HEADLINES

Month: March 2014

Saints Shopping Pierre Thomas, Lance Moore

March 6th, 2014 at 3:02pm CST by Luke Adams

The Saints are shopping running back Pierre Thomas and wide receiver Lance Moore to other teams in trade talks, sources tell ESPN.com’s Adam Schefter (Twitter link). According to Schefter, New Orleans may also be open to the idea of moving running back Darren Sproles.

With a potential battle looming for Jimmy Graham, the Saints may be looking to create space to pay their tight end by clearing salary that’s currently committed to some of the team’s other offensive playmakers. Thomas is owed $2.9MM in total salary for 2014, while Moore has a cap number of about $5.07MM and Sproles is on the books for $4.25MM.

Although Moore is under contract through 2015 and may have the trickiest contract to move, Thomas and Sproles only have one year remaining on their respective deals. Thomas’ entire $2.9MM salary is currently non-guaranteed, which would make a trade very palatable for the Saints, though the team would have to find an interested suitor. The Saints reportedly reached out to Thomas and his agent last week to discuss the running back’s future, so perhaps the possibility of a trade was floated during that conversation.

Texans To Cut Evan Frierson

March 6th, 2014 at 3:00pm CST by Luke Adams

The Texans are waiving inside linebacker Evan Frierson, according to Aaron Wilson of the Baltimore Sun (via Twitter). Frierson signed with Houston as an undrafted free agent in 2013 and spent the season on injured reserve.

Despite Frierson’s lack of NFL experience, Wilson expects the former Illinois State linebacker to draw interest from other NFL teams. The Texans cut him because he didn’t fit into the new staff’s plans, according to Tom Pelissero of USA Today (Twitter link).

NFC North Notes: Vikings, Kuhn, Lions

March 6th, 2014 at 2:43pm CST by Luke Adams

With Matt Cassel and Josh Freeman eligible for free agency, Vikings GM Rick Spielman told ESPN Radio’s Colin Cowherd today that he would like to draft a young quarterback and also sign a QB in free agency, writes Master Tesfatsion of the Star Tribune.

“We’re looking defense, I can tell you that,” Spielman said. “We have to improve on the defensive side of the ball. The QB scenario will work itself out. We don’t play any games next week. We’re not going to force the issue…. We’ll be able to find a young quarterback in this draft, because there’s enough depth. But we’re also going to have to look at one in free agency as well.”

Here’s more on the Vikings and their NFC rivals:

  • Cassel is one free agent quarterback the Vikings will consider, and head coach Mike Zimmer told reporters today, including Chris Tomasson of the St. Paul Pioneer Press, that he hopes the team can bring Cassel back for 2014.
  • Free agent linebacker Jameel McClain will visit with the Vikings next, says Adam Caplan of ESPN.com (via Twitter). McClain has already met with the Bills and Giants since being released by the Ravens.
  • Fan favorite John Kuhn won’t sign a new contract with the Packers before Tuesday, and will reach the open market, a source tells Rob Demovsky of ESPN.com. According to Demovsky’s source, the Packers and their longtime fullback intend to keep in touch, so there’s still a chance Kuhn could return to Green Bay.
  • In order to draft Sammy Watkins, the Lions would almost certainly have to move up from No. 10, but Detroit is showing “a ton of interest” in the Clemson wide receiver, according to Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (Twitter link).

Vikings Cut Letroy Guion, Greg Childs

March 6th, 2014 at 2:39pm CST by Luke Adams

2:39pm: The Vikings have officially cut Guion, as well as wide receiver Greg Childs, the team announced (via Twitter). Childs never appeared in a regular season game for the club.

1:30pm: The Vikings are expected to create cap savings by releasing defensive tackle Letroy Guion, a source tells Adam Caplan of ESPN.com (Twitter link). Caplan reported yesterday that the team may ask Guion to take a pay cut to reduce his cap number, but it appears the longtime Viking will be cut instead.

Guion, 26, has a 2014 base salary worth $3.95MM and a total cap number of $4.3MM. By releasing Guion and getting out of the final year of his contract, the Vikings would create $4MM in cap savings.

While Guion has started 28 games for Minnesota over the last two seasons, he was only a part-timer for the club, appearing in about a third of the Vikings’ defensive snaps in 2013. In addition to not playing all that often, Guion didn’t perform particularly well when he did play, according to Pro Football Focus (subscription required). PFF’s grades have the former fifth round pick ranked 60th out of 69 qualified defensive tackles last season.

