Contract Details: Howard, Trubisky, Key, Jones
Here are some details on deals recently reached around the NFL:
- Xavien Howard, CB (Dolphins): Five-year, $90MM. The contract, according to Mike Florio of NBC Sports, has a guaranteed amount of $36.3MM consisting of a $17.12MM signing bonus and the next two seasons of base salary worth just $1.04MM in 2022 and jumping to $18.15MM in 2023. On the third league day of the 2024 season, $4MM of the 2024 base salary (worth $15.4MM) becomes guaranteed. Howard will receive roster bonuses of $3MM on the second league day of each of the 2024, 2025, and 2026 seasons. He also will receive an additional $1MM for each Pro Bowl and 1st-Team All-Pro selection and $100,000 per year as a workout bonus. Howard had three years remaining on his deal before signing his extension. It’s extremely rare for a team to draw up a new deal with that much time remaining, but Miami’s willingness to keep Howard happy is a testament to how important he is to the franchise.
- Mitchell Trubisky, QB (Steelers): Two-year, $14.29MM. The contract, according to Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer, has a signing bonus of $5.25MM set to apply evenly over both years of the deal. Trubisky’s base salary in 2022 is only $1.04MM and jumps up to $8MM in 2023. The deal holds a potential $8.5MM in incentives. $4MM of play-time incentives each year should be easily reached if Trubisky wins the starting job and stays healthy. The remaining $500,000 would be earned in $250,000 increments if Trubisky makes the Pro Bowl in either year.
- Arden Key, DE (Jaguars): One-year, $4MM. The contract, according to Aaron Wilson of Pro Football Network, has a guaranteed amount of $3MM consisting of the signing bonus and base salary, each worth $1.5MM. The remaining $1MM comes in the form of a $500,000 roster bonus and a $500,000 workout bonus. Key will receive a per game active bonus of $29,411 for a potential season total of $500,000. Wilson also reports that Key can earn up to $3MM of additional money in sack and Pro Bowl incentives.
- Ronald Jones, RB (Chiefs): One-year, $1.5MM. The contract, according to Greg Auman of The Athletic, consists of a $250,000 signing bonus and a $1.25MM base salary. The deal was originally reported as “up to $5MM”, but Auman clarifies that any money past the listed $1.5MM would consist of incentives.
AFC Free Agency Rumors: Pats, Ogbah, Texans, Broncos
After an anomalous offseason that saw the Patriots rank fourth in the NFL in total spending, New England fans have seen a bit of a return to the norm in 2022 with the team currently ranking 21st. Whereas last year saw the Patriots sign Matt Judon, Hunter Henry, Jonnu Smith, Nelson Agholor, Kendrick Bourne, and Jalen Mills, this offseason for New England has mainly consisted of a few re-signings, a few trades, and fewer additions of players like Terrance Mitchell, Ty Montgomery, Malcolm Butler, and Jabrill Peppers.
According to Ben Volin of the Boston Globe, next year could see the Patriots return to a higher priced offseason. Attractive names on the market, along with guarantees from last year’s signings coming off the books, could lead to New England pursuing the strategy of surrounding a young quarterback on their rookie deal with tons of talent.
Here are a few more free agency rumors from around the AFC, starting with a note from Dade County:
- Emmanuel Ogbah‘s new dream deal to stay in Miami was dangerously close to not happening, according to Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald. Ogbah signed an enticing four-year, $65MM deal with $32MM guaranteed in mid-March. While the Dolphins always planned on pursuing Ogbah, the offer they originally had in mind wasn’t quite that lofty. Rumors claim that another team was looking to offer Ogbah a deal close to the contract he ended up with in Miami. The Dolphins upped their offer moments before the start of free agency and were able to keep Ogbah in his home of the past two seasons.
