Transactions News & Rumors

Cardinals Re-Sign WR Zay Jones

March 11th, 2025 at 3:00pm CST by Adam La Rose

Zay Jones joined the Cardinals on a one-year deal last offseason. That has proven the be the case again on his latest Arizona pact, but the veteran receiver has earned a raise for 2025.

Jones has agreed to a one-year, $4.4MM deal, Fox Sports’ Jordan Schultz reports. That marks a healthy bump in pay compared to the $2.25MM pact he played on in 2024. The 29-year-old will be counted on to remain a secondary member of the team’s passing attack. The deal is now official, per a team announcement.

Jones’ most productive season to date came during his first of two seasons with the Jaguars in 2022. He recorded 823 yards and five touchdowns on 82 catches. After a less impactful follow-up campaign, Jones was released, leading to his one-year run with the Cardinals in 2024. That did not get off to a welcomed start, of course, as he was hit with a five-game suspension to begin the campaign.

Upon returning to the lineup, Jones made 11 appearances but he only saw a snap share of 35%. That sparse usage resulted in just eight scoreless catches, but a raise will no doubt come with increased expectations in 2025 for the former second-rounder. Arizona ranked 18th in passing yards last season, and Jones will have a role in aiming to improve in that department.

The Cardinals have 2024 No. 4 pick Marvin Harrison Jr. along with Michael Wilson at the receiver spot. Tight end Trey McBride (who could soon have an extension near the top of the position’s market in place) is in line to remain a focal point of the team’s offense. Jones should occupy a secondary role in the passing game, and increasing his production from last year will help his free agent market in 2026.

Saints To Re-Sign TE Juwan Johnson

March 11th, 2025 at 2:30pm CST by Sam Robinson

As Saints restructures accumulate (headlined by Derek Carr‘s), the team carved out enough cap room to retain Chase Young. The moves have also elevated New Orleans to a place where keeping Juwan Johnson was feasible.

The Saints are re-signing Johnson on a three-year deal, according to his agency. Johnson checked in on PFR’s Top 50 Free Agents list, as this year — before Evan Engram‘s release — brought a thin tight end contingent. But Johnson was one of the headliners. He is staying in New Orleans on a third contract.

Johnson will score a nice raise on this deal. The veteran pass catcher will be tied to $30.75MM, NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport tweets. Of that toal, $21.25MM will come guaranteed. Going into his age-29 season, Johnson is coming off his second 500-plus-yard performance. Even though the Saints are changing schemes by transitioning to the Kellen Moore era, Carr will still have Johnson to target moving forward.

The five-year Saint had played out a two-year, $12MM contract. It is worth wondering if Sean Payton‘s Saints West headquarters helped move the price to where it was, as the Broncos are in need of a tight end — even as they roster ex-Saints Adam Trautman and Lucas Krull — as well. Denver hosted Engram on Monday but has not signed him. Regardless of which team drove up Johnson’s price, a former UDFA will benefit and now be tied to an eight-figure AAV.

Over the past three years, Johnson has produced two 500-plus-yard seasons and totaled 14 touchdowns. That included career-high catch (50) and yardage (548) totals in 2024. The converted wideout has shown consistent ability to break away after the catch, with 38.7% of his yardage coming post-reception in 2024. He has averaged at least 11 yards per reception three times as a Saint, with Johnson being one of the team’s few post-Payton success stories. The converted wideout’s best work has come since Payton resigned his post in 2022.

Published before Engram’s release, PFR’s free agent list tabbed Johnson as most likely to become this year’s highest-paid UFA tight end. Although the Bengals gave Mike Gesicki a three-year, $25.5MM deal to stay, that assessment has thus far proven accurate. Johnson rejoins a Saints team still rostering Taysom Hill and Foster Moreau. While Hill has generated more interest, Johnson is now in the clear position as the team’s top receiving tight end.

Buccaneers To Re-Sign OLB Anthony Nelson

March 11th, 2025 at 2:00pm CST by Sam Robinson

Another offseason chock full of Buccaneers re-signings is upon us. Anthony Nelson will become the latest homegrown player to stick around.

The Bucs are giving the outside linebacker at two-year, $10MM deal, ESPN.com’s Jeremy Fowler reports. The contract can max out at $12MM. Although these are modest terms in the grand scheme of NFL contracts, it is interesting since Nelson already played out a two-year, $10MM contract with the Bucs.

Considering where the cap has gone since Nelson re-signed with the Bucs in 2023, this can be deemed a pay cut. But Nelson will stay on a $5MM-per-year accord to help the Bucs as an auxiliary edge rusher. The former fourth-round pick has fared decently in that role before, having totaled 17.5 sacks over the past four years.

