Commanders To Sign TE Zach Ertz
Zach Ertz will join a third team since November. After landing with the Lions late last season, the veteran tight end came up earlier today as a Commanders target. The NFC East team will follow through on a deal.
Washington has an agreement in place with Ertz, according to NFL.com’s Tom Pelissero, who adds the one-year contract is worth up to $5MM. This move will reunite Ertz with former Cardinals HC Kliff Kingsbury, who will debut as the Commanders’ play-caller.
Ertz finishing last season on the Lions’ practice squad allows him to sign before the market opens next week. This will position the longtime Eagles pass catcher to be a potential starter again. The Commanders released Logan Thomas late last week. NFL.com’s Peter Schrager reported earlier Ertz was in talks with the Commanders.
A number of teams — the Eagles, Chiefs, Bills and Ravens — were interested in Ertz following his in-season Cardinals exit. Ertz and the Cards reached a financial compromise following the trade deadline, and the team removed Ertz from its IR list. No one claimed the 11-year veteran, and Ertz did not end up playing in a game for another team following that transaction. The Lions did not activate him ahead of the NFC championship game.
Two tight ends are now off the board ahead of free agency, with this Ertz deal coming a day after the Texans re-signed Dalton Schultz. Teams will still have options like Hunter Henry and Noah Fant, but the market is thinner after these two agreements. Ertz will be looking to bounce back after a down season on a rebuilding team. The Stanford alum caught just 27 passes for 187 yards and a touchdown in seven Arizona games last season. A quad injury led Ertz to IR, which ended up wrapping his Cardinals tenure. He requested to be cut soon after, and the Cardinals then turned second-year TE Trey McBride loose.
Ertz, 33, spent around a year as a healthy option in Kingsbury’s offense. The Cardinals acquired him via trade from the Eagles during the 2021 season, as the Eagles opted to pay Dallas Goedert over a second Ertz extension, and the NFC West team received promising returns. Ertz totaled 56 catches for 574 yards and three touchdowns in 11 Cardinals games that year. At the time, that doubled as single-season TE yardage record during the Cards’ Arizona years; McBride has since surpassed it. The showing led the Cardinals to re-sign Ertz on a three-year, $31.65MM deal in 2022. That preceded a season-ending knee injury midway through Kingsbury’s woeful Arizona finale.
Ertz’s best years are probably behind him, and it will be interesting to see if the Commanders make a bigger TE splash this offseason. But the former Eagles third-rounder has six seasons with at least 750 receiving yards. Ertz ranks second in Eagles history with 709 receptions. Post-Thomas, Washington rosters John Bates, Armani Rogers and 2022 fifth-rounder Cole Turner. Thomas’ 496 receiving yards led Commanders tight ends by more than 300 last season.
Texans To Re-Sign K Ka’imi Fairbairn
The Texans are keeping their kicker on another contract. Recent negotiations have produced an agreement with Ka’imi Fairbairn, with ESPN.com’s DJ Bien-Aime reporting the team has a deal in place with its longtime kicker.
Fairbairn’s contract is a three-year agreement, according to KPRC2’s Aaron Wilson. It is a three-year, $15.9MM deal, Wilson tweets. On average, this makes Fairbairn the NFL’s fifth-highest-paid kicker — behind Justin Tucker, Matt Gay, Graham Gano and Jason Myers. Fairbairn, 30, has been the Texans’ kicker since 2017.
[RELATED: Texans To Re-Sign TE Dalton Schultz]
A Hawaii native, Fairbairn led the NFL in field goal percentage last season. That came in just 12 games, with an injury keeping the veteran kicker out for a midseason stretch, but a 27-for-28 season is nonetheless impressive. Fairbairn completed that accuracy showing after making 93.5% of his field goal tries in 2022. Over the past two years, Fairbairn has made 11 of 12 attempts from beyond 50 yards, giving the Texans more reliability than most teams receive on long-range efforts.
Fairbairn began his game run in Houston in 2017, but the UCLA alum initially signed with the team as a 2016 UDFA. This marks his second long-term extension with the team, which rewarded its second-longest-tenured player with a four-year, $17.65MM deal in 2020.
