上海GM论坛-上海tygm群汇总-上海各区GM资源汇总

The New Orleans Saints are tapping into international waters to bolster its kicking depth. The club has agreed to terms on a deal with Charlie Smyth as a placekicker, his agent Paul Sheehy announced on social media. Smyth, a Northern Ireland native, becomes the first Irishman to sign a deal with an NFL team via the International Player Pathway. The 22-year-old had previously served as a goalkeeper for Down GAA.

This signing comes after Smyth attended the NFL Scouting Combine and visited with the Saints at the franchise’s training facility. He also participated at South Florida’s pro day along with other international prospects and was seen connecting on a 60-yard field goal attempt. At the combine, Smyth connected on 12 of his 16 attempts, via The Irish Times. He’ll now begin his work with the Saints when the club opens up its offseason program on April 15.

Charlie Smyth, good from 60! pic.twitter.com/p4KMR9OUle

— Kalyn Kahler (@kalynkahler) March 20, 2024
While he’s shown enough promise to get onto New Orleans’ offseason roster, Smyth is still quite green as a placekicker. Per The Athletic, Smyth has only been kicking an NFL football since August. Still, his soccer skills do seem to be translating quite well, as he’s also been spotted netting a 63-yard kick.

Check out this unreal 63-yard rocket from IPP Class of ’24 prospect Charlie Smyth!! 🇮🇪

🎥 (al.exander9228/IG) pic.twitter.com/oXuHesNohc

— NFL UK (@NFLUK) March 26, 2024
Smyth will come to New Orleans and compete with Blake Grupe, who was the team’s placekicker in 2023 after signing on as an undrafted free agent following a collegiate career at Notre Dame. In 17 games, Grupe converted 81.1% of his field goal attempts, which included six of nine attempts from 50-plus yards. He also netted all 40 of his extra-point attempts.

Because Smyth comes to the Saints via the IPP, he will not count toward the team’s 90-man roster for training camp, which should give him a better chance of sticking around through the summer at the least.

The Pittsburgh Steelers overhauled their quarterback spot this offseason, adding Russell Wilson and Justin Fields while dealing Kenny Pickett. But their initial plan was for Wilson to spark Pickett’s growth, according to ESPN. With that plan out the window? The Steelers’ focus, in supporting Wilson and adding Fields, is apparently to go for broke in 2024.

“If you would’ve told me a month ago … that we’d be sitting here a month later, and that Russell Wilson and Justin Fields would be our quarterbacks?” general manager Omar Khan told ESPN. “Yeah, I’d be a little bit surprised. (But we’re) trying to win a Super Bowl this year. Those decisions were made with the intent that they could help us this year.”

It’s an uncharacteristically urgent approach from a franchise that’s long operated with patience, as evidenced by head coach Mike Tomlin’s long tenure atop the staff. At the start of the offseason, patience appeared to remain a priority, with ESPN reporting new offensive coordinator Arthur Smith “hit it off” in a personal visit with Pickett, the team’s 2022 first-round draft pick. This was one example of the Steelers’ apparent internal effort to keep Pickett in the quarterback mix moving forward, despite mercurial results from the young signal-caller in two injury-riddled seasons under center.

Once Wilson was released by the Denver Broncos, the Steelers believed adding the veteran could be “a benefit to Kenny,” per ESPN, and “kick (Pickett) into gear,” even communicating to the former first-rounder plans for an “open competition.” But Pickett perceived Wilson’s arrival as the Steelers “going back on their initial plan” to give him first-team reps this offseason. So he reportedly quickly declared he’d prefer a fresh start to a competition for a backup job, and by the time the NFL’s free agent negotiating period opened March 11, other teams were clued into his availability.

Pickett was eventually traded to the Philadelphia Eagles to serve as Jalen Hurts’ No. 2. And it wasn’t until after his expressed discontent did the Steelers begin trade talks with the Chicago Bears for Fields, according to ESPN. Wilson, meanwhile, reportedly didn’t ask for any assurances about the starting quarterback job, though Tomlin has since said he’s internally declared the longtime Seattle Seahawks star in “pole position” for the 2024 job.

The Pittsburgh Steelers didn’t begin negotiating a trade for Chicago Bears quarterback Justin Fields until after incumbent Kenny Pickett requested his own fresh start, according to ESPN. And apparently Fields also had other plans in mind, with ESPN reporting Friday the former first-round draft pick had three additional teams on his radar ahead of 2024 free agency.

The Steelers, of course, were one of those teams; while Russell Wilson is in “pole position” to start for Pittsburgh, per coach Mike Tomlin, Fields is set to have a chance to compete for first-team reps after three years in Chicago. Otherwise, according to ESPN, the Atlanta Falcons, Las Vegas Raiders and Minnesota Vikings were also preferred destinations in the quarterback’s eyes.

