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DAILY FOCUS: THE RAMS’ PASS RUSH JUST GOT EVEN BETTER
Los Angeles is teaming the highly efficient Dominique Easley up front with last year’s best NFL player, Aaron Donald.
GORDON MCGUINNESS
https://www.profootballfocus.com/pro-daily-focus-the-rams-pass-rush-just-got-even-better/
The Rams’ interior pass rush gets even better with Dominique Easley signing: It came as something of a surprise when the New England Patriots released Easley, their first-round draft pick from 2014. The move was reportedly more due to off-field reasons than his play on the field, which makes sense given that, when healthy, Easley was a pretty good defensive lineman for New England. He had the 12th-highest grade among defensive tackles in 2015, playing just 275 snaps.
While he graded positively against the run, it was as a pass-rusher where he really made his mark. Rushing the passer on 210 of his 275 snaps, Easley had the highest pass-rushing productivity of any defensive tackle in the NFL at 12.9. With three sacks, eight hits and 24 hurries, not even new teammate Aaron Donald was as productive on a per-snap basis. That’s not to say he’s better than Donald, who was the best player in football last year, and dominated across a much higher sample size, but it’s an indication of how good Easley was in limited action.
The knock on Easley is that, at 6-foot-2 and 290 pounds, he’s considered undersized for his position. That was the same knock on Donald coming into the league, and was the same knock on Nick Fairley, who played in St. Louis with the Rams last year, and recently signed with the New Orleans Saints. Fairley played 427 snaps for the Rams last year, and that’s the kind of role that we can expect to see from Easley, with Donald and Michael Brockers seeing the bulk of the snaps in the interior of the Rams defensive line.
That’s the beauty of this signing for the Rams. They don’t need Easley to come in and be a superstar, they just need him to be productive as part of a defensive line rotation, and replace Fairley’s production.
Rams waived LB Keche Palacio to make room for DT Dominique Easley on the roster. That signing now official.
— Nick Wagoner (@nwagoner) May 18, 2016
Agamemnon
NFL sets restricted free agency tenders for 2016
NFL sets restricted free agency tenders for 2016
Posted by Mike Florio on March 8, 2016, 8:49 PM EDTThe 2011 Collective Bargaining Agreement makes restricted free agency less important than it used to be, because all rookie contracts now have a base duration of four years. As a result, restricted free agency becomes relevant only when an undrafted player finishes three years of service, or when a drafted player is cut before the completion of three years and has a contract that expires following his third accrued season.
It’s still an important aspect of the process, especially when quality players become legible for restricted free agency.
Restricted free agents can be held in place through the application of one of three tenders. The lowest level provides a right or first refusal. The second-round tender provides a right of first refusal and (duh) a second-round pick as compensation if the original team doesn’t match. The first-round tender carries a right of first refusal and a first-round pick as compensation.
This year, the tender amounts are $1.671 million, $2.553 million, and $3.635 million, respectively.
Arguably the biggest name this year in the RFA class belongs to Broncos running back C.J. Anderson. When the market opens on Wednesday, he’s expected to draw significant interest, given that Denver opted to save roughly $900,000 by not tying a second-round pick to Anderson.
He will be a RFA next year. The Rams can keep him by offering one of the tenders next year.
—————————————-http://patscap.com/easley.html
Dominique Easley was signed to a four-year deal by the Patriots on June 23, 2014. Deal includes an option for the 2018 season. His salaries for the 2014, 2015, and 2016 seasons are fully guaranteed.
On April 13, 2016 the Patriots waived Easley. No team claimed Easley. The Patriots have a offset on Easley’s 2016 salary so if another team pays Easley any cash in 2016 the Patriots will get a credit on their 2017 cap to a maximum amount of $1,083,959.
AgamemnonPatriots decide it’s better to pay Dominique Easley to go away
By Ben VolinGlobe Staff
April 13, 2016Defensive tackle Dominique Easley will likely be remembered as one of the Patriots’ biggest draft busts of the Bill Belichick era. On Wednesday, the Patriots released Easley, their first-round draft pick in 2014 (29th overall), and he leaves New England with just three career sacks and 25 tackles in two seasons.
But Easley is not a total bust from a football sense, as he was starting to blossom as an interior pass rusher in 2015. Though he only had two sacks in 11 games last season, Easley was the most productive interior pass rusher in the NFL, according to Pro Football Focus.
