Patriots To Re-Sign Alan Branch
The Patriots have reached agreement with defensive tackle Alan Branch on a two-year deal that can be worth up to $12MM, tweets Ian Rapoport of NFL.com.
Branch, 32, has spent the past three years in New England, and has started 15 games in each of the past two campaigns. The Patriots reportedly believed they had made a “solid offer” to Branch last week, and Branch apparently agreed, as he’s now under contract through the 2018 season. In 2016, Branch graded as the league’s No. 25 defensive tackle, according to Pro Football Focus, which gave him excellent marks against the run.
Branch, a former second-round pick, was ranked as PFR’s No. 8 free agent interior defender. He’ll slot back into a Patriots defensive line that includes Malcom Brown, Trey Flowers, Geneo Grisson, and Vincent Valentine.
Patriots Working To Re-Sign Duron Harmon
The Patriots are pushing to re-sign safety Duron Harmon, and a deal is expected to come together, per Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (Twitter link).
New England’s secondary is in flux, as the club has agreed to sign cornerback Stephon Gilmore away from the Bills and is reportedly considering a trade involving Malcolm Butler. Harmon would remain a constant in the defensive backfield if re-signed, however, as he’s appeared in 63 of a possible 64 game during his four-year run with the Patriots.
Harmon, 26, has never been a full-time starter in New England, instead serving as the team’s designated nickel safety. That’s an important role in today’s passing league, however, and the ability to cover the deep section of the field is a skill that could lead to a large paycheck. As such, PFR ranked Harmon as the No. 2 free agent safety and the No. 12 overall free agent.
Eagles Out On Brandin Cooks; Pats, Titans In
The Saints are expected to trade Brandin Cooks by the end of the day, and the Patriots and Titans both remain in contention for the wide receiver, tweets Ian Rapoport of NFL.com. The Eagles aren’t mentioned in Rapoport’s report, and are presumably out on Cooks after signing Torrey Smith earlier today.
The Patriots are thought to be mulling a trade of cornerback Malcolm Butler for Cooks, although the Saints may want even more. A package that includes a defensive contributor plus a draft pick is thought to be the asking price for Cooks. New England has also previously offered its first-round pick (No. 32) for Cooks, but the offer was reportedly rebuffed. At one point, the Titans were thought to be in the lead for Cooks, but it’s unclear exactly what they offered.
In 2016, Cooks caught 78 passes for 1,173 yards and eight touchdowns. His yards-per-reception average of 15.0 was a career high and his 66.7% catch rate was a slight step up from his 2015 showing.
Pats To Trade Butler To Saints For Cooks?
The Patriots are considering trading cornerback Malcolm Butler to the Saints for Brandin Cooks, sources tell Dianna Marie Russini of ESPN.com (on Twitter). The Patriots have been in pursuit of Cooks for the last week or so, reportedly offering their No. 32 overall pick for Cooks in a race alongside the Eagles and Titans. New Orleans has received several offers of second-round picks for the swift pass-catcher.
Earlier today, the Patriots shocked the football world by signing cornerback Stephon Gilmore in free agency. That move may give them the freedom to trade Butler, a restricted free agent. Butler was tagged with the first-round tender this week. It remains to be seen how unrestricted free agent Logan Ryan factors into all of this, but the early word was that Ryan would probably wind up elsewhere with Gilmore in the fold.
This potential swap would give the Saints a true difference-maker on defense, something they have been seeking in Cooks talks. The Saints were also in search of significant draft compensation (namely, a first-round pick in this year’s draft), and it remains to be seen whether there could also be picks coming in their direction. The Saints still want a quality defensive starter, plus draft picks over the next two years, sources tell Chris Mortensen of ESPN.com (on Twitter).
Butler has seen his star rise steadily after emerging via one of the most impactful plays in NFL history – his goal-line interception of Russell Wilson in Super Bowl XLIX. He became a key Patriots starter in 2015 once the team moved on from Darrelle Revis and in ’16, Butler finished as Pro Football Focus’ No. 7 overall corner. The Pats plan to use a first-round tender on the fourth-year corner, who would potentially exceed New England’s price range in 2018 if he puts the team in a franchise tag-or-free agency decision.
