Jordan Reed Inks Five-Year Extension

With big shoes to fill after the retirement of Redskins legend Chris Cooley – Jordan Reed, the 2013 third-round draft choice – saw his career begin with much promise. On an October Sunday in his rookie season, Reed set a Redskins rookie record with nine catches, for 134 yards, and a touchdown against the Chicago Bears. Presumably en route to a fantastic first year, Reed’s season was cut short due to a severe concussion suffered in mid-November against the Eagles. Despite him missing the Redskins' final seven games of the season, the Pro Football Writers of America still decided to name him to the All-Rookie team in 2013.

Unfortunately for Reed and the Redskins, from that moment on, it appeared that he would never be the same player again, as he suffered further nagging injuries in 2014 – forcing him to miss over a month of the season – while he just didn’t seem to have the same effectiveness on the field in the other 11 games he played. By 2015, it was pretty clear that Reed had lost his once promising starting tight end gig, as both Logan Paulsen and Niles Paul had been out-performing him and were ahead of him on the depth chart entering training camp.

It took two catastrophic, season-ending injuries, but by the end of camp the Redskins, ironically, were left with Reed as the only healthy tight end on the roster. Rather than succumbing to his type-casted label of “injury prone,” Reed stepped up in a huge way in 2015, by catching 87 passes for 11 touchdowns, and nearly 1,000 yards.

In this story of redemption, Reed and the Redskins inked a new five-year extension on Thursday afternoon. A deal worth up to $50 million, with $22 million guaranteed, Reed proved to the doubters that his game was as good as once advertised. With Kirk Cousins at the helm for the Washington offense, consider Reed a top fantasy tight end in 2016 and beyond.

Cowboys Rookie – Jaylon Smith – Will Not Start on IR

In an interesting turn of events over these past few months of “Draft Season” it appears that the Cowboys have been pulling a fast one on us all along…

Jaylon Smith – arguably the most talented player in the entire draft – suffered a supposedly career-threatening injury on national television against the Ohio State Buckeyes in the Battlefrog Fiesta Bowl this past New Year’s Day. Since that moment, it was a wonder if Smith would ever play football again, after the horrendous results that were being reported in his post surgery rehabilitation plan. As Day 1 of draft day came and went, Round 2 began on Friday night, with Smith being far out of the minds of most draft evaluators and fans alike. The real discussion amongst the invested spectators was how far would UCLA linebacker Myles Jack fall? He too suffered a season-ending injury last year, but was assumed in better condition than that of Smith entering the draft. As the first two picks of the round quickly came and went, Dallas was then on the clock with seemingly endless opportunities to improve their 4-12 squad from a year ago. Would they take their quarterback of the future? Would they take a playmaking wide receiver? A defensive end – arguably their biggest need? Or would they take a flier on the aforementioned, ultra-talented, Myles Jack?

In typical headline-grabbing Cowboys fashion, they shocked the NFL world by selecting the left for dead Jaylon Smith of Notre Dame. With understandable outrage, many Cowboys fans cursed the selection, as they felt that the front office, once again, wasted another high round draft choice on a player whom may never pan out. With so many impactful players left on the board, why would the Cowboys take a chance on Smith? Just minutes after the selection, the picture began to clear up.

What most of us weren’t aware of is that the Cowboys own head physician – Dr. Dan Cooper – was actually the one to perform Jaylon Smith’s reconstructive surgery. While rumors were swirling that Smith’s knee would never be the same again, is it possible that everything just played right into the Cowboys hands? While other specialists who didn’t go inside of Smith’s knee were speculating his potential nerve regeneration time, and talking heads (such as myself) were regurgitating it, the Cowboys seemed to be comfortable with his potential to play going forward.

While they kept it quiet throughout the entire process, clearly the Cowboys and their team doctor, who performed Smith’s surgery, never feared that he wouldn’t play again. While the rest of the league planned for the unfortunate worst for arguably the draft’s best player, Dallas sat quiet and smiled. Just a week after the Draft now, and Smith is proclaiming that he isn’t definitely out for even the 2016 season, and while you’d expect a player to have that kind of confidence in himself, the Cowboys haven’t ruled him out yet either. Just this week, they announced that he will not start 2016 on the IR, making all 31 other NFL GM’s wonder if they made a huge mistake. For now at least, I’m going to trust the team that handled Smith the most, performed his surgery, and gave him a plan for complete rehabilitation. If things pan out the way that the Cowboys plan, and Dr. Cooper is right, we may look back on this moment as one of the biggest steals in NFL Draft history.

Von Miller – Bronco for Life?

Well, that’s what Von Miller plans on, according to the Denver Post, as he doesn’t see his franchise tag for the 2016 season as a problem. He is confident that both he and the Broncos will work out a deal either soon this offseason (July 15 deadline) or when he becomes a free agent in 2017.

