Raiders, DE Kwity Paye Agree To Deal
Not long after agreeing to trade away Maxx Crosby, the Raiders have lined up a notable replacement along the edge. Kwity Paye is heading to Vegas.
Paye worked out a Raiders deal on Monday, Ian Rapoport, Mike Garafolo and Tom Pelissero of NFL Network report. This will be a three-year pact worth $48MM, NFL insider Jordan Schultz adds. Paye represents the second big-ticket addition for the team today, with center Tyler Linderbaum having also worked out a massive free agent deal.
This has been a big day for edge rushers, with Jaelan Phillips, Odafe Oweh and Boye Mafe agreeing to deals (with the Panthers, Commanders and Bengals) earlier today. Paye’s contract checks in south of those three, who respectively scored $30MM, $25MM and $20MM per year. But the five-year Colt still did quite well. His 3/48 framework matches what the Bears gave ex-Indianapolis teammate Dayo Odeyingbo last year.
Slotted behind the Phillips-Oweh-Mafe trio in PFR’s top 50 (at No. 19), Paye is coming off an unremarkable contract year. But the former first-round pick fared much better in Gus Bradley‘s defense from 2023-24. Paye combined for 16.5 sacks and 18 tackles for loss in those seasons. His Michigan ties probably don’t hurt here, either, with Raider decision-makers Tom Brady and John Spytek being ex-Wolverines.
Last season, however, Paye only registered four sacks and nine QB hits. But he was still an active pressure artist. Paye’s 23 pressures in 2025 were a career high, and he only trailed Oweh by one in that category. Considering Paye’s better sack work in the past, the Raiders will make a midlevel ($16MM suddenly qualifies as such) bet on the power-based rusher having superior production ahead.
Paye, 27, will not remind Raiders fans closely of Crosby. The team, which looks to have missed on 2023 first-round pick Tyree Wilson, also has Malcolm Koonce unsigned. Las Vegas is effectively starting over in terms of pass rush, as the team memorably cut high-priced D-tackle Christian Wilkins in 2025.
The Colts have now lost Paye and Odeyingbo in consecutive offseasons, and Samson Ebukam and Tyquan Lewis are also UFAs. The Colts have Laiatu Latu in place as Lou Anarumo’s top edge rusher, with DeForest Buckner still anchoring the team’s D-line. But Indy may need another piece after losing a five-year starter.
Adam La Rose contributed to this post.
49ers To Sign T Vederian Lowe
With Trent Williams‘ future in the air, the 49ers are making a depth addition at the offensive tackle spot. Vederian Lowe has agreed to a two-year San Francisco deal worth up to $12MM, ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler reports. He will collect $5.75MM guaranteed.
Lowe would certainly bring a massive step down from Williams; the 49ers will likely plan to have him as their swing tackle no matter what happens with the future Hall of Famer. Benched after being the Patriots’ primary left tackle starter in 2024, Lowe played out his rookie contract as a backup for the AFC champions.
The Patriots acquired Lowe via trade during Bill Belichick’s final year at the controls. He worked as an eight-game starter in 2023 and lined up with Pats first-stringers 13 times in 2024. The returns were not good for the Pats’ O-line in ’24, leading to a 2025 overhaul that brought four new starters. Pro Football Focus graded Lowe as the NFL’s third-worst qualified tackle in 2023 and slotted him outside the top 65 in ’24; Will Campbell arrived to supplant him as the No. 4 overall pick last year.
Lowe served as Campbell’s injury sub during the high-profile rookie’s IR stretch. A former Vikings sixth-round pick, Lowe will at least provide the 49ers with a 25-start resume. This signing comes after the team tried a few tackles behind Williams and Colton McKivitz in 2025. The 49ers signed Andre Dillard and Nicholas Petit-Frere; the team was near a deal with D.J. Humphries, but the veteran LT ultimately chose the Rams.
