Rams To Bring Back C Coleman Shelton
After a year in Chicago, Coleman Shelton is returning to Los Angeles. The Rams are re-signing their former starting center, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reports.
Shelton is coming back to L.A. on a two-year deal. This comes soon after one of the Rams’ 2024 center options, Jonah Jackson, has been traded to the Bears. Jackson had been in talks with the Rams for more than a day, ESPN.com’s Courtney Cronin notes.
This will bring back a player who started 17 games for the 2023 Rams, and Shelton went on to start 17 games for the Bears last season. Although the Rams closed last season with Day 3 rookie Beaux Limmer as their starting center, Shelton will bring far more experience and durability to the post.
The Rams had both attempted to slide Steve Avila and then Jackson to center last year, but neither plan ended up sticking. Jackson ended up benched for Limmer, a sixth-round pick. Limmer, who is under contract for two more seasons, started 14 Rams games as a rookie and played all 916 of his snaps at center.
ESPN’s pass block win rate metric slotted Shelton 15th among interior O-lineman last season, though the Bears are overhauling their interior O-line. After trading for Jackson and Joe Thuney, the Bears paid up for Drew Dalman to come over from Atlanta. That trio will complement rookie-contract tackles Braxton Jones and Darnell Wright. Shelton, 29, is heading back to L.A. to potentially reclaim his old job.
Bills Agree To Record-Setting Extension With Josh Allen
MARCH 11: The contract includes $147MM fully guaranteed, SI.com’s Albert Breer notes. This does not rival Watson’s $230MM number — one achieved under historically unusual circumstances — but it does eclipse every other player’s full guarantee figure. Classifying this as a $90MM raise, Breer adds Allen will see $220MM over the next four years.
MARCH 9: Josh Allen completed an MVP season but had seen his contract drop outside the top 10 at quarterback. That is no longer the case. As the Bills finish a stream of extensions, they have reached a new deal with Allen.
Despite four seasons remaining on Allen’s $43MM-per-year extension, the Bills are doing right by their superstar. Allen agreed to a six-year, $330MM contract, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reports. Allen will see a whopping $250MM guaranteed. While that may not be the full guarantee, the overall total tops Deshaun Watson for the most ever guaranteed to an NFL player.
This does not add six more years to Allen’s term length, as NFL.com’s Tom Pelissero classifies this as a top-up deal. The contract will, however, add two more years — and an astonishing $200MM — to Allen’s overall outlay.
The new number settling in at $330MM over the next six seasons, Allen will be tied to $55MM per year. The guarantee figure is more important here, and it will be interesting to see if the Bills actually topped the Browns’ Watson windfall in terms of full guarantees. But Allen is obviously not going anywhere. His Hall of Fame course will be charted in Buffalo.
Allen’s AAV does not exceed Dak Prescott‘s NFL-record $60MM number, but it does check in on the second-place tier Joe Burrow, Trevor Lawrence and Jordan Love populate. Allen already earned $174MM through seven seasons, rising from raw super-prospect to arguably the NFL’s best active quarterback. Allen certainly does not have Patrick Mahomes‘ resume, but he has outplayed the Chiefs megastar over the past two seasons. This has not resulted in the Bills conquering the Chiefs in the playoffs, as they are now 0-4 against their rivals in January, but Buffalo is certainly betting that is on tap.
Prescott also landed his monster Cowboys re-up thanks to extraordinary leverage stemming from no-trade and no-tag clauses, and Dallas also faced a steep void years penalty if it did not pay its quarterback. That deal occurred hours before the team’s Week 1 game; the Bills are checking this off their to-do list years in advance. Allen, however, had slipped to 14th in QB AAV. The Bills had one of the best bargains in football, even with Allen at $43MM per annum, and it will be interesting to see how the massive adjustment changes their numbers moving forward.
Allen, 28, is coming off his best season, reaching that perch despite the Bills trading Stefon Diggs last April. Allen also played through a left hand fracture last season. Three times a top-five MVP finisher previously, Allen won the award after dragging a Bills team believed to be retooling — after moving on from several starters — to a 13-4 record and a third straight AFC No. 2 seed.
