Broncos HC Sean Payton Prepared To “Mortgage Future” To Trade Up For QB?
Broncos GM George Paton recently conceded that he would be prepared to part with future first-round draft picks to trade up from the No. 12 overall selection in this year’s draft if such a move allows him to select a franchise quarterback. We have also heard that while head coach Sean Payton is naturally interested in a trade-up for a QB, the club may ultimately choose to trade down to accumulate more assets; after all, thanks to the trades bringing Russell Wilson and Payton to Denver, the Broncos have not made a first-round selection since 2021 and do not have a second-round choice this year.
Tony Pauline of Sportskeeda.com, however, hears that Payton is not merely willing to contemplate a move up the board. The former Super Bowl-winning HC — who narrowly missed out on drafting Patrick Mahomes in 2017 when the Chiefs moved up 17 spots to leapfrog the Payton-led Saints to land the future star — is reportedly prepared to “mortgage the franchise’s future” to acquire one of the top passer prospects in the 2024 class.
The near miss on Mahomes has, according to Pauline’s sources, left a sour taste in Payton’s mouth, and he is looking to right past wrongs. Given that the teams holding the top three selections in this year’s draft have the need to add blue chip signal-callers of their own, the Cardinals’ No. 4 overall choice is perhaps the highest pick the Broncos could theoretically acquire. Arizona is certainly open for business, but it is unclear just how far down the board the team would be willing to go, and the same can be said of the Chargers, who hold the No. 5 pick and who may not want to give a division rival the opportunity to draft a franchise QB.
It is certainly possible that Caleb Williams, Jayden Daniels, and Drake Maye will be taken with the first three picks of the draft and will therefore be unavailable for the Broncos. Per Pauline, that would suit Payton just fine, as he is said to have his eyes set on Michigan’s J.J. McCarthy. McCarthy’s blend of intelligence and ability to get the ball out of his hands quickly is particularly appealing to Payton, perhaps because it reminds him so much of longtime charge Drew Brees.
Of course, this is hardly the first time that the Broncos have been rumored to be interested in trading up for a quarterback. All of the earlier reports to that effect have noted how costly such an endeavor would be, and Pauline acknowledges that Denver’s package would need to include at least one future first-rounder, the No. 12 pick this year, and cornerback Patrick Surtain II. Pauline himself said back in February that the heavy cost of jumping up the draft board would likely preclude the Broncos from doing so, and that the team would only deal Surtain as a last resort.
It seems that much has changed in the past couple of months, with Payton now prepared to do whatever it takes to nab a prospect like McCarthy. We learned just last week that the Broncos may be more receptive to the notion of trading Surtain than they were at last season’s trade deadline, and Pauline’s report is consistent with that line of thinking.
If Denver is ultimately unable to jump up the board, Payton & Co. would content themselves with Oregon’s Bo Nix as Plan B. A recent projection suggested that the Ravens, who hold the No. 30 overall pick, may be willing to deal that selection to the Broncos, who would use it to select Nix. A subsequent report indicated that Baltimore is not, in fact, looking to move out of the first round, though the right offer can of course change draft plans in a hurry.
Only a small percentage of Pauline’s sources believe the Broncos would select Nix with their No. 12 choice. That stands to reason in light of a recent report from Ari Meirov of The33rdTeam.com, who hears from league executives that Nix is more of a Day 2 prospect.
Texans Re-Sign RB Dare Ogunbowale
The Texans have re-signed running back Dare Ogunbowale, per Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network. It is a one-year deal, with no financial details available at this time.
Houston was connected to a running back addition this offseason, and while the team did not land a premier free agent like Saquon Barkley, it did swing a trade for longtime Bengals RB Joe Mixon. While it is fair to question the wisdom of trading for a back with Mixon’s mileage while allowing Devin Singletary — who played well in 2023, his first and only season in Houston — to depart in free agency, the fact that the Texans subsequently extended Mixon underscores their faith in him.
The club currently has third-year pro Dameon Pierce as its RB2. Pierce played well in his rookie campaign but cratered last season, mustering a meager 2.9 yards-per-carry average on 145 rushing attempts after boasting a 4.2 YPC rate on 220 totes the year before. Rounding out the RB depth chart are J.J. Taylor, who did not play a single snap in 2023, and Gerrid Doaks, who has yet to see any regular season action since being selected by the Dolphins in the seventh round of the 2021 draft.
