If a team on draft day is looking for a chance to jump into the top three picks, Jacksonville Jaguars general manager Dave Caldwell let it be known Friday that his team is open for business.
“I feel more open to it (a trade) this year because we don’t need to have a guy come in and start,” Caldwell said. “We had no margin for error the last two years. We had to draft them and start them.”
Caldwell obviously has more faith in the roster he currently has under contract than most, but trading down would make sense for the Jaguars to acquire more picks, even a potential first-rounder in 2016. If one of the top two quarterbacks, Marcus Mariota or Jameis Winston were to fall to three, it’s likely Jacksonville’s phones will be ringing off the hook.
“You probably know maybe the few minutes you’re on the clock, for the most part,” Caldwell said. “Last year, Buffalo wanted to trade up for Sammy Watkins and that came out of nowhere. Certain teams are different. Some will say, ‘Hey, we have a significant interest in coming up and this is what we want to do.’ Other teams that will wait for the last minute and that’s more difficult.”
The Jaguars, who obviously aren’t looking at a quarterback after drafting Blake Bortles out of UCF last season, can’t drop down too far if Winston or Mariota falls to No. 3 and the problem behind them is the only other team in the Top 10 looking at a quarterback is the New York Jets at No. 6 and new head coach Todd Bowles and GM Mike Maccagnan aren’t likely to cripple their team’s future draft options in their first season.
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Rams coach Jeff Fisher denies any Sam Bradford trade rumors
Reports circulated earlier in the week that the St. Louis Rams were allowing Sam Bradford and his agent to explore trade options, even if a trade was highly unlikely. Friday at the NFL Combine, head coach Jeff Fisher denied even that.
“Not true,” Fisher said. “I don’t know where that came from. He’s doing well. We’ve had numerous visits and we stayed close all the way through the year. One thing people don’t understand is, they think when a guy gets hurt he disappears. Sam was there for every practice, every meeting, traveled with us and was on the sideline.”
Fisher also confirmed Friday that the Rams have hired former Carolina Panthers quarterback Chris Weinke as their new quarterback coach.
Chargers lock-in King Dunlap
San Diego didn’t let its left tackle hit free agency, signing King Dunlap to a four-year, $28 million contract Friday. Dunlap, 29, will be starting his eighth season in the league and third with the Chargers. Last year he played 1,000 snaps and gave up just three sacks.
Dunlap spent his first four seasons with the Philadelphia Eagles and was a seventh-round pick out of Auburn in 2009.
Packers’ Hawk has Bone Spurs Removed from Ankle
A.J. Hawk denied playing hurt all season, but Friday it was revealed that the nine-year linebacker went into surgery right after the season to have bone spurs removed from his ankle.
Even hurt Hawk saw action in all 18 of Green Bay’s games, though his role was limited late in the season. He finished 2014 with 90 tackles, half a sack and two passes defended.
Adrian Peterson Sours on Vikings
While the Minnesota Vikings have expressed their desire to see Adrian Peterson return to the team in 2015, the running back himself isn’t so sure he wants to come back.
Peterson, who spent the entire season on the Commissioner’s Exempt List after being charged for abusing his son, thinks the Vikings “ambushed” him by making him sit out a year.
“I love Minnesota,” Peterson said. “There are people that have had my back, and supported me. Last year, with the things that took place, had a lot of fans that supported me through everything. For the fans, I would definitely love to come back, but then again, it’s a business, when it comes down to business, you can’t get caught up in the loyalty to fans or to a team or anything like that.”
