Packers’ Rashan Gary Returns To Practice
Rashan Gary needed to wait longer than most first-round pass rushers to become a regular starter. The Packers chose the Michigan product a month after signing both Za’Darius Smith and Preston Smith in free agency in 2019. Gary started all of four games over his first two seasons.
Za’Darius Smith’s back injury shelving him in September 2021 opened the door to a regular role, and Gary made the most of the opportunity by becoming the Packers’ top edge rusher that season. After Gary carried that momentum into 2022, a November ACL tear blunted it. Gary, however, took a big step toward returning on time for this season.
The fifth-year edge defender returned to practice Monday, moving off the Packers’ active/PUP list. If Gary ends up needing more time in an effort to come back from the severe knee injury, the Packers no longer have the option of stashing him on the reserve/PUP list to start the year. Green Bay would only have an IR option; like the reserve/PUP list, that designation would cost Gary four games. As of Monday, however, it is more likely than not Gary begins the season on time.
Gary broke through for 9.5 sacks and 28 quarterback hits in 2021, helping the Packers secure their second straight No. 1 seed despite a wave of injuries depleting their depth chart. The team then made Za’Darius Smith a cap casualty in March 2022. Gary and Preston Smith remain the Packer anchors on the edge, though first-round pick Lukas Van Ness — who excelled as an off-the-bench inside and outside rusher at Iowa — is now in the picture.
Gary’s return will give the Packers flexibility with Van Ness, whose path could be similar to that of Gary’s. That said, Green Bay would only incur a $4MM dead-money charge by designating Preston Smith a post-June 1 cut in 2024. For now, the team will have an intriguing set of pass rushers entering its first post-Aaron Rodgers season.
Eric Stokes, who was lost for the season during the same Week 9 game in which Gary went down, remains on Green Bay’s active/PUP list. The third-year cornerback can be activated at any point during training camp. Stokes is coming off knee and foot surgeries.
Panthers Viewed Yannick Ngakoue Price As Too Steep; Bears Considered Justin Houston
Several weeks after the veteran edge rusher market’s ice began to thaw when Leonard Floyd and Frank Clark found new homes, Yannick Ngakoue and Justin Houston reached agreements to continue their careers. The Bears and Panthers, respectively, signed the veteran sack artists; each team, however, considered both players.
Rumored to be eyeing a veteran edge player opposite Brian Burns for the past two offseasons, the Panthers stood down on that front in the wake of Haason Reddick‘s 2022 exit. They did not do so this year, giving Houston a one-year deal worth $6MM guaranteed. The Panthers gave Houston more money compared to the 12-year veteran’s second Ravens pact (one year, $3.5MM), but they still did not want to meet Ngakoue’s asking price.
Ngakoue ended up collecting $10MM guaranteed from the Bears, and ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler notes the Panthers viewed this as too steep. In Houston, the Panthers will go with a player six years older but one who matched Ngakoue’s 2022 sack total (9.5) during his second Ravens season. Houston also loomed as a Bears consolation prize of sorts, with Fowler adding he was Chicago’s backup plan in case the team could not move Ngakoue’s asking price down to a level it deemed reasonable.
The Bears had eyed Ngakoue for a while, but Fowler adds the team spent time talking the seven-year vet down from a $13MM-per-year price point and had believed he wanted a multiyear deal. When Ngakoue changed agents earlier this year, a multiyear pact was indeed believed to be on his radar.
Marcus Davenport signed a one-year, $13MM deal ($10MM guaranteed) earlier this year, and Ngakoue’s production dwarfs the former first-rounder’s. Ngakoue is the only player riding a streak of seven straight eight-plus sack seasons. The former third-round pick began that surge to start his career in 2016. That said, Ngakoue has been viewed as a pass rush specialist of sorts; his issues in the run game undoubtedly led to the former Jaguars draftee/franchise tag recipient needing to wait until August before catching on somewhere.
