Ravens, WR Chris Moore In Talks
- Chris Moore‘s Ravens contract expired last week, but the team remains interested in keeping him. The Ravens have engaged in talks about re-signing the free agent wide receiver, Jeff Zrebiec of The Athletic tweets. Although Moore is not a big factor in Baltimore’s passing game, he is valued as a special-teamer. A new deal would likely cost close to the league minimum.
Ravens Not Close On Judon Extension
- Franchise-tagged edge rusher Matthew Judon is not close to reaching a new deal with the Ravens, per Jeff Zrebiec of The Athletic. Judon will earn $15.828MM in 2020 if he sticks on the franchise tender, but he was reportedly asking for $20MM annually earlier this year, per Zrebiec, who adds that asking price may have since come down. The 28-year-old Judon played 80.8% of Baltimore’s snaps last season and posted a career-high 8.5 sacks.
Ravens To Re-Sign CB Jimmy Smith
The Ravens have agreed to re-sign cornerback Jimmy Smith, as Smith himself tells Josina Anderson of ESPN.com (Twitter link). Smith will ink a one-year deal worth $3.5MM, tweets Jason La Canfora of CBSSports.com, who adds Smith can earn another $2.5MM via playtime incentives.
Smith had spent his entire career in Baltimore since entering the league as a first-round pick in 2011, but it was unclear if he’d be sticking with the Ravens going forward. Baltimore allowed the veteran defensive back to reach the free agent market, but he’s now returning on a relatively team-friendly deal.
Smith made the fewest starts of his career (five) in 2019, thanks in large part to a knee injury that sidelined him for much of the season. Health questions have historically been a problem for Smith, who has only played a full 16-game slate twice in nine NFL seasons.
Baltimore ranked fourth in the league in pass defense DVOA, and the club will now return almost all of its cornerbacks — save for Brandon Carr — in 2020. Marlon Humphrey, Marcus Peters, and Tavon Young comprise the Ravens’ starting corner package, leaving Smith as a well-compensated, highly-experienced dime defensive back.
Minor NFL Transactions: 3/23/20
Today’s minor moves:
Baltimore Ravens
- Signed: S Anthony Levine
Chicago Bears
- Signed: S DeAndre Houston-Carson, S Jordan Lucas
New Orleans Saints
- Signed: DE Noah Spence, LS Zach Wood
New York Jets
- Signed: LB James Burgess, DB Deatrick Nichols
Tennessee Titans
- Signed: LB Nick Dzubnar
Washington Redskins
- Signed: DT Caleb Brantley
Latest On COVID-19’s NFL Impact
Although a lockout marred the 2011 NFL offseason, this year will eclipse that delayed offseason for the most unusual in the league’s modern history. Here is some of the fallout from how COVID-19 has affected the NFL during free agency and how it will impact the league going forward:
- Some teams have inserted coronavirus-triggered language into contracts. With players not permitted to visit team facilities and take physicals and teams not allowed to have staffers meet with free agent targets, some teams have included provisions into contracts indicating that failed physicals would void signing bonus money, Jeremy Fowler of ESPN.com reports. Players are prohibited from entering team facilities until at least April, and with this likely set to be an offseason without OTAs, it could be months before free agents take physicals with their new teams. It is not known how many teams are taking this hard-line stance, Fowler notes.
- Teams are permitted to use independent physicians for physicals, but Tom Pelissero of NFL.com notes (via Twitter) some of the league’s franchises are not comfortable doing so. The delay on physicals has led to most free agency deals yet to be officially announced. Some teams that have announced trades got around these rules. The Falcons and Ravens announced their Hayden Hurst-centered trade because Hurst took his physical before the COVID-19 rules went into effect, Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk notes. This delay on teams’ medical staffs being able to examine players figures to keep some free agents with injury questions unsigned and has certainly impacted the Cam Newton trade market.
