PFT: Stallworth injured in hot-air balloon mishap
AP Free agent receiver Donte Stallworth is reportedly hospitalized in stable condition after he was in a hot-air balloon accident on Saturday morning in Miami.
Stallworth was burned when the hot-air balloon he was riding in with his girlfriend hit power lines, Mike Reiss of ESPNBoston.com reports. ESPN’s Adam Schefter reports that Stallworth’s injuries are not serious enough to threaten his career.
South Florida police told News 15 in Miami that two people were hospitalized after their hot-air balloon crashed into power lines. That report did not identify the two injured people.
The incident reportedly happened at 10 a.m. on Saturday. A third passenger in the hot-air balloon was not injured.
Stallworth played for the Patriots last season and is currently not signed, although there have been reports that New England is bringing him back.
Tweet Email Posted by Mike Florio on March 16, 2013, 11:55 PM EDT
Getty Images The Saints are one of the teams interested in cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha. And now Asomugha is interested in the Saints.
Matt Maiocco of CSNBayArea.com reports that Asomugha will visit the Saints on Sunday.
As recently explained, the relationship between Asomugha and Saints defensive coordinator Rob Ryan could be a huge factor. “[Asomugha] loves him and trusts him,” a source with knowledge of the situation recently told PFT.
The Nnamdi-Ryan connnection, which traces to their mutual time together in Oakland, nearly resulted in Asomugha joining the Cowboys in 2011.
At last word, Asomugha was in “serious discussions” with the 49ers. Other interested teams include the Cardinals, Broncos, and Texans.
Tweet Email Posted by Mike Florio on March 16, 2013, 10:19 PM EDT
Getty Images Tackle Jake Long, the No. 1 pick in the 2008 NFL draft, made a quick trip to St. Louis once the free-agency period opened. Since then, there has been nothing quick about Long’s search for a new job.
After an extended visit with the Rams, Long left without a contract. Multiple reports indicate that he’s now weighing roughly equivalent offers from the Rams and the Dolphins.
The Eagles also were believed to be interested in Long; given the manner in which Philly came out of nowhere to snag cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha in 2011, it’s impossible to rule them out.
Regardless of where Long lands, he has created a bottleneck for tackles like Andre Smith and Sebastian Vollmer. All three are represented by CAA, and it’s clear that the plan is to let Long set the ceiling for the others.
On the first day of free agency, former Saints left tackle Jermon Bushrod did a five-year, $35.965 million deal with the Bears. That’s an average of $7.193 million per year, surely less than what Long is looking for.
Tweet Email Posted by Mike Florio on March 16, 2013, 9:49 PM EDT
Getty Images The Colts have been one of the few teams to splurge in free agency, signing plenty of players and spending plenty of cap space.
Owner Jim Irsay says another deal is coming.
He says the team is “working on a deal, one we’ve been working on for five days,” and that “we’re very, very close to making it work.”
Irsay has a history of dropping hints on Twitter. Last year, he tweeted about a trade not long before cornerback Vontae Davis was acquired from Miami.
Tweet Email Posted by Mike Florio on March 16, 2013, 9:36 PM EDT
Getty Images Add Chad Johnson to the list of NFL players trying to find their way back into the league.
Johnson tells CSNHouston.com that he wants back in. Specifically, he wants to play for the Texans. But Johnson also said that he’s in “no position to be picky.”
“I think I’ve been very good to the NFL and for the NFL over a number of years, making the game fun and exciting,” Johnson said. “But I did mess up, you know I messed up once. I made my bed and have to lay in it. Some people are given second chances, some people aren’t. I think at this point I’ve learned my lesson.”
While the aversion to Johnson may relate in part to the fact that he was charged with assaulting his ex-wife during training camp last year with the Dolphins, the bigger question is whether he can still play.
As he said, some guys get second chances, and some don’t. In the NFL, the guys who are regarded as still being able to play are the ones who get the second chances.
Tweet Email Posted by Mike Florio on March 16, 2013, 9:07 PM EDT
AP With Broncos defensive end Elvis Dumervil firing his agent in the hopes of finding a way to get back on the Denver roster, it is now widely believed in league circles that Dumervil will hire CAA to preside over the effort to fix the situation with the team that terminated his contract on Friday.
Potentially complicating the situation is the fact that CAA also represents Dwight Freeney and Osi Umenyioria, two other veteran defensive ends who have been looking for work in a soft market.
The Broncos had been linked to both Freeney and Umenyiora as possible replacements for Dumervil, if Dumervil had refused a pay cut and forced his release in a more conventional way. Indeed, Broncos quarterback (and CAA client) Peyton Manning has recruited Freeney to become a Bronco.
