Saints Re-Sign RB Dwayne Washington
The Saints have re-signed running back Dwayne Washington, according to Field Yates of ESPN.com (on Twitter). Terms of the deal have not been disclosed. 
[RELATED: Saints Franchise Tag S Marcus Williams]
Washington, 27, entered the league as a seventh round pick of the Lions in 2016. When he was pushed off of the roster by the Lions’ crowded running back depth chart in 2018, he joined up with the Saints’ practice squad. For the last three years, he’s served as a backup and special teams player in New Orleans. Now, he’s back for No. 4 to support Alvin Kamara and Latavius Murray alongside the recently re-signed Ty Montgomery.
Washington finished the regular season on a strong note, notching 108 rushing yards in Week 17. All in all, he finished out with 229 yards off of 43 carries.
RFA/ERFA Tender Decisions: 3/9/21
A handful of teams handed out free agent tenders today, and we’ve collected each of them below:
- The Cowboys are holding on to defensive lineman Ron’Dell Carter, per Michael Gehlken of the Dallas Morning News (via Twitter). The 2020 undrafted free agent out of James Madison initially got $145K in guaranteed money from Dallas last summer (per Charean Williams of ProFootballTalk.com), but the team briefly let him get away from their practice squad when he was signed by the Colts early in the season. He was ultimately cut by Indy and landed back in Dallas via waivers. He appeared in three games as a rookie, collecting one tackle.
- The Broncos informed three exclusive rights free agents that they’ll be tendered, according to Mike Klis of 9News in Denver (via Twitter), a grouping that includes wideout/returner Diontae Spencer, offensive lineman Calvin Anderson, and safety Trey Marshall. Spencer, 28, has spent the past two seasons in Denver, compiling 82 yards from scrimmage on 15 touches. He’s also played a role on special teams, returning 42 punt for 461 yards and one touchdown and 30 kicks for 717 yards. After spending much of the 2019 season on Denver’s practice squad, Anderson managed to appear in all 16 games (including two starts) for the Broncos in 2020. Marshall has appeared in 30 games over the past three seasons with the Broncos, including a 2019 campaign where he finished with 25 tackles and one forced fumble.
- The Buccaneers tendered three exclusive rights free agents today: tight end Tanner Hudson, defensive lineman Jeremiah Ledbetter, and defensive lineman Pat O’Connor. Hudson has spent the past three years with Tampa Bay, and he hauled in three receptions in 11 games this past season. O’Connor appeared in 16 games for the Buccaneers this year, collecting four tackles and one sack. Ledbetter has been around the NFL since 2017, and he compiled one sack in three games with Tampa in 2020.
As a reminder, the deadline to place tenders on restricted free agent and exclusive rights free agent is March 17.
Bengals Re-Sign QB Brandon Allen
Brandon Allen is sticking around Cincinnati. NFL.com’s Tom Pelissero reports (via Twitter) that the quarterback is re-signing with the Bengals. It’ll be a one-year pact for the 28-year-old.
As Tyler Dragon of the Cincinnati Enquirer tweets, the Bengals were pleased with Allen’s performance both on and off the field last season, especially following the season-ending injury to starter Joe Burrow. Allen started five of Cincy’s final six games last season, and while the Bengals went only 1-4 in those contests, the quarterback managed to complete 63.4-percent of his passes for 925 yards, five touchdowns, and four interceptions. Allen initially signed a deal with the Bengals last offseason, and he landed on the practice squad after being cut at the end of the preseason.
The former sixth-round pick out of Arkansas had stints with the Jaguars and Rams before landing with the Broncos in 2019. He started three games that season, completing 46.4-percent of his passes for 515 yards, three touchdowns, and two picks.
Allen will likely serve as Burrow’s primary backup in 2021. The team also has former fourth-rounder Ryan Finley under contract.