Allen sported a 28-6 TD-INT ratio and added 531 rushing yards and 12 scores. The do-it-all QB did not beat out Lamar Jackson‘s statistically superior season for first-team All-Pro honors but edged him for MVP, as voters either recognized the Bills having fewer All-Pros compared to the Ravens and/or punished Jackson for previous playoff shortcomings. The Bills defeated the Ravens in the divisional round this year, making Allen 2-0 against the two-time MVP in the playoffs. Matters have not gone as well against Allen’s other top rival, however.
A contract update was on the radar for Allen, though this is a bit more than a mere update. It both adds years and considerable guarantees to his deal. Allen joins Mahomes and Lawrence as being the only current NFLers signed into the 2030s. Mahomes, who received a reworking after his second Super Bowl MVP award in 2023, is still signed through 2031 on a Chiefs-friendly deal. Allen was the only QB to follow Mahomes’ lead and help his team in term length, as no other passers since have signed for more than five years. Allen adding two years to his deal will help the Bills, should they choose to keep restructuring it. The Chiefs have gone to this well with Mahomes three times and will likely keep doing so.
The Bills traded up twice to land Allen in the 2018 draft, and by 2020, the No. 7 overall pick had become one of the league’s best QBs. Allen’s carry workload probably needs to be a bigger talking point, as he has taken plenty of hits during his career on run plays. The Wyoming alum has already compiled 759 carries to go with 112 more in the playoffs. A controversial call on an Allen QB sneak helped sink the Bills in their latest Chiefs matchup, and Kansas City’s latest playoff win keeps bringing the Buffalo timeline into focus.
While the big-bodied QB’s run-game skills may run the risk of seeing his prime end early, the Bills have him at his absolute best right now. They are also loading up their roster to keep a new core intact. Buffalo has extended Khalil Shakir, Terrel Bernard and Gregory Rousseau over the past two weeks. Future Allen restructures will help the Bills afford those payments, though none of the performers received top-market money. James Cook might, and he is certainly pushing for it. Cook is Allen’s top skill-position weapon now, but the Bills are betting on their QB playing long enough he will thrive with another wave of skill players down the road.
The franchise will hope an elusive Super Bowl, perhaps more than one, emerges during this contract. The team must keep contending with an AFC gauntlet that features Mahomes, Jackson and Burrow. As Allen keeps proving he is squarely on that tier, the Bills no longer will need to worry about his contract for the foreseeable future.
Saints To Re-Sign TE Juwan Johnson
As Saints restructures accumulate (headlined by Derek Carr‘s), the team carved out enough cap room to retain Chase Young. The moves have also elevated New Orleans to a place where keeping Juwan Johnson was feasible.
The Saints are re-signing Johnson on a three-year deal, according to his agency. Johnson checked in on PFR’s Top 50 Free Agents list, as this year — before Evan Engram‘s release — brought a thin tight end contingent. But Johnson was one of the headliners. He is staying in New Orleans on a third contract.
Johnson will score a nice raise on this deal. The veteran pass catcher will be tied to $30.75MM, NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport tweets. Of that toal, $21.25MM will come guaranteed. Going into his age-29 season, Johnson is coming off his second 500-plus-yard performance. Even though the Saints are changing schemes by transitioning to the Kellen Moore era, Carr will still have Johnson to target moving forward.
The five-year Saint had played out a two-year, $12MM contract. It is worth wondering if Sean Payton‘s Saints West headquarters helped move the price to where it was, as the Broncos are in need of a tight end — even as they roster ex-Saints Adam Trautman and Lucas Krull — as well. Denver hosted Engram on Monday but has not signed him. Regardless of which team drove up Johnson’s price, a former UDFA will benefit and now be tied to an eight-figure AAV.
