Linebacker Eric Kendricks was the first outside free agent the Cowboys signed. He remains one of the only outside free agents the team has signed.
Kendricks almost didn’t follow Mike Zimmer to Dallas.
He had agreed to terms with the 49ers before changing his mind.
“I think I would’ve taken more of a reserve role [in San Francisco],” Kendricks said, via Jon Machota of TheAthletic.com, “where as I feel I have a lot left to give and I wanted to be here and be middle linebacker. I wanted to share my experience with the team, share my leadership abilities and command that huddle.”
He replaces Leighton Vander Esch, who retired after the 2023 season because of neck issues.
Kendricks was with the Chargers last season after eight seasons in Minnesota under Zimmer, who was the head coach from 2014-21. He knows the Cowboys’ new defense better than anyone else on the team and will try to show and tell with his new teammates.
The Falcons’ shocking first round of the 2024 NFL draft could have been even more shocking.
Not only did Atlanta do the completely unexpected and draft quarterback Michael Penix with the eighth overall pick, but the Falcons also tried to make a trade to get another Top 10 pick.
In a video from inside their draft room that the Jets posted online, General Manager Joe Douglas is seen on the phone and then telling others in the draft room that the Falcons were going to make their own pick, No. 8 overall, and that the Falcons were also interested in trading for the Jets’ first-round pick, No. 10 overall.
“They are definitely picking,” Douglas said of the Falcons. “And they want to come back up. So they want 8 and 10.”
Ultimately the Jets did trade the No. 10 pick, but they only moved down one spot to No. 11, switching spots with the Vikings. The people in the Jets’ draft room referred to that trade as “free money” because the Jets got additional picks to move down one spot and still got to draft the player they would have taken at No. 10, offensive tackle Olu Fashanu.
“Minnesota still wants to come up to 10. We can get something for nothing,” Douglas said in the Jets’ draft room before finalizing the trade with the Vikings.
The Vikings got their man in J.J. McCarthy. It’s unclear whom the Falcons wanted to draft at No. 10 or how big an offer they made the Jets to get the pick. It’s probably safe to say Atlanta wasn’t going to draft a quarterback.
The Vikings signed punter Seth Vernon on Tuesday, according to the NFL’s transactions report.
Vernon went undrafted in 2022 before signing with the Falcons as an undrafted free agent out of Portland State.
The Falcons cut Vernon before the start of the season.
He has never punted in a regular-season game.
In 2021 at Portland State, Vernon’s 44.9 yards per punt average ranked sixth in the nation.
He joins Ryan Wright at the position for the Vikings.
After months of speculation, the Patriots ultimately did what most people expected in the first round of the 2024 NFL draft: They kept the No. 3 overall pick and drafted North Carolina quarterback Drake Maye.
But if they had wanted to trade down, there were good offers available to them: Mike Reiss of ESPN reports that both the Giants and the Vikings offered multiple first-round picks to the Patriots.
The report says the Giants’ offer was the No. 6 overall pick and their 2025 first-round pick, while the Vikings’ offer was the No. 11 and No. 23 overall picks and their 2025 first-round pick, for the No. 3 pick and two mid-round picks.
The Giants are saying publicly that they believe in Daniel Jones as their starting quarterback, but attempting to move up to Maye suggests that they would have liked to move on from Jones if they had been able to swing the trade. The Vikings were pleased to end up with J.J. McCarthy after moving up to No. 10, but they presumably were looking to trade higher up for Maye.
Now the Patriots will hope that Maye can play at a level that makes them glad they turned down those offers.
The most consequential remarks from the Kirk Cousins introductory press conference with the Falcons relate to his admissions regarding multiple apparent instances of tampering by his new team. As it relates to last week’s still-stunning decision by Atlanta to take quarterback Michael Penix Jr. with the eighth overall pick in the draft, something else Cousins said feels a little different now.
“When the owner, General Manager, head coach, and quarterback are on the same page, that’s when you have really a chance to go win a Super Bowl,” Cousins said. (Thanks to the reader who reminded me of those words.) “As I looked at the Atlanta Falcons, I believe strongly that the owner, head coach, General Manager, and quarterback can all be on the same page. And that’s exciting for me, and so that’s why I’m thrilled to be here.”