Ngakoue, 28, will anchor the Bears’ edge-rushing corps. He had said previously landing with a surefire contender would not be a requirement for his latest free agency. While Ngakoue sought a deal that matched his 2021 Raiders AAV — from a two-year, $26MM contract that ended up being sent from the Raiders to the Colts — he still outperformed Floyd, Clark and Houston on the market. The Bears are not eyeing a designated pass rusher role for the well-traveled sack artist, with Matt Eberflus confirming (via The Athletic’s Adam Jahns; subscription required) he views Ngakoue as an every-down player.
Former Raiders defensive line coach Rod Marinelli, whom Eberflus regards as a mentor, gave the second-year Bears HC a strong Ngakoue endorsement, Jahns adds. Marinelli, who coached Ngakoue in 2021, also factored into the veteran edge choosing Chicago. Of course, the Bears’ eight-figure guarantee likely provided the biggest push here.
As the Bears and Panthers made key additions to their edge corps, Jadeveon Clowney remains unsigned. While Robert Quinn, Melvin Ingram and Carlos Dunlap are also unattached, Clowney is much younger — at 30 — and lines up as the top outside rusher available.
Patriots Adjust Matt Judon’s Contract
AUGUST 6: Further details on the new agreement are in, courtesy of ESPN’s Mike Reiss. A void year for 2025 is in place, which will help smooth out the cap implications of the raise. The deal is now set to expire before free agency following that season, though, which means the franchise tag will not be an option for New England.
Judon’s new pact saw some of his $9.5MM 2024 salary pushed up to this season. That certainly helps his situation for the immediate future, but Reiss notes that the two parties will likely be in the same situation next offseason that they were in recent weeks given the absence of guarantees after 2023. Another strong season from Judon would help his bargaining position and likely further the mutual interest to prolong his Patriots tenure.
AUGUST 4: The contract talks between the Patriots and Matt Judon had occurred for a bit now, and they will produce a resolution early in training camp. The Patriots agreed to provide more guarantees for their top pass rusher. 
Going into Friday, Judon’s through-2024 contract contained just $2MM in remaining guarantees. That number is now at $14MM, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter (on Twitter). All of those guarantees come in 2023. No new years are included on this contract, which was originally agreed to during the Pats’ 2021 free agency splurge.
Judon has led the Patriots in sacks in each of the past two seasons, totaling 28 in that span. The ex-Raven’s $13.6MM-per-year contract is out of step with that value, and while the Patriots are not extending Judon at this point, they will reward the oft-red-sleeved edge dynamo ahead of his third season with the team. Judon, who will turn 31 this month, can earn up to $18MM in 2023. Originally, he was set to only earn $12MM with his $11MM base salary and a $1MM roster bonus. According to Ben Volin of the Boston Globe, another $500K could’ve been added through another bonus. Jeff Howe of The Athletic reports that, of the $14MM, $7MM will be guaranteed base salary and $7MM will come in the form of a signing bonus.
So, basically, instead of only having $2MM guaranteed with an $11MM salary and the potential to make $1.5MM more in bonuses, Judon’s new deal will automatically guarantee him $14MM for the year. That may not be much of a raise, but it’s an act of good faith by the Patriots to make sure one of their best defenders knows he’s being taken care of for now.
Judon had staged a bit of a “hold-in” to start camp, participating in a limited capacity over the first few days, to presumably send a passive-aggressive message to the team that he was unhappy with how any talks towards a new deal were going. He’s since returned to full participation and with this amended contract, it seems that the situation will avoid devolving into any sort of mess.
Judon has shown he has a desire to stay in New England for the foreseeable future. While this newly reworked contract isn’t an extension, perhaps it serves as a promise of things to come as the Patriots strive to keep Judon happy until negotiations can resume.
Ely Allen contributed to this post.
Bengals, Logan Wilson Agree On Extension
Although Joe Burrow‘s extension is not yet completed, the Bengals are checking off another key box on their offseason to-do list. Logan Wilson will not play out a contract year.
The Bengals and Wilson agreed to terms on a four-year, $37.25MM extension Friday, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com reports (on Twitter). The deal will give the fourth-year linebacker an $11.2MM average annual value over its first two years. Wilson had entered Friday joining Burrow, Tee Higgins and Tyler Boyd as key contract-year Bengals. No longer, as the team now has he and Germaine Pratt — re-signed in free agency — locked up.