If Dumervil hires CAA and if Freeney wants to go to Denver and Dumervil wants to stay there, one of CAA’s clients will end up being disappointed.
Tweet Email Posted by Michael David Smith on March 16, 2013, 8:16 PM EDT
AP Four days after losing tight end Martellus Bennett, the Giants have signed his replacement: Brandon Myers.
Myers, a tight end who has played his entire four-year career with the Raiders, has signed with the Giants, according to Mike Garafolo of USA Today.
In 2012 Myers quietly had a strong season for the Raiders, starting all 16 games and having career highs in catches (79), yards (806) and touchdowns (four).
The 6-foot-3, 256-pound Myers was viewed as the Giants’ first choice to replace Bennett. Now they’ve got their man.
Tweet Email Posted by Michael David Smith on March 16, 2013, 7:19 PM EDT
Getty Images The bizarre series of events that unfolded on Friday, when Elvis Dumervil agreed to a restructured contract with the Broncos, only to get cut because his revised contract didn’t make it to the team’s fax machine in time, has cost Dumervil’s agent his job.
Agent Marty Magid told Mike Garafolo of USA Today that Dumervil called him Saturday afternoon to say he wants to “move in another direction.”
Magid said Broncos fans have inundated him with angry emails, although he also claims that the Broncos deserve some of the blame for trying to make late changes to Dumervil’s deal. Magid added that he has waived the usual five-day waiting period for players to hire a new agent, so Dumervil can hire a new agent immediately.
“It’s terrible, but he said he knows what happened and why it happened,” Magid said. “I know the people in Denver think I should be fired, but like I said [Friday], there were a lot of reasons for why it happened.”
Dumervil is now an unrestricted free agent, and Magid said several teams have already called him to express interest.
“I had teams lined up that were interested in him,” Magid said. “They’ll have to contact his new guy now.”
Tweet Email Posted by Mike Florio on March 16, 2013, 7:05 PM EDT
Getty Images Now that the market for cornerbacks has been clearly established (i.e., it stinks), it’s time for Falcons cornerback Brent Grimes to do a deal.
And he could be doing one in Cleveland.
Alex Marvez of FOXSports.com reports that Grimes has visited the Browns, following his visit to the Dolphins.
Grimes received the franchise tag last year in Atlanta. He tore an Achilles tendon in Week One and missed the rest of the season.
The Falcons remain interested in bringing Grimes back. He turns 30 later this year.
Tweet Email Posted by Mike Florio on March 16, 2013, 6:39 PM EDT
Getty Images For Steelers receiver Emmanuel Sanders, the opportunity to score a multi-year contract as a restricted free agent makes sense, since he most likely wouldn’t be one of the top targets in free agency in 2014.
For Giants receiver Victor Cruz, a different analysis applies. With most teams not paying as much in free agency as they used to and with Cruz quite likely the Mike Wallace of next year’s free-agency foray, it doesn’t make sense to take anything other than a Wallace-style payday now.
Given that the team signing Cruz will have to also give up a first-round pick if the Giants don’t match the offer, it’s less likely that anyone will put together the kind of offer that will prompt Cruz to bite. Especially since he’s now represented by CAA.
Even if Cruz gets the franchise tag from the Giants, next year’s version of this year’s $10.54 million franchise tender could be better than the kind of offers Cruz could get now, during one of the worst free-agency periods since the NFL embraced real free agency in 1993.
There’s another dynamic to keep in mind. With both Cruz and Hakeem Nicks due to become free agents in 2014, each will be reluctant to go first in re-signing with the Giants, since the second one will try to get more than the first.
In the end, the Giants may have to choose between the two players like the Steelers did between Antonio Brown and Wallace, and the thinking is that, indeed, G.M. Jerry Reese prefers Nicks to Cruz. But whether Cruz gets tagged or walks in 2014, he’ll likely do a lot better as an unrestricted free agent next year than he’ll do as a restricted free agent now.
If, of course, he stays healthy.
Tweet Email Posted by Michael David Smith on March 16, 2013, 5:41 PM EDT
AP Nick Folk is set for another year as the Jets’ kicker.
Folk, who had been the Jets’ kicker for the last three seasons but entered free agency without a contract, re-signed with the team today.
Last season Folk made 21 of his 27 field goal attempts, with a long of 54 yards. He doesn’t have a particularly strong leg on kickoffs, with just 12 touchbacks on 68 kickoffs.
A year ago Folk had to beat out Josh Brown in training camp, and it’s possible Folk will have a training camp challenge again this year, but at the moment he’s the only kicker on the Jets’ roster.
Tweet Email Posted by Mike Florio on March 16, 2013, 4:56 PM EDT
The 49ers have signed a defensive back. But not either of the two Niners fans are hoping for.