Minor NFL Transactions: 3/9/21
Here are Tuesday’s minor moves:
Houston Texans
- Waived: FB Cullen Gillaspia
New Orleans Saints
- Re-signed: RB Dwayne Washington
Philadelphia Eagles
- Released: DB Blake Countess
- Waived: DT Treyvon Hester
Pittsburgh Steelers
- Re-signed: LB Marcus Allen
Tennessee Titans
- Re-signed: WR Marcus Johnson
Titans To Release CB Malcolm Butler
The Titans will opt out of the final two years of Malcolm Butler‘s contract. They are releasing the veteran cornerback, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets.
Cutting Butler will save the Titans $10.2MM. Ahead of this transaction, Tennessee held barely $1MM in cap space. The former Super Bowl hero spent three seasons with the Titans, signing a lucrative contract in 2018.
Tennessee added Butler on a five-year, $61.25MM deal in 2018. Although Butler turned 31 last week, the former UDFA will again generate interest as a free agent. He finished last season as Pro Football Focus’ No. 15 overall corner, playing 16 games after an injury-shortened 2019 slate. Butler intercepted four passes in 2020 and finished with the lowest yards-per-completion and yards-per-target figures of his Tennessee run.
A cornerback overhaul may be in the cards for the defending AFC South champions, who let Logan Ryan walk in free agency last year. They have Adoree’ Jackson going into a non-guaranteed $10.2MM fifth-year option season. After Jackson played in just three games last season, he could well be on track to join Butler in free agency soon. The Titans can only cut Jackson if he passes a physical, with the options for players drafted in the 2017 first round guaranteed for injury only.
The Titans also have two offensive free agents who should expected to be coveted next week. Funds from the Butler release could go to retaining either Jonnu Smith or Corey Davis. The Titans did not use their franchise tag this year.
Buccaneers, Lavonte David Agree To Deal
Shortly after using their franchise tag on Chris Godwin, the Buccaneers are moving forward with the rest of their free agents-to-be. They agreed to terms with Lavonte David on an extension, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets.
David agreed to stay in Tampa on a two-year deal worth $25MM, Rapoport notes. The nine-year veteran linebacker would have been a coveted free agent, despite going into his age-31 season, but he will stay with the team he helped lead to a Super Bowl title. The Bucs are including $20MM in David guarantees, Rapoport tweets.
Bucs GM Jason Licht confirmed recently the team was interested in retaining David, but the reigning champions have a host of high-end free agents to re-sign. Prior to this David deal coming to pass, the Bucs were $4MM-plus over the projected $180MM cap floor. However, the official cap figure has not come in yet. The Bucs are still going to need to do some work in order to have room to sign the bulk of its free agent glut.
Shaquil Barrett, Ndamukong Suh, Rob Gronkowski, Antonio Brown and Leonard Fournette remain on track for free agency. Barrett has said he will seek to maximize his value, though Gronkowski and Brown have indicated they would prefer to stay with the Bucs. Despite the Bucs being the first team since 2009 to use a top-five pick on an off-ball linebacker (Devin White), they found room for a third David deal.
This contract does not match David’s 2015 accord in length (five years), but that deal averaged $10MM annually. This one includes a salary north of that mark. David and the Bucs negotiated for a bit last year but could not agree on terms, and Jeremy Fowler of ESPN.com notes (via Twitter) Demario Davis‘ late-season extension — worth $9MM annually — induced a delay. David wanted to top that, and after playing a pivotal role on Tampa Bay’s second Super Bowl team, the former second-round pick did so.
Pro Football Focus rated David as its No. 4 overall off-ball ‘backer last season. He finished off the season by helping the Bucs limit Travis Kelce in Super Bowl LV. The Browns were interested in signing David as well, but the Bucs are assured of bringing he and Godwin back. More work remains on Tampa’s core-retention project, however.
Vikings Release K Dan Bailey
The writing was perhaps on the wall with the recent signing of Greg Joseph, but now it’s official. The Vikings have released veteran kicker Dan Bailey, a source told Dianna Russini of ESPN.com (Twitter link).
The move saves Minnesota about $1.7MM in cap space for the 2021 season. Bailey had a $2.7MM salary for this year, and $1.8MM of that was going to become fully guaranteed if he was still on the roster on March 19th, so the clock was ticking. The team wanted to keep him around by re-negotiating his deal, but the two sides couldn’t agree on anything, Darren Wolfson of 5 Eyewitness News tweets.
