Minor NFL Transactions: 3/28/22
Today’s minor NFL transactions:
Atlanta Falcons
- Re-signed: RB Qadree Ollison
Cincinnati Bengals
- Re-signed: WR Stanley Morgan (two-year deal)
New York Giants
- Re-signed: RB Sandro Platzgummer
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
- Re-signed: LS Zach Triner
Contract Details: Miller, Robinson, Reddick, Mariota, Jensen, Collins, Brown, Norwell
Here are the latest details from contracts recently agreed to across the league, starting with the Bills’ big-ticket deal for a future Hall of Fame edge rusher:
- Von Miller, LB (Bills): Six years, $120MM. Miller’s deal includes $51.44MM guaranteed. The Bills will keep Miller’s early base salaries low; he is tied to $1.1MM (2022) and $1.3MM (’23) salaries, Aaron Wilson of ProFootballNetwork.com tweets. Miller has a $13.34MM roster bonus due in 2023, and Albert Breer of SI.com tweets his deal includes $50MM over the first two years. His $17.1MM, $19.6MM and $29.6MM salaries from 2025-27 are nonguaranteed.
- Allen Robinson, WR (Rams): Three years, $46.5MM. Robinson is attached to guaranteed base salaries of $1.5MM and $10MM in 2022 and ’23, respectively, per Wilson (on Twitter). The contract includes a $5.75MM roster bonus on Day 5 of the 2024 league year. If Robinson surpasses 2,200 receiving yards in the regular season and playoffs during the 2022 or ’23 seasons, Wilson adds his 2024 year will void (Twitter link). Only Cooper Kupp has accomplished that feat in a season.
- Haason Reddick, DE (Eagles): Three years, $45MM. Reddick, who is guaranteed $30MM, is tethered to base salaries of just $1MM and $1.1MM in 2022 and 2023, per Wilson (on Twitter). His $13.75MM 2024 salary is nonguaranteed. The Eagles tacked three void years onto the deal for cap purposes. Reddick will collect a $13.7MM roster bonus in 2023.
- Ryan Jensen, C (Buccaneers): Three years, $39MM. Jensen’s deal includes $26.5MM guaranteed. The Bucs center is tied to a $1.5MM base salary in 2022 and a $12.5MM base in 2023, Wilson tweets. Jensen’s 2023 salary is partially guaranteed at signing; it will become fully guaranteed if he is on Tampa Bay’s roster by Day 5 of the 2023 league year. A $1.5MM 2024 roster bonus resides in this deal as well. The Bucs included two void years here for cap purposes.
- La’el Collins, T (Bengals): Three years, $30MM. The contract is closer to a two-year, $20MM pact, per ESPN’s Adam Schefter, with Year 3 being included for cap purposes (Twitter link). It appears Cincinnati has dipped into the void-year realm, though is not clear just yet how this contract is structured.
- Marcus Mariota, QB (Falcons): Two years, $18.75MM. This deal veers closer to a one-year pact. Mariota is due $6.75MM in 2022, but NFL.com’s Tom Pelissero notes (on Twitter) a $12MM 2023 option is included in this contract. A key point for Mariota’s Atlanta future will arrive on Day 5 of the 2023 league year, when a $3MM roster bonus is due.
- Trent Brown, T (Patriots): Two years, $13MM. Brown will see $4MM guaranteed, Pelissero tweets. The veteran right tackle can earn up to $22MM on the contract.
- Andrew Norwell, G (Commanders): Two years, $10MM. Norwell will collect $5.7MM guaranteed, Wilson tweets. He is set to earn $1.2MM and $3.54MM in base salary, with Wilson adding Washington added three void years onto this deal.
Minor NFL Transactions: 3/22/22
Here are today’s minor moves around the NFL:
Chicago Bears
- Signed: FB Khari Blasingame
Cincinnati Bengals
- Waived: OT Fred Johnson
Kansas City Chiefs
- Signed: CB Luq Barcoo, OLB Elijah Lee
Minnesota Vikings
- Re-Signed: QB Sean Mannion
Pittsburgh Steelers
- Re-Signed: DT Montravius Adams
Packers To Sign DL Jarran Reed
Jarran Reed is set to play for a third team in three seasons. The former Seahawks and Chiefs defensive lineman is signing with the Packers, Tom Pelissero of NFL.com tweets. The Bengals also met with Reed recently, Aaron Wilson of ProFootballNetwork.com adds, but he will head to Wisconsin.
The six-year veteran visited the Packers on Tuesday and will join a defensive line also housing Kenny Clark. This marked the third straight offseason in which Reed hit free agency. The Seahawks locked him up on a short-term deal in 2020, but that relationship quickly deteriorated and has led to a nomadic journey for the talented interior D-lineman.
Seattle gave Reed a longer-term deal, but an unusual development led to his exit. Reed refused to restructure his two-year, $23MM pact in 2021, leading to the Seahawks cutting him. The Chiefs gave Reed a one-year, $5.5MM deal and used him as a 17-game starter.
