Raiders To Sign Damarious Randall
Damarious Randall is headed to Las Vegas. On Friday, the safety agreed to a one-year deal to join up with Jon Gruden & Co., according to ESPN.com’s Josina Anderson (Twitter link). Ian Rapoport of NFL.com adds that the pact will be worth up to $3.25MM (Twitter link).
[RELATED: Raiders Call Off Deal With Eli Apple]
Randall, 28 in August, spent the first three years of his career with the Packers before moving on to the Browns in 2018. Last year, he was limited to just eleven games, though he still managed 2.5 sacks, 61 total stops, and six passes defensed. All in all, he’s got 56 career starts and 14 interceptions to his credit across five NFL seasons.
Randall clashed with head coach Freddie Kitchens at times last year, but he wasn’t the only player in Cleveland to get into it with the since-fired coach. Besides, Gruden likes to see a little bit of fire in his veteran players.
The Redskins and Seahawks also expressed interest in Randall in March, but the Raiders stayed patient and landed him on a short-term deal in April. Luckily for them, Randall was still available to help fortify the secondary after their deal with Eli Apple fell through.
One way or another, the Raiders will have to improve their pass defense in order to contend in 2020. Last year, they surrendered 256.7 passing yards per game, the eighth-highest total in the league.
Chiefs Re-Sign Sammy Watkins
Sammy Watkins is staying put. On Friday morning, the Chiefs reached agreement on a new one-year deal with the veteran wide receiver, as Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets. 
Throughout the offseason, there’s been talk of Watkins either taking a pay cut to stay in KC or walking away from football for at least one season. Watkins went with the former option. Under the terms of his old deal, Watkins was set to earn $14MM – an outsized sum given his role in the Chiefs’ stacked offense. Now, he’ll make $9MM in base salary with the potential to earn another $7MM through incentives, as Terez A. Paylor of Yahoo Sports reports (via Twitter). Mike Garafolo of the NFL Network lays out most of those incentives, which are as follows (Twitter link):
- Eight TDs and Chiefs make playoffs: $750K
- 65 catches + playoffs: $750K
- 800 yards + playoffs: $750k
- AFC Championship Game win (50% snaps in game): $1.25MM
- 65 catches + AFC Championship Game win: $1.25MM
- 800 yards + AFC Championship Game win: $1.25MM
Those incentives “only” total $6MM, so assuming Paylor’s report is accurate, there is another $1MM incentives to be had, perhaps based on non-playoff-related milestones. If Watkins hits those incentives, he could earn up to $16MM, so in theory, his pay cut could actually wind up as a pay raise. At his best and healthiest in Buffalo, Watkins was a world-class offensive weapon. In KC, Watkins competes for targets with Travis Kelce, Tyreek Hill, Mecole Hardman, and other dangerous receivers, which makes it a little trickier to hit statistical markers.
There are two other major pluses to the new deal: it includes a no-trade clause, and it allows Watkins to hit unrestricted free agency next year at the age of 27. If he has a big year, he could cash in on a lucrative multi-year contract with the Chiefs or another club in need of a deep threat. Watkins has hauled in at least 40 catches for 500 receiving yards and three touchdowns in each of the last two seasons. He’s also shined in the postseason with an average of 92.8 receiving yards in five playoff games for the Chiefs.
Loaded with talent – especially on Watkins’ side of the ball – the Chiefs have mostly managed to keep the band together. They’ll bring back ten of their eleven offensive starters from the Super Bowl and eight of their nine best receivers, as Field Yates of ESPN.com (on Twitter) notes. The Watkins restructure will help them to fortify a little bit. The Chiefs had next-to-zero cap room before the adjustment; they now have $5MM in breathing room.
Minor NFL Transactions: 4/2/20
Today’s minor moves:
Arizona Cardinals
- Signed exclusive rights tender: T Justin Murray
Buffalo Bills
- Signed exclusive rights tender: WR Robert Foster, CB Levi Wallace
Miami Dolphins
- Signed original round RFA tender: P Matt Haack
Saints To Re-Sign CB P.J. Williams
The Saints have agreed to re-sign cornerback P.J. Williams, per Nick Underhill of NewOrleans.Football. It will be a one-year deal for the Florida State product, as Underhill tweets. Ian Rapoport of NFL.com adds that Williams will earn a fully-guaranteed $2MM (Twitter link).