- In a press conference with new Texans head coach Lovie Smith, a question was raised about the team’s cornerbacks room. Smith’s reply was that the play from last year’s group was not good enough. If players were brought back from last year, Smith claims that the team has faith in them to play a role, but that the team is definitely looking to improve their cornerback room. If the team is looking to free agency to do so, there are still some veteran names available on the market such as Joe Haden, Kyle Fuller, and Chris Harris.
- According to Mike Sando of The Athletic, while the Broncos obviously improved their quarterback room with the addition of Russell Wilson, an executive in the NFL claims that the move should still be considered a miss as the team obviously would’ve preferred Aaron Rodgers. It’s no secret that most teams in the NFL would prefer Rodgers over Wilson and Wilson clearly improves the Broncos’ offense as the best back up plan after missing on Rodgers. Yet the quoted executive seems to believe that the Broncos deserve a little less credit for the move, since it’s essentially the result of missing on Rodgers.
Cardinals’ LB Fitts Retires
After ending the season on injured reserve for the second time in his young career, linebacker Kylie Fitts has announced his retirement from professional football, according to Josh Alper of NBC Sports. The career special teamer cited his concussion history as the reason for hanging up his cleats. 
Fitts was a sixth-round pick for the Bears in the 2018 NFL Draft after an injury-filled college career at Utah. He missed all but two games in his junior year after suffering a season-ending foot injury and continued to deal with injuries throughout his senior year. Despite the missed time, Fitts was invited to the Senior Bowl and found his way to Chicago.
After playing six games of his rookie season with the Bears, Fitts failed to make the 53-man roster for the following season. He quickly bounced back, signing on to the Cardinals’ practice squad days later. Fitts was promoted to the active roster in early December and played in the team’s last three games of the season.
In his second season in Arizona, Fitts appeared in 10 contests, earning one start, for the year before spending the last week of the season on injured reserve. He returned to the field to start the 2021 season, appearing in all of the team’s first six games before a severe concussion prematurely ended his season.
In an Instagram announcement, Fitts said, “Due to too many concussions and the severity of my recent one, it is no longer safe for me to continue to play.”
Fitts is the latest in a trend of linebackers (and NFL players, as a whole) who have called it quits due to brain trauma. Former Panthers’ star Luke Kuechly announced his retirement a little over two years ago at the age of 28. Many factors contributed to his decision, but nagging concussion issues were likely one of the biggest. Former 49ers’ linebacker Chris Borland retired in 2015 after just one season in the NFL. Borland had stepped up as a rookie with San Francisco veterans Patrick Willis and NaVorro Bowman out with injury and graded out as the fourth-best inside linebacker in the league after only having eight starts in the season. He appeared the heir apparent to Patrick Willis in the middle of the 49ers’ defense with all of his success ahead of him, but he chose to end his career days after Willis, claiming that the potential for neurological diseases wasn’t “worth the risk.”
While Fitts doesn’t hold quite the name recognition of Kuechly or Borland, seeing another young linebacker prioritize their brain over an NFL career should still get plenty of attention. The league will continue to research ways to make the sport safer, but, in the meantime, more career casualties like Fitts’ should be expected.
AFC Rumors: Colbert, Browning, Broncos
Current Steelers’ general manager Kevin Colbert, who will be stepping down from his role after the 2022 NFL Draft, held a conference call with reporters today that produced quite a few nuggets of information.
Colbert expounded a bit on their moves to replace longtime quarterback Ben Roethlisberger. He explained that Pittsburgh didn’t want to sacrifice draft capital in order to add a veteran quarterback, according to Brooke Pryor of ESPN. This led them to target Mitchell Trubisky, who they were able to sign in free agency for a very reasonable price. Pryor reported that he went on to say that signing Trubisky does not preclude them from taking a quarterback in the Draft.
Colbert claimed they have starters at every position except for strong safety, according to Mark Kaboly of The Athletic, while failing to mention any specific targets to fill the role. Kaboly did note that Colbert said they’ve focused on targeting “young veteran players” in free agency.
Commenting on his eventual replacement, Colbert said they’ve completed the first round of interviews with 16 candidates and that they intend to start the second round of interviews after the Draft, according to Pryor.
