Falcons Re-Sign LS Liam McCullough
The Falcons don’t have too many free agent decisions to make from their 2023 roster, and they got an important one out of the way today by re-signing long snapper Liam McCullough. As an exclusive rights free agent, McCullough’s only option was to sign his qualifying offer and return to Atlanta for 2024.
McCullough has been around since 2020, when he went undrafted out of Ohio State, but because he spent his rookie and sophomore seasons on practice squads in Las Vegas and Pittsburgh, McCullough only has two accrued seasons, qualifying him as an exclusive rights free agent. Both of those accrued seasons have come in the last two years with the Falcons.
McCullough signed with the Falcons in 2022, replacing former Pro Bowl long snapper Josh Harris, who had departed for the Chargers in free agency. The 26-year-old McCullough has played every game in the last two years for Atlanta, becoming a key member of a Falcons special teams trio that includes kicker Younghoe Koo and punter Bradley Pinion.
The team has two more exclusive rights free agents to handle this offseason. Atlanta will need to make a decision on whether or not to extend qualifying offers to linebacker Nathan Landman and center Ryan Neuzil, as well. Landman finished third on the team in tackles this year, starting 14 games in his sophomore season. Neuzil proved to be a crucial depth piece, as well, starting four games in 2023. The Falcons also have three restricted free agents (quarterback Feleipe Franks, offensive tackle Ethan Greenidge, and defensive tackle Albert Huggins) that they will need to make decisions on this offseason.
RFA/ERFA Tender Decisions: 2/23/24
Today’s only NFL tender decision:
ERFAs
Tendered:
- Rams: RB Ronnie Rivers
One of two exclusive rights free agents for Los Angeles, Rivers should be sticking around in 2024. After establishing himself as an effective complementary rusher behind second-year Pro Bowler Kyren Williams, Rivers earns an offer to return as the expected RB2 next season.
NFL Reserve/Futures Contracts: 2/23/24
Friday’s reserve/futures deals:
Washington Commanders
A former undrafted free agent out of Maryland, Jones had found a home for the past four years in Cincinnati as a reserve linebacker and special teamer. After getting waived in final preseason roster cuts this past August, Jones sat out the 2023 season. He’ll now head to the Commanders and attempt to find a depth spot there.
49ers Release CB Isaiah Oliver
Signed to work alongside starters Charvarius Ward and Deommodore Lenoir, Isaiah Oliver was unable to hold down a regular role in San Francisco. As a result, he will be sent back to free agency.
The 49ers cut Oliver on Friday, the team announced. The NFC champions will pick up $2.4MM in cap space by moving on from the veteran cornerback, who came over after five years in Atlanta. San Francisco had given Oliver a two-year, $6.75MM deal.
Oliver, 27, played 46% of the 49ers’ defensive snaps last season. Targeted as a big nickel-type presence by one-and-done DC Steve Wilks, the former second-round pick was demoted following a three-game midseason skid. Once the 49ers re-emerged for their Jaguars matchup in Week 8, Ambry Thomas had taken over as the team’s primary third corner. This came after the team pursued the likes of Patrick Surtain, Jaylon Johnson and Nate Hobbs before the deadline.
The 49ers only gave Oliver a notable role again in a Week 18 game that involved many backups, as it came after the team clinched home-field advantage. During the 49ers’ three playoff games, Oliver only played on special teams. For the season, he still made 67 tackles, intercepted a pass and recovered a fumble. The Colorado alum will be looking for a new team, however.
The 6-foot-2 cover man had been a Falcons regular for five years. An ACL tear sustained in Week 4 of the 2021 season crushed Oliver’s contract year, leading to a low-cost deal to stay in Atlanta for the ’22 campaign. Starting 38 games for the Falcons during that five-year tenure, Oliver has been unable to rebuild his stock since.
Ward, Lenoir and Thomas are each under contract for the 2024 season. Thomas struggled at point during San Francisco’s playoff journey, and with Oliver unable to man the slot in the way K’Waun Williams and Jimmie Ward had, the 49ers may be on the lookout for more help soon. Lenoir shifting inside on passing downs remains in play for the 49ers, but it seems likely the 49ers will add a piece to this equation this offseason.
Steelers Release C Mason Cole
The Steelers’ starting center for the past two years, Mason Cole is back in free agency. The team announced the release of the veteran interior offensive lineman Friday.
Pittsburgh has used free agency to make upgrade efforts up front over the past two offseasons, signing Cole, James Daniels and Isaac Seumalo. The guards remain with the team, but Cole will now be looking for a new NFL employer. He had started every Steelers game over the past two seasons.
One season remained on Cole’s three-year, $15.75MM deal. No void years complications or other restructure matters, which the Steelers dabble in frequently, are part of this transaction. The Steelers will save $4.75MM by releasing Cole, whom ProFootballNetwork.com’s Adam Caplan notes was due a $1.5MM roster bonus if he was on the roster as of March 17.
