Giants Among Teams Pursuing Damon Harrison
The Giants are among the teams gunning for free agent nose tackle Damon Harrison, multiple sources tell Jordan Raanan of the Star-Ledger. Harrison, who spent the first four years of his career with the Jets, was Pro Football Focus’ top ranked run defender in 2015. 
Multiple teams are competing to host Harrison on his first visit since they know it’ll give them a leg up on the competition, according to Rand Getlin of NFL.com (on Twitter). We heard on Monday that while plenty of teams have interest, the Titans appear to be the club most willing to meet Harrison‘s asking price. The Jets would love to retain their standout nose tackle, but given all the suitors expected to be in play, the price will be high. Of course, the Jets have a few less dollars than they did last week after committing $15MM to Muhammad Wilkerson.
Harrison is ranked No. 8 on PFR’s Top 50 NFL Free Agents list for this offseason. Because he’s more of a run-stopping specialist than a pass rusher, Harrison may have a ceiling on his earning potential, but he should be at the top of the list for any team in need of interior line help.
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Free Agent Rumors: Broncos, Massie, Daniel
Now that defensive lineman Malik Jackson has agreed to join the Jaguars, we can expect the Broncos to make a serious run at Cardinals free agent right tackle Bobby Massie, according to Jason Cole of Bleacher Report (on Twitter). Massie could reportedly command north of $8MM per season, so it was unlikely that Denver would have been able to afford both Jackson and the offensive tackle.
Here’s the very latest free agent news:
- Even though the Eagles have re-signed Sam Bradford, the Eagles could still pursue Chiefs quarterback Chase Daniel, according to Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (on Twitter). Eagles coach Doug Pederson, who is the former OC in KC, is quite fond of Daniel.
- The Vikings are not close on a deal with guard Mike Harris, per Chris Tomasson of the Pioneer Press (on Twitter). Harris’ camp has been looking for roughly $5MM on a two-year deal while the Vikings are offering $3.5MM over two. Harris is currently planning on testing the market.
- The Bears are one of “multiple” teams that have expressed interest in defensive end Akiem Hicks, per Kevin Fishbain of Pro Football Weekly (on Twitter).
- Four teams have expressed varying degrees of interest in linebacker Demario Davis, a source tells Seth Walder of the Daily News (on Twitter).
- The Bills‘ signing of Richie Incognito means that Buffalo will not be adding free agent guard Jahri Evans, Peter Schrager of FOXSports.com (on Twitter) hears. The Bills hosted Evans on a visit on Monday. Evans has started 153 games for the Saints dating back 2006 and earned four First-Team All-Pro selections.
Bills To Re-Sign Richie Incognito
1:12pm: The deal is official, per the Bills (on Twitter). The three-year pact is worth $15.75MM, according to Tyler Dunne of The Buffalo News (on Twitter).
12:56pm: The Bills have reached agreement on a deal that will bring Richie Incognito back to Buffalo. The guard took to Twitter to tell fans that he has a new three-year pact with the club:
“Who’s ready for 3 more years of DOMINATION in Buffalo!!!!,” Incognito tweeted. 
The three-year deal is expected to fall in the range of $5MM per season, according to Mike Rodak of ESPN.com (on Twitter). Incognito, who earned a Pro Bowl nod for his strong comeback season in 2015, will turn 33 this July. With a three-year, $15MM deal, it seems as though he has scored a nice payday on what could be the last lucrative free agent contract of his career.
Just days ago, a new deal between Incognito and Buffalo didn’t sound all that likely. The cap-strapped Bills wanted Incognito to give the team something of a hometown discount, since Buffalo was the club willing to give the veteran lineman a second chance last year after the Dolphins’ bullying scandal left him without a job for the entire 2014 season. However, Incognito apparently didn’t see it that way, and his reluctance to take what the Bills were offering was reportedly causing friction between the player and the team. Now, it seems as though the two sides found enough middle ground to get a deal done.
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Leodis McKelvin Visiting Eagles; Cowboys Next?
Free agent cornerback Leodis McKelvin is paying a visit to Philadelphia today to meet with the Eagles, reports Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (via Twitter). While most pending free agents can’t make visits until Wednesday, McKelvin is eligible to begin doing so now since he was released by the Bills last week.