Here are a few other rumors from the AFC, these concerning the Broncos of Mile High:
- With the addition of linebacker Alex Singleton, the Broncos will give linebacker Baron Browning a look at outside linebacker, according to Mike Klis of 9News. Browning went back and forth a bit between the positions at Ohio State, so he should be able to make the switch without too many issues. He’ll work with new outside linebackers coach Bert Watts.
- Klis also reported that new Broncos’ quarterback Russell Wilson will have a say in the tailoring of the new offense. Wilson’s lack of agency in Seattle was a great frustration for the veteran quarterback and new Broncos’ head coach Nathaniel Hackett will make sure that isn’t the case in Denver.
AFC Coaching Notes: Titans, Jets, Bills, Steelers, Raiders, Patriots
After parting ways with the Panthers early this year, former NFL linebacker Chase Blackburn has joined the Titans as the team’s assistant special teams coach. After playing ten years in the NFL for the Giants and Panthers, Blackburn transitioned into the coaching world working his way up to the role of the Panthers’ special teams coordinator, a position he held for four seasons.
Panthers’ head coach Matt Rhule initially retained Blackburn from former head coach Ron Rivera‘s staff, but fired him this January. He finds second life with fellow former NFL linebacker and current Titans’ head coach Mike Vrabel. Additionally, after season-long tryouts, the Titans have promoted Clint McMillan (defensive line assistant) and Kylan Butler (offensive assistant) to full time positions.
Here are a few other coaching updates from around the AFC:
- The Jets announced a series of assistant coach hirings including Ben Wilkerson and Dan Shamash. Wilkerson moves from one New York team to another, taking the same position as assistant offensive line coach on head coach Robert Saleh‘s staff. Shamash is a New York native that returns to the tri-state area after five seasons as the Chargers’ assistant tight ends coach to become the Jets’ situational football/game management coordinator. He’s worked with Saleh before in Jacksonville.
- Elsewhere in New York, the Bills announced that they’ve added Mike Shula as a senior offensive assistant. The former college head coach and NFL offensive coordinator spent the past two seasons in Denver as the Broncos’ quarterbacks coach. They also announced the promotion of Eric Washington. The Bills’ defensive line coach of the past two seasons will have the title of senior defensive assistant added to his billing.
- The Steelers announced the hiring of their new assistant line coach earlier this month. Isaac Williams joins the NFL coaching ranks after years in college football. Williams has been the offensive line coach at North Carolina Central University (2021), Morgan State (2018-20), and Northern Colorado (2016-17).
- Las Vegas has hired former college coaching assistant Frederick Walker as a new offensive assistant assigned to work with quarterbacks, according to Myles Simmons of NBC Sports. Walker most recently worked as the quarterbacks coach for the UMass Minutemen. His time in the college ranks saw him working with Giants’ quarterback Daniel Jones at Duke University as well as Cowboys’ quarterback Dak Prescott during his time at Mississippi State. He’ll work underneath new head coach Josh McDaniels and offensive coordinator Mick Lombardi to assist Derek Carr and company on their road back to consecutive playoff seasons.
- After being passed up by Matt Groh for the director of player personnel promotion, Eliot Wolf was announced as the Patriots’ new director of scouting on Friday, a promotion from his previous title of front office consultant. According to Wilson, the team also announced that Camren Williams would be named college scouting director.
Contract Details: Seals-Jones, Williams, Tomlinson, Jones, Montgomery, Gardeck, Singleton, Carter
Here are the latest details from contracts recently agreed to across the league:
- Ricky Seals-Jones, TE (Giants): One-year, $1.19MM. The deal, tweeted out by Aaron Wilson of Pro Football Network, has a $352,500 amount guaranteed at signing. The guaranteed amount includes a signing bonus of $152,500 and $200,000 of his salary worth $1.04MM.
