OL Notes: Lions, Linderbaum, Steelers, Texans, Giants, Panthers, Browns, Saints
Winning a 49ers starting guard job to open last season, Ben Bartch ran into injury trouble and ultimately lost his job. The veteran interior O-lineman suffered a high ankle sprain in Week 2, being part of another injury-riddled 49ers season. Upon return, Bartch did not reacquire his starting job. Bartch ended up suffering a foot sprain, after the 49ers used an IR activation on him, and played out his contract. The Lions have him on their radar, however, with KPRC2’s Aaron Wilson noting the NFC North team conducted a visit recently. A 24-game starter with Jacksonville and San Francisco, Bartch is heading into an age-28 season. Detroit signed Cade Mays to fill in at center, and the team returns starters Tate Ratledge and Christian Mahogany from last season.
Here is the latest from around the O-line groups:
- Not returning after a Week 12 neck injury, Broderick Jones underwent fusion surgery in his neck (according to the Pat McAfee Show‘s Mark Kaboly). It looked like a long shot Pittsburgh would exercise Jones’ fifth-year option ($19.07MM), and Omar Khan did not confirm Jones would be ready for training camp. That will make the left tackle position — in a stopgap scenario at the very least — one to monitor in Pittsburgh.
- Tyler Linderbaum‘s Raiders deal keeps looking more impressive. Already locked in to what is practically a three-year, $81MM fully guaranteed contract, the new Raiders center secured a no-tag clause for 2029, KPRC2’s Aaron Wilson tweets. No center has been franchise- or transition-tagged since the Panthers cuffed Ryan Kalil with a franchise tag in 2011. Then again, no center (or guard) has approached Linderbaum’s $27MM-AAV accord. With tackles, guards and center grouped together on the tag, a 2029 Linderbaum tender would have been highly unlikely. But, showcasing the leverage the three-time Pro Bowler held in free agency, he secured this deal point anyway.
- The Giants re-signed Joshua Ezeudu earlier today; this came after the team hosted veteran guard Ryan Bates on a visit, Wilson adds. Bates spent the past two seasons with the Bears, starting only two games in two Chicago seasons, but he played out a four-year, $17MM Bills deal — one designed by Chicago via a 2022 RFA offer sheet — last season. The Giants have been stingy at guard despite making a strong push for Alijah Vera-Tucker, and options are dwindling. Though, ex-John Harbaugh Ravens charge Daniel Faalele remains available.
- Wyatt Teller played right guard throughout his Browns tenure, with LG staple Joel Bitonio in place on the other side for 12 seasons, but Wilson indicates a willingness on the new Texans signee’s part to switch sides. With 2025 Houston RG Ed Ingram re-signed, Wilson points to Teller playing left guard in 2026. Wilson also posits a scenario in which Evan Brown competes with incumbent Jake Andrews for the center position. While the Cardinals used Brown at guard over the past two seasons, he has logged full seasons at center — for the Seahawks and Lions — in the past.
- As Teller leaves Cleveland after six-plus seasons and Bitonio not certain to return, the Browns added three guard options (though, guard/tackle Tytus Howard is expected to play RT following a trade). Howard’s two-year, $45MM Browns extension includes $34.5MM guaranteed at signing, per OverTheCap. Option bonuses exist in 2027 ($18.41MM) and ’28 ($14.36MM), and $13.5MM of Howard’s 2027 compensation is guaranteed at signing. Howard is due a $4MM roster bonus in 2028, per Spotrac. Zion Johnson‘s three-year, $49.5MM Browns deal includes $27.83MM fully guaranteed, Wilson tweets. Two option bonuses are in place here, with Wilson adding the ex-Chargers guard will be due a $3MM roster bonus if on Cleveland’s roster by Day 3 of the 2028 league year. $13.57MM of Johnson’s 2027 compensation is fully guaranteed.
