Here are Tuesday’s minor moves:
Baltimore Ravens
Denver Broncos
The Broncos added Williams last week, doing so to take running back Damarea Crockett‘s roster spot. But the rookie, a Denver-area native and Division II product, will be moved off Denver’s 90-man roster during minicamp to make room for the Frank Clark acquisition. Reported late last week, the Clark signing is now official.
JUNE 13: Browning’s offseason injury did affect the Broncos’ decision to add Clark, Sean Payton said Tuesday. Browning will begin training camp on the active/PUP list, Troy Renck of Denver7 tweets. This is a camp-only distinction; the Broncos can move Browning off this PUP list prior to setting their 53-man roster.
JUNE 8: Although the Broncos are adding Frank Clark to their pass-rushing group, they might be without another member of that contingent for part of training camp. Baron Browning is recovering from arthroscopic surgery to address a meniscus injury, Mike Klis of 9News reports.
Browning suffered a partially torn meniscus, per Klis, who adds the third-year defender is expected to be back at some point during camp. Browning has not practiced during the media-attended portion of Broncos OTAs.
Moved from inside to outside linebacker ahead of his second season, the former third-round pick flashed at points upon replacing an injured Randy Gregory last season. Browning totaled 1.5 sacks, six QB hits and a fumble recovery during an October loss to the Colts — Denver’s first game without Gregory — and finished his season with five sacks. Browning’s injury is not related to anything from last season, with Klis noting it is believed to have come from training independently this offseason.
This knee issue comes after Gregory missed much of last season because of knee trouble. Gregory sustained his knee injury in early October, returned for two December games and did not play in Denver’s final two contests. Browning only missed three games due to hip and back maladies; two of those absences came after the team dealt Bradley Chubb to the Dolphins at the trade deadline. The player brought in to help the depleted unit at the deadline — Jacob Martin — finished last season on IR. The Broncos released Martin last month.
Browning is expected to be a key piece in Vance Joseph‘s defense this season. The Ohio State alum became the rare inside linebacker to become a quick starter on the edge, doing so after starting nine games inside in 2021. As they turned to Alex Singleton alongside Josey Jewell at that position last year, the Broncos shifted Browning to the outside in their 3-4 scheme. While Browning’s move to outside ‘backer occurred over a year ago, he will not be able to begin onsite training in Joseph’s system for a bit.
It will be interesting to what role Joseph and Sean Payton have in mind for the former five-star recruit now that Clark is in the fold. The Broncos also have 2022 second-rounder Nik Bonitto and ex-Browning Buckeyes teammate Jonathon Cooper in their OLB mix.
The Broncos’ running back depth chart is presently topped by Javonte Williams, who tore his ACL in October, and career second fiddle Samaje Perine. Given that, and given GM George Paton‘s Vikings ties, Denver has been considered a logical landing spot for four-time Pro Bowl RB Dalvin Cook, who was released by Minnesota several days ago.
Mike Klis of 9News.com has thrown some cold water on those rumors, reporting that the Broncos “do not appear to be in on” Cook. Before Cook’s release became official, Klis reported that Denver was highly unlikely to swing an eleventh-hour trade for him, and financial considerations certainly played a part in that decision. Had the Broncos acquired Cook via trade, they would have been on the hook for his $10.4MM salary in 2023, as Cook had no desire to work out a restructure as part of a trade. And the Vikings, who clearly cut Cook for cap reasons, may not have been inclined to eat much salary to facilitate a swap.
Even though Cook is now on the free agent market, money remains a key issue. Per Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald (via Twitter), Cook still wants to make close to the $10.4MM salary he was due to earn with the Vikings, and multiple reporters (including Jackson) have suggested that he is willing to be patient in his efforts to secure that payout. At present, the Broncos only have about $6MM of cap space.
Of course, Denver could create the necessary salary cap room if it really wanted to, but on-field factors are also influencing the club’s decision to stay away from Cook. Williams participated in OTAs, and though he has yet to take part in 11-on-11 drills, Klis estimates that the third-year pro has a better than 50-50 chance to start the regular season opener. Williams clearly has RB1 ability, and even if he is not fully healthy for the start of the 2023 campaign, it does not make sense to sign Cook to a lucrative contract and not have a spot for Williams when he is ready to return to the field.
Klis does believe that the Broncos could seek to add another player with starting experience to its running back room, as the options behind Williams and Perine — Tony Jones, Jr., Tyler Badie, and UDFA rookie Jaleel McLaughlin — are either uninspiring or unproven. Such an addition, though, would be considerably less expensive than Cook.
If Cook’s market does not materialize in the way that he hopes, or if the current reports on Williams’ prognosis prove overly optimistic, it is possible that the Broncos could circle back to Cook (after all, they have reportedly monitored the Florida State product for some time). Until then, however, it appears that the Dolphins will remain the frontrunners for his services.
