The Texans are set to re-sign Damaris Johnson, according to Adam Caplan of ESPN.com (via Twitter). It’ll be a one-year deal worth $1MM for the wide receiver.
Johnson, 25, was claimed off waivers from the Eagles in late August of 2014. Johnson had a career-high 31 receptions and 331 yards for Houston in 2014 and notched his first NFL touchdown and even saw some time at fullback. He also had a bit of a role in the return game, returning nine punts for 54 yards and six kickoffs for 136 yards.
If you’re a little confused about all the reported deals over the last couple days between free agents and new teams, you’re not alone — the three-day “legal tampering” period prior to free agency is supposed to allow teams to negotiate with agents of prospective free agents without any offers being made or agreements being reached.
Of course, teams have long ignored those guidelines, but typically they at least maintain the pretense that they’re waiting until Tuesday afternoon, with a flood of contract agreements hitting the news wire when free agency begins at 3:00pm central time on Tuesday. This year, however, noteworthy free agents Ndamukong Suh, Jeremy Maclin, and Byron Maxwell all reportedly have deals with new teams already in place.
According to Rand Getlin of Yahoo! Sports (Twitter links), the NFL sent a memo to all 32 teams expressing its displeasure with the release of contract terms prior to the official start of free agency. According to Getlin’s source, the league intends to conduct an investigation to examine whether teams agreed to terms with free agents early.
Considering the leaks on new deals seem to affect so many teams around the league, it seems unlikely that the NFL would come down too hard on everyone. If anything, the situation may be the push the league needs to modify its rules for free agency. In the NBA, for instance, teams and players are allowed to reach verbal agreements during the league’s “July moratorium,” which lasts a little over a week, but those signings can’t be made official until after the moratorium lifts. A system like that could make sense for the NFL.
As we wait to see how the NFL plans to address potential free agency violations, here’s more from around the NFL on free agents and free-agents-to-be:
The Jets are aggressively pursuing Pro Bowl guard Mike Iupati, sources tell Manish Mehta of the New York Daily News. The Jets, of cousre, are in need of a boost on the interior of their offensive line and they have to set their sights elsewhere after former target Orlando Franklin shook hands with the Chargers on a deal. Unsurprisingly, there are a handful of other teams with serious interest in Iupati, Mehta hears, so they’ll have some serious competition for the 27-year-old (28 this summer). More on the Jets..
9:53am: The Bills have officially re-signed Hughes, the team announced today (via Twitter).
6:57am: The Bills and edge defender Jerry Hughes have agreed to terms on a five-year contract that will keep Hughes in Buffalo, reports Vic Carucci of the Buffalo News. The agreement will keep Hughes off the open market when free agency begins tomorrow.
Multiple reports, including tweets from Adam Schefter of ESPN.com and Ian Rapoport of NFL.com, indicate the five-year deal will be worth about $45MM, with Rapoport adding that $20MM of that amount will be guaranteed. However, a source close to the team tells Carucci that the $45MM figure isn’t quite accurate.
Regardless of whether the final amount lands, Hughes won’t come cheap. A league source tells Carucci that at least six clubs expressed interest in signing the 26-year-old. Clubs like the Jaguars, Raiders, Colts, Browns, and Giants had previously been mentioned as possible suitors. besides Buffalo.
Hughes is coming off his second consecutive 10-sack season for the Bills, and his first year as a full-time starter. The former first-round pick also racked up 54 tackles and forced three fumbles, joining forces with Mario Williams, Kyle Williams, and Marcell Dareus to make up one of the league’s most dominant defensive lines.
Those three players were already on the books for a combined $33.86MM cap hit for the 2015 season, so a new deal for Hughes figures to push that figure up over $40MM, barring other restructures or extensions. That’s a significant amount to invest in a defensive line, but that line is the primary reason Buffalo’s defense has been so good in recent years, ranking in the top five in DVOA in both 2013 and 2014, per Football Outsiders.
When I ranked this year’s top 50 free agents, I named Hughes the fifth-best player in free agency and the top pass rusher on the unrestricted market, after Justin Houston and Jason Pierre-Paul were franchised. With Hughes set to finalize a new deal with the Bills, teams eyeing a top pass rusher could shift their focus to players like Pernell McPhee, Greg Hardy, Brandon Graham, and Jason Worilds.
Carucci first reported on Sunday that Hughes and the Bills were closing in on a new contract.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
With the free agent period still more than 24 hours away, the Texans are prepared to snatch a pair of top quarterbacks off the board. Having already reached a verbal agreement with Brian Hoyer, the team has also agreed to terms with Ryan Mallett, reports Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (via Twitter). Per Mark Berman of Fox 26 Houston (via Twitter), it’s a two-year deal, and Tania Ganguli of ESPN.com tweets that it’s worth $7MM.