- Maxx Williams, TE (Cardinals): One-year, $1.27MM. The deal has a salary of $1.12MM, according to Wilson. Regardless of whether or not he is active, he’ll receive a $15,000 bonus for any game for which he is on the roster. If he is active for any game, he’ll receive an additional $52,500 roster bonus. He’ll also receive a per game active bonus of $5,000 for a potential season total of $85,000.
- Eric Tomlinson, TE (Broncos): One-year, $1.44MM. The deal has an amount of $1MM guaranteed at signing, according to Wilson. The guaranteed amount includes a $400,000 signing bonus and $600,000 of his salary worth $1.04MM.
- DaQuan Jones, DT (Bills): Two-year, $14MM. The deal has an amount of $10.63MM guaranteed at signing, according to Wilson. The guaranteed amount consists of a $5.5MM signing bonus, the full first-year salary of $1.75MM, and $3.38MM of the second-year salary, which is set at $6.75MM. The contract includes a voidable year for 2024 that voids automatically 23 days before the 2024 league year begins.
- Ty Montgomery, RB (Patriots): Two-year, $3.6MM. The deal has an average annual salary of $1.8MM with an amount of $300,000 guaranteed consisting entirely of the dual-position player’s signing bonus, according to Wilson. Included in that AAV of $1.8MM are a first-year salary of $1.16MM, a second-year salary of $1.36MM, roster bonuses of $280,000 in year one and $340,000 in year two, and workout bonuses of $50,000 in each year. The former wide receiver will earn a per game active bonus of $20,000 for a potential season total of $340,000. The deal holds an annual playtime incentive of up to $300,000. The deal also holds a potential out after the 2022 NFL season that would leave a dead cap number of $150,000.
- Dennis Gardeck, LB (Cardinals): Three-year, $10MM. The deal has a guaranteed amount of $3.75MM, according to Wilson. $3.25MM of that amount is guaranteed at signing with a $2MM signing bonus and the first-year salary of $1.25MM being fully guaranteed. $500,000 of the second-year salary, worth $3.27MM, guarantees on the fifth league day of the 2023 season (injury guaranteed at signing). The third-year salary is worth $2.46MM. Gardeck will also receive a per game active bonus of $20,000 for a potential season total of $340,000. The deal includes an annual playtime incentive of $250,000 and an escalator based on sack total that can be worth up to $625,000. A potential out after the 2022 season would leave a dead cap number of $1.33MM.
- Alex Singleton, LB (Broncos): One-year, $1.12MM. The deal has a salary of $965,000 with a guaranteed amount of $150,000 fully consisting of Singleton’s signing bonus, according to Mike Klis of 9News. Singleton will have a playtime incentive based on snap-percentage. At the end of the year, if he has played 65% of the team’s defensive snaps, he’ll receive $250,000, $500,000 if he plays 70%, and $750,000 if he plays 75%.
- Lorenzo Carter, OLB (Falcons): One-year, $3.5MM. The deal has a salary of $1.5MM with a guaranteed amount of $2MM fully consisting of Carter’s signing bonus, according to Michael Rothstein of ESPN. The deal includes a 2023 dummy year that will be voided 23 days before the 2023 league year. It will leave the Falcons with a dead cap number of $1M for Carter.
Aaron Rodgers’ Last Season In Green Bay?
When Packers’ quarterback Aaron Rodgers signed his historic extension about two weeks ago, the general consensus was that Rodgers was expected to retire after the 2024 NFL season. Well, according to Matt Schneidman of The Athletic, former Packers’ executive Andrew Brandt, along with another source close to the situation, believes the contract is essentially a one-year deal for $42MM. 
A quick reminder, Rodgers’ contract is classified as a three-year, $150.82MM deal that is completely guaranteed. While the contract technically covers the next five seasons, the 2025 and 2026 years of the contract are considered to be dummy years assisting the Packers with cap management. The deal provided “new money” to Rodgers in the amount of $123.52MM over the two new additional years of 2023 and 2024.
