Buccaneers Re-Sign Shaq Barrett
Piece by piece, Bucs are keeping the band together. Edge rusher Shaquil Barrett has agreed to re-sign on a four-year deal worth as much as $72MM (Twitter link via NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport). The deal includes $36MM fully guaranteed and, remarkably, will carry a minuscule $5.6MM cap hit in 2021. 
As a free agent in 2019, Barrett received tepid interest. Offers came only from the Bucs and Bengals, and Barrett signed a one-year, $4MM Bucs pact. The Bucs tagged him last year, following his franchise-record-setting 19.5-sack season. Barrett will turn 29 later this year and seized his chance to secure a lucrative long-term deal.
Barrett’s rise through the football ranks has been meteoric. He started as a Division II recruit before switching to Colorado State. Then, he turned pro and spent 2014 on the Broncos’ practice squad. By 2015, he found a role in the Broncos’ defense.
After the 2019 tag, Barrett recorded eight 2020 regular season sacks and added four in the playoffs. He also finished on a high note, notching eight pressures in Super Bowl LV.
Barrett’s deal carries a base value of $68MM over the four-year stretch. The other $4MM can be earned off of escalators. If Barrett reached 15 sacks and the Bucs make the playoffs, he’ll add another $1MM to his forthcoming yearly salary. The average value of $18MM/year is solid, though several ticks behind Joey Bosa and Myles Garrett who will have ~$25MM/ year.
The Bucs have been busy this month, re-signing inside linebacker Lavonte David and deploying franchise tag on wide receiver Chris Godwin. They also reached a one-year extension with quarterback Tom Brady to free up additional space — he’ll carry a lighter cap hit in 2021 with voidable years in 2023 and beyond.
RFA/ERFA Tender Decisions: 3/15/21
Teams have until Wednesday to extend tender offers to their restricted free agents and exclusive rights free agents. We’ll keep tabs on the latest here:
RFAs
Tendered:
- Browns: WR KhaDarel Hodge
Non-Tendered:
- 49ers: QB Nick Mullens
ERFAs
Non-Tendered:
- .
Tendered:
- .
Ravens To Sign Kevin Zeitler
The Ravens have agreed to sign former Giants guard Kevin Zeitler (Twitter link via ESPN.com’s Adam Schefter). Once official, it’ll be a three-year, $22.5MM pact with $16MM in guaranteed money. 
[RELATED: Ravens Re-Sign Pernell McPhee]
The Giants dropped Zeitler last week to save about $9.6MM in cap space. The Giants shopped Zeitler before releasing him, but interested teams like the Ravens stayed patient because they expected him to get cut.
Zeitler was the Giants’ best offensive lineman, so the move was more about finances than football. The Ravens, meanwhile, get to fill the longstanding void left by Marshal Yanda‘s 2020 retirement. Tyre Phillips, Patrick Mekari, and Ben Powers all tried their hand at right guard, but no one in that trio was able to replace Yanda’s protection.
The Ravens said they’d prioritize blocking for Lamar Jackson this offseason and Zeitler goes a long way towards addressing that need. Over the last three years, Pro Football Focus has Zeitler ranked as the 17th best guard in the NFL. He’s also been reliable with at least 15 starts in each of the past six seasons.
Vikings LB Anthony Barr To Take Pay-Cut, Become FA After 2021
It looks like the Vikings are close to making a major adjustment to Anthony Barr‘s contract. Minnesota and the veteran linebacker are working on a restructured deal that would see Barr reduce his $12.3MM salary for 2021, sources told Jeremy Fowler of ESPN.com (Twitter link).
The Vikings will get some immediate cap relief, and in return Barr will enter free agency after this season. Previously Barr’s contract ran through 2023, so he’s about to get the last two years knocked off his pact. There had been some speculation that the team could move on this offseason due to his hefty cap hit, but this move will ensure he’s on the Vikings’ roster come Week 1 while also potentially setting things up for a divorce next offseason.
The ninth overall pick of the 2014 draft has been with Minnesota for all seven of his pro seasons. There’s been plenty of drama along the way, like when Barr agreed to sign with the Jets in March of 2019 before pulling out at the last second and returning to the Vikings. A separation has appeared likely several times, but they always have found a way to make things work.
