Bears Sign Alan Ball
After previously appearing as if he was on track to sign with the Panthers, free agent cornerback Alan Ball has opted instead for another NFC team. The Bears announced today (via Twitter) that they’ve brought Ball into the fold, signing him to a one-year contract.
Ball, who turns 30 next month, spent the last two seasons in Jacksonville, and was quietly one of the best parts of the Jaguars’ secondary. In 2013, Ball recorded a +7.5 Pro Football Focus grade in over 1,000 snaps, ranking 22nd among 110 qualified cornerbacks (subscription required). His 2014 season was cut short by a biceps injury, which landed him on injured reserve after seven games, but he still held his own in the first half of the season, recording 22 tackles and an interception.
For the Bears, Ball will provide depth and some veteran experience for a secondary that also features cornerbacks Tim Jennings and Kyle Fuller. Chicago has been very active this offseason fortifying its defense with free agent additions, having also added Pernell McPhee, Antrel Rolle, Mason Foster, and Jarvis Jenkins.
Terms of Ball’s contract with the Bears aren’t yet known, but the Panthers had been offering him a one-year, $2MM deal, so I’d be surprised if Chicago’s offer was worth less than that.
Titans Re-Sign Brandon Harris
The Titans have brought back cornerback Brandon Harris, re-signing him to a one-year contract, the team announced today (via Twitter).
Harris, who turned 25 in January, was selected by the Texans in the second round of the 2011 draft. After spending three years in Houston as a special teams player and an occasional contributor on defense, Harris was waived by the Texans during last August’s preseason roster cuts. The Titans claimed the former Miami Hurricane off waivers, and he spent the 2014 season in Tennessee. Harris earned 112 defensive snaps for the club, recording 11 tackles and three passes defended.
With Perrish Cox joining Jason McCourty, Coty Sensabaugh, and Blidi Wreh-Wilson on the Titans’ cornerback depth chart for the 2015 season, Harris is unlikely to earn much more playing time than he did in 2014. Assuming he makes the team, he’ll likely provide depth in the secondary, and play on special teams.
Pro Football Rumors Features
Pro Football Rumors passes along the latest news and rumors on NFL player movement 365 days a year, but those aren’t the only updates you’ll see on the site. On our right sidebar, you’ll find a number of additional features and featured posts. Here’s a rundown of a few of them:
- Using your iOs and Android devices, you can use our app to follow the latest stories on PFR, MLB Trade Rumors, and Hoops Rumors. The Trade Rumors app is highly customizable, allowing you to add feeds for any of the 92 MLB, NBA, and NFL teams, as well as for any of the thousands of players in our archives.
- While many of the top players have already come off the board, you can keep tabs on the remaining 2015 veteran free agents by position using our list, which will be updated throughout the spring.
- Our top 50 free agents list has been updated to reflect the contracts signed by the players featured on the list. Only four of our 50 remain unsigned.
- Before free agency got underway, we examined the offseason plans for all 32 teams. Our team-by-team Offseason Outlook pieces can be found right here. I also surveyed the free agent market by position.
- Since the 2014 season ended, seven teams have hired new head coaches, and 27 overall changes have been made to offensive and defensive coordinator roles. For a complete breakdown of this year’s notable coaching changes, check out our recap.
- The draft order for 2015 is officially set, and we’ve got the full list of picks sorted both by round and by team.
- The NFL isn’t known as a trade-happy league, but a number of big-name players have already been involved in deals this year. You can revisit all of this year’s moves by using our recap of 2015 NFL trades.
- The Pro Football Rumors glossary highlights a number of aspects of the NFL’s salary cap, free agency, and Collective Bargaining Agreement. Feel free to let us know if there’s a specific concept that you’d like us to discuss in a future Glossary piece.
- We value your input at PFR, which is why we regularly publish polls and have a regular feature called Pigskin Links, in which we highlight a few interesting recent articles from football blogs. You can find our poll archives here and our Pigskin Links pieces right here.
- While a handful of our notable articles can be found under the “Featured Posts” section on the right sidebar, the PFR Originals archive rounds up all the original posts from our staff. Recently, we made note of some of the top remaining free agents and took a specific look at free agent wideout Michael Crabtree.
Vikings Sign Terence Newman
FRIDAY, 9:10am: The Vikings have officially announced their deal with Newman, via a team release.
THURSDAY, 6:22pm: It’s a one-year, $2.5MM deal with $750K guaranteed, a source told Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (on Twitter).
6:07pm: Newman is expected to put pen to paper on Friday, according to Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN (via Twitter).
WEDNESDAY, 10:26am: The Vikings are closing in on a contract agreement with veteran cornerback Terence Newman, head coach Mike Zimmer told reporters today, including Tom Pelissero of USA Today (Twitter link). Zimmer said the deal hasn’t quite been finalized yet, but Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN Twin Cities tweets that Newman has accepted Minnesota’s one-year offer and will sign with the team.