McKelvin, selected 11th overall in the 2008 draft, had been preparing to enter the final year of his contract with the Bills. Recent reports had suggested the team would explore a reworked contract with McKelvin in an attempt to keep him around, but Buffalo ultimately parted ways with him instead, allowing him to hit the open market.
Despite being a first-round pick, McKelvin never developed into a shutdown corner for the Bills, or even a full-time starter — he has only started more than nine games in a season twice in his career, due to both performance and injuries. In 2015, McKelvin grabbed two interceptions to go along with 32 tackles, nine passes defended, and a fumble recovery. Pro Football Focus ranked him 83rd out of 111 qualified cornerbacks.
The Eagles are in the market for cornerback help after agreeing to trade Byron Maxwell to the Dolphins, and McKelvin would represent a more affordable option than many other players on the free agent market. Rapoport suggests that a deal between the two sides could “come quickly.” However, if McKelvin and the Eagles don’t work something out while he’s in Philadelphia, a visit to Dallas to meet with the Cowboys is next up on the 30-year-old’s schedule, per Rapoport.
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Packers Interested In Matt Forte
The Packers are expressing interest in Matt Forte, a source tells Adam Schefter of ESPN.com (on Twitter). It’s not immediately clear how serious Green Bay is about a pursuit of Forte, but he would represent an upgrade over the production they have gotten lately out of Eddie Lacy.
Forte announced last month that he wouldn’t be returning to the Bears. In his 120 regular season contests with the Bears, Forte piled up 8,602 rushing yards and another 4,116 yards through the air, to go along with 64 total touchdowns. The 30-year-old earned a pair of Pro Bowl nods, including one in 2013, when he accumulated more than 1,900 total yards and 12 touchdowns, both career highs.
While Forte still managed to gain nearly 1,300 yards from scrimmage in 2015, rookie Jeremy Langford showed that he was capable of carrying the load for the Bears in three games the veteran missed due to injury. Langford enters the offseason as the odds-on favorite to be Chicago’s top back in 2016, but the team figures to add some depth at the position, either in free agency or the draft.
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Broncos Cut Owen Daniels, Aaron Brewer
The Broncos released veteran guard Louis Vasquez today, but he’s not the only player on the chopping block in Denver. According to Mike Klis of 9NEWS (via Twitter), the Broncos have also released tight end Owen Daniels. Troy Renck of the Denver Post adds (via Twitter) that long snapper Aaron Brewer has been cut as well. The team has since confirmed all three moves.
[RELATED: Broncos place Peyton Manning on reserve/retired list]
Daniels, who had two years left on his contract, would have had a cap number of $4.5MM on Denver’s books in 2016. By releasing him, the Broncos trim that figure by $2.5MM to $2MM, and avoid paying him a $500K roster bonus that had been due next week. The veteran tight end, who will turn 34 in November, caught 46 balls for 517 yards and three touchdowns during his lone season in the Mile High City.
As for Brewer, he had served as the Broncos’ long snapper since the 2012 season. Any cap savings Denver creates as a result of cutting Brewer would be extremely marginal, so it appears the team is parting ways with him for other reasons.
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Free Agent Rumors: Jaguars, Bengals, Ravens
Jerricho Cotchery is not in the Panthers’ 2016 plans, Joseph Person of the Charlotte Observer writes. Cotchery, 34 in June, hauled in 87 passes for 1,065 yards and four touchdowns over the last two seasons with Carolina. The veteran has said that he would only continue playing if it were with the Panthers, so it’s possible that the former Jet will retire this offseason. Cotchery is effectively a free agent with a contract that will automatically void tomorrow.
The latest free agent rumors:
- The Jaguars are not close to done after agreeing to terms with Malik Jackson, Jason La Canfora of CBSSports.com (on Twitter) hears. The Jags are still interested in top pass rushers and corners.
- Albert Breer of NFL.com (on Twitter) senses that the Bengals‘ priority guys are safety George Iloka and wide receiver Marvin Jones. Breer hears there is about $15MM budgeted for unrestricted free agents, which may not leave much room for others.
- Saints free agent tight end Ben Watson is getting “strong, strong interest” from the Ravens, sources tell Dianna Marie Russini of ESPN.com (on Twitter).
- The Dolphins are in pursuit of defensive end William Hayes, Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald writes. There is a strong market for Hayes, however, so Miami will have some competition to deal with.
