RFA/ERFA Tender Decisions: 3/15/20
Today’s restricted free agent and exclusive rights free agent tender decisions will be posted below:
RFAs
Non-tendered:
- Broncos: LB Joseph Jones
Tendered:
- Patriots: OL Jermaine Eluemunor (original round level)
Eluemunor was a fifth-round pick of the Ravens back in 2017, so the Patriots would get a fifth-round pick in return should any team poach him away with an offer sheet in free agency. The original round tender projects to clock in at a little over $2.1MM for 2020.
The Broncos aren’t willing to pay that much for Jones, but Nicki Jhabvala of The Athletic reports that Denver might still bring him back at a lower price (Twitter link). Jones, a 2017 UDFA from Northwestern, played only six defensive snaps last year but played 64 percent of the snaps on special teams. Eluemunor was a reserve interior lineman for New England last year.
Texans Notes: Fairbairn, Taylor, Carter
The Texans have been busy recently and they kept up the activity Sunday, inking cornerback Bradley Roby to a new three-year deal. They signed kicker Ka’imi Fairbairn to an extension last week, and now we have the details on that agreement. Fairbairn got $9MM guaranteed in his four-year, $17.65MM deal, and he got a $3MM signing bonus, sources told Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle. He has a fully guaranteed $4MM salary for 2020 with a $4.75MM cap hit. In 2021 he has a base salary of $4MM as well, with $2MM of it being guaranteed. His base salaries in 2022 and 2023 are $3.55MM and $3.65MM respectively, with both of those years being non-guaranteed.
Here’s more from Houston:
- The Texans were slated to workout former Broncos receiver Jordan Taylor but that has now been scrapped due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Wilson tweets. It’s a tough blow for Taylor, who has been fighting to regain his footing in the league since a hip injury ended his time with Denver. After spending 2018 on the Broncos’ PUP list, he was with the Vikings last preseason. Nicknamed ‘Sunshine’, Taylor became a fan favorite during his time in Denver.
- We also have the financial details on another recent Texans extension, returner-receiver DeAndre Carter. Wilson tweets that Carter’s one-year deal is worth $660K. A 2015 UDFA from Sacramento State, Carter finally broke through with Houston in 2018 after spending years bouncing around various practice squads. He returned punts and kicks for the Texans this past year while also contributing a little on offense, catching 11 passes for 162 yards. His season ended on a low note, as Carter had a crucial lost fumble on a kickoff return during the Texans’ playoff loss to the Chiefs.
Patriots Re-Sign S Devin McCourty
The Patriots are re-signing a veteran team leader… but it’s not Tom Brady. New England is bringing back safety Devin McCourty on a two-year deal worth $23MM, sources told Ian Rapoport of NFL Network (Twitter link).
Rapsheet adds that McCourty will get $17MM guaranteed with his new pact. Way back in January of 2019 McCourty announced that he was considering retirement, but he obviously ended up playing the 2019 season and said recently that he intended to play in 2020 as well. As Rapoport points out this will likely allow McCourty to finish his career with the Patriots as well as alongside his identical twin brother Jason McCourty, a cornerback with the Patriots.
McCourty, 32, entered the league as a first-round pick of the Patriots back in 2010 and has been with the team ever since. He’s won three Super Bowls with them, and is an important voice in the locker room. He’s also been an incredibly consistent presence on the field, starting at least 14 games in all 10 of his pro seasons.
His performance has always ranged from good to great, and he racked up five interceptions this past year, his most since 2012. He’s been named a second-team All-Pro selection on three occasions. We had heard a couple of weeks ago that the Dolphins were going to be interested in him had he hit the open market. Jason is under contract for 2020 after the Pats recently picked up his option.
League Year Won’t Be Delayed
It’s going to be a very unusual process, with teams not allowed to host players on visits and other restrictions, but it sounds like free agency is going to happen as originally planned. A source told Josina Anderson of ESPN that the league year will officially not be pushed back (Twitter link).