Frank Clark became the latest veteran edge rusher to find a new home yesterday, marking an end to his four-year tenure with the Chiefs. He spoke about his release from Kansas City and the lack of offers which came from the team after that. 
Clark was let go in a cost-cutting move in March, though the door appeared to remain open to a new deal being worked out allowing him to remain with the Chiefs. The 29-year-old was not named a Pro Bowler in 2022 – the first time in which that was the case during his tenure in Kansas City – but he added 2.5 sacks in three postseason games to help lead the team to another Super Bowl title.
Remaining with the Chiefs would have required taking a pay cut to play out the remainder of Clark’s $104MM extension signed in 2019. Instead of re-working his contract for the second straight offseason, he decided to hit the open market and, ultimately, make a move to the division-rival Broncos. Comments made today about the situation illustrate his thought process with respect to departing Kansas City.
“At the end of the day, it’s a business, but I took a pay cut for years at a time,” Clark said during an interview with CBS Sports’ Josina Anderson (audio link). “I think it was two years in row I had to take a pay cut, which is fine. But going into my third year, I had a pretty great year… I helped my team win another Super Bowl, and I do what I have to do. But then I have big pay coming in next year on my deal, $20-plus million I think… So, we obviously know something has to be worked out. I wasn’t asking for an out-the-ballpark number. I wasn’t asking for $15 million to $20 million.”
Clark added that the Chiefs never submitted an offer on a new, more modest deal for 2023 before cutting him despite their desire to remain in touch on the topic of a reunion. As time wore on during the offseason, one in which the Chiefs spent a first-round pick on an edge rusher (Felix Anudike-Uzomah) for the second consecutive year, Kansas City still declined to offer what may have been considered a disrespectful contract. Having moved on amicably, though, Clark is turning his attention to his third career team without any ill will towards his second one.
“I enjoyed my time in KC,” he said. “I enjoyed the relationship that I built with everybody. There’s no hard feelings to anybody in that building.”
JUNE 9: As expected, no trade suitors emerged for Cook as teams knew that he would soon hit the open market. The release is now official, per a team announcement, meaning he will be free to sign with a new team any time after 3:00pm Central today.
“I hold Dalvin in the highest regard and am grateful for his contributions on and off the field,” a statement from head coach Kevin O’Connell reads in part. “Dalvin’s approach to the game and his commitment to sportsmanship is clearly respected across the league. We appreciate Dalvin’s positivity, energy and leadership and will be pulling for him in the future.”
Adofo-Mensah likewise praised Cook for his time with the Vikings, which has come to a close after four straight Pro Bowl campaigns. It will be interesting to monitor how his free agent market takes shape.
JUNE 8: After months of trade rumors, the Vikings plan to conclude the offseason Dalvin Cook saga with a release. Minnesota now intends to cut its six-year starting running back, Tom Pelissero of NFL.com reports (on Twitter).
The Vikings intend to follow through with this long-rumored separation Friday, Pelissero tweets. While this potentially opens the door to a last-ditch trade effort, Minnesota has dangled Cook in deals for several weeks now. No takers have emerged. Cook is a vested veteran and will move straight to free agency if/when cut. The Vikes, as should be expected here, will make a final effort to trade Cook, ESPN.com’s Adam Schefter tweets.
As for potential suitors, Schefter names the Dolphins — who discussed Cook with the Vikings earlier this offseason — and Broncos (Twitter link). Denver has a clear tie, with GM George Paton being in Minnesota when the Vikes drafted Cook in 2017 second round, but the team also signed Samaje Perine and has starter Javonte Williams already participating in offseason work despite tearing an ACL in October.
The Broncos are highly unlikely to make an 11th-hour trade offer for Cook, per 9News’ Mike Klis, who adds they should not be considered a lock to pursue him in free agency. But Schefter notes the team has been monitoring the talented back for weeks. The Dolphins hold nearly $14MM in cap space; the Broncos sit at just more than $10MM. Other suitors are believed to be in the mix once Cook officially becomes available at 3pm CT Friday, but these are the two known candidates at this point.
Cook’s positional value and $10.4MM base salary have almost definitely impeded strong trade offers from emerging. A release will save the Vikings $9MM, though the Pro Bowler’s dead money would be spread over two offseasons. Cook has $2MM in guaranteed salary owed; that will bump his career earnings past $34MM. His next contract will not come close to the five-year, $63MM contract the Vikings authorized before the 2020 season, but an interesting free agency sweepstakes looks likely to launch soon.