Newman, whose agent reportedly met with the Vikings at the owners’ meetings in Arizona last night, spent the last three seasons in Cincinnati, starting 41 regular season contests for the Bengals during that stretch. By signing with the Vikings, the 36-year-old will reunite with Zimmer, who was the defensive coordinator in Cincinnati when Newman joined the Bengals.
Speaking to Pelissero, Zimmer suggested that Newman “can still play” even as he enters his late-30s, and the numbers back that up. In 2014, Newman logged 75 tackles to go along with 15 passes defended and an interception, and graded as a middle-of-the-pack cornerback according to Pro Football Focus’ grades, placing 56th out of 108 qualified players at the position (subscription required).
Newman will be the second former Bengals defensive back to join the Vikings this week — yesterday, Minnesota signed safety Taylor Mays.
Extra Points: Falcons, Ridley, Chargers, Magee
Having reportedly been informed at the NFL’s meetings in Arizona this week that they’ll face “severe” discipline for piping in artificial crowd noise at home games, the Falcons are bracing for the loss of a draft pick, writes D. Orlando Ledbetter of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Appearing on 680 The Fan this morning, general manager Thomas Dimitroff indicated that as the Falcons prepare for the draft, they’re taking into consideration scenarios in which they lose an early- or mid-round draft pick. Depending on the penalty, Dimitroff and the Falcons would even consider the possibility of trading the eighth overall pick to help recoup the loss.
As we wait to see what kind of penalty the Falcons will face for their violation of league rules, let’s check in on a few other items from around the league….
- Mark Dominik of ESPN told Alex Marvez of SiriusXM (on Twitter) that he expects running back Stevan Ridley to sign in the next week, but he doesn’t see him inking another deal with the Patriots. Ridley could become the second running back to leave New England this offseason, with Shane Vereen having landed with the Giants.
- Eric D. Williams of ESPN.com passes along the latest details on the city of San Diego’s efforts to keep the Chargers and to facilitate talks for a new NFL stadium.
- Despite the fact that he’s elected to join the Red Sox at spring training after being cut by the Buccaneers, linebacker Brandon Magee isn’t planning on changing career paths permanently, agent Blake Baratz tells Curtis Crabtree of Pro Football Talk. “While he does attend spring training for a few weeks up until the beginning of the NFL off-season program, he is 100% fully committed to playing in the NFL,” Baratz said of his client.
- Although the NFL’s efforts to expand the game internationally have primarily focused on London thus far, the team is eyeing other international markets, including Mexico, Canada, and China, as Albert Breer of the NFL Network details.
- With the 2015 NFL draft just five weeks away, Jason Fitzgerald of Over the Cap takes an in-depth look at how the “rookie pool” works, providing specific cap figures for each of the league’s 32 teams.
Zach Links contributed to this post.
Contract Details: Britt, Dent, Fasano, Jets
Here are a few specific details on some of the contracts signed recently by 2015’s free agents:
- Kenny Britt‘s two-year contract with the Rams can be worth up to $13.95MM with incentives. However, the deal voids after one year if Britt has 901+ receiving yards or at least nine touchdowns during the 2015 season, tweets Tom Pelissero of USA Today.
- Per Aaron Wilson of the Baltimore Sun (via Twitter), Akeem Dent‘s two year deal with the Texans is worth $4.5MM, and includes $2MM in guaranteed money, including a $750K signing bonus.
- Wilson also has the details on Anthony Fasano‘s new two-year contract with the Titans, tweeting that it’s worth $5.25MM, with a $1.125MM signing bonus and $500K annually in per-game roster bonuses.
- New Jets defensive lineman Stephen Bowen will make $950K on his one-year deal with the team, with $60K of that amount fully guaranteed, tweets Adam Caplan of ESPN.com. Rich Cimini of ESPN.com notes (via Twitter) that defensive lineman Kevin Vickerson also signed for $950K and a $60K signing bonus, so it appears the two players have the same contract.
49ers Waive Jonathan Martin
The 49ers have parted ways with offensive lineman Jonathan Martin, releasing him from their roster today, according to a team release. Since Martin only has three seasons of NFL experience, he’ll have to pass through waivers before becoming an unrestricted free agent.
Martin, who was at the center of the Dolphins’ bullying scandal in 2013, reportedly receiving verbal abuse from Richie Incognito and others, was sent to the 49ers in a trade last March — San Francisco made sense as a destination for Martin at the time, given the Stanford connection with then-coach Jim Harbaugh. The Dolphins acquired the 49ers’ seventh-round pick in that deal, then later sent it to Minnesota as part of this month’s Mike Wallace trade.
Although he started nine games last season at right tackle for San Francisco, Martin wasn’t particularly effective, according to Pro Football Focus (subscription required). PFF graded Martin as a below-average run blocker and pass blocker, placing him 60th out of 84 qualified offensive tackles.
Still, at age 25, and with 32 career starts under his belt, Martin could be a decent swing tackle for a team in need of depth at the position. Of course, Buffalo is one team that could use a tackle, and the Bills now employ former Niners offensive coordinator Greg Roman, but that’s perhaps the least likely landing spot for Martin, given the presence of the recently-signed Incognito.
