Falcons Sign LB Edmond Robinson
Another XFL player is heading to the NFL. Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle reports that the Falcons are signing linebacker Edmond Robinson. ESPN’s Vaughn McClure tweets that it’s a one-year deal.
Robinson was a seventh-round pick out of Newberry back in 2015, and he’s spent parts of three NFL seasons with the Vikings, Jets, and Cardinals. The 28-year-old has compiled 13 tackles and one pass defended in 22 career games, including a 12-game stint with Minnesota back in 2016.
The linebacker had a cameo with the Arizona Hotshots of the Alliance of American Football, and he joined the Houston Roughnecks of the XFL back in October. During that stint, Robinson compiled 22 tackles and a pair of sacks.
The undefeated Roughnecks have seen a number of players opt for the NFL, headlined by quarterback P.J. Walker signing with the Panthers. Cornerback Deatrick Nichols (Saints) and linebacker DeMarquis Gates (Vikings) have also signed with NFL teams.
Contract Details: Davis, Roberts, Haeg
Let’s take a closer look at the details of a few recently-signed free agent contracts:
AFC
- MyCole Pruitt, TE (Titans): One year, $2.5MM. $2.35MM guaranteed (Twitter link via Tom Pelissero of NFL.com).
- Shilique Calhoun, DE (Patriots): One year, $1.5MM. $250K signing bonus (Twitter link via Pelissero).
- Dan Vitale, FB (Patriots): One year, $1.3MM. $100K signing bonus (Twitter link via Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle).
NFC
- Sean Davis, S (Redskins): One year, $4MM. $2MM guaranteed (Twitter link via John Keim of ESPN.com).
- Seth Roberts, WR (Panthers): One year, $3.75MM (Twitter link via Mike Garafolo of ESPN.com).
- Zach Kerr, DT (Panthers): Two years, $3MM. Unknown incentives available (Twitter link via Garafolo).
- B.J. Goodson, LB (Browns): One year, $2.4MM. $2.25MM guaraneed. $1.25MM signing bonus (Twitter link via Rob Demovsky of ESPN.com).
- Joe Haeg, T (Buccaneers): One year, $2.3MM. $1.5MM guaranteed. Up to $1MM available via playtime incentives (Twitter link via Wilson).
- Cedric Ogbuehi, T (Seahawks): One year, $2.3MM. $500K guaranteed. $500K signing bonus (Twitter link via Brady Henderson of ESPN.com).
- Will Parks, S (Eagles): One year, $1.5MM. $1.375MM guaranteed. $375K signing bonus. Up to $125K in per-game roster bonuses (Twitter link via Wilson).
- Tajae Sharpe, WR (Vikings): One year, $1MM. $675K guaranteed. $175K signing bonus. Max value of $1.5MM (Twitter link via Pelissero).
- Sharrod Neasman, S (Falcons): One year, $950K. $40K signing bonus. Veteran salary benefit (Twitter link via Wilson).
- Joe Walker, LB (49ers): One year, $900K. Max of $75K in per-game roster bonuses (Twitter link via Wilson).
NFC South Notes: Hill, Brate, Walker
The Saints expect Taysom Hill to take over for Drew Brees when Brees calls it a career, and to that end, they placed a first-round RFA tender on the BYU product earlier this month. Teddy Bridgewater had served as the backup to Brees over the past couple of seasons while Hill’s role as a gadget player grew, but head coach Sean Payton confirmed that Hill will be the QB2 in 2020. “He’s earned that opportunity,” Payton said (Twitter link via Jeff Duncan of The Athletic).
However, the team still expects to use Hill as a rusher and receiver next season, so Payton said New Orleans will add another QB that will be active on game days (Twitter link via Duncan). The Saints are expected to explore a long-term contract for Hill in the near future.
Now for more from the NFC South:
- Cameron Brate‘s recent restructure with the Buccaneers is better classified as a pay cut. Per Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times, Brate accepted a decrease in his 2020 salary from $6MM to $4.25MM (Twitter link). The move will keep Brate, a quality red zone target, in the fold for Tom Brady while buying the team a little more cap space.
- Several days ago, the Panthers beat out several clubs for the services of XFL signal-caller P.J. Walker. Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle says Walker’s pact with Carolina is a two-year deal worth $1.565MM, a pretty nice haul for an XFLer who has yet to crack an active roster in the NFL (Twitter link).
- CB Blidi Wreh-Wilson‘s new one-year deal with the Falcons includes a base salary of $1.05MM and a singing bonus of $137.5K, as Vaughn McClure of ESPN.com tweets.