If and when the Vikings cut Guion, it will increase the size of the defensive tackle hole the team needs to fill this offseason. Veterans Kevin Williams and Fred Evans are both eligible for unrestricted free agency, leaving Sharrif Floyd as the only player still under contract who saw significant time at the DT position in 2013.

NFC West Rumors: 49ers, Carlson, Bryant

March 6th, 2014 at 2:21pm CST by Luke Adams

When they locked him up to a three-year extension last week, the 49ers made Daniel Kilgore one of the first members of the 2011 draft class to receive a second contract, and seemingly signaled that he’ll be the team’s new starting center. However, in his latest piece for the San Francisco Chronicle, Eric Branch explains why he thinks the Niners might bring in a free agent center to compete with Kilgore for the job. Here’s more out of the NFC West:

  • The 49ers and cornerback Tarell Brown are still talking as the start of the free agency period looms, writes Matt Barrows of the Sacramento Bee. The 29-year-old unknowingly forfeited a $2MM workout bonus by training at home instead of Santa Clara last season and suffered a rib injury in November that caused him to miss three games, allowing Tramaine Brock to take over as the starter. Brown, however, started all three of the 49ers’ playoff games, showing that the club values him.
  • John Carlson, who was released by the Vikings yesterday, hasn’t wasted any time in looking for a new home. The free agent tight end is meeting with the Cardinals today, tweets Kent Somers of the Arizona Republic.
  • There’s a strong market for free agent defensive tackle Red Bryant, who was released last week by the Seahawks, tweets Ian Rapoport of NFL Network. Rapoport believes that it’s likely that Bryant will land a deal before the start of the free agency period.
  • In his latest Insider-only piece for ESPN.com, Mike Sando details five free agent fits he likes, including defensive tackle Earl Mitchell to the Seahawks.

Zach Links contributed to this post.

Colts Release Samson Satele

March 6th, 2014 at 2:11pm CST by Luke Adams

The Colts have released center Samson Satele, according to Mike Klis of the Denver Post (Twitter link). Satele had been set to enter the final year of his contract.

With the move, the Colts will clear most of Satele’s $5.067MM cap number from their books for 2014, reducing the hit to about $1.067MM in dead money. The veteran center had been in line for a $3.9MM base salary for ’14, plus a $100K workout bonus.

Satele, 29, has been an NFL starter since being drafted by the Dolphins in the second round of the 2007 draft, having spent multiple seasons in Miami, Oakland, and Indianapolis. 2013 wasn’t one of his better seasons — of 29 NFL centers who played more than 50% of their teams’ snaps, Satele ranked dead last as a run blocker, according to Pro Football Focus (subscription required).

As Satele hits the open market, the Colts figure to be in the market for a new starting center. Indianapolis drafted Khaled Holmes out of USC in the fourth round of last year’s draft, but if the team isn’t ready to give him the starting job, adding a replacement for Satele in free agency is a possibility.

Broncos Release Champ Bailey

March 6th, 2014 at 12:51pm CST by Zachary Links

THURSDAY, 12:51pm: The Broncos officially announced that they have released Bailey, tweets Ian Rapoport of NFL Network.

WEDNESDAY, 9:01pm: The Broncos will release Champ Bailey, an NFL source tells Jason La Canfora of CBSSports.com (on Twitter). The move does not come as a surprise, as Bailey was set to earn $9MM this season with a cap number of $10MM.

While Denver was not expected to shell out that kind of money for Bailey in 2014, the two sides discussed alternatives along the way, La Canfora tweets. Ultimately, however, the team didn’t offer up a pay cut, tweets Ian Rapoport of NFL Network. By completing the move in advance of March 15th, the Broncos will also save themselves the $1MM bonus that he would have been owed.

Bailey will turn 36 this summer after playing just five regular season games in 2013 thanks to a foot injury. While he can walk away from the game as one of the top cornerbacks of his time and a likely ticket to Canton, Bailey indicated after the Super Bowl that he would like to continue playing. And while he previously expressed reluctance towards moving from CB to safety as many veterans do, the longtime corner seemed to ease up on that stance as well.

Before you go crying for Bailey, who turns 36 in June, note that he has made over $101MM during his 15-year NFL career with ~$64M of that coming after his 30th birthday, as Brian McIntyre (via Twitter) points out. Jason Fitzgerald of OverTheCap (Twitter link) estimates that the Broncos should now have ~$29MM in cap space.

Contract Updates: Jets, Bills, Ratliff, Titans

March 6th, 2014 at 11:59am CST by Luke Adams

Restricted free agent cornerback Darrin Walls agreed to a new deal with the Jets last night, and agent Jordan Woy tweets that it’s a two-year contract. Ellis Lankster, who also agreed on a new deal with the Jets, will be on a two-year, $1.63MM contract, according to Manish Mehta of the New York Daily News (Twitter link). Lankster’s pact appears to be worth slightly more than the minimum.

