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Bills’ Jordan Poyer Eyeing Extension

April 8th, 2022 at 8:30pm CST by Adam La Rose

Jordan Poyer has a new agent and is setting his sights on a new contract. As reported by Tim Graham of the Athletic (on Twitter), the safety and his camp have “approached” the Bills regarding an extension. 

As his new agent Drew Rosenhaus said, Poyer “would very much like to finish his career in Buffalo”. The 30-year-old has spent the past five seasons with the Bills, after three-plus campaigns in Cleveland. After mostly playing in a backup role prior to his arrival in western New York, Poyer has teamed with Micah Hyde to form arguably the league’s best safety tandem.

The 2021 season saw Poyer earn First-Team All-Pro honors for the first time in his career, after he equalled a personal best with five interceptions. In 79 total games with the Bills, the former seventh-round pick has collected 519 tackles, 10 sacks, 18 picks and 36 pass deflections. His level of play earned him a two-year, $20.5MM contract in 2020.

That deal was re-worked last September, as Buffalo looked to manufacture some in-season flexibility. As a result, his 2022 cap charge was raised to over $10.7MM. The upcoming campaign is the final one on his contract, so a new deal could help flatten that figure while upping Poyer’s ranking amongst the league’s top safeties.

The $9.75MM average of Poyer’s most recent pact drops him further down the pecking order at the position. New deals signed by the likes of Marcus Williams (averaging $14MM) have continued the rise in value of safeties. How close Poyer could come to the top of that list on a new contract may start to become clear sooner rather than later, if the Bills reciprocate his desire to open negotiations.

Bills Meet With CB Andrew Booth

April 6th, 2022 at 5:08pm CST by Sam Robinson
  • Andrew Booth may miss his NFL team’s offseason workouts due to hernia surgery, but that should not deter teams from considering the Clemson cornerback in Round 1. Booth has met with the Bills (No. 25) and Eagles, with Rapoport adding Patriots (No. 21) and Saints (Nos. 16 and 19) meetings are also on Booth’s docket.

Bills Extend Stefon Diggs

April 6th, 2022 at 8:09am CST by Zachary Links

Stefon Diggs is staying put. On Wednesday morning, the Bills wide receiver agreed to a brand new four-year, $96MM deal that could be worth more through incentives (Twitter link via NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport). 

[RELATED: Bills Re-Sign McKenzie]

Diggs was previously on the five-year, $72MM deal he signed with the Vikings in 2018. That deal gave him an average annual value of $14.4MM per season. Since then, however, the market has advanced quite a bit and Diggs has stepped his game up. Since arriving in Buffalo in 2020, Diggs has notched 230 receptions for 2,760 yards and 18 touchdowns.

Since Diggs still has two years to go on his old contract, this new deal will keep him in Western New York through 2027. While he’s slotted 21st among all NFL players in AAV right now, the new money average vaults him much higher, in the same space as Davante Adams and Tyreek Hill. From GM Brandon Beane‘s perspective, it’s a worthwhile investment.

“He’s all in on winning and, sure, everybody wants to be paid but he wants to be on a winning team,” Beane said. “I think he’s been the best version of himself. So I don’t see that being an issue.”

Diggs, 28, has notched four straight 1,000-yard seasons, including 2020 when he finished with 127 grabs for 1,535 yards and eight touchdowns. Last year, he kept up the good work with 103 catches for 1,225 yards and ten TDs.

As an added bonus for the Bills, the new deal will lower Diggs’ 2022 cap number by over $6MM, as Field Yates of ESPN.com tweets.

Frank Gore To Retire

April 3rd, 2022 at 7:37am CST by Rory Parks

Ageless running back Frank Gore has decided to call it a career. In an interview on TheSFNiners podcast (video link), Gore said that, within the next several months, he will sign a one-day contract with the 49ers and officially announce his retirement.

San Francisco selected Gore in the third round of the 2005 draft, and though he appeared in 14 games in his rookie campaign, he started just one, operating as part of an RB tandem with Kevan Barlow. Prior to the 2006 season, the Niners traded Barlow to the Jets, thereby clearing the way for Gore to take over as a full-time starter, a role he held for nine seasons in the Bay Area.

During that time, the Miami product established himself as one of the best, and most consistent, backs in the league. He racked up all five of his Pro Bowl nominations, and he averaged over 1,160 yards per season on a robust 4.5 yards-per-carry average. That stretch included eight seasons of 1,000+ yards, and the only year in which he did not hit that benchmark was 2010, when he appeared in just 11 games due to a hip injury.