Contract Details: Falcons, Ryan, Eagles, Slay
Earlier this week, the Falcons restructured deals with Matt Ryan and others to carve out a bit of extra breathing room. Today, we got some additional details on that adjustment, via Vaughn McClure of ESPN.com (on Twitter).
Here’s the breakdown: Ryan’s base pay for 2020 will go down from $8MM to $1.05MM. Meanwhile, tackle Jake Matthews will see his base number trimmed from $10.55MM to $3.55MM. In both cases, the difference was converted to a signing bonus. In effect, it doesn’t change much for either player, but it does allow the Falcons to kick the can down the road and spend more this year.
Here are more deetz from around the NFL, with all links going to Twitter:
- Darius Slay, CB (Eagles): Three years, $50.05MM. $30.05MM fully guaranteed; $26.05MM guaranteed at signing (via Jeff McLane of the Philadelphia Inquirer)
- Calais Campbell, DL (Ravens): Two years, $25MM. $20MM guaranteed. $10MM signing bonus.
- Justin Ellis, DT (Ravens): One year, $1.047MM. $225K guaranteed. Deal counts for $910K, via the NFL’s veteran salary benefit provision (via Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle).
- Brian Poole, CB (Jets): One year, $5MM. $4.5MM guaranteed. $3MM signing bonus. (via Wilson)
- Le’Raven Clark, OL (Colts): One year, $1.2MM. $300K fully guaranteed (via Joel A. Erickson of the Indy Star).
- Justin March-Lillard, LB (Cowboys): One year, $1.047MM. Veteran salary benefit (via Wilson).
Falcons Sign DL Allen Bailey To Extension
Allen Bailey is sticking in Atlanta through at least the 2021 season. NFL.com’s Tom Pelissero reports (via Twitter) that the defensive lineman has signed a one-year, $4.5MM extension. The deal includes a $3.25MM signing bonus.
There were reports yesterday that Bailey (along with Matt Ryan and Jake Matthews) had restructured his contract. While this transaction did save the Falcons some money for 2020, it ended up being an extension instead of a pure restructuring.
The former third-round spent the first eight seasons of his career with the Chiefs, but he ended up sitting in free agency for much of last offseason. He eventually caught on with Atlanta, and he proceeded to play an important rotational role for his new squad. In 15 games (five starts), Bailey compiled 26 tackles and one sack.
In total, the 31-year-old has appeared in 117 regular season games, collecting 20.5 sacks.
Minor NFL Transactions: 3/24/20
Here are today’s minor moves:
Atlanta Falcons
- Signed: LB LaRoy Reynolds
Baltimore Ravens
- Re-signed: WR Chris Moore
Cincinnati Bengals
- Signed: WR Mike Thomas
Minnesota Vikings
- Signed: LB DeMarquis Gates (XFL)
New York Giants
- Signed: DB Dravon Askew-Henry (XFL)
New York Jets
- Re-signed: DB Bennett Jackson
Matt Ryan, Jake Matthews Restructure Deals
Up against the cap this offseason, the Falcons made three lower-level signings Sunday. They have also restructured a few contracts.
The Falcons restructured the deals of Matt Ryan, Jake Matthews and Allen Bailey, D. Orlando Ledbetter of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution notes. This marks an interesting move for Ryan, who restructured his deal at the end of last season. He was already set to have cap figures north of $39MM in 2021 and 2022.
Ryan was to comprise $24.1MM of Atlanta’s 2020 cap, while Matthews was to account for $16MM of it. Bailey’s two-year deal included a $5.9MM 2020 cap number.
The Falcons and Ryan agreed on a five-year, $150MM extension in May 2018. He is under contract through 2023. Prior to the revised figures from this latest restructure, Ryan’s 2023 cap number sat at $34MM. Signed to a five-year extension worth $72.5MM in July 2018, Matthews is also under contract through 2023. His next four cap numbers are north of $16MM, so it should be expected some of them will rise as a result of this adjustment.
Atlanta added Laquon Treadwell and offensive lineman Justin McCray on Sunday and also re-signed Blidi Wreh-Wilson. They added Todd Gurley on Friday and authorized a $16MM-AAV deal for Dante Fowler. Considering the Falcons’ minimal cap room, these Ryan and Matthews restructures were surely necessary to accommodate the Fowler pact. The Falcons also cut Desmond Trufant and Devonta Freeman to clear space.
