Texans Sign Nick Martin
The Texans have signed center Nick Martin to a three-year, $33M extension, as Field Yates of ESPN.com tweets. The pact includes $18.35MM guaranteed, giving Martin some solid security on the pact. 
Martin has been the Texans’ starting man in the middle since 2017. Initially, he was primed for a big role as a second-round rookie in 2016, but an ankle injury wiped out his would-be frosh season. Along the way, the Texans have considered moving him to guard, but he has remained the battery mate of quarterback Deshaun Watson.
Prior to this extension, Martin was set to reach the open market after the 2019 season. That ’19 year will remain in tact, but he’ll see a serious pay bump after he collects on his $1.1MM base and $418K prorated bonus. With an average of $11MM/year, Martin will become one of the five highest-paid centers in the NFL.
With Martin under center, the Texans suffered a heartbreaking loss to the Saints on Monday night. Next up, they’ll try to get to .500 when they face the Jaguars in Houston on Sunday.
Eagles’ Malik Jackson Done For Season
Eagles defensive tackle Malik Jackson is expected to miss the season with a Lisfranc injury suffered on Sunday against the Redskins (Twitter link via NFL.com’s Mike Garafolo and Ian Rapoport). Jackson is slated to undergo surgery next week and will be placed on injured reserve this week. 
Fortunately, for the Eagles, they have depth on the defensive line outside of Jackson – Tim Jernigan is there to help fill in the interior gap while Vinny Curry and Josh Sweat are on hand to help on the bookends. In the coming days, it seems likely that the Eagles will also add another big man to help.
Jackson joined the Eagles on a five-year, $50MM deal in the offseason, though it’s really more like a two-year deal giving the Eagles flexibility on the remaining three. The pact includes $17MM guaranteed.
Last year, Jackson notched just 32 tackles and 3.5 sacks for the Jaguars, with Pro Football Focus ranking him 85th among 112 interior defenders. However, he was a Pro Bowler as recently as 2017 and enjoyed a solid first season in Jacksonville. Jackson also racked up 14.5 sacks across his final three years in Denver, despite only spending one of those campaigns as a full-time starter.
Browns Waive TE Rico Gathers
The Browns will waive tight end Rico Gathers, according to ESPN’s Tony Grossi (on Twitter). Gathers was suspended for the first game of the season, but the Browns did not feel the need to drop someone else on the 53-man roster to bring him back into the fold for Week 2.
The Browns picked up Gathers off waivers from the Cowboys in August, giving them a potential depth option behind starter David Njoku. The former Baylor basketball player has upside, but he’s yet to really do much at the pro level.
Last year, Gathers appeared in 15 games (four starts) for Dallas. He caught just three passes for 45 yards.
The league’s other 31 teams will have an opportunity to pick up Gathers on the waiver wire over the next 24 hours or so. If Gathers clears waivers, he’ll be free to sign with any team.
Chiefs Create Cap Space
The Chiefs did base salary-to-signing bonus conversions for linebacker Anthony Hitchens & offensive tackle Eric Fisher, Field Yates of ESPN.com (on Twitter). With that, they’ve carved out nearly $10.6MM in cap room for this year. 
Between these deals and the cap-smoothing extension for Tyreek Hill, the Chiefs are in solid cap position. Of course, they’ll be in better position in general when Hill returns to action, but they have plenty of offensive firepower to keep things moving in the interim.
Hitchens signed a five-year, $45MM deal with the Chiefs in 2018 that made him the league’s seventh-highest paid inside linebacker on an annual basis, at the time of signing. The pact counted for $3.6MM against Kansas City’s salary cap last year, but was set to triple in size for this year. Fun fact: The Chiefs tried to trade for Hitchens in 2017, when he was on the Cowboys. Ultimately, they got their man anyway.
Fisher, 28, is under contract through 2021 thanks to the four-year, $48MM extension he inked in 2016. There’s no guaranteed money in the final year of the contract, but the Chiefs have no plans to ditch him after he earned his first career Pro Bowl nod in 2018.
Cardinals To Sign Jordan Mills
The Cardinals have agreed to sign tackle Jordan Mills, according to Mike Florio of PFT. When finalized, it’ll be a one-year deal worth $1.25MM. 
Mills worked out for the Cardinals on Monday and they liked what they saw. The veteran will help reinforce an offensive line that will be without right tackle Marcus Gilbert for at least another week.
Justin Murray got the start in Gilbert’s stead last week when the Cardinals came roaring back to finish out with a tie against the Lions. He figures to also start this week as the Cards take on the Ravens in Baltimore.
We’ll be tuning in to see if Mills attempts to leap over a defender and accidentally takes down Kyler Murray, as guard J.R. Sweezy did on Sunday.