Clearly, then, there was a need for the Texans to add to the running back room, and they did so by reuniting with Ogunbowale, who just finished the two-year, $3.3MM deal he signed with the club in March 2022. Though he carried the ball just eight times last season, he will at least reprise his role as a core special teams player — he appeared in 68% of Houston’s third phase snaps in 2023 and 61% in 2022 — even if he does not get more looks on offense.
Ogunbowale, who will turn 30 next month, does have some kickoff returns on his resume, and it is possible he will compete for work as a returner in light of the league’s revised kickoff rules. Of course, he made headlines last season when he converted a 29-yard-field goal attempt as the Texans’ emergency kicker in a Week 9 victory over the Bucs.
Houston, which clinched the AFC South by a one-game margin in 2023, defeated Tampa Bay 39-37 in that contest.
Bears OL Larry Borom A Trade Candidate?
Offensive lineman Larry Borom, a fifth-round choice of the Bears in 2021, has appeared in 39 games for Chicago over his first three seasons in the league, starting 23 of them. It is fair to wonder, however, whether he will remain in the Windy City for his platform campaign in 2024.
As Brad Biggs of the Chicago Tribune writes, the playing time that Borom accrued allowed him to hit the escalator in his rookie contract that boosted his 2024 salary to $3.12MM. Biggs suggests that payout may be too rich for the Bears’ blood, and that the team could look to trade the 25-year-old blocker. If GM Ryan Poles adds an O-lineman or two in the upcoming draft, that could further squeeze Borom out of the picture.
Borom has taken most of his NFL snaps at the tackle positions, and as such, he is in line to compete with new acquisitions Jake Curhan and Matt Pryor for the swing tackle role behind starters Braxton Jones and Darnell Wright. However, Borom has never played especially well at the professional level, and the 2023 season may have been the worst of his young career.
Last season, the Missouri product played 408 snaps on the blindside, 225 of which were pass-blocking opportunities. He conceded 25 total pressures and allowed six hits, including three sacks. He was also charged with five penalties, and in all, Pro Football Focus assigned him an abysmal grade of 48.0. That made Borom the eighth-worst OT out of 81 qualifed players.
Nonetheless, he does have the versatility to line up at guard as well as tackle, and if he performs well in training camp this summer, his salary is not so high that the Bears could not keep him around as experienced depth at multiple positions. That is especially true since Jones, the starting LT, landed on injured reserve last season, and since starting LG Teven Jenkins has struggled with injuries throughout his career.
Borom was selected by the Bears’ prior regime, while Curhan has ties to current OC Shane Waldron and Pryor was with the Colts when head coach Matt Eberflus was serving as Indianapolis’ defensive coordinator. Given that, and given Borom’s generally lackluster play, a trade is not out of the question.
Biggs suggests a late-round pick or a pick swap would be the most likely return if Chicago looks to move Borom.
Colts C Ryan Kelly Seeking Extension
In January, Colts center Ryan Kelly shot down speculation that he was contemplating retirement. More recently, we learned that the four-time Pro Bowler is not just looking to continue his playing career; per ESPN’s Stephen Holder, Kelly is actually hoping to sign an extension with Indianapolis.
Kelly, who will turn 31 next month, is under club control through 2024 thanks to the four-year, $50MM deal he signed in September 2020. After earning Pro Bowl acclaim that season and again in 2021, Kelly experienced a noticeable drop in play in 2022, which led to some trade rumblings last offseason.
The Colts ultimately elected to retain Kelly and were rewarded for that decision. The Alabama product was regarded by Pro Football Focus as the eighth-best center out of 36 qualifiers in 2023 and was charged with just six total pressures and one sack in 14 games, a performance that led to the fourth Pro Bowl bid of his career.
With promising second-year quarterback Anthony Richardson having missed most of his rookie campaign, and with running back Jonathan Taylor still a focal point of the Indianapolis offense, it would not be particularly surprising to see the Colts explore a way to keep Kelly in the fold beyond the upcoming season. However, talks in that regard have not yet begun, as Mike Chappell of Fox 59 passes along.
With fellow luminaries Jason Kelce and Ryan Jensen having retired, the $12.41MM average annual value on Kelly’s existing contract currently ranks fourth among the league’s active centers. Per Spotrac, Kelly could land a two-year deal worth just shy of $12MM per year if he were on the open market today, and if player and team should initiate contract negotiations in the near future, that would seem to be a fair benchmark.
