Dolphins To Cut DB Isa Abdul-Quddus
The Dolphins plan to cut Isa Abdul-Quddus today due to a failed physical, Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald tweets. The defensive back suffered a serious neck injury late in the 2016 season.
Abdul-Quddus was signed to a three-year, $12.75MM deal prior to the 2016 to play opposite of Reshad Jones in the secondary. While he was on the field in the regular season, he did a good job of living up to his contract. The advanced metrics at Pro Football Focus ranked Abdul-Quddus as the No. 31 safety in the NFL out of 92 qualified players. His season ended with 78 tackles, two interceptions, one sack, and five passes defended in 15 games.
It’s not immediately clear if when he’ll be ready to resume football activities.
Dolphins To Extend Reshad Jones
The Dolphins have agreed to an extension with safety Reshad Jones, tweets Adam Schefter of ESPN.com. The new deal is worth $60MM over five years and contains $35MM guaranteed.
Jones originally planned to holdout through minicamp last summer in the hopes of landing an extension, but he eventually caved without a new deal being reached. Perhaps as a reward for that show of good faith, Miami is now making Jones on of the highest-paid safeties in the league despite the fact that he missed most of the season with a rotator cuff injury.
Jones, 29, had 51 total tackles, four passes defensed, one interception, and even half a sack in six games last season. The advanced metrics at Pro Football Focus had him ranked as the third-best safety in the NFL during that six-game stretch with a strong 88.5 overall grade.
While Jones is under contract for the long haul, the Dolphins still need to worry about their other safety, Isa Abdul-Quddus. At present, it’s unclear if IAQ will be able to play in 2017 due to a neck injury.
Dolphins To Sign Anthony Fasano
The Dolphins have reached an accord with free agent tight end Anthony Fasano, according to Jeff Darlington of ESPN.com (Twitter link).
The Titans were reportedly interested in re-signing Fasano, whose second Tennessee campaign featured him grading out as Pro Football Focus’ best run-blocking tight end. He paired with Delanie Walker to give the Titans two top-15 PFF tight ends, making Tennessee the only team to have two such players grade this high. As a receiver, 2016 marked Fasano’s worst season. In Mike Mularkey‘s run-first offense, Fasano caught just eight passes for 83 yards — each stat representing a career-low figure.
While the Giants and Jets were also eyeing Fasano, he’ll instead head to Miami, where he played from 2008-12. The Dolphins recently lost Dion Sims to the Bears, so Fasano will play the in-line tight end role in Adam Gase‘s TE-friendly offense, allowing Julius Thomas to flex out wide. Fasano ranked as PFR’s 7 No. free agent tight end.
RFA/ERFA Tender Decisions: 3/9/17
Unrestricted free agent news will obviously dominate the day, but several clubs also had to make decisions on whether to offer tenders to restricted and exclusive rights free agents. All RFA tenders listed are original round/right of first refusal (worth $1.797MM), and all links go to Twitter:
RFAs:
Tendered:
- Buccaneers: QB Ryan Griffin (via Adam Caplan of ESPN.com)
- Chargers: WR Dontrelle Inman, ILB Korey Toomer (via Michael Gehlken)
- Dolphins: S Michael Thomas (via Tom Pelissero of USA Today)
- Lions: T Cornelius Lucas (via Michael Rothstein of ESPN.com)
- Ravens: CB Jumal Rolle (via Jamison Hensely of ESPN.com)
- Seahawks: T Garry Gilliam (via Sheil Kapadia of ESPN.com)
Non-Tendered:
- Cardinals: K Chandler Catanzaro, TE Darren Fells (via Kyle Odegard of AZCardinals.com)
- Chargers: RB Branden Oliver, DE Tenny Palepoi (Twitter links via Gehlken)
- Jets: TE Brandon Bostick, DT Mike Pennel (via Rich Cimini of ESPN)
- Packers: OLB Jayrone Elliott (via Rob Demovsky of ESPN), LB Jordan Tripp (per Demovsky)
- Seahawks: CB Mohammed Seisay, S Steven Terrell (via Bob Condotta of the Seattle Times)
ERFAs:
Tendered:
- Colts: WR Quan Brady (via Stephen Holder of the Indy Star)
- Seahawks: S Dewey McDonald, RB Troymaine Pope (Twitter links via Condotta)
Non-Tendered:
- Packers: RB John Crockett (via Rob Demovsky of ESPN.com)
Contract Details: Jones, Taylor, Branch, D-Jax, Bitonio, Davis
Here’s the latest on some of the latest contracts agreed to this week.
- Chandler Jones‘ five-year Cardinals extension will pay him $16.5MM per year, Albert Breer of TheMMQB.com tweets. Jones will make $53MM in guaranteed money from his second NFL contract, Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports adds (on Twitter).
- Tyrod Taylor‘s restructured Bills deal is a two-year, $30.5MM pact, La Canfora reports (on Twitter), adding that the rest of it voids after 2018. Taylor will make $15.5MM in guarantees as a result of the re-done pact and $14.5MM in 2017. La Canfora adds the quarterback stands to collect $16MM in ’18.
