Today’s only minor move:
Cleveland Browns
Martin is set to become a depth piece on the Browns’ offensive line next season. He has starting experience from his time in Washington, starting ten games during the three seasons he’s spent in DC. Martin also earned a start in seven appearances with the Giants in 2021, his only season not in Washington. The 26-year-old Ohio native will return to his home state for the fifth season of his career.
MARCH 26: Jeff Howe of The Athletic (subscription required) reiterates earlier reports that the Broncos are seeking a first-round pick in a Jeudy trade, with Troy Renck of Denver 7 tweeting that the club is holding firm on that demand. Doug Kyed of AtoZSports.com hears that Jeudy may be a more realistic trade option than Hopkins, but Denver’s insistence on a first-rounder in exchange for Jeudy could be an indication that the team does not really want to move him.
League sources tell Howe that Denver’s asking price for Sutton remains too high as well, so although the Broncos’ interest in free agent pass catchers does suggest that Payton & Co. are perhaps willing to make some changes to their receiver room, it is clear that a club that wants Jeudy or Sutton is going to need to make an especially aggressive offer.
Indeed, Cabot reports that the Browns never got close to landing Jeudy. Cleveland was prepared to deal the No. 42 overall pick in this year’s draft — the same pick that it used to acquire Elijah Moore from the Jets — but the team would have also needed to include a talented player or another high selection in the 2024 draft, and even that may not have been enough.
MARCH 22: While reports of the Broncos’ plans to keep Jerry Jeudy and Courtland Sutton keep emerging, the again-retooling team’s starting wide receivers continue to come up in trade rumors. Denver’s pursuits of other wide receivers in free agency may provide a hint to Sean Payton‘s plans at the position.
Adam Thielen said the Broncos and Cowboys joined the Panthers in pursuing him in free agency, David Newton of ESPN.com notes, while The Score’s Jordan Schultz adds the team made an aggressive push for Allen Lazard before he signed with the Jets (Twitter link).
As the Broncos potentially helped drive up the prices for Thielen and Lazard, who respectively received $14MM and $22MM fully guaranteed, the subject will shift back to their holdover receivers. Denver rosters a former first-round pick (Jeudy), two outside receivers on veteran deals (Sutton, Tim Patrick) and a second-round deep threat who has battled steady injury problems (KJ Hamler). Given the team’s pursuits of outside help at the position, it can be assumed Payton wants to shake up this position, which has not seen major augmentations since the Jeudy and Hamler selections three years ago.
Count the Browns as a team in on Jeudy. While the Broncos want a first-round pick for Jeudy, Mary Kay Cabot of cleveland.com notes the Browns have not given up on a pursuit despite their lack of a first-round selection this year. The Broncos are not truly keeping Jeudy off the market, Cabot adds, as they are willing to part with the fourth-year receiver for a strong offer.
The Cowboys look to be off the table for Jeudy, after they acquired Brandin Cooks, but teams like the Giants and Patriots have previously looked into the talented pass catcher. While DeAndre Hopkins is willing to rework his contract, the Cardinals wideout’s through-2024 deal would be more expensive to acquire than Jeudy’s. A modest fifth-year option price can extend Jeudy’s rookie deal through 2024. With some teams still look for receiving help during an offseason that brought an unremarkable free agency crop and looks to feature a lesser group of prospects in the draft, Jeudy’s name will carry value in the weeks leading up to the draft.
The Browns have Amari Cooper tied to his Cowboys-constructed $20MM-per-year deal. Although the team restructured Cooper’s contract last year, his cap numbers sit at $23.8MM in 2023 and ’24. The team also restructured Deshaun Watson‘s deal, ballooning his 2024-26 cap numbers to record-obliterating figures while dropping his 2023 hit to $19.1MM. The Browns hold just more than $10MM in cap space. Jeudy would fit alongside Cooper and Donovan Peoples-Jones in Cleveland; the latter is going into a contract year but produced his best season in 2022.
