Lions Agree To Deal With LB Devon Kennard
The Lions have agreed to a deal with free-agent outside linebacker Devon Kennard, according to Peter Schrager of Fox Sports (on Twitter). Schrager opines that Kennard’s versatility will make him a good fit in the scheme of new Lions head coach Matt Patricia.
Kennard’s deal will be worth three years, $18.75MM, according to Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press (on Twitter). There was undoubtedly a need at outside linebacker for the Lions, with Tahir Whitehead and Paul Worrilow set to hit unrestricted free agency. They already know their front seven will take a hit next season, as defensive tackle Haloti Ngata agreed to a deal with the Eagles on Tuesday.
In four seasons with the Giants, who took Kennard in the fifth round of the 2014 draft, he’s started 35 games, including a career-high 11 starts last season. The 26-year-old managed to rack up four sacks last season despite playing as a non-rush backer. It was the second time in his career that he’s collected at least four sacks.
Kennard had said last month that he believed he would fit well within new Giants defensive coordinator James Bettcher‘s 3-4 scheme. It was also reported before the season that the Giants were interested in signing Kennard to a long-term deal. But they’re now under a new regime with general manager Dave Gettleman.
Chiefs Add LB Anthony Hitchens
The Chiefs have reloaded their linebacker corps, agreeing to a deal with former Cowboys linebacker Anthony Hitchens, according to Ian Rapoport and Tom Pelissero of NFL.com (on Twitter). Hitchens’ deal will span five years for a total of $45MM, per Pelissero (on Twitter), including a $14MM signing bonus and $21.29MM guaranteed at signing. His contract will be worth up to $49.25MM, with incentives included.
Hitchens will help the Chiefs fill the void on defense after cutting ties with longtime middle linebacker Derrick Johnson and pass-rusher Tamba Hali earlier in the offseason. Hitchens said last month that he was seeking $10MM a year on the open market. He’s slated to work alongside Reggie Ragland at middle linebacker for the Chiefs, with Kevin Pierre-Louis set to hit unrestricted free agency this offseason. The Chiefs also have Terrance Smith, Ukeme Eligwe and Ramik Wilson on the roster at middle linebacker.
A reunion with the Cowboys seemed unlikely as they ranked No. 28 in the NFL entering Monday with $3.12MM in available cap space. They had placed the franchise tag on linebacker Demarcus Lawrence and have reportedly made extending the fellow linebacker to a long-term deal a priority.
The signing of Hitchens was the second major addition Tuesday for the Chiefs as they also reportedly agreed to a deal with free-agent wide receiver Sammy Watkins. Hitchens started 12 games for the Cowboys last season and recorded 55 tackles, which were the most since his rookie season in 2014. The Colts were also reportedly interested in Hitchens, as new Colts defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus had previously worked as the linebackers coach for the Cowboys.
The Cowboys originally selected Hitchens in the fourth round of the 2014 draft out of Iowa. He had not missed a game leading up to this season, in which he missed four due to a tibia plateau fracture sustained in August.
Jaguars Sign Andrew Norwell
The Jaguars and guard Andrew Norwell have agreed on a five-year, $66.5MM deal, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter (on Twitter), with $30MM fully guaranteed. The deal is set to pay the former Panther an average of $13.3MM per season, making him the highest-paid guard in the NFL.
Norwell, a former undrafted free agent, was ranked at No. 4 in Pro Football Rumors’ Top 50 NFL Free Agents for 2018. The Jaguars fill a need at left guard as Patrick Omameh is due to become an unrestricted free agent.
Pro Football Focus ranked Norwell as the third-best guard in the league last year. The Jaguars have solidified the left side of their offensive line for newly-extended quarterback Blake Bortles and standout rookie Leonard Fournette, with Cam Robinson — the team’s second-round pick last season — entrenched at left tackle. The signing will certainly give the upstart Jaguars a boost a day after watching wide receiver Allen Robinson agree to a deal with the Bears.
Norwell started all 16 games at left guard for Carolina last year for the second straight season. They elected to not place the franchise tag on Norwell as the offensive lineman tag was at $14.54MM. The Panthers originally signed Norwell as an undrafted free agent in 2014 out of Ohio State.
The Giants and Cardinals had both been reported to have been in pursuit of Norwell and both have connections to the All-Pro offensive lineman. New Giants general manager Dave Gettleman originally signed Norwell as an undrafted free agent and new Cardinals head coach Steve Wilks worked with Norwell all four years of his career while on the Carolina coaching staff.