The team likely wanted him to push back the guarantee date or something along those lines. The move wraps up a tumultuous three-year stint for Bailey in Minnesota. He struggled in 2018 but bounced back with a strong 2019, which earned him a new three-year deal last March.
He was abysmal for the most part in 2020, making only 15 of 22 field goals and 37 of 43 extra points. Once one of the top kickers in the league with the Cowboys, Bailey is now 33 as he hits free agency.
He could be brought into a competition, but likely won’t be handed a starting job at this point. Joseph is now the only kicker the Vikings have on the roster, although they’ll presumably add some competition at some point.
Saints Franchise Tag S Marcus Williams
The Saints are in a bad cap spot, but they’re finding ways to make things work. New Orleans has franchise tagged safety Marcus Williams, a source told Ian Rapoport of NFL Network (Twitter link).
As Rapsheet points out, this one is a bit of a surprise, mostly due to the Saints’ poor cap situation. As he noted in a follow-up tweet, this move will necessitate further “cap gymnastics” for GM Mickey Loomis. We heard last week that the Saints wanted to keep Williams in the fold, and clearly they weren’t playing around. As of last week, the Saints were around $70MM over the projected cap, so Loomis has his work cut out for him.
A third-round pick back in 2017, Williams became an immediate starter and has always been very highly graded by the folks at Pro Football Focus. With Williams and Justin Simmons of the Broncos both getting franchise tagged, the potential top two free agent safeties are both off the board. John Johnson of the Rams will now possibly be the most sought-after safety on the open market.
He started 14 games last year, picking off three passes and racking up seven passes defended. He has multiple interceptions in all four of his pro seasons. In order to make this tag work the Saints will need to clear about $11MM in space immediately, Nick Underhill of NewOrleans.Football tweets.
Browns Release DE Adrian Clayborn
The cap casualties just keep on rolling in. This time it’s the Browns getting in on the action, with Cleveland announcing they’ve released veteran defensive end Adrian Clayborn.
The team will save about $3MM in cap space for 2021 with the move. The 20th overall pick of the 2011 draft, Clayborn had just spent his first season with the Browns. He signed a two-year, $6MM contract with Cleveland in April of last year. He started two games and appeared in 15 in 2020, racking up 3.5 sacks, three tackles for loss, and a forced fumble.
Clayborn started his career with the Bucs, then went to Atlanta in 2015. He had his best season with the Falcons in 2017, when he had 9.5 sacks. He went to New England the following year, and won Super Bowl LIII with the team, before returning to Atlanta in 2019.
The Browns obviously have Myles Garrett, but they’ve indicated their looking to upgrade their pass-rush opposite him, most recently showing interest in J.J. Watt. We heard last month they were likely to sign a big name pass-rusher in free agency, and the release of Clayborn is helping clear the way for that.
Clayborn is set to turn 33 in July and hasn’t been overly productive the past few years, but should be able latch on somewhere on a cheap deal with a team in need of edge rushing help.
Falcons To Release OL James Carpenter
Another long-time veteran is hitting the free agent market. The Falcons will be releasing offensive lineman James Carpenter, Ian Rapoport of NFL Network tweets.
Carpenter came into the league as a tackle when he was drafted in the first-round by the Seahawks way back in 2011, but was quickly switched to guard. He started 13 games for Atlanta this past season, and 11 the year before. The Alabama product spent his first four years in Seattle, then signed a four-year deal with the Jets in 2015.
He completed that deal and started all 16 games for New York in three of those seasons. He signed a four-year, $21MM deal with Atlanta in 2019, but obviously only made it halfway through that pact. The Falcons will save a little over $4MM in 2021 cap space by cutting him.
The Super Bowl XLVIII champion has never made the Pro Bowl, but with 121 career starts under his belt, should draw plenty of interest from teams looking for veteran O-line help. He’s joining a now crowded guard market, but won’t have much trouble finding a new home.