WR DeVante Parker Announces Retirement
MAY 22: The Eagles officially placed Parker on their reserve/retired list Wednesday. Barring a comeback attempt, Parker will wrap his career after seven seasons as a Dolphin, two as a Patriot and two months with the Eagles.
MAY 20: DeVante Parker is calling it a career. After signing with the Eagles earlier this offseason, the veteran wide receiver told ESPN’s Adam Schefter that he has decided to retire.
“I want to see my kids, spend quality time with them,” Parker said of his decision. “I want to be there for them whenever I can.”
The former first-round pick spent the first seven seasons of his career in Miami, including a 2019 campaign where he hauled in 72 catches for 1,202 yards and nine touchdowns. Parker ultimately finished his Dolphins career having collected 4,727 receiving yards and 24 touchdowns. While Parker didn’t necessarily live up to his first-round billing in Miami, he still left the organization ranked top-10 in receptions, receiving yards, and receiving touchdowns.
“I also appreciate the Dolphins for drafting me and giving me the opportunity,” Parker told Schefter. “I always will have love for the Dolphins and their organization. And I want to thank all the teams, the Patriots and the Eagles, too. But the Dolphins were the first team, and I really want to thank them.”
Parker was traded to the Patriots ahead of the 2022 campaign and ultimately had two inconsistent seasons in New England. The Patriots’ QB uncertainty limited the wideout to only 933 yards in 26 games with the organization, including this past season where he finished with a career-low 394 receiving yards.
He was released by the Patriots in March and quickly caught on with the Eagles, where he was expected to compete for the third spot on the depth chart behind A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith. With Parker out of the picture, the job is now Parris Campbell‘s to lose. The veteran addition will be competing with the likes of rookie Ainias Smith (fifth round) and Johnny Wilson (sixth round) for reps.
Eagles Sign Second-Round CB Cooper DeJean
Entering Monday, the Eagles had only two unsigned members of their draft class. One of them – second-rounder Cooper DeJean – has now inked his rookie deal, per a team announcement. 
DeJean was one of the more intriguing prospects in the 2024 class, one dominated at the top by offensive players. That was demonstrated by the historic run of quarterbacks, tackles and receivers to begin the opening round, but it still came as a surprise when DeJean did not hear his name called on Day 1. The Eagles traded up to select him at No. 40.
In doing so, they made another draft investment in the secondary. That unit struggled in 2023, and Philadelphia responded prior to the DeJean selection by adding Quinyon Mitchell as the first defensive back to hear his name called. The latter is positioned to see time alongside Darius Slay and James Bradberry as a perimeter corner, but the former’s NFL role is less clear.
DeJean played at corner during his time at Iowa, but he also had success when lining up as a safety. He was named the Big Ten’s top defensive back and returner last season, a sign of his skillset both on defense and special teams. A fractured leg ended the 6-1, 203-pounder’s college career prematurely, and it may have hindered his draft stock.
Nevertheless, DeJean will join the Eagles with expectations of being able to contribute in the third phase even if he does not land a starting job on defense right away. After ranking 31st in the league in passing yards allowed last year, the team has plenty of room for improvement in the secondary. New defensive coordinator Vic Fangio will spend the summer attempting to find DeJean’s ideal position during his rookie campaign.
Here is an updated look at the Eagles’ draft class:
- Round 1, No. 22: Quinyon Mitchell (CB, Toledo)
- Round 2, No. 40 (from Bears through Commanders): Cooper DeJean (CB, Iowa) (signed)
- Round 3, No. 94 (from 49ers): Jalyx Hunt (EDGE, Houston Christian) (signed)
- Round 4, No. 127 (from Eagles): Will Shipley (RB, Clemson) (signed)
- Round 4, No. 132 (from 49ers): Ainias Smith (WR, Texas A&M) (signed)
- Round 5, No. 155 (from Steelers through Rams, Panthers and Colts): Jeremiah Trotter Jr. (LB, Clemson) (signed)
- Round 5, No. 172: Trevor Keegan (G, Michigan) (signed)
- Round 6, No. 185: Johnny Wilson (WR, Florida State) (signed)
- Round 6, No. 190 (from Saints through Packers): Dylan McMahon (C, NC State) (signed)
Commanders Add Brandon Sosna As SVP Of Football Operations
MAY 20: Sosna’s title will be senior vice president of football operations, as first reported by ESPN’s Adam Schefter. His duties will remain similar to the ones he held in Detroit, and as such he will be a lead figure in areas related to contract negotiations, salary cap management and the team’s analytics department.