While Fairbairn has proven to be a solid option when available, he has gone through two IR stints over the past three years. Little attention went to Fairbairn’s 2021 injury, given the state of the Texans at the time, but his five-game 2023 absence — due to a quad strain — generated more with the team on the rise. The Texans brought in Matt Ammendola to be their fill-in leg but saved an IR-return slot for Fairbairn despite being low on activations as they made their successful playoff push. Wednesday’s agreement does well to show the organization’s faith in the veteran specialist.
Bills To Re-Sign G David Edwards
David Edwards went from Rams starter to Bills backup, heading east after a market did not materialize last year. Shortly after the Bills traded Ryan Bates, they are prioritizing Edwards.
Buffalo will re-sign the five-year veteran to a two-year deal, according to KPRC2’s Aaron Wilson. The contract is worth $6MM, with Wilson adding it includes $2.95MM guaranteed. This will keep a top backup in the fold for the four-time reigning AFC East champions.
While it may be a bit surprising Edwards is not opting to try his luck in finding another starting job in free agency, this year’s guard class is crowded. Still, Edwards would appear slightly overqualified for a backup role. He has made 45 regular-season starts, including all 17 during the Rams’ Super Bowl LVI-winning season, and five more in the playoffs.
The Bills enjoyed good health on their offensive front last season; Edwards did not start any games, as first-stringers Connor McGovern and O’Cyrus Torrence remained in the lineup. Edwards, 26, did play 148 offensive snaps in 2023, working as a sixth O-lineman at times for the Bills. He also played under Bills O-line coach Aaron Kromer with the Rams.
The Bills nabbed Edwards on a one-year, $1.77MM deal after the first wave of free agency died down in 2023. Despite working as a steady starter in Los Angeles, Edwards will only receive barely $1MM in additional guarantees on his second Bills deal. With the team sending Bates to Chicago in exchange for a fifth-round pick, it makes sense to keep its other top interior backup in the fold. Based on Edwards’ resume, the Bills look to be getting good value here.
Pro Football Focus graded Edwards as a top-30 guard in 2020 and 2021, slotting him 17th overall in 2020. The Wisconsin alum suffered a concussion early during the 2022 campaign, amid a spree of Rams O-line injuries that year, and missed 13 games. Edwards had returned to action after the early-season concussion but reentered the protocol soon after. He did not play again that season and, despite this Bills re-up, has not completely re-established his value.
This will be the Bills’ gain, as the perennial contenders have their five O-line starters — McGovern, Torrence, Dion Dawkins, Mitch Morse and Spencer Brown — signed for 2024 and now Edwards back in the mix.
Lions Will Not Tender RFA Jerry Jacobs
Jerry Jacobs has gone from UDFA to a 29-start player through three seasons in Detroit. Despite the Lions moving their rebuild to the Super Bowl precipice, last year brought a downturn for the undrafted find.
The Lions benched Jacobs late in the season, and the young cornerback ended the year on IR. The team are not planning to tender Jacobs as a restricted free agent, according to ESPN.com’s Jeremy Fowler. This will send Jacobs to unrestricted free agency. This move comes several months after Jacobs was believed to be on the extension radar, but he struggled in his third NFL season.
It is not uncommon for teams to pass on an RFA tender only to circle back and re-sign the player, but given the way Jacobs’ season ended, it is notable the Lions are proceeding this way. It would cost the Lions only $2.99MM to use the low-end RFA tender on the Arkansas alum. They are instead prepared to send him to the UFA market.
Jacobs, 26, started 12 games for the Lions last season. Although he intercepted three passes, the team eventually parked the third-year defender and shifted him to a special teams role. Jacobs played one defensive snap after Dec. 10 and finished the season on IR, giving way to a Kindle Vildor–Khalil Dorsey rotation.
The Lions made a concerted effort to revamp their secondary last season, but the unit struggled frequently. Vildor and C.J. Gardner-Johnson are due for free agency as well, though the team did re-sign Emmanuel Moseley despite the former 49ers starter suffering his second ACL tear. It should still be expected Detroit will look for CB help in free agency.
