DB Cody Davis Announces Retirement
Cody Davis‘ NFL career dates back to 2013, but he will not pursue a 12th season in the league. The defensive back and core special teamer announced his retirement on Thursday. 
The 34-year-old entered the NFL as an undrafted free agent and he spent his first five seasons with the Rams. Davis made the only five starts of his career during his time with the franchise, but he also established his presence as a key special teams contributor along the way. He carried on in that capacity with the Jaguars in 2018 and ’19.
Davis spent his final four seasons in New England, working alongside third phase ace Matthew Slater during his Patriots run. The former played only one snap on defense over that span, but he logged 905 on special teams. Now, the team will be without both Slater and Davis for the 2024 campaign, something which will represent a notable absence for new head coach Jerod Mayo.
“I am eternally thankful for this football journey and what it has meant to me and my family,” Davis’ announcement reads in part. “For 22 years football has been what I have done, but it is not who I am… I have more dreams and look forward to chasing them!”
The Texas Tech product secured a deal averaging $2.5MM per season during his Jacksonville tenure, and he played on three separate Patriots contracts, the last two of which had an AAV over $2MM. In all, he racked up over $16MM in career earnings. Davis will hang up his cleats in lieu of pursuing a free agent deal with New England or another team, and instead turn his attention to his post-playing days.
QBs Drake Maye, J.J. McCarthy To Work Out For Giants
Pro Days are continuing around the country this week, and the Giants are one of many teams with a large contingent attending Washington’s today. While that will entail evaluations of quarterback Michael Penix Jr. (among many others), the team still has Drake Maye and J.J. McCarthy on its radar. 
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The former will conduct a private workout with the Giants in the coming days, Mike Garafolo of NFL Network reports. Head coach Brian Daboll is one of the Giants’ evaluators at the Huskies Pro Day, but the team will no doubt regroup by the time Maye joins them. McCarthy, meanwhile, will be watched by New York during a private throwing session on Sunday, per Pat Leonard of the New York Daily News.
A report from last week indicated both passers already held a ’30’ visit with the Giants. As such, it comes as no surprise the team will take a longer look at them. Set to select sixth overall, New York is in an interesting position given the potential to add a long-term Daniel Jones replacement on one hand and a true No. 1 receiver on the other. Jones is in place atop a QB depth chart which also includes Drew Lock for the 2024 campaign, but the position is unsettled beyond that.
Jones’ injury history has given New York pause about keeping him as a starter through the duration of his four-year, $160MM deal signed last offseason. Owner John Mara is on board with selecting a quarterback sixth overall (or potentially higher, if the team moves up the board slightly). A trade down is also a possibility, of course, but that would leave the team out of range of the top signal-callers.
Maye and McCarthy are the focus of many teams these days, with Caleb Williams being the only presumed sure thing at the top of the board at this point. Chicago is on track to select the 2022 Heisman winner first overall, but there is plenty of uncertainty with respect to whom the Commanders and Patriots will add. The Cardinals and Chargers are not in need of a quarterback, something which would limit the Giants’ wide receiver options if they were to retain the fourth and fifth slots, respectively.
Both Arizona and Los Angeles are open to trading down, though, and teams like the Vikings, Broncos and Raiders have been connected to an aggressive move in search of a passer. New York remains at the heart of the QB evaluation for now, as the team continues to do its due diligence at the position.
Lions Eyeing Free Agent CB Addition
With Cameron Sutton having been released, the Lions have a vacancy at the cornerback spot. The upcoming draft will present the opportunity to add a rookie at the position, but a veteran signing should not be ruled out. 
“Certainly, there are still some guys we are looking at in free agency that can bring in some competition,” Campbell said during the league meetings (via the team’s website). “That may or may not be done before the draft.”
Many veteran signings do not take place until after the draft has been completed in large part because those pacts do not factor into the compensatory pick formula. Detroit has already been active in the secondary this offseason, trading for Carlton Davis and signing Amik Robertson. The team also retained Emmanuel Moseley, but Sutton served as a full-time starter in his single campaign in the Motor City.
The latter is the subject of an arrest warrant on the charge of domestic battery by strangulation. That became public knowledge on March 20, which is also the day the Lions became aware of Sutton’s situation. As detailed by Justin Rogers of the Detroit News, the 29-year-old was at the team’s facility when the news of the arrest warrant broke. Team president Rod Wood confirmed at the league meetings he encouraged Sutton to turn himself in. That has not happened, leading to the decision to release him.
