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Minor NFL Transactions: 4/15/24

April 15th, 2024 at 8:05pm CST by Sam Robinson

Here are Monday’s minor moves:

Cincinnati Bengals

Cleveland Browns

Detroit Lions

Green Bay Packers

Jacksonville Jaguars

Los Angeles Rams

New Orleans Saints

New York Giants

New York Jets

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

  • Signed: OL Lorenz Metz

Washington Commanders

Today marks the first day for teams with holdover HCs to begin offseason programs. That date frequently coincides with restricted free agents and exclusive rights free agents officially coming back into the fold. McCloud’s signing and Rams left tackle Alaric Jackson inking his second-round tender leaves 49ers wide receiver Jauan Jennings, also given a Round 2 tender, as the lone unsigned RFA. McCloud will be tied to a nonguaranteed $2.99MM salary.

A former UDFA out of Michigan State, Bachie has been with the Bengals for the past three seasons. The young linebacker has been a regular special-teamer in that time; over the past two seasons, Bachie has been on the field for more than 60% of Cincinnati’s ST plays.

The Commanders signed Tyler Ott in free agency. The longtime Seahawks snapper spent 2023 with the Ravens; the veteran staying in the Mid-Atlantic region will lead to Addington — a three-game Washington long snapper in 2023 — being moved off the roster.

Murtaugh and Metz are coming to the NFL via the league’s International Pathway Program. Murtaugh hails from Australia and has a background in Australian Rules Football. He spent a bit of time with the Lions in 2023. A German, Metz spent time with the Bears last year but did not make their roster. He was not with a team during the season. If Murtaugh and Metz fail to make their respective team’s 53-man roster, they can be carried as a 17th practice squad player via the IPP program.

DL Marshawn Kneeland Adds Six Pre-Draft Visits, To Close With 16

April 15th, 2024 at 6:12pm CST by Sam Robinson

As Marshawn Kneeland logs a spring flight schedule that would potentially impress George Clooney’s Up in the Air protagonist, the Western Michigan alum is viewed as a rising prospect ahead of the draft.

The MAC product has scheduled pre-draft visits with half the NFL. His Chiefs, Colts, Commanders, Jaguars, Jets, Saints and Vikings meetings became known weeks ago, but other teams have since entered the fray. The Buccaneers, Panthers and Texans met with the edge rusher prospect last week, according to NFL.com’s Mike Garafolo. Not stopping there, Kneeland also has meetings scheduled with the Bills, Lions and Packers, NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport adds.

More teams may have stepped in here, with Garafolo indicating Kneeland booked 16 “30” visits during one of the busiest pre-draft itineraries in recent NFL history. Teams have until Wednesday to conduct “30” visits, and Kneeland will presumably be setting foot in a number of new cities before that deadline arrives.

Generally, prospects with notable questions generate the most visits. Kneeland has become a coveted D-end prospect despite playing at a mid-major program and never topping 4.5 sacks in a season. But coaches are certainly intrigued by the versatile performer. As ESPN.com’s Matt Miller points out, Kneeland generated 36 pressures last season. The 6-foot-3, 267-pound edge player posted 26 tackles for loss from 2021-23, and Miller adds his profile has reached the point where a fall out of the top 50 is unlikely.

Kneeland has generated this profile despite never being a first-team All-MAC performer; though, he did play in only nine games as a senior. His mileage count this spring has reflected the curiosity his profile brings. For the teams that do not land a player on the Dallas Turner–Jared Verse–Laiatu Latu level, someone like Kneeland — who profiles as more of a power player capable of sliding inside situationally — would stand to be appealing on Day 2.

Traded NFL Draft Picks For 2024

April 10th, 2024 at 10:21pm CST by Sam Robinson

As the 2024 draft nears, numerous picks have already changed hands. A handful of picks have already been moved twice, with a few being traded three times. Multiple deals from 2021 impact this draft. Here are the 2024 picks to have been traded thus far:

Round 1

Round 2

Round 3

Round 4

Round 5

Round 6

Round 7

Minor NFL Transactions: 4/10/24

April 10th, 2024 at 6:36pm CST by Ely Allen

Wednesday’s only minor NFL move:

Green Bay Packers

Green was an undrafted rookie last year who signed with the Giants but ultimately failed to make the 53-man roster. He was subsequently signed to New York’s practice squad before getting released the next day. Before the NFL, Green recorded an interception and 15 passes defensed in five years at the University of Michigan. After 24 starts in 42 game appearances, Green finished his career as an honorable mention for the All-Big Ten team in his senior season.

Packers Aiming For Depth QB Addition

April 10th, 2024 at 2:31pm CST by Adam La Rose

The top two spots on the Packers’ quarterback depth chart are accounted for with Jordan Love and Sean Clifford. General manager Brian Gutekunst is open to using the upcoming draft to add further depth at the position, though.