With Moseley not ready to play in Week 1 of last season, the Lions turned back to Jacobs opposite free agency pickup Cameron Sutton. This was a familiar role for Jacobs, who had started 17 games between the 2021 and ’22 seasons. Pro Football Focus graded the 5-foot-11 cover man 91st among corners in 2023. Jacobs gave up six touchdowns as the closest defender in coverage last year; he was charged with just two TDs ceded in coverage from 2021-22.
Seahawks To Release Jamal Adams, Quandre Diggs
Long thought to be on the cap casualty radar, Jamal Adams and Quandre Diggs will indeed be released. Seattle is cutting both veteran safeties, NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero reports. In each case, the move will come as a standard (rather than post-June 1) release, per ESPN’s Brady Henderson. 
The former in particular has often been floated as a release candidate, given the nature of his contract and the injury issues which have plagued his Seattle tenure. Adams arrived amidst massive expectations following his trade from the Jets and the four-year, $70MM extension which accompanied it. The former No. 6 pick played just 34 games in four seasons with Seattle, however.
[RELATED: Seahawks Cut TE Will Dissly]
That total includes one contest in 2022, and nine this past season. Adams ended the campaign on injured reserve with serious questions about his future in the Emerald City. They have now been answered; today’s move will create just over $6MM in cap savings while incurring a dead money charge of $20.83MM. Rather than spreading the latter figure out over two season, the team will absorb it all at once.
Diggs was entering the final year of his contract, a $40MM extension which appeared to keep him in place with the Seahawks for the long haul. None of his base salary was guaranteed, and as such the team will free up an additional $11MM in cap space. Still, the dead money figure in Diggs’ case ($10.27MM) illustrates the consequences of the investments made in both players during Pete Carroll‘s tenure at the helm of the franchise.
General manager John Schneider remains from that period, but he now has full control over roster decisions in the bid to transition under new head coach Mike Macdonald. Defensive improvement will be a key expectation for the latter given his background as well as the shortcomings Seattle has seen on that side of the ball in recent years. After being scheduled to account for over $20MM each on the cap next season, neither Adams nor Diggs will play a role in that effort.
Adams has an advantage in terms of age (28) over Diggs (31) with respect to potential market value on a deal with a new team. The former contemplated retirement following the 2022 campaign, though, and his injury history will be a major factor taken into consideration by prospective employers. A Jets reunion is not under consideration, SNY’s Connor Hughes tweets. Diggs has fared far better on the health front, earning a Pro Bowl every season from 2020-22. He recorded at least four interceptions each year over that span, but that figure fell to one in 2023.
Regardless of where Adams and Diggs wind up, Seattle will look much different on the backend in 2024. Julian Love is under contract for one more year, but at least one more starting-caliber option will be brought in this offseason.
Minor NFL Transactions: 3/5/24
Today’s minor moves:
Indianapolis Colts
- Extended: C Jack Anderson
Miami Dolphins
- Signed: DT Isaiah Mack
Minnesota Vikings
- Re-signed: TE Nick Muse
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
- Signed: WR Deven Thompkins, OL Brandon Walton
The Colts are keeping Jack Anderson around, with Aaron Wilson of KPRC2 in Houston passing along that the lineman has inked a one-year extension with the organization. Anderson was waived by the Giants at the end of the 2023 preseason and caught on with Indy. He spent the majority of the season on the practice squad, getting into a single game for the Colts. In total, the 25-year-old has appeared in 15 career games (three starts).
Jaguars Use Franchise Tag On Josh Allen
6:15pm: The Jaguars have officially announced that they’ve applied the franchise tag to Allen.
“We were not able to reach agreement on a contract extension with Josh before today’s deadline, and thus, we have tagged him,” general manager Trent Baalke said in a statement. “We certainly value Josh’s leadership on the field, in the locker room and in the community. Our objective to keep Josh in Jacksonville in the coming years remains unchanged and negotiations will continue.”
12:49pm: Shortly after the season ended, Trent Baalke confirmed Josh Allen would be a Jaguar in 2024. The third-year GM will make the expected move to ensure that happens.