As a South Florida native who played at Florida State, Cook is believed to have interest in heading to Miami. The Dolphins are expected to make an offer, Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald tweets. This would come after the team made several moves at running back this offseason. Miami re-signed Raheem Mostert, Jeff Wilson and Myles Gaskin, though the trio’s combined guarantees do not top $6MM, and used a third-round pick on Texas A&M speedster Devon Achane.
With Tyreek Hill‘s $30MM-per-year contract the only notable pact attached to a Dolphins quarterback or skill-position player, Miami makes sense here. Cook, who is going into his age-28 season, could slide in as a hired gun. The Broncos, conversely, have Russell Wilson tied to a monster extension and Courtland Sutton and Tim Patrick on eight-figure-per-year deals. That said, Denver did well to sign both receivers before Hill and Co. transformed that market in 2022. Unlike the Dolphins, the Broncos did not draft a running back this year.
Cook’s Florida ties could seemingly prompt the Broncos or an unknown suitor to make a trade offer before the release processes, as to keep the back from joining the Dolphins. The Vikings kept Za’Darius Smith on their roster for months, despite the edge rusher lobbying for a release in March, before agreeing to a low-level trade with the Browns. It would be interesting to see how much of Cook’s base salary the Vikings would be willing to eat to facilitate a trade. As of Thursday morning, Cook remains under contract through 2025.
Passing Chuck Foreman for third place in Vikings rushing yardage last season, Cook has reeled off four straight 1,100-plus-yard years. Despite nagging injuries that have emerged since his rookie-year ACL tear, Cook has proven fairly durable. He has only missed more than two games in a season once over the past four years (in 2021) and played all 18 Vikings contests in 2022. Cook did undergo shoulder surgery earlier this offseason, however. Only Derrick Henry and Nick Chubb have accumulated more rushing yards than Cook (5,024) since 2019.
The Vikings moving on from Cook this week will keep him away from their mandatory minicamp, where longtime backup Alexander Mattison‘s ascent is now set to take place in earnest. The Vikings re-signed Mattison to a two-year deal worth just $7MM — in line with the Dolphins’ low-level RB pacts and others on the buyer’s market that expectedly formed this offseason — but nearly all of it is fully guaranteed. With Cook in limbo, Mattison — a former third-round pick who has occupied Minnesota’s RB2 slot for four years — is set to begin his age-25 season as Minnesota’s starter.
Despite the Vikings going 13-4 in 2022 (albeit one with a negative point differential), second-year GM Kwesi Adofo-Mensah has already parted with Vikings mainstays Adam Thielen and Eric Kendricks this offseason. This Cook move will leave Harrison Smith, Danielle Hunter and Brian O’Neill as the final ties to the homegrown core Rick Spielman built during the 2010s. The Vikings agreed to terms to retain Smith on a pay cut this offseason but have taken calls on Hunter, whose contract has been an issue for most of its duration.
Here are Monday’s minor moves:
Arizona Cardinals
Atlanta Falcons
Denver Broncos
New England Patriots
Pittsburgh Steelers
Seattle Seahawks
Borders worked out for the Falcons on Monday, Aaron Wilson of KPRC2 tweets. This will be team No. 11 for Borders, who is moving toward Josh Johnson journeyman territory — at least for volume. A former Raiders UDFA, Borders played in one game last season — with the Bears — after a 12-game 2021 (in Chicago and Arizona). Borders’ most notable NFL stint came when he started five games for the eventual AFC South champion Titans in 2020. Borders has also caught on with Buffalo, Houston, Jacksonville, Washington, Pittsburgh and Miami.
A 2019 UDFA, Crockett had been with the Broncos since 2020. He served as backfield depth in Denver, but all of his playing time came in 2021 — mostly on special teams. Crockett’s career encountered a speedbump during training camp last year; the Missouri alum suffered a torn ACL.
Here are a few details on recently-signed contracts/extensions:
Trubisky was already under contract through 2023, and he was due an $8MM salary for the upcoming year. So, as Florio notes, the 28-year-old passer essentially gave the Steelers two more years of club control without any increase in 2023 pay and without securing any guaranteed money in the two tack-on years. It seems that after Pittsburgh unexpectedly re-signed fellow signal-caller Mason Rudolph, Trubisky was worried that he might be released, so in order to lock in the $8MM he was already planning to earn this season, he agreed to a team-friendly extension.
His contract is now due to expire when Kenny Pickett‘s rookie deal expires, so the Steelers will at least have a high-end backup on hand as Pickett seeks to establish himself as Pittsburgh’s franchise QB.
The Broncos may have added kicker Elliott Fry earlier this week, but that won’t stop the team from making more moves at the position. Sean Payton told reporters that the Broncos will still be on the lookout for available kickers (per Chris Tomasson of Denver Gazette on Twitter).