Clearly, the owner, G.M., head coach, and Cousins weren’t on the same page last Thursday. They hid the whole damn book from him until they were on the clock and decided to pick Penix.
If Cousins is miffed, that’s likely the main reason for it. He was led to believe the owner, G.M., coach, and quarterback were on the same page, with the goal of winning a Super Bowl. Then, instead of using the eighth overall pick on a player who can help Cousins do that, the Falcons laid the foundation for an eventual Cousins succession plan.
This is where the reality that every NFL team is a big machine with interchangeable parts clashes with the fact that the parts in the machine are human beings. The starting quarterback, if any player on the team, merits consideration.
Some have compared the Falcons’ decision to pick Penix to the Jets a year ago, if they’d selected a quarterback in the first round after trading for Aaron Rodgers. The difference is that Rodgers was clearly leaving the Packers. His options were retirement or the Jets. Cousins could have stayed in Minnesota.
Would he have stayed in Minnesota?
Most of us have had, at one time or another, that sinking “what have I done?” feeling after making a big decision that can’t be undone. Even with $100 million guaranteed over the next three years, Cousins might be thinking that — and he might be plotting a course to undoing it, maybe as soon as next year.
For all players, the situation is a reminder that the team will ALWAYS do what it believes is in the organization’s best interests. If the move also happens to also be in your best interests, that’s a coincidence at best.
The Vikings have formalized an obvious move for their offensive line.
Minnesota announced on Monday that the club has exercised left tackle Christian Darrisaw’s fifth-year option.
Darrisaw, 24, was the 23rd overall pick in the 2021 draft. He is now set to earn a projected $16 million in guaranteed salary for 2025.
In his first three seasons, Darrisaw has appeared in 41 games with 39 starts. He made 15 starts in 2023.
When quarterback Kirk Cousins had his first press conference with the Falcons, he walked the team right into multiple tampering violations. His next press conference could be even more compelling.
That’s when Cousins will field plenty of questions regarding the team’s decision to use the eighth overall pick in the draft on quarterback Michael Penix Jr. It will be interesting to see what he says, and how he says it. Body language. Facial expressions. The classic face-touch tell.
Even if the Falcons never expressly told him they wouldn’t take a quarterback at No. 8, using that pick on a player who won’t be playing if Cousins is playing well kept them from using it on someone who could help them win in 2024, 2025, and 2026. If Cousins plays for that long.
Does he expect to stay three years? Two years? One year?
How does he feel about having a viable competitor for the first time as a starter? Even if the Falcons say all the right things about the pecking order, it could get awkward in the locker room, it could get pointed in the media, and it could get loud in the stands.
WE WANT MANNION is something that never would have been chanted in Minnesota. WE WANT PENIX is a possibility, by Thanksgiving.
Speaking of Minnesota, here’s a fair question for Kirk. If you’d known in March that the Falcons were taking Penix, would you have signed with the Falcons or stayed in Minnesota? The truth, I believe, is that he would have stayed put. While he likely won’t say that, what will he say if/when he’s asked that question?
The other question, beyond his next press conference, is what he’ll do? Will the presence of Penix prompt Cousins to show up early, stay late, and actually work on Tuesdays? Or will he do the minimum, reasoning that if the Falcons aren’t using their draft picks to maximize the team’s chances in 2024 and 2025, why should he work for free?
Cousins might decide he wants out. Technically, he could be traded after June 1 with $12.5 million in dead money this year and $37.5 million in 2025. If traded after the season, the charge in 2025 would be $37.5 million; his cap hit if on the team next year is due to be $40 million.
There’s no way Penix will sit, as G.M. Terry Fontenot has suggested, for four or five years. It’s three at the very most, one at a minimum (barring injury to Cousins). The most likely is two. While Cousins has a no-trade clause, he’d surely consider waiving it for a chance to play elsewhere — if Penix will be taking over then,
Consider the Penix side of this. He turns 24 next week. Does anyone think he won’t do everything in his power to accelerate his timeline for playing?
