Colts To Sign Philip Rivers
Philip Rivers has agreed to a deal with the Colts on a deal that will pay him roughly $25MM per year, according to Judy Battista and Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (on Twitter). It’ll be a one-year pact for the Colts and the longtime Bolts star, Adam Schefter of ESPN.com (on Twitter) adds. 
[RELATED: Colts Trade For 49ers’ Buckner]
In February, the Chargers announced that they would not bring Rivers back for another season. Things had been trending in that direction for a while, despite all of the veteran’s accomplishments in San Diego and Los Angeles. He left the Chargers after setting more than 30 franchise records, making 224 consecutive starts, and earning eight Pro Bowl nominations.
Rivers, 38, isn’t coming off of his finest season, but the Colts believe that he’ll be a substantial upgrade over Jacoby Brissett. In 2019, Rivers was picked off 20 times against just 23 touchdowns. Historically, he’s been much much better in the TD/INT department. In 2018, for example, he threw for 32 TDs with 12 picks.
Even as he moves to a new part of the country, Rivers will be greeted by familiar faces. He has close ties to both Colts head coach Frank Reich and offensive coordinator Nick Sirianni, both of whom are former Chargers assistants.
At $25MM per season, Rivers currently falls right around the middle of the pack in starting QB salary. He’ll likely tumble in the rankings by the end of the week, but he’s also earned lots of money over the course of his career. Besides, Rivers isn’t planning on playing until his late 40s like Tom Brady – this offseason, he indicated that he’d like to play for a couple more years. It’s possible he stays on the field for longer, but he did not go into free agency looking for a long committment.
Along the way, teams like the Buccaneers and Redskins have also been linked to Rivers, but the loudest rumblings have been coming from Indianapolis. Now, they’ve got him as their new quarterback with hopes of restoring the offense to its former glory.
Eagles Part Ways With Malcolm Jenkins
The Eagles announced that they will not exercise their 2020 option for safety Malcolm Jenkins. 
“Malcolm Jenkins has been an outstanding player for us and we are proud of everything he accomplished both on and off the field during his time in Philadelphia,” the team said in a statement. “Malcolm was a great teammate and leader, as well as one of the toughest and most reliable players to ever play in our city. After thorough discussion with Malcolm and his agent, Ben Dogra, both sides agreed on the difficult decision to turn the page on what was an incredible six-year relationship. We wish Malcolm and his family all the best as he pursues his next opportunity.”
The news comes right on the heels of the Eagles’ new agreement with safety Jalen Mills. It seems that Mills will help replace Jenkins in the starting lineup, though the team will have to draw from others when it comes to leadership.
Jenkins, 32, has been with the Eagles since 2014. He was an integral part of the team’s 2017 Super Bowl season and their fabric on the whole and expressed his desire to stay put. But, at the same time, he made it known that he would not play on his current contract.
“I won’t be back on the same deal,” Jenkins said, via Zach Berman of The Athletic (on Twitter). “That won’t happen. The market is good for safeties now. I consider myself in the top tier.”
The Eagles, meanwhile, did not want to commit major years or guaranteed dollars to the aging vet. With that, he’ll move to the open market where he’ll attract countless offers.
Before the release, Jenkins was set to play out the last season of his four-year, $35MM deal. Now, he’ll seek “top tier” money – roughly $10MM per year.
Jaguars To Sign Joe Schobert To ~$54MM Deal
The Jaguars have agreed to sign linebacker Joe Schobert to a five-year, $53.75MM deal, according to NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport (on Twitter). The pact will pay him an average of $10.75MM per season with $22.5MM guaranteed. 
Schobert moves from the Browns to the Jaguars, where he’ll try to help the front seven fill the gap left by the Calais Campbell trade. He won’t directly boost the edge rush in Campbell’s absence, but he’ll help to anchor the LB group and work against the run.
The two sides discussed an extension in November, but things cooled off as the season wore on. There was a bit of hope for a new deal when new GM Andrew Berry replaced John Dorsey, but they still weren’t able to bridge the gap. At the combine, the Browns informed Schobert’s rep that they would not offer the “double-digit millions” he was seeking in annual salary. Schobert, clearly, was able to get that money elsewhere.
The Wisconsin product has been a solid starter since entering the league as a fourth-round in 2016. Schobert made the Pro Bowl in 2017 and started all 16 games this past year, racking up 133 tackles, four interceptions, two sacks, and nine passes defended.
Panthers Interested In Saints’ Vonn Bell
Vonn Bell could wind up changing teams while staying in the same division. The Panthers have shown interest in the Saints’ free agent safety, according to Josina Anderson of ESPN.com (on Twitter). The incumbent Saints are also hoping to keep him, she adds.
