the route the Saints go, choosing to create short-term flexibility while jeopardizing future cap resources, it’s only a problem if Young fails to perform as expected in 2024. If he turns out to be a free agent bust and both sides move on, well: the Saints will have bigger problems to worry about  than where 3.4% of their salary cap is going. It’ll mean the pass rush failed to show up, again, and that the team lost a lot of games. And that Dennis Allen probably isn’t their head coach anymore. So when you take a big-picture view, this isn’t as big a gamble for the Saints at it might look at first glance.

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Marcus Davenport: What the Lions are getting in their free agent DE

Marcus Davenport: Breaking down the scouting report on the new Detroit Lions DE signed in free agency

It’s been no secret that the Lions needed to find improvements at certain positions on defense. Just off the top, cornerback and defensive end have been the most commonly discussed positions for improvement on defense. During the first day of free agency, the Lions jumped right in to find those improvements.

Prior to striking a deal to trade for cornerback Carlton Davis, the Lions signed defensive end Marcus Davenport. The deal is a one-year deal with a base salary of $6.5 million dollars, but it’s an incentive-based deal that can become a max deal worth $10 million dollars.

For Lions fans, you can live with a low-risk move that could pay off big time. Especially if Davenport is able to play and potentially start in 9 games or more. Health will be the key concern with Davenport. Injuries have plagued his career.

Last season, he suffered a high ankle sprain. This placed him on injured reserve and he was only limited to 4 games played. Despite only playing in four games, he was able to record 7 tackles and 2 sacks for the Vikings.

Before signing a one year deal with the Vikings in free agency last year, Davenport was a first round pick to the New Orleans Saints in the 2018 NFL Draft. Through five seasons with the Saints, he played in 62 games and recorded 21.5 sacks. However, injuries limited his growth and ability to stay in New Orleans or land a long-term deal anywhere else.

As Davenport entered his fifth and final season with the Saints, it was announced that he needed five off-season surgeries. Two were on his shoulder, and three were on his left hand. Aaron Glenn and Dan Campbell are familiar with Davenport, as well. After all, they were in New Orleans when the Saints selected him in the first round.

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If he can stay on the field, this would be a move that I could see pay off in a big way for the Lions defensive line. With Davenport being 6-foot-5 and 264 pounds, he fits the mold of players they’re searching for at defensive end. He should be able to provide versatility within the Lions defensive line and ultimately, he’s another chess piece for Aaron Glenn to use on defense.

Video: Recapping the Detroit Lions first day of free agency (and trade)

Video: Recapping the Detroit Lions moves on the first day of NFL free agency, plus Marshawn Kneeland’s pro day

It was a busy Monday in Lions land, the opening day of the NFL’s free agency “legal tampering” period. Teams were free to agree to deals with free agents, though the contracts cannot be signed or made official until Wednesday afternoon.

The Lions made a few moves:

–Re-signing RG Graham Glasgow

–Trading for Buccaneers CB Carlton Davis

–Agreeing to terms with Vikings (and ex-Saints) DE Marcus Davenport

–Waving goodbye to LG Jonah Jackson

I shot a quick little video reaction to the day’s action in Detroit. It was also Western Michigan’s pro day, and the Lions were among 23 teams in Kalamazoo to check out DE Marshawn Kneeland. It leads to a little bit of draft talk at the end of the video.

An audio-only version will be available via your favorite podcast provider by Tuesday morning.

Marcus Davenport to reunite with his old coaches on the Lions

Marcus Davenport is planning to reunite with some of his old coaches on the Lions. It’s a Saints reunion in Detroit:

A former New Orleans Saints draft pick is headed to the Detroit Lions as Marcus Davenport agreed to a one-year deal to reunite with some of his old coaches, per Mike Garafolo of the NFL Network.

Davenport started his career in New Orleans as a first-round draft pick in 2018. He spent five seasons and accumulated 21.5 sacks. He was never able to stay healthy for a full season in New Orleans and production was lacking so the two sides decided to part ways after 2022. He signed with the Minnesota Vikings for 2023, but appeared in just four games due to injury finished with two sacks.

Now, he heads to Detroit on another prove-it deal. He’ll be back with Aaron Glenn and Dan Campbell in a new environment as he tries to get his career back on track.

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Lions agree to terms with Vikings OLB Marcus Davenport

The Detroit Lions agreed to terms with former Minnesota Vikings OLB Marcus Davenport on Monday afternoon.

The Minnesota Vikings have lost another player in free agency.

According to NFL Network’s Mike Garofolo, the Detroit Lions have agreed to terms with former Vikings outside linebacker Marcus Davenport.

The Lions needed to add an edge rusher opposite of Aidan Hutchinson and they do so in Davenport. At 6’6″ and 265 lbs, he provides a level of versatility on the edge.

For the Vikings, Davenport only played in four games and got injured two of them. Over his 118 snaps, Davenport looked the part with two sacks and seven pressures. Unfortunately, he couldn’t stay healthy and both sides ended up parting ways.

The Vikings will incur $6.8 million in dead cap with Davenport’s departure.

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