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BYU offensive coordinator Aaron Roderick previews spring camp, dishes on QB situation, transfer portal needs

BYU Cougars quarterbacks coach Aaron Roderick watches from he sidelines as Jake Retzlaff works with the offense as BYU’s football team practices in Provo on Tuesday, Aug. 8, 2023. The Cougars open spring camp Thursday, which is when the battle for QB1 officially begins. | Scott G Winterton, Deseret News

Get ready for what is arguably going to be the most important starting quarterback competition in BYU football coach Kalani Sitake’s nine-year tenure.

The madness begins Thursday, as the Cougars begin spring practices in Provo — most likely at the Indoor Practice Facility, since the calendar, and the weather, say it is Feb. 29 — with one primary goal in mind: Get better, and fast.

Finding a capable, playmaking, turnover-avoiding starting quarterback will go a long way toward BYU realizing that objective, and erasing last year’s disappointing 5-7 campaign that showed the Cougars weren’t quite ready to compete in the Big 12.

“So Gerry (Bohanon) and Jake (Retzlaff) will get the bulk of the reps, and then we will find ways to get Cade (Fennegan), Ryder (Burton) and Treyson (Bourguet) in there to see who we think the third guy is.”

BYU offensive coordinator Aaron Roderick

So who’s it going to be?

Offensive coordinator Aaron Roderick spoke exclusively to the Deseret News last week and said, “Spring ball will be a competition between Jake (Retzlaff) and Gerry (Bohanon) for the starting job. It is a two-way race right now.”

Retzlaff is the incumbent, of sorts, after he spelled an ailing Kedon Slovis and started in BYU’s final four games, all losses. Bohanon is the well-traveled, experienced QB who began his career at Baylor before losing the starting job to Blake Shapen in Waco and transferring to South Florida.

Roderick said the coaching staff didn’t scour the transfer portal for a QB this offseason as…

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February 28, 2024
2024 NFL offseason moves: Browns restructure Denzel Ward’s contract, Chiefs cut veteran WR, per reports

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Last week, the NFL announced the official salary cap figure for 2024: $255.4 million. That number is $30.6 million more than the cap in 2023, making it the largest increase in free agency history. While this announcement benefits every team, there’s still work to be done for some clubs.

As of Feb. 26, there are seven teams still over the cap number: the San Francisco 49ers, Dallas Cowboys, Denver Broncos, Los Angeles Chargers, Miami Dolphins, New Orleans Saints and Buffalo Bills. A couple of different ways these teams can create cap space is by releasing players, or restructuring contracts. Early this week, we saw a handful of restructures and cuts, which we will break down below.

Restructures

DL Carl Granderson, Saints: New Orleans completed a conversion on Granderson’s contract, which cleared $7.2 million in cap space. The 27-year-old joined the Saints as an undrafted free agent out of Wyoming in 2019. In 2023, he recorded a career-high 8.5 sacks after signing a four-year, $52 million extension in September. (NFL Media)EDGE Rashan Gary, Packers: Green Bay restructured Gary’s contract, creating $4.781 million in cap space. The former No. 12 overall pick out of Michigan signed a four-year, $107 million extension in October. Gary recorded nine sacks in 2023. (NFL Media)OL Connor McGovern, Bills: Buffalo guaranteed McGovern’s deal for 2024, and cleared $3.74 million. The former Cowboy signed a three-year deal with the Bills this offseason, and started in all 17 games. (NFL Media)CB Denzel Ward, Browns: Cleveland restructured Ward’s contract, freeing up $11.359 million in cap space by converting that much of the Pro Bowl cornerback’s salary into a restructured bonus. The move puts the Browns just under the…..

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February 28, 2024
Michigan coaching staff: Breaking down Sherrone Moore’s assistant hires in Year 1 replacing Jim Harbaugh

Just two months into 2024, it’s already been a wild year for Michigan football. The Wolverines began the year by winning the College Football Playoff National Championship — its first national title win since 1997. Then, they saw head coach Jim Harbaugh return to the NFL with the Los Angeles Chargers after guiding his alma mater to national glory. More significant was that Harbaugh took a significant chunk of the coaching staff with him.

Sherrone Moore, who earned plenty of head coaching experience during the 2023 season while Harbaugh served multiple suspensions, was quickly promoted from offensive coordinator to head coach. The promotion made sense and surprised nobody. The bigger question surrounding Moore, however, surrounded the construction of his coaching staff after the assistants followed Harbaugh to the Chargers.

With Moore’s first staff largely complete (there are still some questions about running backs coach Mike Hart’s status), let’s break down what the Michigan sideline will look like in the first season post-Harbaugh.

