Cowboys To Release Tony Romo
The Tony Romo era is ending in Dallas. The Cowboys will release Romo on Thursday, according to Adam Schefter and Todd Archer of ESPN.com (on Twitter).
Dallas designated Romo as a post-June 1 release, per Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk, a decision that will save the club money in the long run. Instead of incurring $19.6MM in dead money, the Cowboys will only take on $10.7MM. However, Dallas must carry Romo’s full cap charge of $24.7MM until June 1, at which point it will be granted relief.
Romo’s exit has been long rumored. After Dak Prescott ran away with the starting job in 2016, few expected Romo to return to the team in 2017 as the backup.
The Broncos and Texans are expected to have some level of interest in Romo and the QB is said to be fond of both teams since they could give him a chance to win right away. The Chiefs seem poised to continue with Alex Smith and apparently will not be exploring a Romo signing. At one point, the Cardinals were linked to Romo, but they probably won’t be going after him with Carson Palmer still in the fold.
Romo probably won’t sign with a new club anytime soon, however, as he’s expected to take a “Peyton Manning style” tour throughout the league, tweets Ian Rapoport of NFL.com. Manning underwent a lengthy process that involved meetings with several teams before deciding on the Broncos, and it sounds like Romo will embark on a similar endeavor.
Romo, 37 in April, leaves the Cowboys with a litany of franchise records. Although he has not been healthy for two full seasons, he leaves behind an impressive legacy in Dallas that includes four Pro Bowl appearances. In his last healthy season (2014), Romo completed a league-high 69.9% of his passes with 3,705 yards through the air and 34 touchdowns against just nine interceptions. It’s anyone’s guess as to what Romo can do in 2017, but it would be foolish to write him off.
Given the reins during a Monday Night Football game in October of 2006, Romo took over for Drew Bledsoe and guided the Cowboys to the playoffs during the ’06 and ’07 seasons, the latter of which featuring Dallas as the NFC’s No. 1 seed. The eventual champion Giants ousted the Cowboys in Round 2, but Romo picked up his first playoff win two years later in a wild-card victory over the Eagles. The Cowboys became known for late-season letdowns in the Romo years, but the former UDFA passer gave the franchise its most stable option at quarterback since Troy Aikman retired. He’s the second-longest-tenured starting quarterback in Dallas history, behind only Aikman, eclipsing both Roger Staubach and Danny White in terms of longevity.
Bills Sign FB/RB Mike Tolbert
The human bowling ball is now rolling up to Buffalo. The Bills have announced the signing of running back/fullback Mike Tolbert to a one-year, $1MM deal.
The news is a bit surprising since the Bills stuck agreement with fellow fullback Patrick DiMarco just a couple of hours ago. It’s likely that DiMarco will be tasked more with a run blocking role and Tolbert will be used more as a traditional running back. Tolbert did amass roughly 1,600 all-purpose yards in his first four years with the Panthers before taking a backseat in the offense last year.
I had Tolbert ranked seventh amongst free agent fullbacks due to his age and diminished blocking skills. He’ll turn 32 in November. In 2016, he had 35 carries for 114 yards and just ten catches for 72 yards.
Jordan Raanan of ESPN.com first reported the agreeement. Joe Person of the Charlotte Observer had the details. Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Browns Have High Bid On Tony Jefferson
The Browns are in on Tony Jefferson and their offer is currently the most lucrative one on the table, Mike Garafolo of NFL.com tweets. The Ravens, he adds, are also involved. 
This week, I ranked Jefferson No. 11 on my Top 50 Free Agents List, which lists players in order of earning power. I estimated a $10MM+/year salary for Jefferson, particularly since Eric Berry is now off of the market. Jefferson is far and away the best strong safety in this year’s free agent crop.
The Cardinals want to keep Jefferson, but they expect to lose him. The Buccaneers, Redskins, Titans, and Panthers would all make varying degrees of sense for him, but it’s not clear if they are serious bidders.
One notable safety came off the market on Wednesday when Barry Church agreed to terms with the Jaguars. Duron Harmon, Jonathan Cyprien, T.J. McDonald, and Micah Hyde remain on the board. Darius Butler could also play safety, if asked.