Mallett, 26, was acquired by the Texans in a trade with the Patriots last offseason, and got a chance to start a couple games for Houston in 2014 before landing on injured reserve due to a pectoral injury. Mallett’s 54.7% completion percentage and 67.6 passer rating likely didn’t have teams burning up his agent’s phone this weekend, but Texans GM Rick Smith and head coach Bill O’Brien both spoke very highly of the ex-Patriot at the combine, suggesting the two sides would probably get something done.
With Mallett, Hoyer, Case Keenum, and Tom Savage all in the fold for the Texans, the team will almost certainly cut ties with Ryan Fitzpatrick, who was the primary starter in 2014. If and when Fitzpatrick becomes a free agent, the Jets will pursue him, tweets Manish Mehta of the New York Daily News. New York GM Mike Maccagnan was in the Texans’ front office a year ago when the team added Fitzpatrick.
8:37am: A well-placed 49ers official tells Adam Schefter of ESPN.com (Twitter link) that the report about the Niners looking to trade Kaepernick is “totally false — 0% truth.” Meanwhile, Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk says there’s big news on a 49ers player coming at some point today, but it doesn’t involve Kaepernick or Justin Smith (Twitter link).
7:23am: When Jim Harbaugh left the 49ers to become the new head coach at the University of Michigan, a handful of observers speculated that Colin Kaepernick‘s days in San Francisco could be numbered, now that he had been separated from the coach who initially made him the starter. At the very least, based on Harbaugh’s departure, his up-and-down 2014 performance, and the lack of guaranteed money in his contract, Kaepernick’s long-term future with the 49ers looked uncertain.
However, responding to a report last night that suggested the 49ers had put Kaepernick on the trading block, general manager Trent Baalke emphatically denied that his team is shopping its quarterback, tweets Matt Maiocco of CSNBayArea.com.
“Colin is our quarterback and we are excited to have him. He is not going anywhere,” Baalke said in a statement, per Maiocco (Twitter links). “The media reports suggesting otherwise are without merit and quite frankly ridiculous.”
The “media report” Baalke is referring to originated with Jayson Braddock of KBME SportsTalk 790 in Houston (Twitter link). Braddock didn’t just report that the Niners had made Kaepernick available — he also identified the Eagles and Bears as two clubs that have spoken to San Francisco about the possibility of a deal (Twitter links).
In addition to Baalke’s denial, Jason La Canfora of CBSSports.com reported (via Twitter) that after reaching out to several teams in need of a quarterback, he had yet to hear from one who had talked to the Niners about Kaepernick. Mike Garafolo of Fox Sports also tweeted that San Francisco is “not shopping” Kaepernick, though he wasn’t sure if other teams had called the 49ers to inquire.
So what can we make of all this? For one, as is often the case, it’s important to parse the specific wording used — Garafolo’s report and Baalke’s statement both say that the Niners aren’t “shopping” Kaepernick, a term that Braddock didn’t use in his initial report. “Shopping” suggests the team is actively out there looking for a deal, while Braddock’s report that the Niners put Kaepernick on the trade block could mean that the club is simply open to listening to offers, but isn’t aggressively seeking out a deal.
Given what we already knew about Kaepernick’s unsettled long-term future in San Francisco, Baalke’s history of issuing this same sort of denial during the season when discussing Harbaugh’s own uncertain future with the Niners, and the fact that Braddock has broken some major stories in the past (including Byron Maxwell‘s agreement with the Eagles yesterday), this is certainly a situation worth monitoring. For now though, nothing appears imminent.
Peter King’s latest Monday Morning Quarterback column at TheMMQB.com doesn’t break any new signings or contract agreements, but there are plenty of noteworthy free agent tidbits tucked away within the piece. Here are a few highlights:
Since last month’s Super Bowl, the Pro Football Rumors writing staff has been taking a closer look at each of the NFL’s 32 teams, exploring their cap situations, key free agents, and possible positions of need. Our Offseason Outlook series wrapped up this weekend, just in time for the official start of free agency on Tuesday, and you can check out any and all of our team-by-team recaps below.
Since many teams have been busy making moves in recent weeks, not all of our pieces will reflect those latest moves, but for the most part, a team’s overall plan for the offseason remains the same — in a few cases, we’ll even have predicted roster cuts or signings before they happened.
Here’s the full breakdown of our 32 Offseason Outlook pieces for the 2015 offseason, sorted by division:
AFC East:
AFC North:
AFC South:
AFC West:
NFC East:
NFC North:
NFC South:
NFC West:
Tight end Jordan Cameron has become one of the most sought after free agents in the league during this “legal tampering” period, drawing interest from the Browns, Raiders, Broncos, and Seahawks, according to Rand Getlin of Yahoo Sports (via Twitter). The Jaguars would also be in the mix if they are unable to sign Julius Thomas.
Here are some other rumors from around the AFC:
Mike Iupati has been a staple of the 49ers’ offensive line for his entire career, imposing his will on defensive linemen and linebackers in the running game, but his time with the team is likely coming to an end, writes Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports (via Twitter). The Raiders, Jets, and Bills seem to be the front runners for Iupati if he does not return to San Francisco.
Here are some more rumors from some NFC teams: