HEADLINES

Month: March 2018

Jets Interested In OL Spencer Long

March 13th, 2018 at 10:27am CST by Zachary Links

This may not be the free agent splash Jets fans were hoping for on Tuesday morning. Gang Green is pushing to land former Redskins offensive lineman Spencer Long, according to Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports (on Twitter). 

Already, the Jets have seen one prospective free agent quarterback come off the board in Case Keenum as he is expected to sign with the Broncos on Wednesday. Meanwhile, Kirk Cousins is taking his first free agent visit with the Vikings.

Long can help bolster the Jets’ offensive line, but right now, no one knows which quarterback he’d be protecting. Last week, we rated Long as the 16th best interior lineman available.

Bears To Sign TE Trey Burton

March 13th, 2018 at 10:21am CST by Zachary Links

Former Eagles tight end Trey Burton is expected to sign with the Bears, a source tells Mike Garafolo of NFL.com (on Twitter). Burton will land a four-year, $32MM deal, according to Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (Twitter link).

This four-year agreement looks closer to a two-year deal, however. Albert Breer of SI.com reports (on Twitter) Burton’s contract contains $18MM fully guaranteed in the first two years. After that, nothing is guaranteed, making the 2020 and ’21 seasons look like option years for the Bears.

Burton will receive a $7.5MM signing bonus and a $1MM roster bonus due early next week, Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk reports. His initial two base salaries are $2.8MM and $6.7MM, with the 2020 season also coming with a $6.7MM base. If he’s still on the roster in 2021, Burton will earn a $6MM base. Although Burton doesn’t have any fully guaranteed money due after 2019, there is a $4MM injury guarantee for part of his 2020 money, per Florio.

Burton provides new head coach Matt Nagy with a serious weapon in the offense. Between Burton and new free agent addition Allen Robinson, quarterback Mitch Trubisky couldn’t ask for much more. Lat season, Trubisky was forced to throw to one of the least-inspiring group of pass-catchers in the NFL, but he’ll now have a few legitimate targets.

Burton, of course, has been a backup for the majority of his career, as he’s played second fiddle to Zach Ertz in Philadelphia. Over the past two years, Burton has averaged 30 receptions, 288 yards, and three touchdowns per season, but he’s been extremely efficient. Football Outsiders ranked Burton third in DVOA among tight ends a season ago, meaning he provided value on a per-play basis.

Despite his relative lack of experience, Burton will now become the fifth-highest-paid tight end in the league on an annual basis. His $8MM/year salary will place behind only Travis Kelce, Jordan Reed, Rob Gronkowski, and Ertz. While Burton’s guarantees haven’t yet been made public, each of those tight ends received between $10-15MM in fully guaranteed cash.

Burton, whom PFR ranked as the best tight end on the market and the No. 19 overall free agent, drew plenty of interest before landing in Chicago, as both the 49ers and Lions expressed interest.

[RELATED: Bears Depth Chart]

Vikings To Host Kirk Cousins

March 13th, 2018 at 10:13am CST by Dallas Robinson

[UPDATE: The Vikings are likely to sign Cousins to a three-year, fully guaranteed deal. Click here for details.]

The Vikings will be the first team to meet with free agent quarterback Kirk Cousins, and are in the “driver’s seat” to sign him, according to Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (Twitter links). Minnesota has offered Cousins a three-year deal with a $28MM annual salary, per Rapoport.

Cousins will meet with the Vikings brass and have dinner on Wednesday night, tweets Rapoport. On Thursday, he’ll take a tour of the Vikings’ brand new facility. Given that his visit in Minnesota is expected to last until Thursday, other teams with interest in Cousins may not get a seat at the table until later this week.

The Vikings have long been considered a prime contender to land Cousins, and their need for a quarterback only increased this morning when Case Keenum reportedly agreed to a deal with the Broncos. Incumbent options Teddy Bridgewater and Sam Bradford are also unrestricted free agents.