Bell, an Ohio State product, has spent his entire career with the Saints since entering the league in 2016. The former second-round pick has 61 appearances and 45 starts to his credit. Last year, he started in all 13 of his games for New Orleans and tallied 89 stops plus 1.5 sacks.
For his work, Pro Football Focus ranked him as the No. 47 safety in the NFL. With the Saints, he’s helped contain the run, resulting in a 43-game streak without allowing any single rusher to hit 100 yards. He’s also displayed his hard-hitting ability with seven career forced fumbles.
The Saints would like to keep Bell, but they do have Chauncey Gardner-Johnson waiting in the wings. The Panthers, meanwhile, could use help in the secondary after losing James Bradberry to the Giants in free agency.
Texans To Re-Sign Vernon Hargreaves
The Texans have reached agreement on a new deal with Vernon Hargreaves III, according to Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle (via Twitter). Fiscal terms are not yet known, but he’ll come back on a fresh one-year deal. 
The Texans claimed Hargreaves off waivers from the Bucs in a low-risk move to fortify their secondary. For the most part, it worked out for them. This offseason, they had the choice to trigger his fifth-year option, since he’s a former first-round pick, but the price tag didn’t make sense given what he’s done so far.
Instead, he’ll come back on a less costly deal. The Texans, meanwhile, seem optimistic about what he can do in 2020.
“Vernon came in here, he works very hard,” Texans coach Bill O’Brien said earlier this year. “Very hard worker, guy that really showed up to practice every day, learned the system. I don’t think that’s easy to be able to come in, in the middle of a season, and really later than that, and play that nickel position is not easy.
So, I give a lot of credit to Vernon. There’s a lot of things that he’s going to work hard to improve upon. We’re going to help them with that, but I think Vernon stepped into a tough situation and really made the best of it.”
Patriots Tried To Trade For DeAndre Hopkins
Before the Cardinals swung their blockbuster deal for DeAndre Hopkins, the Patriots tried their hand with the Texans, Albert Breer of The MMQB (Twitter video link) hears. The Patriots were in on talks for the wide receiver over the past couple of weeks, but ultimately did not get a deal done.
During the talks, the Patriots might have been operating with the assumption that they’d be reunited with Tom Brady. Of course, that’s no longer the case – Brady announced on Tuesday morning that he’s leaving New England. Bill Belichick and the Patriots are of course no strangers to bringing in big name receivers, like when they traded for Randy Moss way back in 2007 or when they briefly signed Antonio Brown last season.
It’s possible that they made a push for Hopkins as part of a broader effort to entice Brady to stay. Despite the dominance of their defense New England’s offense struggled for much of last season, and the Pats were frequently criticized for not giving Brady enough weapons after the retirement of Rob Gronkowski.
It’s unclear what the Patriots were offering, although it’s possible that the Texans weren’t inclined to send him to a conference rival and would’ve preferred to send him to the NFC even if the compensation was similar or better. Texans coach/GM Bill O’Brien has been on the receiving end of a lot of flak for the startlingly small package he got from Arizona, but at least he was on the phone with multiple teams.
As for New England, Breer adds that they’re still looking at tight ends and receivers, so don’t expect them to give up on upgrading the offense. Obviously finding a new quarterback is now the top priority, but whoever it is will need an upgraded receiving corp. Julian Edelman, who has been Brady’s reliable safety blanket over the years, will turn 34 in May.
Patriots Discussing Long-Term Deal With Joe Thuney
The Patriots caught many off guard by assigning the franchise tag to offensive lineman Joe Thuney on Monday. Many (including yours truly) speculated that the tag could be step one towards a tag-and-trade scenario, but that might not be the case. The club has discussed a long-term deal with the 27-year-old, according to Albert Breer of The MMQB (Twitter link).
With that, it’s at least possible that the Patriots will lock Thuney down for the long run. Still, it’s not in the Patriots’ nature to pay top dollar for players who are on the road towards open market riches. Even though Thuney will not get to explore his options this year, he’ll enter negotiations with plenty of leverage. If he were to stay with the team on the one-year tag, he’d either be in line to go into free agency unfettered next year, or force the Patriots to bump up his pay even further with a second tag.
The Patriots have a few months to hammer out a long-term deal with Thuney and ample time to explore trade scenarios. In the meantime, they’re feverishly at work to try and replace Tom Brady, who announced his departure from the team on Tuesday morning. Soon after his announcement, owner Robert Kraft and head coach Bill Belichick issued statements to thank Brady for their many years together.