Over the past three years, Johnson has produced two 500-plus-yard seasons and totaled 14 touchdowns. That included career-high catch (50) and yardage (548) totals in 2024. The converted wideout has shown consistent ability to break away after the catch, with 38.7% of his yardage coming post-reception in 2024. He has averaged at least 11 yards per reception three times as a Saint, with Johnson being one of the team’s few post-Payton success stories. The converted wideout’s best work has come since Payton resigned his post in 2022.
Published before Engram’s release, PFR’s free agent list tabbed Johnson as most likely to become this year’s highest-paid UFA tight end. Although the Bengals gave Mike Gesicki a three-year, $25.5MM deal to stay, that assessment has thus far proven accurate. Johnson rejoins a Saints team still rostering Taysom Hill and Foster Moreau. While Hill has generated more interest, Johnson is now in the clear position as the team’s top receiving tight end.
Buccaneers To Re-Sign OLB Anthony Nelson
Another offseason chock full of Buccaneers re-signings is upon us. Anthony Nelson will become the latest homegrown player to stick around.
The Bucs are giving the outside linebacker at two-year, $10MM deal, ESPN.com’s Jeremy Fowler reports. The contract can max out at $12MM. Although these are modest terms in the grand scheme of NFL contracts, it is interesting since Nelson already played out a two-year, $10MM contract with the Bucs.
Considering where the cap has gone since Nelson re-signed with the Bucs in 2023, this can be deemed a pay cut. But Nelson will stay on a $5MM-per-year accord to help the Bucs as an auxiliary edge rusher. The former fourth-round pick has fared decently in that role before, having totaled 17.5 sacks over the past four years.
A 2019 fourth-round pick, Nelson won Super Bowl ring as a backup during the 2020 season and has helped the team transition after it moved on from Jason Pierre-Paul and Shaquil Barrett in recent years. The Bucs have since let Joe Tryon-Shoyinka walk, as the 2021 first-rounder committed to the Browns earlier Tuesday. Nelson could be in store for a bigger role as a result, but Tampa Bay is also bringing in Haason Reddick on a pricey one-year deal.
Reddick will be set to start opposite YaYa Diaby, but his addition should not tweak Nelson’s responsibilities too much. Nelson, 28, worked as a part-time starter in both 2022 and ’24, making 14 starts between those seasons, and was a 16-game contributor off the bench in 2023. Nelson is coming off a season in which he established a new career high with 13 QB hits. While he did not match his 2021-22 sack production (11.5) on his two-year deal (seven sacks from 2023-24), the Iowa alum upped his TFL count in that span. Nelson finished with 13 combined TFLs over the past two seasons, forcing a fumble in 2024.
A previous restructure on Nelson’s 2023 contract will lead to a Mike Evans-like arrangement, as Nelson will count as both an active contract and dead money on the Bucs’ 2025 payroll. Nelson’s deal voiding earlier this offseason will leave a $2.65MM dead money charge. But the Bucs will still keep their top rotational rusher in the fold behind Diaby and now Reddick.
The team had previously re-signed Lavonte David, Chris Godwin and Ben Bredeson. This comes after an offseason that featured David, Evans and Baker Mayfield re-ups and extensions for Tristan Wirfs and Antoine Winfield Jr.
Browns To Sign DE Joe Tryon-Shoyinka
As the Browns came in with a market-resetting extension to end their Myles Garrett trade drama, they will take a flier on a former first-round pick. Joe Tryon-Shoyinka is heading to Cleveland.
The former Buccaneers top choice will join the Browns on a one-year deal worth $4.75MM, according to Fox Sports’ Jordan Schultz. While Tryon-Shoyinka did not live up to expectations in Tampa, he will have a shot to bounce back in an edge-rushing corps still headlined by a future Hall of Famer.
Chosen months after the Bucs’ Super Bowl LV win, Tryon-Shoyinka could not establish himself as a reliable Shaquil Barrett complementary piece. The Bucs eventually benched the Washington alum, who is coming off a down season. Tryon-Shoyinka, 26 in April, totaled career-low marks in sacks (two), tackles for loss (three) and QB hits (four) despite playing in 15 games. As YaYa Diaby has established himself as Tampa Bay’s current top edge rusher, the Bucs were not viewed as likely to re-sign Tryon-Shoyinka.
