First Call: Tight end for Steelers?; Tom Brady wants Antonio Brown; Bud Dupree update; Tom Wilson bobblehead
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Tuesday’s “First Call” features a potential tight end target for the Steelers. Also, updates on Bud Dupree’s franchise tag and Tom Brady’s free agency. It looks like Antonio Brown is still on Brady’s radar. A one-time Penguins prospect is coming to PPG Paints Arena in a different uniform. And the Washington Capitals have created a very strange bobblehead of Tom Wilson.
Here’s an idea
CBS Sports writer Jason La Canfora came up with a list of one move each NFL team should make.
He writes that the Steelers should sign tight end Eric Ebron.
Current tight end Vance McDonald is often injured and will be a $7.1 million cap hit if he stays on the roster.
“Tight end has been an issue forever and keeping Vance McDonald is way too steep a price. Hunter Henry will get tagged and Austin Hooper will get way overpaid on the open market. The Steelers don’t have cap space and renting Ebron for a year could provide value in the red zone,” La Canfora writes.
Personally, I’d prefer either Henry or Hooper. But if they aren’t available, I’ll take Ebron. He has the drops a little too much. But he’s good in the red zone. The 26-year-old had 13 touchdowns back in 2018 with the Colts.
Much like Henry and McDonald, though, Ebron has had injury problems. He missed the final eight games of last year with an ankle injury.
Ebron has already publicly flirted with the Chicago Bears, who may be in the market for a tight end as well.
News? Or not?
ESPN’s Jenna Laine sent this tweet about Steelers outside linebacker Bud Dupree.
Not sure if this has been reported, but league sources have told me that they expect the Redskins to franchise tag Brandon Scherff and the Steelers to tag Bud Dupree.
— JennaLaineESPN (@JennaLaineESPN) March 2, 2020
I can’t speak to the intentions of the Redskins regarding Brandon Scherff. But the belief that the Steelers would franchise Dupree has long been assumed.
Per her tweet, I don’t know if any other NFL reporter has stated it as fact, per se. But anyone who covers the Steelers would be stunned if the Steelers didn’t do it.
After Mike Tomlin, Kevin Colbert and Art Rooney II have all talked about prioritizing working out a contract for Dupree, I can’t imagine them failing to at least use the franchise tag window as a tool to get a long-term deal done.
The Steelers have until March 12 to apply the tag to Dupree. It is expected to be approximately $16 million for outside linebackers this year.
The Steelers and Redskins will have until July 15 to work out a long-term contract with the players, or else they will play under the one-year guaranteed deal.
Staying in touch
Wherever he winds up in 2020, New England Patriots free agent quarterback Tom Brady wants Antonio Brown to be there.
That’s the word from ESPN’s Dan Grazino and Jeremy Fowler. In a post credited to both reporters, ESPN.com says “two people close to Antonio Brown — yes, that Antonio Brown — told us Brady keeps in consistent contact with Brown and has told Brown he wants to play with him wherever Brady goes next.
“According to one of Brown’s attorneys, Brady has told Brown to keep mentally and physically strong so the two can reunite on the field at Brady’s next stop.”
Not long after that story came out, Brown put this post on Instagram.
I’m not sure who “Christopher Walkings” is. But it is believed Brown is referring to Brady’s pregame hype video prior to the Pats’ playoff game against the Tennessee Titans this year.
Close enough, A.B.
The video didn’t work, though. New England lost. And one of the teams believed to be a potential landing spot for Brady is the Titans because they are coached by Brady’s former teammate Mike Vrabel.
Brady and receiver Julian Edelman were seen FaceTiming with Vrabel during a basketball game at the Carrier Dome in Syracuse on Saturday.
Let the rumors begin.
Getting a look
A familiar name is going to be in uniform for the Ottawa Senators Tuesday night.
It’s goaltender Filip Gustavsson. He was a prospect with the Penguins dealt to Ottawa as part of the Derick Brassard trade.
The Senators are currently without goaltender Marcus Hogberg. He went back to Sweden for family reasons.
Gustavsson was with the AHL’s Belleville Senators. He has a 15-5-3 record in the AHL this season with a .885 save percentage and a 3.28 goals against average.
WILLLLSOOOONNN!!!
Here’s a weird one.
The Washington Capitals are giving away a Tom Wilson bobblehead doll.
That’s not so strange. What’s strange is the type of bobblehead it is.
Yes, that’s a Tom Wilson volleyball bobblehead.
As in “Wilson” the volleyball from the Tom Hanks’ movie “Castaway.”
The Capitals will distribute the doll to fans at their game against the St. Louis Blues on March 24.
Does every fan get a free headshot from the bobblehead, too?