The former Cardinals starter is only going into his age-28 season; he will likely generate interest on the open market. Being released now gives Cole a head-start on the unrestricted free agents set to populate the market in mid-March.
After Pro Football Focus ranked Cole as the NFL’s 12th-best center in 2022, the advanced metrics site dropped him to 29th last season. With the Steelers’ offensive slump extending to the point the team made its first in-season coordinator firing in several decades, the team will be looking for at least one new starter up front. Despite the offensive struggles, the Steelers have enjoyed good continuity up front since adding Cole and Daniels in 2022. After seeing their starting five blockers play together throughout 2022, the Steelers had Cole and Seumalo in uniform for 18 games last season. Dan Moore started 17 games, while Daniels was available for 16.
Not known for lavish free agent spending, the Steelers did move to fortify their O-line with some veteran contracts during Kenny Pickett‘s rookie deal. The moves were half-measures of sorts, with each Pittsburgh interior O-line starter on a midlevel accord. Cole’s $5.25MM-per-year center pact represented good value for the team, but it will move on — during an offseason in which Pickett is on shakier ground.
Cole did give the Steelers some stability after Kendrick Green‘s rough 2021 as the starting center. The team traded both Green and guard starter Kevin Dotson last year, committing fully to the free agent trio inside. The Steelers have utilityman Nate Herbig under contract and used a seventh-round pick on Spencer Anderson last year. In all likelihood, however, Cole’s replacement is not yet on the roster.
Dolphins To Release DE Emmanuel Ogbah
Seeing his playing time reduced last season, Emmanuel Ogbah became needed as the Dolphins saw their top edge rushers go down with major injuries. With Bradley Chubb and Jaelan Phillips expected back before or during the 2024 season, Miami will make an expected cap-driven move.
The Dolphins intend to release Emmanuel Ogbah, according to ESPN.com’s Adam Schefter. Although Ogbah was a regular presence before Vic Fangio‘s one-and-done season as Dolphins DC, the former starter’s demotion made him a release candidate.
Friday’s $255.4MM salary cap reveal brought good news for cap-strapped teams, but the Dolphins still have plenty of work to do. Before this Ogbah move is calculated, Miami sits more than $38MM over the 2024 cap. Releasing Ogbah will $13.7MM in cap space for the Dolphins. Ogbah was attached to a four-year, $65.4MM deal agreed to in 2022; he was set to carry a $14.93MM base salary next season. Considering his Miami trajectory, that proved unrealistic for the team.
Ogbah, 30, had been a productive pass rusher for the Dolphins on his previous contract. The Dolphins re-signed the former Browns second-round pick in free agency two years ago, but a torn triceps sustained midway through that season — a development that came shortly after the team traded a first-round pick for Chubb at the trade deadline — changed the previous starter’s trajectory.
Between the 2020 and ’21 seasons, Ogbah cemented his case for a significant raise by registering nine sacks in each season. He totaled 45 quarterback hits in that span. After the Dolphins had Ogbah on a two-year, $15MM deal, the raise did not go as planned. Ogbah will hit free agency on a downturn, and while he could still profile as a rotational rusher somewhere else, the veteran is unlikely to fetch much on the open market given his minimal production over the past two years.
The Chiefs used Ogbah primarily as a rotational player during their 2019 Super Bowl-winning team, acquiring him that year via trade from the Browns. But a torn pectoral muscle shelved him midway through that season. Ogbah did not play during that playoff run, and after missing Miami’s 2022 wild-card game due to injury as well, his only postseason contest came back at Arrowhead Stadium on a frigid night — a 26-7 Dolphins loss. Ogbah only started because of the injuries to Phillips, Chubb and Andrew Van Ginkel. The Dolphins had brought in veterans Melvin Ingram, Bruce Irvin and Justin Houston to help Ogbah in that emergency circumstance, but Chubb and Phillips will be expected to anchor new DC Anthony Weaver‘s edge-rushing corps next season.
Miami has Chubb signed through 2026, and should the team pick up Phillips’ fifth-year option by May 2, he will be locked down through 2025. Van Ginkel is on track for free agency, seeing his contract expire shortly after an injury. Following Phillips’ Achilles tear and Chubb’s ACL setback, Van Ginkel suffered a foot injury in Miami’s regular-season game.
Chiefs Sign P Matt Araiza
FEBRUARY 23: Araiza’s Chiefs deal is worth the league minimum and it includes an injury split, Tom Pelissero of NFL Network notes. As a result, Kansas City is not absorbing any financial risk while taking a flier on the once-celebrated prospect.
FEBRUARY 22: Matt Araiza is on course for an NFL return. The former Bills punter agreed to a one-year deal with the Chiefs on Thursday, ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler reports. Araiza’s agency has confirmed the move.
The Bills waived the 2022 sixth-round pick in August 2022, after it was alleged he was involved in a gang rape of a minor. Araiza, 23, has since been cleared of criminal charges, and an investigation into the 2021 incident on the San Diego State campus did not produce a connection involving Araiza, who has also been dropped from a lawsuit pertaining to the matter. He has periodically surfaced on the NFL radar as a result, but the former All-American had not previously caught on with a team since his controversial Buffalo exit.