Gore, who will turn 39 in May, was also an effective receiver out of the backfield, particularly in the early days of his career. From 2006-10, he averaged 51 catches and just over 430 receiving yards per season, which, when added to his rushing output, made him a true dual threat. The 2006 season was especially productive, as he generated 2,180 all-purpose yards and nine total TDs. Though he was never a prolific touchdown producer — just one season of 10 or more combined rushing and receiving scores — he did find paydirt an even 100 times in his regular season career (81 on the ground, 18 through the air, and one fumble recovery).

After Gore’s tremendous run with the 49ers — he is now the franchise’s all-team leading rusher by a wide margin — he began the second chapter of his career by signing a three-year, $12MM deal with the Colts in March 2015. He was still productive during his three years in Indianapolis, as he did not miss a game and averaged nearly 1,000 rushing yards per season to go along with 263 rushing yards per year, but he did not post a YPC rate above 3.9.

Gore ended his career with a tour of the AFC East, hooking on with the Dolphins in 2018, the Bills in 2019, and the Jets in 2020. The 2018 season in Miami was a bit of a throwback, as he played in 14 games (all starts) and rushed for 722 yards on 156 totes, good for a 4.6 YPC average.

Despite all of his individual successes, Gore was not fortunate enough to play for many championship contenders. In 16 NFL seasons, he suited up for just four playoff outfits (the 49ers from 2011-13 and the Bills in 2019). He did get to participate in Super Bowl XLVII with San Francisco at the end of the 2012 season, but the Niners came out on the losing end of that contest. Gore at least held up his end of the bargain, rushing for 319 yards and four TDs on 63 carries in the team’s three-game postseason run.

In all, Gore rushed for exactly 16,000 yards in the regular season, which gives him a beautifully round 1,000 yards/season average and positions him behind only Emmitt Smith and Walter Payton on the all-time list. He supported that total with a 4.3 YPC mark, thereby demonstrating that his production was not driven just by his remarkable longevity.

Per Spotrac, Gore earned over $63MM in his playing career, and he indicated on the podcast that he hopes to move into a front office role. He said, “I told [49ers CEO] Jed York that I always wanted to be a Niner, so we’re working on [the one-day contract] right now, and then we’re going to also sit down with me and my agent to talk about me working in the front office. I love looking at talent, and I love evaluating talent, and I love ball.”

We here at PFR congratulate Gore on a terrific career — which may ultimately end with a Hall of Fame bust in Canton — and wish him all the best in his front office endeavors.

Vikings To Re-Sign Patrick Peterson

March 30th, 2022 at 5:14pm CST by Sam Robinson

Although the Vikings have changed GMs and coaching staffs, Patrick Peterson will return for a second season in Minnesota.

The All-Decade cornerback said during an appearance on the All Things Covered podcast (Twitter link via NFL.com’s Tom Pelissero) he is re-signing with the Vikings on a one-year deal. The deal is worth $4MM, including $3.5MM in guaranteed money, per NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo on Twitter). This will be Peterson’s 12th NFL season.

Minnesota gave the former Arizona star corner a one-year, $8MM deal in 2021. New GM Kwesi Adofo-Mensah praised the Mike Zimmer-era signing recently, and the eight-time Pro Bowler will aim to make an impact in new DC Ed Donatell‘s system. Peterson, who will turn 32 this summer, played 13 games with the Vikings last season. A few other teams — the Bills, Bears, Colts and Commanders — also expressed interest, Peterson said (via the St. Paul Pioneer Press’ Chris Tomasson; Twitter links).

After regressing toward the end of his Cardinals tenure, which featured a 2019 PED suspension, the former top-five pick performed better in his first Vikes campaign. Peterson allowed a 67% completion rate as the nearest defender in coverage in 2020; he dropped that number to 56% last season. Peterson’s passer rating-against figure also dropped considerably (98.2 to 78.7) in that span. While the 6-foot-1 cover man is not the player he was at his peak, he remains a capable starter.

The Vikings waived Bashaud Breeland late last season; he ended the season with the Cards. Former Minnesota first-round corner Jeff Gladney is also with Arizona, having signed with the NFC West squad this offseason. Minnesota returns Cameron Dantzler, who started seven games last year, and signed slot defender Chandon Sullivan from Green Bay. The Vikings also added potential depth pieces in Nate Hairston and Tye Smith this week. Even with Peterson’s return, the Vikings still have a need at the position. Peterson expects the team to further address cornerback in the draft (Twitter link via Tomasson).

