OL in free agency … Barksdale, Blalock, Wisniewski, etc.

Free Agent Stock Watch: Joe Barksdale

by Dallas Robinson

http://www.profootballrumors.com/

As we head into April, there are just four remaining unsigned free agents that were listed among Pro Football Rumors’ Top 50 FAs. Our 29th overall free agent, receiver Michael Crabtree, had a down year in 2014, and PFR’s Rory Parks look at why he remains on the open market. Linebacker Rolando McClain, our No. 35 FA, has already retired twice during his young career, and is facing a fine after failing a third drug test, as documented by PFR’s Luke Adams. And our 39th-ranked free agent, center Stefen Wisniewski, is recovering from offseason shoulder injury, which could explain his lack of a market.

But perhaps the most puzzling member of the unsigned free agents club is offensive tackle Joe Barksdale, who ranked 39th on our Top 50 list. The 27-year-old Barksdale has spent the past three seasons with the Rams, and has started 29 games over the past two years. Without a strong crop of right tackles available in free agency, Barksdale seemingly should have been in line for a multi-year pact that paid him in the neighborhood of $6MM annually, comparable to the deals signed by Andre Smith and Anthony Collins in recent years.

The few free agent right tackles who did hit the market were handsomely rewarded, making it even more confusing that Barksdale hasn’t been able to find a home. The top RT available, Bryan Bulaga, re-signed with the Packers for almost $34MM, and while he’ll average just $6.75MM per year, it’s assumed that he took less money to stay in Green Bay. Jermey Parnell, largely unproven after starting just seven games over three seasons for the Cowboys, secured a five-year, $32.5MM deal from the Jaguars, while Doug Free will earn a $5MM AAV after re-signing with Dallas.

A glance at Pro Football Focus’ (subscription required) offensive tackle grades could offer some explanation as to why Barskdale remains available — while Bulaga, Parnell, and Free all ranked within the top 21 tackles, Barksdale placed just 48th. His run-blocking grade (arguably the more important mark for a right tackle) was impressive, however, as he ranked as the league’s 11th-best T in the run game. Still, based on PFF’s ratings, Barksdale might not be in the same class as those top three tackles, so if he’s asking for $5-6MM per year, clubs could be looking elsewhere.

Indeed, Barksdale hasn’t drawn much known interest from around the league, as he’s only been linked to the Rams and the Titans. Tennessee’s interest seems to be lukewarm, as reports indicated that the club would “consider” Barksdale after losing Michael Roos and Michael Oher earlier this year. Based on reports, it appears that a reunion between Barskdale and St. Louis is the most likely scenario — the Rams initially thought that the tackle was overestimating his market, and now that that seems to have been the case, head Jeff Fisher confirmed the two sides were talking.

Even after a dreadful season, Oher was able to garner a $3.5MM AAV from the Panthers, and I’d be very surprised if Barksdale has to settle for less than that. Something in the $4-4.5MM range (at the level of Zach Strief and Breno Giacomini) would make sense for both Barksdale and the Rams. For its part, St. Louis can use all the help it can get along the offensive line, where Greg Robinson and Rodger Saffold are the only returning starters. With only about $2.6MM needed to sign its draft class, the Rams have approximately $6.4MM in effective cap space, so they should easily be able to fit a Barksdale-level contract on their books.

just from the standpoint of getting any offensive lineman in free agency would be great. but to also get the continuity and to not have to overpay for it would be huge. if they can re-sign him the rams played that one well.

PressureD41 wrote:

Any update on Blaylock signing?

Nothin yet.

But then that’s true all around the league. Zero movement right now.

Wisniewski, Barksdale, Barnes and 2 or 3 hosses from the draft and all of a sudden I don’t feel so bad about this line. I want some real prospects.
I think Mathis is a pipedream.

Does this mean 32 teams are less
than impressed with Mr Barksdale ?

w
v

Well what the heck, I vote for giving him the less money now and not waiting until the draft

Wisniewski starting to make the rounds once again, w/reports of visits to New England & Jax this week. But no word yet on any Rams visit.

And conspicuously absent…The Rams…who need a center.

I’m starting to think maybe the Rams aren’t terribly interested in Wiz.

Bears release center Garza, add Montgomery

Michael C. Wright
http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/12604205/chicago-bears-cut-center-roberto-garza-add-montgomery

The Chicago Bears released center Roberto Garza on Thursday, preventing him from returning in 2015 for an 11th season with the franchise.

In a corresponding move, the team signed former Broncos center Will Montgomery, who played for Fox in Denver last season, as Garza’s replacement. Montgomery received a one-year contract.

Garza tweeted a thank-you to the Bears and their fans for their support during his 10 years with the team.

Fewer than four months ago, Garza signed a one-year extension to return under former general manager Phil Emery, who was fired just three days later. New GM Ryan Pace and coach John Fox informed Garza of the team’s plans to go another direction at the position.

“We have a great deal of respect for what Roberto has brought to the Bears over the last 10 years,” general manager Ryan Pace said in a statement. “He has been a great player, teammate and leader. We wish Roberto and his family the very best as he continues his career.”

