Sports blog information from USA TODAY.
2021 4* Savion Byrd has announced his top 14 schools, with Texas making the cut. Bryd is the sixth-ranked OT in the 247Sports composite.
2021 four-star prospect Savion Byrd has announced his top 14 schools, with Texas making the cut. Bryd is the sixth-ranked offensive tackle in the 247Sports composite.
Continue reading “2021 OT Savion Byrd announces top 14 schools”
2021 OT Jonah Miller has announced his top six, with UT making the cut. The 4* prospect shrinks down to Penn State and four Pac 12 schools.
2021 offensive tackle Jonah Miller has announced his top six, with the Longhorns making the cut. The four-star prospect has Penn State and four Pac 12 schools in his final list.
Continue reading “2021 four-star offensive tackle announces top six”
The Broncos have opted not to pick up Garett Bolles’ fifth-year option for the 2021 season.
The Denver Broncos have declined left tackle Garett Bolles’ fifth-year option for the 2021 season, the team announced Friday.
If the option had been picked up, Bolles would have been owed a little more than $11 million next season. Instead, Bolles is now set to become a free agent next spring.
Bolles (6-5, 300 pounds) was selected by the Broncos in the first round of the 2017 NFL Draft (20th overall). Bolles has done a great job staying healthy, starting 48-straight games, but his performances have been inconsistent.
Bolles has allowed 15.5 sacks in his career, an average of 0.323 sacks per game, which isn’t a terrible average. He has averaged nearly one penalty per game, though, and that’s a big problem. Opposing teams have accepted 10-plus penalties called against Bolles in each of the last three seasons.
This offseason, Bolles will compete with Elijah Wilkinson for the starting left tackle job.
Bolles is set to have a base salary of $1,969,351 in 2020, according to Spotrac.com. By the time his four-year rookie contract expires, Bolles will have earned a total of $11,243,509.
Bolles will have a salary cap hit of $3,510,154 this season (that’s his base salary plus $1,540,803 from a prorated signing bonus cap hit).
Entering his fourth season, Bolles will turn 28 years old on May 27.
[vertical-gallery id=639134]
2021 three-star OT Tristan Bounds has announced his top eight, with the Longhorns making the cut. Bounds was offered on April 22.
2021 three-star offensive tackle Tristan Bounds has announced his top eight, with the Longhorns making the cut. A top-ranked player from the state of Connecticut, Bounds could be looking at leaving the northeast.
Continue reading “Three star offensive tackle from Connecticut puts Texas in top eight”
Matthew McConaughey is known as the jack of all trades around Austin, but you can now add recruiter to his resume.
Texas is pulling out all the stops to steer five-star prospect Tommy Brockerymeyer to Austin. Continue reading “Matthew McConaughey video chats with five-star Texas target”
The Broncos expect Ja’Wuan James to step up in 2020.
[jwplayer PKny9xWi-ThvAeFxT]
When the Denver Broncos signed Ja’Wuan James to a four-year, $51 million contract last March, they expected him to shore up the right tackle position.
Unfortunately, James battled knee injuries throughout the 2019 season and ended up playing in three games (Elijah Wilkinson served as a fill-in starter).
Going into the 2020 season, Broncos general manager John Elway hopes to see James live up to his big contract.
“[We had] great expectations of him last year,” Elway said during a post-draft Zoom conference call with reporters on April 25. “He was hurt so he couldn’t play very much last year. We have great expectations with him coming back and being the right tackle for us and playing like he’s capable of playing.”
James played in all 16 games with the Miami Dolphins in 2014, missed nine games in 2015, played all 16 games in 2016, missed eight games in 2017 and then played in 15 games in 2018. He seemingly goes injury-free every other season. If that trend continues, he should be healthy in 2020.
Beyond this season, James might not be a reliable option at right tackle. James hasn’t proven that he can stay healthy for more than one year so Denver should consider drafting a potential replacement in 2021.
[vertical-gallery id=638498]
Here’s an early look at what positions the Broncos might target in the 2021 NFL Draft.