Bills Re-Sign OL Ike Boettger

March 28th, 2022 at 6:09pm CST by Ben Levine

The Bills are bringing back one of their offensive line starters. The team announced that they have re-signed guard Ike Boettger. It’s a one-year deal for the 27-year-old.

Boettger went undrafted out of Iowa in 2018, and after bouncing on and off the Bills and Chiefs rosters to start his career, he landed back with Buffalo and never looked back. He appeared in only six games through his first two seasons in the NFL, but he ended up getting in 12 games (seven starts) during the 2020 campaign.

He got into 15 games during the 2021 campaign, including 10 starts at left guard. He suffered an Achilles injury during Week 16 that knocked him out for the rest of the regular season and postseason. Fortunately, GM Brandon Beane indicated today that the offensive lineman is recovering nicely.

“Ike had a tough injury with the Achilles last year and is rehabbing that. He got a good exam on his physical,” said Beane (via the team’s website). “He’ll still have to rehab that and we’ll see where he’s at when training camp starts.”

Bills To Match Ryan Bates Offer Sheet

March 28th, 2022 at 2:54pm CST by Adam La Rose

After seeing restricted free agent Ryan Bates sign an offer sheet with the Bears, the Bills faced the decision of matching it or watching him leave for no compensation. Today, they have decided on the former course of action, reports NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport (on Twitter). Brad Biggs of the Chicago Tribune reports that the contract is worth $17MM over four years (Twitter link). He adds that the first two years (valued at just under $9MM) are guaranteed. 

[RELATED: Bates Signing Bears’ Offer Sheet]

Bates took over as the Bills’ starting left guard in Week 15 of this season, and held that role through to the end of the year and the playoffs. It was the most significant playing time of his three years in the NFL. Despite the limited workload he’s handled to date, his play down the stretch generated plenty of interest. The Bills tendered him at a rate of just over $2.4MM, leaving the door open to an offer sheet coming into play.

Bates visited with the Vikings, Patriots and Bears before ultimately signing an offer sheet with the latter. Chicago was looking to add to the interior of their line, having lost guard James Daniels to the Steelers earlier this offseason. Now, they will continue to search for a replacement in the second and third waves of the free agent market.

The Bills, meanwhile, are indeed able to retain one of their breakout players from last year. Some felt they should have tendered Bates at the second-round level to assure themselves of draft compensation, but now they have him under contract for the medium-term future.

AFC Coaching Notes: Titans, Jets, Bills, Steelers, Raiders, Patriots

March 27th, 2022 at 8:15pm CST by Ely Allen

After parting ways with the Panthers early this year, former NFL linebacker Chase Blackburn has joined the Titans as the team’s assistant special teams coach. After playing ten years in the NFL for the Giants and Panthers, Blackburn transitioned into the coaching world working his way up to the role of the Panthers’ special teams coordinator, a position he held for four seasons.

Panthers’ head coach Matt Rhule initially retained Blackburn from former head coach Ron Rivera‘s staff, but fired him this January. He finds second life with fellow former NFL linebacker and current Titans’ head coach Mike Vrabel. Additionally, after season-long tryouts, the Titans have promoted Clint McMillan (defensive line assistant) and Kylan Butler (offensive assistant) to full time positions.

Here are a few other coaching updates from around the AFC:

  • The Jets announced a series of assistant coach hirings including Ben Wilkerson and Dan Shamash. Wilkerson moves from one New York team to another, taking the same position as assistant offensive line coach on head coach Robert Saleh‘s staff. Shamash is a New York native that returns to the tri-state area after five seasons as the Chargers’ assistant tight ends coach to become the Jets’ situational football/game management coordinator. He’s worked with Saleh before in Jacksonville.
  • Elsewhere in New York, the Bills announced that they’ve added Mike Shula as a senior offensive assistant. The former college head coach and NFL offensive coordinator spent the past two seasons in Denver as the Broncos’ quarterbacks coach. They also announced the promotion of Eric Washington. The Bills’ defensive line coach of the past two seasons will have the title of senior defensive assistant added to his billing.
  • The Steelers announced the hiring of their new assistant line coach earlier this month. Isaac Williams joins the NFL coaching ranks after years in college football. Williams has been the offensive line coach at North Carolina Central University (2021), Morgan State (2018-20), and Northern Colorado (2016-17).
  • Las Vegas has hired former college coaching assistant Frederick Walker as a new offensive assistant assigned to work with quarterbacks, according to Myles Simmons of NBC Sports. Walker most recently worked as the quarterbacks coach for the UMass Minutemen. His time in the college ranks saw him working with Giants’ quarterback Daniel Jones at Duke University as well as Cowboys’ quarterback Dak Prescott during his time at Mississippi State. He’ll work underneath new head coach Josh McDaniels and offensive coordinator Mick Lombardi to assist Derek Carr and company on their road back to consecutive playoff seasons.
  • After being passed up by Matt Groh for the director of player personnel promotion, Eliot Wolf was announced as the Patriots’ new director of scouting on Friday, a promotion from his previous title of front office consultant. According to Wilson, the team also announced that Camren Williams would be named college scouting director.