[RELATED: NFL To Allow Unlimited Practice Squad QB Elevations]

“I’d love to continue to bring in quarterbacks, not only for the competition but for the development of them because I do think it takes time,” Gutekunst said, via Matt Schneidman of The Athletic (subscription required). “It takes time, any player, but a quarterback, particularly, in a comfort zone of what he’s doing where you can really see his talent come out. I think Sean hit that pretty early compared to most, but I think that’s important you give that player the time to get there.”

Love entered the 2023 season facing plenty of questions related his readiness as Aaron Rodgers‘ successor. He answered them in the latter half of the campaign in particular, helping guide the Packers to the divisional round of the playoffs. Talks on an extension allowing the former first-rounder to remain in place well beyond the coming season are underway.

With Love remaining healthy throughout the season, Clifford made just two appearances and only attempted three passes as a rookie. The latter – who won out the QB2 gig during training camp after being selected in the fifth round – has drawn praise from Gutekunst and head coach Matt LaFleur. While Clifford (who, like Love, is 25) is thus on track to hold down the backup position moving forward, competition can be expected this offseason.

As Schneidman notes, Gutekunst has only drafted two signal-callers (Love and Clifford) during his six years running Green Bay’s draft room. The team has generally opted to sign depth passers as UDFAs, but in 2024 the Packers have 11 draft picks. That is tied for the most in the NFL this year, and it will give Gutekunst and Co. plenty of opportunities to select at least one signal-caller on Day 3 in particular.

Draft Notes: Sweat, Seahawks, Titans, Bears, Patriots, Packers, Mims, Eagles, Broncos

April 9th, 2024 at 10:06am CST by Sam Robinson

Ranked as the No. 3 defensive tackle on Mel Kiper Jr.’s ESPN.com big board, T’Vondre Sweat has an off-field issue to navigate ahead of the draft. The Texas alum was arrested on a DWI charge over the weekend. Sweat was involved a two-car accident, according to ESPN.com’s Adam Rittenberg, who indicates the DT’s SUV collided with a sedan shortly before 5am on Sunday. The Seahawks and Titans are among the teams performing some due diligence on Sweat, with NFL.com’s Tom Pelissero indicating the ex-Longhorns D-lineman met with the Titans on Monday and will fly to Seattle for a “30” visit later this week. Sweat posted a $3K bond following his arrest.

Here is the latest from the draft ranks:

  • Widely expected to begin the draft by taking Caleb Williams first overall, the Bears still hold another top-10 pick. Pertaining to the latter draft slot, the team is hosting Alabama tackle JC Latham on a two-day visit that runs through Tuesday, ESPN.com’s Adam Schefter tweets. Latham has already met with the Cardinals and Titans. One of this draft’s supply of intriguing tackle prospects, Latham is on track to be a first-round pick. Daniel Jeremiah’s NFL.com big board ranks the first-team All-SEC blocker 18th overall, while ESPN slots him 12th. The Bears have Braxton Jones and Darnell Wright, their 2023 first-round pick, as their starting tackles. A recent report indicated Chicago is unlikely to trade its No. 9 pick.
  • Another of the Round 1-level tackle prospects in this draft pool, Tyler Guyton visited the Patriots recently, ESPN’s Mike Reiss notes. Ranked 23rd on Jeremiah’s big board, Guyton stands 6-foot-8 and is more projection than proven talent. Only garnering honorable mention All-Big 12 acclaim last season, Guyton made just 15 college starts. Five of those came at TCU in 2022 before transferring. The Patriots re-signed Michael Onwenu with the intention of keeping him at right tackle, but with Trent Brown leaving for Cincinnati, New England still has a need at left tackle. Barring a trade out of No. 3 — certainly a possibility — the Pats would need to address this issue after the first round.
  • This draft class features another raw tackle talent drawing first-round consideration. Amarius Mims has Guyton beat, starting eight games in three Georgia seasons. Six of Mims’ starts came at right tackle last season. The 6-foot-8, 340-pound tackle missed time at Georgia, requiring ankle surgery early last season, and suffered a hamstring injury while running at the Combine. Viewed as high-ceiling talent, Mims has drawn understandable concerns about his durability, per ESPN.com’s Jordan Reid.
  • The Eagles and Broncos are two teams to monitor with regards to an early-round tackle investment, ESPN.com’s Matt Miller writes. Although Philadelphia just extended left tackle Jordan Mailata, stalwart RT Lane Johnson is heading into his age-34 season. The Eagles are typically proactive on their O-line. The Broncos have two high-priced tackles (and a rather glaring QB need) in Garett Bolles and Mike McGlinchey, but Bolles is going into a contract year. The second pick going to the Saints in the Sean Payton trade is the Broncos’ 2024 second-rounder, leaving Denver with only a third after its No. 12 overall slot.
  • Add the Packers to the list of teams to meet with cornerback Kool-Aid McKinstry. The Alabama product visited Green Bay on Monday, per the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s Tom Silverstein. This will follow McKinstry meetings with the Jaguars, Buccaneers and Lions. Regarded as a more highly touted prospect going into last season, McKinstry has seen teammate Terrion Arnold leapfrog him. The latter ranks higher now, though McKinstry should still hear his name called early. Save for the Jordan Love pick, the Packers have used a defense-focused approach in Round 1 for more than a decade. Beyond Love, Green Bay’s last offensive player chosen in Round 1 was tackle Derrick Sherrod in 2011.