- Due to the stock market’s uncertainty because of coronavirus, multiple NFL owners instructed their front offices to defer signing bonus payments for as long as possible, Florio reports. Signing bonuses are committed to players when they sign, but teams often pay them in installments. Some teams are trying to push back the windows for some of the bonus money to be paid, Florio adds, noting that the Raiders are avoiding signing bonuses altogether. Las Vegas made multiple splashy signings early in free agency, but no details of signing bonuses emerged after those agreements.
- Some NFL execs were unhappy the league moved forward with free agency during this unprecedented climate in North American sports. “Tone deaf is right!” a GM told NBC Sports’ Peter King. “The world has stopped. We’re in a national emergency as a country and we do this? It’s awful. We’re telling the rest of the world we don’t care.” While the NFL provided the sports-following world with a distraction this week, the uncertainty surrounding OTAs and minicamps — and the lack of pre-draft visits and workouts — will send the league into a strange period similar to what the other major American sports are navigating because of coronavirus.
- The NFL will make some changes to the draft, and some notable unknowns still exist a month away from the annual April event.
Contract Details: Lawson, Trufant, Shelton, Witten,
Kyler Fackrell (Giants), One year, $4.6MM, $3.5MM guaranteed, base salary 2020: $2.6MM, $2MM roster bonus, according to Jordan Raanan of ESPN.
Antonio Hamilton (Chiefs), One year, $1.047MM, $887.5k guaranteed, $137.5k signing bonus; salary 2020: $910k ($750k guaranteed), according to Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle.
Shaq Lawson (Dolphins), Three years, $30MM, $21MM guaranteed, $4MM signing bonus; salaries 2020: $6.4MM (fully guaranteed), 2021: $7.9MM (fully guaranteed), 2022: $8.9MM; $2.5MM fully guaranteed roster bonus in 2020, $100k workout bonus in 2020-2021, potential $2MM in annual incentives, according to Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle.
John Miller (Panthers), One year, $4MM, $2MM guaranteed, $2MM signing bonus; salary 2020: $1.79MM; $160k in per-game roster bonuses, according to Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle.
Danny Shelton (Lions), Two years, $8MM, $4MM guaranteed, $2.5MM signing bonus; salaries 2020: $1.5MM (fully guaranteed), 2021: $4MM, according to Michael Rothstein of ESPN.
Desmond Trufant (Lions), Two years, $20MM, $14MM guaranteed, $5MM signing bonus; salaries 2020: $4.5MM (fully guaranteed), 2021: $9.5MM ($4.5MM guaranteed for injury at signing); $500k in annual per-game roster bonuses, according to Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle.
Jihad Ward (Ravens), One year, $1.047MM, $637.5k guaranteed, $137.5k signing bonus; salary 2020: $910,000 ($500,000 guaranteed), according to Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle.
Jaylen Watkins (Texans), Two years, $3MM, $300k guaranteed, $300k guaranteed; salaries 2020: $1.1MM, 2021: $1.4MM; 200k first-game roster bonus in 2020, per Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle.
Jason Witten (Raiders), One year, $4MM, $3.5MM guaranteed; salary 2020: $3.5MM (fully guaranteed); $500k in per-game roster bonuses, according to Tom Pelissero of NFL.com.
Ravens Resume Talks With LB Patrick Onwuasor
If the Ravens have their way, Patrick Onwuasor will be back in Baltimore next season. Jeff Zrebiec of The Athletic tweets that the organization has resumed talks with the linebacker.
As the reporter notes, it appeared that Onwuasor was “was ready for change of scenery last year.” The linebacker saw reduced playing time as the season went on, culminating in a “heated conversation” with head coach John Harbaugh during a December practice (via Michael David Smith of ProFootballTalk.com).
Still, it’s not surprising that the organization values Onwuasor’s familiarity with the defense. The 27-year-old has spent his entire four-year career with the Ravens, and he combined for 25 starts between the 2017 and 2018 seasons.