In a tweet, Adam Schefter of ESPN.com provided more insight into the thinking behind the scenes. A source told Schefter that the NFL says the NFLPA was unwilling to to push back the league year. The NFLPA’s reasoning was that everything could be done remotely and that the COVID-19 crisis could get worse before it gets better, so it made the most sense to do free agency now.
Leading up to the weekend it began to look like things would be pushed back, with Saints head coach Sean Payton saying as much. The NFLPA then voted to approve the new CBA, which appears to have shifted the momentum back in the opposite direction. It looks like everything will start on time, although it’s possible things move slower than usual as teams might be a little more cautious with their spending given the uncertain circumstances.
Some teams had raised concerns about handing out long-term contracts without their medical staffs being able to examine players in person. Had the league year been pushed it would’ve had a significant impact on players, and not just on those slated to become free agents. Many players have roster bonuses in their contract tied to the start of the new league year, Tom Pelissero of NFL Network pointed out in a tweet.
Those guys would’ve had to wait perhaps indefinitely to get paid, and as Pelissero notes in his thread, some payments are north of $10MM. For example, Rams quarterback Jared Goff is due a whopping $21MM in the first week of the 2020 league year, so obviously this is good news for him.
Patriots Sign Matthew Slater To Two-Year Extension
The extensions keep coming as the start of free agency gets closer. This time it’s the Patriots locking up one of their own as New England has signed special teams ace Matthew Slater to a two-year extension, sources told Field Yates of ESPN.com (Twitter link).
Slater is technically a receiver, but he plays almost exclusively on special teams. This past year he played only 21 total offensive snaps while playing 73 percent of the special teams snaps across multiple units. Yates doesn’t have the exact terms of the new deal, but he writes that it is “similar to his last,” which averaged $2.6MM annually. Slater had been set to become an unrestricted free agent next week.
He’s always been the epitome of a team player, doing whatever is asked of him. He has even occasionally contributed on defense over the years, starting three games at safety in 2011. Slater has become prominent for being a leader in the locker room, and is a team captain.
A favorite of Bill Belichick, Slater has made the Pro Bowl eight times as a special teamer. He’s won three Super Bowls since joining the Patriots as a fifth-round pick out of UCLA back in 2008. The son of Pro Football Hall of Famer Jackie Slater, he has often said he doesn’t see himself playing anywhere besides New England. He turned 34 in September.
Giants Sign David Mayo To Three-Year Extension
The Giants are locking up one of their own shortly before the start of free agency. New York has signed linebacker David Mayo to a three-year extension, according to Ryan Dunleavy of The New York Post (Twitter link). Dan Duggan of The Athletic was the first to report the news (Twitter link).
Terms of the deal weren’t immediately available, but we’ll pass those along to you as soon as we get word. 2019 was Mayo’s first year with New York, and he enjoyed a breakout season. He appeared in all 16 games and started 13, receiving very strong marks from Pro Football Focus for his work. Now, he’s being rewarded with what is presumably a nice payday. He finished last season with 82 tackles, two sacks, and two passes defended, serving mostly as a run-stuffer.
All told, he played a hair under 57 percent of the defensive snaps. A Texas State product, Mayo entered the league as a fifth-round pick of the Panthers back in 2015. He barely played on defense his first couple of years in the league, before earning a small role his last two seasons in Carolina.
He was mostly a special teams player with the Panthers, and signed a two-year deal with the 49ers last offseason. San Francisco released him at final cuts, and the Giants didn’t even sign him until September 2nd. It was a pretty late pickup that ended up paying major dividends, and turning into a nice diamond in the rough find.
Colts Interested In Eric Berry, Other Teams In The Mix
Eric Berry sat out the 2019 season, but it doesn’t sound like he’ll have too much difficulty getting back into the NFL. We heard back in January that Berry was looking to get back on the field in 2020, and the three-time first-team All-Pro is already starting to garner interest.
The Colts are interested in adding Berry to their roster, according to Stephen Holder of The Athletic. They aren’t the only ones who will pursue the veteran safety, as sources told Holder that Indy will have competition and that they’ll have to beat out other suitors. Berry was drafted fifth overall by the Chiefs back in 2010 and became an instant star, making the Pro Bowl as a rookie. Unfortunately, he’s had to deal with a lot of adversity in his career.