Most are projecting that Miller’s new deal will make him the highest paid defensive player in NFL history, a title that he is certainly worthy of, as he led the Broncos ferocious defensive unit to a Super Bowl victory this past season. During their blitzkrieg-like run, Miller and the Broncos pass rush completely annihilated some of the most feared offenses in the NFL, including the Patriots and Tom Brady, whom they hit a postseason record 20 times and sacked four times in the AFC Championship Game. Against Cam Newton and the Panthers in the Super Bowl, Miller personally recorded 2.5 sacks, forced two fumbles – one of which was recovered for a touchdown – deflected a pass, and tallied six tackles on the night. He is the driving force on this championship winning defense, is the most impactful defender in the game today, and should – and will be – paid as such.

Browns Quarterback Battle – Potential vs. Polish

On March 24, 2016, when Robert Griffin III signed a two-year, $15 million deal with the Browns, many assumed that he would get the starting nod headed into the season. Now, while Cleveland still held a top draft choice and were reportedly in the market for one of the top two quarterbacks in the draft, it was still believed that new head coach, Hue Jackson, preferred to use Griffin as his starter entering the season. It all made sense. Jackson is a known quarterback guru, while Griffin is still seemingly loaded with potential. They would take a quarterback with the number two pick and let him sit and learn behind Griffin and under Jackson’s tutelage. If Griffin didn’t pan out, the rookie would come in with plenty of time already on the bench and would be set up better than if he were to start the season cold without any NFL exposure first. If Griffin were to pan out, the rookie QB would then just sit and wait until Griffin’s two years were up with the team.

This plan then took a wild swerve when the Browns traded out of the No. 2 spot with the Eagles and were seated at No. 8 in the then-upcoming draft. This seemed like an even more obvious vote of confidence from Cleveland in the much-maligned quarterback, as coach Jackson and the Browns front office were willing to punt an opportunity to take one of the top two quarterbacks in the draft.

Once the first round of the draft rolled around, Cleveland again traded back, picking up more draft picks in the process, until they ultimately settled on Baylor wide receiver Corey Coleman at No. 15 overall.

Another home run piece of evidence for RGIII, as the Browns pretty clearly were doing all they could to surround their new quarterback with weapons. After two pass rushers went with their next two picks, the Browns again invested in protecting their quarterback by taking an offensive tackle with one of their third round selections. Then, in a surprise to everyone, Cleveland took USC quarterback Cody Kessler with their final third round selection.

Kessler – a quarterback whom many didn’t even consider draftable – intrigued the Browns so much that they felt it necessary to use a third round pick on him. Sure, he’s a three-year starter, and a multi-time captain of his team, but most draft pundits had several quarterbacks ahead of him on their boards. When looking further into the selection, Kessler’s calling card is his accuracy. He's arguably the most accurate quarterback in the class, and is a known leader both on the field and in the locker room. Notice anything about his most identifiable traits? Those are the two areas that Robert Griffin III most sorely lacks in as a professional quarterback.

While one would assume that the addition of Kessler would allow the Browns to revert back to the original plan where Griffin would start the season and the rookie would watch and wait, the fact that the rookie appears to be everything that Griffin is not should raise some red flags.

Now just a week later, and word is coming out that Kessler will be preparing this offseason and assumedly training camp as a starting quarterback. While this won’t surprise most, as a player should boast that type of confidence, a more interesting development is that Browns GM Sashi Brown isn’t denying that Kessler has a legitimate chance to take the starting job from Griffin "…I do think Cody is a guy that I would not want to sleep on at all if I were a quarterback wanting to be the starting quarterback of the Browns…''

As long-winded and wordy as it may have been stated, it is clear that the decision makers in Cleveland are viewing their third round draft choice as a NFL ready player from Day 1.

You are probably wondering what should think going forward…

-- First of all, Kessler is a quarterback that needs to be on everyone’s radar, whether you believe in his talent or not. Secondly, the psyche of RGIII is one that should be monitored closely this offseason, as he once again has to deal with competition – a situation he didn’t previously feel too comfortable with in Washington. Thirdly, the health of RGIII may be the biggest question that needs to be answered. On the surface, it is unquestionable who’s more naturally talented, but it is still unclear if Griffin can ever return to his healthy form when he won the Rookie of the Year Award in 2012.

If everything goes right for Kessler, and Griffin once again either physically or mentally crumbles, we may be in store for another “2012: Battle for Seattle” where Kessler comes out of nowhere in training camp like fellow third-round pick Russell Wilson did, and Griffin loses the job outright just like fellow high-priced free agent quarterback Matt Flynn did in the summer of 2012.

If this column did nothing else, hopefully this puts Kessler on the radar for fantasy sports fans whereas Wilson was a relative unknown headed into the 2012 season. While he’s not nearly as talented as Wilson is, Kessler seems to fit today’s mold of NFL quarterbacking. He’s smart, athletic enough, has adequate arm strength, and accurate as hell. If Ryan Fitzpatrick and throw for over 4,000 yards and over 30 touchdowns, I don’t really see the odds too stacked against Kessler going forward.