As things currently stand, Davis, Robertson and Moseley will be joined by 2023 second-rounder Brian Branch atop the Lions’ CB depth chart. The team owns seven draft picks, including three of the first 73 selections; as a result, the addition of a rookie would come as little surprise. A number of veterans – a list headlined by Xavien Howard – are still on the market, though, and it will be interesting to see if the Lions pursue one before the draft. Detroit entered Thursday with over $26.5MM in cap space.
Bills Sign DT DeShawn Williams
Continuing to bring in depth along the defensive front, the Bills have added DeShawn Williams. The 31-year-old signed a one-year deal on Thursday, per a team announcement. 
Williams spent his rookie season in Cincinnati in 2016, but his next regular season action did not come until 2020 with the Broncos. The former UDFA remained in Denver for three years, starting 34 of his 46 games with the team. His final Broncos campaign produced a career-high 4.5 sacks, and it resulted in a one-year Panthers contract.
In Carolina, Williams started 10 of 16 games and logged a healthy 44% snap share while playing alongside Derrick Brown. The Clemson product recorded 33 tackles and one sack, earning a PFF grade of 50 along the way. While his sack total dropped, his 18 QB pressures (per PFF) marked a personal high and fell in line with those of his previous campaigns. Williams will look to replicate that rotational production in Buffalo.
The Bills entered free agency with a number of question marks along the defensive interior. DaQuan Jones was quickly retained on a two-year deal, however, and Buffalo has since added Austin Johnson. Williams will look to carve out a role alongside that pair and Ed Oliver, who is on the books through 2027 via the lucrative extension he inked last offseason.
Buffalo entered Thursday with just under $9MM in cap space, a figure which will be lowered to an extent with the Johnson and Williams deals now official. Those two will give the Bills experienced depth along the D-line, though, as the team transitions to new contributors in a number of areas on that side of the ball.
Saquon Barkley Addresses Texans Interest, Free Agent Offers
Saquon Barkley recently appeared on the New Heights podcast with now-retired Eagles center Jason Kelce and his brother Travis. He spoke about his free agent period, which ultimately led to a Philadelphia agreement including $26MM fully guaranteed. 
Barkley confirmed, via Matt Ehaly of the New York Post, the Texans were the first team he was drawn to with the new league year approaching. That matches a report from the same time, and Barkley noted he and reigning Offensive Rookie of the Year C.J. Stroud communicated about a potential partnership. After interest from the Eagles picked up, though, the two-time Pro Bowler’s attention began to shift.
“As it got closer, and you start hearing word and Philly, I probably never imagined myself playing for Philly six years ago, but I get to come back to Pennsylvania,” Barkley said. “My family is from Pennsylvania, my lady, our kids, grandmas all that is from Pennsylvania and we’re already close and we can even get to get closer and get a chance to compete. I got to admire [the Eagles] from afar, admire what he was able to build over there and get to be part of that culture. It was a no-brainer for me.”
Philadelphia had interest in retaining 2023 starter D’Andre Swift, but his market became more lucrative than expected. That led the Eagles to prioritize Barkley, and the sides were able to agree to a three-year, $37.75MM pact on the second day of the negotiating window. The NFL has launched a tampering investigation into the matter, but no developments on that front have emerged.
Barkley also noted that four teams (the Giants not being among them) made a formal offer. The Texans – a team which ultimately traded for Joe Mixon to take the place of Devin Singletary – were a “serious suitor,” as Ehaly notes. In the end, though, Barkley preferred to return to the state of his decorated college career amidst solid interest from a shortlist of suitors.
“I had a good bit of teams that really was like all about me coming there and with the price point being up there,” the Penn State alum added. “I wanted to get what I deserved that I thought was fair for me to take care of me and my family. That’s the goal you want to get to, that second contract. “When I had my offers in place, I was like, ‘Alright, what best fits me? Where can I go and have the best opportunity to win?’… When you put all the pieces together, it made sense to be in Philly.”
Jaguars Sign TE Josiah Deguara
Upon playing out his rookie contract, Josiah Deguara is set to join a new team. The veteran tight end has agreed to a one-year deal with the Jaguars, per Jordan Schultz of Bleacher Report. The move is now official.