Although the Bucs declined Tryon-Shoyinka’s fifth-year option in 2024, he did have moments as a supporting-caster. He tallied five sacks and seven TFLs in 2023, even as Diaby replaced him in Tampa Bay’s starting lineup opposite Barrett. Succeeding Jason Pierre-Paul in 2022, Tryon-Shoyinka also set a career high with 14 QB hits — during a season that featured a Barrett Achilles tear.
Garrett is back to anchor Cleveland’s pass rush for a ninth season, but his supporting cast needs filling out. The Browns traded three-year DE2 Za’Darius Smith last season and saw Garrett rack up 14 sacks and no one else surpass five. Tryon-Shoyinka may not ultimately check in as a Browns starter, even though he has 45 starts on his resume, but he could still benefit from the dominant performer’s presence — as Smith and Jadeveon Clowney have previously. The Browns still have Ogbo Okoronkwo and Alex Wright under contract as well.
Texans To Re-Sign DL Mario Edwards
The Texans dropped Shaq Mason after two seasons but have added two more players from the 2015 draft Tuesday. After reuniting Laken Tomlinson and DeMeco Ryans, Houston is bringing back Mario Edwards.
A 10-year veteran who has settled into a rotational role up front, Edwards is staying with the Texans on a two-year, $9.5MM deal, NFL.com’s Mike Garafolo reports. Although Edwards came into the NFL in 2015, he is still only going into his age-31 season.
Houston is bringing back Edwards after already reuniting with the player he helped replace (Sheldon Rankins). Adding Rankins after he disappointed in Cincinnati, Houston is banking on experience to complement Will Anderson and Danielle Hunter. The team has Tim Settle, who is going into his eighth NFL season, signed for 2025 as well.
A former Oakland Raiders draftee, Edwards has done well to build a career as a rotational D-lineman. The interior pass rusher has already played for seven teams. His 12 Texans starts last year, however, were his most in a season since 2017. Edwards notched three sacks and tallied eight QB hits, recovering two fumbles and batting down two passes during a season in which he served a four-game PED suspension. The proven inside presence added 1.5 sacks during the Texans’ wild-card rout of the Chargers.
After Edwards’ three Oakland seasons to start his career, he has only one other instance (2020-21 in Chicago) of playing for the same team in consecutive seasons. Houston will add another such stop, aiming to build an experience yet cost-efficient DT corps to go with their high-end Hunter and Anderson investments.
Chiefs Expected To Sign CB Kristian Fulton
Kristian Fulton had a strong season in 2024, and he is set to remain in the AFC West next year. The veteran corner will not remain with the Chargers, however.
Fulton is instead on track to sign with the Chiefs, ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler reports. He will provide Kansas City with a starting-caliber option at the cornerback spot after handling first-team duties in Tennessee and Los Angeles. This will be a two-year deal worth $20MM, Ian Rapoport of NFL Network adds. Fulton will collect $15MM fully guaranteed, and he can earn up to $20.5MM.
This represents a bit of a deviation for Kansas City, which has relied on Steve Spagnuolo to get by with low-cost cornerbacks. The assembly line has rolled along, with the team letting Marcus Peters, Steven Nelson, Kendall Fuller, Charvarius Ward and L’Jarius Sneed find their second contracts elsewhere. The blueprint, however, hit a snag post-Sneed. No. 2 boundary corner Jaylen Watson missed most of the season and did not play well in Super Bowl LIX; he will now face competition opposite Trent McDuffie.
Lauded as a player who can thrive outside and in the slot, McDuffie spent far more time on the boundary (765 snaps) than inside (149) last season. Fulton would stand to complement the All-Pro. The Chiefs still have Watson and fellow 2022 pickup Joshua Williams contracted for one more season. If nothing else, Fulton will provide high-end insurance against the rookie-deal McDuffie sidekicks not progressing like past Kansas City corners have. Though, this contract points to a starting role in 2025.