Falcons Place 2nd-Round Tender On Ricardo Allen
The Falcons have placed a second-round tender on restricted free-agent safety Ricardo Allen worth $2.91MM, according to Vaughan McLure of ESPN. McLure notes that the tender doesn’t eliminate the chance of the Falcons still locking up Allen with a multi-year deal.
Falcons general manager Thomas Dimitroff said in February that he believed the team could create the space to strike a multi-year deal with Allen. The 26-year-old made just $615K last year in base salary as an exclusive-rights free agent. He was graded by Pro Football Focus as the No. 31 safety in the league, tied with Tre Boston, Tashaun Gipson and Eric Reid. Allen will have until April 20 to sign an offer sheet with another team. The Falcons also have until June 15 to withdraw the tender.
Allen started 15 games at strong safety last season alongside Keanu Neal. Allen has started at least 14 games the last three seasons after the Falcons took him in the fifth round in 2014. Leon McFadden and Blidi Wreh-Wilson are the only members of the Falcons secondary due to become unrestricted free agents in the offseason. They have Desmond Trufant and Robert Alford locked in as the team’s top cornerbacks after they each signed multi-year extensions last year. The team will also be looking to extend quarterback Matt Ryan, who’s set to become an unrestricted free agent after next season.
The Falcons have some precedent in signing a player to a restricted free agent tender and eventually signing them to an extension. They signed right tackle Ryan Schraeder to a second-round tender last March, which was worth $2.55MM. The Falcons ended up signing Schraeder to a five-year, $31.5MM extension in November, with $12.5MM guaranteed.
Avery Williamson Drawing Interest From Dolphins And Jets
Linebacker Avery Williamson is drawing interest from the Jets and Dolphins after turning down a four-year, $12MM deal to return to the Titans, according to ESPN’s Dianna Russini (on Twitter). It was reported Sunday by ESPN’s Cameron Wolfe that there was mutual interest in Williamson returning to the Titans.
Williamson was clear, though, that he was only going to return to the Titans at the right price. Williamson also said that he was surprised by the Titans’ decision to fire head coach Mike Mularkey and hire Mike Vrabel but that wouldn’t be a deterrent in his decision to come back.
Williams, 26, who’s a Tennessee native, is one of the top 3-4 inside linebackers set to hit the open market this offseason. Wolfe pointed to inside linebackers like Kevin Minter and Zach Brown, who have had to settle for one-year deals over the past few offseasons, and players such as the Broncos’ Brandon Marshall (four-year, $32MM) and the Browns’ Christian Kirksey (four-year, $38MM) as inside linebackers who have cashed in on multi-year deals of late.
The Jets currently hold the most cap space of any team in the NFL at over $92MM, topping the Browns after their flurry of weekend moves. Jets inside linebackers Demario Davis, Bruce Carter and Julian Stanford are set to become unrestricted free agents. The Dolphins alleviated some cap issues Monday morning with the reported new that they’ll be cutting Ndamukong Suh. The team is also expected to part ways with linebacker Lawrence Timmons and Koa Misi is due to become a free agent this offseason.
The Titans made Williamson a fifth-round pick in 2014 and he’s started all 16 games in each of the last two seasons. He tallied a career-high 73 tackles in 2016 and racked up 52 tackles last season to go with three sacks.
Ravens Re-Sign OL James Hurst
The Ravens and James Hurst have agreed to a four-year deal to keep the offensive lineman in Baltimore, according to ESPN’s Jamison Hensley. Hurst’s deal will be worth $17MM in total and he’ll receive $8MM guaranteed, according to Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (on Twitter).
Jeff Zrebiec of the Baltimore Sun (on Twitter) opines that the money in Hurst’s deal signals that the Ravens plan on transitioning him into a starting role. He also speculates as to what the deal could mean for right tackle Austin Howard, who the Ravens signed to a three-year deal last offseason and started all 16 games this past year.
Hurst, 26, has served in mostly a backup role during his first four seasons with the Ravens but started all 16 games last season at left guard due to injuries on the team’s line. Zrebiec wonders whether the team will opt to keep Hurst at left tackle and shift former fourth-round pick Alex Lewis, who missed all of his sophomore season due to a shoulder injury, to right tackle rather than starting Howard.
The Ravens signed Hurst as an undrafted free agent in 2014 out of North Carolina. They’re set with Ronnie Stanley at left tackle and Marshal Yanda at right guard but have several other question marks remaining in regards to how their line will shake out.
Hurst, Lewis and Howard are all under contract but center Ryan Jensen and backup Luke Bowanko are both due to hit unrestricted free agency this offseason. The Ravens also have Nico Siragusa back at guard after taking him in the fourth round last year and missing the entire season with a torn ACL.