Guard/swingman Spencer Burford is unsigned for San Francisco, though the team tendered backup tackle Austen Pleasants as an ERFA. The 49ers owe Williams a $10MM option bonus on April 1, providing a deadline of sorts. The team may have opened the door to a trade Monday, and the 16-year vet is tied to a $38.8MM cap number in his contract year. A resolution will come soon, but if not, the 49ers will have a glaring tackle need — as Lowe will be unlikely to start in a non-injury situation.
Adam La Rose contributed to this post.
Commanders, Odafe Oweh Agree To Deal
Another one of the major pass rush dominoes around the NFL has fallen. Odafe Oweh will neither return to the Ravens nor remain in place with the Chargers.
Instead, he will head to the nation’s capital. A four-year deal has been agreed to with the Commanders, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reports. This will be a $100MM pact including $68MM guaranteed, Schefter adds.
This represents a big-ticket payday for another of this market’s edge rushers. Jaelan Phillips secured a four-year, $120MM Panthers deal earlier today, and Oweh will do very well for another team in need of pass-rushing support. The Commanders largely ignored their EDGE need in 2025, settling for an aging Von Miller just before training camp. While Miller was productive (team-high nine sacks), the team set out to do better this offseason. Oweh checks a key box.
Recording 17.5 sacks over the past two seasons, Oweh joined Phillips and Trey Hendrickson as this market’s top edge rushers. The four-year commitment will help inflate Oweh’s guarantee, and $68MM tops where the Chiefs went for George Karlaftis on his 2025 extension. The cap climbing past $301MM this offseason is benefiting players today. Oweh, 27, is the NFL’s 13th-highest-paid edge rusher as a result of this agreement. That checks in just south of the Broncos’ Nik Bonitto pact.
Oweh joined Phillips and Kwity Paye as edge rushers to play out their fifth-year option seasons. Like Phillips, Oweh was traded during his. The five-year veteran’s Chargers stay helped ignite his free agent market. After a sackless five games in Baltimore, Oweh recorded 7.5 QB drops during his Chargers run. That turned out to be a rental period.
Although the Chargers expressed interest in re-signing Oweh, they agreed to terms with Khalil Mack and have a Tuli Tuipulotu extension to negotiate this offseason. Oweh almost definitely, based on where the Tuipulotu payday will land, priced himself out of L.A.’s comfort zone.
No Oweh six-sack seasons transpired from 2021-23, but the Ravens still picked up his fifth-year option. Baltimore saw Oweh register 10 sacks in 2024, and he closed out his rookie contract by combining for 41 QB hits from 2024-25. The Commanders still have Dorance Armstrong tied to his three-year, $30MM contract, but after regarding him as a de facto A-side rusher, Washington looks set to have Oweh in that role moving forward.
Adam La Rose contributed to this post.
Bears To Re-Sign QB Case Keenum
Case Keenum will indeed remain in place with the Bears next season, but he will not do so as a coach (a rumored scenario). The veteran quarterback has agreed to a new contract.
Keenum is set to re-sign on a two-year deal with a base value of $5.5MM, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reports. The pact can max out at $8MM. Keenum could of course still be a coaching candidate in the future, but for now his playing days will continue.
Of this contract, $2.9MM is guaranteed (via KPRC2’s Aaron Wilson). A $750K roster bonus will be due on Day 5 of the 2027 league year. Third-stringers rarely carry a roster bonus of any sort, so this is notable. The Bears have Tyson Bagent installed as their backup, and although trade interest has come in on the former UDFA, Bagent is still expected to operate as Caleb Williams‘ caddy in 2026.
This contract positions Keenum to extend his career to 15 seasons. Even as he drifted back to the backup tier to start the 2020s, Keenum has been a coveted option — particularly with regards to leadership. The Bears may well move Keenum to a coaching role at some point, but for now, the soon-to-be 38-year-old passer looks to have at least one more year as a player.