At present, the Colts do not have an heir apparent to Kelly on their roster. With the 2024 draft just a few days away, that could change, and the addition of an interior offensive lineman would stand to impact Indianapolis’ plans for its ninth-year pivot.
The Colts, who currently own the No. 15 overall pick in the draft, are widely believed to be targeting a pass catcher in the first round. GM Chris Ballard, though, recently lauded the overall depth of the offensive talent in this year’s class, including the O-linemen.
“The O-line in this draft is really excellent, and there’s depth throughout,” Ballard said (via Joel A. Erickson of the Indianapolis Star). “I truly believe you’re going to get a really good player in those middle rounds, and even some later, because of the depth of the group.”
Patriots Still Planning To Conduct GM Interviews?
We have known for at least a month that, while Patriots director of scouting Eliot Wolf presently has final say over personnel decisions and will be operating as New England’s de facto general manager through the upcoming draft, the team plans to conduct interviews for a high-ranking front office executive after the draft is over. Those interviews could be for a GM, a hire that would shunt Wolf aside or perhaps out of the organization entirely.
As our Sam Robinson noted in the article linked above, Wolf has overhauled the prospect evaluation system that the Pats used during Bill Belichick‘s lengthy tenure, and for New England to give Wolf the power to do so only to hire a different decision-maker post-draft would be somewhat surprising. Similarly, we had heard that the Patriots, with Wolf at the helm, were adopting a “Packer-based structure” wherein the personnel department’s input is valued more highly than the head coach’s. It was also reported that Wolf was heavily involved in the head coaching process this offseason, as well as the search to fill out new HC Jerod Mayo‘s staff.
All of that points to the Patriots ultimately giving Wolf the official GM title and having the new staffer work under him, especially since the club is entrusting Wolf with the crucial task of getting the 2024 draft right (the Pats have the No. 3 overall pick and therefore have a golden opportunity to select their next franchise quarterback). Owner Robert Kraft has received positive feedback on Wolf and recently said, “I’m excited with what I’ve seen so far, and we’ll evaluate after the draft and see how that’s gone and decide where we go from there.”
On the other hand, teams like the Jets, Texans, and Bills fired GMs after the draft in the late 2010s, and the Chiefs fired John Dorsey in the summer of 2017. So it is still feasible that the Patriots go in a different direction, with Phil Perry of NBC Sports Boston — on a recent episode of Tyler Dunne’s Go Long podcast — confirming that New England will conduct GM interviews after the draft. In Perry’s view, “it’s wild” that the person who is in charge of leading the Pats through this key moment in franchise history is not guaranteed to be in the GM seat once the draft is over, but that is what he has been hearing for months.
If that were to happen, the team would need to comply with the Rooney Rule, which requires that two external minority candidates be interviewed for the GM post. Perry acknowledges that, as referenced above, the team could simply add a new executive to complement Wolf, rather than replace him. Still, given the apparent uncertainty of Wolf’s position, Dunne believes that the scion of Pro Football Hall of Fame exec Ron Wolf will indeed draft a quarterback with the No. 3 selection — which could be what Kraft wants — and will not trade out of the slot. Dunne also believes that UNC passer Drake Maye will be Wolf’s pick (the entire podcast episode merits a listen, particularly for Patriots fans).
Both Perry and former Vikings GM Rick Spielman (via Mike Reiss of ESPN.com) indicate that it would require an overpay to convince Wolf & Co. to deal the No. 3 pick rather than staying put and selecting a prospect like Maye, LSU’s Jayden Daniels, or Michigan’s J.J. McCarthy. Perry suggests that if the Vikings — who are armed with both the Nos. 11 and 23 selections in 2024 and have been heavily connected to a trade-up endeavor — want New England’s pick, they would have to part with both of their 2024 first-rounders as well as their top choices in the 2025 and 2026 drafts. Spielman thinks three first-rounders and a second would be the “starting point” in negotiations, and that the Patriots could push for a top-tier player like receiever Justin Jefferson or left tackle Christian Darrisaw as part of the package.
Assuming the Vikings or any other club is unwilling to pay that type of price, then the Wolf-led Pats may, as has been expected, take the highest-rated QB remaining on their board once the Bears and Commanders have made their picks. There is still little clarity, though, as to who that player might be.
Andrew Luck Did Not Consider Resuming Playing Career
Andrew Luck returned to Indianapolis on Friday, nearly five years after he shocked the football world by announcing his retirement at the age of 29. As Joel A. Erickson of the Indianapolis Star writes, Luck was in town for the 12th annual Chuckstrong Tailgate Gala, a fundraising event for cancer research held by former Colts head coach Chuck Pagano (Luck’s first HC as a pro).