Atlanta ultimately moved quickly to sign former Vikings starter Kirk Cousins in free agency, while Minnesota added Sam Darnold and acquired an additional first-round pick for April’s draft, paving the way for a potential double-dip at the position. Las Vegas, meanwhile, signed free agent Gardner Minshew to a two-year deal and is expected to consider drafting a quarterback as well.

In the end, Fields went to the Steelers in exchange for a conditional 2025 sixth-round draft pick, clearing the way for the Bears to use the No. 1 pick in the draft on a new signal-caller. As the trade was being finalized, per ESPN, the Steelers communicated to both Fields and Wilson regarding their plans for the position, noting the latter would begin the offseason in the driver’s seat for the top gig but leaving the door open for a future competition.

“Rest assured, when it’s time to compete,” Tomlin later told reporters, “Justin will (be) given an opportunity to compete and we’ll allow those guys to sort themselves out. But I thought it was appropriate to describe it in a way for when we get started. Russell’s in pole position, and I think his body of work justifies that. And just from my conversations with Justin, he is excited about working alongside Russell and learning some of those veteran tricks of the trade … behind a guy who has been around for over a decade.”

The Miami Dolphins are ensuring one of the key pieces to their backfield is in-house for the foreseeable future. The club has restructured the contract of running back Raheem Mostert to add another year to his which will keep him under team control through the 2025 season, his agent Brett Tessler announced on social media. Specifically, Mostert’s new two-year deal is worth up to $9.075 million, according to NFL Media.

Mostert joined the Dolphins in 2022 after inking a one-year deal with the franchise. This marked the now 31-year-old’s second stint with the club after initially joining the team back in 2015 during his rookie season. He signed a two-year, $5.6 million contract extension last offseason and was set to enter the final year of that deal in 2024 before this latest restructure.

Mostert has been an extremely productive back with the Dolphins under head coach Mike McDaniel, who also coached him during their shared days with the San Francisco 49ers where McDaniel was first the run game coordinator before being elevated to offensive coordinator. He’s coming off the best statistical season of his career in 2023 where he rushed for over a thousand yards for the first time, led the league with 18 rushing touchdowns, and was tied with Christian McCaffrey for the most total touchdowns from scrimmage (21).

Those efforts helped Mostert reach the Pro Bowl for the first time in his career as well.

Mostert entered the league as an undrafted rookie out of Prude in 205. He bounced around the league to begin his career, joining four teams (Eagles, Dolphins, Ravens, and Browns) in just his rookie season alone. He also had brief stays with the Jets and Bears before latching on with the 49ers. His breakout campaign came in 2019 when he rushed for 772 yards and eight touchdowns for the club.

While the back has started 29 of his 32 regular season games played for the Dolphins over the past two seasons, it will be interesting to see how his role evolves in 2024, particularly with the presence of second-year running back De’Von Achane. The 2023 third-round pick out of Texas A&M showed tremendous promise as a feature back in the Miami offense, so it’ll be curious to see how McDaniel decides to deploy his backs as Achane furthers his development in Year 2.

The New York Jets are bolstering their pass-rushing unit. The club has agreed to terms with the Philadelphia Eagles on a trade to acquire All-Pro linebacker Haason Reddick, according to CBS Sports lead NFL insider Jonathan Jones. In exchange for Reddick, Philadelphia will receive a conditional draft pick in 2026. Per Jones, it is currently a third-round selection but can become a second-rounder if Reddick plays 67.5% of the defensive snaps in 2024 and has 10-plus sacks.

A trade out of Philly has been looming over Reddick throughout the offseason, particularly with the 29-year-old entering the final year of his contract. For 2024, Reddick is set to make a base salary of $14.25 million and has a $21.8 million cap charge. The Jets will take on $14.5 million of Reddick’s total compensation for 2024 while the Eagles will foot the bill on his $1 million roster bonus that was due earlier this month, per NFL Media. The Eagles had given Reddick permission to seek a trade earlier this offseason, and the writing appeared to be on the wall for his departure after the team restructured Josh Sweat’s contract and signed fellow pass rusher Bryce Huff in free agency.

Speaking of Huff, his departure from the Jets this offseason is what created the hole that is now being filled by Reddick, so this is a roundabout swap between these two franchises.

Reddick entered the league as the No. 13 overall pick by the Arizona Cardinals in the 2017 NFL Draft out of Temple. He played four seasons with the club before having a one-year stint with the Carolina Panthers before landing in Philadelphia. With the Eagles is where Reddick blossomed into a premier pass rusher, earning back-to-back Pro Bowl nods over the past two seasons as well as second-team All-Pro honors in 2022.

Here are our instant grades for the deal:

Eagles: A
Overall, this is a pretty even swap between these two Super Bowl contenders. Philadelphia gains a slight edge in this trade if we look at the totality of what led us to the deal. The club signed Bryce Huff to a three-year deal earlier in free agency, which is what made Reddick expendable and created a need at pass rusher in New York. The Eagles got younger at the position with Huff set to enter his age-26 season and Reddick entering his age-30 season, while not sacrificing dramatically from a talent standpoint. While Reddick is more decorated throughout his career, Huff has developed into a strong pass rusher, who is coming off a career-year 10-sack season in 2023.

As for the trade itself, it’s conceivable this turns into a second-rounder. Reddick has topped 10-plus sacks in each of his past four seasons and has proven to be an every-down player, notching at least 74% of the defensive snaps in each of the past four years as well. So, if you look at it as the Eagles getting Huff and (at worst) a third-rounder in 2026 for Reddick, that’s quite a return.

Jets: A-
While we have the Eagles technically “winning” this deal by a hair, the Jets have landed on their feet quite nicely by acquiring Reddick, who is one of the more underrated pass rushers in the league. He slots into Huff’s role as an ideal replacement and — for 2024 — should prove to be the superior player. It’s also a relatively low-risk move for the Jets in terms of the draft capital they gave up. Reddick is only signed through this season and if the team can’t extend him, they would get a compensatory pick in return for him.

Reddick also jives with New York’s “win now” mode that they find themselves in with Aaron Rodgers at quarterback. The club has made a series of short-term deals this offseason to bolster their chances of hoisting a Lombardi Trophy and Reddick is the latest chess piece to move. A pass-rushing rotation of Reddick, Jermaine Johnson II, Will McDonald IV, and John Franklin-Myers is downright scary. The uncertain future beyond 2024 and the possible cost of a second-rounder is what prevents this from drawing even with Philly in the grade department, but this fills a drastic need with a top-tier talent.

Spring professional football is back and this year it will be a consolidated effort after the USFL and XFL merged in the past year to form the UFL. Play for the new league begins Saturday at 1 p.m. ET as the Birmingham Stallions and Arlington Renegades kick the season off. The Stallions are 3.5-point favorites in the latest Week 1 UFL odds, while the over/under is 41.5 in that matchup. St. Louis Battlehawks (-7) vs. Michigan Panthers kicks off Saturday at 4 p.m. ET.

Sunday’s UFL schedule begins with DC Defenders vs. San Antonio Brahmas (+6) at noon ET, followed by Memphis Showboats vs. Houston Roughnecks (PK) at 3 p.m. ET. Before locking in any Week 1 UFL picks or predictions of your own, you need to see what proven SportsLine football expert Emory Hunt has to say.

Hunt is the founder and CEO of Football Gameplan, which has been supplying analysis of all levels of football since 2007. He is a former running back for the Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns and knows the game from a player’s perspective. Hunt’s dedication to analysis of all levels of professional football helped him crush the CFL, XFL and USFL in 2023, posting a combined ATS record of 98-73 in his SportsLine articles. Anybody following saw huge returns.

Now, he has set his sights on the 2024 UFL Week 1 schedule and revealed his UFL picks and predictions. You can head to SportsLine now to see Hunt’s picks.

Top Week 1 UFL predictions
One of Hunt’s top Week 1 UFL picks: He’s backing the DC Defenders (-6) to cover against the San Antonio Brahmas in the first game on Sunday. The Defenders fell short of the XFL title last year but they were the best overall team during the regular season with a 9-1 record. Quarterback Jordan Ta’amu threw for 14 touchdowns and ran for three more, while running back Abram Smith topped 700 yards on the ground.

Both players are back to lead the 2024 UFL version of this roster, and Hunt is also very impressed with a defense that made life difficult on opposing quarterbacks in the XFL last year. “This is a tall order for a young QB (Chase Garbers) making his first pro start against one of the top XFL defenses last season. This secondary for the Defenders can take the ball away and score.” See Hunt’s other XFL picks here.

How to make Week 1 UFL picks
Hunt is also backing a team he says has the better quarterback room entering the season. He’s only sharing his UFL picks at SportsLine.

Who wins and covers in each game during the Week 1 UFL schedule, and which team with a QB edge should you be all over? Visit SportsLine now to see Hunt’s UFL picks, all from the football expert who went 98-73 combined on his XFL, USFL and CFL picks in 2023, and find out.

Week 1 UFL schedule, odds
Saturday, March 30

Birmingham Stallions vs. Arlington Renegades (-3.5, 41.5), 1 p.m. ET
St. Louis Battlehawks vs. Michigan Panthers (+7, 42), 4 p.m. ET

Sunday, March 31

DC Defenders vs. San Antonio Brahmas (+6, 43), noon ET
Memphis Showboats vs. Houston Roughnecks (PK, 40.5), 3 p.m. ET