2022 June - Pro Football Rumors

Month: June 2022

Bills Sign G Greg Van Roten

June 13th, 2022 at 2:19pm CST by Sam Robinson

The Jets opted not to retain Greg Van Roten this offseason, releasing the veteran guard despite his 23-start run with the team. The Bills are giving the 10-year blocker a landing spot.

Van Roten agreed to a deal with Buffalo on Monday. This will continue to crowd the Bills’ O-line with veterans. They have also signed Rodger Saffold and David Quessenberry this offseason.

Although the Jets bailed on Van Roten’s contract shortly after the draft, Robert Saleh said the team was open to bringing him back. The Jets believed Van Roten had the potential to start for other teams. After they had signed Laken Tomlinson to pair with Alijah Vera-Tucker, the 32-year-old blocker was not in line to keep starting for the Jets. A northward trek to a superior team should represent a better opportunity for Van Roten to stay a starter. If that does not end up taking place, the Bills still have a strong depth piece in a player who has 50 starts to his credit.

Pro Football Focus viewed Van Roten as a midlevel guard last season and deemed his 2021 work slightly superior to what he offered in 2020. Van Roten came to the Jets after a three-year run with the Panthers, the final two as a starter. He began his career with the Packers, catching on with Green Bay as a UDFA in 2012. While Van Roten does have a Panthers past, his stay did not overlap with ex-Panthers exec-turned-Bills GM Brandon Beane.

Saffold’s career-long run as a starter puts him in position to claim one of Buffalo’s first-string guard gigs, despite this being his age-34 season. The team also retained Ryan Bates by matching a Bears RFA offer sheet, giving the young guard some momentum to build on the six-start season he finished. Buffalo has Ike Boettger (17 starts from 2020-21) and former second-round pick Cody Ford under contract as well.

Patriots, Jakobi Meyers Discussing Deal; WR Signs RFA Tender

June 13th, 2022 at 2:16pm CST by Sam Robinson

Jakobi Meyers made his desire for a Patriots extension public recently. That prospect is in play for the Patriots, whom Adam Schefter of ESPN.com reports are in discussions with Meyers about a new deal (Twitter link).

The former undrafted free agent also signed his second-round RFA tender Monday. Like Packers tendered wideout Allen Lazard, this locks Meyers in for a $3.99MM salary. This week represents the deadline for RFAs to sign their tenders. Had Meyers not done so by Wednesday, the Patriots could have scrapped the near-$4MM payment and paid him 120% of his 2021 salary ($850K).

Arriving during a tumultuous year for the Patriots’ wide receiver position — a 2019 campaign in which Josh Gordon, Antonio Brown and Mohamed Sanu passed through — Meyers has been the team’s most consistent presence at the position over the past three years. Last season proved to be the North Carolina State product’s best work. He caught 83 passes for 866 yards and finally scored his first NFL touchdown, adding a second TD for good measure.

It famously took Meyers 39 games to log his first NFL touchdown, but despite the Patriots signing Nelson Agholor and Kendrick Bourne during their busy 2021 offseason, the 200-pound target led last year’s team in receiving. The 2022 campaign stands to set up Meyers with an opportunity to drive up his 2023 free agency price — if, in fact, he plays this season on the RFA tender.

The Patriots’ lofty Agholor contract comes off the books after this season, while Bourne — New England’s second-leaving 2021 pass catcher — is signed through 2023. The team also drafted Tyquan Thornton and traded for DeVante Parker, providing more competition than they had in recent seasons. Parker is also signed through 2023. Mac Jones‘ rookie salary opens the door for more Pats flexibility here, but as of now, Meyers is set for a pivotal contract year.

Colts To Sign DE Ifeadi Odenigbo

June 13th, 2022 at 1:43pm CST by Sam Robinson

Veteran defensive end Ifeadi Odenigbo will join the Colts. A Monday agreement, per Tom Pelissero of NFL.com (on Twitter), will send the former Vikings starter to Indianapolis.

Odenigbo accumulated seven sacks as an off-the-bench edge rusher in 2019, when he played behind Danielle Hunter and Everson Griffen, but could not match that production as a starter in 2020 (3.5 sacks). He will join a Colts defensive end stable now anchored by trade acquisition Yannick Ngakoue, who was briefly Odenigbo’s teammate in Minnesota.

Originally a Vikings seventh-round pick in 2017, Odenigbo first saw action with the Cardinals in 2018. The Northwestern alum made his way back to Big Ten country later in 2018, rejoining the Vikes and sticking around via reserve/futures contract. Odenigbo graduated off the futures-deal tier in 2019 and signed a one-year, $2.5MM deal with the Giants in 2021. The Giants, however, cut him before the season began. That resulted in a Browns agreement — three years after a Cleveland practice squad stay — and a nine-game role as a backup.