49ers Expected To Sign Kyle Juszczyk
The 49ers are expected to sign fullback Kyle Juszczyk, according to Adam Schefter of ESPN.com (on Twitter). It’s a four-year contract worth $21MM ($10.5MM guaranteed), according to ESPN’s Treavor Scales (via Twitter). Juszczyk was my No. 1 rated free agent fullback this year and was pretty much universally regarded as the best FB out there.
Pro Football Focus graded Juszczyk as its No. 1 fullback in the NFL in 2016. The fullback has shown to be particularly elite in the passing game, with PFF appreciating his receiving and pass blocking skills. Of course, Juszczyk still ranks in the top-10 for rushing and run blocking.
The 25-year-old (26 in April) has 97 career receptions for 769 yards and five touchdowns. The former fourth-rounder has spent his entire four year career in Baltimore. He’s gotten more involved in the passing game over the past two years, including a standout 2015 campaign where the Harvard product caught 41 passes.
Ravens Likely To Sign Torrey Smith?
There is “a very, very strong likelihood” of Torrey Smith signing with the Ravens, according to Jason La Canfora of CBSSports.com (on Twitter). Smith, of course, spent the first four seasons of his career in Baltimore. 
A reunion with Smith would be more than a great feel good story – it could potentially give the Ravens a replacement for Kamar Aiken if he gets away via free agency. Currently, the Ravens’ wide receiver depth chart is headlined by Mike Wallace, Breshad Perriman, and Chris Moore. Wallace could wind up as a cap casualty this spring.
While with the Ravens, Smith averaged 53 catches, 898 yards, and eight touchdowns per season. His strongest overall year came in 2013 when he caught 65 passes for 1,128 yards and four scores, but his eleven touchdown total in the following campaign was nearly as impressive.
The Niners cut Smith this week while he was in the midst of his $40MM deal. The wideout wasn’t nearly as productive in San Francisco. Smith caught 33 passes for 663 yards and four touchdowns during his first season with the 49ers, and he led the league with a 20.1 yard-per-reception mark. The veteran played in 12 games in 2016, but he finished with career-lows in receptions (20), yards (267) and touchdowns (three).
Previous reports linked Smith to both the Ravens and the Eagles. We ranked the veteran as the eighth-best available wideout.
Jaguars Expected To Sign Barry Church
Cowboys free agent safety Barry Church is expected to land with the Jaguars on a four-year deal worth more than $6MM per year, according to Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (on Twitter). Rapoport says the deal will go down barring a “change of heart.” Church can officially ink his contract on Thursday.
Church, one of my Top 50 Free Agents based on projected earning power, seemed likely to leave Dallas as the Cowboys work to keep multiple key free agents with limited cap room.
The 29-year-old totaled 85 tackles and two interceptions in 12 games last season. Pro Football Focus gave him an 85.3 overall score, placing him as the eleventh-best safety in the league out of 89 qualified players. The former undrafted free agent had played in at least 15 games between 2013 and 2015, averaging at least 100 tackles and nearly two forced fumbles per season.
The Redskins and the Panthers were among the other teams to express interest in Church this offseason.
Church will join a Jaguars safety corps that currently consists of Tashaun Gipson, James Sample, Peyton Thompson, Jarrod Wilson, and Akeem Davis.
Minor NFL Transactions: 3/8/17
Today’s minor moves:
- Shiloh Keo will re-sign with a team for the second straight offseason. This year, the Saints made a move to re-up the safety, Nick Underhill of The Advocate tweets. A former Texans draft pick, Keo caught on with the eventual 2015 Super Bowl champion Broncos late that season and re-signed in Denver in the subsequent offseason. The Broncos cut Keo while he was serving a two-game suspension for a personal conduct violation, leading to the Saints adding him. The 29-year-old defender played in 10 games for the Broncos and Saints in 2016 and recovered three fumbles while failing to record a tackle.
- The Patriots are planning to re-sign tight end Michael Williams, Jeff Howe of the Boston Herald tweets. Williams saw action for the 2015 Patriots but missed their latest Super Bowl season because of a torn ACL.
