Category: NFL

FRISCO, Texas — In 2007, Mike McCarthy was 44 years old and in his second year as Green Bay Packers head coach. He was still learning the trade and emotions would sometimes flare, especially with a rookie kicker.

McCarthy is now 58 and facing a pressure-packed 2022 as he enters his third season as the Dallas Cowboys coach and is likely to face a similarly uncertain kicking situation that could make his emotions flare again.

With the Packers in 2007, Mason Crosby was a sixth-round pick. As 2022 begins, McCarthy isn’t quite sure who will be the Dallas kicker.

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The Cowboys have just one on their 90-man roster — Jonathan Garibay, undrafted out of Texas Tech.

In all likelihood, the Cowboys will add another kicker before flying to Oxnard, California, for training camp in July, but the assorted veterans available have résumés that don’t guarantee more success than Garibay.

It’s possible the Cowboys re-sign Chris Naggar, who was released before the rookie minicamp this spring. He has kicked in one NFL game. They will likely keep their eye on kicker battles across the NFL this the summer, and might even look to the USFL for help.

“Patience,” a smiling McCarthy said when asked what it is like to have such a quandary at kicker.

How’s his patience these days?

“Better today than I was in 2007, I’ll say that,” McCarthy said. “It was a good experience.”

In 2007, Crosby made 31 of 39 field goal attempts as the Packers made it to the NFC Championship Game. He hit a 42-yarder in his first game to beat the Philadelphia Eagles and none of his misses came in a game Green Bay lost.

In the one session he kicked during an offseason practice that was open to the media, Garibay displayed a strong leg. He made multiple kicks from 50 yards, but also had a miss from 55 and a 53-yarder ticked off the right upright. McCarthy believes the experience of snapper Jake McQuaide and holder Bryan Anger will help.

“You can definitely get a feel for his ability,” McCarthy said. “… He’s off to a good start. He’s just young.”

Crosby had a better collegiate résumé than Garibay, although Garibay did make a 62-yarder to beat Iowa State and help Texas Tech become bowl eligible. It was the longest make in FBS last season. Garibay missed just one attempt all year (15 of 16) and was a first-team All-Big 12 pick. In 2020, he made 8-of-11 tries.

“Man, as a kicker, you always dream of moments like that, just having the opportunity,” Garibay said. “I live by the saying that I’d rather be ready for an opportunity and not have it then have one and not be ready for it. I think when it came down to it, I was excited for that opportunity to kick that field goal.”

The Cowboys’ kicking situation last season was too shaky, even for a team that finished 12-5 and won the NFC East.

Greg Zuerlein missed six field goal attempts last season, when three of the Cowboys’ five losses were decided by fewer than three points. He missed at least one kick in each of those games, although he made a 56-yarder to beat the Los Angeles Chargers in Week 2.

The Cowboys remained in Zuerlein’s corner, believing (hoping?) the veteran would find his form after not kicking in the offseason and through almost all of training camp because of back surgery. In March, they decided to move on from his $2.2 million salary, although they nearly re-signed him before he joined the New York Jets.

How the Cowboys are handling the position harkens back to the 1990s when they relied on former special teams coach Steve Hoffman to find a cost-effective kicker, and he mostly found them with the likes of Chris Boniol, Richie Cunningham and Lin Elliott.

In more recent years, their approach has been similar to 2011 when they had five kickers on the training camp roster — Dan Bailey, David Buehler, Dave Rayner, Shayne Graham and Kai Forbath.

Bailey, undrafted out of Oklahoma State, won the job and at one point became the most accurate kicker in NFL history. He made 32 of 37 field-goal attempts as a rookie.

Under the Bailey model, Garibay would have an inside edge.

At least for now, months before the games start when McCarthy’s patience is high.

“It means that they expect a lot from me,” Garibay said. “At the end of the day, I expect a lot from myself. … It’s a lot of mental. It’s mainly mental. There’s a lot of great guys out there that have the strength, that are really good kickers, that have power and accuracy. Just sometimes it’s a mental thing. It’s 99 percent mental and the other 1 percent is probably mental, too.

“I think there is a high expectation and I’m just trying to do like I’ve always done — focus on myself, not focus on the competition, and take it one kick at a time. That’s the mentality you’ve got to have — one for one all the time.”

RENTON, Wash. — If DK Metcalf had any doubt at the end of last season whether he’d get a contract extension from the Seattle Seahawks, you couldn’t tell based on this response:

“It’s gonna get done, in my opinion,” Metcalf said in January. “I’m just gonna let the chips fall where they may and let God and the Seahawks and my agent take care of the rest. I know everything is going to work out just fine.”

A lot has happened since.