Denver’s wideouts have yet to put it together. Quarterback play, injuries and last year’s disjointed offense have played a major role in Jeudy and Sutton’s inconsistency. But the team’s pursuits of Thielen and Lazard will not quiet the rumblings that either Jeudy or Sutton could be on the move ahead of the draft. Sutton and Patrick’s skillsets overlap, and Thielen and Lazard also qualify as possession targets. Jeudy’s route-running chops and elusiveness differ from both the incumbent targets and the recent free agents, but at 23, he would fetch the Broncos the best haul.
The Broncos, they of no first- or second-round pick this year, continue to be faced with a choice of retaining a promising wide receiver — one who would stand to move the needle as Payton attempts to reignite Russell Wilson — or moving on in exchange for vital 2023 draft capital.
Here are some more contract details on deals recently reached around the NFL:
Here are some details on contracts signed since the start of free agency:
The Browns are making another addition to their receiver room, this time via free agency. Veteran Marquise Goodwin is headed to Cleveland on a one-contract, per ESPN’s Field Yates (Twitter link). 
The Browns had been interested in adding a vertical threat to their offense this offseason, and they targeted Goodwin as an option by hosting him on a visit earlier this week. He will add a speed element to the team’s revamped WR room, which lacked a true burner near the top of the depth chart.
Goodwin, 32, will likely have a rotational role behind starting wideouts Amari Cooper and Donovan Peoples-Jones. The latter two have been joined by former Jets second-rounder Elijah Moore, who was dealt to the Browns amidst his trade request and New York’s efforts to reshape their own receiver stable. The latter will operate in the slot, with Goodwin in place as an experienced option behind him after stints with four different teams.
During the first of those, with the Bills, Goodwin worked as a starter for only one season. After his underwhelming time in Buffalo came to an end, the former third-rounder enjoyed by far the best campaign of his career. In 2017, the first of his three years in San Francisco, Goodwin recorded 962 yards and a pair of touchdowns on 56 receptions. That year marked the only time in which he received more than 100 targets, as he has been used in a less pronounced role since then.
Goodwin took on a complimentary role in the past two years with the Bears and Seahawks, respectively. His yardage totals and catch percentages have fluctuated over the course of his career, but his yards per catch average (16.2 overall) has remained relatively consistent. The 5-9, 180-pounder will look to give the Browns a boost in the downfield passing game in 2023 as the team aims to take a sizable step forward in their offensive efficiency.
Shortly after agreeing to terms with Mecole Hardman, the Jets have a trade in place involving one of their holdovers. They are sending Elijah Moore to the Browns, Adam Schefter of ESPN.com reports (on Twitter).
A former second-round pick, Moore will head to Cleveland in a deal involving a Day 2 pick swap. The Browns will send their No. 42 overall pick for Moore and the Jets’ No. 74 overall choice, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets. Two years remain on Moore’s contract; he is going into his age-23 season.
As the Jets’ wide receiver room became crowded, the Browns were connected to wideout interest. The team was looking into Jerry Jeudy, but the Broncos have continued to set a high price for teams regarding their top pass catcher. Instead, Cleveland will add Moore to its receiving corps as a slot piece to pair with Amari Cooper and Donovan Peoples-Jones.
This will be a nice vault up the draft board for the Jets as well. Moving up 32 spots, the Jets now hold the Nos. 42 and 43 overall picks. Although the Packers have been seeking a first-round pick and change for Aaron Rodgers, the Jets now having two mid-second-round choices figures to come up in the Joe Douglas–Brian Gutekunst trade talks involving the superstar quarterback.
Moore voiced frustration about his role last season and asked the Jets to trade him. The 2021 second-rounder, who was sent home after a heated argument with then-OC Mike LaFleur ahead of a midseason hiatus, did not match his rookie-year numbers in 2022. But Zach Wilson‘s presence hindered Jets receivers, hence the all-out Rodgers pursuit. In reaffirming the team’s desire to retain Moore, Douglas issued strong support for the disgruntled wideout in November. Four months later, Moore has a new team.
As a rookie, Moore showed immediate promise coming out of Ole Miss. The 5-foot-10 target caught 43 passes for 538 yards and five touchdowns, reaching these numbers despite Wilson’s inconsistency and despite missing six games. The Browns will bet on Moore’s upside with Deshaun Watson targeting him, and the team will move out of another early draft slot to do so. The Watson trade cost the Browns their first-round picks in 2022, 2023 and 2024. Cleveland’s first 2023 draft choice will now arrive at No. 74.