A 2019 fourth-round pick, Nelson won Super Bowl ring as a backup during the 2020 season and has helped the team transition after it moved on from Jason Pierre-Paul and Shaquil Barrett in recent years. The Bucs have since let Joe Tryon-Shoyinka walk, as the 2021 first-rounder committed to the Browns earlier Tuesday. Nelson could be in store for a bigger role as a result, but Tampa Bay is also bringing in Haason Reddick on a pricey one-year deal.

Reddick will be set to start opposite YaYa Diaby, but his addition should not tweak Nelson’s responsibilities too much. Nelson, 28, worked as a part-time starter in both 2022 and ’24, making 14 starts between those seasons, and was a 16-game contributor off the bench in 2023. Nelson is coming off a season in which he established a new career high with 13 QB hits. While he did not match his 2021-22 sack production (11.5) on his two-year deal (seven sacks from 2023-24), the Iowa alum upped his TFL count in that span. Nelson finished with 13 combined TFLs over the past two seasons, forcing a fumble in 2024.

A previous restructure on Nelson’s 2023 contract will lead to a Mike Evans-like arrangement, as Nelson will count as both an active contract and dead money on the Bucs’ 2025 payroll. Nelson’s deal voiding earlier this offseason will leave a $2.65MM dead money charge. But the Bucs will still keep their top rotational rusher in the fold behind Diaby and now Reddick.

The team had previously re-signed Lavonte David, Chris Godwin and Ben Bredeson. This comes after an offseason that featured David, Evans and Baker Mayfield re-ups and extensions for Tristan Wirfs and Antoine Winfield Jr.

Ravens Re-Sign FB Patrick Ricard

March 11th, 2025 at 2:00pm CST by Adam La Rose

Patrick Ricard‘s Baltimore tenure will continue in 2025. The Pro Bowl fullback has a new deal in place with the Ravens, Dianna Russini of The Athletic reports.

This will be a one-year pact, Russini notes. It is guaranteed in full, though. Ricard has been with the team his entire eight-year career, and he is set to remain a key figure on the team’s offense. The team has since confirmed the news.

After entering the league as an undrafted free agent, Ricard initially saw time as a defensive tackle in addition to his usage as a fullback. After splitting his reps between the two positions for a period, the Maine product turned his attention to full-time offensive duties. He has operated solely as a fullback since 2020, earning a total of five Pro Bowl nods for his work in that capacity during his career.

Ricard has added a pair of All-Pro honors to his resume, including a first-team nod in 2024. The 30-year-old has never topped 90 scrimmage yards in a season, and he has caught only seven total touchdown passes. Ricard has remained a central blocking figure in Baltimore’s run game, however, including the past two years (with offensive coordinator Todd Monken at the helm).

During Greg Roman‘s OC tenure, Ricard’s offensive snap share rose as high as 64%. That figure has fallen to 39% for each of the past two years as a reflection of the changes brought about by Monken’s arrival. The latter signed a new deal last month, so Ricard faced questions about his future not only as a pending free agent but as candidate to be phased out of the offense to an even larger extent. For at least one more season, though, he will remain in place.

Ricard landed a two-year deal in 2019, then inked a three-year pact in 2022. Between those two deals, he earned a total of $9.8MM in guarantees. It will be interesting to see how the finances of this one-year contract compare since it fully consists of locked-in compensation.

Cowboys Re-Sign KaVontae Turpin

March 11th, 2025 at 1:08pm CST by Adam La Rose

KaVontae Turpin has managed to land a deal keeping him in place with the Cowboys. The pending restricted free agent will not need a tender after all.

Turpin and the Cowboys have agreed to a three-year deal, ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler reports. The pact is worth $18MM, Tom Pelissero and Jane Slater of NFL Network add. As a result, Turpin will become the NFL’s highest-paid special teamer once the pact is finalized. That has now taken place, per a team announcement.

$18MM represents the maximum value of the pact, Calvin Watkins of the Dallas Morning News notes. He adds Turpin’s annual compensation has the potential to jump from $6MM to $8MM, meaning incentives are present in the deal. Clarence Hill Jr. of All DLLS reports this agreement includes a $3MM signing bonus. There are a total of $5.5MM in guarantees, ESPN’s Todd Archer adds.

Last week, it was reported the Cowboys were prepared to use the second-round RFA tender to prevent Turpin from reaching the market. That would have locked him into a $5.3MM payday for 2025. Instead, the 28-year-old will remain in the fold for the foreseeable future at a slightly higher rate.

Turpin earned a Pro Bowl nod as a rookie based on his production as a returner. That has remained his most important trait since, with the 2024 campaign consisting of a league-leading 33.5 yards per return average on kickoffs. Receiving a second Pro Bowl invite in addition to a first-team All-Pro nod this past year certainly helped the TCU product’s leverage in negotiations. With this pact in hand, he will be counted on to remain a dynamic playmaker on special teams.