The Colts lost D-end contributor Al-Quadin Muhammad this offseason, when the veteran followed Matt Eberflus to Chicago. Former second-round pick Kemoko Turay is also gone, having signed with the 49ers. Odenigbo stands to compete for a job behind Ngakoue and 2021 first-rounder Kwity Paye. He will join a cast of former second-round picks in doing so.

This stands to be 2021 second-rounder Dayo Odeyingbo‘s first fully healthy season, after an offseason injury delayed his debut last year. Indianapolis did not draft a defensive end but re-signed former second-rounder Tyquan Lewis this offseason and still has fellow ex-Round 2 pick Ben Banogu rostered.

Packers’ Allen Lazard Signs RFA Tender

June 13th, 2022 at 1:13pm CST by Sam Robinson

Set for what could be a fascinating platform year, Allen Lazard is now under contract with the Packers. The veteran signed his second-round RFA tender Monday, per Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk (on Twitter).

This amounts to a necessary move for Lazard, who could have seen the Packers slash his salary had he not signed the tender by June 15. RFAs unsigned beyond that date are subject to seeing their tender salary — in Lazard’s case, $3.99MM — turn into 120% of their previous season’s earnings. Lazard made $850K last year. The young talent missed Green Bay’s minicamp last week, not being required to attend due to his contract situation.

The 6-foot-5 receiver could be set for one of the more unusual role expansions in recent memory. The Packers’ decisions to trade franchise-tagged wideout Davante Adams to the Raiders and then let Marquez Valdes-Scantling sign with the Chiefs leave Lazard, 26, as a candidate to vault from Aaron Rodgers‘ No. 3 receiver to his top aerial weapon. While Green Bay made some receiver additions — mainly journeyman Sammy Watkins and second-round pick Christian Watson — Lazard has a major opportunity in his contract year.

A UDFA out of Iowa State, Lazard caught on with the Packers in 2019. Rodgers consistently praised the newcomer, who has been a Packers regular for the past three years, in that first year and has continued to rely on him as a complementary target. In 2021, Lazard delivered his best work, posting a career-high 513 receiving yards. His eight touchdown catches were more than he tallied between the 2019 and ’20 seasons.

This could be an opportunity for the ex-Jaguars post-draft signing to earn a long-term Packers extension. The team has no veteran wideouts signed beyond 2022, with Randall Cobb‘s deal expiring at season’s end. If Lazard is not ultimately in the Packers’ long-term plans, he has a chance to carve out a strong 2023 free agency market.

Saints To Meet With RB David Johnson

June 13th, 2022 at 12:36pm CST by Sam Robinson

David Johnson‘s first free agency foray has been quiet, but the seven-year veteran running back will make his first offseason visit. The Saints are set to host the former Cardinals and Texans starter Monday, Nick Underhill of NewOrleans.football tweets.

New Orleans has Alvin Kamara and Mark Ingram under contract, but the former was arrested in February and the latter is going into his age-33 season. The Saints are otherwise thin in the backfield, and Johnson is one of the better options available.

While Johnson’s past five seasons have not come especially close to his monster 2016 showing, the veteran back has done well for himself. The Cardinals gave their third-round find a three-year, $39MM extension in 2018, and the Northern Iowa alum played out that contract with the Texans.

Beyond that All-Pro sophomore slate, injuries and his inclusion in 2020’s DeAndre Hopkins trade — a widely panned deal that sent Johnson and two draft choices to Houston for the perennial Pro Bowl wideout — has defined Johnson’s career. But he delivered stretches of productivity in Houston. In 2020, Johnson totaled 1,005 scrimmage yards in 12 games, averaging 4.7 yards per carry. The Texans brought him back on a restructured deal last year but minimized his role. Johnson started just four games and amassed only 453 scrimmage yards, ceding time to some of the newcomers in Houston’s unusually assembled, veteran-filled backfield.

Johnson, 30, suffered a wrist injury that ended his 2017 season after one game. Although he did not clear 1,000 yards rushing upon return in 2018, the 940 he did compile marked somewhat of an achievement due to the Cardinals’ offensive nosedive that year. Still, nothing Johnson has done comes close to his 2016 year under Bruce Arians, one that featured 2,118 scrimmage yards and 20 touchdowns — both figures leading the league.

The Saints did not draft a running back, but they do have holdovers Tony Jones and Dwayne Washington still rostered. A 2020 UDFA, Jones missed time due to injury last season but only averaged 2.6 yards per carry (on 54 totes) in the games he played. The Saints re-signed Washington, who has been a key special-teamer with the franchise since 2018, this offseason.

