Bengals To Re-Sign Mike Daniels
Mike Daniels isn’t going to be a one and done in Cincinnati. The veteran defensive tackle is re-upping on a new deal with the Bengals, a source told Tom Pelissero of NFL Network (Twitter link).
It’s a one-year contract worth “up to” $2.5MM, Pelissero reports. A fourth-round pick of the Packers back in 2012, Daniels spent his first seven seasons in Green Bay and became a borderline star there. From 2013-17, he had at least four sacks in every season despite weighing over 300 pounds and being primarily a run defender. He made the Pro Bowl in 2017 when he had five sacks and a forced fumble in 14 games.
He had an injury plagued 2018 campaign, and was released the following offseason due to a hefty contract. He was quickly scooped up on a one-year, $9MM deal from the Lions, but injuries limited him to nine games in 2019.
He signed with the Bengals in August of last year, and although he again missed five games, he started the other 11. He had no sacks while playing a less than full-time role. The Iowa product will turn 32 in May.
Cardinals To Sign Colt McCoy
We heard last week that the Cardinals would host Colt McCoy, and that visit apparently went well. Arizona will be signing the veteran signal-caller, Adam Schefter of ESPN.com tweets.
Financial terms weren’t immediately available, but Schefter reports it’s a one-year deal. McCoy has now reached true journeyman status, and will presumably hold Kyler Murray‘s clipboard in 2021. The Cards were apparently looking to upgrade the backup quarterback spot after former CFL player Chris Streveler mostly fell flat on his face in his only significant run in place of an injured Murray in Week 17 last year.
A college superstar at Texas, McCoy spent his first three pro seasons with the Browns, starting 21 games for Cleveland. After a one season stop with the 49ers, he went on to spend the next six years in Washington. He started seven games in spot duty across those six seasons.
He signed with the Giants in 2020, and started two games in place of an injured Daniel Jones. He completed 40 of 66 passes for 375 yards, one touchdown and one interception. He’s a competent backup, and the 34-year-old will also be a nice veteran mentor to Murray as he enters his third year.
Minor NFL Transactions: 3/30/21
We’ll keep track of today’s minor moves here:
Carolina Panthers
- Signed: WR Micah Simon
Green Bay Packers
- Re-signed: DL Tyler Lancaster
Los Angeles Chargers
- Signed: CB Ryan Smith
Minnesota Vikings
- Placed on reserve/retired list: TE Hale Hentges
New York Giants
- Signed: TE Cole Hikutini, DB Joshua Kalu, DB Christopher Milton
Tennessee Titans
- Signed: S Matthias Farley
Bills Sign T Bobby Hart
On a busy Tuesday for offensive line transactions, the Bills added some potential depth. They signed veteran tackle Bobby Hart.
The Bills signed Hart to a one-year contract. A former Giants seventh-round pick, Hart spent the past three seasons as the Bengals’ starting right tackle.
Despite Hart’s seventh-round arrival, he has spent extensive time in teams’ starting lineups. The Giants used him as a first-stringer in 21 games in three seasons but cut him on the first day of Dave Gettleman‘s GM tenure. The Bengals scooped Hart up and used the ex-Day 3 draftee as a 45-game starter — including all 16 games during the 2018 and ’19 seasons — and signed him to multiple contracts.
While Hart has been viewed as a low-end tackle option for much of his career, Pro Football Focus did give the Florida State alum his highest career mark last season and ranked him 49th among tackles. In Buffalo, however, Hart would be ticketed for a backup job.
The Bills recently re-signed right tackle Daryl Williams to a multiyear deal and have Dion Dawkins entrenched as their left tackle. The Bills did enter Tuesday light on swing tackle options. Hart, 26, would make sense for such a role.
Seahawks Extend G Gabe Jackson
The Seahawks will make sure their recently acquired guard is locked up long-term. They agreed to a three-year extension with Gabe Jackson on Tuesday.
Jackson agreed to a three-year, $22.58MM extension with his new team, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets. Upon being traded, Jackson was still attached to the five-year, $56MM extension he signed with the Raiders in 2017. The veteran guard and the Seahawks have adjusted the terms of his deal.