[RELATED: Bengals Extend DE Trey Hendrickson]
Wilson, 27, has resided on Cincinnati’s extension radar for a while now. The full terms of the deal are not yet known, but on the surface, it will not quite check in among the top-10 off-ball linebacker contracts. Just as they did with Orlando Brown Jr.‘s deal, the Bengals look to be frontloading this contract. Wilson’s overall AAV will be $9.3MM, however, will only be good enough for a tie with the Saints’ Demario Davis in 11th at the position. While the salary cap’s rise would suggest higher payouts are coming in the future, this year’s market did not produce a host of impact deals for ILBs.
Pratt enjoyed a strong contract year but could only score a three-year, $20.25MM accord in free agency. The Bengals brought back Pratt while letting safeties Jessie Bates and Vonn Bell walk. Pratt received just $7MM guaranteed. It should be expected Wilson’s contract will provide him more security, as the Bengals have relied on the Wyoming alum as a three-down player — responsibilities that Pratt does not have on a full-time basis — during their rise into an AFC power.
It will be interesting to see what the Bengals are guaranteeing Wilson, as a $9.3MM AAV leaves a bit to be desired for a player who would have certainly enjoyed a nice market — barring a major injury — in 2024. The cap’s restoration following a 2021 reduction will give teams more to spend, and this year’s ILB market did include $18MM- and $10MM-per-year payments — to Tremaine Edmunds and Bobby Okereke. The round of Pratt-level pacts handed out may have come about because of the volume of second-tier-type off-ball ‘backers available. But Wilson had wanted to sign an extension before the season, per The Athletic’s Paul Dehner Jr. (subscription required), and will bypass a free agency bid, giving the Bengals what looks like a big win ahead of the 2023 season.
From Boyd to Bates to Higgins to Pratt to Sam Hubbard, the Bengals have found several quality starters on Day 2 of the draft over the past several years. Wilson is squarely on that list, arriving as the No. 65 overall pick in 2020. The Bengals made Wilson a full-time player in 2021, giving him an 83% defensive snap rate. Last season, Wilson played a career-high 955 defensive snaps — a 97% rate — and ranked as a top-20 linebacker in the view of Pro Football Focus. Wilson’s coverage chops represented a key reason for that ranking, with PFF slotting him as a top-15 coverage ‘backer.
After a 100-tackle 2021, Wilson made 123 stops last season. Despite his linebacker role, Wilson has intercepted seven passes and deflected 11 more over the first three years of his career. Wilson added 2.5 sacks and seven QB hits last season, solidifying himself as one of the NFL’s top young linebackers. The Bengals lost both their starting safeties from the past three years, but DC Lou Anarumo will have his top two linebackers locked down for the foreseeable future. While Pratt’s contract is a pay-as-you-go setup, he is signed through 2025. Wilson is locked in through 2027.
Raiders Eyeing Thayer Munford For RT Job
After receiving some surprising returns up front last season, the Raiders largely stood pat this year. Only Greg Van Roten arrived as a notable free agent along the offensive line. No draft choices were allocated to the position.
The Raiders do, however, look to be strongly considering an internal shakeup. Thayer Munford has taken most of the team’s first-string right tackle reps during training camp, and the Las Vegas Review-Journal’s Vincent Bonsignore notes the Raiders are confident the 2022 seventh-round pick is ready for a bigger role.
Jermaine Eluemunor primarily manned that position last season, and the veteran resides as one of many ex-Patriots on Josh McDaniels‘ roster. Eluemunor has extensive guard experience as well, having played there for the Raiders in 2021. A potential move back inside has been on the Raiders’ radar for a bit now, and the team has a potential opening there. Incumbent Alex Bars, who rated as one of Pro Football Focus’ worst guards in 2022, has been taking most of the first-team reps during camp, per Bonsignore. Van Roten, whom the Raiders signed after the draft, has not seen many first-team cameos.