Since Luck left the league, his name has naturally popped up now and again on PFR pages. Even after the first two seasons of the post-Luck era were in the books, Colts owner Jim Irsay was still holding out hope that the No. 1 overall pick of the 2012 draft would return, and the Commanders briefly discussed a Luck pursuit in the 2022 offseason (a discussion which led to a brief tampering controversy, as Indianapolis still controls Luck’s rights).
All of those reports have suggested that Luck did not waver in his retirement decision. Then-HC Frank Reich said in 2020 that he did not expect Luck to return to the field, and longtime Colts receiver T.Y. Hilton said in 2021 that his former teammate was having “the time of his life” in retirement.
And, during this past Friday’s fundraiser, we heard straight from the (former) horse’s mouth that Luck never felt the urge to unretire and resume his playing career.
“When I retired, that part of it was put to bed in my mind in a very simple, sort of direct way,” Luck said. “There were a lot of complications around it, you know, certainly tormented inside, as you guys saw that night, but I think that part of it has stayed.”
The “torment” he references — which was evident in his press conference announcing his retirement — stemmed from the fact that he still loved the sport, the competition, and his teammates. However, as Erickson succinctly puts it, Luck’s career had become “a cycle of pain, injury and rehab that he did not want to pursue anymore.”
That said, Luck does feel that he owes a debt to football. “I have certainly realized I still love this game, and I want to have it integrated in my life,” Luck said. “It’s just, it’s got to be different. Football gave me a lot. A lot. Most importantly, again, the relationships and the experiences with people that I loved. … I think part of me feels, and I don’t mean this in a cheesy way, but part of me feels like, you know, it’s my turn to give back to this game.”
The Stanford product returned to school to obtain a master’s degree in education, which he hopes to use in youth sports in some fashion. To that end, he serves as a part-time coach for Palo Alto High, though it is unclear if he ultimately wants to pursue coaching on a full-time basis.
At a time when 46-year-old Tom Brady is contemplating the possibility of a second “un-retirement,” and when other players like Kirk Cousins, Russell Wilson, and Matthew Stafford — who are all older than the 34-year-old Luck — are still starting-caliber options, a four-time Pro Bowler who walked away in the prime of a potential Hall of Fame career explains that he never considered coming back. If nothing else, that underscores the magnitude of the emotional and physical beating that Luck endured during his final several years as an active player.
Although his retirement decision was clearly a difficult one, the peace that Luck was quickly able to make with it suggests that it was also the right one.
Cowboys To Move Markquese Bell Back To Safety
A collegiate safety, Markquese Bell joined the Cowboys as an undrafted free agent in 2022 and played in just 22 defensive snaps in his rookie season. In 2023, he was moved to linebacker and given a much larger workload, and he acquitted himself rather nicely.
In 17 games (eight starts) last year, Bell racked up 94 total tackles to go along with four passes defensed and two forced fumbles. He also fared well in the eyes of the advanced metrics, with Pro Football Focus assigning him a 76.8 overall grade that ranked 18th out of 74 qualified players. His 83.5 coverage grade, perhaps a function of his safety background, was the fifth-highest mark among his LB peers.
Former defensive coordinator Dan Quinn left Dallas to become the Commanders’ head coach this offseason, and his replacement, Mike Zimmer, will be moving Bell back to his natural safety position, as David Moore of the Dallas Morning News confirms. Zimmer prefers to have good size at the linebacker spots, and Bell — who is listed at 205 pounds — does not offer that. Plus, despite his PFF rankings, Bell’s lack of size and lack of experience as an LB were exposed at times last season, including the Cowboys’ stunning playoff ouster at the hands of the Packers.
Dallas has already reunited Zimmer with former Vikings charge Eric Kendricks, who will operate alongside Damone Clark and DeMarvion Overshown. Clark started all 17 games for Dallas in 2023 and compiled 109 tackles, though the 2022 fifth-rounder sometimes struggled with the increased responsibilities. Overshown, a 2023 third-rounder, had a promising camp and was expected to take on a meaningful role as a rookie, but a preseason ACL tear kept him off the field for the entirety of the campaign.