With free agency looming and several players having already signed new contracts or reworked old ones, we have plenty more contract and cap updates to pass along, so let’s dive right in….

  • The Bills extended contract tenders to all four of their exclusive rights free agents, and cornerback Brandon Smith has accepted his, according to Joe Buscaglia of WGR550 (Twitter links). With Smith set to return to the team on a one-year, minimum-salary deal, offensive guard Antoine McClain, fullback Frank Summers, and wide receiver Chris Hogan will also be back in Buffalo if and when they sign their tenders.
  • Adam Caplan of ESPN.com (Twitter link) has the details on Jeremiah Ratliff‘s new two-year contract with the Bears. It’s worth a total of $4MM, with $600K guaranteed.
  • The cap figures on Troy Polamalu‘s new three-year contract with the Steelers are $6.387MM (2014), $8.25MM (2015), and $8MM (2016), with respective base salaries of $1.5MM, $6MM, and $5.75MM, according to Aaron Wilson of the Baltimore Sun (Twitter link).
  • The Browns have extended a contract tender to inside linebacker Craig Robertson, according to Nate Ulrich of the Akron Beacon Journal. Robertson, who was an exclusive rights free agent, will be in line for a minimum salary of $570K for 2014.
  • New one-year deals for running backs Jackie Battle (Titans) and Bobby Rainey (Bucs) are both worth the minimum, according to Jim Wyatt of the Tennessean and Tom Pelissero of USA Today, respectively (Twitter links). Battle’s minimum salary ($855K) is a little more substantial than Rainey’s ($570K) due to his extra years of service time.
  • Wyatt also shares (via Twitter) a few more specifics on Bernard Pollard‘s two-year deal with the Titans, which has base salaries of $1.65MM in 2014 and $3.1MM in 2015.

NFC Notes: Eagles, Vikings, Saints, Panthers

March 6th, 2014 at 11:17am CST by Luke Adams

Jeff McLane of the Philadelphia Inquirer dismisses recent rumors that have suggested the Eagles may be getting closer to parting ways with DeSean Jackson. While McLane acknowledges the team hasn’t been happy with all of Jackson’s off-field actions, the Inquirer scribe says that even if the Eagles got to the point where they wanted to part ways with the receiver, they “most certainly” wouldn’t cut him without getting anything in return. For now, Philadelphia has no interest in moving Jackson, according to McLane.

Let’s round up a few more items related to NFC teams….

B.J. Raji, Packers Close To One-Year Deal?

March 6th, 2014 at 11:01am CST by Luke Adams

11:01am: Jason Wilde passes along a report from his ESPN colleague Steven Haywood, who hears from a source that Green Bay’s offer to Raji could be worth up to $6.5MM with incentives (Twitter link). It sounds as if Raji plans to sign with the Packers, though nothing is official yet.

8:50am: According to Bob McGinn of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, the Packers have made one- and two-year offers to Raji. The one-year offer is worth about $4MM.

7:47am: The Packers and B.J. Raji are close to reaching a one-year agreement that will keep the defensive tackle in Green Bay, reports ESPN.com’s Adam Schefter. Raji is coming off a down year, and is hoping to bounce back in 2014 before potentially hitting the open market a year from now, according to Schefter.

However, a pair of sources have told Aaron Nagler of Bleacher Report (Twitter link) “not so fast” on Raji, and Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (Twitter link) hears that all options continue to be in play for the former ninth overall pick. The Packers continue to have exclusive negotiating rights with Raji until Saturday, and Green Bay is the only club that can sign him before Tuesday, so we’ll have to wait and see if the two sides get anything finalized by then.

Raji, 27, reportedly rejected a contract offer from the Packers in 2013 that would have been worth $8MM per year, and his new deal figures to be worth less than that. The big defensive lineman failed to record a sack for the second straight season in 2013, and ranked 43rd out of 45 qualified 3-4 defensive ends, according to Pro Football Focus (subscription required).

As Schefter notes, Raji’s role in Green Bay’s defense often involves eating up blockers rather than actually making plays, and there were question marks about his fit going forward when a February report suggested the Packers would be seeking smaller, more athletic linemen. Head coach Mike McCarthy threw cold water on that idea at the combine in Indianapolis, so we’ll see if the front office backs up his comments by locking up Raji for another year. If he does return to Green Bay, Raji figures to return to his old nose tackle position, tweets Rapoport.

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