Barr got a five-year, $67.5MM deal to stay last time. The UCLA product made the Pro Bowl four straight times from 2015-18, but only played in two games this past year due to a torn pec. He’ll turn 29 later this week.
49ers Re-Sign Kyle Juszczyk
UPDATE, 8:35pm: It’s now official. Juszczyk has signed a five-year extension with the 49ers worth an impressive $27MM, Ian Rapoport of NFL Network tweets. Rapsheet notes the contract is signed, so it’s a done deal. The pact comes with $10MM guaranteed, Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports tweets.
8:33am: About three weeks ago, we heard that the 49ers were making a push to re-sign fullback Kyle Juszczyk in advance of free agency. With the legal tampering period set to kick off tomorrow, it appears that San Francisco may have struck an accord just in time.
Late last night, Niners GM John Lynch posted the following tweet, which certainly makes it sound as if Juszczyk will be back: “I’m thirsty. Niners fans, you want some ‘Juice?'” Presumably, Lynch does not plan on bringing in O.J. Simpson in an advisory role, so that would seem to indicate that he was referring to a Juszczyk re-up.
In Lynch and head coach Kyle Shanahan‘s first offseason running the 49ers, they signed the former Ravens blocker to a four-year, $21MM deal. That 2017 pact still resides on its own tier at the fullback position, with only two other FBs — Derek Watt and C.J. Ham — earning more than $2MM in average annual salary.
Of course, Juszczyk is more than just a blocking fullback. While he is hardy the focal point of Shanahan’s offense, he is a useful and versatile weapon, having compiled 102 catches for 1,080 yards and 35 carries for 132 yards over the past four seasons. He has nine total touchdowns during that time, and he has earned four consecutive Pro Bowl nods for his efforts.
Because there are still no obvious comps, it could be that Juszczyk’s second contract with the 49ers will look much like his first one. But in any event, Lynch will have around $30MM in cap space heading into free agency, so he will have some ability to sign a quality FA or two and perhaps retain LT Trent Williams.
RFA/ERFA Tender Decisions: 3/14/21
Teams have until March 17 to extend tender offers to their restricted free agents and exclusive rights free agents. Some teams are already making their calls in advance of March 17. We’ll keep tabs on the latest here:
RFAs
Non-Tendered:
- Chiefs: TE Deon Yelder
- Dolphins: WR Isaiah Ford
Both of these guys will now be hitting unrestricted free agency. Yelder signed with the Saints as an UDFA in 2018, and was added to the Chiefs’ practice squad later that year. He got meaningful playing time in 2020, mostly as a blocker, playing around 18 percent of the offensive snaps for Kansas City last season. He had only seven catches for 36 yards.
Ford was drafted by the Dolphins in the seventh-round back in 2017, then was traded to the Patriots this past November but quickly re-signed by Miami after New England cut him a month later. This one is mildly surprising since Ford played a real role on offense for the Dolphins the past two years, catching 51 passes for 520 yards in 18 games between 2019-20.
Bills Re-Sign OL Jon Feliciano
Ahead of the start of free agency, the Bills are locking up another one of their own guys. After extending Daryl Williams and Matt Milano this past week, Buffalo is now handing out a new contract to guard Jon Feliciano as well.
The Bills have signed Feliciano to a new three-year pact, Adam Schefter of ESPN.com confirmed on Twitter. The news was first tweeted by Matt Parrino of NewYorkUpstate.com. Schefter writes that the new pact is worth “up to” $17MM, so you’ll have to stay tuned for the details on that.
As Field Yates of ESPN.com tweets, the Bills now have 19 of their 22 starters from last year’s AFC Championship Game under contract for 2021, and two others are restricted free agents. A fourth-round pick of the Raiders in 2015, Feliciano spent the first four years of his career in Oakland.
The Miami product signed a two-year, $8MM pact with the Bills in March of 2019. He never started more than four games in a season for the Raiders, but started all 16 in his first year in Buffalo. Injuries limited him to nine games this past season, but he started all of them.
He’s not a Pro Bowler, but he’s been a solid enough starter the past couple of years. No matter what, Josh Allen will have a lot of continuity around him on offense heading into his fourth season.
Saints Restructure QB Taysom Hill’s Contract
Just moments after Drew Brees officially announced his retirement, the Saints took their cap gymnastics to a new level with one of their other quarterbacks.