It’s unclear how he fits in this narrative. Good guy or bad guy? Hero or villain?
Much of that depends on where things go from here. His popularity will spike if Cousins struggles, or if Penix gets a chance to play and plays well.
While scattered justifications and explanations for the move have emerged (including from the usual suspects who know where and how their bread is buttered), the smart view is that the Falcons outsmarted themselves with this one.
Before the draft, the situation for the Vikings and star receiver Justin Jefferson was simple. Pay him, or trade him to someone who will.
Now that the trade window has closed (for now), the Vikings need to pay him.
Recent comments from G.M. Kwesi Adofo-Mensah suggest that they will indeed pay him. But past comments from Adofo-Mensah created that same vibe. They still haven’t paid him.
It really would be easy to do a deal, given Adofo-Mensah’s past admission that Jefferson should be paid like a top non-quarterback. 49ers defensive end Nick Bosa currently holds that title, at $34 million per year in new money. So, four years, $122.043 million. First three years, fully guaranteed.
That’s new money of $34.1 million per year. Done deal today.
During the draft, Adofo-Mensah said, among other things, that the Vikings want Jefferson to get his deal at a time when he can have the spotlight to himself. Did the Eagles think that with A.J. Brown? Did the Lions think that with Amon-Ra St. Brown? Both got market-altering deals last week that won’t make it any cheaper to sign Jefferson.
The price NEVER goes down. Whatever it would have been last September, when Jefferson supposedly rejected $30 million per year, it will be higher now. And it will keep going up. And up. And up.
So do it now, Vikings. Do it today. The time for anger, denial, bargain, and depression are over. It’s time to accept that the price is high and keeps going up.
Stop the bleeding. Start the typing. Make it happen.
The Vikings didn’t waste much time announcing their group of undrafted free agents.
Shortly after the seventh round of the draft wrapped up on Saturday, the Vikings announced that they have agreed to terms with 17 players. They selected seven players during the draft, including first-round picks J.J. McCarthy and Dallas Turner.
The undrafted additions are California offensive lineman Matt Cindric, Miami linebacker K.J. Cloyd, Kentucky offensive lineman Jeremy Flax, Toledo linebacker Dallas Gant, Mercer wide receiver Devron Harper, Mercer wide receiver Ty James, Maryland wide receiver Jeshaun Jones, South Carolina tight end Trey Knox, Arizona defensive lineman Tyler Manoa, FIU linebacker Donovan Manuel, Arkansas cornerback Dwight McGlothern, UCLA linebacker Gabriel Murphy, West Virginia offensive lineman Doug Nester, Marshall linebacker Owen Porter, Air Force linebacker Bo Richter, North Carolina offensive lineman Spencer Rolland, and Oregon defensive lineman Taki Taimani.
The Vikings will hold a rookie minicamp in the next couple of weeks as they begin to integrate the newcomers into life as NFL players.
Vikings wide receiver Justin Jefferson got a new quarterback on Thursday night, but the wait for his next contract continues.
Other wideouts like A.J. Brown, Devonta Smith, and Amon-Ra St. Brown have received extensions recently, but talks between Jefferson and the Vikings have not resulted in an agreement about a long-term deal. On Saturday, Vikings General Manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah said that there has been progress and that the two sides paused talks because both the Vikings and Jefferson’s representatives had other business to attend to during the draft.
Adofo-Mensah said that was OK because the team wants the spotlight solely on Jefferson once the deal does come to fruition.
“Either way, whenever we sign him, we want Justin to have his whole week,” Adofo-Mensah said, via Kevin Seifert of ESPN.com. “You know that friend that has a birthday that takes the month? I think Justin would deserve his whole month if we signed a contract to celebrate it. We’re excited to work towards it. We’re going to keep going. You can’t have all these plans when you talk about all these visions and not talk about the king linchpin, so we’re going to keep working toward that end goal.”
Adofo-Mensah and Jefferson’s reps will have plenty to discuss as the same firm represents both Jefferson and first-round quarterback J.J. McCarthy. Putting things in place for that duo to thrive together on the field for years to come benefits all parties, so we’ll see if it helps speed things along at the negotiating table in the coming weeks.