He of back-to-back 1,100-yard receiving seasons, Cooks would bring the kind of high-end young wideout the Patriots have not employed in years. While the team has gotten by with perceived lesser talents just fine, adding the 23-year-old Cooks would strengthen this offense in Tom Brady‘s final years. New England can no longer count on Rob Gronkowski to be healthy and will lose Martellus Bennett to free agency. Julian Edelman will also be 31 in 2017, putting the team in the market for a younger pass-catcher. Cooks would come with a modest $1.56MM price tag in 2017, but after a fifth-year option season at approximately $8.5MM, could enter eight-figure-per-year territory on his next contract as the cap continues to skyrocket.
Sam Robinson contributed to this post.
Patriots To Sign CB Stephon Gilmore
The Patriots are making big moves this week. New England will sign cornerback Stephon Gilmore, according to Adam Schefter of ESPN.com (on Twitter). The deal is expected to come in at more than $14MM/year, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets, but the length of the pact is not yet clear. 
This deal spells the end of free agent Logan Ryan‘s time with the team, Jason Cole of Bleacher Report tweets. In theory, Gilmore and Ryan could have formed one of league’s premier CB duos, but that would have been extremely costly for the Pats. I have Ryan ranked No. 6 on my Top 50 Free Agents list, which ranks players in terms of projected earning power. Gilmore was not far behind at No. 10.
Malcolm Butler, on the other hand, should still be returning to New England. This week, the Pats applied the first-round tender to the cornerback. In theory, another club could sign him to an offer sheet and forfeit a first-round choice if the Pats choose not to match. We’re not so sure Butler will be worth all of that for interested clubs.
The Bears made a strong push for Gilmore this week and the Bills were also working to re-sign him. Buffalo could have retained Gilmore with the franchise tag, but the team felt that the one-year tender for corners was too pricey. They allowed Gilmore to test the open market and they may or may not regret that decision today.
Gilmore did not play up to his ability in 2016 and some have speculated that he was playing it safe in his contract year. Others have wondered if Gilmore simply slipped as the Bills’ entire defense slumped.
The former first-rounder has started 66 games since entering the league in 2012. This year, he had a career-high five interceptions, but Pro Football Focus ranked him only 61st among 112 qualifying corners. Despite the so-so year, Gilmore still ranked as our third-best available free agent cornerback.
Redskins Pushing To Retain DeSean Jackson
The Redskins will make a “final push” to re-sign free agent wide receiver DeSean Jackson, according to Jason La Canfora of CBSSports.com (Twitter link), who notes that such an overture will be expensive.
Washington had been expected to part ways with Jackson, and while a breakup could still occur, it sounds as though the Redskins haven’t yet given up on retaining the 30-year-old pass-catcher. Jackson has already developed a large market during the legal tampering period, as the Buccaneers, Eagles, and Cowboys have all been tied to the veteran pass-catcher. As such, his annual salary could conceivably brush the $12MM area.
Jackson, who led the NFL in yards per reception for the second time in his career last season, has also been linked to the Patriots, but he’s unlikely to land in New England unless he accepts a “steep discount,” tweets Mike Garafolo of NFL.com. Jackson rates as PFR’s No. 26 free agent.
Colts Could Pursue Jabaal Sheard
With a boatload of cap space at their disposal, the Colts are in position to act aggressively on the open market this year. Already linked to high-end free agents-to-be like A.J. Bouye, Dontari Poe, Nick Perry and Kevin Zeitler, the club also has genuine interest in pass rusher Jabaal Sheard, tweets Stephen Holder of the Indianapolis Star.
[RELATED: Colts Trade Dwayne Allen To Pats]
Sheard, whom PFR’s Dallas Robinson ranks as the second-best edge defender in the 2017 free agent class (behind Perry), has served as a more-than-capable rusher in both Cleveland and New England during his six-year career. All told, Sheard has piled up 36 sacks, including 13 over the past two seasons with the Patriots.
Despite ranking 22nd in the NFL in quarterback hurries in 2016, Sheard endured a somewhat rocky year with the Super Bowl champions. In the midst of following an eight-sack, four-forced fumble 2015 with a five-sack, zero-forced fumble campaign, Sheard was a healthy scratch for the Patriots’ Week 11 win over San Francisco. Head coach Bill Belichick sat Sheard for performance-related reasons, though he did end up partaking in the rest of the Pats’ regular-season games and their playoff run.
Sheard is now on the verge of hitting free agency for the second time since 2015, when he landed a two-year, $11MM deal. In Indianapolis, he’d figure to bolster a pass rush that tied for 19th in the league in sacks and finished dead last in hurries in 2016.