Previously in place as a part-time Texans backup (alongside Davis Mills), Keenum has not thrown a regular-season pass since 2023. Keenum is a veteran of eight NFL teams, having begun his career as a 2012 Texans UDFA. The Houston alum has made 66 career starts. If he is to break into coaching, learning from Ben Johnson would be a good developmental program. David Blough took that route to an OC job at age 30.
His most memorable stretch came as Sam Bradford‘s backup in 2017, when he piloted the Vikings to a 13-3 season and led the NFL in QB DVOA. After sporting a 29:7 TD-INT ratio, Keenum made the “Minneapolis Miracle” throw to Stefon Diggs to elevate the Vikings to their only post-Brett Favre NFC championship game. The Broncos’ subsequent two-year, $36MM starter deal for Keenum — as they passed on Josh Allen weeks later in a loaded 2018 QB draft — did not pan out, and after a 2019 Washington stay, Keenum has toured a few cities (Cleveland, Buffalo, Houston, Chicago) as a backup.
Adam La Rose contributed to this post.
Cowboys To Sign S Jalen Thompson
Jalen Thompson emerged as a name to watch regarding the Cowboys on Monday. The veteran safety is indeed heading to Dallas.
ESPN’s Todd Archer recently reported the Cowboys were in contact with Thompson. A deal has now been struck, according to Ian Rapoport and Jane Slater of NFL Network. This will be a three-year contract worth up to $36MM.
This deal will provide $22MM guaranteed over its first two seasons, according to ESPN.com’s Dan Graziano, with OverTheCap listing its base value at $33MM. Dallas is guaranteeing Thompson’s 2027 salary ($8MM), providing the longtime Cardinals starter some security.
A modern-day rarity as a supplemental draft choice that panned out, Thompson was a regular Cards starter for the past five seasons. The Budda Baker sidekick helped Arizona form one of the NFL’s top safety tandems. With Baker on two near-top-market contracts during Thompson’s time in the desert, the latter played out a three-year extension worth $36MM. This will represent a pay cut of sorts due to inflation, as the cap resided at $208MM when the Cardinals extended Thompson (it is at $301.2MM now).
Thompson is only entering an age-28 season. As we’ve seen numerous times in recent years, players are agreeing to shorter-term deals in hopes of cashing in again after cap spikes. Pro Football Focus graded Thompson between 26th and 36th among safeties over the past three seasons. He has not intercepted a pass since 2023, but he nabbed four that season. Thompson also has two 100-plus-tackle seasons on his resume.
The Cowboys have not re-signed Donovan Wilson, and Malik Hooker surfaced recently as a cut candidate. It looks like Hooker will be staying, as the former first-rounder agreed to a restructure earlier Monday. Markquese Bell remains on Dallas’ roster as well. Thompson’s contract will make him Dallas’ top safety priority, representing a change after all those seasons playing alongside Baker in Arizona.
Sam Robinson contributed to this post.
Bengals To Sign DE Boye Mafe
The Bengals are adding former Seahawks edge rusher Boye Mafe, agent Mike McCartney announced. Mafe will sign a three-year, $60MM contract, insider Jordan Schultz relays.
Cincinnati’s pass rush took a hit when defensive end Joseph Ossai agreed to sign with the Jets on Monday. The Bengals are also expected to lose their best D-end, Trey Hendrickson, to free agency. At least one outside pass-rushing addition became a necessity for the Bengals, whose defense was among the NFL’s worst in 2025. The unit ranked 26th in sacks, 30th in scoring and 31st in total defense.
Mafe has not posted Hendrickson-like production (few have), but he should at least serve as a credible Ossai replacement. The four-year veteran has 20 career sacks over 65 games (34 starts). In 2023, Mafe’s most productive year, he worked as a full-time starter and tallied 52 tackles, 16 QB hits, nine sacks, nine TFL and six passes defensed in 16 contests.