Berry was diagnosed with cancer toward the end of the 2014 season and incredibly battled his way back onto the field to play in 2015, winning the league’s Comeback Player of the Year Award and earning his second All-Pro selection. He was once again an All-Pro in 2016, but a brutal injury derailed his career soon after.
Berry tore his Achilles in the first game of the 2017 season, and due to complications from that injury including a Haglund’s deformity, he wasn’t able to return until Week 15 of 2018. He appeared in the Chiefs’ playoff game that year but was released the following offseason and spent all of last year out of football.
One thing working in Indianapolis’ favor, as Holder notes, is that Berry is “very close friends” with current Colts defensive end and former Chiefs teammate Justin Houston. Colts GM Chris Ballard was also an executive in Kansas City from 2013-16. A few teams were apparently interested in the Tennessee product last year, but Berry intentionally took the season off to make sure he was fully healthy. Hopefully we get to see him make an impact in 2020, with the Colts or any team.
Minor NFL Transactions: 3/13/20
Today’s minor moves:
Houston Texans
- Re-signed: LB Tyrell Adams
Minnesota Vikings
- Released with failed physical designation: TE David Morgan
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
- Re-signed exclusive rights free agent: TE Tanner Hudson
Aldon Smith To Apply For Reinstatement
Here’s a name we haven’t heard in quite a long time. Suspended linebacker Aldon Smith is in the “process of applying for reinstatement” with the league, according to Jim Trotter of NFL Network (Twitter video link).
That would certainly be quite the comeback story if Smith does manage to make it back to the NFL. He hasn’t appeared in an NFL game since the 2015 season, and the last we heard of him was in November of 2018 when he was turning himself into authorities after a domestic violence accusation. Smith has been arrested more than a handful of times over the years, including several times since his indefinite suspension from the league.
He’s also dealt with substance abuse issues, although people around the former Missouri star tell Trotter that he is clean and sober now. Smith was drafted seventh overall by the 49ers back in 2011 and became an instant star, racking up 14 sacks as a rookie. In his second season he had 19.5 sacks and was a first-team All-Pro, quickly cementing himself as one of the best defensive players in the league.
Things quickly unraveled after that as he missed a chunk of the 2013 season while in rehab. He was then hit with a nine-game suspension during the 2014 campaign. Following another arrest for DUI he was released by San Francisco, and latched on with Oakland. He played in nine games for the Raiders in 2015 before being given the suspension he is still currently serving. He tried to get back in the league in 2016 but his application was denied.
The Raiders officially released him in March of 2018 after another arrest. Smith will certainly have a lot of work to do if he wants Roger Goodell to let him back in the league, but he’s clearly not giving up hope. He’s still only 30, so he should theoretically have some gas left in the tank physically. At this point it still seems like a long-shot but no matter what happens, here’s to hoping Smith has everything figured out off the field.
Bears Place Second-Round Tender On DL Roy Robertson-Harris
The Bears are looking to keep Roy Robertson-Harris in the fold. The team tendered a contract to the impending restricted free agent, they announced in a release, and Ian Rapoport of NFL Network tweeted that it’s a second-round tender to help ensure no team poaches him away.
Robertson-Harris will still be free to sign an offer sheet with another team when free agency opens, but the Bears will have the opportunity to match. Should they decline to match, that team would have to give the Bears their second-round pick. Since Robertson-Harris certainly isn’t a star player, it virtually guarantees that no other team will present him with an offer and risk giving up the pick.
Since he entered the league as an undrafted free agent back in 2016, there would’ve been no compensation for the Bears had they tendered him at the original-round level and he walked in free agency. It represents a nice pay bump for the UTEP product, as the second-round tender projects to clock in at a little above $3.2MM for 2020.
He spent his entire rookie season on the reserve/NFI list but made the team in 2017, and his role has slowly grown in each of the past three seasons. He played his biggest part yet this past season when he appeared in 15 games and started seven, racking up 30 tackles, 2.5 sacks, and three passes defended from the interior. All told, he played a hair over 50 percent of the defensive snaps.