The Jags are franchise-tagging their top pass rusher, NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport tweets. Making some changes on defense to create cap space, the Jags will not let Allen get away. The freed-up funds, however, will be necessary due to the $24MM coming on a linebacker tag this year.
[RELATED: NFL Franchise Tag Recipients Since 2013]
One of this year’s easiest tags to predict, Allen is coming off a monster contract campaign. The former top-10 pick broke through at a good time for his earning power, setting a Jaguars single-season record with 17.5 sacks last year. With Travon Walker tied to a rookie contract, the Jags will cuff Allen with presumptive hopes of working out an extension with him by the July 15 deadline.
The Jags have used their tag in each 2020s offseason. They cuffed Yannick Ngakoue in 2020, kept Cam Robinson off the 2021 and ’22 markets and then slapped the tag on Evan Engram last year. The team reached extension agreements with Robinson and Engram but traded Ngakoue soon after tagging him. Allen and Ngakoue only played together for one season. Since, the Jags have looked to the Kentucky alum as their premier edge rusher.
Allen’s career arc could point the Jags to making him prove his 2023 was not a fluke, but the team has some other priorities. Trevor Lawrence extension talks have begun, and Baalke has said on multiple occasions this offseason a Calvin Ridley re-up is a goal. Ridley’s situation is more complicated due to the terms of the 2022 trade with the Falcons, but the Jags extending Allen would help on all fronts due to the $24MM cap hold on their payroll as long as he is tagged. The Jags cut Folorunso Fatukasi, Rayshawn Jenkins and Darious Williams over the past two days, creating necessary cap room for their Allen move.
The Jags would owe the Falcons a second-round pick if they reached an agreement with the free agent-to-be before the 2024 league year. If they wait until Ridley hits the market to re-sign him, they would send Atlanta their 2024 third-rounder. The Jags already sent a 2023 fifth as part the exchange, and while Baalke said the pick is not a major factor here, it would surprise if the Jags re-upped Ridley early. That said, Mike Evans and Tee Higgins being off the market and the Colts likely to tag Michael Pittman Jr. before the 3pm CT deadline would stand to drive up Ridley’s price. WR-needy teams will view Ridley, despite his inconsistent past, as a prime option.
As for Allen, he has said he wants to stay in Jacksonville — but not on a hometown discount. Trade interest came in for the veteran pass rusher at the 2022 deadline, but the team stood pat. After not recording more than eight sacks in a season from 2020-22, Allen erupted in 2023 — a season that also included 33 QB hits. Allen, 26, is in line for a big-ticket extension. The Jags passed on giving one to Ngakoue, but they sound far more eager to reward Allen.
Chargers Release LB Eric Kendricks
A year after receiving the opportunity to return to Los Angeles, Eric Kendricks is out of a job. The Chargers released the veteran linebacker Tuesday.
In Tom Telesco‘s final offseason as Bolts GM, the team gave Kendricks a two-year, $13.25MM deal. The longtime Vikings starter was set to make $5MM in base salary next season. The Chargers will save $6.5MM by making this cut.
Jim Harbaugh‘s team still has work to do to reach cap compliance; the Kendricks release only moves the Bolts to $19MM over the 2024 cap. The Chargers are also in need of linebacker starters. Kendricks and Kenneth Murray operated as L.A.’s primary ILBs in 2023. Murray is days away from free agency.
A UCLA alum and a Fresno native, Kendricks received a quick opportunity to return to California last year. This marks his second straight offseason as a cap casualty, with the Vikings releasing the former All-Pro in 2023. Considering where the Chargers are cap-wise, it is unsurprising to see them follow suit.
Kendricks, who turned 32 last week, continued his run of solid production by registering 117 tackles (seven for loss) and 3.5 sacks. The former second-round pick added a forced fumble and six passes defensed, also finishing his season as Pro Football Focus’ No. 25 overall linebacker; PFF ranked Murray as one of the NFL’s worst full-time ILBs. The Chargers declined Murray’s fifth-year option in 2023.