- The Saints‘ Dillon Radunz deal is worth $6.9MM over two years, with ESPN.com’s Katherine Terrell noting it includes $3.5MM guaranteed.
- Adding center Luke Fortner and tackle Stone Forsythe, the Panthers kept costs low for both. A 2025 Saints trade pickup, Fortner is tied to a one-year deal worth $2.75MM ($1.33MM guaranteed), Wilson adds. Coming over from the Raiders, Forsythe signed a one-year, $2MM pact with $500K guaranteed (per Wilson).
Texans Land G Evan Brown
After getting released by the Cardinals two days ago, veteran offensive guard Evan Brown has rebounded quickly. According to Ian Rapoport of NFL Network, Brown has landed with the Texans on a one-year, $3.5MM deal. 
In Houston, Brown will continue what has become an impressive career for the undrafted journeyman. After falling out of the 2018 NFL Draft, the SMU product signed with the Giants. He didn’t see the field all year as a rookie stuck sitting on the practice squad, but Brown would make up for it by seeing game time with four NFL teams over the next two years. After stashing him for his first year of his career, New York only brought him up for one game, giving him his NFL debut in Week 10 of the 2019 season. The Dolphins made the move to sign him off the Giants’ taxi squad four weeks later, and Brown appeared in the final three games of the season for his new team.
After getting released by Miami in the offseason, Brown rebounded quickly, signing with the Browns within a week of getting cut. Extremely limited usage led Cleveland to waive him to move him to its practice squad, where he remained for several weeks until the Lions signed him off the taxi squad to play in the final two games of the 2020 season for them. In Detroit the next year, Brown was named the backup center behind starter Frank Ragnow, and when Ragnow suffered a season-ending toe injury, Brown found himself in a starting role for the first time in his career, logging 12 starts in 16 games played. In his second season in Detroit, an injury to right guard Halapoulivaati Vaitai allowed Brown another starting opportunity. He started 12 more games that year at right guard.
Those two seasons of filling in as an injury replacement established Brown as a starting-caliber lineman. When he signed in 2023 as a free agent with the Seahawks, Brown won the starting center job and started 16 games for Seattle. Continuing to build on his journeyman status, Brown signed with Arizona in 2024 and won the starting left guard job. After starting all 17 games of a season for the first time in his career, Brown was re-signed to stay in Arizona on a two-year, $11.5MM deal. Following a down 2025 campaign in which he missed six games due to injury, though, Brown was cut by the Cardinals and back on the free agent market.
The Texans are now keeping Brown’s journeyman persona alive as they look for more consistency on the interior offensive line. The Texans had four consistent starters on the offensive line last year and were set to return all of them before trading Tytus Howard to Cleveland. In 2025, though, Houston failed to find a consistent starter at the left guard spot, forcing them to shuffle through multiple lineups throughout the season. Brown could compete to solidify that left guard role on the line as the team signed Braden Smith to, presumably, replace Howard.
Cardinals Release OL Evan Brown
Evan Brown is hitting free agency. The Cardinals are releasing the veteran offensive lineman, according to NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero.
Brown was attached to a cap hit of $6.41MM in 2026, and the Cardinals will now be left with only $1.5MM in dead money. Brown was set to enter the final season of the two-year, $11.5MM deal he inked with Arizona last offseason.
The lineman bounced around the NFL as a reserve offensive lineman to begin his career, but he found a starting gig with the Lions in 2021. He started 24 games for Detroit between 2021 and 2022 before catching on with the Seahawks during the 2023 offseason. He proceeded to start 16 games at center in Seattle.
He joined the Cardinals ahead of the 2024 season and started a career-high 17 games during his first year in Arizona. That prompted the Cardinals to hand him a two-year contract last offseason, and Brown added another 11 starts to his resume in 2025. While Pro Football Focus generally ranked Brown as a middle-of-the-road lineman throughout his career as a starter, he bottomed out with a 60th-place showing among 79 qualifying guards in 2025.
