Minor NFL Transactions: 3/30/21
We’ll keep track of today’s minor moves here:
Carolina Panthers
- Signed: WR Micah Simon
Green Bay Packers
- Re-signed: DL Tyler Lancaster
Los Angeles Chargers
- Signed: CB Ryan Smith
Minnesota Vikings
- Placed on reserve/retired list: TE Hale Hentges
New York Giants
- Signed: TE Cole Hikutini, DB Joshua Kalu, DB Christopher Milton
Tennessee Titans
- Signed: S Matthias Farley
NFL Approves 17-Game Schedule
It’s officially official. On Tuesday, NFL owners formally approved a 17-game schedule for the 2021 season. 
The new Collective Bargaining Agreement provided owners with the option to go from 16 games to 17 games. Despite substantial player opposition, the union ultimately voted in favor of the change. On the plus side, the extra revenue from a 17th game should help to bring the salary cap back towards its usual max in 2022 and beyond.
To offset the extra game, the NFL will move from a four-game preseason to a two or three-game preseason schedule. The new arrangement will not add another bye week. Meanwhile, the 18-week season will push the Super Bowl to the middle of February.
The additional game will provide an immediate lift in profits for all 32 owners, but that won’t impact this year’s $182.5MM salary cap. In the short run, however, it will yield an extra game check for players league wide.
The new schedule also means a new scheduling formula to account for the odd number of games. The “extra game” will be an inter-conference matchup, pitting AFC and NFC teams against each other in accordance with their divisional finish. Host sites will alternate between the AFC and NFC.
Buccaneers Waiting On Antonio Brown
The Buccaneers managed to keep just about everyone from their Super Bowl squad. However, wide receiver Antonio Brown stands out as a notable straggler. On Tuesday, head coach Bruce Arians said that it hasn’t been for a lack of trying. 
“We’re just gonna take our time,” Arians said (Twitter link via WTSP’s Grace Remington). “There’s offers out there. We’ll see how it goes.”
For his part, Brown has said that he wants to stay put. Shortly after the Bucs beat the Chiefs, AB expressed his desire to go for a “two-peat”.
“Man I’d love to, I look forward to going through the process, this is a great spot for me and I would love to come back and give it another shot at a two-peat,” Brown said after the game. “I would love to be back here next year. It would mean everything to be back. I’m just excited and super grateful.”
Brown, 33 this summer, posted solid — but not spectacular — numbers in 2020. In eight post-suspension games, the veteran had 45 catches for 483 yards and four touchdowns. Extrapolated for a full 16-game slate, that would have given him a 90/966/8 line.
Brown wants to come back and the Bucs have reciprocated with an offer on the table. The real question is – Does anyone else have real interest in adding Brown and the baggage that comes along with him? Ultimately, Brown may have to settle for less than what he wants if he hopes to play in 2021.
Latest On Texans, Deshaun Watson
More lawsuits have been filed against Deshaun Watson this week, as ESPN.com’s Sarah Barshop details. This latest round of suits includes one alleging that Watson is deleting Instagram messages and contacting plaintiffs in an effort to settle. 
“Like a lot of people, Deshaun regularly deletes past Instagram messages,” Watson’s attorney Rusty Hardin said. “That said, he has not deleted any messages since March 15th, the day before the first lawsuit was filed. We categorically deny that he has reached out directly to his accusers in an attempt to settle these cases.”
Tony Buzbee, the lawyer representing Watson’s accusers, now says that he has filed 20 lawsuits in total.
“Plaintiffs have not brought these cases for money or attention; instead Plaintiffs seek a change in behavior with regard to Watson, and a change of culture in the NFL,” Buzbee wrote in one lawsuit.
Before the lawsuits, the biggest questions surrounding Watson had to do with his future in Houston. The trade rumors have obviously taken a backseat, but NFL execs seem to think that a deal could still be in play.
“If you’re a team that had been interested in him, you have to do your own research into this, with whatever resources you have,” one anonymous NFL exec told Lindsay Jones of The Athletic. “You have to do your own due diligence, in the event that [someone from the Texans] one day picks up the phone and says they are ready to move him.”
Steelers Sign RB Kalen Ballage
The Steelers announced that they have signed running back Kalen Ballage to a one-year deal. Ballage, entering his fourth pro season, split the 2020 campaign between the Jets and Chargers.
After being drafted by the Dolphins in the fourth round of the 2018 draft, Ballage has appeared in 35 games across multiple stops. All in all, he has 629 yards off of 201 carries with seven touchdowns. He’s also tacked on 52 grabs for 285 yards. His best year came as a rookie — in an admittedly small sample size of 36 carries, the Arizona State product averaged 5.3 yards per tote.
The Steelers finished last in rushing yards per attempt last year, so they’re expected to prioritize RBs in the draft next month. Ballage won’t be the main ball-carrier in Pittsburgh, but he can offer support for the lagging group.
“We’ve got to be a lot better in running,” team president Art Rooney II said recently. “Certainly we don’t want to see the Pittsburgh Steelers being last in the league in rushing again ever. I think it’s something our coaches are focused on and we’ll be looking for ways to improve in the draft. It’s something we’ve got to fix, and we are working on it.”