Offensive staff

Kirk Campbell — Offensive coordinator/QB coach: The 37-year-old Campbell has no previous Power Five coordinator experience but was quickly promoted by Moore to be his replacement, so it’s clear the first-year coach has confidence in him to do the job. Before spending the 2023 season as Michigan’s QB coach, he was an offensive analyst in 2022 and had J.J. McCarthy in his corner last offseason. Other Michigan players have spoken highly of Campbell as well. It’s not a splashy hire, but in an offseason full of changes, there’s value in familiarity. Perhaps Moore views Campbell’s potential the same way Harbaugh once saw Moore’s.

Grant Newsome — Offensive line: Newsome played tackle for…

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February 27, 2024
Patriots’ new draft grading system among takeaways from NFL Combine

Patriots’ new draft grading system among takeaways from NFL Combine originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston

The New England Patriots have a new man making roster decisions, and he’s implementing a new draft grading system.

The last five or six drafts have produced a couple good players for the Patriots, but these classes overall have been mostly underwhelming. For the Patriots to get back to contender status in the AFC, getting more talent out of the draft has to be a huge priority.

Eliot Wolf has taken over as the director of player personnel, and his front office is going to be using a draft grading system that’s different from what Bill Belichick used over the last 24 years.

🔊 Next Pats: DRAFT and DEVELOP: Eliot Wolf is bringing the Packer Way to the Patriots | Listen & Subscribe | Watch on YouTube

The new grading system was among Phil Perry’s key takeaways from Wolf’s presser at the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis on Tuesday.

“(It was) interesting to hear because we have gone over this and over it and over it again this time of year, the last several years, the Patriots’ grading system under Bill Belichick,” Perry said on a new episode of the Next Pats Podcast.

“And we’ve done complete podcast episodes where for 20 minutes, I’ll break down for you what a Patriots grade would look like and what the numbers mean and what the lowercase letters and the capital letters and the color coding and all that goes into one little card next to a player’s name on their draft board. There’s a lot of information compiled into those cards, and if you’re not accustomed to seeing players graded that way, my guess is for scouts, it could be pretty complicated.

“They’ve changed that. They’re into a new grading system. Now it’s going to be closer to what Eliot Wolf and Alonzo Highsmith, now part of this Patriots front office as a senior personnel executive, were used to dealing with in Green Bay. So you’re going to have the Packer Way here in New England from a front office…

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February 27, 2024
LSU planning to play Harold Perkins as an inside linebacker again in 2024

LSU’s Harold Perkins had 7.5 sacks as a freshman in 2022. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

LSU wants to use Harold Perkins in the middle of the defense once again in 2024.

As the linebacker enters his third season with the Tigers, coach Brian Kelly wants Perkins to continue the transition to inside linebacker. Perkins played part of the 2023 season as an off-ball linebacker after he was a breakout star on the edge in 2022 as a freshman.

“He needs to be in the action,” LSU coach Brian Kelly told the Baton Rouge Advocate. “He needs to be the [weakside] linebacker. He needs to be in the box. He needs to be active in there. That’s where he’s going to start, and we’ve got to get him ready at that position.”

Perkins is listed at 6-foot-1, 220 pounds — much smaller than a typical edge rusher, especially in the NFL. But his size didn’t prohibit him from being one of the most disruptive players in the SEC off the corner in 2022. Perkins had 13 tackles for loss and 7.5 sacks as a freshman. He singlehandedly dominated Arkansas as a freshman with three sacks and two forced fumbles and also recorded a sack and eight tackles in a win over Alabama that season.

But despite Perkins’ pass-rush success in 2022, Kelly and his staff wanted to put him in a different role in 2023. Perkins spent the offseason working as a linebacker who could do a little bit of everything and even play some pass coverage.

Perkins’ inexperience when it came to his new position was on full display in LSU’s season-opening loss to Florida State. He hardly made an impact as Florida State announced to the country that it was worthy of the College Football Playoff.

He ultimately finished the season with 5.5 sacks and 74 tackles as he learned the nuances of his new responsibilities.

This season, Perkins will be playing for a…

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February 27, 2024
2024 NFL free agency: Ranking available salary cap space for all 32 teams; Commanders on top

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The NFL offseason is officially underway, as the combine takes place this week, while free agency begins next week. Recently, the NFL announced that the official salary cap figure for 2024 would be $255.4 million — which is up from $224.8 million. The $30.6 million increase is the largest in free agency history.

The “football business” is doing quite well, which is good news for all 32 NFL teams, as it gives them more financial flexibility for roster building. Some teams will use this boost to be even more aggressive in free agency, while others will sit back and reconsider cost-cutting measures.

Now that we are approaching free agency, this is a good time to revisit the salary cap situations for every team. Let’s take a look.