Despite Kendricks’ veteran presence and the upside of Clark and Overshown, Moore still believes that the linebacker unit is the weak link of the Dallas defense. The fact that the Cowboys are moving Bell out of that group is further indication that they plan to select an LB in the early stages of the upcoming draft. We recently heard that the club does not plan to use its first-round choice on the position, but in Moore’s estimation, a Day 2 selection would be more than defensible.
The team scheduled “30” visits with Michigan’s Junior Colson and Texas A&M’s Edgerrin Cooper, and Moore names Ohio State’s Tommy Eichenberg and Clemson’s Jeremiah Trotter Jr. as other potential targets. Bruce Feldman of The Athletic, meanwhile, hears that the Cowboys “really like” NC State prospect Payton Wilson (subscription required).
Dallas has starting safeties Malik Hooker and Donovan Wilson on lucrative multi-year pacts; Hooker’s deal runs through 2026, while Wilson is under club control through 2025. Therefore, Bell may not be a starting safety, but given his relative success last season, Zimmer should find a way to get him on the field often.
Chiefs’ Louis Rees-Zammit On 2024 Role
When former Gloucester Rugby star Louis Rees-Zammit signed with the Chiefs late last month, it was reported that he would be utilized in a running back/wide receiver hybrid role as well as in the return game. As the player himself recently noted, he will primarily be deployed as a return specialist.
Rees-Zammit, 23, entered the NFL via the league’s International Player Pathway program and also drew interest from the Jets, Browns, and Broncos. He indicated that he chose Kansas City over his other suitors because of the clarity of the vision that the Chiefs’ coaching staff has for him, which includes a focus on return duties.
“Yeah, so the plan we’ve got is, obviously, the new kickoff rules this year are absolutely massive,” Rees-Zammit said (via Charles Goldman of AtoZSports.com). “That’s where my main position is going to be. So I’ve got to fight to be a starter in that positon this year.”
Of course, the new kickoff rules that Rees-Zammit references are those that were recently approved by league owners and that are laid out by ESPN’s Jeff Darlington here. The special teams coordinators who crafted the changes are hoping for a kickoff return rate of at least 80% in 2024 after just 21.7% of kickoffs were returned in 2023. The modifications have already had an impact on roster decisions; we recently learned that the Steelers initiated contract talks with All-Pro returner Cordarrelle Patterson when talks on the new rules were gaining steam, and the Ravens’ recent acquisition of Deonte Harty was motivated at least in part by Harty’s return abilities.
The Chiefs returned just 12 total kickoffs in 2023, nine of which were handled by Richie James, who is presently a free agent. James also led Kansas City with 20 punt returns, and it is certainly possible that, if Rees-Zammit makes the club, he will be tasked with punt return work as well.
The Welshman did indicate that he would not be limited to the third phase of American football, and that he would have a role in KC’s offense. He certainly possesses the athletic traits to do so, having posted a 4.43-second 40-yard dash time, 9’7″ broad jump, and 29″ vertical jump during his pro day.
Ultimately, though, his chances of cracking the roster and his contributions will depend on how quickly he picks up the game.
“And then it’s within the offense, it’s about how quick I can learn the playbook,” he said. “Because, you know, we’ve got a plan to put me in various positions, play out the backfield at running back, be a slot receiver, just being able to use me as much as possible and be creative with me. So it’s all about me learning the playbook and getting the chemistry with all the players on offense to be able to use me.”
Patriots, S Kyle Dugger Agree To Deal
APRIL 11: Dugger’s new pact is guaranteed in full for its first two years; he will collect $29.75MM over that span, as detailed by the Boston Globe’s Ben Volin (the additional $2.75MM guaranteed, set to paid out in Year 3, is conditional). The contract includes an $18MM signing bonus along with per-game roster bonuses worth up to $5MM. Dugger’s cap hit will sit at $7.5MM in 2024 before rising to $11MM the following season, then $12.5MM and $13.5MM.
APRIL 7: Patriots safety Kyle Dugger is no longer on the transition tag. Per Mike Garafolo and Eric Edholm of NFL Media, player and team are in agreement on a four-year contract, which NFL Media colleague Ian Rapoport says has a base value of $58MM (including $32.5MM in guaranteed money). The maximum value, according to Rapoport, is $66MM.
This offseason, New England made it a point to retain its homegrown talent, re-signing players like Michael Onwenu, Anfernee Jennings, and Josh Uche. At one time, Dugger seemed the likeliest of that group to remain in Foxborough on a long-term basis, with the Patriots submitting a $13MM/year offer to the Lenoir-Rhyne product shortly before the deadline to apply the franchise or transition tag. The two sides were unable to come to terms prior to that deadline, which compelled the Pats to deploy the transition tag, but it ultimately did not take too long for an agreement to be consummated.