MAY 19: The Commanders are adding a hot, young name to their front office to go along with a host of other new hires. To go along with relatively new ownership and a new coaching staff, new general manager Adam Peters is adding a strong piece to his front office staff in Brandon Sosna, according to Mike Garafolo of NFL Network.
Sosna, at 31 years old, is a fast-rising executive in the football world. A graduate of UPenn, Sosna began his front office work at the collegiate level with the Bearcats of Cincinnati. Starting at his hometown school in 2013, it took only three years for Sosna to be named chief of staff of the athletic department, a role in which he was responsible for organizing the search process that led to the hiring of head coach Luke Fickell.
Sosna broke into the NFL back in 2017 as a football administration intern with the Browns. It wasn’t long before he worked his way up to salary cap & contract analyst the following season. After dipping his toe in the NFL, Sosna was lured back to the University of Cincinnati in 2019, where he was granted the title of senior associate athletic director/chief revenue officer.
The USC Trojans poached Sosna later that year, hiring him as executive senior associate athletic director/chief of staff. In Los Angeles, Sosna was considered the athletic director’s right-hand man. Once again, he played a crucial role in the search that landed Lincoln Riley as the Trojans’ new head coach and reportedly played a key role in the school’s big move to the Big Ten Conference.
Most recently, though, the call of the NFL was too grand, and Sosna accepted a job as senior director, football administration for the Lions. Per Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press, Sosna served as the point man in contract negotiations in Detroit. While his title in Washington has not yet been announced, his role will be “high-ranking” and will likely utilize his contract analyst talents.
Garafolo also reported that, whatever the job is, Sosna was not the only one to interview for the role. Eagles vice president of football administration Jake Rosenberg was also considered after the team allowed his contact to expire in Philadelphia so that he could pursue other opportunities. Rosenberg has been credited for his assistance in the Eagles’ unique strategy of utilizing void years on contracts to reduce current salary cap obligations, something the team has been regarded as ahead of the curve on for some time.
Tyler Steen Front-Runner For Eagles’ RG Job
In his first NFL training camp, 2023 third-rounder Tyler Steen was supposed to compete with 2022 second-rounder Cam Jurgens for the Eagles’ starting right guard post. But Steen, a collegiate tackle, had a difficult time adapting to the interior, and Jurgens quickly beat him out.
Ultimately, Steen appeared in just 71 offensive snaps last year, almost all of which came during his one and only start, a Week 9 victory over the Cowboys. Aside from that contest, for which both Jurgens and Sua Opeta were injured, Philadelphia typically called upon Opeta when it needed a reserve guard.
However, the Eagles allowed Opeta to depart in free agency this offseason, and a recent ESPN report confirms that Jurgens will move to center to replace retired franchise icon Jason Kelce (which was the plan when Jurgens was first drafted). That means that the RG job is again there for the taking, and the same ESPN report indicates that Steen is the front-runner.
In his admittedly small sample size of work in 2023, Steen did not receive high marks from Pro Football Focus, which assigned him a poor overall grade of 53.2 and a laughably low 21.9 pass-blocking mark (PFF also charged him with six pressures allowed). On the other hand, he held up reasonably well in the run game, and in the view of Jimmy Kempski of PhillyVoice.com, Steen — whose struggles in blocking Dallas superstar Micah Parsons are perhaps forgivable — showed enough promise to earn the pole position in the right guard race.