Latest On Kirk Cousins
At least two teams in pursuit of quarterback Kirk Cousins are set to offer the soon-to-be free agent a three-year, fully guaranteed contract, according to Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (Twitter link). Rapoport also reported that there was one more team that’s expected to offer a deal that would nearly be fully guaranteed, keeping Cousins on track to soon become the highest paid quarterback in the league.
Cousins wasn’t expected to agree to a new deal until the new league year begins on Wednesday. But with the “legal tampering” period beginning Monday, and two fully-guaranteed deals reportedly on the table, that could certainly change. It’s been suggested that Cousins could earn up to $60MM in the first year of a deal, given a team’s willingness to move around money and available cap space.
The Vikings have $47.6MM in open cap space, with the Broncos at $23MM and the Cardinals at $20.2 MM. The Jets overtook the Browns as the league leaders in cap room over the weekend and have around $92MM in available space.
The Vikings are still believed to be in the “driver’s seat” to sign Cousins, per Rapoport (Twitter link), and he’s expected to take 1-2 visits before deciding on a new team. Minnesota was one of four teams which was reported last week to be a finalist for Cousins’ services, also including the Jets, Cardinals and Broncos.
It was reported Sunday that the Vikings were set to make adding Cousins a top priority this offseason, holding off on other moves until they figure out if he’ll be under center for them. Minnesota has options if it were to miss out on Cousins, with its three quarterbacks on last year’s roster — Case Keenum, Teddy Bridgewater and Sam Bradford — all due to become free agents.
AFC Notes: Jaguars, Landry, Titans, Cuts
With Blake Bortles locked up through 2020, ESPN’s Michael DiRocco dives into the next biggest questions facing the Jaguars this offseason. DiRocco believes that providing Bortles with a game-changing receiver in the form of re-signing Allen Robinson should be the team’s first priority going forward. Robinson missed all of last season due to a torn left ACL.
While Jacksonville could look sign the 24-year-old wideout to a long-term deal, DiRocco speculates the team could also target a one-year incentive-laden deal for Robinson, similar to what the Eagles gave Alshon Jeffery last offseason before signing him to a four-year extension in December. A franchise tag is also an option for Robinson, with the wide receiver tag expected to be around $16MM.
That franchise tag becomes a lot more affordable now that the Jaguars aren’t on the books to pay Bortles $19MM next season. Fellow wideout Marqise Lee is set to become an unrestricted free agent this offseason as well. Other spots on the roster DiRocco believes the team needs to address is adding another pass-catching tight end to work with Marcedes Lewis and adding an interior lineman, with Andrew Norwell, Justin Pugh and Josh Sitton serving as options in free agency.
Here’s more from around the AFC:
- Chiefs outside linebacker Tamba Hali, Bills wide receiver Kelvin Benjamin, Dolphins center Mike Pouncey, Patriots wide receiver Chris Hogan, Broncos cornerback Aqib Talib and others were identified by the Boston Globe’s Ben Volin as players who could be cut in cap-saving measures this offseason.
- The Titans are set to unveil new uniforms for the upcoming season at a festival in Nashville on April 4, the team announced in a release. The team did reveal its new logo Saturday for the upcoming season, which is set to commemorate the franchise’s 20th season since moving to Tennessee from Houston.
- Florida Football Insiders wonders whether Dolphins wide receiver Jarvis Landry is giving signs that he may not be with the team for much longer, despite being designated with the team’s franchise tag earlier this week. While purely speculative, Landry’s official website has been taken down, and before that, his official merchandise on the site had been priced down, signaling it may be lesser in value in the near future. These items should certainly be taken with a grain of salt but could help piece together the puzzle on whether Landry will be back with the Dolphins, or if they’re planning to ship him out via trade before long.
West Notes: Seahawks, Sanders, 49ers, Rams
Ian Rapoport of NFL.com believes neither Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman or safety Earl Thomas will be on the move via trade anytime soon (video link).
For Sherman, 29, his Achilles injury which forced him to miss the final nine games of the regular season — the first game’s he’s missed through his seven-year NFL career — will keep from being traded in the near future. The three-time All-Pro is set to enter the final year of his contract and is due to earn $11MM in non-guaranteed base salary, with a $13.2MM cap hit.
As for Thomas, Rapoport believed it was more likely the team would agree to a new deal with the standout safety rather than deal him. Thomas, 28, is also entering the final year of his new contract, which will earn him $8.5MM in base salary, along with a $10.4MM cap hit. Rapoport did go on to say that the Seahawks could obviously look to deal Thomas — a three-time All-Pro as well — if they are blown away by an offer.
Earl and Thomas have been centerpieces of Seattle’s “Legion of Boom,” helping lead the team to a Super Bowl XLVII title in 2013, which is the only Super Bowl title in franchise history.