Going into his age-27 season, Fulton joins the Chiefs after playing a key part in their 2024 season. A Fulton interception in Week 4 led to Rashee Rice suffering a season-ending knee injury on a tackle attempt, changing Kansas City’s wide receiver plan. Fulton, after struggling in his Titans contract year, was one of the new pieces that helped the Chargers lead the NFL in scoring defense last year. He started 14 games and dropped his completion percentage, yards per target, and passer rating (as the closest defender) considerably from 2023. Pro Football Focus graded him 40th among CB regulars last season.
A 37-game starter for the Titans, Fulton helped Tennessee after the team opted not to pay Adoree’ Jackson and saw Caleb Farley fail to justify a first-round pick. He will join the Chiefs as McDuffie becomes extension-eligible. The Chiefs will pick up McDuffie’s fifth-year option, however, giving them two more years of rookie-contract control. But Fulton is suddenly the Chiefs’ highest-paid CB.
Adam La Rose contributed to this post.
Cowboys, Solomon Thomas Agree To Deal
Solomon Thomas is set to join a fourth career team. The veteran defensive tackle has a two-year deal in place with the Cowboys worth up to $8MM, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reports.
The former No. 3 overall pick will join a fourth NFL team, having made his way from San Francisco to Las Vegas to New York previously. The three-year Jets contributor has settled onto the role-player tier, having not come especially close to living up to his draft slot. But the ex-49ers draftee remains a useful D-lineman. And the Cowboys need lower-cost solutions both due to their monster contracts on offense but because of the deal they gave Osa Odighizuwa at the franchise tag deadline.
This is a homecoming of sorts for Thomas, who went to high school in the Dallas area. Trekking to Stanford, Thomas captured the attention of the 49ers, who traded down one spot (to give the Bears Mitchell Trubisky) in the first Kyle Shanahan-John Lynch draft. Thomas has a history playing outside and inside, but he has settled into more of a D-tackle as his career as progressed.
Over the past two seasons, Thomas has combined to register 8.5 sacks. Five of those, to go with seven tackles for loss, came in 2023; that effort helped the Jets rank fourth defensively. Thomas has only started nine games over the past six seasons, having settled into his auxiliary role, and Pro Football Focus has rated him as a bottom-end (among regulars) interior D-lineman for several years now. Teams regularly disagree with the advanced metrics website, however, and the Cowboys will be one in this case. Also delivering durability as a selling point, Thomas has missed just one game over the past four seasons.
Dallas is keeping Odighizuwa but has lost Chauncey Golston from its front (to the Giants) and has Linval Joseph unsigned after an age-36 season. The team has former first-rounder Mazi Smith going into Year 3. Thomas should be expected to step in as a backup behind Odighizuwa and Smith, and the Cowboys will aim for the once-coveted prospect still having good football left. Thomas will turn 30 before season’s end.
Adam La Rose contributed to this post.
Vikings Plan To Sign DT Javon Hargrave
Javon Hargrave is set to be released by the 49ers shortly after the new league year begins. Once that takes place, he will become a free agent; the Pro Bowl defensive tackle already has his next destination lined up, though.
Hargrave has agreed to a contract with the Vikings, Tom Pelissero of NFL Network reports. Minnesota already has a deal in place with Jonathan Allen, but the team’s spending spree at the line of scrimmage is set to continue. The Vikings’ efforts to shore up their offensive line has included agreements with former Colts Ryan Kelly and Will Fries.
The 49ers came to regret their Hargrave addition, though San Francisco has not discriminated too much regarding the players it has moved on from this offseason. A host of Super Bowl LVIII starters (or would-be starters, in Talanoa Hufanga‘s case) are gone, with Hargrave’s exit known earlier than the other departures. The 49ers had made it known early this offseason they were designating Hargrave as a post-June 1 cut. After being tied to a $21MM-per-year deal, the former Steelers and Eagles starter is joining Allen up front in Minnesota.