His top competition for the job could come in the form of free agent acquisition Matt Hennessy, whom the Eagles added on a one-year deal in March. Hennessy missed the entirety of the 2023 campaign due to a knee injury, and he appeared in just 175 snaps in 2022, all of which came as a left guard for the Falcons. However, he did acquit himself well during his LG cameo, and he was a highly-effective run blocker when working as Atlanta’s starting pivot in 2021. If nothing else, he will provide useful depth at center and the guard positions.
Day 3 rookies Trevor Keegan and Dylan McMahon could also push Steen for playing time at right guard.
NFC Front Office Notes: Eagles, Rosenberg, Falcons, Giants, Panthers, Bears
Jake Rosenberg‘s Eagles exit is now official. After a report earlier this offseason indicated Rosenberg would step down following a 12-year tenure with the team, the Eagles’ VP of football administration made the announcement (via PHLY.com’s Zach Berman). A friend of GM Howie Roseman‘s dating back to elementary school, Rosenberg assisted the Eagles on the salary cap front. The team has frequently been ahead of the curve in this area, as its 2024 offseason reinforced. It is not known where Rosenberg is headed, but this marks another key departure in the Eagles’ front office. Two years ago, four of Roseman’s lieutenants — Brandon Brown, Ian Cunningham, Catherine Raiche, Andy Weidl — left for assistant GM roles elsewhere. Another key piece will need to be replaced now.
Post-draft front office changes are common around the league. Here is the latest from the NFC:
- Despite not being a Terry Fontenot hire, Tokunbo Abanikanda will rise to a key post in the Falcons‘ front office. The team is promoting the veteran scout to its college scouting director post, InsidetheLeague.com’s Neil Stratton tweets. Abanikanda has been with the Falcons since midway through Thomas Dimitroff‘s GM tenure, arriving in 2012. He will now take a pivotal role in the team’s draft preparation. Elsewhere in the Falcons’ front office, the team’s player personnel coordinator — Brian Zeches — is moving on, Stratton adds. Formerly an exec in Washington and Kansas City, Zeches was named to this post during the 2023 offseason.
- In addition to adding Chris Snee to their scouting staff, the Giants are making multiple in-house promotions. They are bumping Nick La Testa to assistant director of pro scouting and naming Charles Tisch their football operations manager, The Athletic’s Dan Duggan tweets. Charles Tisch, who had been a football ops assistant, is the nephew of Giants co-owner Steve Tisch. With the Giants since 2017, La Testa had previously worked on the scouting level for the team.
- A Carolina-to-Washington pipeline formed during Ron Rivera‘s NFC East stay, but the Commanders will now lose an exec to the Panthers. Carolina is hiring David Whittington for a college scouting role, according to Stratton. Whittington had been with Washington since 2009, holding several positions. Most recently, he worked as a national scout with the Commanders. The Panthers are also adding Eric Eager to their analytics department, per Stratton. Eager, a former Pro Football Focus staffer, worked most recently as the vice president of SumerSports, an analytics-based website that also employs Dimitroff presently.
- The Bears are going through with a round of promotions as well. GM Ryan Poles is elevating Breck Ackley from assistant college scouting director to the director post, while Stratton notes national scout Francis St. Paul will become the assistant director. Area scouts Brendan Rehor and John Syty are also moving to national scouting roles.
NFL Draft Pick Signings: 5/15/24
Here are the NFL’s midweek draft pick signings:
Arizona Cardinals
- CB Elijah Jones (third round, Boston College)
Kansas City Chiefs
- TE Jared Wiley (fourth round, TCU)
- S Jaden Hicks (fourth round, Washington State)
- C Hunter Nourzad (fifth round, Penn State)
- CB Kamal Hadden (sixth round, Tennessee)
- G C.J. Hanson (seventh round, Holy Cross)
New York Giants
- LB Darius Muasau (sixth round, UCLA)
Philadelphia Eagles
- LB Jeremiah Trotter Jr. (fifth round, Clemson)
- G Dylan McMahon (sixth round, NC State)
San Francisco 49ers
- G Jarrett Kingston (sixth round, USC)
Titans Add A.J. Highsmith, Keenan Agnew To Front Office; Team Interviewed Josh Scobey
May regularly brings change in teams’ scouting departments, as staffs are often kept intact ahead of the draft for continuity purposes. The Titans are one of the teams making changes shortly after the draft.
