NFL Rumors: C.J. Anderson, Robert Griffin III, Bears, Browns, & Buccaneers

C.J. Anderson

• Mike Klis of 9News reports that the Bears actually made restricted free agent RB C.J. Anderson the best offer with a four-year, $19 million contract.
• According to Klis, Anderson nearly took the Bears’ offer, and was about to board a flight from the San Francisco airport to Chicago on Wednesday afternoon.
• However, Anderson went with the Dolphins’ four-year, $18 million offer due in large part to his familiarity with Adam Gase’s offense.
• Klis adds that the final four teams for Anderson were the Dolphins, Bears, Patriots and 49ers.

Robert Griffin III

• Joel Corry views the Jets meeting with the free agent QB Robert Griffin III as a just a leverage play for their contract talks with QB Ryan Fitzpatrick.
• If a team were to sign RGIII, Corry could see him getting a similar contract to the one-year, $4 million contract with a max value of $5 million signed by Michael Vick in recent years.

Bears

• Aaron Leming suggests Texans free agent DL Jared Crick as a player who could make sense for the Bears if they end up losing out on DT Akiem Hicks.

Browns

• Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk points out that the Browns surprisingly still have veteran WR Dwayne Bowe after a hugely disappointing 2015 season in which he caught just five passes for 53 yards and was paid $9 million.
• Florio doesn’t think it would make a lot of sense for them to hold onto Bowe and pay him another $3.3 million on top of the $2.85 million fully-guaranteed salary for 2016 he’s owed.
• According to Florio, “the only plausible explanation for Bowe’s ongoing presence on the roster is that the Browns hope someone else will call up and offer something for him in draft.“
• Joel Corry mentions that Browns LT Joe Thomas had a $1 million roster bonus due today.
• However, Corry believes Thomas should ask the Browns to push the date back and trade him to a contending team.

Buccaneers

• Joel Corry points out that $5 million of Buccaneers OLB Lavonte David’s 2016 base salary became fully guaranteed on Sunday.