The Raiders re-signed Eluemunor to a one-year, $3MM deal in March. He has started 20 games since coming to Las Vegas, including all 17 last season. The seventh-year veteran, who played for McDaniels in New England from 2019-20, could serve as a swingman as well. This would give the Raiders some proven depth, as Eluemunor has started 31 career games, provided Munford is truly ready to move into the starting lineup.
Pro Football Focus viewed Eluemunor’s work fondly last season, rating him 21st among tackles; the advanced metrics site slotted Munford 52nd. But the team was high on the Day 3 pick’s progress before his rookie year. Munford played 370 offensive snaps as a rookie. Munford saw time at right tackle, left tackle and left guard at Ohio State, a program that has certainly seen its share of O-linemen make their way into the NFL in recent years. Enough improvement between Year 1 and Year 2 looks like it would trigger a lineup change in Vegas.
After rotating O-linemen during camp last year, the Raiders are sticking with their front five in this year’s camp. Munford and Bars have joined Kolton Miller, Dylan Parham and Andre James on the first-unit line. PFF ranked the Raiders’ line 10th last season, as it helped Josh Jacobs win the rushing title. Observing how they construct the right side of this year’s O-line, as the injury-prone Jimmy Garoppolo is now in place at quarterback, will be a storyline worth following in Vegas. A Bars-Munford right side would be light on experience, but Eluemunor and Van Roten also provide experienced depth — in the event the former Buckeyes blocker seizes the RT job.
NFL Suspends Seahawks WR Dee Eskridge
4:26pm: An Eskridge arrest led to this ban. Eskridge was arrested on misdemeanor charges involving his child’s mother in February, Mike Garafolo of NFL.com tweets. It is unclear what the charges were, but they are under the domestic violence umbrella. The third-year wide receiver reached an agreement where the charges will be dismissed by virtue of the completion of domestic violence moral recognition therapy. No conviction has occurred, but the NFL does not need one to proceed with a suspension under the personal conduct policy.
3:28pm: Following the long-rumored Alvin Kamara–Chris Lammons suspensions, the NFL is using this Friday afternoon to confirm more bans. In addition to Chiefs defensive end Charles Omenihu being hit with a six-game suspension, Seahawks wide receiver Dee Eskridge will also be shut down for an extended stretch.
Eskridge received a six-game ban due to a violation of the NFL’s personal conduct policy, the league announced. The violation is unknown at this point, but the former second-round pick will be out for a third of his third NFL season.
This creates another hurdle for the former MAC standout, who has not established himself as a dependable pass catcher in Seattle. The Seahawks drafted Eskridge 56th overall in 2021, making him their first draft choice that year (the team had traded its first-rounder in the 2020 Jamal Adams swap). But Eskridge has battled injuries and inconsistency as a pro, having only caught 17 passes for 122 yards since debuting with the Seahawks. A concussion and a toe injury limited Eskridge as a rookie, and a broken hand sidelined him during part of last season. Overall, the Western Michigan alum has missed 14 NFL games.
Seattle also made a splashy addition at receiver this offseason, drafting Jaxon Smith-Njigba in the first round. The Hawks made the Ohio State product this year’s first receiver off the board, taking him 20th overall. Eskridge was initially pegged as a slot player to go with Tyler Lockett and D.K. Metcalf. Smith-Njigba, who dominated for the Buckeyes as a sophomore in 2021 before a nagging hamstring injury kept him off the field for most of last season, is now penciled into that role.
Eskridge’s rookie contract runs through the 2024 season. He is due to make $1.2MM this year. The Seahawks are still thin beyond their high-end top three at receiver. Dareke Young, a 2022 seventh-rounder, joins ex-UDFAs Cody Thompson and Easop Winston as aspiring second-stringers. Altogether, that trio has not totaled 10 receptions. It would not surprise to see the Seahawks make an addition in the wake of Eskridge’s ban.
Colts To Sign RB Kenyan Drake
Kenyan Drake‘s Colts workout will lead to a signing. The veteran running back agreed to terms with the team Friday, according to his agency (Twitter link).