- Running back Lamar Miller wants an annual salary in the range of $6MM or more, which is more than the Dolphins would like to offer, Jackson writes.
- The Vikings have checked in on Lions free agent linebacker Tahir Whitehead, per Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN (on Twitter).
- The Raiders are working to retain wide receiver Andre Holmes but the sense is that he’ll get decent interest elsewhere, Mike Garafolo of FOX Sports tweets.
Steelers Re-Sign William Gay
12:33pm: Gay’s new deal is a three-year pact, tweets Kabloy.
11:35am: The Steelers have re-signed veteran cornerback William Gay to a new contract, agent Jerrold Colton confirms to Mark Kaboly of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. The deal, first announced by Gay on his Instagram account, will keep him from reaching the open market on Wednesday.
[RELATED: Offseason Outlook: Pittsburgh Steelers]
Gay, a fifth-round pick in 2007, has been with the Steelers for all but one season since being drafted by the team, appearing in 128 regular-season contests and another 11 postseason games for the franchise. In 2015, head coach Mike Tomlin and defensive coordinator Keith Butler continued to lean heavily on the 31-year-old, who played a team-high 1,065 defensive snaps.
The veteran cornerback has shown a knack for making big plays, racking up five return touchdowns in the last three years, and while his best years may be behind him, Gay can still be a reliable contributor in the secondary. Pro Football Focus viewed his 2015 performance as solid, albeit unspectacular, ranking him 46th out of 111 qualified cornerbacks.
Gay’s previous contract was worth $4.5MM over three years, and while terms of his new pact aren’t yet known, I’d expect him to be in line for a raise, given the relative consistency he has shown since signing his last deal.
While the Steelers aren’t expected to be all that active in free agency this week, the team has been busy when it comes to re-signing its own free agents. Pittsburgh has also reached agreements with safety Robert Golden and wide receiver Darrius Heyward-Bey.
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Broncos To Release G Louis Vasquez
The Broncos will make a cap-clearing move, releasing veteran guard Louis Vasquez, according to Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (via Twitter). Vasquez will immediately become an unrestricted free agent once the move is made official.
Vasquez, who turns 29 in April, was a key piece of the offensive line that helped the Broncos win the Super Bowl, having started all but one game for Denver over the past three seasons, primarily spending his time at right guard. However, he had been set to count for $6.75MM against the team’s cap in 2016. Denver will create $5.5MM in cap savings by releasing him.
The Broncos’ offensive line will be undergoing some changes this winter, with Vasquez departing and fellow starting guard Evan Mathis potentially on his way out as well. Mathis has contemplated retirement, and isn’t under contract with Denver for 2016 anyway.
While Vasquez’s release will create some cap flexibility for the Broncos, perhaps to use on a new deal for quarterback Brock Osweiler, the club apparently won’t be putting that space toward an extension for Malik Jackson — the standout defensive lineman appears set to join the Jaguars.
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Extra Points: Campbell, Murray, Cowboys, Suh
Contradicting a report from another outlet, Kent Somers of the Arizona Republic writes that the Cardinals aren’t trying to trade Pro Bowl defensive end Calais Campbell, and haven’t received any inquiries from teams asking if he’s available.
Still, while Campbell may not be on the trade block, his situation is still worth keeping an eye on this offseason, as Somers points out. The standout defensive lineman is entering the final year of his contract, and has a cap hit of $15.25MM, making him a prime extension candidate if Arizona wants to keep him around for the long term.
Here are a few more odds and ends from around the NFL on a busy Tuesday:
- There was some discussion about the Cowboys, rather than the Titans, acquiring DeMarco Murray from the Eagles, according to Ed Werder of ESPN.com (Twitter link). However, Werder says Dallas wasn’t on board with the compensation or the guaranteed money necessary to make a deal.
- The Dolphins created $16MM in cap room when they restructured Ndamukong Suh‘s contract, a source tells Field Yates of ESPN.com (Twitter link). James Walker of ESPN.com breaks down the specifics.
- Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press has the details on Tyrunn Walker‘s new one-year deal with the Lions, which features a $150K signing bonus, $550K in total roster bonuses, and $650K in playing-time incentives.
- Safety Andrew Sendejo will receive $2.5MM fully guaranteed on his new deal with the Vikings, tweets Ben Goessling of ESPN.com. Goessling adds that Sendejo will make $4MM in the first year and $7MM through two years.