Still, Brown’s ability to play both guard and center should make him a commodity in free agency. He may be hard pressed to garner a definitive starting gig, but he’ll surely be attractive as a key backup.
NFC Contract Details: Golston, Giants, Bucs, Cowboys, Cards, Panthers, Seahawks, Eagles
Here are more contract details from some recently agreed-upon contracts around the NFC in free agency:
- Poona Ford, DT (Rams). Three years, $27.6MM. While not quite as high as the $30MM initial report, Ford’s contract includes $15.6MM guaranteed at signing, via OverTheCap. This comes after Ford played the 2024 season for $1.79MM in total. The Rams guaranteed $3.75MM of Ford’s $5MM 2026 base salary at signing. If on Los Angeles’ roster by Day 5 of the ’26 league year, Ford will see the other $1.5MM lock in. If the 29-year-old DT is still on L.A.’s roster on Day 3 of the 2027 league year, a $2.25MM roster bonus is due.
- Chauncey Golston, DE (Giants). Three years, $18MM. This is slightly less than initially reported, but The Athletic’s Dan Duggan indicates it comes with $12MM fully guaranteed. The Giants guaranteed Golston’s 2025 and ’26 money.
- Baron Browning, LB (Cardinals). Two years, $15MM. Receiving $10MM guaranteed at signing, Browning will see part of his 2026 base salary guaranteed. $2MM of the trade pickup’s $4.39MM 2026 base is locked in at signing, per Cards Wire’s Howard Balzer, who adds a $2MM roster bonus is due on Day 5 of the 2026 league year. The bonus is not guaranteed at signing. If Browning reaches eight sacks in 2025, his 2026 base salary increases by $2MM. Five sacks represents Browning’s highwater mark thus far.
- Patrick Jones, LB (Panthers). Two years, $15MM. This is down from the initial report as well, but the ex-Vikings rotational rusher will see $10.25MM guaranteed, The Athletic’s Joe Person tweets. Another $4MM is available via performance-based incentives, per OverTheCap.
- Evan Brown, G (Cardinals). Two years, $11.44MM. The Cardinals are guaranteeing Brown $6MM at signing, KPRC2’s Aaron Wilson tweets. If the veteran interior O-lineman is on Arizona’s roster by Day 5 of the 2026 league year, he is due a $500K roster bonus.
- Akeem Davis-Gaither, LB (Cardinals). Two years, $10MM. Arizona is guaranteeing Davis-Gaither $5MM at signing, Wilson tweets. The veteran linebacker’s $4.39MM 2026 base salary is nonguaranteed, giving the Cardinals an out after one year.
- Anthony Nelson, LB (Buccaneers). Two years, $10MM. The Bucs guaranteed Nelson $5.5MM to re-sign, Wilson tweets. Tampa Bay included a $500K roster bonus due on Day 5 of the 2026 league year.
- Markquese Bell, S/LB (Cowboys). Three years, $9MM. Bell will be guaranteed $6.2MM at signing, Wilson adds; this covers the young defender’s signing bonus and 2025 and ’26 base salaries.
- Jamie Gillan, P (Giants). Three years, $9MM. Down a bit from initial reports, Gillan’s deal includes $4MM guaranteed, Duggan adds. The deal includes $1.2MM via incentives.
- Solomon Thomas, DL (Cowboys). Two years, $6MM. The Cowboys guaranteed the former No. 3 overall pick $3MM, Wilson tweets. That covers a signing bonus and his 2025 base salary. An additional $2MM is available through playing time- and sack-based incentives.
- Josh Jones, OL (Seahawks). One year, $4MM. Jones will see $3MM guaranteed at signing, per OverTheCap. This is up from his $665K guarantee with the Ravens last year.
- Jimmy Garoppolo, QB (Rams). One year, $3MM. The Rams secured Garoppolo for a second season, doing so despite authorizing a pay cut. Garoppolo played out a one-year, $3.19MM deal in 2024. Like in 2024, Garoppolo’s deal is fully guaranteed.