Second-year Titans GM Ran Carthon is hiring A.J. Highsmith as the team’s scouting director, according to InsidetheLeague.com’s Neil Stratton. This will mark a reunion for the two second-generation NFLers. Carthon and Highsmith worked together with the 49ers during the late 2010s.
The son of NFL personnel vet Alonzo Highsmith, A.J. spent the past five years with the Bills and finished that tenure as a national scout. A defensive back at Miami from 2009-13, A.J. Highsmith worked his way up from an area scouting post in Buffalo. Alonzo also reentered the NFL this offseason, moving back from a role with the Hurricanes to work under Eliot Wolf in the reshaped New England front office. A.J. Highsmith will hold both pro and college scouting duties in Tennessee, Stratton adds.
Staying on the subject of veteran execs’ sons, Keenan Agnew is also joining Carthon in Tennessee. The son of Lions assistant GM Ray Agnew, Keenan is coming aboard as a scouting assistant, Stratton adds. Keenan will become the second of Ray Agnew’s sons to land in an NFL front office; Ray Agnew III is part of Joe Douglas‘ Jets scouting staff.
The Titans have also spent some time with other candidates to join their scouting department. Josh Scobey, who separated from the Cardinals after 12 years recently, interviewed for a Titans position, according to veteran Titans reporter Paul Kuharsky. Scobey, a former NFL running back, finished his Arizona tenure as the team’s college scouting director. Scobey’s separation from the Cardinals comes in ex-Titans exec Monti Ossenfort‘s second offseason as GM.
Also part of the recent Titans interviews: Eagles pro scouting director Max Gruder, per Kuharsky. The Eagles promoted Gruder during the 2022 offseason. The Titans had most recently employed Jon Salge as their college scouting director and Brian Gardner as their pro scouting director. While it is unclear where that duo will stand going forward, Carthon’s second offseason in charge is bringing some changes beyond the coaching staff.
NFL Draft Pick Signings: 5/13/24
Front offices around the NFL continue to chip away at their draft pick signings. That was no exception today, as a number of teams inked players to rookie contracts:
Cincinnati Bengals
- DE Cedric Johnson (sixth round, Mississippi)
Indianapolis Colts
- OT Matt Goncalves (third round, Pittsburgh)
- C Tanor Bortolini (fourth round, Wisconsin)
Jacksonville Jaguars
- CB Jarrian Jones (third round, Florida State)
- OT Javon Foster (fourth round, Missouri)
- DT Jordan Jefferson (fourth round, LSU)
- CB Deantre Prince (fifth round, Ole Miss)
- RB Keilan Robinson (fifth round, Texas)
- K Cam Little (sixth round, Arkansas)
- DE Myles Cole (seventh round, Texas Tech)
New York Jets
- RB Braelon Allen (fourth round, Wisconsin)
- QB Jordan Travis (fifth round, Florida State)
- RB Isaiah Davis (fifth round, South Dakota State)
- CB Qwan’tez Stiggers (fifth round, Toronto Argonauts)
- S Jaylen Key (seventh round, Alabama)
Philadelphia Eagles
- EDGE Jalyx Hunt (third round, Houston Christian)
- RB Will Shipley (fourth round, Clemson)
- WR Ainias Smith (fourth round, Texas A&M)
Seattle Seahawks
- TE AJ Barner (fourth round, Michigan)
- CB Nehemiah Pritchett (fifth round, Auburn)
- G Sataoa Laumea (sixth round, Utah)
- CB DJ James (sixth round, Auburn)
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
- TE Devin Culp (seventh round, Washington)
Minor NFL Transactions: 5/13/24
Today’s minor moves:
Atlanta Falcons
- Signed: TE Ross Dwelley