A former second-round pick out of Alabama, Reed zoomed onto the extension radar after a 10.5-sack 2018 season. A six-game suspension stalled Reed’s momentum in 2019, when he finished with just two sacks. He recorded 6.5 in 2020 and 2.5 last season, adding two forced fumbles and 12 QB hits during his one Chiefs campaign. Reed has also tallied three postseason sacks over the past two seasons.
Reed, 29, has been a highly durable player throughout his career. Excepting the suspension-induced hiatus, he has never missed more than one game in a season. The Packers will look to Reed as a supporting-caster, with Clark, Rashan Gary and Preston Smith set to spearhead their pass rush post-Za’Darius Smith. This will be Reed’s first run in a 3-4 defense, though these transitions have become less notable given the increased usages of sub-packages.
Since trading Davante Adams to the Raiders, the Packers have used some of the freed-up funds to address other areas. They have since signed Reed and reached agreements to bring back Rasul Douglas and Robert Tonyan.
Minor NFL Transactions: 3/21/22
Today’s minor NFL transactions:
Buffalo Bills
- Signed: OL Greg Mancz
Cincinnati Bengals
- Re-signed (two-year deal): WR Stanley Morgan
Denver Broncos
- Signed: S J.R. Reed
Jacksonville Jaguars
- Signed: K Ryan Santoso
Las Vegas Raiders
- Signed: LB Micah Kiser
Los Angeles Chargers
- Signed: P JK Scott
Miami Dolphins
- Re-signed: S Sheldrick Redwine
Tennessee Titans
- Signed: S A.J. Moore
- Released: G Corey Levin
Bengals Release CB Trae Waynes
MARCH 21: The Bengals waited a while, but they have made the Waynes move. This cut will add more than $10MM to Cincinnati’s cap space. Waynes did not play any defensive snaps during the team’s four playoff games, wrapping a disappointing run for the ex-Vikings first-rounder in Cincinnati.
This transaction stands to bump the AFC champions’ cap space north of $23MM. The Bengals brought back Eli Apple, keeping their top three corners from 2021 — Apple, Awuzie and Hilton — together. Unfortunately, Waynes could not avoid more injury trouble, which ended up defining his Bengals tenure.
FEB. 27: This is hardly a surprise, but the Bengals are expected to cut cornerback Trae Waynes, per Jay Morrison of The Athletic (subscription required). Waynes signed a three-year, $42MM contract with Cincinnati in March 2020, and in Morrison’s estimation, he is the biggest free agency bust in club history.
It would be difficult to quibble with that assessment. Waynes missed the entire 2020 season with a pectoral injury, and he ultimately played in just five regular season games in 2021 due to a hamstring ailment. Although he appeared in all four of the Bengals’ postseason contests, he saw just 13 total snaps, and all of them came on special teams.
The reigning AFC champs are in a pretty good place in terms of the salary cap. As Morrison writes in a separate piece (subscription required), Cincinnati should have upwards of $70MM in cap space this offseason, including the $10.9MM the club will realize from the Waynes release. Of course, a good chunk of that money is likely to be invested in an offensive line that yielded a whopping 70 sacks throughout the regular season and playoffs.
But some of it will need to be reinvested into the secondary as well. In addition to a franchise tag or extension for safety Jessie Bates, the Bengals will need to sign a No. 2 corner. Indeed, other than Waynes, Chidobe Awuzie and Mike Hilton, no cornerback who played a snap in 2021 is under contract for 2022.
For his part, Waynes will likely need to settle for a veteran minimum deal somewhere. His contract with the Bengals was inflated due to the premium that teams often have to pay for cornerbacks in free agency, as his 3+ years as a starter with the Vikings were solid enough, but never spectacular. Couple that with his recent injury history, and it stands to reason that he will be looking for a prove-it contract in 2022.
Bengals To Sign La’el Collins
Cincinnati’s effort to re-make their offensive line isn’t finished yet. According to Mike Garafolo of NFL Network, the team is “finalizing an agreement” with tackle La’el Collins (Twitter link). Jeff Howe and Paul Dehner Jr. of The Athletic report that the contract is a three-year deal.
Collins was scheduled for another free agent visit elsewhere, Garafolo notes, but the Bengals are getting him signed before he could leave their building. The former Cowboy is set to become the third starting-caliber addition to their offensive line, as Cincinnati has already brought in Ted Karras and Alex Cappa.
The 28-year-old was released by Dallas last week, as they undergo some noteworthy changes to their own o-line. Not long after learning he would need to find a new NFL home for the first time in his six-year career, Collins met with the Bengals. While they didn’t immediately come to a new deal – leaving the Dolphins potentially in the mix to add him – they seem to have done so now.
A former UDFA, Collins began his time in Dallas as a guard, but is most well-known as the team’s starting right tackle. He saw steady improvement during his time as a Cowboy, earning higher PFF grades with each passing season. In 2021, he continued that trend by registering a mark of 82, despite having not played the previous campaign.
With Collins in the fold, the Bengals have continued to bolster the unit charged with protecting quarterback Joe Burrow. After ranking among the worst teams in terms of sacks allowed – and seeing each of Burrow’s two seasons in the league end with serious knee injuries – the Bengals made it clear they were going to be aggressive in pursuing upgrades. That has certainly been the case so far.