New Orleans has restructured Taysom Hill‘s deal to create cap space by giving him a four-year, $140MM extension that entirely voids, Adam Schefter of ESPN.com tweets. A source told Schefter that “all years are voidable and it’s a mechanism to free up cap space this year,” with the 2021 cap savings being north of $7.5MM. Before you freak out, Hill isn’t getting a $140MM extension.
The consensus of Saints beat writers online seems to be that the numbers are purely theoretical, and might as well just be random numbers written down on a piece of paper. Cap maneuvering has gotten more and more complicated in recent years, and Saints GM Mickey Loomis has fashioned himself as a wizard.
Virtually every Saints veteran making more than a minimum salary has had their contract tweaked to varying degrees. In a follow-up tweet, Schefter explained that Hill’s actual contract for this year will “include a $9.686 million signing bonus, a $1.439 million guaranteed roster bonus and a $1.034 million guaranteed base salary, plus incentives.”
Thus it appears Hill’s real compensation for 2021 will be somewhere in the $12+MM range, and not the $35MM annually that four-years, $140MM would suggest. We’ll keep you posted if we get a full explanation on the new figures.
Packers Re-Sign Aaron Jones
Aaron Jones is off the board. On Sunday, the Packers agreed to a four-year, $48MM deal with their star running back (Twitter link via NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport). The deal ties Jones to Green Bay through the 2024 season and comes with a $13MM signing bonus. 
[RELATED: Packers Rework P. Smith’s Contract]
Jones could have gone into free agency without any restrictions and cashed in big. However, the current climate left a lot of uncertainty. With this deal, Jones and agent Drew Rosenhaus have opted for security over upside, though Jones has plenty of dollars coming his way.
The franchise tag would have given Jones around $9MM. Instead, he’s getting an average of $12MM/year with more guaranteed money than he was offered in last year’s round of talks. It took a little longer, but Jones got his big pay day just like 2017 running back draftees Christian McCaffrey, Alvin Kamara, Dalvin Cook, and Joe Mixon. Before the deal, the Dolphins were heavily connected to Jones. Now, they’ll have to look elsewhere for help.
Jones has averaged over 1,500 yards from scrimmage and 15 TDs over the past two seasons, positioning him as one of the best running backs in the NFL. Historically, teams have been reluctant to shell out big bucks and guaranteed years to RBs, but Jones has proven his value multiple times over.
In three of his four NFL campaigns, Jones has averaged 5.5 yards per carry. While he missed the Pro Bowl in 2019, he led the NFL with 19 touchdowns. There was no oversight last year as Jones turned in his second straight 1,000-yard season. He averaged a career-high 78.4 yards per game in 2020 and the Packers will be counting on more of the same in 2021, especially with Jamaal Williams on track for the open market.
Patriots Trade OT Marcus Cannon To Texans
New Texans GM Nick Caserio is bringing in a familiar face. According to Ian Rapoport of NFL.com, Houston will acquire OT Marcus Cannon from the Patriots, and Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle reports that the two clubs will exchange draft positions in the 2021 fourth round, fifth round, and sixth round (Twitter links).
After the Pats traded for Trent Brown last week, speculation concerning Cannon’s roster spot began to pick up. Many assumed that New England would let him go in order to create $6.3MM of cap space, but the club managed to get its cap relief while also upgrading its picks in the middle rounds of next month’s draft.
As Field Yates of ESPN.com tweets, Cannon will likely be shifted to guard in Houston, as the Texans are set at right tackle with Tytus Howard. Cannon is owed $4.7MM in each of the next two seasons, so his salary isn’t prohibitive for a guard, and he did play on the interior earlier in his career.
Cannon opted out of the 2020 season due to COVID-19, and as Mike Reiss of ESPN.com writes, the soon-to-be 33-year-old had yet to return to New England for a physical examination/workout. Obviously, the Texans are not overly concerned about Cannon’s health at this point, and though their new acquisition showed signs of decline in 2018-19, a move back to guard could help his performance.
This is the second trade the Texans have swung today, following this morning’s deal that will send inside linebacker Benardrick McKinney to Miami in exchange for edge defender Shaq Lawson. And according to Dianna Russini of ESPN.com (via Twitter), LB Whitney Mercilus might also be on his way out of Houston.