Moore, who clocked a 4.32-second 40-yard dash at his pro day two years ago, is due base salaries of just $1.5MM and $1.9MM this season and next. This bet on potential notwithstanding, it does invite some risk for the Browns. Cleveland has now traded out of the first and second rounds of the draft, and the Watson swap also will send the Browns’ 2023 third-rounder (No. 73) to the Texans. Cleveland does have a compensatory third-rounder — No. 98, acquired from the NFL for the Vikings hiring ex-Browns exec Kwesi Adofo-Mensah as GM — but sliding down from No. 42 to No. 74 will make for a long wait on draft night.
The Jets targeted Moore on just 13% of his routes run last season, per ESPN.com’s Jake Trotter, who adds that was a league-low number for players who ran at least 400 routes. Paired with Cooper and Peoples-Jones, Moore should have a clear-cut opportunity in Cleveland. His exit will also free up space in a Jets receiver room that has seen both Hardman and Allen Lazard added since free agency started.
Gang Green’s receiver cadre now includes Hardman, Lazard, Garrett Wilson, Corey Davis and Denzel Mims. While Mims is an obvious candidate not to be part of a Rodgers-led receiver room, it will be interesting to see if the Moore trade allows for Davis to avoid cap-casualty status — the Jets can save $10.5MM by cutting him — or enables the team to pursue Odell Beckham Jr. and/or Randall Cobb. Rodgers is believed to have encouraged the Jets to sign both players, and they have begun doing so. Hardman’s arrival throws a wrench in both OBJ and Cobb coming to the Big Apple, but the Jets still have some space to add another weapon soon.
The Browns could well lose their second- and third-string running backs from the past two seasons. While Kareem Hunt remains unsigned, D’Ernest Johnson will change teams.
Johnson is signing a one-year deal with the Jaguars, Adam Schefter of ESPN.com tweets. The Browns were interested in retaining Johnson, Mary Kay Cabot of cleveland.com adds (on Twitter), but the Florida native will move on after four seasons in Ohio.
Jacksonville has both re-signed its second-stringer from last season — JaMycal Hasty — and now added Johnson as a Travis Etienne backup option. Johnson, 27, did not see much action last season, but injuries to Hunt and Nick Chubb in the past allowed the former Alliance of American Football performer some run in Cleveland. Hunt missing time in 2021 opened the door to a 534-yard Johnson rushing season, leading the Browns to retain him via a one-year, $2.43MM contract in 2022.
With both Chubb and Hunt out for a Thursday-night game against the Broncos in 2021, Johnson displayed his ball-carrying chops to a national audience. The unlikely NFLer powered the Browns to a victory with a 146-yard rushing performance, adding 22 receiving yards during the victory. Johnson also produced a 99-yard game against the Patriots that season and zoomed for 123 against Bengals backups in a meaningless Week 18 contest.
Chubb is signed to a three-year, $36.6MM extension, which runs through the 2024 season. Hunt played out his second Browns contract last season. The team has 2022 fifth-round pick Jerome Ford, along with John Kelly and Nate McCreary on its offseason roster. Ford totaled eight carries last season, which topped Johnson’s four in the Chubb-Hunt attack. While Hunt has long been expected to leave, he is one of the last notable backs still unsigned. The market not producing an early deal for the Cleveland-area native could potentially lead to he and the Browns discussing another partnership.
The Jaguars gave Hasty a two-year, $2.9MM extension earlier this offseason. It should not be expected Johnson’s deal will surpass this by much — if at all. Etienne overtook James Robinson as Jacksonville’s starter early last season, leading the Jags to trade their two-time 1,000-yard rusher to the Jets. Robinson, who made little impact in New York, is now with New England. Two years remain on Etienne’s rookie deal, and the Jags can keep him through 2025 via the fifth-year option.
Although Anthony Walker was among the Browns linebackers to suffer a major injury last season, the team will keep him around on another one-year deal.