Mafe notched another 12 QB hits and six sacks during a 15-game, 11-start 2024, but the 27-year-old took on a lesser role for the Super Bowl champions last season. The former second-rounder from Minnesota came off the bench in 13 of 17 games and logged a 50% defensive snap share. Mafe could only muster four QB hits and a pair of sacks, but he nonetheless entered free agency with plenty of earning potential. He will indeed rake in a substantial raise in moving from Seattle to Cincinnati.
Mafe’s exit is the latest blow to the Seahawks’ roster on the first day of the league’s free agent negotiating period. They previously lost running back/Super Bowl MVP Kenneth Walker III to the Chiefs and safety Coby Bryant to the Bears.
Packers To Release OL Elgton Jenkins
In a move which comes as little surprise at this point, the Packers are parting ways with Elgton Jenkins. The veteran offensive lineman is being released, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reports.
Mentioned as a trade candidate recently, Jenkins will join the likes of Tyler Biadasz and Lloyd Cushenberry in becoming center cap casualties. Green Bay will create $19.5MM in cap space with this release, which comes after the team traded Rashan Gary to Dallas. Jenkins is being let go with a failed physical designation, Schefter’s colleague Rob Demovsky notes.
The center market has ignited today, with Tyler Linderbaum smashing the position’s salary record — along with guard AAV numbers — on his Raiders deal before Cade Mays landed with the Lions. The Chargers added Biadasz late last week, while the Bills re-signed Connor McGovern before free agency opened.
The market will feature an accomplished pro in Jenkins, however. A versatile player who has booked Pro Bowl accolades at guard and played extended stretches at both left and right tackle, Jenkins is going into an age-30 season. The Packers gave Zach Tom an extension last year and signed guard Aaron Banks in free agency, kicking Jenkins to center. Sean Rhyan has since signed an extension, and the Pack — after finding a trade partner for Gary — will send Jenkins to free agency.
Moved to center to accommodate the Banks signing, Jenkins pushed for a contract update last year but did not succeed. He had agreed to a four-year, $68MM extension in December 2022. The Packers had moved Jenkins to guard that year, scrapping plans for him to play right tackle opposite the increasingly injury-prone David Bakhtiari. Jenkins had subbed for Bakhtiari previously at LT, but guard became his best position. Jenkins made both his Pro Bowls — in 2020 and ’22 — at that position.
While Jenkins would ordinarily represent an intriguing option on the market, his season ending due to a leg fracture and ligament damage may stall his free agency for a while. While the seven-year veteran — a starter for the Packer teams that earned byes in 2019 and ’20 — may be a bounce-back candidate to monitor down the road, it could take a bit for the 30-year-old blocker to find a new home.
Adam La Rose contributed to this post.
Lions To Sign OL Larry Borom
Having already agreed to terms with center Cade Mays, the Lions have lined up another offensive line addition. Larry Borom has worked out a Detroit deal, Tom Pelissero and Ian Rapoport of NFL Network report.
Signed to be Miami’s swing tackle last year, Borom ended up starting 11 games due to Austin Jackson‘s health issues. The former Bears starter logged 664 right tackles snaps last season, representing his most work since the Bears demoted him during the 2022 campaign.
Pro Football Focus ranked Borom 58th among tackles in 2025, but the former fifth-round pick out of Missouri has 38 career starts. He joins a Lions team that just released Taylor Decker after the 10-year LT mainstay requested it. That could open a door for Borom, though he has not been looked upon as a team’s full-season starter in any of his five NFL slates.
The Bears gave Borom their right tackle job during his 2021 rookie season and used him on 486 snaps at RT in 2022. The team plugged in aging option Riley Reiff that year, with Borom benched. Chicago then drafted Darnell Wright with its 2023 first-round pick, relegating Borom to backup status. Borom played 408 LT snaps in 2023, subbing for Braxton Jones, but was deemed a nonpriority by the Bears as a 2025 UFA.