The Seahawks traded quarterback Russell Wilson to the Denver Broncos. The wide receiver market skyrocketed to the point that Seahawks general manager John Schneider expressed sticker shock at some of the megadeals signed early in free agency. And most recently, Metcalf skipped mandatory minicamp — without permission from the team — in what seemed like a clear indication that he and his representation were unhappy with where his contract negotiations stand.

The Seahawks have expressed optimism both publicly and behind the scenes since then that a deal will get done, but it hardly seems like a slam dunk.

Let’s take a look at some of the key questions.

What should we make of Metcalf skipping minicamp?

• Where things stand with Seahawks, DK Metcalf
• Evaluating Russell Wilson, Broncos
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• Dennis Allen ‘keeping the DNA the same’
• Dick Vermeil’s unconventional HOF career

It was mildly surprising for a couple of reasons.

Metcalf had participated in some of the voluntary portion of the team’s offseason program. He showed up in the early stages even though his recovery from foot surgery meant he couldn’t participate in workouts.

The recent trend with Seahawks players (and others around the NFL) who are seeking new contracts has been to attend the mandatory portions of offseason work (i.e. minicamp and training camp) but not take part in practices. For the player, the “hold-in” is a best-of-all-worlds approach because it allows him to avoid fines as well as the risk of injury, all while making a statement about his desire to get paid. Bobby Wagner did it in 2019. Jamal Adams and Duane Brown did it last summer.

Metcalf’s foot surgery gave him an easy out to do the same thing during minicamp, yet he stayed away entirely. That subjected him to more than $93,000 in fines for missing all three days. He’d be subject to $40,000 in fines for every day of training camp he misses. He also risks losing an accrued season toward free agency by not reporting on time.

Coach Pete Carroll said he’s no less optimistic about getting a deal done with Metcalf than before his minicamp no-show, citing the team’s strong track record of extending players it wants to keep long-term. The Seahawks typically finalize big-money extensions after the start of training camp.

“These are crucial weeks to get something done, and we’ll see what happens and hope that we can work something out,” Carroll said earlier this month. “[We’ve] really intended to get that done.”

What Metcalf’s market?

The short answer is that it’s probably in A.J. Brown territory but below Davante Adams and Tyreek Hill territory.

Adams and Hill signed deals early in free agency averaging $28 million and $30 million per year, respectively, prompting Schneider to express “a sense of shock” at where the market has gone. Brown then got a four-year, $100 million extension that includes more than $57 million in guarantees after the Philadelphia Eagles acquired him from the Tennessee Titans during the draft.

Metcalf and Brown, college teammates at Ole Miss, entered the NFL together as second-round picks in 2019. They’re both 24. So Brown’s deal might be a more apples-to-apples comp for Metcalf than those of Adams and Hill, who are both in their late 20s and have accomplished more over a longer period.

Over his three seasons, Metcalf has more catches (216), targets (358), yards (3,170) and touchdowns (29) than Brown. Hill and Adams have Metcalf beat in all four categories over that same span.

ESPN polled three NFL agents who aren’t involved in the Metcalf negotiations but are well-versed in the receiver market. One predicts the Seahawks will extend Metcalf on an annual average similar to Brown’s $25 million. Another thinks they won’t go any higher than $25 million per season and around $60 million guaranteed — assuming a four-year extension, Seattle’s preferred length. The third agent doesn’t think the Seahawks will go that high and predicts they team will trade Metcalf.

All three agents noted the massive base salaries in the final year(s) of the aforementioned deals, which artificially inflate their overall averages and make it tougher to pinpoint Metcalf’s range.

What kind of cap shape are the Seahawks in?

They’re fine.

OverTheCap.com lists them with around $16 million in available 2022 cap space, taking into account their recent extension for defensive tackle Bryan Mone. Metcalf is set to make just under $4 million in the final year of his rookie deal. An extension could be structured so that his 2022 cap number would be increased by only a couple million dollars or so, which would leave enough for other expenses like the practice squad and in-season injury replacements.

The Seahawks will start to reap the cap savings from the Wilson trade next year, with OTC ranking them third in 2023 cap space at around $58 million. The agent who predicts a Metcalf trade thinks his representation will drive a hard bargain knowing Seattle has the financial freedom that comes with Wilson’s huge contract no longer being on the books.

Don’t Metcalf and Brown have the same agent?

Yep. Tory Dandy also represents three other big-name receivers: Mike Williams, Chris Godwin (both just got deals averaging $20 million per season) and Deebo Samuel (who’s seeking an extension).

Schneider said at the owners meetings that Dandy’s representing those other receivers shouldn’t complicate negotiations with Metcalf, noting that the Seahawks have an “awesome” relationship with Dandy.

But two of the agents polled by ESPN think Dandy will be more motivated to top Brown’s deal than he would be if another agent negotiated it.

