Chiefs Have ‘Checked In On’ Russell Okung
The Chiefs have been very proactive in remaking their offensive line this offseason, and they might not be done adding big names. They’ve already cut both of their starting tackles, will possibly let their starting center walk, and have signed Joe Thuney and Kyle Long to play on the interior.
They’ve also re-signed Mike Remmers to presumably man the right side, but are still lacking a clear starter at left tackle. They apparently came very close to landing Trent Williams, but he ultimately opted to re-sign with the 49ers. As they sift through backup plans, the team has “checked in on” Russell Okung, Jeremy Fowler of ESPN.com writes (ESPN+ subscription required).
It’s the first known interest we’ve heard of in Okung this offseason. He apparently mulled retirement last summer, but played 2020 with the Panthers. He was limited to only seven games, all of which he started at left tackle for Carolina, and only played in six in 2019 with the Chargers. He’s appeared in 131 games since getting drafted by the Seahawks sixth overall back in 2010, and has started all of them.
A two-time Pro Bowler, Okung is capable of being a very solid starter when healthy and at 32 should have something left in the tank physically. Blood clots in his lungs were what limited him in 2019, and his recent injury history is a bit concerning.
If he managed to play a full (now 17-game) slate in 2021, he could be a nice addition for Kansas City. Fowler also speculates that the Chiefs could be in on a potential Orlando Brown trade to address the left tackle spot. If they don’t make one of these moves, they’ll likely look for a blindside protector for Patrick Mahomes in the draft.
Rams To Sign DeSean Jackson
Mar. 25: Financial details are in. Per Jourdan Rodrigue of The Athletic (via Twitter), Jackson’s one-year deal will include a $2.75MM base salary. D-Jax also has significant playing-time incentives, as he will earn $103K for each game that he is on the active gameday roster and an additional $1.25MM if he plays at least 50% of the Rams’ offensive snaps and the team “improves” (presumably, that means that LA wins more than the 10 games it won in 2020).
There are also $1MM in playoff incentives, so Jackson’s deal will max out at roughly $6.75MM. His cap number, though, checks in at $3.26MM.
Mar. 21: Sean McVay’s offense is adding another big name. The Rams are signing free agent receiver DeSean Jackson, a source told Mike Garafolo of NFL Network (Twitter link). It’s a one-year deal.
McVay personally reached out to help recruit Jackson, Garafolo notes in a follow-up tweet. Financial terms weren’t immediately available, and they’ll be interesting to see considering Jackson is now 34 and has only played eight total games over the last two years. As many were quick to point out, this fills a big need for Los Angeles as they had been lacking a speed receiver since trading away Brandin Cooks.
Cooper Kupp and Robert Woods are both very quality options, but neither of them are deep threat field-stretchers. Jackson’s presence, assuming he’s able to stay healthy, should now open up a lot of things underneath for everybody else. Matthew Stafford is going to have a very solid group of receivers to throw to in his first year with the Rams.
Jackson started his career with the Eagles in 2008, then had stops in Washington and Tampa Bay before heading back to Philly for the past two years. The three-time Pro Bowler could be a big addition if he’s got anything left in the tank, and as recently as 2018 with the Bucs he still led the league in yards per reception at 18.9.
The Eagles released him in a cost-saving move last month, and we hadn’t heard of any known interest in Jackson since then. He had 14 catches for 236 yards and a touchdown in five games last year.
The Cal product is certainly nearing the end of his career, but hopefully he can still make a few of his patented splash plays in 2021. With the moves he’s made this offseason, McVay’s offense is trending toward looking more like the exciting and electrifying units we saw in his first couple of years as coach.
Colts To Re-Sign T.Y. Hilton
T.Y. Hilton isn’t going anywhere. The Colts legend will be returning to Indianapolis on a new deal, his agents the Katz Bros tell Ian Rapoport of NFL Network (Twitter link).
It’ll be a one-year deal for the veteran receiver worth $10MM with $8MM guaranteed, Adam Schefter of ESPN.com tweets. It’s a nice payday for a player on the back half of his career. Hilton has been with the Colts ever since they drafted him back in 2012, but this offseason for the first time it looked like a divorce was possible. Both sides had insisted they would like a reunion, but we heard right before free agency opened that there had been little progress on talks and Hilton would test the market.
Another team is believed to have submitted Hilton a stronger offer, according to The Athletic’s Stephen Holder (on Twitter). But the 31-year-old wideout opted to stay in Indianapolis. The Chiefs were not the team that offered more to Hilton, per Holder.
Owner Jim Irsay had said back in January he’d want to see the franchise icon return if the financials could be worked out. Hilton had been one of the top receivers left on the market. The wideout market in general has been heating up recently, with big names like Hilton, Kenny Golladay, and Will Fuller all signing over the past week. Teams like the Ravens looking to add a veteran pass-catcher are running out of top options.