Cousins, meanwhile, has drawn interest from clubs such as the Jets, Cardinals, and Broncos, but some reports indicated New York and Minnesota were his only serious suitors. Denver, clearly, is no longer in the running after inking Keenum, and while the Jets boast far more cap space than the Vikings, Minnesota can offer a better team and offensive weapons.

While a $28MM annual salary would make Cousins the highest-paid player in NFL history, it would be a somewhat disappointing total, as most expected Cousins to collect $30MM per year. Of course, we don’t any details about the structure or guarantees of Minnesota’s offer, so it’s possible the potential deal is stronger than the yearly average would indicate.

Eagles Sign DT Haloti Ngata

March 13th, 2018 at 10:07am CST by Zachary Links

The rich get richer. Defensive tackle Haloti Ngata has signed a one-year deal with Eagles, as first reported by Adam Schefter and Chris Mortensen of ESPN.com (on Twitter). Ngata’s one-year, $2.6MM deal is fully guaranteed, Tom Pelissero of NFL.com tweets. He can earn another $25K for each game he plays, bringing the maximum value of the pact to $3MM.

Ngata’s 2017 season was mostly lost to injury and he vowed in January to continue playing in order to finish on a high note:

“I think if I finished the year healthy I would have been a little closer to probably retiring, but I want to finish the season so I think I want to keep on playing. And definitely I loved being able to be here and help Detroit have more dominance in this league. We’ve had winning seasons, I just want to continue to build this franchise and get it to where it can be a dominant franchise and a great team. So I definitely want to be here, I definitely want to keep on playing, but we’ll have to see once free agency hits.”

When Ngata was on the field for the first five games of the season, the Lions allowed just 74.6 yards rushing per game. After Ngata’s injury, the Lions allowed 129.7 yards rushing per game. Ngata may not be the player he once was, but he is still a major difference maker on the defensive line.

Ngata, 34, figures to replace Beau Allen as the Eagles’ No. 3 defensive tackle. Allen departed in free agency to join up with the Bucs.

The revamped Eagles’ defensive line projects to start Michael Bennett along with Fletcher Cox, Timmy Jernigan, and Brandon Graham with Ngata, a five-time Pro Bowler, in support.

Jaguars LB Paul Posluszny Retires

March 13th, 2018 at 10:02am CST by Dallas Robinson

Jaguars linebacker Paul Posluszny has formally announced his retirement from the NFL following an 11-year career.

Posluszny, 33, was originally selected in the second round of the 2007 draft. After spending four seasons with the Bills, Posluszny signed a hefty deal with Jacksonville, and has remained with the club ever since. Last season, he earned the first postseason berth of his career as the Jaguars advanced to the AFC Championship Game before losing to the Patriots.

Although he had been an every-down player for the majority of his career, Posluszny’s playing time was drastically reduced in 2017 as the Jaguars got younger and faster at linebacker. While seeing action of fewer than half of Jacksonville’s defensive snaps, Posluszny managed 42 tackles and 1.5 sacks.

That’s not to say Posluszny wouldn’t have garnered interest on the free agent market, as PFR had ranked him as the No. 7 available linebacker. Pro Football Focus, too, was a fan of Posluszny’s 2017 work, and had graded him as the league’s 15th-best ‘backer last season. But in a NFL more geared toward passing than ever before, Posluszny and his run-stuffing skills likely wouldn’t have landed a multi-year deal.

PFR extends its best wishes to Posluszny in retirement.

Top 3 Offseason Needs: New England Patriots

March 13th, 2018 at 10:00am CST by Ben Levine

In advance of March 14, the start of free agency in the NFL, Pro Football Rumors will detail each team’s three most glaring roster issues. We’ll continue this year’s series with the New England Patriots, who, following a trade of their future quarterback and reports of disfunction in the organization, lost a high-scoring Super Bowl to the Eagles.