It will take more maneuvering for the Chargers to create actual breathing room. Thanks to big contracts and 2023 restructures, Keenan Allen, Mike Williams, Joey Bosa and Khalil Mack combine to comprise $142MM on the Chargers’ 2024 cap sheet. Even with the cap spiking to $255.4MM, four players — two of whom over 30 — take up more than half the team’s payroll. Decisions will need to be made involving these cornerstones, with Kendricks more of a role player last season.
Kendricks may be able to generate interest elsewhere as he did in 2023, though his age will begin to work against him. The 2015 draftee has started 127 games during his nine-year career, earning an eight-figure-per-year Vikings extension in 2018. Kendricks started for four playoff-bound Minnesota teams, earning his lone Pro Bowl nod in 2019.
Dolphins To Release LB Jerome Baker
As they continue to move toward cap compliance, the Dolphins will move on from a starter in the linebacking corps. Jerome Baker is being let go, per ESPN’s Adam Schefter. 
Schefter notes the sides attempted to work out a restructure to lower Baker’s cap hit (slated for $14.79MM). No agreement could be reached, however, and he will now be able to hit free agency. In spite of that, Schefter adds Miami is open to Baker returning at a lesser price.
The six-year veteran has spent his entire career in South Beach, starting 82 of 94 games. He has remained a highly important member of the team’s defense during that stretch, but moving on will yield notable financial benefits. Miami will save $9.82MM in 2024 cap space while creating a dead money charge of just $4.97MM. As one of the teams with work to do to get under the cap ceiling by next week, those funds will be welcomed.
If a reunion cannot be worked out, however, the Dolphins will have a notable hole to fill at the LB spot moving forward. Fellow starter David Long is in place for one more season (although with no guaranteed salary owed, he too could be a candidate for a cost-saving move). Baker has posted 100 or more tackles three times in his career, and he has added 22.5 sacks along the way. Replacing that production on the free agent market or in the draft will not be easy.
Miami ranked seventh against the run in 2023, although Baker has not drawn rave PFF reviews for his work in that department for much of his career. He has, on the other hand, received better evaluations for his efforts in a pass-rush capacity and his performances in coverage. Entering his age-27 season, Baker should be able to garner a market for his services if he elects to head elsewhere for the first time in his career.
The Dolphins sat roughly $28MM over the cap after the expected release of cornerback Keion Crossen. Further savings will be seen at the start of the new league year when Xavien Howard is let go, and like in Baker’s case the team is open to a reunion on that front. More financial work is still to come, though, and in any case Miami’s defense will likely feature a number of new faces in 2024.
Dolphins To Release CB Keion Crossen
As cost-cutting season continues around the NFL, the Dolphins are moving on from Keion Crossen. The veteran corner and special teamer is being released, as first reported by Aaron Wilson of KPRC2.
[RELATED: Dolphins Will Not Tag Christian Wilkins]
One more year remained on Crossen’s deal, but none of his compensation was guaranteed. As a result, Miami will see $2.99MM in savings without incurring any dead money charges. Considering the financial constraints the team is facing on both sides of the ball, this move comes as no surprise.
Crossen joined the Dolphins on a three-year, $10.5MM pact. That agreement gave him multi-year security after he previously bounced around with the Patriots, Texans and Giants in a four-year span. He played out the 2022 campaign while seeing rotational defensive usage and a heavy special teams workload. Crossen was placed on injured reserve during 2023 roster cutdowns, however, and as a result he was sidelined for all of last season.
The 27-year-old will now once again be on the move in free agency, and his missed time will no doubt hinder his market value. Still, third phase specialists are often able to find an opportunity on low-cost deals, and Crossen’s experience on defense (which includes 884 snaps) could allow him to compete for a depth CB spot on his next team. Meanwhile, today’s move adds further uncertainty in the secondary for the Dolphins, a team which will at least temporarily part ways with Xavien Howard at the start of free agency.
Miami is still roughly $28MM over the cap when taking Crossen’s release into account. Further cost-shedding moves will be needed in the coming days as a result, as they and all other teams will need to be cap compliant by March 13.