He was still dominant as recently as 2018, when he put up 1,270 yards and six touchdowns in 14 games. Injuries limited him to ten contests in 2019, but he bounced back with a healthy 2020.
He wasn’t a true number one option as Indy had a lot of mouths to feed in a diverse offense, but he developed a rapport with Philip Rivers down the stretch and finished with a solid 56 catches for 762 yards and five scores in 15 games.
Hilton made four straight Pro Bowls from 2014-17, and although he’ll turn 32 this season, showed last year he’s still got something left in the tank. He’ll be catching passes from his fourth quarterback in as many years in 2021, this time from Carson Wentz.
Lions To Sign LB Alex Anzalone
New Lions coach Dan Campbell is getting the gang back together. Well not entirely, but he is adding a familiar face to his inaugural defense.
Detroit has agreed to terms on a deal with free agent linebacker Alex Anzalone, a source told Mike Garafolo of NFL Network (Twitter link). It’s a one-year pact worth a modest $1.75MM, he reports. Campbell and Anzalone were together in New Orleans for the past four years when Campbell was an assistant head coach under Sean Payton.
The Saints drafted Anzalone in the third-round back in 2017, and he spent his first four pro seasons with the team. This past season he appeared in all 16 games and started nine, playing almost exactly half of the defensive snaps. He finished with 41 tackles, three for a loss.
The Lions have so far made the defensive line more of a priority, adding guys like Michael Brockers and Charles Harris, and this is their first real addition to the linebacking corp.
Cowboys Won’t Re-Sign Aldon Smith
Aldon Smith made an impressive comeback to the NFL last season, but if he wants a go around, it won’t be with the Cowboys. Dallas has informed the defensive end that they’ll be moving on from him and won’t re-sign him, a source told Ed Werder of ESPN.com (Twitter link).
It’s interesting because Cowboys owner Jerry Jones made it sound like back in November that he wanted to keep Smith in the fold. Werder noted in a follow-up tweet that the Cowboys’ desire to give Randy Gregory an expanded role and their recent signing of defensive end Tarell Baham both played a part in the decision.
Once one of the best pass-rushers in the league, Smith hadn’t played since the 2015 season before improbably returning to the field last year. Considering it was his first game action in five years he played pretty well, racking up 48 tackles, five sacks, and a couple of fumble recoveries.
The seventh overall pick of the 2011 draft, Smith became a star right away with the 49ers and was a firs-team All-Pro in 2012 when he had an eye-popping 19.5 sacks. Unfortunately, off-field issues quickly derailed his career and caused him to miss games in every season after that.
After a third DUI arrest in 2015, Smith was cut by the 49ers and signed with the Raiders, playing in nine games for them that season. It would be his last NFL action for a while. Suspended numerous times and denied reinstatement often, he finally made it back last year.
The 31-year-old showed last year he’s still got something in the tank, and it’ll be interesting to see who takes a flyer on his upside.
Jaguars To Sign C.J. Beathard
The Jaguars won’t get Trevor Lawrence until next month, but they’re adding to the quarterback room in the meantime. Jacksonville is expected to sign C.J. Beathard, a source told Ian Rapoport of NFL Network (Twitter link).
It’s a two-year pact worth $5MM with additional incentives available, Tom Pelissero of NFL Network tweets.
Beathard was originally drafted by the 49ers in the third-round back in 2017, and has spent the past four years in San Francisco. He started five games as a rookie, another five in 2018, none in 2019, and another two this past year due to various benchings and injuries. The Iowa product is 291/497 for 3,469 yards (7.0 YPA), 18 touchdowns and 13 interceptions in his career.
Not terrible numbers for a backup, although some would argue they’re the product more of a Kyle Shanahan system than anything else. We’ve heard that current Jags passer Gardner Minshew is drawing trade interest, so this move could be a precursor to a deal there. Funnily enough the 49ers have been linked to Minshew, so they could end up just swapping places.
New Jaguars coach Urban Meyer did say recently the team wasn’t shopping Minshew “at this point.” The 49ers had discussions about Beathard over the years, and apparently could’ve gotten a sixth-rounder for him around the 2019 deadline. Besides Minshew the Jaguars also have 2020 sixth-round pick Jake Luton, who started three games last year, on the roster.
Bears To Sign Damien Williams
The Bears are adding to their running back room. Chicago has agreed to terms on a deal with free agent Damien Williams, a source told Ian Rapoport of NFL Network (Twitter link). It’s a one-year pact, he notes.
