Panthers Select Bryce Young First Overall
As expected, the Panthers have selected quarterback Bryce Young first overall. The Alabama alum was long thought to be the favorite for Carolina, after they pulled off a blockbuster trade to acquire the top spot in the order last month. 
Young won the Heisman in 2021 as part of a highly productive two-year stretch as the starter for the Crimson Tide. That span included 8,200 passing yards and 79 touchdown passes, along with only 12 interceptions. Young established himself as a dynamic passer with an ability to produce ‘off-script’ plays, making him one of the most highly-touted prospects at any position in this year’s class.
However, his size (5-10, 204 pounds) represents a cause for concern for evaluators. Young’s frame will lead to questions about his ability to handle the physicality of the pro game, a factor which initially drove many to think Ohio State’s C.J. Stroud would be the Panthers’ preference. As of three weeks ago, however, signs pointed to Young being the favorite to hear his name called first.
It was reported on Tuesday that Carolina’s decision-makers (including GM Scott Fitterer and head coach Frank Reich) had reached a consensus on the pick. Now, their attention can officially turn towards the rest of their draft capital (which includes four other picks in 2023, owing to the package they sent to the Bears to move up from ninth to first in the order). The team is coming off a 7-10 season, and has a number of other spots to fill out on the roster.
Young, meanwhile, will seek to end the Panthers’ post-Cam Newton woes under center. The team cycled through a number of free agent and trade acquisitions, and even a brief reunion with the former No. 1 pick himself, over the past several years. Now, it Young lives up to his potential, he will be in place as the franchise QB for many years to come.
Commanders Will Not Exercise Chase Young’s Fifth-Year Option
Rumored to be on the fence about Chase Young‘s fifth-year option, the Commanders look set to put the former No. 2 overall pick in a contract year. They are not planning to pick up Young’s option, Nicki Jhabvala of the Washington Post reports (on Twitter).
Because Young is a one-time Pro Bowler, his 2024 option would cost Washington $17.45MM. Since that rookie-year honor, however, Young ran into a complicated ACL injury that sidetracked his career. Young returned to action late last season, but more uncertainty exists regarding the former Defensive Rookie of the Year’s trajectory compared to where it stood after the 2020 campaign.
[RELATED: 2024 NFL Fifth-Year Option Tracker]
This will set up one of the more interesting contract years in recent memory. Young finished second in the 2019 Heisman balloting and was viewed as the consensus best non-quarterback in the 2020 draft. Young lived up to that billing as a rookie, helping lead Washington to an unexpected division title — albeit at 7-9 — by anchoring a defensive line loaded with first-round picks. But Young has since missed 22 games.
Young, who turned 24 this month, is believed to have suffered a ruptured patellar tendon in addition to an ACL tear in November 2021. This turn of events led to the Commanders holding off on redeploying him until Week 16 of last season. While other players who suffered ACL tears during the 2021 season debuted in Week 1 or early last year, Young lost nearly 1 1/2 seasons because of his setback. The injury and lengthy rehab process will force Young to prove his value in 2023.
Although Young registered 7.5 sacks and four forced fumbles as a rookie, he tallied just 1.5 sacks and four quarterback hits in nine games before suffering his seminal injury in 2021. Last season, Young logged 115 defensive snaps and one QB hit. Expected to be much healthier in 2023, Young is on track to be full-go in Week 1. That said, it is understandable the organization is expressing some caution regarding a $17MM-plus Young guarantee.
The Commanders are expected to be sold soon, but it is not yet known who will be the new owner. Josh Harris remains in the lead, as the NFL has reviewed the 76ers owner’s bid. But at least one other buyer remains in the mix. That uncertainty may well have affected Young, given the expense here. Had Young not been voted to the 2020 Pro Bowl (when COVID-19 nixed the actual game), his limited participation in the 2021 and ’22 seasons would have knocked him down to the fourth tier of the option structure ($12.14MM). The higher cost coupled with ownership instability may have impacted the team’s thinking here.
This decision will mean Washington will have picked up the fifth-year options for Montez Sweat, Daron Payne and Jonathan Allen but not Young. Given Young’s draft status compared to his D-line mates, it is fascinating he has a chance to hit free agency a year earlier. The Commanders extended Allen and did not let Payne hit the market this year, franchise-tagging him after a breakthrough fifth-year option season. Sweat is heading into his option year, which sits at $11.5MM. Young’s fourth-year cap number checks in at $10.99MM.