Texans Restructure Zach Cunningham’s Deal
The Texans have restructured Zach Cunningham‘s contract (Twitter link via ESPN.com’s Field Yates). The move will allow Houston to save $5.63MM in cap space by converting $7.51M of the linebacker’s 2021 base salary converted into a signing bonus. 
Cunningham inked a four-year, $58MM extension last summer, keeping him under club control through 2024. Since then, Cunningham has been a fixture in the Texans’ front seven. In 2019, he took a big leap forward with 142 stops, two sacks, and two passes defensed in 16 games (all starts). He led the league in run stops that year, posting a career-best run-defense grade of 84.8, per Pro Football Focus.
This past year, he shined on a less-than-stellar Texans defense and led the league with 164 total tackles. He also posted a career-high three sacks. Still, his 43.0 coverage grade needs to improve in order for the Texans to keep opposing tight ends in check.
The Texans have been working diligently to tamp down their cap figure in recent days. Last week, they also adjusted Witney Mercilus’ deal to find extra space while allowing the linebacker to reach free agency after the 2021 season.
Hue Jackson: Browns “Lied” To Me
The Browns moved on from Hue Jackson nearly three years ago. Jackson, who is planning to release a book about his run in Cleveland, has not moved on entirely from his rocky tenure.
“There is no doubt I was lied to by ownership and the executive team,” Jackson said (via Tom Withers of the Associated Press). “They were going to be football plus analytics, but they intentionally made it football versus analytics. They were going to take two years and they were going to find a way to use us as an experiment to make sure that they got the data that they needed for it to get better — at the expense of whoever — and that’s not right.”
At one point in time, Jackson was regarded as one of the NFL’s top offensive gurus. Then, a 3-36-1 record across two-and-a-half Browns seasons sank his stock. Jackson has been out of the NFL picture ever since, save for a brief return to the Bengals as an assistant in late 2018.
“I want to make sure everybody knows and understands exactly what went on in Cleveland,” said Jackson. “The truth needs to come out. I am tired of being the brunt of jokes and memes and things that people say when they don’t know.”
Jackson, 55, interviewed for the Steelers’ OC job earlier this year, but Pittsburgh promoted Matt Canada instead. Jackson’s latest comments (and forthcoming book) could be an attempt to get back into the coaching mix.
Jaguars’ Urban Meyer: “Zero Chance” Of NCAA Return
After years of speculation, Urban Meyer finally made the jump to the pros. Unlike other well-known college coaches before him, the Jaguars’ HC says there’s “zero chance” that he’ll return to the NCAA ranks. 
“Zero chance at that happening,” Meyer said (via Peter King of NBC Sports). “What coach [Nick] Saban went through, I don’t know. That’s Coach Saban’s business. I’m not quite sure. At some point, I might talk to him about it…he’s a friend of mine and I got great respect for him. It is different. It’s completely different. My mind is set. There’s gonna be some losses. That’s gonna be miserable. I hate losing. We all do. But the reality is that you’re gonna lose. Hopefully you win more than you lose. But that’s something that’s gonna be new to me. I have to get my mind right and I’m working on that.”
Two years after leaving LSU for the Dolphins’ job, Saban requested his releasee so that he could go to the University of Alabama. Meyer, on the other hand, says he’s in it for the long haul. With a lucrative contract in hand and Clemson star Trevor Lawrence (likely) on the way, the former Ohio State and Florida coach has little reason to look in the rear view mirror.
Minor NFL Transactions: 3/29/21
Today’s minor moves:
Atlanta Falcons
- Signed: G Josh Andrews
Cleveland Browns
- Re-signed: CB Brian Allen
Indianapolis Colts
- Re-signed: C Joey Hunt
Washington Football Team
- Re-signed: T David Sharpe
Patriots’ Stephon Gilmore Open To Extension
Stephon Gilmore “would be very open to signing a new deal” with the Patriots, according to Albert Breer of SI.com. There hasn’t been much buzz about an extension for the Patriots cornerback lately, but the two sides could iron something out to put the recent trade rumors to bed. 
Gilmore is currently set to count for $7MM against the Patriots’ books. That’s not a ton of money for Gilmore, who earned 2019 Defensive Player of the Year honors, but it’s the final year on his deal. Sooner or later, the Pats will have a decision to make — do they want the 30-year-old on a pricey multi-year deal? Or, would they rather trade him now in exchange for draft capital?
The Patriots have discussed trades for Gilmore over the past year, but the more recent offers might not be to their liking. Last year, Gilmore was limited to just eleven games, thanks to COVID-19 and his season-ending injury. Meanwhile, his coverage numbers slipped — Pro Football Focus slotted him just 61st among corners last season.
The Patriots — or one of the league’s 31 other teams — will have to take Gilmore’s expected ask into consideration. Jalen Ramsey, Marlon Humphrey, and Tre’Davious White all moved the market last year with their $17MM+/year extensions. Despite Gilmore’s weak 2020, he’s in for a significant pay raise. If the Patriots don’t plan on paying J.C. Jackson top-CB money, they could use this opportunity to lock up Gilmore while his leverage is lacking.