Indianapolis auditioned Drake, Devine Ozigbo and Benny Snell on Wednesday. Of that trio, Drake brought by far the most experience and production. The former Dolphins, Cardinals, Raiders and Ravens running back will have another opportunity — for a team dealing with some big-picture issues at the position.
Jonathan Taylor‘s stay on the active/PUP list continues, and Zack Moss suffered a broken arm earlier this week. Taylor’s top backup, Moss is expected to be out approximately six weeks. Drake, 29, will step in and play a key role for the retooling team. The former third-round pick spent last season in Baltimore, serving as insurance for a team that had seen injuries derail its backfield plan. Injuries are technically limiting the Colts right now, but Taylor’s situation is obviously far more complex.
Although Drake has been with four teams over the past four seasons, he has enjoyed quality spurts. The Alabama product averaged 5.2 yards per carry in his 2019 Cardinals games, following a midseason trade with the Dolphins, and the team transition-tagged him in 2020. The then-Kliff Kingsbury-led team used Drake as its top back that year, and he finished with a career-high 10 touchdowns. Drake totaled more than 1,000 scrimmage yards in 2019 and ’20, and the Raiders — despite having drafted Josh Jacobs in the 2019 first round — gave him a two-year, $11MM deal in 2021.
Jon Gruden‘s vision of Drake serving as a dynamic pass-catching back alongside Jacobs did not entirely come to fruition, with Drake totaling just 291 receiving yards. The Josh McDaniels-led Raiders released Drake last summer, after trade talks did not progress, leading to the Ravens commitment. With J.K. Dobbins returning to IR and Gus Edwards not coming off the reserve/PUP list until midseason, Drake provided some notable fill-in work. Headlined by a 119-yard game against the Giants and a 93-yard rushing performance against the Saints, Drake finished with 482 rushing yards (4.4 per carry) and made some key contributions to the playoff-bound team’s cause while its top backfield cogs battled injuries. But the Ravens have a more stable situation now, with Melvin Gordon also involved.
The Colts’ situation: far from stable. Taylor has gone from being labeled as ready to go for camp by Jim Irsay to requesting a trade. The former All-Pro, who is coming off a minimally invasive January ankle surgery, is dissatisfied with his contract — during a bleak offseason for the running back position — and is likely staging a hold-in. Irsay has indicated the Colts will not trade Taylor, but as his time on the sidelines continues, this topic may not be entirely out of bounds.
For now, Drake will step in as a veteran presence atop — Taylor excluded — an inexperienced depth chart. Deon Jackson, ex-Rams UDFA Jake Funk and fifth-round rookie Evan Hull entered Friday as the Colts’ top available backs.
Cowboys To Extend S Malik Hooker
The Cowboys re-signed Donovan Wilson to solidify their safety position. Months later, they are making another commitment. Former first-round pick Malik Hooker agreed to an extension to stay in Dallas on Friday.
Hooker agreed to a three-year deal worth up to $24MM, ESPN’s Adam Schefter tweets. The contract includes $16.5MM guaranteed, which features an $8MM signing bonus to be paid within the next 15 days. This agreement will tie Hooker to the Cowboys through the 2026 season.
Having been previously tied to a two-year deal worth $7MM, Hooker has secured an elusive payday. These terms appear in line with the pacts given to the non-Jessie Bates wing of safeties in this year’s free agent class. Wilson and Juan Thornhill received $7MM-per-year deals, while Vonn Bell signed for $7.5MM per year with the Panthers. Jimmie Ward ($6.5MM AAV) and Jordan Poyer ($6.25MM) came in just south of that, with the Seahawks and Raiders respectively giving Julian Love and Marcus Epps two-year, $12MM accords.
Hooker has gone from the lowest-paid member of Dallas’ safety trio to the highest-paid, guarantee-wise. It is not yet known how Hooker’s AAV stacks up here, but his $16.5MM guarantee tops all the above-referenced safeties. Wilson signed for $13.5MM guaranteed. The Cowboys now have three safeties — Wilson, Hooker and Jayron Kearse — signed to veteran contracts south of $10MM per year, making this an interesting all-middle-class trio at the position. Kearse is signed to a two-year, $10MM contract.