Allen and Payne are attached to big-ticket extensions — at $18MM and $22.5MM per year, respectively — but the team suddenly does not have long-term plans at defensive end. Sweat and Young going into contract years at the same time may put the franchise to an either/or call, with only one franchise tag available in 2024. Barring an extension before that point, one of the Commanders’ two D-end starters could be auditioning for another team this season.
Jaguars DT DaVon Hamilton Signs Three-Year Extension
For the second year in a row, the Jaguars have reported another big extension just before the NFL Draft. This year’s recipient is fourth-year defensive tackle DaVon Hamilton. According to Ian Rapoport of NFL Network, the new contract is essentially a three-year deal worth $34.5MM. He’ll get a fully guaranteed amount of $23MM and have an opportunity to push the maximum value of the contract to $36MM through incentives. 
Hamilton is being rewarded for an extremely strong season after his third year in the league. The former third-round pick out of Ohio State had found starting opportunities over his first two years in the league but took over as a full-time starter in 2022. With an increased snap percentage, Hamilton recorded career-highs in total tackles (56), tackles for loss (5), sacks (2.5), quarterback hits (6), and forced fumbles (1).
Hamilton is regarded as one of the better pass rushing interior lineman in the NFL, grading out with the 20th-best pass rush grade among the position, according to Pro Football Focus (subscription required). He graded out as the 26th-best interior defender overall for 2023.
Jacksonville has worked hard to keep last year’s defense line intact, extending starter Roy Robertson-Harris in February, re-signing rotation lineman Adam Gotsis, and signing another rotation piece, Nick Thurman, to a reserve/futures contract at the end of the season. They also return a regular contributor in Folorunso Fatukasi, who signed with the team last year.
With a three-man defensive line, the Jaguars are expected to field Hamilton in the center with Robertson-Harris and Fatukasi on the ends. They may explore some depth options at the position in the draft or free agency, but their top contributors for the next two years, at least, have been established with today’s deal.
Minor NFL Transactions: 4/26/23
Jets Release RB Ty Johnson
Just over a month after re-signing running back Ty Johnson, the Jets will be releasing the offensive depth piece with a non-football injury designation, according to Field Yates of ESPN. This leaves just three running backs on New York’s roster, not counting fullback Nick Bawden.
Johnson joined the Jets near the beginning of the 2020 season after being waived by the Lions. A 104-yard rushing performance later in the season likely established Johnson as a midseason addition that would continue earning opportunities with the team. He ended the year as the team’s second-most productive rusher behind veteran Frank Gore. The next year, he would start three games as he competed for touches with then-rookie Michael Carter and Tevin Coleman.
Over his three seasons with New York, Johnson only averaged about 15 yards per game with 652 yards in 44 contests, but he delivered strong performances here and there even as he slid down the depth chart. He also developed more and more of a role on special teams as his opportunities on offense dwindled.
There were three backs on the roster with more rushing yards than Johnson in 2022, and all three are returning next year. The Jets rushing attack is expected to be led by a newly healthy Breece Hall in his second season. The room exudes youth right now as Zonovan Knight was also a rookie last season and Carter will enter his third NFL season in 2023.
Despite the consistency in the running backs room, the Jets offense is expected to look very different this year with Aaron Rodgers under center and throwing passes to new receivers Allen Lazard and Mecole Hardman. Second-year receiver Garrett Wilson and Corey Davis add to the roster consistency in 2023, but an expected step up from Wilson and Hall in their sophomore seasons could help the Jets to be quite formidable during Rodgers’s first year in town.
Jets Re-Sign C Connor McGovern
APRIL 26: McGovern, who signed a three-year deal worth $27MM in 2020, will be attached to a much cheaper Jets pact this season. Gang Green brought back its center on a one-year, $1.92MM deal, Zack Rosenblatt of The Athletic tweets. The Jets will guarantee the veteran snapper $1.25MM, and Rosenblatt adds no incentives are included in the contract.
APRIL 24: The Jets will have a familiar face in the middle of the offensive line in 2023. The team announced on Monday that they have re-signed center Connor McGovern.