- The Bills did not offer an RFA tender to punter Colton Schmidt but instead reached an agreement to re-sign him, Mike Rodak of ESPN.com reports. Rodak estimates Schmidt will be brought back at a lower cost instead of at the RFA low-round tender rate of nearly $2MM. A fourth-year player, Schmidt made $600K last season.
- Another Bills transaction involves the team parting ways with a long-tenured wide receiver. Buffalo cut Marcus Easley, Jason Cole of Bleacher Report tweets. Affiliated with the Bills since they drafted him in the fourth round in 2010, Easley missed the entire 2016 season after suffering a severe knee injury late in the 2015 campaign. He spent several seasons as one of Buffalo’s top special-teamers. Buffalo announced the move as a post-June 1 release.
- The Chargers have agreed to a four-year, $4.41MM extension with long snapper Mike Windt, tweets Michael Gehlken. Windt, who has appeared in 100 games with the Chargers, received a $600K signing bonus.
Falcons, Desmond Trufant Nearing Extension
The Falcons are getting close to retaining one of the top free agents. D. Orlando Ledbetter of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that the team is finalizing a “lucrative contract extension” with cornerback Desmond Trufant.
It was reported earlier this week that talks were beginning to heat up, as the Falcons were prioritizing re-signing the Pro Bowler. Ledbetter says the deal will likely be worth between $12MM and $14MM a year, and it will just miss the five-year, $75MM deal that Josh Norman received from the Redskins last offseason.
The former first-round pick has started every game he’s played in since entering the league in 2013. Trufant earned a Pro Bowl birth in 2015 after finishing the campaign with 42 tackles, one sack, seven passes defended, and one interception.
A torn pectoral muscle limited the defensive back to only nine games this past season, but the 26-year-old still managed to collect 31 tackles, two sacks, and two forced fumbles. Trufant ultimately ranked as the 32nd-best corner in the NFL out of 119 qualified players, according to Pro Football Focus’ advanced metrics.
Ledbetter notes that the organization is also trying to re-sign safety Kemal Ishmael, tight end Levine Toilolo and fullback Patrick DiMarco.
Falcons Re-Sign QB Matt Schaub
The Falcons and quarterback Matt Schaub reached agreement on a two-year, $9MM deal, sources tell Adam Schefter of ESPN.com (on Twitter). Schaub will continue serve as the backup to starter Matt Ryan. 
Schaub, 36 in June, spent last season with Atlanta and wound up appearing in five games. There was some speculation that he could have signed on with the Niners to be a transitional starting quarterback, but that option went away moments ago when SF signed Brian Hoyer.
Schaub now appears poised to end his career back where it all began. He entered the league as a third round pick of Atlanta in 2004 and spent three years as a backup. In 2007, he moved on to Houston where he had mixed results as a starter. He turned in a solid effort in 2012 and earned a 12-4 record as a starter. In the following year, however, he stumbled badly, leading to his exit. After stints with the Raiders and Ravens, Schaub hooked on with Atlanta prior to the 2016 campaign.
Bills To Sign FB Patrick DiMarco
The Bills are signing fullback Patrick DiMarco, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (on Twitter). He’ll get a four-year deal worth $8.5MM. The pact will contain $4MM guaranteed.
DiMarco was one of the top fullbacks available this offseason. Now that he has gotten a sizable payday, the arrow will be pointing upwards for Ravens free agent fullback Kyle Juszczyk. The Bills were considered the favorites on Juszczyk earlier, and it’s possible they did not want to spend to match an asking price that’s expected to be the new fullback standard. This stands to leave the Browns, 49ers and Ravens in better position to land Juszczyk, who wants a hybrid-type role in addition to pure fullback duties.
The Falcons wanted to retain DiMarco — PFR’s No. 2 UFA fullback free agent behind Juszczyk — but could not keep him from making plans to move to Buffalo. DiMarco earned Pro Bowl acclaim in 2015 with the Falcons, his employer from 2013-16, and profiles as more of a straight-up blocking back than does Juszczyk. While the Ravens’ blocking back graded as Pro Football Focus’ top fullback, the Falcons’ lead blocker received the best run-blocking grade at the position.
Considering the Bills led the league in rushing last season and used a pure fullback in Jerome Felton, this addition — and the retention of Tyrod Taylor — may be a sign Buffalo wants to keep the offense on a similar track.