Turning 32 in February, Hargrave is two years older than Allen. He is also coming off a season mostly nullified by injury. He suffered a partially torn triceps in September and was early to the 49ers’ injury avalanche last year. In 2023, Hargrave had totaled seven sacks, eight tackles for loss and 14 QB hits to help the 49ers to the Super Bowl. Hargrave ended up facing the Chiefs to decide consecutive seasons, though his teams came up short on each occasion.
The 49ers bet big on Hargrave, complementing Brock Purdy‘s rookie contract, after he posted an 11-sack year for the Eagles in 2022. One of four Philly double-digit sackers on a team that came within two sacks (70) of breaking the 1984 Bears’ single-season record, Hargrave added postseason sacks in 2022 and ’23. Prior to that Eagles sack binge, Hargrave — who had formerly worked as a third wheel alongside Cameron Heyward and Stephon Tuitt in Pittsburgh — made his first Pro Bowl with a 7.5-sack, 18-hit 2021.
Phillips is going into his age-29 season; suddenly, he will the 20-something representative up front for the Vikings, who entered free agency with Jonathan Bullard and Jerry Tillery unsigned. A Vikings team that ranked second against the run last season but did not see much interior pressure — no Minnesota D-lineman eclipsed two sacks in 2024 — as bulked in the latter area Tuesday morning.
Adam La Rose contributed to this report.
Vikings, G Will Fries Agree To Deal
The Vikings added one former Colt along the offensive line in the form of center Ryan Kelly yesterday, and another is also headed to Minnesota. Guard Will Fries has a deal in place, ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler reports.
This will be a whopping five-year, $88MM pact, Fowler adds. KTSP’s Darren Wolfson’s reported yesterday that the sides were discussing a deal, so it comes as little surprise one has now been worked out. Fries will face massive expectations upon arrival given the nature of this commitment.
Fries does not have a connection to Ryan Grigson like Kelly does, as Fries is a first-time free agent who had joined the Colts in the 2021 draft. Despite not joining a team on Day 1 of the legal tampering period, Fries will cash in. While this is on the longer end of the term-length spectrum — especially as the cap has climbed like his has this decade — Fries is receiving a big number to join the Vikings. Guarantees will provide more illumination, but it is clear Minnesota eyed Fries from the start.
The Vikings have been busy Tuesday, agreeing to deals with two high-profile street free agents (Jonathan Allen, Javon Hargrave) to beef up their defensive line alongside Harrison Phillips while adding Fries as their other new piece with Kelly. The two Colts defections come as Indianapolis added long-rumored Minnesota Sam Darnold fallback option Daniel Jones. As Jones prepares to take a run at another starting job, two Colts blockers will prepare to help J.J. McCarthy transition after missing his rookie season.
A Colts starter for roughly two seasons, Fries is coming off a season-ending injury. He sustained a broken leg early last year; that halted considerable momentum. The fifth-year veteran is not yet 100%, per ESPN.com’s Stephen Holder, but all indications point to him having no issues being ready for next season on time. This contract certainly displays Vikings confidence on this front. The Vikings needed to go big for Fries, whom the Colts tried to re-sign. Pushes from the Patriots, Giants, Seahawks and Cardinals drove the market to this place, SI.com’s Albert Breer notes, as Fries did very well for himself despite the early-season injury.
Fries, who emerged out of the 2021 seventh round, graded as the league’s second-best guard (per Pro Football Focus) and had won his run- and pass-blocking matchups at a career-best rate (per ESPN) before the Week 5 setback. This came after a 17-start 2023, as Fries had taken over for less effective starter Danny Pinter during the 2022 season.
Not on the younger end among this year’s free agent class, Fries (27 in April) will be asked to start at one of the Vikings’ guard spots. Former second-round pick Ed Ingram‘s Vikings future is in doubt, after a 2024 benching, and Dalton Risner — who has not seen free agent markets come close to Fries’ new level — is again out of contract.
Adam La Rose contributed to this report.