The 29-year old began his career in Denver, where he showed the ability to play at both center and guard. He had an offer to remain in Denver, but it was withdrawn after they landed Graham Glasgow in free agency in 2020. That left McGovern free to head elsewhere, and he landed in New York on a three-year, $27MM deal.
Over the course of that contract, the former fifth-rounder has been a mainstay up front for the Jets, starting all 48 games he appeared in. That includes being on the field for every snap of the 2022 campaign, a feat not matched by any other lineman on the team, as the rest of New York’s group up front suffered a multitude of injuries. McGovern delivered a solid if unspectacular performance last season, earning an overall PFF grade of 69.6, the third-highest mark of his career.
In a free agent class featuring a few different experienced options up front – along with his namesake, who ultimately signed with the Bills last month – McGovern was expected to have a viable market from the Jets and other center-needy teams. The fact that he was still available this late into free agency demonstrates the degree to which that wasn’t the case, but a reunion with the Jets was always considered a logical development.
With McGovern in place, New York’s interior O-line is set with guards Laken Tomlinson and Alijah Vera-Tucker also on the books. The tackle spot could see an addition during the first round of this week’s draft, as the team looks to add more stability and depth up front after being hit hard by injuries last season. Regardless of whether or not they do so, though, they will have consistency and familiarity under center.
49ers To Re-Sign WR Willie Snead
Willie Snead resided as a depth player for the 49ers last season. The team will keep the veteran pass catcher around in 2023, with KPRC2’s Aaron Wilson reporting (via Twitter) Snead is back on San Francisco’s roster as of Wednesday morning.
The former Saints and Ravens slot receiver agreed to terms on a one-year deal. This reunion agreement comes just after the 49ers added veteran wideout Chris Conley.
San Francisco’s 53-man roster may not have room for both Snead and Conley, considering the team employs Deebo Samuel, Brandon Aiyuk, Jauan Jennings, 2022 third-round pick Danny Gray and return man Ray-Ray McCloud. But the 49ers will give Snead another opportunity to mix in as an insurance option.
Although Snead has multiple 800-plus-yard receiving seasons on his resume, those came in his first two seasons — back in 2016 and ’17 — in New Orleans. The veteran slot target also totaled 651 receiving yards with Ravens during their Joe Flacco-to-Lamar Jackson 2018 transition year. Snead, 30, spent three years in Baltimore but has bounced around since. After Snead spent the 2021 season with the Raiders and Panthers, the 49ers signed the former UDFA success story.
Snead played in four 49ers games last season, logging 30 offensive snaps and 38 on special teams. Barring an injury to one of the 49ers’ top weapons, it should be expected Snead will compete for a similar role this year.
Giants, DT A’Shawn Robinson Agree To Deal
APRIL 26: In terms of base value, Robinson’s deal checks in at $5MM, Dan Duggan of The Athletic tweets. The Giants are guaranteeing the veteran defensive lineman $4MM. Robinson can earn $1MM in per-game roster bonuses; $3MM in incentives are available. Absent an extension before the 2024 league year, $2.1MM in dead money will be attached to this one-year agreement. The Giants used void years to minimize Robinson’s 2023 cap hit, Duggan tweets.
APRIL 24: The Giants have added one of the top remaining free agent defensive linemen in advance of this week’s draft. New York has agreed to terms on a one-year deal worth up to $8MM with A’Shawn Robinson, reports Ian Rapoport of NFL Network (Twitter link). 
This news comes more than one month after Robinson visited the Giants, his only known sit-down with an outside team during his time as a free agent (though SNY’s Connor Hughes tweets that the Jets were interested as well). That meeting has eventually led to a deal, one which will allow him to join a talented defensive front and attempt to earn a longer-term pact on the open market next offseason.
The 28-year-old is coming off a three-year, $18MM contract with the Rams. Robinson started 24 of 35 games in Los Angeles, seeing his playing time increase with each passing season. He was productive during the team’s Super Bowl run in 2021, and remained a consistent run-stopper during his time on the West Coast. That led to a desire on the Rams’ part to work out a new contract, but they have spent much of this offseason shedding costs.