Easley pressured the quarterback once every six pass rushes in 2015, best among defensive tackles in the NFL, ahead of players such as Aaron Donald and Geno Atkins (although Easley had a much smaller sample size — 210 pass rushes compared with a little more than 500 for each of those players).
Many NFL talent evaluators believe Easley could be a breakout star in 2016. Two teams asked this reporter about Easley within 30 minutes of the news of his release breaking.
“I’m more curious about how many teams claim him than if he gets claimed,” former Eagles and Browns executive Joe Banner said on Wednesday. “This is a gift to someone.”
So the Patriots’ decision to release Easley set off alarms that the move was about more than just football.
Then add in the financial component. Easley’s salary this fall — about $1.08 million — is fully guaranteed. Releasing Easley on Wednesday increased his 2016 salary cap number from $1.991 million to $2.899 million.
The Patriots are essentially paying Easley to go away. They have depth at defensive tackle with Alan Branch, Malcom Brown, and Terrance Knighton, but not so much that they couldn’t use Easley, too.
The question, then, is why did the Patriots cut bait with their former first-round pick?
The move could simply be a reflection of Easley’s health. He tore both of his ACLs in college, and has finished each of his two NFL seasons on injured reserve — for a knee injury in 2014 and a torn quadriceps in 2015. Two league sources said independently on Wednesday that Easley is “a 25-year-old in a 40-year-old’s body.” Easley turned 24 in February.
But after speaking with several league sources with knowledge of the situation, it’s clear that Easley and the Patriots were never a good fit.
It is not known if there was a single incident that led to Easley’s release. But a portrait emerged Wednesday of a player who struggled with maturity and his responsibilities of being a professional athlete.
“Saw that coming,” one of Easley’s former Patriots teammates said upon hearing the news. “Injuries and locker room cancer.”
Easley’s relationship with the Patriots got off on the wrong foot when he arrived to their rookie minicamp shortly after the 2014 draft and couldn’t participate — not because of his knee injury, but because of injuries to his ankles, arms, and wrists sustained when bitten by his pet pitbull two weeks before the draft. The dog, which weighed more than 100 pounds, bit two other people plus an animal care worker and had to be euthanized in Palm Beach County, Fla.
Easley had not told any teams about these injuries prior to the draft, and the Patriots were not happy when they found out, as the injuries set him back in his ACL rehab. Easley was on the field for Week 1 of 2014 but didn’t get significant playing time until Week 3. He really only played in nine games his rookie year, and was placed on IR with three games left in the regular season.
Easley’s love of aggressive dogs has caused him other problems. One of his friends, Wiley Brown, filed a lawsuit against in Easley this past January seeking at least $15,000 after being attacked and bitten while staying at Easley’s house. The suit, filed in Palm Beach County, claims that Brown suffered permanent scarring, among other maladies. Easley is also bracing for the possibility of two other lawsuits being filed against him by other parties.
Easley came to the Patriots with a reputation of having an aloof personality, and he lived up to the billing. He already has fired two agents and three financial advisers in his two years in the NFL, and last week hired popular NFL agent Drew Rosenhaus as his third agent. When reached on Wednesday, Rosenhaus declined comment.
Multiple league sources said Easley was unreliable and immature.
“He’ll make an appointment for a massage and not show up,” one source said. “He’s just very disrespectful and irresponsible.”
“I think he rubbed a lot of people the wrong way,” another source said. “He comes across as an entitled kid. He reneges on everything. He thinks he’s invincible.”
When it came to football, Easley played by his own rules, which didn’t go over well with Belichick and staff. He routinely ignored requests to rehab his injuries with the Patriots’ trainers, and instead did it on his own. Most players rehabbed their recent injuries in the Patriots’ facilities, but when Easley was placed on IR in 2014 and 2015, he immediately left the team and did his own thing. This past offseason he traveled to Germany to seek alternative treatments for his knee.
The Patriots grew so fed up with Easley during his rookie year that they placed him on IR in December and told him to stay away and rehab on his own until the offseason program began in April. When the Patriots were raising the Lombardi Trophy in Arizona, Easley was partying in Las Vegas.
The Patriots “never liked him from the get-go, and part of the problem was he would never listen to the medical advice,” one source said.
And the feeling was mutual, with Easley privately telling people in 2014 that he wanted to be traded. An official request was never made.
On Wednesday, the Patriots did both sides a favor and cut bait with Easley. They originally signed him to a four-year, $7.3 million contract with $5.89 million fully guaranteed (his first three NFL seasons). It is unclear if the Patriots attempted to trade him this offseason, but it is surprising — and perhaps telling — that they did not get even a seventh-round pick for Easley.
Easley is due approximately $1.08 million this fall, and if Easley is claimed off waivers, then the new team assumes Easley’s salary and the Patriots don’t owe him anything.
But Easley’s contract does have offset language, so if Easley clears waivers and then signs for, say, $800,000 with another team, the Patriots only have to pay the difference.
Whether or not Easley is claimed, the Patriots still increased their salary cap hit by almost $1 million just to be rid of him.
It is unclear if there was a single incident that prompted his release. But it has become increasingly clear that the Patriots’ decision to release Easley was about a lot more than just his football abilities.
AgamemnonDominique Easley’s Rams contract carries no guarantees
Dominique Easley landed with the Los Angeles Rams this week, but there are few certainties as the former New England Patriots first-round pick looks for a fresh start.
As Ben Volin of The Boston Globe shared, Easley’s one-year pact with Los Angeles carries a base salary of $600,000 and does not include any guarantees, incentives or bonuses.
The 24-year-old defensive tackle, who saw both of his seasons with New England end on injured reserve, has a split salary of $363,000 in the event that he is hurt or returns to injured reserve for the 2016 campaign, according to Volin.
I am not sure what this means.Easley is still due $483,959 from the Patriots for next season if he remains on the Rams’ active roster for all 17 weeks, as noted by PatsCap.com’s Miguel Benzan, due to offset language.
The Patriots are slated to receive a $600,000 salary-cap credit for 2017.
Easley appeared in 22 games with three starts over the course of his stint with the Patriots, acruing 25 tackles, three sacks and one interception. Pick No. 29 overall out of Florida in 2014, Easley was waived on April 13.
AgamemnonEx-Patriot Dominique Easley’s Rams contract has no guaranteed money
By Matthew Rewinski
@SomeCallMeGoose on May 20, 2016, 4:59p +
Troy Taormina-USA TODAY SportsAfter being released by the Patriots midway through his rookie deal, Dominique Easley signed a deal with the Los Angeles Rams where he has to earn every dime.
Nobody wanted Dominique Easley enough to claim him on waivers when the Patriots released him, and after the deets of his new deal with the Rams came out, it looks like Los Angeles wants Easley to put up or shut up.
Ben Volin of the Boston Globe reported today that Easley’s new contract is far from the sweet rookie deal he signed in 2014 that had almost $6,000,000 in guaranteed money. As contracts go, his new one almost looks like a slap in the face until you recall that Easley was apparently more irritating than a bachelorette party singing “Single Ladies” at a karaoke bar.
“His contract contains a $600,000 base salary, the minimum amount for a player with two years of NFL experience. The contract does not come with a signing bonus, any other bonuses, or any incentives.”
.
You know how a lot of times, you hear about older guys getting a “prove it” deal that’s full of playing time incentives, like the Patriots did with Vince Wilfork’s last contract? This is the opposite of that. Not only is Easley making peanuts, but if he’s not on the game-day roster, he gets paid…wait for it…zero dollars.
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“Since he has fewer than four years of experience and is not a vested veteran, Easley will only be paid for each week he is on the Rams’ 53-man roster during the regular season – $35,924.12 per week. If Easley hits injured reserve with the Rams, his salary will drop to $21,252.94 per week ($363,000 split salary).”
Ok, this is the answer.It almost makes you wonder why a guy who ended his first two seasons – and his last year at Florida – on injured reserve would agree to a deal like that where he may never see a nickel.
Actually, no it doesn’t – that’s market price for a talented, frequently-injured d-lineman with a Terrell Owens-sized ego.
AgamemnonI consider it a ‘free-roll’. Absolute minimum risk on a first round talent. Snisher gave away all our draft choices. He has to do something. 😉
AgamemnonGiven his status from being less than 4 years in the league, what is his status, then, in 2017?
Is he (until/unless he signs for more) an unrestricted FA in 2017?
Or is he a RESTRICTED FA in 2017, with the Rams owning his rights?
RFA in 2017, from a previous post in this thread. Agamemnon
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