This is a long time coming for Hooker, whom the Colts selected with the 15th overall pick in 2017. He came into his rookie year after an injury, and a September 2020 Achilles tear ended up concluding his Colts tenure. Indianapolis moved on after Hooker’s rookie deal, having passed on his fifth-year option prior to that injury occurring. Hooker had missed 15 games from 2017-19, having suffered a torn ACL in October 2017. This Cowboys stay has rebuilt the one-time top prospect’s value.
Hooker, 27, has missed just three games since initially signing with the Cowboys — on a one-year, $920K deal in July 2021 — and has helped the team build a strong safety foundation. Once regularly connected to Earl Thomas, the Cowboys now have three proven defenders at the position. Pro Football Focus ranked all three of Dallas’ safeties in the top 30 last season. Hooker (13th) led the way, playing 861 defensive snaps despite starting just six games. Using a bevy of three-safety looks, the Cowboys saw Hooker intercept three passes and make 62 tackles last season.
The Cowboys came into training camp with lofty extension goals. Hooker’s name did not appear on this marquee, with CeeDee Lamb, Trevon Diggs and Terence Steele being Dallas’ top extension targets. Diggs has signed a five-year, $97MM extension. The Cowboys have Lamb signed through 2024, via the fifth-year option, but have Steele heading into a contract year. Several weeks still remain for the Cowboys to find common ground there, however. Zack Martin remains a camp holdout, though Jerry Jones did not indicate a deal is coming for the future Hall of Fame guard.
Chiefs DE Charles Omenihu Handed Six-Game Suspension
The Chiefs will be without one of their defensive ends for a while. Charles Omenihu received a six-game suspension Friday, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets.
Omenihu, who signed with the Chiefs in March, was arrested on a misdemeanor domestic violence charge in January. While Omenihu played out the season with the 49ers, he will be in line to miss a chunk of his first Chiefs campaign.
Suspended under the NFL’s personal conduct policy, Omenihu will be eligible to complete Kansas City’s training camp and preseason. But he will not be able to rejoin the team until Week 7. The Chiefs signed the former 49ers auxiliary rusher to a two-year, $16MM deal. This suspension puts the $8.6MM guaranteed Omenihu received at risk.
The arrest occurred after a woman told police her boyfriend, Omenihu, pushed her to the ground during an argument. The 25-year-old defender was booked into the Santa Clara County Main Jail. This came days before the NFC championship game. With the NFL still conducting its investigation, Omenihu played 38 defensive snaps in the 49ers’ loss to the Eagles. The arrest also did not do too much to minimize Omenihu’s market, with it requiring an $8.6MM guarantee — more than Leonard Floyd or ex-Chief Frank Clark received when they eventually found new homes — to complete the signing. But this suspension could void that guarantee.
The Chiefs have not been afraid to take risks on players with checkered pasts, as the Clark trade and Tyreek Hill draft choice best illustrate. The Chiefs also gave cornerbacks DeAndre Baker and Damon Arnette their first opportunities after off-field incidents led to each becoming available. Clark, who had a domestic violence incident in his past prior to his NFL career, played four seasons with the Chiefs but found himself a cap casualty this offseason. Received a two-game suspension last year after being arrested twice on gun charges in 2021, Clark played four seasons with the Chiefs following the 2019 blockbuster trade. Clark has since signed with the Broncos.
Since acquiring Omenihu from the Texans before the 2021 trade deadline, the 49ers used him as one of their Nick Bosa sidekicks. Omenihu recorded 1.5 sacks during the 2021 postseason and dropped Geno Smith twice during the 49ers’ wild-card win over the Seahawks last year. During the 2022 regular season, Omenihu registered 4.5 sacks and totaled 16 quarterback hits. When the suspension ends, he will be expected to team with recent first-round picks George Karlaftis and Felix Anudike-Uzomah on Kansas City’s Chris Jones-fronted defensive line.