Carolina Panthers
- Signed: LB Cam Gill, DL T.J. Smith
Chicago Bears
- Signed: WR John Jackson, DT Dashaun Mallory, LB Paul Moala, WR Freddie Swain
Detroit Lions
- Signed: WR Kaden Davis, TE Parker Hesse
Green Bay Packers
- Claimed off waivers (from 49ers): DL Spencer Waege
- Placed on reserve/retired list: OL Trente Jones
Kansas City Chiefs
- Re-signed: LB Cole Christiansen
- Released: DT Matt Dickerson
Los Angeles Chargers
- Signed: DL Chris Collins
Miami Dolphins
- Signed: OL Ireland Brown, CB Jason Maitre
Minnesota Vikings
- Signed: TE Sammis Reyes
New England Patriots
- Signed: RB Terrell Jennings, G Ryan Johnson, LB Jay Person, DE Jotham Russell
- Waived: RB Ke’Shawn Vaughn
New Orleans Saints
- Signed: DT Kendal Vickers
- Waived: NT John Penisini
New York Giants
- Signed: DL Elijah Chatman
- Waived: OLB Jeremiah Martin
New York Jets
- Signed: WR Hamze El-Zayat, RB Markese Stepp
- Waived: RB Jacques Patrick, DE Marquiss Spencer
Philadelphia Eagles
- Signed: CB Shon Stephens
- Waived: TE Noah Togiai
Pittsburgh Steelers
- Waived: OL Kellen Diesch
San Francisco 49ers
- Signed: DL Shakel Brown
Seattle Seahawks
- Signed: DE Nathan Pickering, LB Devin Richardson
Tennessee Titans
- Signed: TE Nick Vannett
Contract Details: Brown, Phillips, Highsmith
The Eagles recently made A.J. Brown the highest-paid wide receiver in NFL history. We already knew a number of details from that incredible contract, but thanks to Will Laws of Sports Illustrated, we now know of a wild detail with unprecedented consequences.
Laws points out that Brown’s deal includes a void year at the end of the contract that will hold a $53.52MM cap hit. This is actually a common contract technique the Eagles have been employing in recent years that allow them a ton of flexibility financially. Several other players have massive voidable cap hits like Jalen Hurts ($97.55MM), DeVonta Smith ($35.78MM), and others.
This likely doesn’t mean that someday the Eagles will suddenly be committing a triple-digit cap figure to players no longer on their roster. That could only happen if they see every contract through to completion. More likely, Philadelphia will be extremely strategic about how long to hold on to those players, cutting them at times that will allow for ideal cap savings. For instance, starting in 2027, the Eagles will be able to cut Brown and receive more in cap savings than they’ll be losing to dead money.
Here are a few other contract details on recent deals around the NFL:
- Thanks to the veteran salary benefit, the Buccaneers‘ new deal with defensive end William Gholston will have the minimum $1.21MM base salary that will only count for $1.15MM against the salary cap, according to Greg Auman of FOX Sports. Gholston will also be able to earn an active roster bonus of $167.5K in Week 1.
- The Texans recently signed linebacker Jacob Phillips to a new contract. Aaron Wilson of KPRC 2 tells us the deal is for one year and $1.15MM. He’ll receive a base salary of $1.06MM and a signing bonus of $45K. He can earn additional per game active roster bonuses of $2,941 for a potential season-total of $50K.
- This last bullet is actually details on a restructure that the Steelers pulled off recently with pass rusher Alex Highsmith, per Ian Rapoport of NFL Network. The team was able to convert $8.75MM of Highsmith’s 2024 base salary into a signing bonus while adding a void year to the end of his four-year deal, $68MM deal. As a result, Pittsburgh clears out $7MM of cap space.