With that said, Turpin’s offensive snap share has increased with each passing season; in 2024, it checked in at 27%. The Cowboys are in the market for a complementary receiver (particularly if Brandin Cooks departs in free agency), but Turpin could find himself occupying a larger role in the passing game as this deal plays out. In any case, Dallas has taken care of an important piece of in-house business.

Browns To Sign DE Joe Tryon-Shoyinka

March 11th, 2025 at 12:44pm CST by Sam Robinson

As the Browns came in with a market-resetting extension to end their Myles Garrett trade drama, they will take a flier on a former first-round pick. Joe Tryon-Shoyinka is heading to Cleveland.

The former Buccaneers top choice will join the Browns on a one-year deal worth $4.75MM, according to Fox Sports’ Jordan Schultz. While Tryon-Shoyinka did not live up to expectations in Tampa, he will have a shot to bounce back in an edge-rushing corps still headlined by a future Hall of Famer.

Chosen months after the Bucs’ Super Bowl LV win, Tryon-Shoyinka could not establish himself as a reliable Shaquil Barrett complementary piece. The Bucs eventually benched the Washington alum, who is coming off a down season. Tryon-Shoyinka, 26 in April, totaled career-low marks in sacks (two), tackles for loss (three) and QB hits (four) despite playing in 15 games. As YaYa Diaby has established himself as Tampa Bay’s current top edge rusher, the Bucs were not viewed as likely to re-sign Tryon-Shoyinka.

Although the Bucs declined Tryon-Shoyinka’s fifth-year option in 2024, he did have moments as a supporting-caster. He tallied five sacks and seven TFLs in 2023, even as Diaby replaced him in Tampa Bay’s starting lineup opposite Barrett. Succeeding Jason Pierre-Paul in 2022, Tryon-Shoyinka also set a career high with 14 QB hits — during a season that featured a Barrett Achilles tear.

Garrett is back to anchor Cleveland’s pass rush for a ninth season, but his supporting cast needs filling out. The Browns traded three-year DE2 Za’Darius Smith last season and saw Garrett rack up 14 sacks and no one else surpass five. Tryon-Shoyinka may not ultimately check in as a Browns starter, even though he has 45 starts on his resume, but he could still benefit from the dominant performer’s presence — as Smith and Jadeveon Clowney have previously. The Browns still have Ogbo Okoronkwo and Alex Wright under contract as well.

49ers Release Leonard Floyd

March 11th, 2025 at 12:31pm CST by Adam La Rose

Leonard Floyd was known to be a release candidate for the 49ers. The veteran edge rusher is indeed being let go, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reports. The move is now official, per a team announcement.

Floyd inked a two-year pact with the 49ers last offseason, matching the move made by fellow edge rusher Yetur Gross-Matos. Both of them were floated as cut candidates this offseason, though, so today’s news comes as little surprise. Floyd was set to carry a cap hit of $10.11MM, and this move will create $1.48MM in savings while generating a dead money charge of $8.63MM.

While many pointed to a Floyd release being possible based on the economics of the situation, his production will be difficult to replace. The 32-year-old finished second on the 49ers with 8.5 sacks in 2024. That extended his streak of at least eight sacks to five years, a stretch was has included time with three different teams. The former Bear, Ram and Bill will now be free to join an interested team at any time.

Finding a long-term complementary edge rusher to pair with Nick Bosa has proven to be a challenge for the 49ers during his decorated run with the team. Of course, the potential to bring in Joey Bosa has been floated in the past and the latter’s Chargers release has made it possible. San Francisco has been in communication with Joey, meaning a deal could be stuck at any time (although the Dolphins loom as a suitor as well).

The 49ers have agreed to a trade which will send wideout Deebo Samuel to the Commanders while they are also set to cut defensive tackle Javon Hargrave. San Francisco informed longtime fullback Kyle Juszczyk he will be released yesterday, so moving on from Floyd will leave San Francisco without a number of veterans next year. The team saw linebacker Dre Greenlaw and safety Talanoa Hufanga agree to Broncos deals, yesterday, meaning a number of defensive moves will be needed in addition to replacing Floyd’s edge production.

The Georgia product has has not missed a game since 2017, a factor which (along with his consistent output) should help him land a new deal in short order. Other veteran edge rushers are available, but Floyd is now among the top ones on the market.

Texans To Re-Sign DL Mario Edwards

March 11th, 2025 at 11:59am CST by Sam Robinson

The Texans dropped Shaq Mason after two seasons but have added two more players from the 2015 draft Tuesday. After reuniting Laken Tomlinson and DeMeco Ryans, Houston is bringing back Mario Edwards.