Depth Chart (via Roster Resource)

Pending Free Agents:

Top 10 Cap Hits for 2018:

  1. Tom Brady, QB: $22,000,000
  2. Stephon Gilmore, CB: $12,600,000
  3. Devin McCourty, S: $11,935,000
  4. Rob Gronkowski, TE: $10,906,250
  5. Dont’a Hightower, LB: $9,125,000
  6. Brandin Cooks, WR: $8,459,000
  7. Martellus Bennett, TE: $6,412,500
  8. Marcus Cannon, T: $5,800,000
  9. Dwayne Allen, TE: $5,000,000
  10. Stephen Gostkowski, K: $5,000,000

Other:

Three Needs:

1) Reinforcement on front seven

Bill Belichick’s defensive “bend, don’t break” mantra showed major cracks in the Super Bowl. New England allowed 538 yards in their championship loss, although the defensive breakdown wasn’t all that surprising. Despite only allowing 18.5 points per game in 2017 (the fifth-best mark in the NFL), the Patriots defense still allowed the fourth-most passing yards in the league.

Sure, this could certainly be attributed to the Patriots’ defensive backs, but their core of safeties and cornerbacks looks solid heading into free agency. Sure, Malcolm Butler is likely out the door, but the Patriots still have a solid trio of Devin McCourty, Stephon Gilmore, and Patrick Chung. While the team could certainly use an upgrade at their second cornerback spot (Jonathan Jones, Eric Rowe, and Cyrus Jones are ultimately destined for backup/nickel roles), the Patriots don’t really have too much they can improve with this unit.

Rather, the team should be focusing on adding some talent to their front seven. The Patriots did limit opponents to only six rushing touchdowns (second-best in NFL) while compiling 42 sacks (tied for seventh), but their 114.8 rushing yards allowed per game certainly left a lot to be desired. These numbers also don’t tell the full story, as the front-seven was always susceptible to the big run, and they often let opposing quarterbacks sit in the pocket (thus allowing the signal-callers to pick the defensive backs apart). In fact, despite some of the encouraging counting stats, Football Outsiders ranked the team’s rushing defense 30th overall.

The struggles were all but confirmed by the organization late in the season, as they were forced to bring in a 39-year-old James Harrison for some help on the edge. While the veteran looked fine in his four regular season/postseason games (13 tackles, two sacks, one forced fumble), it’s a bit telling when a team is forced to rely on one of the oldest players in the NFL for an important role. Pro Football Focus also wasn’t fond of the team’s front-seven. The Patriots had nine linebackers, edge defenders, and interior defenders play more than 300 snaps last season, and only two were rated as above-average (defensive tackle Malcom Brown and defensive end Trey Flowers).

The return of a healthy Dont’a Hightower and the addition of defensive tackle Danny Shelton will certainly help. There’s also optimism due to the team’s youth, as nine of the 10 defensive lineman currently under contract are 25 or younger. However, there’s no denying that the Patriots could use some talent in their front seven, whether it comes via a defensive end or linebacker. The Patriots generally don’t like to spend big on an edge rusher, so it’d make sense to pursue some reinforcement with one of their early-round draft picks. Considering the youth on defense, New England could also pursue an older, productive lineman or linebacker who is looking for a chance a chance to win. Spending big money on a defensive end or linebacker may not be the wisest decision, but pursuing some talent on the unit should still be atop the team’s wish list.

2) Re-sign Nate Solder or a comparable replacement

While he may be 40-years-old, the Patriots top asset is still quarterback Tom Brady. Considering much of the team’s success in 2018 (and beyond) will rely on the future Hall of Famer, it only makes sense that the organization would look to protect their golden boy.

Well, for some reason, that hasn’t happened recently. Brady was sacked 35 times last season, the fourth-highest total in his career (he was also sacked 38 times in 2015). Regardless of whether the Patriots pursue a future replacement for Brady in the draft (more on that later), the team is still relying on their franchise quarterback for at least another couple of seasons. In that case, it makes plenty of sense to assure that the team’s offensive line is top-notch.