NFC Contract Details: Packers, Moore, Maddox, Burns

April 7th, 2024 at 8:05pm CST by Ely Allen

Here are some details on recent new contracts around the NFC:

  • Eric Wilson, LB (Packers): One year, $1.38MM. According to ESPN’s Rob Demovsky, Wilson’s new contract with Green Bay includes a base salary of $1.21MM and a signing bonus of $167.5K.
  • Kristian Welch, LB (Packers): One year, $1.21MM. Demovsky also tells us that Welch’s re-signed deal will have a base salary of $1.13MM and a signing bonus worth $20K. Welch can earn an additional $20K with a workout bonus as well as a per game active roster bonus of $2,647 for a potential season total of $45K.
  • Chris Moore, WR (Cardinals): One year, $2MM. Moore’s contract with the Cardinals will have a guaranteed amount of $750K comprised of $250K of his 2024 base salary (worth a total of $1.28MM) and a $500K signing bonus, according to Howard Balzer of USA Today Sports. Moore will add another $50K with a workout bonus and an additional $10K per game that he’s on the active roster for a potential season total of $170K in per game active roster bonuses.
  • Avonte Maddox, CB (Eagles): One year, $1.5MM. Maddox’s new deal will have a guaranteed value of $875K consisting of $500K of his base salary (worth $1.13MM in total) and a $375K signing bonus.
  • Brian Burns, OLB (Giants): Five years, $141MM. We noted recently that Burns’ deal was not worth the reported $150MM amount and was actually for $141MM. Thanks to Dan Duggan of The Athletic, we now know that the $9MM difference comes from incentives wherein he can earn an additional $1.8MM for each year that he either reaches 12.5 sacks, makes a Pro Bowl, or earns first-team All-Pro honors. He’s reached that sack total once in 2022 and made two Pro Bowls in 2021 and 2022, but because he didn’t reach any of those achievements last year, the potential $1.8MM won’t count against New York’s cap space in 2024.

Packers HC Matt LaFleur Surprised By RB Moves

March 30th, 2024 at 9:19am CST by Ben Levine

The Packers were one of the major players in the free agent RB carousel. The team couldn’t convince Aaron Jones to take a pay cut, leading to the veteran’s release. The Packers quickly scooped up former Raiders star Josh Jacobs as Jones’ replacement, completely revamping the top of their depth chart.

[RELATED: Packers Sign RB Josh Jacobs]

While it seemed likely that the Packers would approach Jones about a reduced salary, there weren’t many people who anticipated the Packers pivoting to a different star running back. That includes head coach Matt LaFleur, who admitted to reporters this week that he was caught “off guard” by the sudden moves.

“There were some other things in play, obviously with Aaron Jones, and I didn’t quite know how everything was going to go,” LaFleur said (via Jason Wilde of Madison.com). “It just happened really fast on that Monday. … It happened really fast, so I don’t know all the details of that. I’m not involved in those types of conversations. But we were super excited (to get Jacobs).”

Jacobs shouldn’t have any issues replacing Jones’ production. Following a 2022 campaign where he led the NFL with 2,053 yards from scrimmage in 17 games, Jacobs was limited to only 13 contests in 2024. Still, the 26-year-old managed to top 1,100 yards from scrimmage, although that was partly due to him garnering more than 20 touches per game. Jones followed up four-straight seasons of 1,000-yard production with 889 yards from scrimmage in 13 games this past season.

The team will also be counting on Jacobs to fill the leadership void left by Jones, although LaFleur told reporters that he’s challenged Jordan Love to step into a larger vocal role. Jones left the franchise with the third-most rushing yards in team history, and the head coach acknowledged that moving on from the veteran was “really tough.”

“[Jones has] always been team first,” LaFleur said (via Wilde). “He walks the walk, and he does everything. He’s just such a pro, [and] that’s always tough to replace.”