Carlos Dunlap served as Clark’s top D-end complementary piece in Kansas City last season. With an Omenihu ban long expected, the Chiefs may be considering re-signing the 13-year veteran. Dunlap joins Jadeveon Clowney, Robert Quinn and multiple ex-Chiefs — Justin Houston and Melvin Ingram — as the top edge defenders available. The defending Super Bowl champions also roster Mike Danna, a 2020 fifth-round pick who tallied five sacks last season, as a veteran piece alongside its recent first-round investments.
Offseason In Review: Tennessee Titans
The AFC’s No. 1 seed in 2021, the Titans took a step back after another injury-riddled season. As numerous starters moved from Tennessee’s two-deep to IR, ownership reversed course on an extension it had just authorized months earlier. Like the Cardinals, the Titans fired a GM (Jon Robinson) they had extended earlier in the year. Robinson’s decision to trade A.J. Brown also brought disastrous effects, and the Titans enter 2023 with their longtime offensive pillars — Derrick Henry and Ryan Tannehill — in contract years.
Rookie GM Ran Carthon made several lineup changes this offseason, and the Titans do play in what has been the AFC’s worst division for the better part of the past decade. Will the high floor Mike Vrabel has helped provide be there for this reconstructed team?
Extensions and restructures:
- Agreed to four-year, $94MM extension with DL Jeffery Simmons ($47.83MM guaranteed)
- Reached incentive-based contract reworking with S Kevin Byard
This Robinson bet on an injured prospect paid off for the Titans, who have one of the NFL’s best interior defensive linemen. And Simmons has been durable since debuting midway through his rookie season post-ACL tear. Notching back-to-back second-team All-Pro seasons, Simmons has totaled 16 sacks and 21 tackles for loss from 2021-22. His three sacks drove a ferocious pass rush that nearly dragged the Titans to a divisional-round win over the Bengals. The Titans now have the two anchors of that rush — Simmons and Harold Landry — signed long term.
During an offseason in which the NFL’s top non-Aaron Donald tier of D-tackle contract became firmly established, Simmons exited with more guaranteed money than the Rams legend. Although Carthon did not draft Simmons, the former 49ers exec made a point to hammer out the deal before the offseason program began.
Simmons, 26, had staged a hold-in at the Titans’ 2022 minicamp, but with non-quarterback extensions for players with two years of control remaining still fairly rare, the DT-rich 2019 first round needed to wait. With the Commanders franchise-tagging 2018 first-rounder Daron Payne, it created a glut of D-tackles aiming to bridge the mammoth gap between Donald and the field.
In a league in which Patrick Mahomes‘ contract — which stood $10MM north of the second-highest NFL AAV when finalized — has been passed over many times, it is notable none of the 20-something D-tackles came especially close to Donald’s $31.7MM average salary. Simmons has a case to be labeled the league’s third-best inside D-lineman — behind Donald and Chris Jones — and his AAV landed at $23.5MM. Teams were not willing to go near the price the Rams set for their historically talented pass rusher, but Simmons securing the $47.8MM guarantee number obviously proved crucial for his camp. While the Jones-Chiefs talks have not produced a resolution, Simmons trails only Quinnen Williams in fully guaranteed money at the position.
The Byard saga did produce an agreement, but the Carthon era has not started off ideally for the veteran safety. A reliable performer on one of the NFL’s most injury-prone teams, Byard is two seasons removed from a first-team All-Pro nod. The seven-year veteran has never missed a game, giving the Titans vital security as injury trouble has impacted the roster at key points. Pro Football Focus has also graded Byard as a top-10 safety in five of the past six seasons. Byard, who will turn 30 before the season, admitted he did not expect Carthon to hit him with a pay-cut request.
No trade drama ensued, but Carthon did trim money from Byard’s 2023 base salary. This is not a true restructure, as the transaction shaved nearly $3MM off Byard’s 2023 base salary. Incentives can move the number back to the $13.6MM place at which it previously stood, but the Titans also gave Byard $7MM in additional guarantees — on a contract that had seen its guarantees elapse — to agree to this. As a result, the team created more than $7MM in 2023 cap space with this adjustment. After two previous restructures, Byard’s cap number had ballooned to $19.6MM.