Guaranteed money will come Jackson’s way. No guarantees remained on Jackson’s Raiders-constructed contract, but Rapoport adds that the seven-year starter will receive a $9MM signing bonus and just more than $7MM in additional guarantees. This move figures to reduce Jackson’s 2021 cap hit ($9.6MM), freeing up some cap room for his new team. Jackson will see $16MM over the next two years, per Jeremy Fowler and Brady Henderson of ESPN.com (Twitter link). The veteran traded a higher average salary for guarantees.
Seattle acquired Jackson for a fifth-round pick, agreeing to send the Day 3 draft choice to Las Vegas for a player on the verge of being cut. Rather than vie with other prospective suitors on the free agent market, the Seahawks secured Jackson’s rights via the trade. The move came several weeks after Russell Wilson went public about his desire to see his team upgrade on the offensive line.
A 2014 third-round pick, Jackson has been a starter throughout his career. He helped the likes of Latavius Murray and Josh Jacobs to 1,000-yard rushing seasons and entered March as the Raiders’ longest-tenured O-lineman. While the 29-year-old blocker has not made a Pro Bowl in his career, he qualifies as a major O-line add for a team that authorized a host of lower-level deals last year.
The Seahawks now have Jackson and emerging guard Damien Lewis signed long-term. Questions remain at tackle, where starters Duane Brown and Brandon Shell are in contract years, but the Seahawks have added Jackson and re-signed starting center Ethan Pocic. It remains to be seen if these transactions moved the needle for Wilson, but the team is in better position up front than it was in 2020.
Vikings Re-Sign OL Dakota Dozier
After being a backup during his first six seasons, Dakota Dozier broke through as a 16-game starter with the Vikings in 2020. The team has moved to extend the parties’ partnership.
Dozier agreed to terms on a one-year deal to stay with the Vikings, Tom Pelissero of NFL.com tweets. At worst, Dozier represents a depth piece for a Vikings line that moved on from Riley Reiff earlier this month. The Vikings announced the move, marking the sides’ third one-year contract agreement.
The Vikings signed Dozier in 2019 and used him as a spot starter that year. Last season, Dozier broke into Minnesota’s starting lineup in Week 1 and did not relinquish the left guard job all season. The Vikings waived Pat Elflein midway through the season, sticking with Dozier and then bringing Ezra Cleveland into the lineup at guard. Pro Football Focus did not view Dozier’s work in an especially positive light, slotting him 77th among qualified guards last season, but the Vikings now have four of their five O-line starters from 2020 under contract.
Reiff’s departure may mean Cleveland moves to left tackle, leaving a guard spot open. Dozier, 30 in April, would then have a clearer path to returning as a starter. Prior to joining the Vikings, the former fourth-round pick served as a Jets backup from 2014-18.
Chiefs To Sign OL Austin Blythe
The Chiefs are bringing in more outside help for their offensive line. They will sign former Rams starting center Austin Blythe, Tom Pelissero of NFL.com tweets. It’s a one-year deal.
Blythe will join Joe Thuney and Kyle Long as Chiefs interior O-line additions this offseason. Blythe started three seasons with the Rams, doing so at both center and guard. The Chiefs had used Austin Reiter as their primary center over the past two seasons, and although the team made an offer for Reiter to return, they appear to be moving on at the position.
A full-time guard starter on the Rams’ Super Bowl LIII-qualifying team, Blythe has started 47 regular-season games since the start of that 2018 season. The former seventh-round Colts pick established himself as a quality Rams starter and will be in line to work as the Chiefs’ starting center. The Rams moved Blythe to center last season, and Pro Football Focus graded him ninth at the position.
The Rams claimed Blythe off waivers in 2017 and turned to him as a replacement for the suspended Jamon Brown in 2018. Blythe kept his job after Brown’s reinstatement and played guard in 2019 as well. The Rams re-signed Blythe last year but will lose him. Despite Sean McVay wanting the team to retain Blythe this year, Andrew Whitworth and right tackle Rob Havenstein remain from Los Angeles’ Super Bowl O-line.
Blythe, 28, will check off a key box for the two-time reigning AFC champions, who can shift their O-line focus to the tackle positions.
Raiders, Kolton Miller Agree To Extension
The Raiders have made some major changes on their offensive line, but they will make sure their left tackle will not be going anywhere for a while. They agreed to terms with Kolton Miller on an extension Tuesday, Jeremy Fowler of ESPN.com reports (on Twitter).