Here’s more from out West:
- Broncos wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders‘ name has been tossed around trade rumors this offseason but Rapoport doesn’t see the team dealing him anytime soon either. Sanders is set to make $8.25MM in base salary next year but has a cap hit of $10.94MM, Rapoport considered that a high number for a player who’ll be 31 when the 2018 season begins and has seen a decline in his reception and yardage numbers since signing with the Broncos in 2014. However, Rapoport points out that the Broncos’ receiver tandem of Sanders and Demaryius Thomas could help lure a quarterback such as Kirk Cousins this offseason.
- Eric Branch of the San Francisco Chronicle looks at some players the 49ers may be targeting ahead of next week’s NFL Scouting Combine. The 49ers are awaiting a coin flip against the Raiders to see if they’ll be picking at No. 9 or 10 but Branch believes cornerback will be a top priority for the team in the draft. Ohio State’s Denzel Ward was a player he identified could help in the secondary, with Vontae Davis and Marcus Peters serving as options through free agency and trade. A pass-rusher may be hard to come by, as North Carolina State’s Bradley Chubb is expected to go in the top five with a major gap in between the next-highest rated pass rushers. Branch also pointed to Notre Dame guard Quenton Nelson as an option in the first round.
- Sticking with the draft, Rams vice president Kevin Demoff discussed how the team uses analytic when it comes to the draft while speaking at the Sloan Sports Analytics Conference (Youtube link, starting around 38-minute mark). Demoff said the team leans on its analytics more heavily in the sixth and seventh rounds, as well as undrafted free agents. A question was posed to Demoff centered around Cooper Kupp, who was limited from an analytics standpoint due to playing at Eastern Washington, but was still chosen by the Rams in the third round of last year’s draft. Demoff said that watching Kupp in individual workouts was the kicker in making the decision to pick him, though other available receivers graded higher.
Jaguars Sign Blake Bortles Through 2020
The Jaguars look to be out of the market for a quarterback agreeing to a three-year, $54MM contract extension with Blake Bortles, which includes $26.5MM guaranteed and could reach $66.5MM in total with incentives. The team confirmed the move Saturday night (Twitter link).
“Blake’s growth and development last season was a key to the success we had as a team,” said Jaguars Executive Vice President of Football Operations Tom Coughlin said in a team release. “Blake has proven, with toughness and dependability, that he can be the leader this team needs going forward. Along with this contract come high expectations that he will continue to improve and help our team accomplish its ultimate goal.”
ESPN’s Adam Schefter first reported the terms of the deal and ESPN colleague Josina Anderson first reported that the two sides were working on a deal. Ian Rapoport of NFL.com was first to report the deal could be done as early as Saturday night.
With the incentives in the deal, Bortles could make up to $22.5MM annually over the next three seasons. Without the incentives in place, the deal would net Bortles $18MM per year, placing him right behind Dolphins quarterback Ryan Tannehill ($19.25MM) in average annual salary. The 49ers made Jimmy Garoppolo the highest paid player in the NFL on average annually this offseason at $27.5MM.
Bortles, 25, was already under contract with the Jaguars for 2018 and was due to make $19MM as the team picked up his fifth-year non-guaranteed option last May. But Bortles’ reported new deal will keep him in Jacksonville through 2020 and eliminates a team from a crowded group that’ll be seeking new quarterbacks this offseason.
Schefter points out that the extension gives the Jaguars a chance to see if Bortles can flourish into the player they imagined when they selected him third overall in 2014. It also gives them an extended chance to seek out other long-term options at quarterback with Bortles under contract. ESPN’s Field Yates also identified that Bortles is the first player from the 2014 draft class to receive an extension. Players such as Giants wide receiver Odell Beckham, Rams defensive lineman Aaron Donald and Raiders linebacker Khalil Mack could join Bortles in that aspect in the near future.
The Jaguars made it to the AFC Championship last season with Bortles under center and were winners of the AFC South, snapping a nine-year postseason drought, but he’s dealt with consistency issues throughout his career. Bortles has started all 16 games in each of the last three seasons for the Jaguars. He threw a career-low 13 interceptions in last year’s regular season while completing a career-best 60.2% of his passes. Bortles also underwent right wrist surgery this offseason, confirming the move Saturday (Twitter link), with the injury reportedly affecting him starting in December 2016.
As for as the receiving corps Bortles will be working with, top targets Marqise Lee and Allen Robinson are both set to hit unrestricted free agency this offseason. The team still has the likes of Allen Hurns and Dede Westbrook under contract for next year, along with tight end Marcedes Lewis.