Latest On COVID-19’s NFL Impact
Although a lockout marred the 2011 NFL offseason, this year will eclipse that delayed offseason for the most unusual in the league’s modern history. Here is some of the fallout from how COVID-19 has affected the NFL during free agency and how it will impact the league going forward:
- Some teams have inserted coronavirus-triggered language into contracts. With players not permitted to visit team facilities and take physicals and teams not allowed to have staffers meet with free agent targets, some teams have included provisions into contracts indicating that failed physicals would void signing bonus money, Jeremy Fowler of ESPN.com reports. Players are prohibited from entering team facilities until at least April, and with this likely set to be an offseason without OTAs, it could be months before free agents take physicals with their new teams. It is not known how many teams are taking this hard-line stance, Fowler notes.
- Teams are permitted to use independent physicians for physicals, but Tom Pelissero of NFL.com notes (via Twitter) some of the league’s franchises are not comfortable doing so. The delay on physicals has led to most free agency deals yet to be officially announced. Some teams that have announced trades got around these rules. The Falcons and Ravens announced their Hayden Hurst-centered trade because Hurst took his physical before the COVID-19 rules went into effect, Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk notes. This delay on teams’ medical staffs being able to examine players figures to keep some free agents with injury questions unsigned and has certainly impacted the Cam Newton trade market.
- Due to the stock market’s uncertainty because of coronavirus, multiple NFL owners instructed their front offices to defer signing bonus payments for as long as possible, Florio reports. Signing bonuses are committed to players when they sign, but teams often pay them in installments. Some teams are trying to push back the windows for some of the bonus money to be paid, Florio adds, noting that the Raiders are avoiding signing bonuses altogether. Las Vegas made multiple splashy signings early in free agency, but no details of signing bonuses emerged after those agreements.
- Some NFL execs were unhappy the league moved forward with free agency during this unprecedented climate in North American sports. “Tone deaf is right!” a GM told NBC Sports’ Peter King. “The world has stopped. We’re in a national emergency as a country and we do this? It’s awful. We’re telling the rest of the world we don’t care.” While the NFL provided the sports-following world with a distraction this week, the uncertainty surrounding OTAs and minicamps — and the lack of pre-draft visits and workouts — will send the league into a strange period similar to what the other major American sports are navigating because of coronavirus.
- The NFL will make some changes to the draft, and some notable unknowns still exist a month away from the annual April event.
Falcons Sign OL Justin McCray, CB Blidi Wreh-Wilson
The Falcons will bring in an offensive line swing man and re-sign one of their backup cornerbacks of recent years. Atlanta signed Justin McCray and Blidi Wreh-Wilson on Sunday.
McCray, who played with the Browns last season and has seen action with three teams since 2014, agreed to a one-year deal, Vaughn McClure of ESPN.com tweets. Wilson has been with the Falcons since 2016; he signed a one-year deal to stay in Atlanta in February 2019.
A former UDFA out of Central Florida, McCray started four games with the Browns last season. He started 13 with the Packers from 2017-18. The Packers traded McCray to the Browns last August, and the 27-year-old blocker saw action at guard and tackle. Largely because of his work in pass protection, McCray graded as one of Pro Football Focus’ worst tackles in 2019.
McCray will join Jamon Brown, James Carpenter, John Wetzel and fourth-year blocker Sean Harlow as players vying for roles among Atlanta’s O-line group.
Wilson, 30, has started three games since coming to Georgia nearly four years ago. He saw his biggest workload in 2019, playing 335 defensive snaps. Wilson finished with seven passes defensed and 25 tackles last season. Having released Desmond Trufant, the Falcons are retooling at cornerback. They will have more moves to make at this position going forward this offseason.
Falcons Sign WR Laquon Treadwell
Laquon Treadwell will have a chance to prove himself with another team. After the former first-round pick underwhelmed for four seasons with the Vikings, he will join the Falcons. The team announced the move.
The 2016 first-round pick could not justify that draft status in Minnesota, being released and re-signed in 2019 and totaling just 65 receptions for 701 yards and two touchdowns during his four Vikings seasons. He did finish the ’19 slate with a 20.4-yard average but did so on just nine catches.
The 6-foot-2, 215-pound Ole Miss product topped out at 4.63 seconds in the 40-yard dash four years ago and never solidified the No. 3 receiver role behind Adam Thielen and Stefon Diggs. He will have an opportunity to fill in behind another talented wideout duo.
Atlanta will have the high-end Julio Jones–Calvin Ridley tandem back for a third season together and saw Russell Gage eclipse 400 receiving yards last season. Treadwell will attempt to carve out a spot in the Falcons’ receiver group.