Could the Seahawks really trade Metcalf?

The fact that they didn’t do so before the draft suggests some optimism that a deal will get done, because waiting until after the draft would mean having to wait a year to reap the benefits of a trade.

ESPN simulated the Metcalf trade possibility in April, with NFL Nation reporters making offers on behalf of the teams they cover. None of the seven offers matched the Seahawks’ presumed asking price of two first-round picks or something of similar value.

The Seahawks received calls from teams interested in trading for Metcalf before the draft and, according to a source, told those teams they weren’t looking to trade Metcalf. But they’d have to at least start listening to offers if, whenever negotiations resume, they don’t feel like a deal is possible.

THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. — Los Angeles Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford was asked how he and wide receiver Cooper Kupp could possibly top their success from last season.

Stafford joked, “You can’t sit there and go, ‘Well, the only thing to do now is go for 2,500 yards and I’ll throw for 7,000. That’s unrealistic.”

But offensive coordinator Liam Coen knows one of the Rams’ offseason moves could not only make this offense more dangerous, but help Kupp as well. While Kupp and now-Rams wide receiver Allen Robinson II have been utilized differently in their careers, both receivers are so versatile, Coen said, the Rams can use variations of formations to move both around to different spots and create favorable matchups.

“Getting Cooper [Kupp] on a nickel, getting Allen [Robinson] on a backer and then switching those guys,” Coen said. “And vice versa. We think it will be difficult to defend and it was obviously difficult to defend [Kupp] over the last few years and having the kind of guys that we had. But given that diversity that Allen brings to us, I definitely think that it will present some challenges to the defense.”

Coen said Robinson’s route tree is “extremely expanded from probably years ago, or maybe what we’ve had our other receivers do.”

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“I mean, he can run a lot of routes that Cooper can, you know — some of those option routes and choice routes and things that we asked Cooper to do — because he just has an unbelievable ability to play underneath himself,” Coen said.

Kupp had one of the best seasons a wide receiver in history — winning the receiving “triple crown” with 145 receptions for 1,947 yards and 16 touchdowns — and did so running 58% of his routes out of the slot, with Robert Woods or Odell Beckham Jr. playing opposite Van Jefferson on the outside. Still, Kupp was able to stretch seams and break through for big plays out of a position that isn’t known for them.

Last season with the Chicago Bears, 37.4% of the routes Robinson ran were in the slot. If the Rams are confident Robinson could take up some of the responsibility on the inside, it would give Kupp more room to occasionally operate on the outside. Without Woods or Beckham — at least to start the season — there will be a need for another vertical threat opposite Jefferson.

While Robinson is capable of doing that himself — he had 102 receptions for 1,250 yards and six touchdowns in 2020 before suffering through an illness- and injury-plagued 2021 — perhaps Coen and coach Sean McVay get creative, with Robinson and Kupp splitting that responsibility more than expected.

“He’s one of those bigger receivers that has body control of a smaller guy,” McVay said. “I’ve said this before, I bet you he’s really good when you play pickup basketball because he can get parallel, he can double-up, he has great body control. He has great ball skills.”

Robinson, who signed a three-year, $46 million contract with Los Angeles this offseason, spent the last four seasons with the Bears after breaking in with the Jacksonville Jaguars. The veteran receiver said he spent the spring workouts moving around and “learning the offense from many different spots on the field.”

“Now,” Robinson said during OTAs, “it’s just about building chemistry and learning more so of the nuances of things.”

Stafford didn’t throw during the offseason program as he recovers from a right elbow injury. Still, the quarterback said, one benefit to not being able to participate in every drill is he’s had more time to talk to Robinson on the sidelines and between plays.

“I’ve been very, very impressed with his ability to grasp our offense, his role in our offense,” Stafford said. “His understanding, even when he might miss something or mess something up, the reason is so sound on why he did something — he heard this and thought that, and I’m like, ‘That’s a great thought.’ It’s really productive growth for him in our offense.”

Coen said other than Robinson’s versatility, the receiver’s “unbelievable ability to double you up at the point of attack” stood out to him this spring.

“He really can work edges on you,” Coen said. “Lean and press away from you at the top of the routes. He has really good details, both in the release game and at the top of the routes.”

Robinson said he has already gotten a lot of help from Kupp, saying the pair is “always talking through those different things and really being very specific.” Last season, the Rams ranked seventh in the NFL in Football Outsiders’ passing DVOA. And although the Rams traded Woods and haven’t re-signed Beckham — at least not yet — Kupp said it’s been “great” to work with Robinson.

“It’s been so much fun to be able to collaborate with him,” Kupp said. “There’s a lot of potential for us to be able to do some really special things, but we have to stack the blocks day-by-day and build into that.”