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Cooks misses practice Thursday with concussion

Fantasy Football
December 10, 2015

InjuryInjury likely suffered in Wednesday practice

The New Orleans Saints might be heading into Tampa with a beaten and battered offense.

WR Brandin Cooks, who leads the Saints in all main receiving categories, missed practice Thursday due to a concussion, a new injury for the receiver. In addition, LT Terron Armstead (knee), RG Jahri Evans (ankle) and RT Zach Strief (shoulder) all missed practice due to injury. (The Advocate)

Nerdy Football Analysis: The blog makes no mention of Willie Snead, who missed last week with a calf injury, or Mark Ingram, who was placed on IR on Wednesday. Cooks has virtually no shot at playing against the Bucs this weekend after suffering a mid-week concussion, meaning Ben Watson and Snead (if he can play) candidates for 10-plus targets. Especially after the loss of Ingram and (in all likelihood) Cooks, Tampa Bay is looking like a solid streaming D/ST option this week.

Broncos expect Anderson, Hillman at practice FRI

Fantasy Football
December 10, 2015

InjuryKubiak leaves door open for Juwan Thompson to start Week 14

Broncos HC Gary Kubiak expects C.J. Anderson and Ronnie Hillman to go full tomorrow. Said there’s a chance Juwan Thompson could start. (Nicki Jhabvala on Twitter)

Nerdy Football Analysis: Anderson is trying to recover from an ankle injury while Hillman is battling a foot issue. The fact that Kubiak is willing to concede Thompson could be the starter this week suggests that Hillman’s injury, which did not force him from Week 13, could be nearly as serious as the injury that forced Anderson from the same game. This is quickly shaping up as a situation to avoid despite what should be a plus-matchup for the Denver running game.

Browns Rumors: Benjamin, Barnidge, Roper

Fantasy Football
December 10, 2015

The Browns signed tight end Gary Barnidge to a contract extension today, and while the salary numbers on the deal aren’t yet known, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets that he believes Barnidge’s camp was targeting $4MM per year.

That would be a team-friendly price for a player who ranks among the NFL’s best tight ends in terms of catches, yards, and touchdowns this season. As I noted in our story on Barnidge’s extension, Lance Kendricks signed a four-year deal worth $4.625MM annually with the Rams in March, and he has never had a season nearly as productive as Barnidge’s 2015. On the other hand, the Browns tight end is 30 years old, and had only caught 44 balls in 92 career games coming into the season.

As we wait on the figures for Barnidge’s new contract, let’s round up a few more news items and notes from out of Cleveland….

  • Another Browns pass catcher, wide receiver Travis Benjamin, indicated earlier in the season that he’d like to remain in Cleveland beyond this year, and the team has since engaged him in extension discussions. According to Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com and Nate Ulrich of the Akron Beacon Journal (Twitter links), Benjamin said today that he thinks he’s about 75% or 80% of the way to reaching a new deal with the Browns.
  • Discussing his extension, Barnidge explained today that he decided not to test the open market because he wanted to repay the Browns for giving him a shot (Twitter link via Cabot). “I want to be part of the turnaround,” Barnidge said.
  • According to Tony Grossi of ESPNCleveland.com, Browns owner Jimmy Haslam has conducted at least one meeting to discuss “how to pick up the broken shards left from the 2015 season.” Team president Alec Scheiner and general manager Ray Farmer were present at that meeting, says Grossi, within a piece examining Farmer’s track record as Browns GM.
  • Browns senior offensive assistant Kurt Roper will finish the season with the team, but he’s on track to become South Carolina’s new offensive coordinator, Cleveland head coach Mike Pettine confirmed today (Twitter link via Ulrich).
  • With the 49ers on the schedule for Cleveland this week, ex-Niners punter Andy Lee reflected on his time in San Francisco, praising the franchise for how it handled his traded to the Browns. Matt Maiocco of CSNBayArea.com has the story, along with Lee’s quotes.