Araiza visited the Jets in May 2023; the meeting did not produce an agreement. Araiza was out of the league last season. Although Araiza was cleared of wrongdoing by authorities, the prospect of teams not wanting to bother a second chance for a punter who generated the headlines he did loomed. But Adam Caplan of Pro Football Network reports another team showed interest recently. Now, Araiza will look to earn the punting gig with the two-time defending champions.
The Chiefs’ punter of the past four seasons, Tommy Townsend, played out his rookie contract. He is set to be a free agent soon. A 2020 UDFA, Townsend earned first-team All-Pro honors for his work in 2022. He punted in three Super Bowls, collecting two rings as part of the team’s past two championship-winning efforts.
After averaging 50.4 yards per punt last season — by far a franchise single-season record — the Florida alum checked in with a 47.1-yard average in 2023. Townsend, 27, holds the top three single-season punting averages in Chiefs history, providing a strong replacement for longtime Kansas City punter Dustin Colquitt. Araiza averaged 51.2 yards per boot during his final San Diego State season.
The Araiza accuser’s civil suit alleged he had sex with the her at an off-campus party and brought her into a bedroom where “a group” of men raped her. The woman, who was 17 at the time of the October 2021 party, said she told friends immediately after she had been raped; she reported it to the San Diego Police Department the next day. During a 10-month criminal investigation into Araiza and two other members of the San Diego State football team, however, a witness said Araiza was no longer at the party at the time the alleged rape took place. Araiza had said any sexual contact between he and the accuser was consensual. Although the woman was 17 at the time of the alleged rape, Araiza has said he believed she was 18.
During Araiza’s quest to resume his career, the punter’s agent sent 20 teams a recording of a December 2022 meeting between a San Diego County prosecutor, the accuser and her attorney. The recording included a series of video clips showing the teen’s sexual encounters at the party; none showed Araiza, who declined an offer to settle the case for $50K.
This Araiza flier of sorts comes years after the Chiefs kicked the tires on first-round washouts Deandre Baker and Damon Arnette. Kansas City picked up both after off-field developments respectively led the corners out of New York and Las Vegas. Those partnerships did not last long, and it will be interesting to see if Araiza can rebound and begin his career two years later.
Sam Robinson contributed to this post.
Seahawks Restructure Geno Smith’s Deal
It’s been seeming increasingly likely that the Seahawks would hold on to Geno Smith for the 2024 campaign. Thanks to today’s cap machinations, the organization all but confirmed that notion.
[RELATED: Seahawks Plan On Retaining Geno Smith?]
According to ESPN’s Field Yates, the Seahawks have restructured Smith’s deal, converting $9.6MM of his roster bonus into a signing bonus. The move will save the Seahawks around $4.8MM in 2024 cap space, and Bob Condotta of The Seattle Times adds that the move reduces Smith’s cap hit from $31.2MM to $26.4MM. Smith’s $12.7MM base salary shifted from an injury guarantee to fully guaranteed last week, further increasing the chances that he’d be sticking around for at least 2024.
That $9.6MM roster bonus wasn’t set to vest until March 18, a deadline that could have bought the team some extra time to figure out a trade for the veteran QB. While the Seahawks compromised their flexibility by making today’s move, there were also benefits. Condotta notes that the restructuring allowed the front office to spread the cap hit across two seasons, and Smith obviously won’t complain about getting that money sooner.
Following his breakout 2022 campaign, the Seahawks signed Smith to a three-year, $75MM extension. Still, that contract was heavy on incentives and performance escalators, meaning the Seahawks effectively had the opportunity to take it year-by-year. Assuming the Seahawks don’t make an unexpected trade, the organization will likely face the same decision next year. As Jason Fitzgerald of OverTheCap.com writes, the Seahawks will now be left with $13.5MM in dead money if they cut Smith in 2025.
By carving out that extra $4.8MM in cap room, the Seahawks are now just about at the estimated cap for the 2024 campaign. The organization can still rework Smith’s base salary in an attempt to open more breathing room, but there’s less urgency on that front.
NFL Reserve/Futures Contracts: 2/22/24
Today’s reserve/futures contract:
Kansas City Chiefs
Gillespie was a fourth-round pick by the Raiders in 2021, but after getting into 11 games as a rookie, he’s bounced around the NFL. Over the past two-plus seasons, he’s spent time with the Titans, Jaguars, Texans, and Chiefs. The defensive back caught on with Kansas City towards the end of this past season but didn’t make an appearance with the big-league club.
Minor NFL Transactions: 2/22/24
One minor move to pass along today:
Washington Commanders
- Re-signed: WR/PR Kazmeir Allen, G Mason Brooks
Both of the 2023 UDFAs spent the majority of their rookie seasons on Washington’s practice squad. Allen made a name for himself at UCLA, hauling in 12 touchdowns in 38 games. He was also a collegiate sprinter, making him a natural candidate for return duties.