- Josh Uche, DE (Eagles). One year, $1.92MM. The Eagles guaranteed Uche $1.25MM, the Philadelphia Inquirer’s Jeff McLane tweets. $500K in sack-based incentives are available. Uche played for $3MM in 2024. Despite this low-value deal, Philly included four void years.
Cardinals To Re-Sign OL Evan Brown
The Cardinals have prevented Evan Brown from testing the market. The veteran offensive lineman has a deal in place to stay in Arizona, Tom Pelissero, Ian Rapoport and Mike Garafolo of NFL Network report.
This will be a two-year, $11.5MM deal. Brown operated as a starter in 2024, his debut campaign with the Cardinals. Handling first-team duties will be expected moving forward with a notable raise having been worked out.
Brown had roamed around the NFC over the past three years, playing for the Lions, Seahawks and Cardinals in that span. He had filled in for Detroit starters at center and guard during his time in the Motor City and stepped in as a Seattle center starter in 2023. Winning the left guard starting job in Arizona out of training camp, Brown started 17 games for Jonathan Gannon’s team.
Brown has yo-yoed between center and guard over the past four seasons. He was Frank Ragnow‘s primary injury replacement in 2021 before taking over at RG for Halapoulivaati Vaitai in 2022. The Cardinals added him with the intent on a guard path, after the Seahawks had used him as a replacement for the retired Austin Blythe.
Monday’s agreement also will bring a raise for Brown, who played for $2.25MM in 2023 and $2.35MM in 2024. Originally a Giants UDFA, Brown is going into his age-29 season. The Cardinals have given both he and center Hjalte Froholdt midlevel paydays to stick around on a line fronted by first-round left tackle Paris Johnson Jr. and $15MM-per-year RT Jonah Williams. Will Hernandez is again a free agent, though the veteran RG has battled injuries during much of his desert stay.
Pro Football Focus graded Brown 30th at guard last season, and the Cardinals will keep supplying continuity for third-year OC Drew Petzing. With Brown coming back, Arizona is on track to have four of its five O-line starters in place for 2025. Hernandez re-signed with the Cardinals previously, but after he missed 12 games in 2024, the team may have some reservations about authorizing another accord.
Evan Brown Favorite For Cardinals’ LG Job; Latest On Paris Johnson Jr.’s Position Change
Although the Cardinals swapped out D.J. Humphries‘ veteran contract for new right tackle Jonah Williams‘, the team is keeping costs low along its offensive front. Only one player — Williams — is tied to a deal worth more than $7.5MM per year.
Paris Johnson Jr.‘s first-round salary checks in behind Williams’ $15MM-per-year pact at this Cardinals position group. Among Arizona’s interior O-line, backup-level salaries are present. One of those is allocated to Evan Brown, who signed a one-year, $2.35MM contract with the team in March. Brown spent last season as the Seahawks’ starting center, but he will shift positions once again.
The Cardinals have installed Brown at guard, and the Arizona Republic’s Bob McManaman notes the veteran is in the lead to win the team’s left guard post. While a host of competitors are vying with Brown for the only undecided spot along Arizona’s offensive front, Brown came to the desert after three seasons as an O-line regular.
The Seahawks used Brown as a 16-game center starter last season. That came after Brown worked as a fill-in starter in back-to-back seasons in Detroit. The Lions plugged Brown in as a Frank Ragnow injury replacement in 2021; that season brought 12 starts for the former UDFA. He operated as Halapoulivaati Vaitai‘s RG fill-in during the 2022 season. All 40 of Brown’s career starts came over the past three seasons, as he bounced around between four teams from 2018-20.