In defense of his opinion, Brandt wrote, “Next year there are two guaranteed option bonuses, but these bonuses 1) have to be exercised by the Packers, and 2) would travel to a new team upon any trade. And with this option bonus structure, the dead money actually goes up the longer the contract goes on.”
If Rodgers retires or is traded before next year’s option, the Packers would be left with about $40MM of dead money with an essentially off-setting $59MM in nonexercised bonuses. Brandt explains, “if he were to play again for the Packers (in 2023), the dead money would rise to never-before-seen proportions.” Also supporting Brandt’s opinion is the cap effect of the extension. While the extension does decrease Rodgers’ cap hit by $18.2MM for the 2022 season, his cap hit for 2023 increases approximately $23.9MM from a previously voidable year and his 2024 cap number will total $40.7MM.
In Brandt’s eyes, all these numbers were not only visible to the Packers and Rodgers’ agent, they were negotiated that way. He sees it as an intentional manipulation of the numbers to make the veteran quarterback happy for a year and then move on. This would give back up quarterback Jordan Love a third year of development before he takes the reins. Coincidentally, that would be the same amount of time Rodgers waited before taking over for Brett Favre 15 years ago.
Panthers’ Plans At Quarterback
After losing out on the Deshaun Watson-sweepstakes, the Panthers have maintained that they still intend to add another quarterback to the roster, according to Nick Shook of NFL.com. In a press conference covered by Shook and Joseph Person of The Athletic, general manager Scott Fitterer laid out the team’s plans moving forward.
Answering the obvious question, quarterbacks Sam Darnold and P.J. Walker are still under contract and will be afforded every opportunity to earn the starting job moving forward. The issue there lies in the fact that they’ve already been given such an opportunity and the question of future quarterback is still being asked as a result. Fitterer did inform reporters that head coach Matt Rhule had talked with a free agent signing from last year, Cam Newton. On the matter, Fitterer said, “The thing with Cam, it’s gotta be a fit for us and it’s gotta be a fit for him, just as well. He’s looking for a certain opportunity. The door’s still open for us.”
The free agent quarterback market really cleared out after Watson’s trade to Cleveland. There are still some NFL-experienced options in the trade market, though. As of now, Fitterer asserts that they haven’t heard from San Francisco or Cleveland about Jimmy Garoppolo or Baker Mayfield. Since phones tend to have the ability to both send AND receive calls, it stands to reason that the Panthers not reaching out to initiate conversations over the available quarterbacks is a reflection of their level of interest. Still, Fitterer claims that they are open to receiving calls from the 49ers or Browns. They do have the luxury of waiting, possibly even until after the Draft, as there doesn’t seem to be any urgent interest in Garoppolo or Mayfield.
The most likely path, and the one most desired by Fitterer, is through the 2022 NFL Draft. Rhule and Fitterer were in attendance for Kenny Pickett’s pro day workout at Pitt and Malik Willis’ workout at Liberty. Rhule went to Mississippi’s pro day to watch Matt Corral. The only reason they didn’t go the Cincinnati to watch Desmond Ridder is because they already worked extensively with the Bearcat quarterback at the Senior Bowl and Combine. They still sent a scout and two personnel executives, though.
Suffice it to say that the Panthers have made it extremely clear that they are taking a good look at this year’s quarterback class. With the sixth pick in the first round of the Draft, Carolina could very likely take a quarterback and very well may the first team to do so, giving them their pick of the litter.
Fitterer preached a philosophy of building a team around a young quarterback on a reasonably low contract, like the Seahawks did with Russell Wilson during Fitterer’s tenure in Seattle. The only issue with this philosophy is that Rhule’s seat is getting hotter with each loss. He may not feel he has the leash to develop a young quarterback surrounded by veterans. If Rhule feels like he’s in a win-now scenario, he may push for the team to trade for one of the more proven assets like Garoppolo or Mayfield.