A 10-year veteran who has settled into a rotational role up front, Edwards is staying with the Texans on a two-year, $9.5MM deal, NFL.com’s Mike Garafolo reports. Although Edwards came into the NFL in 2015, he is still only going into his age-31 season.

Houston is bringing back Edwards after already reuniting with the player he helped replace (Sheldon Rankins). Adding Rankins after he disappointed in Cincinnati, Houston is banking on experience to complement Will Anderson and Danielle Hunter. The team has Tim Settle, who is going into his eighth NFL season, signed for 2025 as well.

A former Oakland Raiders draftee, Edwards has done well to build a career as a rotational D-lineman. The interior pass rusher has already played for seven teams. His 12 Texans starts last year, however, were his most in a season since 2017. Edwards notched three sacks and tallied eight QB hits, recovering two fumbles and batting down two passes during a season in which he served a four-game PED suspension. The proven inside presence added 1.5 sacks during the Texans’ wild-card rout of the Chargers.

After Edwards’ three Oakland seasons to start his career, he has only one other instance (2020-21 in Chicago) of playing for the same team in consecutive seasons. Houston will add another such stop, aiming to build an experience yet cost-efficient DT corps to go with their high-end Hunter and Anderson investments.

Commanders, S Will Harris Agree To Deal

March 11th, 2025 at 11:54am CST by Adam La Rose

The Commanders saw Jeremy Chinn agree to a Raiders deal yesterday, but they have quickly worked out a safety addition. Will Harris has a Washington contract in place, Mike Garafolo of NFL Network reports.

This will be a two-year pact, Garafolo adds. Harris will collect a base value of $8MM with the potential for $10MM. A veteran of 53 starts, he will aim to provide a first-team presence to his newest team.

Although Harris spent the 2024 season in New Orleans, he spent five years with the Lions during current Commanders assistant GM Lance Newmark’s lengthy Detroit tenure. Harris has played both safety and cornerback as a pro, having signed one-year deals with the Lions and the Saints. This will be Harris’ first multiyear agreement since his Lions rookie contract.

Detroit moved Harris to corner before the 2022 season and kept him there upon re-signing him in 2023. Starting 27 games for the Lions from 2021-22, Harris took a backseat in 2023, as the Lions had added some DB talent. The team reloaded once again in 2024 and let Harris walk. With the Saints, the former third-round pick started 13 games, primarily lining up as a safety for a struggling New Orleans squad.

The Saints gave Harris plenty of roles in 2024, using him near the line of scrimmage, at free safety and in the slot on at least 100 snaps apiece. Despite Marshon Lattimore and Paulson Adebo being out of the picture for much of the season, Harris did not factor into the Saints’ boundary CB mix. The Commanders have lost Chinn and Kamren Curl in consecutive offseasons; fellow safety Darrick Forrest is a free agent. Quan Martin remains on his rookie deal for the resurgent team, however. Harris figures to have a shot at the other starting job in 2025.

Sam Robinson contributed to this post.

Panthers Release RB Miles Sanders

March 11th, 2025 at 11:32am CST by Adam La Rose

Miles Sanders‘ tenure with the Panthers has come to an expected end. The veteran running back was released on Tuesday, per a team announcement.

Sanders was prepared to restructure his contract to remain in Carolina, ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler reports. Team and player negotiated such a move, but no agreement could be reached. Now, the former Eagles Pro Bowler will hit the market for the second time in his career.

The top running back earner in the 2023 offseason, Sanders inked a four-year Panthers pact. By cutting bait halfway through the deal, the team will generate $5.23MM in cap space while incurring a dead money charge of $2.95MM. Carolina will now move forward with Chuba Hubbard atop the backfield depth chart.

The 25-year-old Canadian set new career high with 1,195 rushing yards and 10 touchdowns last season. Midway through the campaign, Hubbard inked a four-year extension which prevented him from reaching free agency this spring. He will be counted on to remain a lead back moving forward while 2024 second-rounder Jonathon Brooks rehabs his second ACL tear.

Sanders finished out his rookie contract with an impressive Eagles season (1,347 scrimmage yards, 11 touchdowns, 4.9 yards per carry). The Penn State product found himself on the move with Philadelphia electing to sign D’Andre Swift – and later, Saquon Barkley – however, leading to his Panthers agreement. His Carolina tenure did not go according to plan, and during a six-week stretch this past season Sanders was inactive.

While the 27-year-old returned to the lineup during the season finale and operated as a starter (due to other injuries), it was widely expected a parting of ways would take place. Sanders will now look to find a new home with his stock in a much worse spot than it was two years ago. The likes of Najee Harris and Javonte Williams have lined up new deals in the early portion of the offseason, and the 2025 draft class features several highly-acclaimed running backs. Sanders may need to wait to find a suitor as a result.

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