Deguara was limited to two games in his rookie season due to an ACL tear, but he has managed to remain mostly healthy since then. He played in 16, 17 and 15 contests across the past three seasons, occupying a rotational role along the way. The 27-year-old was one of several members of Green Bay’s youth movement in recent seasons at the pass-catching spots, but he did not establish himself as a starter.
Deguara’s best campaign came in 2021, when he recorded 245 yards and a pair of touchdowns on 25 receptions. He made just 21 scoreless catches in the two subsequent years, though, seeing a decreasing offensive role during that time. The former third-rounder was primarily used on special teams in 2022 and ’23 while the Packers turned to Luke Musgrave and Tucker Kraft at the tight end spot last year.
That pair will remain in place for Green Bay for years to come, so Deguara’s departure comes as little surprise. The latter will aim to carve out a depth role in Jacksonville, a team which already has Evan Engram in place as its primary pass-catching tight end. Engram had a successful one-year audition period with the Jaguars, and he parlayed that into the franchise tag and, ultimately, a three-year, $41.25MM extension last offseason.
Deguara could contribute as a blocker to complement Engram with the Jaguars. The Cincinnati alum will also be able to provide special teams play, particularly if he is unable to generate significant usage in the passing game. A successful run in Duval County could help his free agent stock ahead of the 2025 offseason.
NFL Owners Approve Kickoff Proposal
During the final day of the annual league meetings, NFL owners ratified the proposed changes to kickoffs, as first reported by Jonathan Jones of CBS Sports. The new setup will be used for the 2024 season before being re-assessed, SI’s Albert Breer adds. 
The proposal set to be reviewed by the league’s Competition Committee and later all owners was finalized last week. While it was not termed to be an ‘XFL-style’ setup, the proposed alignment essentially mirrored that which the spring league used in recent seasons. The Competition Committee unanimously approved the proposal (with a slight tweak to touchbacks in one instance), setting up today’s final vote.
As Mark Maske of the Washington Post notes, though, questions remained regarding whether or not owners would vote during the March meetings or delay a decision until May. Further lobbying from those in support of ratification was believed to be needed overnight, with The Athletic’s Kalyn Kahler reporting five additional ‘yes’ votes would be required to achieve success. In the end, the final tally was 29-3, per Jones.
All rule changes require 24 votes to pass, so support for the ‘hybrid’ kickoff setup was more than strong enough to attain ratification. As Jones notes, the three ‘no’ votes came from the Packers, Raiders and 49ers. Several coaches and special teams coordinators have voiced trepidation over the substantial alteration which will now take effect, though, which comes as little surprise given the sweeping nature of the changes. 2024 will be marked in large part by the success (or lack thereof) of the new setup in increasing return rates while also reducing the high-speed collisions which make kick returns the most dangerous play in the game.
The new rules – summarized effectively ahead of the vote by ESPN’s Jeff Darlington (video link) – had the backing of commissioner Roger Goodell. The 2023 campaign (during which fair catches for kickoffs were introduced) saw a continuation of the downward trend of returns, punctuated by the first ever Super Bowl in which every kickoff resulted in a touchback. A substantial change should be expected for next season.
As ESPN’s Kevin Seifert notes, NFL return rates dropped to a record-low 21.7% last year. The XFL, by contrast, had a rate over 90% with its setup over the two-year run which preceded its merger with the USFL. Seifert adds the NFL special teams coordinators who crafted the proposal are aiming for a return rate of at least 80% in 2024. Reaching or even approaching that figure would result in a notable spike in special teams action compared to recent years.
NFL Pushes Trade Deadline Back One Week
The NFL’s trade deadline will be pushed back one week in 2024. The league announced on Tuesday that this year’s deadline will fall on the Tuesday following Week 9 (November 5). 
The deadline had been one week earlier in previous years, and a December report indicated a change was unlikely. However, the Browns and other teams proposed pushing it back two weeks to accommodate the expansion of the regular season to 17 games (and the hypothetical move to an 18-game slate in the future). Little support seemed to emerge for that plan.
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A compromise in the form of delaying the deadline by one week emerged, although debate continued over whether any change was necessary. Given today’s news, though, enough opinions were swayed to approve the middle ground solution. Any rule changes require the support of at least 24 of the NFL’s 32 owners to attain ratification.
