2022 March - Pro Football Rumors

Jets, George Fant To Meet Over New Deal

March 1st, 2022 at 12:01pm CST by Adam La Rose

The Jets are in the market for upgrades at any number of positions on offense. One area where the team is looking to maintain its existing foundation, though, is along the offensive line. A major part of that unit, left tackle George Fant, has played his way into a new contract with the Jets, something which could take shape soon.

According to Pro Football Network’s Tony Pauline, both the team and player will meet this week at the NFL Combine “with the hopes of getting a deal done”. Pauline had previously reported that the Jets were interested in signing Fant to a new contract. The desire for a fresh pact comes primarily from his surprisingly high-quality play in 2021, along with uncertainty surrounding former first round pick Mekhi Becton. The latter, who has faced questions over his weight and conditioning in his two years in the NFL, suffered a dislocated knee cap in Week 1 which ended his season.

Originally planned to man the right tackle spot, that injury forced Fant to move to the blindside for the 2021 campaign. He fared much better than his first year in New York, allowing 18 pressures in 15 games, which ranked him third in the league. As a result, head coach Robert Saleh publicly stated that the 2022 starting LT role will be an open competition between Becton and Fant.

Pauline adds that the Jets could use the three-year, $37.5MM extension the Commanders gave Charles Leno as a similar comparison to a new Fant deal. Given how close that is to the three-year, $30MM contract the 29-year-old originally signed with the Jets, however, Pauline expects Fant to ask for a more lucrative pact. If terms can’t be agreed on, he will have one more season to prove his worth.

Besides Fant and Becton, the Jets could have Morgan Moses as another option at tackle, if he were to be brought back. If needed, they could also turn to 2020 first rounder Alijah Vera-Tucker, who has experience at both guard and tackle dating back to his time in college.

Jaguars’ EVP Search On Hold

March 1st, 2022 at 10:56am CST by Adam La Rose

The Jaguars were thought to be making multiple additions to their front office personnel, including an executive vice president. However, NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reports (via Twitter) that that search has been put on hold.

It came out in February that owner Shad Khan was conducting a search for a new EVP as part of a general strategy to add more “brainpower” to the organization. Many thought that former Vikings GM Rick Spielman was the favorite for the job, as he had already interviewed for an unnamed position which would outrank current Jaguars GM Trent Baalke.

Instead, Rapoport notes, internal meetings with new head coach Doug Pederson have been going well, to the point where maintaining the status quo at the top of the organization has becomes Khan’s preference. Specifically, Khan “doesn’t want to impede significant progress with a new voice”. It was noted that the team was planning on moving towards a more “collaborative approach”, and turning its attention to long-term building rather than quick-fix solutions with an experienced voice in Pederson.

In a follow-up tweet, Rapoport adds that other front office hires could still be forthcoming. Most notably, an assistant GM is still being sought out; if that ends up being the highest-ranking member of the organization brought in, Baalke would maintain his position of only reporting to Khan himself. For now, it seems as though the Jaguars will enter the offseason maintaining essentially the same structure that they finished the regular season with.

Saints Restructure Andrus Peat’s Contract

March 1st, 2022 at 9:57am CST by Adam La Rose

The salary cap gymnastics continue for the Saints, as they have made another contract move. The team has pushed a further $8MM in cap hit down the road, this time via a restructure of left guard Andrus Peat‘s deal, according to ESPN’s Mike Triplett (Twitter link).

New Orleans entered this offseason a projected $74MM over the cap, but it was widely expected that re-working a number of notable players’ deals would at least get them most of the way to compliance. So far, the team has done just that with Michael Thomas and Ryan Ramczyk.

As Triplett details, the Saints have converted $9.73MM of Peat’s base salary into a roster bonus, which is fully guaranteed. They have also added two void years to the deal. As a result, the 28-year-old’s cap hit is now scheduled to jump to just under $18.4MM for the 2023 and 2024 seasons; there will also be a cap charge of nearly $4MM in 2025, the first void year of the restructured pact.

Peat, a first round pick in 2015, has been a mainstay on the Saints’ o-line throughout his career. He has seen snaps at both tackle spots, but has primarily been used as a left guard, a position he has been quite effective at. He signed a five-year, $57.5MM deal to stay in New Orleans in March 2020; he rewarded the team for its investment by earning a third straight Pro Bowl appearance that season.

2021 didn’t go as well for Peat, as he was limited to six games due to a pectoral injury. Still, he figures to be part of the Saints’ long-term plans, so he was a logical choice for a re-worked deal. With more maneuvering still to be done, other cost-cutting moves are likely in New Orleans.

Latest On Patriots’ J.C. Jackson

March 1st, 2022 at 8:59am CST by Adam La Rose

With one week remaining until the deadline for teams to apply the franchise tag, the situation with the Patriots and top cornerback J.C. Jackson remains up in the air. According to ESPN’s Mike Reiss, it is unlikely the team will apply the tag, unless a trade partner can be found.

Without a tag-and-trade option on the table for the Patriots, Reiss “rate[s] the odds of them tagging Jackson as low”. It was reported one week ago that the two sides hadn’t held talks for a new deal after the team’s playoff elimination. That would continue a trend that points towards the 26-year-old finding a new home in free agency. Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer recalls that during negotiations this past spring and fall, the two camps “weren’t in the same stratosphere” as each other.

For that reason, Breer concurs that New England’s likeliest usage of the tag – which will come in at a cost of $17.3MM – would be to facilitate a trade. If that kind of deal doesn’t materialize in the coming days, though, Jackson could become the next in a relatively long line of Patriots corners the team moves on from, rather than committing to with expensive second contracts.

Coming into the league as an undrafted free agent in 2018, Jackson leads the NFL in interceptions over the past four seasons with 25. That total – not to mention 53 pass deflections, three fumble recoveries and impressive coverage stats during that span as well – should earn him a sizeable new deal on the open market should he reach free agency. Breer estimates the acquisition cost for an interested team to be a second round pick, which would most likely be followed by a medium- to long-term financial commitment to Jackson.

With limited time still remaining for the Patriots to make a deal, either with Jackson or another team, this situation is set to come to a head – and shape the rest of the team’s offseason in the process – soon.