Per the rules of the transition tag, if Dugger had signed an offer sheet with another team and New England declined to match the offer sheet, the Patriots would have received no draft pick compensation. Fortunately for them, no outside club extended an offer, as Dan Duggan of The Athletic confirms. As such, all the Pats needed to do was bump the average annual value of Dugger’s new contract ($14.5MM) slightly above the $13.8MM transition tag value to get a deal done.
In terms of both AAV and total guarantees, Dugger now ranks fifth in the league’s safety hierarchy (excluding Bucs safety Antoine Winfield Jr., who remains on the franchise tag as of the time of this writing). That underscores his importance to New England’s defense, a unit that finished in the top-10 in total yardage and defensive DVOA in 2023.
Now 28, Dugger has been a full-time starter for most of his four-year career, racking up nine interceptions (including two pick-sixes) and 20 passes defensed along the way. He has not yet earned any Pro Bowl acclaim, and his Pro Football Focus evaluation in 2023 was less than ideal; PFF assigned him an abysmal 50.0 coverage grade and considered him the 68th-best safety out of 95 qualified players.
While it is true that Dugger is more suited to play near the line of scrimmage — he eclipsed 100 tackles for the first time in his career last season — he did yield a fairly modest 82.7 QB rating on passes thrown in his direction in 2023, and his PFF evaluation was much more favorable in 2022, when the advanced metrics placed him as the 11th-best safety among 88 qualifiers.
Regardless of what PFF might say, the Patriots clearly consider Dugger to be a foundational player and value his versatility (in addition to lining up in the box and at free safety, he has also seen action as a slot and boundary corner, on special teams, and even on the D-line). His new contract will keep him under club control into the Pats’ next competitive window.
Latest On Arik Armstead’s 49ers Departure
Needing to clear cap space and with a considerable amount of resources invested in their defensive front already, the 49ers elected to release defensive tackle Arik Armstead last month. San Francisco, which selected Armstead in the first round of the 2015 draft, first offered the Oregon product the opportunity to remain with the club via a pay reduction (he was due to earn a $17.4MM salary in 2024, the final year of his contract).
Armstead declined the Niners’ proposal, and he drew interest from multiple clubs upon reaching the open market. He ultimately scored a three-year contract with the Jaguars, which was initially reported as a $51MM accord. David Lombardi of The Athletic says that the deal is actually worth $43.5MM, though it includes $28MM guaranteed at signing (subscription required).
Regardless of the contract’s maximum value, the Jags were simply prepared to pay significantly more than the 49ers to secure Armstead’s services, as Lombardi writes. In an episode of his Third and Long with Arik Armstead program on YouTube, the player himself confirms that the 49ers offered him a one-year, $6MM contract for 2024, with incentive provisions that could have pushed the total payout to $8MM. While acknowledging the difficulty of the business decisions that NFL clubs often have to make, Armstead nonetheless said he felt “extremely disrespected” by the offer.
San Francisco ultimately replaced Armstead by swinging a trade with the Texans for Maliek Collins, who comes with an $8MM base salary and $8.47MM cap charge in 2024. Per Lombardi, the team hopes to put the money saved by the Armstead release into a new contract for wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk, though the latest reporting on that topic indicates that the 49ers and Aiyuk are not close on their extension talks. Aiyuk is under club control through 2024 via the fifth-year option.
In addition to Collins, the 49ers further buttressed their front seven by signing Leonard Floyd and Yetur Gross-Matos, whose modest 2024 cap numbers check in at $3.4MM and $3.2MM, respectively. While Gross-Matos, a second-round pick of the Panthers in 2020, did not live up to expectations during his four-year run in Charlotte, Niners GM John Lynch said the 26-year-old edge defender generated significant free agent interest from around the league.
“I thought (Gross-Matos’ agent) handled it like a house in Los Altos,” Lynch said (via Lombardi). “He priced it low, then he got the whole league interested and then everybody (got in on the bidding). Yetur was the guy that we signed that we had the most people in the league say, ‘Man, we were in on him.’ A lot of guys were after him.”
Lynch believes Gross-Matos has a real opportunity to thrive in San Francisco’s 4-3 alignment, which will allow the team to utilize his versatility and put him in the best position to succeed.