A 14-year veteran, Garza has started in 175 of 205 career games, racking up 144 starts for the Bears. Garza missed four games last season due to an ankle injury. When the Bears signed Brian de la Puente last April to a one-year contract, it was believed he would eventually take over as the starting center. But de la Puente is currently a free agent looking for a team.
Roberto Garza started 144 games for the Bears in his 10 seasons with the team.Brad Rempel/USA TODAY Sports

Chicago’s signing of Montgomery likely means the Bears won’t be looking to bring back de la Puente.

A 10-year veteran, Montgomery spent last season with the Broncos, but he played the previous six years for the Washington Redskins. Montgomery joined Washington in 2008 after spending the previous two years with the New York Jets.

Montgomery originally came into the league in 2006 as a seventh-round pick out of Virginia Tech with Fox and the Carolina Panthers.

Montgomery signed a one-year deal last April to join the Broncos, and the expectation was that he would compete for the starting job at center during offseason workouts and training camp. But Montgomery remained behind Manny Ramirez on the depth chart for the first half of the regular season.

Montgomery moved into Denver’s starting lineup on Nov. 9 against the Oakland Raiders.

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Bengals play prank on Browns
3h – NFL Cincinnati Bengals +1 more

Play2:32

ESPN Bengals reporter Coley Harvey discusses an online prank in which Cincinnati poked fun at the Browns’ new logo reveal, which turned out not to be drastically different from its prior logo.

Coley Harvey, ESPN Cincinnati Bengals reporter

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CINCINNATI — With a “nod to players of the past while looking forward to things to come,” the Cincinnati Bengals announced major news Wednesday regarding their logo.
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Fowler: Browns hope to get last laugh

The Bengals and others had fun at the Browns’ expense on April Fool’s Day, but Donte Whitner believes the Browns will have the last laugh, Jeremy Fowler writes.

It wasn’t really “major,” per se. But in the spirit of April Fools’ Day, the announcement had the Buckeye State buzzing and may have added a little lighthearted fuel to the Bengals’ rivalry with the Cleveland Browns.

As part of a prank to commemorate the holiday and to troll their in-state rival, the Bengals tweeted they would have a “fresh new look for the 2015 season.” The tweet contained a link that sent readers to their website. Once on the team site, readers were taken to a page that featured three pictures.
As part of an April Fools’ Day prank to troll their in-state rival Browns, the Bengals tweeted they would have a new look. But the 2015 version of the “B” logo has an orange in it that was a slightly lighter shade of what existed in the 2014 logo.Courtesy Bengals.com

The first had two versions of the team’s striped “B” logo side-by-side with the years 2014 and 2015 underneath them. The 2015 version of the “B” logo had an orange in it that was a slightly lighter shade of what existed in the 2014 logo. The second picture featured the same cosmetic tweak to the orange in the Bengals’ striped helmet logo. The third picture also had a similar change in color between the words “Cincinnati Bengals 2014” and “April Fools 2015.”

In a release that accompanied the pictures on the site, the Bengals said the 2015 changes were “extremely subtle, but the impact will be huge.”

The Bengals weren’t the only organization to have some fun on April 1. The world-renowned Cleveland Orchestra even jumped on the pile by tweeting earlier in the day that it had a new logo:

The entire prank was an indirect reference to the Browns’ uniform announcement back in February. When news of potential changes leaked a week before the big unveil, expectations around the NFL were high that the Browns would go in a radical direction from their old, traditional logo and uniform. Once the changes — small ones to the brightness of the orange in the logo and helmet, and a change to the “Dawg Pound” logo — were made public, the Browns were met with criticism about how hyped the alterations were.

The Browns spent two years working on a revamping project.

Other parts of the project won’t be made public until an April 14 unveiling at the Cleveland Convention Center. Some believe the Browns’ 2015 uniforms may feature an additional color, like a metallic gray.

Cleveland’s other primary color, brown, remains unchanged. But the team maintains the newer orange is “brighter and richer and matches the passion of our fans and city.”

Playing off that statement, the Bengals’ prank used the words “bright” and “vivid” to describe how their supposedly new orange “pops against the contrasting black of the classic Bengals stripes.”

The teams have a long-standing history. The Bengals were founded in 1968 by former Browns head coach and namesake, Paul Brown. His son, Mike Brown, is the Bengals’ current team president.

Cincinnati and Cleveland split last year’s meetings with the visiting team winning each game. Cincinnati’s 30-0 Week 15 win at Cleveland came the same week Browns quarterback Johnny Manziel made his first career start. The Bengals lead the all-time series 44-39.

Herzog wrote:

Why doesn’t anybody want De la Puente? Seems like he was purty durn good.

I don;t know. But he did have a litany of injuries last year, starting in training camp. He ended up on IR. Even Chicago didn’t want him back. So… you gotta figure there’s something wrong there. Or enough wrong to make it unlikely he signs anywhere, if he signs, until after the draft.

JackPMiller wrote:

Robinson is technically a rookie since he did not start, if correct, until week 8?

Well he started in week 4. Either way I don’t consider him technically a rookie since by the end of this summer, he will have gone through 2 training camps and already had a year and a half of de-rookie-izing.

Which is not to say he’s ready to peak.

Just that he’s not a rookie, technically or otherwise.

.

i should say that i hope they re-sign barksdale. but for what he’s worth.

otherwise. yeah. find an alternative.