Though he was once considered a first-round talent, Williams slipped to the third round of the 2015 draft, perhaps due to a DUI arrest shortly before that draft. He was arrested for DUI again in January 2019, which led to a two-game suspension last season. But on the field, Williams has finally found his niche as a slot corner.
He has never been a darling of the advanced metrics, but he has continued to play a critical role in the Saints’ secondary. His work as a nickel back certainly passes the eye test, even if sites like Pro Football Focus don’t love him, and he also brings valuable positional versatility.
As Underhill points out, the Saints have very little boundary CB depth behind Janoris Jenkins and Marshon Lattimore, and while Williams won’t win any awards for his work outside the numbers, he represents a marked improvement over players like Patrick Robinson in that regard. And even though New Orleans certainly hopes Williams won’t need to play a ton of snaps at safety in 2020, he performed very well at that position last year as an injury replacement.
Williams, who is particularly effective as a tackler and against the run, has four interceptions and 24 passes defensed in his career.
Lions To Sign CB Darryl Roberts
The Lions and veteran cornerback Darryl Roberts are in agreement on a one-year contract, per Tom Pelissero of the NFL Network (Twitter link). Roberts was released by the Jets last week.
After trading Darius Slay to the Eagles, Detroit was in need of an experienced boundary corner. Although the club did sign Desmond Trufant, the second option on the depth chart before the Roberts signing was slot man Justin Coleman.
The Lions have been linked to Ohio State CB Jeff Okudah, one of the most talented defenders in this year’s draft, and adding Roberts will certainly not preclude Detroit from selecting Okudah, who is said to be very high on the team’s draft board. On the other hand, the Lions do have a number of holes to fill and they already own four of the first 85 picks in the draft, so they may now be more amenable to trading down from the No. 3 pick to further stock up on draft capital while still giving themselves the opportunity to draft a player like Derrick Brown.
Roberts, 29, is not one of the league’s best corners, but he does have 56 appearances and 26 career starts to his credit, including back-to-back 10-start seasons in 2018-19. The former seventh-round pick inked a three-year, $18MM deal with the Jets in March 2019, but he graded out as an average-at-best player, per Pro Football Focus’ advanced metrics. So the Jets’ new regime dropped him in order to save $6MM against the books.
In his four years of regular season action, Roberts has accumulated 172 tackles to go along with three interceptions and 27 passes defensed.
Derrick Henry Signs Franchise Tender
Titans running back Derrick Henry has signed his franchise tender, as Dianna Russini of ESPN.com reports (via Twitter). If he plays out the 2020 season under the tender, he would earn $10.2MM while counting for an equivalent charge against Tennessee’s salary cap.
However, we heard yesterday that the Titans want to complete a long-term extension with the 2019 rushing champion in advance of the July 15 deadline, and Adam Schefter of ESPN.com confirms that is still the case (Twitter link). Henry, understandably, is just as committed to getting a deal done as Tennessee is.
Of course, running back negotiations have been rife with complications in recent years, and the performances that players like Todd Gurley, David Johnson, and Le’Veon Bell turned in after signing their own big-money deals could make a team like the Titans hesitant to commit to a lucrative multi-year pact for an RB. On the other hand, Gurley and Johnson have dealt with serious injury issues, and Bell saw a ton of touches with Pittsburgh before holding out an entire season. Ezekiel Elliott, despite having a lot of miles on his odometer, performed at a Pro Bowl level in 2019 after signing his new contract, which currently leads all RB deals with a $15MM AAV.