The NFL’s trade deadline will remain much earlier in the season than its ‘Big Four’ (NBA, MLB, NHL) counterparts, with resistance to delays stemming from concerns about tanking. Indeed, the later in the campaign the deadline is pushed, the clearer the separation between buyers and sellers. Maintaining competitive balance as deep into the season as possible is a reasonable goal on the part of the league.
Still, trades have increased in recent years with teams becoming more willing to move on from expiring contracts on one hand and to acquire rentals for a late-season push on the other. One key element on that front is the fact acquiring teams only need to take on the remaining base salaries in a player’s contract when an in-season deal is worked out; pushing back the time at which deadline deals take place will make it easier for contenders to absorb lucrative pacts.
Each of the past five seasons have seen a minimum of 12 in-season trades take place as teams become increasingly open to player- and pick-swaps in the fall. 22 teams were involved in deals during both the 2022 and ’23 campaigns, with a wide range of buyers and sellers existing. That figure will no doubt continue (or increase) for 2024 with a slightly later deadline in place.
Packers Sign K Greg Joseph
Greg Joseph will not be with the Vikings in 2024, but he will remain in the NFC North. The veteran kicker has agreed to a deal with the Packers, agent Brett Tessler announced on Tuesday. 
Joseph will earn up to $1.3MM on this one-year contract, Ian Rapoport of NFL Network reports. As Tessler notes, the 29-year-old drew interest from other teams, but he preferred to join Green Bay. Joseph will serve as veteran competition with Anders Carlson this offseason.
The latter took over from Mason Crosby as a rookie in 2023. Carlson posted a 90.9% success rate in 2020, but his Auburn career ended with two straight seasons of much lower accuracy. In spite of that, the Packers entered the year with confidence in the 25-year-old.
Carlson connected on 27 of 33 field goal attempts in the regular season, good for an accuracy rate of 81.8%. That included four misses from a range of between 40-49 yards, and he also missed five extra points. During the team’s postseason run, the former sixth-rounder went two-for-three on field goals and converted seven of eight extra points.
Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst offered public support for Carlson in the summer, but after a full campaign of evaluation the team has added a more experienced option in the kicking game. Joseph handled full-time duties in Minnesota for each of the past three seasons. Over that time, he converted 82.2% of field goal kicks (including a career-best accuracy rate of 86.8% in 2021). Joseph went 112-for-124 on extra point attempts during his Vikings tenure, which is in line with his career average in that respect.
The former UDFA (who previously played for the Browns and Titans) also led the league in touchback percentage during the 2021 season, as Tessler adds. That will become more of a moot point in 2024 compared to past campaigns given the new kickoff rules, but Joseph’s consistency could give him an advantage after Carlson endured an up-and-down rookie campaign. The Packers will be among the teams partaking in a kicking competition this summer.
Saints T Ryan Ramczyk In Danger Of Missing 2024 Season
Ryan Ramczyk recently underwent a knee procedure aimed at rectifying what has proven to be a lingering issue. The veteran Saints right tackle was believed to be on track to recover at the time, but his situation has taken a turn for the worse. 
When speaking at the annual league meeting on Tuesday, head coach Dennis Allen said (via Nick Underhill of NewOrleans.Football) he felt better about Ramczyk’s health at the time of the operation than he does now. Taking the matter further, Ian Rapoport of NFL Network reports the 29-year-old faces the possibility of missing the 2024 season altogether.
Ramczyk said late in the campaign he has been dealing with a cartilage defect for years, admitting it has increasingly become an issue over time. He acknowledged his short-term future was uncertain with respect to undergoing surgery while adding his intention to continue playing. As things stand, though, the former All-Pro could be sidelined for an extended period during the final year in which guaranteed money exists on his contract.
The former first-rounder agreed to restructure his deal and lowered his cap hit to $12.86MM in the process. He is owed $6.5MM guaranteed for 2024 regardless of his health status, but a release or retirement could come into play next offseason without progress in his rehab. Ramczyk is under contract through 2026, and Underhill’s colleague Mike Triplett notes the team would incur $23MM in dead money in either development.
Offensive line is already a priority for the Saints, a team which has question marks on the blindside given Trevor Penning‘s struggles early in his career. Longtime starter Andrus Peat is unsigned, as are Cameron Erving and Max Garcia. Having Ramczyk unavailable for some or all of the upcoming season would add further to the urgency on New Orleans’ part to make multiple additions up front in the second wave of free agency and the draft. The latter’s recovery process will be worth watching as the offseason unfolds.