The Denver Broncos just wrapped up the 2020 NFL Draft but it’s not too early to look ahead to next year’s draft (we’ll, maybe it is, but we’re going to look ahead anyway).
Here’s a way-too-early prediction for the team’s draft needs in 2021.
1. Offensive Tackle
Garett Bolles might end up starting in 2020 but he’s not the long-term answer at left tackle. Ja’Wuan James will only be 28 this season but he hasn’t proved he can stay healthy. Denver needs more reliable starters at both tackle spots.
2. Inside Linebacker
Todd Davis isn’t good enough in coverage to remain one of the team’s top inside linebackers beyond this season. Justin Strnad might emerge as a starting-caliber linebacker but if he doesn’t, the Broncos will need to address the position sooner than later.
3. Safety
Justin Simmons will hopefully sign a long-term contract extension with Denver but the Broncos will need to give him a long-term partner in the secondary. Kareem Jackson is an excellent strong safety but he’s 32 years old.
4. Nose Tackle
Mike Purcell stepped up for Denver last season but he’ll turn 30 years old next spring. Most of the other defensive linemen on the roster appear to be better suited to play as defensive ends than as nose tackles.
5. Outside Linebacker
Von Miller is a legend and we’re certainly not trying to run him out of town. Miller is 31, though, and at some point within the next few years, he will probably transition to being a rotational pass rusher. The Broncos need to start thinking about the future.
6. Cornerback
A.J. Bouye should be a good No. 1 cornerback for the next few years but we are yet to find out if Bryce Callahan will return to his pre-injury form. Callahan might also be best-suited to play in the slot so Denver might end up needing a true No. 2 cornerback.
7. Running Back
Melvin Gordon will have just one year remaining on his contract after this season and he will be turning 29 when he becomes a free agent. If the Broncos don’t re-sign Gordon, they will need more depth at running back.
[vertical-gallery id=638498]
The Los Angeles Chargers could benefit from left tackle Jason Peters’ presence.
The Chargers entered the draft with many expecting that they were going to select a left tackle.
Seven rounds went by and they came away empty-handed.
The decision to not pick a single offensive lineman left fans scratching their heads, wondering why Los Angeles elected to not address a positional group that has questions surrounding it.
After the draft, general manager Tom Telesco said that they like their in-house options as the reason why they didn’t select one. But he didn’t comment on whether or not the team will look to the free agency pool.
One intriguing option that has been connected to the Bolts for awhile is Jason Peters. Peters, who was released by the Eagles in February, remains a free agent.
Recently, Peters has talked to teams in recent weeks and threw the idea of being a starter while mentoring a young guy like he did with Philadelphia and Andre Dillard last season, according to NFL Media’s Mike Garafolo.
If that’s the case, that could entice the Chargers, who have former third-round pick Trey Pipkins slated to start. Even though Pipkins has some experience in the starting role, he could benefit from another year to develop and learn from one of the best left tackles before taking over.
Over the past three seasons, Peters has been the model of production. Since 2017, he has an 82.6 grade per Pro Football Focus, which is 12th among offensive tackles, where he has played 2,163 regular season snaps along the way.
Even at 38 years of age, Peters only allowed 21 pressures on 562 pass-blocking attempts last season. He had the fourth-highest grade in pass blocking and 17th-highest grade in the run blocking department, per PFF.
Durability concerns loom as he has dealt with numerous injuries in recent seasons. However, he has still started 29 of a possible 32 games the past two years, managing to still play at a fairly high level over that span.
The Chargers, who are one of the teams who have the most salary cap space available ($22 million), could benefit immensely from a borderline elite left tackle at the cost of very little without much long-term guaranteed money.
With the roster that Los Angeles has in place, adding Peters to a line that will now feature guard Trai Turner and tackle Bryan Bulaga, could put them in contention to make a deep run this upcoming season.
Texas is now targeting a highly sought-after five-star offensive tackle in the 2021 recruiting class.
Texas sent an offer to an athletic, long-armed offensive lineman on Friday. Continue reading “Texas offers five-star offensive tackle from Virginia”
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.”
[vertical-gallery id=638498]