Williams was a COVID-19 opt out of the 2020 season, and the Chiefs then cut him last week after the drafting of Clyde Edwards-Helaire made him expendable. As Rapsheet points out there’s some familiarity here, as Bears head coach Matt Nagy is an Andy Reid protege who runs a similar offensive scheme. New Bears offensive coordinator Bill Lazor also coached Williams in Miami.
An Oklahoma product, Williams got his NFL start as an UDFA with the Dolphins in 2014. After four years there as a role player, Williams signed with the Chiefs in 2018 and took on a bigger load. In 2019 he was the team’s leading rusher despite playing in only 11 games, carrying the ball 111 times for 498 yards and five touchdowns.
In Kansas City’s Super Bowl win that season he came up huge, rushing for 104 yards and scoring two touchdowns. That’s the last game he’s played. He’ll turn 29 next month, and will join a backfield that includes last year’s workhorse David Montgomery and Tarik Cohen returning from injury.
Bengals To Re-Sign Quinton Spain
It looks like Quinton Spain is headed back to Cincinnati. The veteran offensive lineman is finalizing a one-year deal with the Bengals, a source told Tyler Dragon of Cincinnati.com (Twitter link).
Moments before Spain had alluded to the deal on social media, tweeting “prove it year again I been there before I know how to handle it,” a reference to the short-term nature of the pact. Spain signed with the Titans as an undrafted free agent back in 2015, and immediately made an impact in Tennessee. He started six games at guard as a rookie, then became a full-time starter in 2016.
He started 42 games for them from 2016-18, then signed with the Bills for 2019. He started all 16 games for Buffalo that season, and got a three-year, $15MM extension from them around this time last year. He didn’t make it very far into that deal, as he was benched just a couple of games into the 2020 season and then cut in October.
Cincinnati scooped him up, and he ended up starting eight games for them down the stretch. He’ll turn 30 in August. He played solid enough for the Bengals, who are looking to remake Joe Burrow‘s protection this offseason. They recently signed Riley Reiff to be their new starting right tackle, and have been connected to franchise left tackles like Oregon’s Penei Sewell in next month’s draft.
Broncos To Bring Back Kareem Jackson
Kareem Jackson isn’t going anywhere. A deal has been reached for the veteran safety to return to the Broncos, a source told Ian Rapoport of NFL Network (Twitter link). It’s a one-year, $5MM contract, a source told Mike Klis of Denver 9 News (Twitter link).
This isn’t unexpected, as we heard that the door was open for a return not long after the team declined his option and made him a free agent. Jackson signed a three-year, $33MM deal in 2019, and the team saved about $7.1MM in cap space by declining the option on the final year. Now they’ve got their other starting safety spot figured out opposite Justin Simmons, who they just gave a huge extension to.
Jackson started all 16 games for Denver last year, and the long-time vet has now started 153 for his career. The Alabama product was a first-round pick of the Texans all the way back in 2010, and has never played in less than 12 games through 11 pro seasons. He’ll turn 33 in April, but was graded very solidly by Pro Football Focus last year and should still have something left in the tank.
New GM George Paton was aggressive in signing Kyle Fuller and Ronald Darby to play corner, so the secondary is pretty well taken care of with fellow corner Bryce Callahan also returning. With Bradley Chubb and Von Miller returning at edge rusher and Vic Fangio coaching, this Denver defense has the chance to be one of the league’s best units.
Paton said just a few days ago about the safety spot “there’s free agency, there’s a lot of safeties on the market, including Kareem, and then we have the draft. There’s also the trade market. The good thing is we don’t play a game for a while. We have a lot of time.
Apparently he didn’t need too much time.
Steelers Release Steven Nelson
Apparently there wasn’t much trade interest in Steven Nelson. The Steelers have released the veteran cornerback, the team announced on Tuesday.
We heard last Friday that Pittsburgh had given Nelson permission to seek a trade, but nothing materialized. The move came less than an hour after Nelson tweeted his displeasure with the process, asking the team not to hold him “hostage.” Nelson was due a reasonable base salary of $8.25MM, but was set to count for $14.4MM against the Steelers’ cap. A third-round pick of the Chiefs in 2015, he spent his first four years in Kansas City.
His work there landed him a three-year, $25.5MM deal from the Steelers in March of 2019. He started 30 games for Pittsburgh over the last two seasons, racking up 17 passes defended and three interceptions, and received strong marks from Pro Football Focus. Over the last two years, PFF has him graded as the NFL’s 11th-best cornerback.
Nelson just turned 28 in January, and should have plenty of suitors on the open market. The Steelers have now cut Nelson, let Mike Hilton walk in free agency, and have Joe Haden turning 32 next month. They’ve got a lot of planning to do for their secondary of the future.