Kamara was charged with battery resulting in substantial bodily harm in connection with a Las Vegas incident. The sixth-year star could face a 2022 suspension. Ingram, Johnson’s Texans teammate for a stretch in 2021, stands to be Kamara’s backup on a $1.5MM base salary.

Terry McLaurin Not Planning To Attend Commanders’ Minicamp

June 13th, 2022 at 12:30pm CST by Adam La Rose

JUNE 13: McLaurin does indeed plan to skip this week’s mandatory minicamp, as he continues to try and leverage a new contract, Jhabvala tweets. The Commanders can fine their standout receiver more than $90K, though McLaurin’s absence — as Washington begins its Wentz era — looms larger than the small fine he will incur.

JUNE 12: In an offseason which has seen skyrocketing contract values for young receivers, the Commanders face a crucial decision with respect to Terry McLaurin. The team is seeking an extension with him, but a new contract does not appear to be forthcoming.

Nicki Jhabvala of the Washington Post reports (via Twitter) that negotiations are ongoing, but the two sides remain “far apart.” The 26-year-old is eligible for an extension for the first time in his career, after three seasons operating as the team’s focal point on offense. Despite a rotating cast of quarterbacks, he has produced back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons, leading many to believe he would join A.J. Brown as a 2019 draftee receiving a substantial raise this offseason.

The chances of a deal being signed seemed to increase when it was reported Washington curtailed some its free agent spending knowing a McLaurin extension (as well as one for Daron Payne) needed to be accounted for. However, there has clearly been little progress made since then.

The former third-rounder was expected to be present at OTAs, albeit without taking part in on-field work. However, it became known last month that McLaurin has been away from the team since the draft. That left the matter of his minicamp attendance in question. On that point, Jhabvala adds that it “seems unlikely” at this point that he will be present for the three-day mandatory practice period. In that event, the Ohio State alum would become subject to as much as $93K in fines, at the team’s discretion.

Moving towards a year which, given the addition of quarterback Carson Wentz and receiver Jahan Dotson in the first round of the draft, could see the Commanders improve on offense, the contract situation with their top wideout is set to remain a contentious issue for at least the immediate future.

Chiefs To Re-Sign RB Jerick McKinnon

June 13th, 2022 at 12:19pm CST by Sam Robinson

Jerick McKinnon‘s renewed run of health enabled the veteran running back to play a key role for the Chiefs during their playoff run. Not long after the perennial AFC West champions lost Darrel Williams in free agency, they are bringing back McKinnon.

The eight-year veteran is re-signing with Kansas City, Jeremy Fowler of ESPN.com tweets. The sides agreed on a one-year deal Monday. This news comes days before the Chiefs convene for their mandatory minicamp.

Although McKinnon famously missed all of the 2018 and ’19 seasons, after he had signed a high-end running back deal with the 49ers, he has been healthy for most of the past two. The Chiefs, added McKinnon on a one-year, veteran-minimum deal in 2021, only gave him 25 touches during the regular season. But they leaned on the backup in the playoffs, dialing up 48 touches in their three-game January slate.

McKinnon totaled 315 scrimmage yards and a touchdown in games against the Steelers, Bills and Bengals, seeing more time in the backfield than starter Clyde Edwards-Helaire did, though the first-stringer was returning from another injury — one that kept him out of the team’s wild-card game.

Kansas City has Edwards-Helaire back, and the team reached an agreement with former Tampa Bay back Ronald Jones months ago. The Chiefs used a seventh-round pick on running back Isiah Pacheco, signed two UDFA backs and have ERFA Derrick Gore on their roster. McKinnon, who turned 30 in May, may be set for another niche role in Andy Reid‘s offense.

The 49ers gave the former college quarterback and ex-Adrian Peterson backup a four-year, $30MM deal in 2018. At the time, that doubled as a top-five running back contract. But an ACL tear that year sidelined McKinnon for two seasons, the second coming after the injury did not properly heal. After a 2020 restructure, McKinnon returned to action and played all 16 San Francisco games. He totaled 572 scrimmage yards and scored six touchdowns for an otherwise injury-ransacked 49ers backfield.

While McKinnon did miss four regular-season games with the Chiefs, due to a late-season hamstring injury, his postseason availability proved key for a team that saw Edwards-Helaire miss time with separate maladies. The Chiefs keeping him around as additional CEH insurance makes sense.

John DeFilippo Won’t Coach In 2022

June 13th, 2022 at 12:01pm CST by Adam La Rose

Veteran offensive coach John DeFilippo will step away from the sidelines this season. He does fully intend to resume coaching in 2023, however, as noted by Chris Tomasson of the St. Paul Pioneer Press (on Twitter).

