Wynn, Odighizuwa Staying With Giants
Giants defensive end Kerry Wynn will sign his restricted free agent tender and participate in the team’s offseason program, tweets Jordan Raanan of ESPN.com.
New York tendered Wynn at the lowest level last month, meaning the club would have not have received any compensation had the 2014 undrafted free agent signed elsewhere and it chose not to match the offer. There was risk of Wynn departing, too, as he visited the Patriots last Thursday. The Pats have been aggressive in pursuing other teams’ RFAs, evidenced most recently by their offer to Bills running back Mike Gillislee on Tuesday, but they declined to present a deal to Wynn. As such, he’s in line to make $1.797MM this year as a member of the Giants.
The 26-year-old Wynn has been a part-time player in New York, where he has started in seven of 34 appearances. All of those starts came in 2015 for Wynn, who amassed a career-high 53 tackles that season. That total dropped to a career-low eight in 14 appearances in 2016, when Wynn participated in just 10.4 percent of the Giants’ defensive snaps. He was a more prominent member of their special teams unit, partaking in 28.1 percent of plays. Going forward, Wynn will continue to serve as depth behind star defensive ends Jason Pierre-Paul and Olivier Vernon.
Meanwhile, it appears Owa Odighizuwa will again join Wynn as a fellow reserve end next season. There has been confusion about Odighizuwa’s status since he implied he was stepping away from football in early April, but the 25-year-old was on hand for the beginning of the Giants’ program Tuesday, per Ralph Vacchiano of SNY (Twitter link).
Patriots Host Giants DE Kerry Wynn On Visit
The Patriots seem to be getting really into restricted free agents. On Wednesday, New England hosted RFA defensive end Kerry Wynn on a visit, a source tells Jordan Raanan of ESPN.com (Twitter link). Wynn received the low tender from the Giants last month.
[RELATED: Patriots Host Mike Gillislee, Damien Williams On Visit]
Because Wynn entered the league as an undrafted free agent, the Giants would not receive a draft pick in the event of an unmatched offer sheet. If Wynn is not signed away, he’ll play on a one-year, $1.797MM deal with the Giants in 2017.
The Patriots also hosted restricted free agent running backs Mike Gillislee and Damien Williams on visits this week, so the always forward-thinking Pats could be giving serious thought to signing some RFAs this year. Typically, there isn’t much activity on RFAs in the NFL, but the Patriots are leaving no stone unturned in their quest for another ring.
Unlike Gillislee, Wynn hasn’t shown a whole lot at the NFL level. Last season, he saw his playing time drop off and he had just eight total tackles and half of a sack in 14 games.
RFA/ERFA Tender Decisions: 3/7/17
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:
- Bengals — G T.J. Johnson (via Jim Owczarski of the Enquirer)
- Bills — C Ryan Groy (via Mike Rodak of ESPN.com)
- Buccaneers — DE Jacquies Smith (via Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times)
- Giants — DE Kerry Wynn (via Jordan Raanan of ESPN.com)
- Patriots — T Cameron Fleming (via Mike Reiss of ESPN.com)
- Rams — DT Dominique Easley (via Alden Gonzalez of ESPN.com)
- Ravens – S Marqueston Huff (via Ian Rapoport of NFL.com); WR Michael Campanaro, T James Hurst, RB Terrance West (via Jeff Zriebec of the Baltimore Sun)
Non-Tendered:
- Bills — DE IK Enemkpali, P Colton Schmidt
- Broncos — OL Sam Brenner (via Mike Klis of 9NEWS)
- Chargers — WR Jeremy Butler (via Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk)
- Seahawks — LB Brock Coyle, CB DeShawn Shead (via Sheil Kapadia of ESPN.com)
ERFAs:
Tendered:
- Broncos — LB Zaire Anderson, OLB Shaquil Barrett, RB Kapri Bibbs, C James Ferentz, WR Bennie Fowler, LS Casey Kreiter, C Matt Paradis, WR Jordan Taylor (via Nicki Jhabvala of The Denver Post)
- Cardinals — QB Zac Dysert, DT Olsen Pierre, G/T John Wetzel (via Josh Weinfuss of ESPN.com)
- Jaguars — S Peyton Thompson (via Ryan O’Halloran of the Florida Times-Union)
- Lions — DE Brandon Copeland (via Michael Rothstein of ESPN.com)
- Packers — LB Joe Thomas (via Tom Silverstein of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)
- Panthers — C Tyler Larsen, P Michael Palardy
- Patriots — CB Justin Coleman (via Jeff Howe of the Boston Herald), TE Matt Lengel (via Kevin Duffy of MassLive)
- Saints — WR Brandon Coleman (via Nick Underhill of the Advocate)
Non-Tendered:
- Buccaneers — DE Howard Jones (via Greg Auman of the Tampa Bay Times)
Giants Sign 10 UDFAs, Cut Five Players
THURSDAY, 4:26pm: USC tight end Xavier Grimble has also joined the Giants’ rookie free agent class, tweets Aaron Wilson of the Baltimore Sun.
TUESDAY, 1:54pm: The Giants have cut defensive back Chaz Powell and announced another four UDFA additions, according to a team release. Here are the newest Giants’ signings:
- Charles Barnett, S, Ohio State
- Emmanuel Dieke, DE, Georgia Tech ($7.5K bonus and $7.5K in other guarantees, per Aaron Wilson)
- Dan Fox, LB, Notre Dame
- Jordan Stanton, DE, James Madison
MONDAY, 4:47pm: The Giants have announced a series of roster moves, including a first step toward paring down the excess of quarterbacks on the depth chart. According to a press release, the team has released QB Rusty Smith and waived linebacker Allen Bradford, cornerback Junior Mertile and punter Jordan Gay. New York also signed five undrafted free agents.
Smith, a former Titan, inked a deal with the Giants last month shortly after the team added Josh Freeman to the roster to complement Eli Manning, Ryan Nassib, and Curtis Painter. He’ll immediately become an unrestricted free agent, while the other players will have to pass through waivers.
Here are the Giants’ five UDFA signings:
- Justin Anderson, LB, Louisiana-Lafayette
- Thomas Gordon, S, Michigan
- Eathyn Manumaleuna, DT BYU
- Kelcy Quarles, DT, South Carolina
- Kerry Wynn, DE, Richmond