Borom being asked to play right tackle and All-Pro Penei Sewell sliding to the left side is a scenario that perhaps should be considered, but moving a dominant performer away from his natural position so a midlevel free agent can step in would seem a flawed plan. It would surprise if the Lions did not at least add competition for the job opposite Sewell — wherever he lines up — before training camp.
Adam La Rose contributed to this post.
Commanders To Re-Sign Marcus Mariota
The Commanders will once again have stability at the quarterback spot in 2026. Marcus Mariota has agreed to another new Washington deal.
The veteran quarterback is set to re-sign on a one-year deal, Tom Pelissero of NFL Network reports. This latest Mariota contract has a base value of $7MM and can top out at $11MM via incentives. Mariota has been with the Commanders since Jayden Daniels‘ rookie season (2024), and the two will continue to work together.
Knee and elbow issues forced Daniels to miss more than half his games in 2025, opening the door for Mariota to start eight of his 11 appearances. This was the most work the veteran QB had seen since he started 13 games for the Falcons back in 2022.
The results were mixed. The Commanders ended up going only 2-6 in Mariota’s eight starts, but the QB did manage to toss 10 touchdowns vs. only seven interceptions. He also had one of his most productive rushing seasons since his early days in Tennessee. The 32-year-old ultimately finished the 2025 campaign with 297 rushing yards on 50 carries.
The Commanders are hoping they won’t see nearly as much of Mariota in 2026. However, another sizable commitment to the backup QB at least shows that the team isn’t entirely comfortable with Daniels’ health.
Adam La Rose contributed to this post.
Titans To Sign CB Alontae Taylor
The Titans’ spending spree continues. Alontae Taylor is the latest free agent to line up a deal with Tennessee as the team’s overhaul is in full force.
The parties have agreed to a deal, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reports. This pact will be worth $60MM over three years, Ian Rapoport of NFL Network adds. Taylor will cash in following his rookie contract stint in New Orleans, with Rapoport adding he will collect $42MM in full guarantees.
Experienced as both a slot and perimeter corner, Taylor may command the top CB salary on this year’s market. Ranked 12th overall in PFR’s top 50 (first among corners), Taylor has a skillset that will allow Saleh options in coverage. The former second-round pick has more than 1,500 snaps inside and outside.
Taylor becomes the NFL’s 10th $20MM-per-year cornerback. The Titans still have L’Jarius Sneed tied to a $19.1MM-per-year contract. While other former Chiefs starters have justified their second-contract costs — the Rams are betting big on this having added Trent McDuffie and Jaylen Watson — Sneed has struggled to stay healthy and was embroiled in a legal situation during his time in Nashville. The Titans are likely to cut the underwhelming trade acquisition, veteran reporter Paul Kuharsky notes.
As Nikhil Mehta’s Titans Offseason Outlook detailed, Sneed will see $7.5MM of his 2026 salary shift from an injury guarantee to a full guarantee on Day 5 of the 2026 league year. That March 16 date will be tied to a physical, per Kuharsky, who notes Sneed being cleared would allow the Titans to cut him without that injury guarantee kicking in. The Titans would save $13.43MM if Sneed’s injury issue is resolved and he is released.
The Saints attempted to extend Taylor, but it became clear this week he would depart in free agency. New Orleans sought a Day 2 pick for Taylor in a trade, and the Bears and Colts pursued. Indianapolis then came in with a two-first-rounder offer for Sauce Gardner. Taylor, 27, finished out his contract year with the Saints — unlike Rashid Shaheed, who was moved at the deadline — and will be positioned as the Titans’ No. 1 corner. Barring a pay cut, Sneed will be out of the picture. Tennessee will still have work to do here.
New Orleans has now lost two homegrown options — Taylor and Paulson Adebo — to big-ticket contracts in back-to-back free agencies. The Giants gave Adebo a three-year, $54MM deal. A few corners landed those terms in 2025, but with the cap rising past $300MM this year, Taylor will outdo that lot and reside between the top tier and the cadre of ’25 market beneficiaries.