Re-signing offensive tackle Nate Solder would certainly solidify the line. The 2011 first-round pick has started 95 games for New England during his seven years with the organization, including all 16 in 2017. Pro Football Focus only rated him 32nd among 81 offensive tackle candidates last season, but the site rated him as a “high quality” option in three of the previous five campaigns. The Patriots would clearly like to retain the free agent, but Solder could be one of the most popular free agents on the market. The lineman was listed fifth on our rankings of the NFL’s top-50 free agents, and previous reports indicated that he’s expected to receive a deal that’s around $12MM annually. New England is currently staring at around $16MM in cap space, so a hefty offer could knock the Patriots out of the race.

Outside of Solder, guard Shaq Mason is truly the only other lineman the Patriots can anticipate above-average production from. David Andrews, Joe Thuney, and Marcus Cannon have all shown flashes of being solid starting lineman, and 2017 third-round Antonio Garcia (who missed his entire rookie campaign) is intriguing. However, if the team is relying on these four to round out their offensive line, they better hope that Brady “TB12 Method” is effective. In other words, Brady could conceivably see a career-high in sacks.

The Patriots haven’t been shy about taking a lineman early in the draft, so they could look to add a talented rookie to the unit. The team could also eye some of the other top free agent offensive lineman, a list that nows includes Justin Pugh or Ryan Jensen (although those two wouldn’t be replacements for Solder, per se). Either way, assuming the Patriots want to keep Brady upright (and in the starting lineup), they should either be pursuing reinforcement on their offensive line or focusing hard on locking up Solder.

3) Find a future replacement for Tom Brady

Think what you want of the Patriots’ underwhelming haul for Jimmy Garoppolo, but the team’s decision to trade the quarterback was at least rooted in logic. Presumably, the Patriots believe they can squeeze a couple more seasons out of Tom Brady, and they wanted to get some value for Garoppolo before he hit free agency (it never seemed like that the Patriots were going to pay two players starting-quarterback money, even if Brady is underpaid).

However, with Brady’s former heir apparent now out of the picture, the Patriots seemingly don’t have a plan for when their franchise quarterback ultimately retires (unless Belichick believes a 32-year-old Brian Hoyer can reinvent himself as a contending signal-caller). In other words, although the Patriots may have recently traded a 26-year-old quarterback, they should be looking at young options in this year’s draft.

Now, the Patriots shouldn’t necessarily dedicate a first-rounder (or even a second-rounder) to selecting a rookie quarterback. However, they should definitely be eyeing some candidates slated for the third-round or later. The Patriots (and their fans) shouldn’t be wary of “wasting” a pick on someone who may never take the field. Since 2010, the Patriots have selected three quarterbacks in the fourth-round or earlier, and they’ve managed to receive some sort of compensation for each of those players (Garoppolo, Jacoby Brissett, and Ryan Mallett) via trade. Sure, there is some lost value in trading, say, a former third-rounder for a seventh-round pick, but the Patriots don’t have the time to be patient with the quarterback position.

While the Patriots may have some more pressing needs on their 2018 roster, finding a future replacement for Brady should still be one of the team’s top priorities. Brady’s clock is ticking, and the team should be doing everything in their power to find a replacement. If the 2018 pick doesn’t pan out, then they should try again in 2019 or 2020. Playing under Belichick and Brady could be key for a young signal-caller, so the organization shouldn’t delay in their pursuit of a future starter.

Vikings Have Interest In CB Bryce Callahan

March 13th, 2018 at 9:58am CST by Zachary Links

The Vikings are among the teams interested in Bears restricted free agent cornerback Bryce Callahan, according to Ben Goessling of the Star Tribune (on Twitter). The Bears used the lowest tender on Callahan, which grants them only the right of first refusal without draft compensation. 

Callahan would provide the Vikings with another option at nickel corner. As it stands, Mackensie Alexander is their only nickel corner with experience. Through two seasons, he has not quite lived up to expectations.