Salary cap figures via Over The Cap on Feb. 26

Commanders

$79,614,671

Titans

$78,524,381

Bears

$78,335,157

Patriots

$78,070,006

Colts

$72,075,573

Texans

$67,321,290

Lions

$57,614,821

Cardinals

$51,104,463

Bengals

$50,670,373

Buccaneers

$43,682,067

Raiders

$42,936,109

Rams

$39,905,695

Vikings

$35,807,132

Panthers

$34,572,274

Falcons

$33,004,013

Giants

$30,601,691

Eagles

$27,469,811

Jaguars

$24,421,167

Chiefs

$17,139,240

Ravens

$16,631,328

Jets

$12,756,122

Seahawks

$12,569,647

Steelers

$8,906,955

Packers

$2,340,288

49ers

-$5,046,251

Browns

-$7,758,897

Cowboys

-$9,863,127

Broncos

-$16,811,078

Chargers

-$25,607,797

Dolphins

-$29,069,894

Saints

-$39,879,497

Bills

-$43,815,909

The Commanders, who also hold the No. 2 overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft, lead the way with over $79 million in available funds. It’s a good thing, because they have plenty of holes to fill on both sides of the ball. The Titans will be an interesting team to watch as well. They have the second-most available money as it stands, and are prepared to undergo a change in identity with Brian…

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February 26, 2024
Alabama coaching staff: Kalen DeBoer blends familiarity with SEC experience in Year 1 of post-Nick Saban era

There was no perfect way for Alabama to move on after Nick Saban’s retirement; replacing the greatest college football coach of all time comes with a multitude of challenges. But after a several weeks of work that included having to retool the group amid NFL exits, first-year Crimson Tide coach Kalen DeBoer appears to have settled on his assistant coaches for the 2024 season.

The hiring process was difficult. DeBoer had to decide how much Washington he was going to bring from a staff that had been together across multiple stops — for some, all the way back to his NAIA days at Sioux Falls — with the existing Alabama influence of staff members who were interested in helping lead the program into its post-Saban era. Those tough decisions, of course, are happening with the background of a wide-open transfer portal for Crimson Tide players who had the opportunity to leave without penalty due to the NCAA rules regarding movement in wake of a coaching change.

Just when it seemed DeBoer had finalized the staff, another wrinkle was thrown in with the Seattle Seahawks hiring away offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb and offensive line coach Scott Huff just days after National Signing Day. Grubb was one of those coaches who had been with DeBoer all the way back to his time at Sioux Falls, and over the last two seasons at Washington he had risen to become one of the most respected offensive minds in the modern game. Huff was a big loss, too, as he was part of Chris Petersen’s staff at Boise State and across two different stints at Washington. He helped lead dominant offensive lines, including the group that won the Joe Moore Award in 2023.

So, in mid-February, DeBoer was tasked with going back through the hiring process to finalize his staff before the…

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February 26, 2024
With a release likely coming, Russell Wilson says he wants to stay in Denver

Quarterback Russell Wilson continues to be under contract with the Broncos. Appearing on the I Am Athlete podcast with Brandon Marshall, Wilson said he wants to stay in Denver.

“I got more fire than ever, honestly,” Wilson said. “Especially over the past two years of what I’ve gone through. Whether it’s in Denver or somewhere else. I hope it’s in Denver. You know, I hope I get to finish there. I committed there. I wanted to be there. I want to be there.”

Marshall went over the betting odds with Wilson regarding his next team, and Marshall then began to ask Wilson about some of them. Wilson short-circuited that discussion.

“I would put Denver one because I’m there right now,” Wilson said. “You know, I think you have to have the ability to compartmentalize. I think you have the ability to compartmentalize that, ‘Listen, it’s a business.’ Got to be also nonemotional about it too, at the same time. You also have to know that there’s ebbs and flows to it, you know? Winning heals all wounds. To me, it’s really focusing about being the best version of me, being prepared, and no matter what, you control what you can control. So, my mindset right now, where I am is where I am and I’d love to be there, you know? Love to win. That’s what I came there to do is win more Super Bowls.”

While it sounds good, it’s not realistic. Wilson’s $37 million salary for 2025, which is currently guaranteed for injury, becomes fully guaranteed on March 17. Unless he agrees to delay the vesting of the guarantee until after the 2024 season, the Broncos will cut him before the 2025 salary fully guarantees.

The Broncos haven’t said it. They don’t need to. They benched Wilson for Jarrett Stidham while they still had a chance to make it to the playoffs. That says it all. Wilson isn’t the guy around whom coach Sean Payton wants to build his offense. Payton won’t throw $37 million in good money after $39 million in bad.

And to the extent that fences would need to be mended between Wilson…

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February 26, 2024