Walker visited the Commanders earlier this week, but Adam Schefter of ESPN.com tweets the veteran off-ball defender will return to the Browns. This will be the third straight offseason in which Walker has signed a one-year deal with the Browns.
The Browns have now come to terms with two of their linebackers coming off significant injuries. They re-signed Sione Takitaki last week as well. Several weeks before Takitaki’s ACL tear, Walker suffered a torn quad tendon. Despite Walker’s previous two deals coming during Joe Woods‘ defensive coordinator tenure, the Browns will see what he looks like in Jim Schwartz‘s defense.
Walker left Indianapolis for Cleveland in 2021, when he signed a one-year deal worth $3MM. In 2022, it cost the Browns $4.25MM to bring Walker back on a one-year accord. A deal in this neighborhood should be expected this time around. Walker is entering his age-28 season. The team also showed interest in bringing back Mack Wilson, but the Patriots signed him last week. Instead, Takitaki and Walker will each attempt to rebound from their injuries in Cleveland.
Cleveland still has top linebacker Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah on his rookie contract. The 2021 second-round pick cannot be extended until next year. Should the Browns extend Owusu-Koramoah, veteran linebacker money will be scarcer. With the Notre Dame product still in that rookie-deal window, Takitaki and Walker will complement him once again.
Walker suited up for 13 Browns games in 2021, tallying 100-plus tackles (113) for a third time. The ex-Shaquille Leonard sidekick has been a prolific tackler when on the field, but he has missed 18 games over the past two seasons. The injury trouble and a buyer’s market forming at inside linebacker this offseason will suppress Walker’s value.
Deion Jones, whom the Browns traded for last year, remains in free agency, but the team still sports a crowded linebacker room. Cleveland added ex-Indianapolis and Chicago contributor Matthew Adams this week, and Jacob Phillips — the third Browns ‘backer to suffer a season-ending injury in 2022 — remains on the roster as well. Walker saw more action than Takitaki and Phillips when healthy. In 2021, he played 80% of Cleveland’s defensive snaps. Should he prove recovered from the September quad injury, another regular role should await.
Today’s minor moves:
Carolina Panthers
Cleveland Browns
Dallas Cowboys
Minnesota Vikings
Adams, a former seventh-round pick, collected 55 tackles across 58 games (nine starts) with the Colts to begin his career. He spent the 2022 campaign in Chicago, compiling 26 tackles in 10 games (three starts).
The Cowboys previously tried to trade for Edoga, so it’s not a surprise that he’s finally landed in Dallas. Per Nick Eatman of the team’s website, the lineman could be a candidate to start at left guard to replace Connor McGovern. The former third-round pick has only appeared in seven games over the past two seasons in stints with the Jets and Falcons.
Anderson hasn’t started a game since the 2020 season, but he can still be a reliable special teamer and situational defender for a rebooted Panthers squad. The veteran got into 11 games for the Colts last season, collecting 18 tackles.
The Brandin Cooks trade domino dropped Sunday morning, leaving DeAndre Hopkins as the only clear-cut impact receiver trade chip available. The Cardinals continue to shop the 11th-year veteran, and NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport notes talks are ramping up (Twitter link). Hopkins is amenable to adjusting his contract to facilitate a deal, and Rapoport adds an adjusted contract is likely. As is, Hopkins’ through-2024 contract calls for a $19.45MM base salary this season. That will likely be untenable to interested teams.
As far as interested parties go, the Chiefs are viewed as a team angling to acquire a veteran. Whether it is Hopkins or Odell Beckham Jr., veteran NFL reporter Mike Jurecki adds (on Twitter) Kansas City is on the market for an addition. With JuJu Smith-Schuster signing with the Patriots, it is unsurprising the defending champions are interested in upgrading. Mecole Hardman remains a free agent, and while the Chiefs were expected to move on from the speedster, his price range may have dropped considering his extended stay in free agency. Patrick Mahomes‘ restructure created $9.6MM in cap space for the Chiefs, though they sit at just more than $9MM as of Tuesday.
Staying on the Hopkins front, here is the latest from the receiver scene: