HEADLINES

Tim Settle

Texans To Sign DT Tim Settle

March 14th, 2024 at 5:51pm CST by Ben Levine

After a two-year stop in Buffalo, Tim Settle is heading south. The free agent defensive tackle is signing a two-year deal with the Texans, according to Dianna Russini of The Athletic.

The two-year pact is worth up to $7MM with incentives, according to NFL Mike Garafolo.

Settle inked a two-year deal with Buffalo back in 2022 and only missed a pair of games during his two seasons with the team. He played mostly a backup role in Buffalo, getting into more than a third of his team’s defensive snaps. In his 32 games, he compiled 33 tackles and two sacks. He finished this past season ranked 81st among 130 qualifying interior defenders on Pro Football Focus’ positional rankings.

The former fifth-round pick spent the first four seasons of his career in Washington, where he started two of his 63 appearances. He had a career-high five sacks in 2020 but otherwise had two sacks in his other three seasons with the organization.

The Texans have been eyeing some DT depth after losing Sheldon Rankins to the Bengals and trading Maliek Collins to the 49ers. The team also attempted to sign Arik Armstead before the veteran signed with the Jaguars. Folorunso Fatukasi ended up catching on with the organization and can fill in at one of the starting spots, while Settle profiles as more of a depth piece in Houston.

Bills, Texans Interested In Arik Armstead; Houston Submitted Offer To Sheldon Rankins

March 14th, 2024 at 11:12am CST by Sam Robinson

With the 49ers officially designating Arik Armstead as a post-June 1 release, interest in the nine-year veteran defensive lineman is forming.

The Titans became the first known Armstead suitor, but KPRC2’s Aaron Wilson notes the Texans join them. Like recent Texans pickup Azeez Al-Shaair, Armstead played under DeMeco Ryans in San Francisco. The 30-year-old defender does not have a clear connection to the Bills, but The Athletic’s Matt Barrows mentioned Buffalo as a team to monitor here. Wilson adds the Bills are indeed interested.

Ryans coached Armstead for two seasons as 49ers defensive coordinator but was in San Francisco during six of the D-lineman’s nine years in the Bay Area. The Texans have added Danielle Hunter, Denico Autry and Folorunso Fatukasi up front but have endured multiple subtractions on their defensive interior. Sheldon Rankins signed with the Bengals hours after the Texans traded Maliek Collins to the 49ers.

Houston looks to have driven up Cincinnati’s price on Rankins, with Wilson adding the AFC South club made a $12MM-per-year offer to the former first-round pick. Rankins joined the Bengals on a two-year, $26MM deal; he will be set to team with B.J. Hill up front in Cincinnati. Rankins posted his best pass-rushing season since 2018, totaling six sacks and ranking seventh in ESPN’s pass rush win rate metric.

As for Collins, Wilson indicates the team made the decision to move on from the three-year contributor over the weekend. That still proved to be an interesting trade, seeing as Collins totaled five sacks after signing a through-2025 extension last year. The Texans attempted to trade Collins for Armstead, per Wilson. Considering the 49ers cut Armstead, it is unclear what led to the talks breaking down. The 49ers offered Armstead a pay cut, but he balked with an intent on testing free agency.

The Bills are keeping DaQuan Jones, but the veteran run stuffer and Armstead have differing skillsets. The former first-round pick has worked as a plus interior pass rusher, teaming with Nick Bosa as the 49ers’ D-line pillars under Ryans and Robert Saleh. Ed Oliver signed an extension last year, but the Bills have some work to do on their defensive interior. Jordan Phillips, Tim Settle, Poona Ford and Linval Joseph are free agents.

Armstead is coming off knee surgery, after a season in which knee and foot trouble kept him out of five late-season games. The 6-foot-7 defensive tackle returned in the playoffs at less than 100% and sacked Patrick Mahomes in Super Bowl LVIII. Armstead has eight career postseason sacks, notching at least two during the 2019, 2021 and 2022 playoffs. Despite injuries shortening his 2022 and ’23 seasons, Armstead fared well last year. Pass rush win rate slotted the Oregon alum 10th, while Pro Football Focus ranked him 15th among interior D-linemen while assigning a career-best run-stoppage grade. Armstead totaled five sacks and 13 QB hits in 2023.

Additionally, the Texans are meeting with Settle, according to Wilson. Profiling as a cheaper option compared to Armstead, Settle spent the past two seasons in Buffalo on a two-year, $14MM deal. Once part of the first-rounder-laden Washington D-line, Settle has not disproved his five-sack 2018 season was a fluke. He has never registered more than two in any other slate. The Virginia Tech alum started only four games with the Bills, though he is still just 26.

Restructure Details: Bolts, Bucs, Bills, Jets

March 11th, 2023 at 2:09pm CST by Sam Robinson

Teams continue to be aggressive in creating cap space ahead of Wednesday’s start to the 2023 league year, when franchises must be in compliance with the new $224.8MM salary cap. Here are the latest moves teams made to get there:

  • Reasonable Chargers activity in free agency should be expected. The team that began the week well over the cap has now created more than $40MM in space over the past couple of days. Following the moves to restructure Keenan Allen and Mike Williams‘ contracts, Field Yates of ESPN.com tweets the team created $25.99MM by tweaking Joey Bosa and Khalil Mack‘s deals. Mack’s 2023 cap number drops by $10.8MM, while OverTheCap’s Jason Fitzgerald adds Bosa’s drops by $15.2MM. Bosa’s 2024 number ballooned to $36.6MM because of the move. That will, then, necessitate more maneuvering down the line. The Bosa, Mack, Allen and Williams moves have created a total of $40.37MM in space, Lindsey Thiry of ESPN.com tweets. They are now more than $19MM under the cap.
  • In completing four restructures, the Buccaneers have now created more than $44MM in cap space. They redid the deals of Vita Vea, Chris Godwin, Ryan Jensen and Carlton Davis, Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times reports. The Bucs have moved to being barely $5MM over the cap, after beginning March at nearly $60MM north of the salary ceiling. Cuts of Leonard Fournette, Cameron Brate and Donovan Smith have helped the team along the way as well. That said, Fournette and Brate cannot be released until after the start of the league year, Greg Auman of Fox Sports notes (on Twitter). The Bucs being unable to realize those savings until after 3pm Wednesday will force them to find a few other ways to create that space.
  • The Jets adjusted the deals of Laken Tomlinson, D.J. Reed and Tyler Conklin — all free agency additions from 2022 — to create $15.2MM in cap space, Yates tweets. Still working to land Aaron Rodgers, the Jets are now $11.5MM under the cap.
  • The Raiders are among the leaders in cap space, but Yates tweets they adjusted Maxx Crosby‘s deal to create $7.5MM in additional funds. Las Vegas holds more than $43MM in cap space, sitting third overall ahead of free agency.
  • Bills defensive tackle Tim Settle agreed to a $600K pay cut for 2023, Yates adds (on Twitter). The 2022 free agency addition still has $2.1MM in guaranteed money for 2023, with the Buffalo News’ Ryan O’Halloran adding Settle can earn up to $4.41MM this year via incentives. The Bills are moving closer to the deadline with a lot of work left ahead; they are more than $19MM over the cap.
  • The Vikings and swing backup O-lineman Chris Reed agreed to a renegotiated deal that trims his cap number by around $1MM, per Yates. Minnesota still has work to do ahead of the cap-compliance deadline, sitting more than $7MM over the cap.

Bills To Sign DT Tim Settle

March 14th, 2022 at 5:16pm CST by Ben Levine

Tim Settle is heading north. The defensive tackle is signing with the Bills, reports ESPN’s Adam Schefter (via Twitter).

It’s a two-year deal for Settle. NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo tweets that the deal is worth $9MM and a max of $10.6MM. The deal contains $7MM in guaranteed money, according to Aaron Wilson of ProFootballNetwork.com (on Twitter).