- Andre Branch‘s three-year Dolphins deal is worth $24MM, Ben Volin of the Boston Globe reports (on Twitter). Volin adds the contract includes two fully guaranteed years– at $17MM — for the 27-year-old pass-rusher. Volin adds that Branch could see $3.75MM more via incentives. Branch will receive a $6MM signing bonus, make $2.9MM in base salary in 2017, $7.9MM in ’18 and $6.9MM in ’19, per Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle (on Twitter).
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DeSean Jackson‘s Buccaneers pact will be worth approximately $11MM per year, Jenna Laine of ESPN.com reports.
- Joel Bitonio‘s five-year Browns extension will pay out $47.5MM in base salary, Nate Ulrich of Ohio.com tweets, adding $23MM in guarantees are included. The new deal kicks in after Bitonio’s 2017 season, so he’s under contract in Cleveland through 2022.
- Vernon Davis‘ second Redskins contract will include a $4MM signing bonus and $7.5MM guaranteed, Wilson tweets. His base salaries from 2017-19, respectively, are $2MM, $3.75MM and $4.75MM.
- Courtney Upshaw re-signing with the Falcons on a one-year deal will result in $1.15MM coming his way in 2017, Wilson tweets. The defender gets a $125K signing bonus and will make $775K in base salary this season.
Dolphins To Place First-Round Tender On Kiko Alonso
The Dolphins are doing their best to ensure Kiko Alonso doesn’t bolt Miami as a restricted free agent, placing a first-round RFA tender on the linebacker, Armando Salguero of the Miami Herald tweets. Miami’s brass hopes this agreement will merely serve as a placeholder, because the Dolphins are attempting to sign Alonso long-term, per Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (on Twitter).
This continues the Dolphins’ path for an Alonso re-up. By using the first-round tender, Alonso will see a $3.91MM salary in 2017 — around $3MM more than he made in 2016 — if no extension is reached by Week 1.
Alonso has been the rare twice-traded starter on a rookie contract, bouncing from Buffalo to Philadelphia to Miami. He rated as Pro Football Focus’ No. 48 full-time linebacker last season.
The Dolphins also will place original-round tenders — $1.797MM — on safety Michael Thomas and running back Damien Williams.
AFC Rumors: Stills, Siemian, Revis, Texans
Kenny Stills may have had another contract proposal from at least one other club before re-signing with the Dolphins, tweets Armando Salguero of the Miami Herald. The Bears and Eagles were the two known teams with interest in Stills, but it’s entirely possible other clubs also pursued him. Ultimately, Stills re-upped with Miami at a cost of $32MM over four years.
Here’s more from the AFC:
- If the Broncos end up signing the recently-released Tony Romo, they could end up discussing a Trevor Siemian trade with the Jets, opines Tom Pelissero of USA Today (Twitter link). To be clear, this is only speculation on the part of Pelissero, but it’s an interesting thought experiment to imagine potential destinations for Siemian if Romo lands in Denver. Siemian isn’t the only semi-starting quarterback that could be affected by a Romo pursuit: if the Texans ink Romo, some executives think Houston will trade Tom Savage to the 49ers.
- Former Pro Bowl cornerback Darrelle Revis showed evident signs of decline last season, and a developing legal issue led to the Jets ultimately cutting the veteran. One general manager recently told Manish Mehta of the New York Daily News he wouldn’t pursue the veteran cornerback even if he was willing to play “for free.” Another executive told Mehta that “you respect the body of work throughout his career, but all good things come to an end.”
- The Texans re-signed kicker Nick Novak last night, and Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle (Twitter link) has the details on the new pact. Novak’s one-year deal is worth $1.15MM and includes a $250K signing bonus.
Zach Links contributed to this post.
Dolphins Re-Sign Kenny Stills
The Dolphins announced that they’ve re-signed their top impending free agent, wide receiver Kenny Stills. Stills will reportedly receive a four-year, $32MM pact with $20MM in guarantees.
Miami was among at least three teams – including the Bears, tweets Adam Jahns of the Chicago Sun-Times – in negotiations with Stills. A contract worth around $12MM per annum seemed like a possibility as of late February for Stills, but he’ll fall well short of that level.
Stills’ decision to eschew free agency in favor of a deal with the Dolphins has taken PFR’s third-ranked player off the board the night before the market opens. The 6-foot-1, 194-pounder earned that lofty position on the heels of a 42-catch, 726-yard, nine-touchdown season, his second with the Dolphins. Since entering the NFL as the Saints’ fifth-round pick in 2013, the field-stretching Stills has appeared in 63 of a possible 64 games, made 41 starts (including every Miami contest last year) and averaged 41 receptions, 685 yards and five scores per season.