Henry, on the other hand, was used relatively sparingly in his first three years in the league before being unleashed on opposing teams in 2019. The Titans rode the bruising Alabama product to a berth in the AFC Championship Game last season, and if the club makes another deep postseason run in 2020, Henry will almost certainly be a big reason why. He piled up 1,540 rushing yards and 16 TDs on the ground in 2019, to go along with another 206 yards and two TDs through the air. Though the Chiefs managed to contain him for the most part in the AFCCG, he made a mockery of the Patriots’ and Ravens’ highly-touted defenses in the prior two playoff contests.
He will likely top Elliott’s $15MM annual payout and Elliott’s $28MM in full guarantees. But luckily for Tennessee, Henry cannot now stage a training camp holdout.
Seahawks Waive S Tedric Thompson
Apr. 2: Contrary to the earlier report suggesting that Thompson had fully recovered from his torn labrum, Brady Henderson of ESPN.com says that the 25-year-old was waived with a failed-physical designation (Twitter link). Thompson has cleared waivers and is now free to sign with any team, but given his uncertain health status and the restrictive policies currently governing free agent physicals, he may not find a new home for a while.
Mar. 31: Tedric Thompson‘s time with the Seahawks is coming to an end. Seattle will waive the safety, according to Josina Anderson of ESPN.com (Twitter link).
We heard a couple of weeks ago that Thompson had been given permission to seek a trade, but obviously they weren’t able to find any takers. Thompson had been set to earn $2.3MM in 2020, and the Seahawks will save $2.1MM by cutting him. Thompson only appeared in six games last season because of a torn labrum, and a source tells Anderson that Thompson is now fully healthy. Before going down he had started all six games and had two interceptions, but received poor marks from Pro Football Focus.
Seattle drafted Thompson in the fourth-round out of Colorado back in 2017 and after playing sparingly as a rookie, he started ten games in 2018. The Seahawks’ defense was a bit of a disappointment last season, and Thompson was made especially expendable by their trade for safety Quandre Diggs last fall.
Thompson is still only 25, and with his recent starting experience he should be scooped up pretty quickly by another team. Seattle will roll with Diggs and Bradley McDougald as their starting safeties, and are hoping their recent trade for Quinton Dunbar will help bolster the secondary.
Cowboys To Sign Aldon Smith
Aldon Smith has not played in an NFL game since the 2015 season. The Cowboys will nonetheless give the former Pro Bowler a chance.
Dallas and the former first-round edge rusher agreed on a one-year deal Wednesday night, Jay Glazer of Fox Sports tweets. While Smith has run into endless substance abuse-related trouble off the field, Glazer said the former 49ers standout is “clean and sober” at this point. He has been clean for nine months, Calvin Watkins of the Dallas Morning News tweets.
Interestingly, this is not a league-minimum deal. The Cowboys will give Smith $2MM in base salary and are including an additional $2MM in sack incentives, Mike Garafolo of NFL.com tweets. As could be expected, no guaranteed money is included here, Michael Gehlken of the Dallas Morning News adds.
Smith remains suspended indefinitely, but the Cowboys are clearly betting the new CBA will green-light his return to the league. The NFL denied a Smith reinstatement plea in December 2016. This is an interesting destination for Smith, because the Cowboys are making a similar bet with the oft-suspended Randy Gregory. The team is confident Gregory will be reinstated soon.
Smith, now 30, applied for reinstatement last month. He has not played in an NFL game since a Raiders-Vikings contest in mid-November 2015. Smith has been arrested more than a handful of times over the years, including several times since his indefinite suspension from the league. In addition to being banned under the substance-abuse policy, Smith has previously run afoul of the league’s personal conduct guidelines.
The NFL’s new CBA likely opened the door to this Cowboys move. This latest agreement features lesser penalties for non-PED positive drug tests, though DUIs will be dealt with more harshly. Smith, however, was arrested for suspicion of DUI in 2012, ’13 and ’15 — the final such incident leading to his 49ers release that year. This will be an interesting case for the NFL, but the Cowboys clearly believe Smith will be allowed back in the league.