Last year, Callahan graded out as the No. 31 cornerback in the NFL, per Pro Football Focus. He also gave the Vikings an up-close look at what he can do when he returned a punt for a touchdown and deflected two passes against the Vikings in 2017.

Goessling points out that some other options on the market at nickel corner include Rams free agent Nickell Robey-Coleman and Jaguars free agent Aaron Colvin. Goessling also noted that the Vikings had shown interest in Robey-Coleman, 26, last offseason. Terence Newman and Marcus Sherels make up the members of the Vikings cornerbacks set to become free agents.

The Bears have a lot of question marks regarding their secondary leading up to the opening of the new league year, especially if Callahan were to depart. The team has already placed its transition tag on Kyle Fuller and fellow starter at cornerback Prince Amukamara is set to become an unrestricted free agent.

Ravens Exercise CB Brandon Carr’s Option

March 13th, 2018 at 9:51am CST by Zachary Links

The Ravens are picking up cornerback Brandon Carr‘s option, a source tells Jeff Zrebiec of The Baltimore Sun (on Twitter). Carr signed a four-year deal with the Ravens last offseason, but really it’s a contract with a series of options. The Ravens had the choice to hit the eject button this offseason, but declined.

Carr, 31, is now scheduled to earn a base salary of $4.5MM and a roster bonus of $1.5MM in 2018. All told, he’ll count for $7MM against the Ravens’ salary cap. Had Baltimore declined Carr’s option, it would have created $4MM in cap space.

In his first campaign with the Ravens, Carr started all 16 games for the tenth consecutive season. An extremely durable player, Carr ranked as the No. 69 cornerback among 121 qualifiers, per Pro Football Focus. Meanwhile, Carr finished a respectable 34th in Football Outsiders’ success rate while posting four interceptions, the latter of which tied a career-high.

While Carr is sticking around, the Ravens have parted ways with running back Danny Woodhead and offensive tackle Austin Howard earlier today.

49ers To Sign Weston Richburg

March 13th, 2018 at 9:42am CST by Dallas Robinson

The 49ers will sign center Weston Richburg to a five-year deal when free agency officially opens, according to Adam Schefter of ESPN.com (Twitter link). NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport reports (via Twitter) that the deal is worth $47.5MM, with $28.5MM in guaranteed money ($16.5MM fully guaranteed).

Richburg only appeared in four games in 2017 while dealing with a concussion, but he’s been since been medically cleared. The 26-year-old offers 50 games of experience at the pivot, but teams were reportedly considering Richburg at guard, as well. Richburg, a former second-round pick, hasn’t played guard since his rookie campaign, but any added versatility could potentially give him more value.

PFR recently ranked Richburg as the No. 34 overall free agent on the board, and he was one of the best interior lineman available. At his position, Richburg competed with the likes of Ryan Jensen, Matt Slauson, and John Sullivan for free agent dollars. Richburg had reportedly drawn early interest from the crosstown Jets, who have a glaring need at center.

The 49ers inked veteran center Daniel Kilgore to an extension earlier this offseason, so it appears either he or Richburg will move to guard. San Francisco also has Laken Tomlinson and Zane Beadles on the interior of its offensive line, while Brandon Fusco — who played well on a one-year deal in 2018 — is an unrestricted free agent.

San Francisco is expected to be active during this year’s free agent period. Even after inking quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo to a five-year deal that contains a $37MM cap charge in 2018, the 49ers still had about $67MM in available cap space.

RFA/ERFA Tender Decisions: 3/13/18

March 13th, 2018 at 9:35am CST by Dallas Robinson

Here are today’s restricted free agent and exclusive-rights free agent tender decisions, with the list being updated throughout the day. All links go to Twitter unless otherwise noted:

RFAs

Tendered at original round level ($1.907MM):

Non-tendered:

ERFAs

Tendered:

Non-tendered:

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