Jaguars Use Second-Round Tender On Keelan Cole
The Jaguars have applied the second-round tender to wide receiver Keelan Cole, as Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets. Cole was set for restricted free agency and the Jaguars hope that the tender level will ward off suitors.
In his three pro seasons with the Jaguars, Cole has hauled in 104 catches for 1,600 yards and seven touchdowns. Teams will have interest in him, of course, but they’ll also have to think long and hard about the total price tag. If a team signs Cole to an offer sheet and the Jaguars do not match it, they’ll have to cough up a second-round pick. Given the abundance of quality receivers in this year’s draft, it seems likely that those clubs would take a pass.
Cole signed with the Jags as an undrafted free agent back in 2017. He played his college ball at a tiny D2 school Kentucky Wesleyan, and has turned into a nice success story. He only made $645K last year as part of his rookie UDFA deal, so this will be a pretty nice pay-bump for him as the second-round tender is slated to clock in at a little over $3.1MM for 2020.
The tender is somewhat surprising considering Cole’s production has actually declined a bit each year. He had 748 yards as a rookie, 491 as a sophomore, and 361 this past year. His role did increase down the stretch this past season, but he still figures to be behind at least DJ Chark, Dede Westbrook, and Chris Conley on the depth chart next year.
Contract Details: JPP, Cousins, Weatherly
Deals are coming in quickly, so we’ve compiled some important contract details below:
- DE Jason Pierre-Paul, Buccaneers: two years. Deal is worth $25MM, and could be worth up to $26MM ($12.5MM/season, up to $1MM in incentives). Via The Athletic’s Greg Auman on Twitter.
- DE Stephen Weatherly, Panthers: two years, $12.5MM. Deal includes $6.25MM guaranteed, $4MM signing bonus. Annual per-game active roster bonus up to $100K, according to Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle (via Twitter).
- QB Kirk Cousins, Vikings: two-year, $66MM extension. Effectively now three-year, $96MM deal. As Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk.com observes, this gives Cousins the highest AAV at his position ($32MM, bumping Russell Wilson‘s $31.4MM).
- DE Arik Armstead, 49ers: five-year, $85MM extension. Includes voidable sixth year, allowing team to lower cap number. $6MM cap number in first year, $12.5MM in second year, $20MM+ in 2022 through 2024. All via ESPN’s Nick Wagoner on Twitter.
- QB A.J. McCarron, Texans: re-signed. One-year, $4MM deal, including $3.75MM guaranteed. Via NFL.com’s Tom Pelissero on Twitter.
- DE Mario Addison, Bills: three years. Worth $30.45MM, including $15.25MM guaranteed. $14MM in first year of deal. Via Pelissero on Twitter.
- QB Nate Sudfeld, Eagles: re-signed. One-year, $2MM deal, including $500K guaranteed. Another $1MM in incentives. Via Pelissero on Twitter.
- TE Blake Jarwin, Cowboys: three years, $24.25MM. Includes $4MM signing bonus. Base salaries: $2.25MM (2020), $3.5MM (2021), $4.5MM (2022), $5.5MM (2023). From 2021 through 2023, there are active roster bonuses totaling $750K and escalators maxing out at $750K per season. Via ESPN’s Todd Archer on Twitter.
Raiders To Sign LB Cory Littleton
The Raiders are set to sign Cory Littleton, according to NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport (Twitter link). When the league year opens on Wednesday, Littleton will ink a three-year deal worth up to $36MM. The deal includes $22MM guaranteed, Adam Schefter of ESPN.com adds (via Twitter).
The Rams wanted to keep Littleton, but their budget was stretched. This offseason, the Rams put a greater focus on retaining players like Andrew Whitworth, Austin Blythe, Michael Brockers, and Dante Fowler, leaving little room to retain the 26-year-old (27 in November).
Littleton, a University of Washington product, went from part-timer to starter in 2018 and wound up earning his first career Pro Bowl nod. Last year, he kept up the good work – in the two seasons combined, he tallied 7.5 sacks, even though much of his attention was focused on coverage. He has graded as one of the league’s best coverage linebackers in each of the past two seasons and will profile as a three-down defender for the Raiders.
The Raiders have been on the hunt for new linebackers, especially after cutting Tahir Whitehead last week. Now, between Littleton and new addition Nick Kwiatkoski, they’re in pretty good shape.
Last year, the Raiders opted for low-cost veterans Vontaze Burfict and Brandon Marshall but saw the latter struggle with injury and end up not making the team and the former suspended for most of the season. But in Jon Gruden‘s third year, he’s leaving less to chance at the linebacker spot. Las Vegas has shelled out cash to shore up a position the franchise has not allocated much in the way of resources toward in many years.