The Packers will have some continuity on their depth chart in AJ Dillon. The organization hit the former second-round running back with the rarely used four-year qualifying offer, locking the player into a one-year deal.

Raiders’ Josh Jacobs Offer Did Not Approach Packers’ Proposal

March 29th, 2024 at 11:23am CST by Sam Robinson

Perhaps the busiest day in terms of RB1 movement in NFL history sent Josh Jacobs to Green Bay. This came after multiple reports indicated Raiders interest in keeping their 2023 franchise player.

The Raiders did make Jacobs an offer, and The Athletic’s Vic Tafur indicates it was the second-best proposal the former rushing champion received this month (subscription required). But the Packers’ proposal, per Tafur, came in well north of where the Raiders were willing to go for their five-year starter. Jacobs is now set to replace Aaron Jones as Green Bay’s top back.

Las Vegas’ offer not being especially close to Green Bay’s is rather interesting given the structure of Jacobs’ Packers contract. Although the Pack gave Jacobs a four-year, $48MM deal — numbers that match where they went for Jones in 2021 — only $12.5MM of that is fully guaranteed. Jacobs is due a $5.93MM roster bonus on Day 5 of the 2025 league year, making that a pivotal date for his prospects of playing a second Packers season. With the team moving on from a seven-year performer in Jones, it would stand to reason it wants Jacobs for at least two seasons.

Jacobs’ Packers defection brought an end to two years of negotiations. The team was reported to have made Jacobs a better offer than the Giants submitted to Saquon Barkley before last summer’s deadline for tagged players to sign extensions. Though, another report indicated the previous Raider regime did not make an aggressive pursuit to extend Jacobs.

The Giants were believed to have offered Barkley a deal in the neighborhood of $22MM guaranteed. While Barkley’s bet on himself paid off — in the form of an Eagles deal including $26MM guaranteed at signing — no other RB this offseason topped $14MM guaranteed at signing. D’Andre Swift‘s Bears deal included the $14MM number. After his 2022 rushing championship, Jacobs finished with just 805 rushing yards and produced the fifth-worst rushing yards over expected number (per Next Gen Stats). The 2019 first-round pick also missed the Raiders’ final four games due to multiple contusions.

The Raiders expressed interest in keeping Jacobs, who was among those who stumped for Antonio Pierce to land the full-time HC job. But they hired a new GM (Tom Telesco) who came to Las Vegas after refusing to extend Austin Ekeler‘s contract with the Chargers last year. Telesco showed interest in adding Ekeler to the Raiders’ backfield, but with it only taking a two-year, $8.43MM deal to send the dual-threat back to Washington, it is safe to assume Vegas’ Jacobs proposal came in higher.

The running back carousel did not send one of the recent starters to Nevada, potentially pointing to the Raiders addressing the position in the draft. For now, Jacobs fill-in Zamir White — a 2022 fourth-round pick — sits atop the depth chart.

Packers Sign K Greg Joseph

March 26th, 2024 at 10:54am CST by Adam La Rose

Greg Joseph will not be with the Vikings in 2024, but he will remain in the NFC North. The veteran kicker has agreed to a deal with the Packers, agent Brett Tessler announced on Tuesday.

Joseph will earn up to $1.3MM on this one-year contract, Ian Rapoport of NFL Network reports. As Tessler notes, the 29-year-old drew interest from other teams, but he preferred to join Green Bay. Joseph will serve as veteran competition with Anders Carlson this offseason.

The latter took over from Mason Crosby as a rookie in 2023. Carlson posted a 90.9% success rate in 2020, but his Auburn career ended with two straight seasons of much lower accuracy. In spite of that, the Packers entered the year with confidence in the 25-year-old.

Carlson connected on 27 of 33 field goal attempts in the regular season, good for an accuracy rate of 81.8%. That included four misses from a range of between 40-49 yards, and he also missed five extra points. During the team’s postseason run, the former sixth-rounder went two-for-three on field goals and converted seven of eight extra points.

Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst offered public support for Carlson in the summer, but after a full campaign of evaluation the team has added a more experienced option in the kicking game. Joseph handled full-time duties in Minnesota for each of the past three seasons. Over that time, he converted 82.2% of field goal kicks (including a career-best accuracy rate of 86.8% in 2021). Joseph went 112-for-124 on extra point attempts during his Vikings tenure, which is in line with his career average in that respect.

The former UDFA (who previously played for the Browns and Titans) also led the league in touchback percentage during the 2021 season, as Tessler adds. That will become more of a moot point in 2024 compared to past campaigns given the new kickoff rules, but Joseph’s consistency could give him an advantage after Carlson endured an up-and-down rookie campaign. The Packers will be among the teams partaking in a kicking competition this summer.

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