Brown, 27, played for similar terms in Seattle (one year, $2.25MM) to plug a hole created by Austin Blythe‘s retirement. Pro Football Focus graded Brown as a bottom-tier center in 2023, slotting him 27th last season. The advanced metrics site viewed Brown’s pass protection as an issue in 2022 as well, though it graded the former UDFA as much better in that department as a center in 2021. As the Cardinals continue to rebuild, Brown will attempt to hold off some competitors — including last season’s Week 1 starter at the position — on an inexpensive front featuring another journeyman starter.
Hjalte Froholdt, a 2019 fourth-rounder who played for three teams from 2019-21, is entrenched as the team’s center. Will Hernandez is locked in as the team’s right guard, McManaman adds. Brown will battle LG incumbent Elijah Wilkinson (nine starts last season), Trystan Castillo-Colon, Carter O’Donnell and third-rounder Isaiah Adams in the primary competition for the job. Adams’ presence figures to be important here, though the Cardinals appear to be planning to ease the Day 2 draftee into the mix slowly. Brown is a stopgap guard option, and Jonathan Gannon said he is also seeing time at center — perhaps in preparation for a swing role if Adams becomes the LG starter.
Johnson and Williams, of course, are locked in as starters as well. Johnson is making the switch from full-time right tackle as a rookie to the left side. This aligns with D.J. Humphries‘ trajectory, as the former first-rounder moved from RT to LT after one season as a starter. Johnson is now replacing Humphries, and McManaman adds the 2023 No. 6 overall pick began preparing for the position switch before officially receiving word it was a go. Noting he and Humphries still communicate regularly, Johnson — an All-American left tackle at Ohio State in 2022 — said the Cardinals informed him a switch could happen depending on how free agency unfolded.
“I got a text one day and it said, ‘Hey, can you play left?’” Johnson said. “I’ve been training both. I asked after the season and they were like, ‘Honestly, we’ll talk to you at some point in the season,’ and I got a text, and it was like, ‘Depending on what happens in free agency.
“I had a whole season at right tackle, so if I get the word I’m staying at right tackle, I’ll just do what I did before. But I thought I might as well train at left tackle now as if I’m going to be left tackle. I’d rather do that than train all at right tackle and get the call, ‘Hey you’re at left tackle now.’ … I was just preparing in advance.”
Humphries, the Cardinals’ LT starter for seven seasons, remains a free agent. Johnson is under contract through the 2026 season. Kelvin Beachum remains in place as a swingman behind Johnson and Williams, who is staying at the position he played — following a trade request based on a left tackle role — in his Bengals contract year.
Cardinals Move Paris Johnson Jr. To LT
Seven years ago, the Cardinals flipped their starting tackles by moving Jared Veldheer to the right side and first-round pick D.J. Humphries to the left edge in their then-Carson Palmer-centered offense. Chosen in the first round eight years after Humphries, Paris Johnson Jr. will be at the center of a Cardinals position revamp up front.
Arizona used Johnson as its right tackle in 2023, but the former No. 6 overall pick is ticketed for the blindside post this season. Jonathan Gannon confirmed the Ohio State product will play on the left side during the offseason program, as a development effort — one that will see free agency addition Jonah Williams continue at right tackle — ensues ahead of Johnson’s second season. Johnson has been working at his new spot since the Cardinals began on-field work this offseason.
“Paris obviously playing both, Jonah playing both, but we’ll start there and see how it goes,” Gannon said, via AZCardinals.com’s Darren Urban. “That’s what they both feel comfortable with right now.”
While noting he holds veto power regarding this effort, Gannon is pointing to another Cardinals tackle switch-up. The above-referenced change occurred after Humphries played right tackle in his de facto rookie year (the 2015 first-rounder missed all of his actual first season). Humphries remained in that post through last season. The Cardinals said they would be open to re-signing Humphries — a March cap casualty — but their recent Johnson-focused announcement makes a reunion highly unlikely.