Eagles Notes: McCoy, Bradford, Murray

Fantasy Football
December 10, 2015

It was one of the most fascinating trades of the NFL offseason, and now it’s the story that just won’t go away: with the Eagles preparing to face the Bills this weekend, Philadelphia’s decision to send LeSean McCoy to Buffalo back in March is a hot topic once again, with McCoy and Chip Kelly among those that have discussed the deal this week.

Continuing to get questions about the trade, Kelly told reporters today that the move was designed to free up cap space, and allowed the team to go after Sam Bradford, as Michael David Smith of Pro Football Talk details.

“We traded an outstanding running back for a linebacker, but we also traded $700K for $11.9MM,” Kelly said. “In this league, sometimes a guy signs a four-year, $45 million contract, but it’s two years at $16 million guaranteed, the rest of it isn’t, and the back end is really high. So you have to make decisions when guys aren’t in guaranteed years about what you’re going to do.

“So however you look at it, whether it gave us an opportunity to get somebody defensively with that extra money, or it gave us an opportunity because we had to free up money to get Sam,” Kelly continued. “It was a tough decision, but with all those guys we let go this year who were integral to my first two years here, those decisions were made by money. Those decisions weren’t made because we don’t think they’re good football players or we don’t think they’re good people.”

Here’s more on the Eagles:

  • Per Zach Berman of the Philadelphia Inquirer (Twitter link), McCoy and the Eagles have a difference of opinion on whether it would’ve been possible to restructure his contract before the trade — according to Kelly, McCoy’s agent suggested reworking the contract wasn’t an option, but the running back says that possibility was never brought up.
  • As Jeff McLane of the Philadelphia Inquirer tweets, it’s a case of he-said, he-said at this point, but McLane’s sources dispute Kelly’s claim that agent Drew Rosenhaus was unwilling to restructure McCoy’s deal.
  • While the Eagles’ old running back is one subject of conversation leading up to this week’s game, their current running back is in the news as well. According to Jason Cole of Nerdy Football (video link), there are some NFL executives who believe DeMarco Murray has recognized he’s not a great fit for Kelly’s offense, and would like to return to Dallas. A trade is extremely unlikely though, so Murray would have to be cut for that scenario to be in play.
  • For his part, Murray confirmed today to reporters that he spoke to owner Jeffrey Lurie about his role in Philadelphia, but he said he doesn’t regret signing with the Eagles, and definitely wants to be back next season (all Twitter links via Albert Breer of the NFL Network).

Browns Nearing Extension With Gary Barnidge

Fantasy Football
December 10, 2015

The Browns are moving toward locking up one of their top pass catchers to an extension, keeping him off the free agent market, reports Jason La Canfora of CBSSports.com (via Twitter). According to La Canfora, a new deal for tight end Gary Barnidge and the Browns is “imminent.” Albert Breer of the NFL Network (Twitter link) confirms that the two sides are nearing a deal, adding that it could get done today.

Barnidge, 30, caught just 44 balls in 92 games with the Panthers and Browns between 2008 and 2014, after being selected in the fifth round of the 2008 draft by Carolina. However, he has blown away all his previous career highs this year, catching 60 balls for 817 yards and seven touchdowns in an increased role for the Browns.

Had he played out his contract, Barnidge would’ve been eligible for unrestricted free agency this offseason. Instead, it looks like he’ll continue to catch passes for the Browns in 2016 and beyond. Coming off a $1.2MM salary in 2015, the Louisville product will be in line for a significant raise on his new contract.

It’s not yet known what sort of deal the Browns and Barnidge are discussing, but I imagine the four-year, $18.5MM ($6.75MM) pact signed by Lance Kendricks earlier this year will be a point of reference. That deal put Kendricks just inside the league’s top 15 highest-paid tight ends, despite the fact that he had never caught more than 42 passes or four touchdowns in a season.

Based on his 2015 numbers, Barnidge probably deserves to be valued higher than that — perhaps even within the top 10, which would mean an annual salary of $7MM+. However, I imagine his age and his lack of a track record will limit Cleveland’s willingness to invest too heavily in him. The Browns certainly have no shortage of future cap room though, so it’ll be interesting to see how much the club is willing to commit to its breakout tight end.