2017 March - Pro Football Rumors

Bills Meet With Keenan Robinson

March 20th, 2017 at 4:51pm CST by Sam Robinson

Keenan Robinson logged his second visit of the offseason by making a trip to Buffalo to meet with the Bills, per Field Yates of ESPN.com (on Twitter). Last week, Robinson visited the Bengals, but Cincinnati ended up agreeing to a deal with higher-profile UFA linebacker Kevin Minter to help keep Robinson unattached.

The Giants had Robinson stationed as a player they wanted to re-sign, but Big Blue traditionally doesn’t spend much on linebackers and has several returning players. New York also re-signed Mark Herzlich today to add to their defensive second level.

PFR’s No. 11 remaining UFA linebacker, Robinson started six games and played in all of Big Blue’s contests last season, making 79 tackles and seven pass deflections. He started in 21 games for the Redskins in 2014 and ’15.

The Bills could well lose Zach Brown, who’s been a coveted commodity as a UFA after recording 149 stops last year. They still have Preston Brown and 2016 second-rounder Reggie Ragland, who missed all of last season due to injury. The Bills are transitioning back to a 4-3 look after two years in Rex Ryan’s 3-4. Robinson, though, has experience in both, with the Redskins using a 3-4 alignment and the Giants in their traditional 4-3.

Robert Blanton Visiting Cowboys

March 20th, 2017 at 4:43pm CST by Sam Robinson

The Cowboys have observed defections across their secondary this month after seeing Barry Church, Brandon Carr and Morris Claiborne sign elsewhere. They are thinner at both cornerback and safety but brought in a player with some experience for a visit today in Robert Blanton, Todd Archer of ESPN.com tweets.

Blanton has mostly served as a second-stringer during his five years in the NFL, with his work for the 2014 Vikings being an exception. Blanton started 13 games for the Vikes that year and made 105 tackles. Since, he’s been deployed as a first-unit player in just three games, two with the Bills last season.

But Blanton became part of a revolving Buffalo back-line crew after going on IR in late November. His one-year deal with the Bills produced 28 tackles. Dallas currently has just Jeff Heath and 2016 sixth-rounder Kavon Frazier as safeties alongside Byron Jones.

Bradley McDougald Visits Browns

March 20th, 2017 at 4:26pm CST by Sam Robinson

Bradley McDougald made his second visit of free agency, making a trip to Cleveland to meet with the Browns, Field Yates of ESPN.com tweets. This comes after the veteran safety met with the Seahawks.

Cleveland still has more than $61MM in cap space and houses inexperience at safety. An Ohio native, McDougald made a career-high 91 tackles last season and matched his career best with two interceptions while a member of the Buccaneers.

The 26-year-old safety has been a full-time starter since the 2015 season for the Bucs despite arriving in Tampa as a UDFA in 2013. Cleveland has a host of younger safeties on its roster but no one as seasoned as McDougald, a Kansas University product. The Browns have former Eagles fifth-rounder Ed Reynolds, Browns 2015 fourth-rounder Ibraheim Campbell and 2016 Browns fourth-rounder Derrick Kindred as current safeties rostered. Pro Football Focus graded Reynolds as a top-50 safety but placed Campbell and Kindred as two of his worst back-line defenders in 2016. McDougald graded as the site’s No. 42 safety.

He would be a bigger addition for the Browns than the Seahawks due to this, and Cleveland certainly has the cap room to offer the fifth-year safety a better deal.

Giants Re-Sign Mark Herzlich

March 20th, 2017 at 4:18pm CST by Sam Robinson

For the third time in four years, the Giants reached an agreement to bring back Mark Herzlich. The Giants re-signed the reserve linebacker and special-teamer today, Ralph Vacchiano of SNY.tv reports (on Twitter).

A former UDFA, Herzlich has spent six seasons with the Giants. Last year, though, marked the only one that did not feature at least two Herzlich starts. The inspirational cancer survivor functioned strictly as a backup and special teams presence in the 14 games for which he was active during the 2016 regular season.

The Giants re-upped Herzlich on a two-year deal in 2015 and kept him on a one-year accord in 2014. The 29-year-old recovered a fumble last season but has been credited with just 17 tackles the past two years. He made 52 in 2014, which featured a career-high eight starts.

Giants Sign CB Valentino Blake

March 20th, 2017 at 3:09pm CST by Zachary Links

The Giants have signed cornerback Valentino Blake, the team announced. Blake will provide the Giants with cornerback depth after Coty Sensabaugh signed with the Steelers on Monday.

Since entering the league as an undrafted free agent out of Texas-El Paso in 2012, Blake has appeared in all but two possible regular season games. After spending his first year with the Jaguars, he found his way to the Steelers and ascended to a starting role in 2015. Last year, he hooked on with the Titans and reverted to a reserve job.