At this time last year, the prospect of Johnson beginning at guard was in play. The Cardinals employed Humphries and Josh Jones and had just re-signed Kelvin Beachum. But the team slotted its top draftee on the right side. Johnson started all 17 games at RT as a rookie. A move to the left side always seemed in play, with Johnson finishing his college career there and earning first-team All-American acclaim. Johnson played right guard for the Buckeyes in 2022.
This move is perhaps more interesting for Williams, who made a trade request — a Bengals regularity over the past two springs — after the team kicked him to the right side. Cincinnati’s Orlando Brown Jr. signing “blindsided” Williams, though the three-year Bengals LT retracted his trade ask and went to work on the right side. Williams started opposite Brown throughout last season and signed a two-year, $30MM Cardinals deal.
Williams agreeing to terms with a team to play right tackle is notable given the events in his final Bengals offseason. It would also seem easier for the Cardinals to keep Johnson on the right side and install Williams at the position with which he is most comfortable. But Johnson certainly brings higher upside; the team will begin an earnest developmental effort for him to take over as Kyler Murray‘s blindside protector. Pro Football Focus ranked Johnson and Williams 57th and 59th among tackles last season.
Beachum, 35 next month, remains on Arizona’s roster as a swing tackle. The team returns right guard Will Hernandez and center Hjalte Froholdt. Williams’ deal contains $19MM fully guaranteed, covering part of his 2025 salary. The team added Evan Brown in free agency, still rosters Elijah Wilkinson and used a third-round pick on Isaiah Adams. Brown, Wilkinson and Adams are set to compete for the left guard gig, Urban adds. Gannon confirmed the Brown signing will not move the Cardinals to try Froholdt at guard.
Cardinals To Add C Evan Brown
A 16-game starter for the Seahawks last season, Evan Brown has a deal in place to relocate within the NFC West. The Cardinals are signing the veteran interior O-lineman, NFL.com’s Tom Pelissero tweets.
Brown agreed to a one-year, $2.35MM Cardinals contract, one that can max out at $2.9MM. Brown worked as a low-cost solution for the Seahawks up front, and while that season did not elevate the ex-Lions blocker into the upper echelon of this year’s center market, he will have another opportunity in 2024.
While the Seahawks used Brown at center, he has extensive experience at guard as well. The Lions plugged in Brown at guard in 2022, using him as their primary fill-in option for Halapoulivaati Vaitai that year. He had previously worked as Frank Ragnow‘s center replacement in 2021. Brown has made 40 career starts. This signing will give the Cardinals another option inside.
Pro Football Focus rated Brown as its No. 27 overall center last season — eight spots behind Cardinals starter Hjalte Froholdt. The latter remains under contract with the Cardinals, who also re-signed guard starter Elijah Wilkinson. Brown could compete for either position, with both starters attached to low-end contracts. Wilkinson re-signed on a one-year, $1.83MM deal, per CardsWire’s Howard Balzer, who adds $1.58MM is guaranteed. Froholdt is attached to a two-year, $4.6MM deal he signed in 2023. PFF rated Arizona’s O-line 25th last season, and the unit will be without D.J. Humphries — a recent post-June 1 cut — next season.
PFF rated Brown 17th among centers in 2021 and viewed him as a mid-pack guard in 2022. At worst, the Cardinals have a player capable of providing swing depth. A former UDFA going into his age-28 season, Brown will attempt to commandeer a starting job and use this season as a chance to command a better payday down the line.
Seahawks, OL Evan Brown Agree To Deal
The Seahawks may have identified their Austin Blythe center replacement. They are signing former Lions starter Evan Brown, Jeremy Fowler of ESPN.com tweets.
It is a one-year deal, per KPRC2’s Aaron Wilson (on Twitter). This move comes minutes after the Lions agreed to a deal to bring back one of their former interior O-line starters (Graham Glasgow). Brown started 24 games for the Lions — both at center and guard — from 2021-22.