Contract Details: Gholston, Colquitt, Doyle, Davis
Updates on the contracts signed over the past couple of days, mostly via Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle…
- Buccaneers defensive end William Gholston‘s contract includes $13.5MM in guaranteed money, as well as a guaranteed base salary of $3MM for the 2017 season (via Twitter). The 25-year-old’s $6.5MM 2018 salary becomes fully guaranteed on the fifth day of the 2017 league year.
- Defensive tackle Khyri Thornton‘s deal with the Lions is worth $3.3MM with a $325K bonus (Twitter). Thornton will make $700K in 2017, followed by a $1.325MM salary in 2018. He can earn another $12.5K via annual per game active roster bonus, as well as $225K via a weight bonus.
- Punter Britton Colquitt‘s new deal with the Browns is worth $11.2MM and $4.5MM guaranteed (via Twitter). The former fourth-rounder will earn $1.65MM in 2017, followed by salaries of $2.55MM (2018), $2.7MM (2019), and $2.8M (2020).
- Colts tight end Jack Doyle will earn $18.9MM on his next contract (via Twitter). Doyle will earn a guaranteed $1MM next season, followed by a $3.5MM salary in 2018 (guaranteed fifth day of league year) and $5.15MM salary in 2019. The tight end will also earn a $6.5MM roster bonus on March 10th.
- Fullback James Develin earned a $2.45MM contract from the Patriots along with a $300K signing bonus, reports Wilson (Twitter). Develin will earn $800K each year, with a guaranteed $200K base salary for 2017. He can earn another $12.5K via a per-game active annual roster bonus.
- ESPN’s Adam Caplan tweets that tight end Vernon Davis will receive $15MM ($7.5MM guaranteed) from the Redskins. The veteran will make $6MM in the first year of the three-year deal.
- Punter Shane Lechler‘s new deal with the Texans is for one-year and $2MM ($1MM guaranteed), reports Caplan (via Twitter).
Minor NFL Transactions: 3/8/17
Today’s minor moves:
- Shiloh Keo will re-sign with a team for the second straight offseason. This year, the Saints made a move to re-up the safety, Nick Underhill of The Advocate tweets. A former Texans draft pick, Keo caught on with the eventual 2015 Super Bowl champion Broncos late that season and re-signed in Denver in the subsequent offseason. The Broncos cut Keo while he was serving a two-game suspension for a personal conduct violation, leading to the Saints adding him. The 29-year-old defender played in 10 games for the Broncos and Saints in 2016 and recovered three fumbles while failing to record a tackle.
- The Patriots are planning to re-sign tight end Michael Williams, Jeff Howe of the Boston Herald tweets. Williams saw action for the 2015 Patriots but missed their latest Super Bowl season because of a torn ACL.
- The Bills did not offer an RFA tender to punter Colton Schmidt but instead reached an agreement to re-sign him, Mike Rodak of ESPN.com reports. Rodak estimates Schmidt will be brought back at a lower cost instead of at the RFA low-round tender rate of nearly $2MM. A fourth-year player, Schmidt made $600K last season.
- Another Bills transaction involves the team parting ways with a long-tenured wide receiver. Buffalo cut Marcus Easley, Jason Cole of Bleacher Report tweets. Affiliated with the Bills since they drafted him in the fourth round in 2010, Easley missed the entire 2016 season after suffering a severe knee injury late in the 2015 campaign. He spent several seasons as one of Buffalo’s top special-teamers. Buffalo announced the move as a post-June 1 release.
- The Chargers have agreed to a four-year, $4.41MM extension with long snapper Mike Windt, tweets Michael Gehlken. Windt, who has appeared in 100 games with the Chargers, received a $600K signing bonus.
Patriots Have Not Discussed Adrian Peterson
This is not shaping up to be a great day for Adrian Peterson. The Patriots have not yet discussed signing him, a source with knowledge of the situation tells Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk. The source added that it is safe to assume the Pats won’t be pursuing him either. 
A number of teams have been connected to the running back, but at this point it doesn’t seem like anyone is falling over themselves to sign him. Peterson’s interest level in the Raiders is not being equally reciprocated by Oakland, the Seahawks are not presently interested, and the Vikings have yet to submit a follow-up offer to him after rejecting his high-priced option. Now, we can add the Patriots to this lukewarm pool of possible, but far from definite, suitors.
LeGarrette Blount is scheduled to become a free agent tomorrow and the Pats may be the market for a running back if they do not re-sign him.