In 16 games with Tennessee, he totaled 38 tackles and five passes defensed. Blake was ranked by Pro Football Focus as the No. 80 cornerback in the NFL last season out of 112 qualified players. His 62.5 score wasn’t great, but it was far ahead of Sensabaugh’s 48.4 posting. Blake is now projected to serve as the Giants’ No. 4 cornerback behind Janoris Jenkins, Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, and Eli Apple.

Bills Re-Sign KR/PR Brandon Tate

March 20th, 2017 at 2:52pm CST by Zachary Links

The Bills re-signed kick returner/punt returner Brandon Tate, the team announced. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Tate, 30 in October, returned 26 punts for 301 yards last season, good for an 11.6 yards per attempt average. He also returned 29 kicks for 662 yards. He had only eight catches (12 targets) as a receiver and he’ll probably do most of his work on special teams once again in 2017. On our most recent edition of the free agent rankings, we had Tate as the No. 14 ranked available wide receiver.

In other Bills news, the rival Dolphins are hosting linebacker Zach Brown on a visit. Also, over the weekend, the Bills signed wide receiver Andre Holmes. Meanwhile, former Bills head coach Rex Ryan will be in the booth instead of on the sidelines in 2017.

Raiders Sign LB Jelani Jenkins

March 20th, 2017 at 2:43pm CST by Zachary Links

Jelani Jenkins has found a new home. The Raiders announced that they have signed the linebacker. Jenkins’ Raiders pact is for one year, Scott Bair of CSNBayArea.com tweets.

The Raiders have been in the market for support at both weakside linebacker and middle linebacker. Jenkins’ best fit may be on the weakside, but it’s possible he’ll see time at both spots.

Jenkins’ best season with the Dolphins came in 2014 when he had 110 combined tackles, 3.5 sacks, two forced fumbles, and one pass defensed. We haven’t seen him replicate those numbers in the last two years, however. In 2016, Pro Football Focus gave Jenkins the worst grade of any linebacker with enough snaps to qualify for ranking. His 31.4 score was hilariously bad, but he had good showings (76.9; 73.2) in the previous two campaigns.

Steelers Sign CB Coty Sensabaugh

March 20th, 2017 at 2:34pm CST by Zachary Links

The Steelers have signed cornerback Coty Sensabaugh to a two-year deal, the team announced. He’ll likely compete for nickel corner job.

The Steelers hosted Sensabaugh on a visit on Monday and it didn’t take long for the two sides to come to an agreement. The incumbent Giants had interest in retaining him, but they’ll have to find cornerback support elsewhere.

The Steelers now have five corners on the roster: William Gay, Artie Burns, Senquez Golson, Al-Hajj Shabazz, and Sensabaugh. We’re a long way away from September, of course, and his spot on the roster is not a certainty. It’s not immediately clear whether Sensabaugh has guaranteed money included in his deal.

Last year, Sensabaugh appeared in 13 games for the Rams and Giants and Pro Football Focus gave him an abysmal score for that limited sample. Then again, he’s only one year removed from signing a lucrative multi-season deal with the Rams. He could prove to be a valuable supporting piece for the Steelers.

Colts Sign TE Brandon Williams

March 20th, 2017 at 2:31pm CST by Zachary Links

The Colts have signed former Seahawks tight end Brandon Williams, per a team announcement. He’ll provide depth behind Jack Doyle and Erik Swoope.

The Colts have had some major turnover at the tight end position this year after trading Dwayne Allen to the Patriots. He might not factor into things as a traditional tight end, however. To date, Williams hasn’t done much on offense, but he has plenty of special teams experience. Last year, he played on 335 special teams snaps, good for second-most among all Seattle players. Meanwhile, he played 148 offensive snaps as the team’s third-string tight end.

In other Colts news, the team signed linebacker Sean Spence this week.

Steelers Hosting CB Coty Sensabaugh

March 20th, 2017 at 2:18pm CST by Zachary Links

UPDATE – Steelers Sign Sensabaugh

The Steelers are hosting cornerback Coty Sensabaugh on a visit today, Mark Kaboly of DKPittsburghSports.com tweets. Meanwhile, the Giants also have interest in retaining him, according to Dan Duggan of NJ.com.

Sensabaugh, 28, joined the Rams last offseason on a three-year, $14.5MM deal. Unfortunately, they dropped him just three games into the season, bringing him to the Giants. All in all, he had 24 tackles in 13 games for the two teams. Pro Football Focus gave him a poor 48.4 overall score, his third consecutive year with a poor showing. The Steelers presently have four corners on the roster: William Gay, Artie Burns, Senquez Golson, and Al-Hajj Shabazz.

Sensabaugh, Leon Hall, and Trevin Wade are all free agents and the Giants still need to add cornerback depth behind Janoris Jenkins, Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, and Eli Apple.