Denver Broncos center Dan Koppen will miss the entirety of the upcoming season after tearing his ACL in practice over the weekend. The veteran center was re-signed last month after stepping up as a injury-replacement for the Broncos in 2012.
NFL news: Dan Koppen out for season, Jonathan Cooper ends holdout
A few more players endured season-ending injuries over the weekend, but the most interesting news might be the contract of Arizona Cardinals rookie Jonathan Cooper.
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Koppen was Tom Brady's center in New England for the majority of his career, but moved to Denver last season to give Peyton Manning a veteran presence on the offensive line. The 33-year-old wasn't expected to be a starter, but multiple injury issues thrust him into the starting lineup on what ended up being a solid Broncos team.
Due to Koppen's injury, however, the Broncos are going to have similar issues this season at the center position. SB Nation's own Mile High Report notes that Denver does have plenty of options at center -- even with injuries to Koppen and J.D. Walton -- but none of them have the experience the team would probably prefer.
Currently the Denver Broncos have several in-house options at center with as many as five players on their current roster and one player on the physically unable to perform list who can play center. There are several more outside options available, but they involve either talking someone out of retirement or taking further chances on players with limited starting experience at best.
Those options include Manny Ramirez, C.J. Davis, Philip Blake, Quentin Saulsberry and Steve Vallos, among others.
The Arizona Cardinals agreed to terms with seventh-overall pick Jonathan Cooper on a four-year deal worth $14.55 million. The sticking point was apparently offset language, but the reports of his contract details contain something else rather interesting.
Cooper will join the Cardinals this week and, in a couple of months be a multi-millionaire. Revenge of the Birds has more:
Pro Football Talk is reporting that he will get the entire sum of his signing bonus by October, being paid $3.4 million within the next 10 days, $3 million on Sept. 15 and $2.56 million on Oct. 15. That adds up to just under $9 million of the over $14 million in the next three months. Not a bad deal. Don’t spend it all in one place.
That’s a decent chunk of up-front change for a 23-year-old that has yet to play in the NFL, but at least the Cardinals will have their first-round pick in practice sooner rather than later.
The end of Donovan McNabb's career certainly wasn't prolific as it was during his early days with the Philadelphia Eagles. The former All-Pro quarterback has decided to ignore the last few years of his career, though, announcing plans to retire as an Eagle on Monday.
Our Eagles experts over at Bleeding Green Nation had a nice column explaining why McNabb is retiring as an Eagle, noting it might not have been the easiest thing to make happen:
McNabb’s retirement press conference is a formality and a nice gesture by both the player and the Eagles’ organization. At times McNabb has rubbed both the fanbase and media the wrong way, so it’s nice to see the team have his back and appreciate his accomplishments. The 13-year veteran is statistically the Eagles’ greatest quarterback ever.
The Eagles made a move relating to the status of their current roster over the weekend, too, moving Riley Cooper into the depth chart spot previously occupied by Jeremy Maclin. Maclin will miss the upcoming season with a torn ACL.
Cooper has just 46 career catches in three seasons with the Eagles, but the former Florida Gators wideout has the size to be a decent redzone target for whichever quarterback Philadelphia chooses to start this season.
The season-ending injury bug was rampant over the weekend and, unfortunately, Miami Dolphins wide receiver Armon Binns is the latest victim after tearing his ACL and MCL. The former Cincinnati Bearcats standout originally went undrafted, but earned playing time -- including five starts -- with the Cincinnati Bengals last year.
Binns was expected to play behind Mike Wallace, Brian Hartline and Brandon Gibson anyway, but our friends at the Phinsider have more on what it means to everyone else vying for receptions on the Miami roster.
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