The 44-year-old’s NFL career began in 2005 with the Giants. That was quickly followed by stints with the Raiders (on two separate occasions) and Jets as a QBs coach. 2015 saw his first opportunity as an offensive coordinator in Cleveland; in his lone season with the Browns, the team ranked near the bottom of the league in almost every major category, leaving few surprised that he was on the move again after just one year.

DeFilippo’s next OC gig came in 2018 in Minnesota, one year after he helped Nick Foles lead the Eagles to a Super Bowl title as his position coach. His hire, along with the three-year deal given to Kirk Cousins, led to optimism for the Vikings’ offense. The unit ranked mid-pack in terms of yards and points, though, and DeFilippo didn’t make it to the end of the campaign before being replaced by Kevin Stefanski.

That led him to Jacksonville the following year, but his third OC stint didn’t produce improved results. In the absence of Foles for, essentially, the entire season, the Jaguars went 6-10 and struggled on offense. Once again, that led to DeFilippo moving on after a one-year stay. He wasn’t out of work long, however.

Just two days after departing Jacksonville, DeFilippo was hired by the Bears to serve as the team’s QBs coach. The familiar job title was coupled with that of passing game coordinator last season. However, the Bears’ offense – both with Mitch Trubisky and Justin Fields under center – has been lacking during that stretch, meaning DeFilippo was on the lookout for another gig position this offseason. He interviewed for the QBs coach role in San Francisco, which ultimately went to Brian Griese.

Given his age and experience, DeFilippo could be in line for another positional coaching role upon his return. Where his next NFL home will be, though, will not be determined until at least next year.

Jets’ Mekhi Becton Expected To Attend Minicamp

June 13th, 2022 at 10:07am CST by Adam La Rose

The Jets haven’t seen Mekhi Becton in person this offseason, but that will likely change this week. ESPN’s Rich Cimini reports that the offensive tackle is expected to attend mandatory minicamp.

[RELATED: Jets Host OT Reiff]

Becton chose to skip the voluntary portion of the team’s offseason, in a move which surprised many. He is still one year away from being eligible for an extension, so the decision wasn’t a result of a contract dispute. That, coupled with his injury situation, made his absence somewhat noteworthy.

The 2020 first-rounder played just one game last year due to a knee injury. The recovery from the resulting surgery didn’t go according to plan, adding to the list of health- and conditioning-related concerns which have dogged the early part of his NFL career. Further compounding those issues is the fact that Cimini reports Becton isn’t expected to practice this week.

After losing the Louisville alum in Week 1, the Jets turned to veteran George Fant at left tackle. His level of play there, coupled with the availability concerns related to Becton, has left open the possibility for the latter to play at right tackle. With Morgan Moses having left in free agency, that starting spot is available for him, but a lack of practice reps in the offseason will leave question marks about his effectiveness there.

A return to health will, of course, be the top priority for Becton and the Jets heading into 2022. The team will get a much-needed update on that front if he does attend minicamp, but where he lines up in training camp and the start of the season – along with his level of play – will remain a story worth watching.

Panthers Hosting Carlos Dunlap

June 13th, 2022 at 8:53am CST by Adam La Rose

One of the top remaining defensive free agents could be close to finding his next NFL team. Carlos Dunlap is visiting the Panthers, per ESPN’s Adam Schefter (Twitter link). Dunlap’s visit is expected to encompass both Monday and Tuesday, USA Today’s Josina Anderson tweets.

The 33-year-old finds himself on the open market for the second straight offseason, having been released by the Seahawks. A second consecutive reunion with Seattle was said to be on the table in March, but there has been little reported interest on that front since. Dunlap showcased his continued ability to get to the quarterback in 2021, posting 8.5 sacks despite playing a rotational role.

As part of the team’s overall youth movement, Seattle signed Uchenna Nwosu in free agency, who profiles as a better scheme fit in its new 3-4 defense. That pointed to Dunlap heading elsewhere, though he has remained under the free agent radar both before and after the draft.

As a North Charleston native, a deal with the Panthers would represent a homecoming for the two-time Pro Bowler. Carolina lost a major element of their pass rush when Haason Reddick departed in free agency. Dunlap would likely help to fill that void, given his production last year being reminiscent of his time in Cincinnati. The Panthers also drafted Amare Barno in the sixth round in April.

While Carolina’s edge group will be led by Brian Burns regardless of if Dunlap signs or not, the 12-year veteran would have a role to play on his third NFL team. On, presumably, another short-term deal as his career winds down, Dunlap could add an experienced presence to a team looking to take significant steps forward in 2022.

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