Looking ahead to the 2017 campaign, Stills will join fellow receivers Jarvis Landry and DeVante Parker – and a prominent newcomer, tight end Julius Thomas – as Miami’s best weapons in the passing game. Landry’s scheduled to become a free agent in a year, so having Stills and Parker under control beyond then will give quarterback Ryan Tannehill and head coach Adam Gase at least two capable wideouts for the foreseeable future.
With Stills now off the board, Alshon Jeffery and Terrelle Pryor undoubtedly stand as the top two unsigned receivers entering free agency. Stills is third high-profile receiver who has left the list Thursday, as Pierre Garcon (49ers) and Brandon Marshall (Giants) previously agreed to deals.
Freelance reporter Rand Getlin (Twitter link) first reported Stills had re-signed with the Dolphins. Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweeted the length and financials of the contract. Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Several FAs On Dolphins’ Radar
Already set to meet with Steelers linebacker Lawrence Timmons after the market opens Thursday, the Dolphins have several other players on their radar on the eve of free agency, according to Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald.
With injured safety Isa Abdul-Quddus questionable to take the field in 2017, the Dolphins are prioritizing the position and could pursue the Patriots’ Duron Harmon and the Cowboys’ J.J. Wilcox, to name a couple. Harmon ranks as PFR’s 12th-best free agent and, although he figures to come at a high price, would perhaps form a quality tandem with star strong safety Reshad Jones.
The 26-year-old Harmon hasn’t been a full-time player in New England, where he only started four of 16 appearances there last season (and 12 of 63 since his career began in 2013) and partook in 48.6 percent of defensive snaps. The same has been true for Wilcox in Dallas, where he started 38 of 58 appearances from 2013-16. Only four of his starts (13 games) came last year, though his performance did rank an above-average 27th among Pro Football Focus’ 89 qualified safeties (Harmon was 54th). If the Dolphins want to add Wilcox, it appears they’ll have to compete with another Florida-based franchise, the Buccaneers, for his services.
Miami agreed to re-sign defensive end Andre Branch to a big-money deal Thursday, but that might not be the last time it addresses the position this offseason. The team would like to add two more ends, though it has so far passed on top available names like Calais Campbell and Jabaal Sheard, per Jackson. The Dolphins have reached out to a less notable player, the Cardinals’ Alex Okafor, who’s coming off a 15-appearance, 3.5-sack season. Okafor, 26, didn’t start a game last year, but he did line up with Arizona’s No. 1 defense 12 times in 2014, when he posted a career-high eight sacks, and 13 times in 2015.
Along with Okafor, the Dolphins have fellow D-linemen – tackles Terrell McClain and Lawrence Guy – on their radar, Jackson writes. The Dolphins are at least the fourth team eyeing McClain, a 28-year-old who spent the previous three seasons in Dallas and is coming off the most productive showing of his career. McClain tallied personal bests in appearances and starts (15 apiece), tackles (39), sacks (2.5) and forced fumbles (two) in 2016.
The 26-year-old Guy, meanwhile, played the majority of the past three seasons in Baltimore, where he picked up a career-high 10 starts across 16 appearances in 2016. In 484 snaps, Guy only registered one sack – down from a personal-best 4.5 in 2015 – though his performance did rank an impressive 38th among PFF’s 127 qualified interior defensive linemen.
Shifting to the offensive side of the ball, Miami wants “two reasonably priced guards” and hasn’t ruled out re-signing Jermon Bushrod, relays Jackson. After playing with the Saints and Bears from 2007-15, Bushrod signed a cheap pact ($1.5MM) with Miami last offseason and proceeded to start all of its games this past year. PFF pegged him as one of the four worst guards in the league, however.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Lawrence Timmons To Visit Dolphins
The Dolphins are looking to lock up their top linebacker, restricted free agent Kiko Alonso, but they’ll need to add outside help to the group even if they keep him in the fold. With that in mind, the Dolphins have interest in impending free agent Lawrence Timmons and will meet with him sometime after the new league year opens, reports Jeremy Fowler of ESPN.com.
[RELATED: Dolphins Trying To Re-Sign Kenny Stills]
Timmons, 31 in May, has spent the first 10 years of his career with the Steelers, who would like to retain him. It appears he’ll test the open market, though, and could return to Florida, where he starred as a college player at Florida State. Timmons parlayed his Seminoles career into first-round status in 2007 and has since racked up six 100-tackle seasons – including five in a row since 2012 – to go with 35.5 sacks, 14 forced fumbles and 12 interceptions. He has also been eminently durable, having appeared in fewer than 16 regular-season games just once – during a 14-game 2014 – and hasn’t missed a start since 2010.
In his latest action in 2016, Timmons played 92.9 percent of the Steelers’ snaps and piled up 114 tackles, 2.5 sacks, two picks and a forced fumble, though Pro Football Focus wasn’t impressed with his work. The site placed him just 70th in overall performance among 87 qualified linebackers. Nevertheless, given his careerlong production and durability, Timmons won’t have difficulty landing a contract this offseason. PFR’s Dallas Robinson ranks him as the fifth-best linebacker in this year’s class of free agents.