Contract Details: Seals-Jones, Williams, Tomlinson, Jones, Montgomery, Gardeck, Singleton, Carter

March 27th, 2022 at 6:27pm CST by Ely Allen

Here are the latest details from contracts recently agreed to across the league:

  • Ricky Seals-Jones, TE (Giants): One-year, $1.19MM. The deal, tweeted out by Aaron Wilson of Pro Football Network, has a $352,500 amount guaranteed at signing. The guaranteed amount includes a signing bonus of $152,500 and $200,000 of his salary worth $1.04MM.
  • Maxx Williams, TE (Cardinals): One-year, $1.27MM. The deal has a salary of $1.12MM, according to Wilson. Regardless of whether or not he is active, he’ll receive a $15,000 bonus for any game for which he is on the roster. If he is active for any game, he’ll receive an additional $52,500 roster bonus. He’ll also receive a per game active bonus of $5,000 for a potential season total of $85,000.
  • Eric Tomlinson, TE (Broncos): One-year, $1.44MM. The deal has an amount of $1MM guaranteed at signing, according to Wilson. The guaranteed amount includes a $400,000 signing bonus and $600,000 of his salary worth $1.04MM.
  • DaQuan Jones, DT (Bills): Two-year, $14MM. The deal has an amount of $10.63MM guaranteed at signing, according to Wilson. The guaranteed amount consists of a $5.5MM signing bonus, the full first-year salary of $1.75MM, and $3.38MM of the second-year salary, which is set at $6.75MM. The contract includes a voidable year for 2024 that voids automatically 23 days before the 2024 league year begins.
  • Ty Montgomery, RB (Patriots): Two-year, $3.6MM. The deal has an average annual salary of $1.8MM with an amount of $300,000 guaranteed consisting entirely of the dual-position player’s signing bonus, according to Wilson. Included in that AAV of $1.8MM are a first-year salary of $1.16MM, a second-year salary of $1.36MM, roster bonuses of $280,000 in year one and $340,000 in year two, and workout bonuses of $50,000 in each year. The former wide receiver will earn a per game active bonus of $20,000 for a potential season total of $340,000. The deal holds an annual playtime incentive of up to $300,000. The deal also holds a potential out after the 2022 NFL season that would leave a dead cap number of $150,000.
  • Dennis Gardeck, LB (Cardinals): Three-year, $10MM. The deal has a guaranteed amount of $3.75MM, according to Wilson. $3.25MM of that amount is guaranteed at signing with a $2MM signing bonus and the first-year salary of $1.25MM being fully guaranteed. $500,000 of the second-year salary, worth $3.27MM, guarantees on the fifth league day of the 2023 season (injury guaranteed at signing). The third-year salary is worth $2.46MM. Gardeck will also receive a per game active bonus of $20,000 for a potential season total of $340,000. The deal includes an annual playtime incentive of $250,000 and an escalator based on sack total that can be worth up to $625,000. A potential out after the 2022 season would leave a dead cap number of $1.33MM.
  • Alex Singleton, LB (Broncos): One-year, $1.12MM. The deal has a salary of $965,000 with a guaranteed amount of $150,000 fully consisting of Singleton’s signing bonus, according to Mike Klis of 9News. Singleton will have a playtime incentive based on snap-percentage. At the end of the year, if he has played 65% of the team’s defensive snaps, he’ll receive $250,000, $500,000 if he plays 70%, and $750,000 if he plays 75%.
  • Lorenzo Carter, OLB (Falcons): One-year, $3.5MM. The deal has a salary of $1.5MM with a guaranteed amount of $2MM fully consisting of Carter’s signing bonus, according to Michael Rothstein of ESPN. The deal includes a 2023 dummy year that will be voided 23 days before the 2023 league year. It will leave the Falcons with a dead cap number of $1M for Carter.
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