Free agency additions:
- Arden Key, OLB: Three years, $21MM ($13MM guaranteed)
- DeAndre Hopkins, WR: Two years, $26MM ($10.98MM guaranteed)
- Andre Dillard, T: Three years, $29MM ($10MM guaranteed)
- Azeez Al-Shaair, ILB: One year, $5MM ($4.25MM guaranteed)
- Sean Murphy-Bunting, CB: One year, $3.5MM ($3.5MM guaranteed)
- Daniel Brunskill, G: Two years, $5.5MM ($1.5MM guaranteed)
- Luke Gifford, ILB: Two years, $4MM ($1MM guaranteed)
- Chris Moore, WR: One year, $1.32MM ($1MM guaranteed)
- Chris Hubbard, OL: One year, $1.32MM ($75K guaranteed)
- Jaleel Johnson, DL: One year, $1.1MM
- Ben Niemann, LB: One year, $1.1MM
The Ravens’ Odell Beckham Jr. contract shook up Hopkins trade talks, eventually opening the door for the Titans. As Hopkins’ free agency played out, it seemed fitting the Titans ended up playing the Ravens role as they competed against true AFC contenders. Tennessee ended up outflanking other suitors — perhaps by a decent margin — to sign Hopkins. Considering the performance of the Titans’ receiving corps last season and the state this year’s group resided post-draft, Hopkins represented a vital upgrade.
Dealing Brown immediately burned the Titans, who may have misread the market. Although the Ravens traded Marquise Brown, the other four teams with decisions on 2019 receiver draftees — the Commanders (Terry McLaurin), Seahawks (D.K. Metcalf), 49ers (Deebo Samuel) and Steelers (Diontae Johnson) — reached extension agreements, with the pacts being based on the one the Eagles gave Brown. While first-rounder Treylon Burks — effectively Brown’s replacement — showed flashes, Tennessee’s receiving corps produced just one 500-yard showing. And that came from a declining Robert Woods, who totaled 527 yards as this passing attack cratered.
Hopkins, 31, is not where he was when traded from the Texans to the Cardinals, but of the suitors, no team needed him more. The contract the Titans shelled out reflected that. Had the Ravens’ similar receiver need not driven them to give Beckham $15MM guaranteed, the long-rumored Bills-Chiefs bidding war might have taken place on the trade market.
Hopkins was apparently ready to accept a reduction to facilitate a trade away from the rebuilding Cards, but once OBJ (zero first-team All-Pro nods) landed the Baltimore deal after not playing in 2022, Hopkins naturally did not believe he needed to make a big sacrifice ahead of his 11th season. Rather than becoming a major chip in the arms race taking place atop the AFC, Hopkins will take some pressure off Burks in Nashville.
This move does remind of Tennessee’s Julio Jones pickup two years ago. Jones was also a three-time first-team All-Pro coming off an injury-limited season in his early 30s. But the Titans needed to fork over a second-round pick for the ex-Falcon great. The Hopkins contract details reveal an easy out after one year. The Titans designating Hopkins as a post-June 1 cut next year would come with just $1.96MM in dead money (and $14MM-plus in savings). Hopkins is due a $4.1MM roster bonus on Day 5 of the 2024 league year, providing an early decision date — unlike this offseason.
Bailing on another accomplished wideout with a post-June 1 release designation would not be optimal for Tennessee, which still has $8.4MM in Jones dead money on its 2023 cap sheet. But even though it looked like the team needed to offer several million more than Kansas City or New England did in guarantees, thus topping the incentive-laden deals each proposed, the Titans are not pot-committed for 2024.
In Hopkins’ last full season, he totaled a career-high 115 receptions for 1,407 receiving yards and six touchdowns. Hamstring issues and a torn MCL halted Hopkins’ momentum in 2021, bringing about the first injury-plagued stretch of the former first-round pick’s career. A PED ban and a minor knee issue emerged last year. Hopkins has missed 15 games over the past two seasons. But he has a history with Vrabel and new OC Tim Kelly, who were each in Houston during part of his seven-season stay.