[RELATED: Broncos To Sign K Elliott Fry]
It’s not a huge surprise that the Broncos would continue to be in the market for kickers. The team moved on from veteran Brandon McManus this offseason, and they didn’t have a kicker on their roster until they added Fry this week.
Fry doesn’t have the resume of a kicker who should just be handed the job. The 28-year-old has only seen time in three career games with the Falcons, Bengals, and Chiefs, connecting on five of his field goal attempts and five of his seven extra point tries. He didn’t get into a regular season game in 2022. When Fry auditioned for the Broncos last week, he was joined by fellow free agents Brett Maher and Parker White. That duo remains unsigned.
Assuming the Broncos do bring in someone to compete with Fry, Payton cautioned that a supposed kicking competition still might not have any reflection on the regular-season roster. The head coach pointed to “a kicking battle one year in New Orleans,” when the Saints ended up signing a free agent following final cuts instead of opting for either of the two kickers on their roster.
“Don’t pay attention to the line in front of you or the room you’re in,” Payton said (via Parker Gabriel of The Denver Post). “You’re competing with yourself to put your best product on the field because there’s 31 other teams that might be deeper in a position.”
The start of June has served as a key NFL financial period for decades. While teams no longer have to wait until after June 1 to make that cost-splitting cut designation, teams pick up the savings from those transactions today. With a handful of teams making post-June 1 cuts this year, here is how each team’s cap space (courtesy of OverTheCap) looks as of Friday:
The Dolphins gained the most from a post-June 1 cut (Byron Jones) this year, creating $13.6MM in cap space from a deal that will spread out the cornerback’s dead money through 2024. But the Browns (John Johnson, Jadeveon Clowney) and Cowboys (Ezekiel Elliott) created more than $10MM in space as well.
The Jets’ number is a bit deceiving. They are still working on a restructure with Aaron Rodgers, as the trade acquisition’s cap number — after a Packers restructure — sits at just $1.22MM. In 2024, that number skyrockets to $107.6MM. Rodgers’ cap hit will almost definitely will climb before Week 1, so viewing the Jets along with the other teams north of $20MM in space is not entirely accurate.
Minnesota is moving closer to separating from its $12.6MM-per-year Dalvin Cook contract. The team already created some space by trading Za’Darius Smith to the Browns. Cleveland, which is one of the teams connected to DeAndre Hopkins, added Smith and did so with help from its Deshaun Watson restructure. Watson was set to count $54.9MM against the Browns’ 2023 cap. That number is down to $19.1MM, though the Browns’ restructure both ballooned Watson’s mid-2020s cap figures to $63.9MM — which would shatter the NFL record — and added a 2027 void year.
Tampa Bay and Los Angeles sit atop the league in dead money, with the Bucs — largely from their April 2022 Tom Brady restructure — checking in at $75.3MM here. That total comprises nearly 33% of the Bucs’ 2023 cap sheet. The Rams, at more than $74MM, are not far behind. Despite the Bills and Chiefs — the teams most frequently tied to Hopkins — joining the Bucs and Rams near the bottom of the league in cap space, both AFC contenders also sit in the bottom five in dead money.
One of this era’s most experienced punters, Brett Kern will wrap his career after 15 seasons. The former Broncos, Titans and Eagles specialist announced Thursday he is retiring.
Best known for his Tennessee tenure, Kern punted in 197 games with the AFC South team. Although Oilers legends Bruce Matthews and Elvin Bethea have that number beat for the franchise, Kern has logged the most games — by a considerable margin — during the organization’s Tennessee period. Punters occupy the top two spots on the Tennessee section of that list, with Kern surpassing the player he replaced (Craig Hentrich).
Kern, 37, finished his 13-year Titans career with three Pro Bowl nods and a first-team All-Pro honor. The Titans gave promising UDFA Ryan Stonehouse the job out of training camp last year, and while Kern spent most of the season away from the game, he finished his career by helping the Eagles to Super Bowl LVII. Kern replaced an injured Arryn Siposs in December for the Eagles, punting in six games. Though, Siposs’ recovery from a December injury ended up booting Kern off Philly’s active roster just ahead of Super Bowl Sunday.
The Titans acquired Kern in 2009, claiming him a day after the Broncos waived him in-season. Kern signed three Titans extensions, including two deals that paid him at least $3MM per season. The most recent — a $12.65MM deal — came during the 2019 offseason. Despite playing the NFL’s second-lowest-paid regular position (ahead of long snapper), Kern earned more than $29MM during his career.
Kern led the NFL with 49.7 yards per punt in 2017 and finished four other seasons north of 47 years per boot. Following his three-year Pro Bowl run, Kern placed a career-high 59.5% of his punts inside the 20-yard line in 2020. He placed a career-high 39 punts inside the 20 in 2018.