The Niners have inked former Rams safety Craig Dahl.
“We are pleased to announce the signing of Craig,” 49ers G.M. Trent Baalke said. “He is an experienced veteran with excellent intangibles, who has working knowledge of the NFC West.”
Dahl was a 16-game starter for the Rams in 2012. Two of those games came against the 49ers, so they know him pretty well.
They’ll know him even better in the future.
And in the immediate future, Niners fans will hope that either Nnamdi Asomugha or Charles Woodson will be agreeing to terms.
[Photo credit: 49ers Twitter page.]
Tweet Email Posted by Mike Florio on March 16, 2013, 4:33 PM EDT
Getty Images Eagles quarterback Mike Vick recently canceled his book tour due to death threats that were deemed credible. Vick has now resumed his public effort to sell more copies of his autobiography, Finally Free.
And Vick had some strong words for those who are still upset about the fact that he engaged in a six-year habit of fighting dogs and killing dogs that were deemed unfit to fight.
“Why would you continue to bash somebody who’s trying to help make the world a better place?” Vick told Robert Klemko of USA Today.
“A lot of people are sick and tired of hearing about my past, because there are so many other problems that are going on in this world that need to have attention drawn to them,” Vick said. “People are dying every day, children are being killed, going to jail. Not to say I overlook what I’ve done, but I try to do outreach as a positive.”
Actually, the people most sick and tired of hearing about Vick’s past are the ones who blindly accepted his defiant professions of innocence and then, when it turned out he was lying to them and everyone else, shrugged it all off by saying, “It’s just dogs.”
Vick also explained the reason for postponing the book tour.
“It wasn’t so much fear, but you have to take precaution for yourself and your family, and for other people as well,” Vick said. “I knew a lot of people were going to be at the signings, and I didn’t want to put anyone in jeopardy.
“I think the small fraction of people who are still making these derogatory comments and thinking irrationally, they’re in a league of their own. But we won’t let it stop us from what we’re trying to do. . . .
“We’re definitely going to finish the book tour,” Vick added. “Even if it happens again, we’re still going to move forward, but we’ll do it in a totally different way. The book is doing great because of all the attention it’s gotten in the last couple days, so what more can I ask for?”
He’s apparently asking for people to completely forget what he did, and labeling those who won’t do that as “irrational.” Actually, plenty of rational minds have lingering concerns about the lifestyle Vick led from 2001 through 2007 — and which he still may have been leading if he hadn’t gotten caught.
Tweet Email Posted by Mike Florio on March 16, 2013, 3:48 PM EDT
Getty Images Jets owner Woody Johnson may not want to pay cornerback Darrelle Revis later, but Johnson is definitely paying Revis now.
As pointed out by Manish Mehta of the New York Daily News, today is the day on which Revis earns a roster bonus of $1 million.
Revis also is due to receive a reporting bonus of $1 million, a workout bonus of $1 million, and a base salary of $3 million.
Of course, it won’t matter if he’s traded, since he’ll get a new contract. Unless the Jets eventually decide to trade him without his new team signing him to a new deal — which will mean that someone could get him for one year, $5 million.
Which pretty much falls in line with the current free-agent cornerback market.
While no one believed that the Jets would have cut Revis in lieu of paying the money, the decision to fork over $1 million with a trade offer from Tampa on the table suggests that the Jets don’t think much of the proposed deal.
Tweet Email Posted by Darin Gantt on March 16, 2013, 3:36 PM EDT
AP Well, that clears that up.
After going back and forth on restructuring his contract, the Patriots have decided to release wide receiver Brandon Lloyd, according to Jeff Howe of the Boston Herald.
That would seem to indicate they’re serious about signing Steelers wideout Emmanuel Sanders to an offer sheet, though that paperwork hasn’t been filed.
They’ve also signed Danny Amendola and Donald Jones, but that’s a thin group considering their durability issues, meaning the Pats would still need to add there.
Lloyd shouldn’t have to look for work for long, as he’s clearly the best of an odd lot of wideouts on the unrestricted free agent market.
Tweet Email Posted by Mike Florio on March 16, 2013, 3:33 PM EDT
The Packers opted not to issue tenders to a trio of their restricted free agents: linebacker Robert Francois, tight end Tom Crabtree, and linebacker Frank Zombo.
Francois will be back, Crabtree won’t. As to Zombo, the Packers don’t seem to care.
According to Rob Demovsky of the Green Bay Press-Gazette, the Packers “haven’t shown much interest” in re-signing Zombo.
It’s a calculated risk for the Packers, who lost Erik Walden to the Colts. Likewise, Nick Perry missed most of his rookie season due to injury.
Injuries have been a problem for Zombo over the past two seasons. He arrived as an undrafted free agent in 2010.
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