The 2018 fifth-round pick out of Virginia Tech had spent his entire career with Washington, missing only a pair of games. Used mostly in a platoon role (only two starts), Settle collected seven sacks during his four season with Washington. The six-foot-three, 308-pound defensive lineman also collected 12 QB hits and 12 tackle for loss.

Following a 2020 season where he finished with a career-high five sacks, Settle was unable to compile a single sack in 2021. He still managed to collect 13 tackles while getting into 20 percent of his team’s defensive snaps.

Considering his familiarity with the organization, Washington was keeping tabs on the free agent, per ESPN’s John Keim (on Twitter). Ultimately, Settle decided to take his talents up north.

NFL COVID List Updates: 12/21/21

December 21st, 2021 at 10:49pm CST by Ely Allen

Once again, we’ve had a busy day of moves on and off the reserve/COVID-19 list. Here are the players who were placed on the list or activated off of it today:

Atlanta Falcons

Baltimore Ravens

Buffalo Bills

Chicago Bears

Cincinnati Bengals

Denver Broncos

Green Bay Packers

Houston Texans

Kansas City Chiefs

Los Angeles Chargers

Los Angeles Rams

Minnesota Vikings

New England Patriots

  • Activated from reserve/COVID-19 list: TE Dalton Keene (remains on IR)

New Orleans Saints

New York Jets

Washington Football Team

WFT To Start Garrett Gilbert 

December 21st, 2021 at 3:05pm CST by Zachary Links

It’s now official. On Tuesday, the Washington Football Team announced that quarterbacks Taylor Heinicke and Kyle Allen were unable to test out of COVID-19 protocols. With that, journeyman Garrett Gilbert will start tonight against the Eagles.

Gilbert, recently signed off of the Patriots’ taxi squad, started for the Cowboys last year in a Week 9 loss to the Steelers. Filling in for Dak Prescott (injured) and Andy Dalton (on the COVID list), Gilbert went 21-of-38 for 243 yards, one touchdown, and one interception. It wasn’t a particularly memorable performance, but it was at least better than what the Cowboys were getting out of Ben DiNucci.

The 30-year-old passer has dressed for just seven games in his NFL career. This will be his biggest one yet as Washington fights for a playoff spot. A win tonight would give them a 43% chance of qualifying; a loss would require them to win out and get extremely lucky.

Washington has been able to activate a couple of its players for tonight’s game — cornerback Troy Apke and defensive tackle Tim Settle. Beyond that, they’ll elevate four practice squaders: fullback Alex Armah, linebacker De’Jon Harris, tackle David Steinmetz, and quarterback Kyle Shurmur, who will serve as the QB2 behind Gilbert.

Minor NFL Transactions:  12/14/21

December 14th, 2021 at 12:00pm CST by Zachary Links

Today’s minor moves:

Detroit Lions

Green Bay Packers

Las Vegas Raiders

Miami Dolphins

Minnesota Vikings

New England Patriots

Washington Football Team

Redskins Sign 6 Draft Choices

May 10th, 2018 at 4:36pm CST by Sam Robinson

Shortly after the Redskins’ agreement with first-round defensive lineman Da’Ron Payne was announced, Washington came to terms with six more of its 2018 draft picks, per John Keim of ESPN.com. Here’s the full rundown:

Only one of the Redskins’ draft picks remains unsigned — third-round offensive lineman Geron Christian — and that’s not exactly surprising given this CBA’s interesting lack of clarity regarding third-round contracts. But Washington has the rest of its group in tow as the team moves further into its OTAs.

Guice is the most notable of this sextet, falling extensively during draft weekend and having reported issues before the draft. The LSU product plummeted to Washington near the end of the second round, and he’s in position to compete for the team’s starting job. He joins Samaje Perine and Rob Kelley as Washington’s primary backs set to complement passing-down specialist Chris Thompson.

Settle figures to compete for depth on a defensive front that may well have Payne included among its starters this season. And Hamilton joins Payne and 2017 first-round pick Jonathan Allen as former Crimson Tide cogs to be part of the Redskins’ front seven.