Collins will likely man his familiar right tackle spot, creating a bookend with former first-rounder Jonah Williams. Those two, along with Karras and Cappa, should represent a marked improvement in what was seen as the teams’ weakest position group. The news could send 2020 sixth round pick Hakeem Adeniji inside to guard, or leave him as depth at the RT spot.
Latest On La’el Collins’ Market
La’el Collins‘ Bengals visit concluded without the well-regarded right tackle signing, but the defending AFC champions remain interested, per Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald (Twitter links).
The Dolphins are monitoring this situation as well, though it is unclear how serious they are about adding the longtime Cowboys blocker. The Dolphins, per USA Today’s Tyler Dragon (on Twitter), join the Bengals in making a strong push for Collins. No Dolphins visit is scheduled, however, with Jackson adding the AFC East squad appears to be looking through other options.
Connor Williams is Miami-bound, likely set to fill one of the Dolphins’ first-string guard spots. While Collins began his NFL career as a guard, he was working at tackle by the time Williams’ career began. The Dolphins moved 2020 right tackle Robert Hunt to guard last season, leaving them with a bit of a need on the right edge.
Although Joe Burrow‘s sack total became a regular talking point as the season progressed, Pro Football Focus graded Miami’s line as the NFL’s worst last season. Cincinnati and Miami reside within a few hundred thousand dollars of each other in cap space, per OverTheCap, with each holding just more than $16MM in available funds.
The Bengals moved quickly to add two interior O-linemen — Alex Cappa and ex-Dolphin Ted Karras — but Collins would be a bigger coup for the O-line-needy team. Collins, 28, was also linked to the Patriots, who may be set to lose their right tackle in free agency. Trent Brown visited the Seahawks but remains unsigned.
Bengals Release C Trey Hopkins
The busy week along the Bengals’ offensive line continues. The team announced today that they are releasing center Trey Hopkins. 
[RELATED: Bengals To Sign Ted Karras]
The 29-year-old has been with the Bengals since joining the team as a UDFA in 2016. He occupied the starting center position since the midway point of the 2018 season. He provided consistent, if unspectacular play during that stretch.
Hopkins’ best PFF grade came last campaign, registering a mark of 63.8. Overall, he will best be known as a member of the unit which was seen as the weak point of Cincinnati’s roster. Quarterback Joe Burrow was sacked a league-leading 51 times in 2021, after being taken down 32 times in an injury-shortened season the year before. Hopkins himself was responsible for five of those, per PFF.
The Texas alum will be replaced in the middle of the line by recent signee Ted Karras. The other main addition along the offensive front was that of guard Alex Cappa, who established himself in Tampa Bay as one of the best young talents at the position. The investment Cincinnati has made in those two demonstrates how much of a priority upgrading the o-line is for them.
Hopkins, meanwhile, will join a free agent market which no longer includes either Ryan Jensen and Bradley Bozeman. Alongside J.C. Tretter – who recently suffered the same fate as Hopkins – he will now search for a new home after six years in the AFC North.
Bengals To Meet With T La’el Collins
La’el Collins‘ first post-Cowboys visit will be in Cincinnati. The Bengals will host the veteran right tackle, according to Mike Garafolo and Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (on Twitter). Collins is flying to Ohio tonight, with the visit set for Friday, per Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio and The Athletic’s Jeff Howe (Twitter links).
As expected, the Bengals have been active in attempting to repair their beleaguered offensive line this week. They have signed interior blockers Alex Cappa and Ted Karras. Collins checks in with a slightly higher profile than both and would certainly be an upgrade for the defending AFC champions at right tackle.
Bengals offensive line coach Frank Pollack was Collins’ first NFL position coach, being with Dallas from 2015-17. Pollack’s position group has been under siege for multiple seasons, with the Bengals having seen Joe Burrow suffer a torn ACL and lead the NFL in sacks taken last season. The Bengals have Jonah Williams set to return at left tackle, but the team has operated with a purpose this week — after not devoting much in the way of resources to Burrow’s first two O-lines — to upgrade other areas up front.
Collins has been regarded as one of the NFL’s best right tackles for a few years now, but the former high-end prospect-turned-UDFA has not been consistently available during the 2020s. After missing all of the 2020 season due to injury, Collins saw a PED suspension shelve him for five games last year. Still, he came back and regained his job, making 10 starts for the NFC East champion Cowboys. Collins, however, only missed one game from 2017-19.
Dallas cut Collins for financial reasons, with the team’s longtime right tackle following Amari Cooper off the team’s payroll. The Bengals making this signing would nearly complete their O-line overhaul. Burrow, per The Athletic’s Paul Dehner Jr., is helping recruit Collins, who is also an LSU alum (Twitter link).
If the Bengals cannot close a deal with Collins on his visit, the Patriots and Dolphins have interest, Jeremy Fowler of ESPN.com tweets. The Dolphins have already signed ex-Cowboy guard Connor Williams but have needs across their line. The Patriots lost Karras and traded Shaq Mason, and the team may lose right tackle Trent Brown as well.