That left the door open to Robinson heading elsewhere on the open market as one of several veteran free agents in this year’s class. New York’s decision to host him signaled their interest in signing the former Lions second-rounder, but also their commitment to having notable depth along the defensive interior. Dexter Lawrence had a breakout season in 2022, and has likely played his way into a sizeable extension sometime this offseason. New York also has Leonard Williams in the fold; he is set to count for over $32MM on the team’s cap sheet this year.
Robinson will look to occupy at least a rotational role alongside those two in 2023, a campaign in which the Giants will aim to repeat the success of their defensive front from one year ago. A strong season could pay significant dividends for both team and player. The Rams, meanwhile, have now lost Robinson and Greg Gaines from their DT room, meaning the position could be one of interest in this week’s draft.
Minor NFL Transactions: 4/25/23
Today’s minor transactions:
Carolina Panthers
- Re-signed: S Sam Franklin
Kansas City Chiefs
- Re-signed: P Tommy Townsend
Both Franklin and Townsend signed their restricted free agent tenders.
Townsend has been the Chiefs’ starting punter since joining the organization as an UDFA out of Florida in 2020. He finished this past season with a career-high 50.4 yards per punt and 22 punts landed inside the 20 en route to a Pro Bowl and first-team All-Pro nod.
Franklin, a 2020 undrafted free agent out of Temple, has seen time in 47 games for the Panthers over the past three seasons, with the majority of his snaps coming on special teams. He finished this past season with 20 tackles in 17 games (one start).
Bengals Pick Up Joe Burrow’s Fifth-Year Option
Minutes after the Vikings made the easy call to push Justin Jefferson‘s rookie contract through 2024, the Bengals will do the same with Jefferson’s former college quarterback. Cincinnati exercised Joe Burrow‘s fifth-year option Tuesday, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets.
This will tie Burrow to a $29.5MM salary in 2024; that number is fully guaranteed. It is safe to expect Burrow to have fetched a bit more in guaranteed money by the time the 2024 season starts. The Bengals have started work on their franchise centerpiece’s extension, one expected to break NFL records. The Bengals subsequently announced the option decision, calling it a “mechanical step” toward a long-term Burrow partnership.
[RELATED: 2024 NFL Fifth-Year Option Tracker]
The Bengals timed their 2-14 season perfectly, bottoming out in Zac Taylor‘s first year at the helm. This gave them access to Burrow, who was coming off a Heisman season that included a then-record 60 touchdown passes during LSU’s unbeaten national championship campaign. Burrow leapfrogged Tua Tagovailoa as the favorite to go No. 1 overall during that season and became the top pick during 2020’s virtual draft. He is chiefly responsible for radically changing the Bengals’ trajectory.
Although Cincinnati went 4-11-1 in 2020, Burrow showed promise before an ACL tear ended his season. The Bengals, who shifted their strategy on free agency to complement Burrow’s rookie contract beginning in 2020, then armed their ascending quarterback with ex-LSU teammate Ja’Marr Chase in 2021. That combination led Cincinnati to its third Super Bowl, completing a stunning run — based on preseason odds — that nearly ended with the Bengals hoisting their first Lombardi trophy. Burrow led the Bengals back to the AFC championship game in 2022, and although he fell to 3-1 against the Chiefs in that latest matchup with Patrick Mahomes, the 26-year-old passer should be expected to sign a historic contract this offseason.
Jalen Hurts‘ $51MM-per-year re-up will undoubtedly be Burrow’s starting point, and it would be a surprise if he or Justin Herbert did not enter next season as the NFL’s highest-paid player. Both are one-time Pro Bowlers, though Burrow leading the Bengals to five playoff wins — matching the franchise’s total in its previous 53 years of existence — does stand out.
Teams have preferred to extend franchise-level first-round QBs before their fourth seasons, with most non-QB first-round standouts needing to wait until their fifth-year option offseasons to land a second contract. Hurts, Mahomes, Kyler Murray, Deshaun Watson and Josh Allen have each signed lucrative extensions before their fourth seasons. Mike Brown has mentioned the Mahomes model as a contract structure he supports, but no quarterback has opted for the extreme team-friendly structure — a 10-year pact — the Chiefs megastar has. It will be interesting to see how the Bengals-Burrow talks go, but updates should be coming fairly soon regarding the numbers and structure the Burrow camp seeks.