The Cowboys may now be set to have two of the more frequent violators of the 2011 CBA’s substance-abuse policy — Smith and Gregory — rushing the passer for them. This is not exactly an out-of-the-ordinary move for the organization. The Cowboys in recent years gave a second chance to Greg Hardy, acquired Pacman Jones after a full-season suspension, kept Rolando McClain around during his suspension bouts and are still hoping Gregory will be back.
The 49ers used their No. 7 overall pick on Smith in 2011, and he delivered superstar-level work in his first two seasons. Smith registered 14 sacks as a rookie and landed on the All-Pro first team in 2012, recording 19.5 sacks for a 49ers team that voyaged to Super Bowl XLVII. He posted 8.5 sacks in 2013 but recorded only 5.5 between abbreviated 2014 and ’15 seasons. Smith latched on with the Raiders later in 2015, and Oakland re-signed him in 2016. Various off-field incidents prevented Smith from playing a second season with the Raiders.
Dallas let Robert Quinn walk in free agency and has not made it known a Michael Bennett re-up is on the table. If Smith is reinstated, he will reunite with his former position coach in San Francisco; Dallas hired Jim Tomsula to as defensive line coach this year. Tyrone Crawford has emerged as a possible starter opposite DeMarcus Lawrence. If that ends up being the case, the Cowboys would have one of the most interesting second-string defensive end tandems — if Gregory and Smith are allowed back into the league — in NFL history.
Seahawks To Sign DE Benson Mayowa
Benson Mayowa‘s first NFL work came in a two-game sample with the Super Bowl champion 2013 Seahawks. The seven-year veteran will have an opportunity to come back to Seattle.
Mayowa reached an agreement to rejoin the Seahawks on Wednesday, according to his agency (Twitter link). This deal includes $3MM-plus fully guaranteed, per Tom Pelissero of NFL.com, who adds it maxes out at over $4MM (Twitter link).
Mayowa stands to provide depth for Seattle on the edge. While this does not appear to impact the Seahawks’ pursuit of Jadeveon Clowney, Pelissero adds the team did not wish to keep waiting to add pieces up front (Twitter link). The Seahawks remain in on Clowney, but teams like the Titans and Jets have surfaced as potential suitors as of Wednesday.
Since 2014, Mayowa has played for the Raiders, Cowboys and Cardinals. In his second Raiders stint, a one-year stay in 2019, he recorded a career-high seven sacks despite playing just 270 snaps. That was three more than any Seahawk recorded last season. Mayowa, 28, has 20 career sacks and two seasons with at least six — last year with the Raiders and with the 2016 Cowboys.
This marks the second reunion for the Seahawks at this position. Last month, they agreed to terms with Bruce Irvin. Neither Irvin (8.5 sacks last season) nor Mayowa profile as a high-end edge rusher at this point, so the team may still be pursuing Clowney.
The Seahawks finished with just 28 sacks — 31st in the league — last season, so these additions stand to at least aid the group. Mayowa originally caught on with the Seahawks as a UDFA out of Idaho.
Giants, LS Casey Kreiter Agree To Deal
The Giants will reunite Riley Dixon with his former long snapper. Casey Kreiter agreed to terms with the Giants on Wednesday, the team announced.
Dixon and Kreiter played together for two seasons with the Broncos. The team non-tendered Kreiter as an RFA last year but re-signed him. The Broncos will move on from their four-year snapper this offseason.
While terms of this deal are not known, veteran snappers are confined to a precise salary range — anywhere from $1.1-$1.3MM per year. In addition to spending four seasons in Denver, Kreiter went to camp twice with the Cowboys during Jason Garrett‘s HC tenure.
Colin Holba snapped in five Giants games last season and remains under contract. The addition of the 29-year-old Kreiter also figures to spell the end of Zak DeOssie‘s time with the Giants. The two-time Pro Bowler went on IR last season. DeOssie spent 13 seasons with the Giants, snapping in both their most recent Super Bowl-winning campaigns.
The Giants expect DeOssie to retire, per ESPN.com’s Jordan Raanan (on Twitter). That would mean losing the final two members of their Super Bowl champion teams in one offseason, with Eli Manning having called it quits after 16 seasons.