Onwuasor was slapped with a second-round restricted free agent tender last offseason, but he was limited to only six starts in 14 games. He ultimately finished the season having compiled 64 tackles, three sacks, and one forced fumble.
Ravens To Trade Chris Wormley To Steelers
We have yet another trade in the NFL. The latest swap is an intra-divisional one: The Steelers will send a 2021 fifth-round pick to the Ravens for defensive lineman Chris Wormley and a 2021 seventh-rounder, according to Tom Pelissero of NFL.com (on Twitter).
Wormley, a third-round pick in 2017, was tapped to be a younger replacement for Timmy Jernigan after he was shipped to the Eagles. He didn’t pan out exactly as hoped, but he did provide the Ravens with 39 appearances, including 15 starts, over the course of three seasons.
Along the way, Wormley managed 2.5 sacks from the interior. Last year, he saw 482 snaps with a roughly even split between passing and running plays. Pro Football Focus assigned him a 65.6 overall score, slotting him as the No. 63 ranked defensive tackle in the NFL. A repeat performance would make him a great value for Pittsburgh, as he still has one year to go on his original rookie deal.
Ravens Sign Sam Koch To Extension
Sam Koch isn’t going anywhere. The punter is staying put in Baltimore with a two-year extension, the Ravens announced in a tweet.
Koch still had a year left on his previous deal, so Baltimore was being proactive here. The Ravens have been aggressive the past few days, landing Calais Campbell in a surprising trade with the Jaguars and doling out big money to free agent defensive lineman Michael Brockers. Koch might get overshadowed by Baltimore’s other specialist, league-best kicker Justin Tucker, but he’s been a reliable option himself.
A sixth-round pick all the way back in 2006, Koch has been with the team for the past 14 seasons. He’s never reached elite status but has been solid the entire time, earning the only Pro Bowl and All-Pro nods of his career in 2015. Terms of the deal weren’t immediately available, but we’ll pass those along to you as soon as we get them. The Nebraska product will turn 38 in August, and it’s possible this extension takes him right into retirement.
North Notes: Steelers, Ravens, Hurst
Steelers tight end Vance McDonald has restructured his contract, reports SiriusXM’s Adam Caplan (via Twitter). The veteran will see his $5.5MM base salary converted into a signing bonus.
The 29-year-old joined the Steelers back in 2017, and he’s turned into a solid receiving threat in Pittsburgh. After finishing with a 50/610/4 receiving line in 2018, he followed that up with 38 receptions for 273 yards and three scores this past year.
McDonald joins a number of Steelers veterans who have reworked their deals to provide the organization with more cap space. That grouping includes quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, who restructured his deal earlier today. With all of the Steelers moves (including cut players), they’ve opened up an estimated $35MM in cap space.
Let’s check out some more notes from the league’s northern divisions:
- Jeff Zrebiec of The Athletic looks at the who the Ravens could turn to as they look to replace retired lineman Marshal Yanda. While the team is rostering several internal options, the writer dives into the potential options in the draft and free agency. Zrebiec notes that the organization has had some luck finding starting linemen on Day 2 of the draft, and he passes along that general manager Eric DeCosta “all but guaranteed” that the organization will draft at least a pair of linemen.
- The fourth-rounder that the Ravens sent the Falcons in the Hayden Hurst deal is their compensatory pick, tweets Jason La Canfora. Baltimore ended up receiving a second- and fifth-round pick in the deal. The Ravens drafted Hurst in the first-round in 2018, but he immediately took a backseat behind Mark Andrews, who Baltimore took in the third round of that same draft. With Austin Hooper leaving Atlanta, the Falcons had a major need at the position.
- The Bears had interest in lineman Alex Lewis before he re-signed with the Jets, reports Caplan (via Twitter). Chicago has been looking to shake up their offense a bit, as they’re in the market for a quarterback to battle with Mitch Trubisky. The organization has also added veteran tight end Jimmy Graham.