The route that ends up getting taken in Carolina will likely say a lot about the alignment of Rhule and Fitterer, who arrived one year after the head coach. If the team makes a move to trade for a league veteran, Fitterer likely wants to give Rhule the tools to keep his job. If the teams sits pat and waits until the Draft to address the position, it could be assumed that Fitterer is willing to let Rhule test his luck in order to build a team around his own philosophy.
NFC Coaching Notes: 49ers, Lions, Saints, Packers
Earlier this month, the 49ers announced a bundle of coaching hires and title changes. Head coach Kyle Shanahan informed the public of title changes for Chris Foerster (adding run game coordinator to his title of offensive line coach), Klay Kubiak (defensive quality control to assistant quarterbacks coach), and Bobby Slowik (offensive passing game specialist to offensive passing game coordinator).
Additionally, San Francisco announced the hires of James Cregg and Joe Graves as assistant offensive line coaches, Asauni Rufus and Deuce Schwartz as offensive quality control coaches, and Brian Schneider as special teams coordinator.
Here are a few other coaching notes from around the NFC starting with a note from the Motor City:
- After seeing a good amount of shuffling in his defensive staff, Lions’ head coach Dan Campbell hinted at one last hire as the NFL Combine concluded earlier this month. The eventual hire of Lamar University defensive line coach Cameron Davis as the Lions’ new assistant defensive line coach was announced by the National Coalition of Minority Football Coaches.
- The Saints’ new head coach Dennis Allen announced some new hires to his coaching staff earlier this month. After taking a year off from coaching last year, longtime NFL wide receivers coach Bob Bicknell is joining New Orleans as a senior offensive assistant. Former journeyman cornerback Sterling Moore spent last season with the Saints as a defensive intern and has earned the position of defensive assistant. Joining Dr. Matt Rhea, who was hired away from the University of Alabama as the Saints’ director of sports science, the Saints also poached the Crimson Tide’s assistant strength and conditioning coach Matt Clapp to serve as their strength coach.
- Matt Schneidman of The Athletic reported a couple of title changes and coaching hires for Matt LaFleur‘s staff in Green Bay. Defensive line coach Jerry Montgomery added the title of running game coordinator to his billing. Former assistant defensive backs coach Ryan Downard was promoted to safeties coach. Quinshon Odom joins the Packers as a coaching assistant (minority fellowship) after stints as a graduate assistant coach as Eastern Kentucky, Vanderbilt, and the University of Texas. Former journeyman wide receiver and special teamer Micheal Spurlock adds a ninth team to his list, joining Green Bay as a special teams quality control coach after some time assistant coaching in the college ranks.
Texans Re-Sign LB Neville Hewitt
The Texans are bringing back a key contributor from Lovie Smith‘s defense from last year. According to Adam Schefter of ESPN, Houston is bringing back linebacker Neville Hewitt on a one-year deal. 
Hewitt performed admirably in a single season try out for the Texans last year. The seventh-year undrafted player out of Marshall played the third-most snaps for Houston’s linebackers behind starters Christian Kirksey and Kamu Grugier-Hill, racking up five starts along the way.
Hewitt did enough coming out of college in 2015 to sign on as a free agent with the Dolphins as a rookie. After increasing his role in Year Two, the Dolphins waived Hewitt, stashing him on the practice squad for most of the 2017 season.
In 2018, Hewitt signed a one-year contract with the Jets, starting four games in his first season in New York. Hewitt broke out a bit over the next two years, stepping in to start all 28 games he appeared in with injuries to players like C.J. Mosley providing the opportunity for him to show what he could do. In 2020, Hewitt led the Jets in tackles with a career-high 134, adding 2.0 sacks, four passes defensed, and one interception to the stat sheet, as well.
The productive year in New York earned him a one-year contract with Houston in May of last year. With Kirksey and Grugier-Hill both set to return, as well, the Texans bring back their top three linebackers, providing a nice bit of defensive familiarity for Lovie Smith to start his head coaching tenure in Houston.