Antonio Brown Recorded Jon Gruden With Consent
It seems that Antonio Brown‘s pseudo-commerical – featuring sound bites of a phone conversation with Jon Gruden – was part of his social media campaign to push the Raiders for his release. It was speculated that Brown recorded Gruden without his consent, which would open the wide receiver up to legal consequences and NFL discipline. 
Apparently, that’s not the case. The producer of the video tells ESPN’s Dan LeBatard that Gruden approved the use of their conversation (Twitter link).
This would help to explain why Gruden reportedly thought the video was “awesome,” though Brown was released hours after its release. Apparently, this was not the straw that broke the camel’s back, probably because there were many other straws that infuriated the Raiders far more.
Brown, the newest member of the Patriots (somehow), has himself a one-year deal worth up to $15MM, plus a 2020 club option that could be worth $20MM. Here’s the Year One breakdown, per Rapoport (Twitter link): $9MM signing bonus ($5MM paid now, $4MM later), $1MM base pay, $500K in46-man roster bonuses, and “Not Likely To Be Earned” incentives of $1.5MM for each of the following: 105 catches, 1,298 yards, 16 TDs.
Given Brown’s ability and past production, those benchmarks are far from “not likely.” However, for cap purposes, they are designated as NLTBEs.
Colts To Work Out De’Angelo Henderson
The Colts will work out running back De’Angelo Henderson on Monday, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets. Henderson remains a free agent after missing the Vikings’ cut over Labor Day weekend.
Henderson was a Broncos sixth-round draft choice in 2017 and spent last year with the Jets. All in all, he has eight career appearances across two seasons and a grand total of nine carries.
There was a lot of talk about Marlon Mack not being able to mesh with Jacoby Brissett as the Colts’ starter, but he was stellar on Sunday. It goes without saying – after Mack’s career day, the Colts are looking at Henderson as a potential supplement for Mack, not a replacement.
Redskins’ Derrius Guice Suffers Knee Injury
Redskins running back Derrius Guice can’t catch a break. A Monday morning MRI revealed that he has suffered a knee injury that will cost him some time, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets. 
Guice lost his rookie season to an ACL tear and, at some point on Sunday, he suffered an injury to his other knee. Clearly, Guice was not himself against the Eagles as he amassed just 18 yards on ten carries. The silver lining here is that this is not the same knee as last year, and he will not require surgery. Still, it’s another setback for the LSU product.
In the meantime, the Redskins are expected to turn things over to Chris Thompson and Adrian Peterson. Peterson, oddly, was a healthy scratch for the Week 1 loss to the Eagles, but he’ll almost certainly be on the 46-man roster when the Redskins take on the Cowboys this Sunday.
Steelers Trade Josh Dobbs To Jaguars
The Jaguars have a new quarterback. On Monday, the Jaguars traded a fifth-round pick to the Steelers in exchange for Joshua Dobbs, as Adam Schefter of ESPN.com tweets.
The Jaguars lost their brand new starter, Nick Foles, to a clavicle fracture in the first quarter of Sunday’s loss to the Chiefs. After that, Gardner Minshew and performed well, even though the team was unable to keep up with the Chiefs’ relentless offense.
Minshew will continue as the Jags’ starter, but Dobbs will be on hand to hold the clipboard in support. Prior to the trade, the Jags did not have another QB on the roster.
Dobbs, a former fourth-round pick, was Ben Roethlisberger‘s top backup last year and appeared in five games as a reserve. This year, he lost his footing to Mason Rudolph, making his superfluous in Pittsburgh.
Minshew, with Dobbs as his backup, will lead the Jaguars against the Texans in Week Two.
Pats Have 2020 Option For Antonio Brown
For many reasons, there’s no telling how long Antonio Brown‘s run with the Patriots will last. But, if things go well, the Patriots will have the option to keep the wide receiver through the 2020 season, Mike Florio of PFT (on Twitter) hears. 
[RELATED: Patriots, Antonio Brown Agree To Deal]
It was initially reported that Brown’s deal would be worth “up to” $15MM with $10MM guaranteed in total. As it turns out, Brown’s deal also includes a $20MM option for the 2020 campaign. The option serves two purposes. First, the obvious – the Patriots can keep the partnership for another year, if they choose to do so. Secondly, the additional year will help with cap proration for 2019, giving them extra flexibility this year.
It’s a potentially big win for Brown, as well. If he hits on his incentives this year and cashes in for $20MM next year, he’ll reel in even more than the ~$30MM guarantee that he was set to collect from Oakland. There’s also still an outside chance that he can walk away with some of that guaranteed cash from the Raiders, even though he never played a down of real football for them.