With his starting role in Detroit in jeopardy given Glasgow’s arrival, Brown will move to his fifth career NFL franchise. The 26-year-old also has experience with the Dolphins, Giants and Browns preceding his two-plus-year stint in the Motor City.
Brown originally received more favorable PFF grades for his pass protection than his run blocking, including an impressive 80.1 grade in the former category in 2020. Recently, however, his metrics have shifted and he has graded out better in the run game while struggling in protection. He earned a PFF rating of just 45.5 in pass protection in 2022, after being charged with two sacks and 22 pressures allowed.
In spite of those struggles, the former UDFA will bring experience to Seattle as they look to replace Blythe (who retired at the end of the season) individually, but also maintain their success on offense from 2022 in general. Improved play up front was a key factor in the Seahawks’ top-10 scoring unit, which included a pair of rookie tackles in Charles Cross and Abraham Lucas.
With Brown in place, Seattle will have an experienced option in the middle of their re-vamped O-line. He will likely compete with former sixth-rounder Joey Hunt for the No. 1 center spot, or with veteran Phil Haynes at the right guard position. Seattle will have a number of options up front, regardless of what other depth is added in the coming weeks.
Texans, Titans Pursuing LB Denzel Perryman
MARCH 16: Perryman is meeting with the Texans on Thursday, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets. The former Chargers, Panthers (sort of) and Raiders linebacker is looking to find a home for a ninth NFL season.
MARCH 15: This year’s crowded inside linebacker market has produced one big contract (the Bears’ Tremaine Edmunds pact) and a host of mid- or low-level agreements. While the legal tampering period has taken many off-ball ‘backers off the board, a few key names remain.
Denzel Perryman is one of the top options left, and he may end up deciding between two AFC South suitors. The Texans and Titans have shown interest in the veteran linebacker, Aaron Wilson of KPRC2 reports.
Perryman hit free agency after two seasons with the Raiders. While those slates helped re-establish the former Chargers draftee’s value, his profile as a run-stopping linebacker — as opposed to a true three-down player with plus coverage skills — will impact his market. The 30-year-old defender logged a 70% defensive snap share last season. Pro Football Focus graded Perryman as a top-12 linebacker against the run, propelling him to a top-20 overall assessment.
The Panthers gave Perryman a multiyear deal in 2021, but he never ended up playing for them after a preseason trade to the Raiders. Gus Bradley, Perryman’s primary DC with the Chargers, put the former second-round pick to work quickly, using him on 83% of the Raiders’ defensive plays that season. Perryman finished the year with 154 tackles — far and away a career-high total — and helped Las Vegas rally to the playoffs despite a turbulent season.
The Raiders showed interest in a Perryman extension before the season, but nothing came to pass. They did circle back last month, though there is a real risk he departs now. The Titans have lost starters David Long and Zach Cunningham, though GM Ran Carthon is reuniting with ex-49er Azeez Al-Shaair. The Texans, who were also linked to Al-Shaair due to his DeMeco Ryans connection, but have not made a move at linebacker yet during the tampering period.
Houston has also shown interest in Mack Wilson, per Aaron Wilson. Mack Wilson spent last season with the Patriots, having been traded straight up for Chase Winovich, but logged 28 starts with the Browns from 2019-21. Houston is also interested in defensive tackle Sheldon Rankins, Wilson adds, while also being in on centers Garrett Bradbury, Ethan Pocic and Jake Brendel, the latter of whom having ties to a few Texans coaches. But the center market has largely led to retention thus far. Bradbury, Brendel and Pocic have returned to their respective teams (Vikings, 49ers, Browns). The Texans are believed to be interested in former Lions center Evan Brown, however. The Detroit center/guard option has not signed anywhere yet; Brown has started 24 games over the past two seasons.
The Jets are trying to bring back Rankins, who has played for the team for the past two years. The Texans’ center interest stems from the team cutting Justin Britt, its two-year pivot starter. Britt is planning to retire.