Team news: Tampa Bay Buccaneers | Page 59

Word in Tampa before the end of the 2018 season was that wide receiver DeSean Jackson wanted to leave the Buccaneers rather than play out the final year of his contract with the team.

After Bruce Arians was hired as the team’s new head coach in January, there was a report that Arians wanted to speak to Jackson in hopes of convincing him to change his mind.

“I had a great meeting with DeSean about two weeks ago,” Arians said. “I have a ton of respect for him as a player and a person. I thought the meeting went great. I can’t speak for him, but I thought he was excited about it and I really look forward to working with him.”

Related players: Chris Godwin, Adam Humphries

Contrary to popular opinion, if Jackson were to stay in Tampa it wouldn't be a death knell to Chris Godwin's value since Godwin would likely replace Adam Humphries in the slot. Of the 56 receivers in 2018 who ran at least 25% of their routes out of the slot, Godwin was 21st in yards per route run. Humphries played 70% of the snaps last year, so if he walks in free agency there should be plenty of snaps available for both Jackson and Godwin.

Awards season has begun for Saquon Barkley, and he's picked up his first honor.

The Giants' sensational running back has been named Offensive Rookie of the Year by the Pro Football Writers Association. Browns quarterback Baker Mayfield was voted Rookie of the Year by the PFWA, likely signaling more split votes coming for the players who were selected 1-2 in the NFL Draft back in April.

It could be just the beginning of the awards for Barkley, who led the NFL with 2,028 scrimmage yards and joined Eric Dickerson and Edgerin James as the only rookies with at least 2,000 scrimmage yards. Barkley and Mayfield are also finalists for the Pepsi NFL Rookie of the Year – voted on by the fans – and remain the favorites to win the Offensive Rookie of the Year award given out by the league on the eve of Super Bowl LIII in Atlanta next month during its NFL Honors program.

The Cleveland Browns will hire Freddie Kitchens on Wednesday to be the 18th head coach in team history, sources told ESPN's Chris Mortensen.

Kitchens served as the Browns' interim offensive coordinator for the final eight games of the 2018 season. That work and his relationship with and development of quarterback Baker Mayfield were keys to his promotion.

The Browns did not want to lose Kitchens and denied him permission to talk to other teams about offensive coordinator openings during the interview process.

Interim coach and defensive coordinator Gregg Williams was relieved of his duties and is no longer with the team.

Kitchens called plays for the Browns starting in Week 9 and it certainly appears that he had a positive impact on QB Baker Mayfield. In Mayfield's first five-plus games, he completed 58.3% of his passes for a 6.60 YPA and a 3.6% touchdown rate. In nine games with Kitchens calling plays, Mayfield completed 68.4% of his passes for an 8.57 YPA and a 7.2% touchdown rate. Mayfield was the No. 10 fantasy quarterback (19.0 PPG) in that span, so retaining Kitchens as the Browns' play-caller should result in continued growth for Mayfield in 2019.