Martin had been set to count for about $1.042MM on the Niners’ cap this year, but the team will wipe his entire salary from the books.
La Canfora’s Latest: Mariota, AP, Dolphins
After spending four days at this week’s league meetings in Arizona, Jason La Canfora of CBSSports.com came away with some additional insight and information on a number of key storylines around the NFL, including Marcus Mariota‘s potential landing spot and the Adrian Peterson situation in Minnesota. Let’s round up some of the highlights from La Canfora’s latest column….
- After speaking to a number of team executives around the NFL, La Canfora gets the “strong sense” that Mariota won’t make it past the second overall pick. That doesn’t necessarily mean Mariota will be a Titan, but if a team wants to move up to snag him, a trade with Tennessee at No. 2 is more likely than a move to No. 5 or 6. “He’s going second overall,” said one GM who has an eye on the Mariota market. “I don’t know to which team, but he’s going second overall.”
- Ben Dogra, Peterson’s agent, was “ever-present” at this week’s meetings, and his mission to get his client off the Vikings‘ roster “remains at full throttle,” according to La Canfora. While head coach Mike Zimmer indicated yesterday that the team had no plans to trade its star running back, Dogra will continue to do whatever he can to accommodate an exodus from Minnesota for Peterson, and has told people he’s confident a deal can get done before the draft.
- As La Canfora notes, and as I alluded to yesterday in the wake of Zimmer’s comments, the Vikings aren’t budging, and they have no reason to — the team is unlikely to get a whole lot in return for a 30-year-old running back who sat out most of last year, won’t be reinstated until April 15 at the earliest, and has three years and $45MM left on his deal.
- Several people told La Canfora this week that Mike Tannenbaum is “clearly calling the shots” for the Dolphins, with GM Dennis Hickey playing a reduced role.
- Many people in the know believe that the Saints will ultimately end up with Tom Benson‘s wife Gayle rather than his grandchildren, as a legal battle for the franchise continues to play out.
Bengals Sign Pat Sims
2:54pm: It’s a one-year, minimum salary benefit deal for Sims, according to Paul Dehner Jr. of the Cincinnati Enquirer (via Twitter).
2:03pm: After spending two seasons with the Raiders, veteran defensive tackle Pat Sims is returning to the team with which he spent the first five years of his NFL career. The Bengals announced today (via Twitter) that they’ve brought back Sims, officially signing him to a new contract.
Sims, 29, was selected by the third round of the 2008 draft by the Bengals, and played 60 regular season contests for the team during his first five years in the league. The big defensive lineman left for Oakland after the 2012 season, and spent the last two seasons with the Raiders, starting 18 of the 32 games he played for the club. With seven career sacks, Sims doesn’t get to the quarterback too often, but he’s very solid against the run.
By re-signing Sims, the Bengals have brought back one of their former defensive players for the third time so far this offseason. The team also re-signed defensive end Michael Johnson and cornerback Brandon Ghee, former Cincinnati draftees who played elsewhere in 2014.
Colts Unlikely To Extend Pagano Before Season
2:48pm: According to Dianna Marie Russini of NBC 4 in Washington (Twitter link), the Colts have offered Pagano a one-year extension that includes a “very modest” increase in salary, which isn’t of interest to the head coach at this point. It sounds like he’d rather bet on himself for 2015, potentially aiming for more longer-term security.
12:45pm: The Colts intend to wait until 2016 to address a new contract for star quarterback Andrew Luck, and it sounds as if they’ll take the same approach for head coach Chuck Pagano. Multiple sources tell Ian Rapoport of NFL.com that the team isn’t expected to lock up Pagano to an extension before the 2015 season gets underway.
In Luck’s case, waiting another year to work out a long-term deal makes sense, since the Colts hold a fifth-year option for the 2016 on the young signal-caller. So even if he plays out the 2015 season under his current deal, Luck won’t be facing the prospect of free agency for another year.
For Pagano, however, his contract expires at the end of the 2015 season, meaning he’ll head into the year as a “lame duck” of sorts — as Rapoport puts it, the Colts head coach will be without a financial safety net. That doesn’t necessarily mean that the team is considering moving on, or that Pagano won’t be back in Indianapolis for 2016. Last year, for instance, Jason Garrett coached the last year of his contract without having received an extension, and he parlayed the Cowboys’ success into a new five-year deal earlier this offseason.
Pagano’s track record with the Colts so far has been excellent. Since he assumed the job in 2012, he has led the team to three consecutive 11-5 seasons, winning a playoff game in his second year, and two more in his third year. Of course, Pagano’s first year in Indianapolis was affected by his battle with cancer, so Bruce Arians spent most of that season coaching the club.
Unless the Colts have a disaster of a 2015 season and miss the playoffs, I expect Pagano to sign a new deal with the team eventually. However, the upcoming year could go a long way toward determining his value as his contract nears its end.