Miller agreed to a three-year deal worth more than $18MM annually, per Fowler, who adds the three-year veteran will receive more than $42.6MM fully guaranteed. The contract will end up averaging just north of $18MM per year, Tom Pelissero of NFL.com tweets. The agreement locks in Miller through the 2025 season. Miller’s rookie contract, including the fifth-year option, ran through 2022.
This marks the first extension handed out to a member of the 2018 draft class, which became extension-eligible in January. The Raiders had a Miller extension in mind for a bit now, and they will take care of their first draft pick of the second Jon Gruden era. After trading down with the Cardinals in a deal that sent them ex-UCLA quarterback Josh Rosen, the Raiders took Rosen’s blindside Bruins protector at No. 15 overall. The Raiders’ pick worked out, with Miller having started 46 games in three seasons.
Las Vegas’ Miller decision comes after the team surprised most by gutting its offensive line. The Raiders traded Pro Bowlers Rodney Hudson and Trent Brown and also dealt its longest-tenured O-lineman, Gabe Jackson. While the team still opted to bring back Richie Incognito and Denzelle Good, Miller is now this O-line’s unquestioned anchor.
Pro Football Focus has not viewed Miller as a high-end tackle just yet, though it did assign the 25-year-old blocker his best grade last season. He ranked a career-best 34th among tackles in 2020. While Miller has helped Josh Jacobs to back-to-back 1,000-yard rushing seasons and been present for consecutive Derek Carr top-11 QBR campaigns, this extension marks a bet in further Miller development.
At $18MM annually, Miller’s new deal comes in fifth among left tackles. It will land just below the recently established top tier at the position. However, the $42.6MM fully guaranteed comes in second at the position. That is a significant win for Miller, considering this is a three-year deal. Even Laremy Tunsil‘s market-reshaping three-year extension did not include this much in fully guaranteed money. While the Raiders bailed on their previous monster tackle accord, shipping Brown to the Patriots after two seasons, they will bet big on Miller.
Steelers Sign RB Kalen Ballage
The Steelers announced that they have signed running back Kalen Ballage to a one-year deal. Ballage, entering his fourth pro season, split the 2020 campaign between the Jets and Chargers.
After being drafted by the Dolphins in the fourth round of the 2018 draft, Ballage has appeared in 35 games across multiple stops. All in all, he has 629 yards off of 201 carries with seven touchdowns. He’s also tacked on 52 grabs for 285 yards. His best year came as a rookie — in an admittedly small sample size of 36 carries, the Arizona State product averaged 5.3 yards per tote.
The Steelers finished last in rushing yards per attempt last year, so they’re expected to prioritize RBs in the draft next month. Ballage won’t be the main ball-carrier in Pittsburgh, but he can offer support for the lagging group.
“We’ve got to be a lot better in running,” team president Art Rooney II said recently. “Certainly we don’t want to see the Pittsburgh Steelers being last in the league in rushing again ever. I think it’s something our coaches are focused on and we’ll be looking for ways to improve in the draft. It’s something we’ve got to fix, and we are working on it.”
Chiefs To Re-Sign WR Tajae Sharpe
Tajae Sharpe did not have a role with the Vikings or Chiefs last season, but Kansas City kept the veteran wide receiver on its practice squad. The Chiefs will retain Sharpe for the 2021 season.
The former fifth-round pick agreed to a deal to stay with the Chiefs, Mike Garafolo of NFL.com tweets. The sides agreed to a one-year contract, Herbie Teope of the Kansas City Star tweets. This will be Sharpe’s sixth NFL season.
Kansas City’s receiver group will look different than it has over the past three seasons, with Sammy Watkins opting to leave for Baltimore late last week. Watkins had operated as the Chiefs’ No. 2 wideout (when healthy) since 2018. The Chiefs, however, did re-sign Demarcus Robinson for a second straight year and have Mecole Hardman and Byron Pringle still on the roster as well.
The Vikings cut Sharpe in December; he did not catch a pass with Minnesota. Sharpe did not play in any Chiefs games and hit unrestricted free agency earlier this month.
Sharpe’s best season remains his 2016 rookie year with the Titans, when he caught 41 passes for 522 yards and two touchdowns. Sharpe, 26, surpassed 300 yards in 2018 and ’19, bouncing back somewhat from a season-nullifying injury in 2017.