Chargers To Sign Linval Joseph
After beefing up their offensive line, the Chargers are turning their attention to the other side of the ball. On Wednesday, the Bolts reached agreement on a deal with free agent defensive tackle Linval Joseph (Twitter link via NFL.com’s Mike Garafolo). 
It’s a two-year, $17MM deal for the former Vikings standout. He’ll be able to collect an additional $2MM, too, if he hits certain incentives. Joseph will receive $9.5MM guaranteed, per Mike Garafolo of NFL.com, who adds the veteran D-lineman declined a Vikings request for a pay cut (Twitter link).
Earlier this month, the Vikings dropped Joseph after seven seasons with the club. Between his release and the release of cornerback Xavier Rhodes, the Vikes carved out $18MM in cap space. The Chargers, who created room by cutting linebacker Thomas Davis and defensive tackle Brandon Mebane late last week, were happy to bring Joseph into the fold.
Joseph has often been one of the league’s best defensive tackles, and he made the Pro Bowl in back to back seasons from 2016-17. A second-round pick of the Giants way back in 2010, Joseph turned 31 in October and should have at least a couple more years left in the tank.
The East Carolina product should slide in as an immediate starter with Los Angeles, and the Chargers now quietly have one of the most talented defensive fronts in the league. With Joseph in the middle and stud edge rushers Melvin Ingram and Joey Bosa on either side of him, the Chargers will be very hard to block.
49ers To Re-Sign Ben Garland
The 49ers are set to re-sign Ben Garland, as Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets. He’ll return on a one-year deal worth $2.25MM.
Garland joined the Niners last year after three seasons with the Falcons. 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan overlapped with him in that first Atlanta season, making it a natural fit.
Garland entered the NFL as a defensive lineman but later found his footing as a protector. He’s never been a full-time starter, but he’s been well-regarded by coaches and advanced metrics alike for his work in recent years.
Jaguars Trade Nick Foles To Bears
The Jaguars have agreed to trade Nick Foles to the Bears, according to ESPN.com’s Adam Schefter (on Twitter). In exchange, the Bears will send a compensatory fourth-round pick to the Jags. The former Super Bowl MVP will restructure his hefty contract as part of the trade, Mike Garafolo of NFL Network tweets.
It’ll be new surroundings for Foles, but he’ll have plenty of familiar faces to help him adjust. Head coach Matt Nagy is among the staffers that have worked with him in the past, which will help with the learning curve.
The Bears have been exploring alternatives to former first-round pick Mitchell Trubisky this offseason, though they’re not necessarily out to replace him. Instead, Foles figures to serve as competition for the soon-to-be 26-year-old.
Trubisky showed plenty of promise in 2018 as he led the Bears to an 11-3 mark in 14 starts, a campaign that resulted in his first ever Pro Bowl nod. However, things got really rocky last year – Trubisky had just 17 touchdowns against ten interceptions and the Bears’ D couldn’t make up for the shortcomings. The Bears went 8-7 in Trubisky’s 15 starts and finished .500 on the season, leaving them short of the playoffs.
Chicago initially insisted after the year that they’d roll with Trubisky in 2020, but reports soon emerged that they were going to look for a veteran to push Trubisky. They’ve been connected to a number of signal-callers including Foles, Andy Dalton, and Teddy Bridgewater, and we heard Monday that they were focused on trading for either Foles or Dalton.
The Bears will take on the last three years of Foles’ contract, which pays a base value of $50M before the restructure. The Jaguars will be left with a substantial dead money hit of $18.75MM in 2020 and a mid-round pick. Jacksonville seems prepared to turn things over to Gardner Minshew, the sixth-rounder who went 6-6 last year as a rookie and finished the season with a top-10 interception rate.
Foles has had plenty of success at Soldier Field, as his last win as a starting quarterback was in Chicago in the wild card round of the playoffs two seasons ago in the infamous ‘double-doink’ game. While the Bears have insisted they aren’t giving up on Trubisky, it would be highly unusual to pay a backup quarterback as much money as Foles is getting, and it would be surprising if he doesn’t take over at some point.
Chicago now has even less draft capital, as they’ve already shipped out a bunch of picks in previous deals. They now have the 43rd and 50th overall selections in next month’s draft, but no other picks in the first four-rounds, Brad Biggs of the Chicago Tribune notes in a tweet breaking down all of their picks.
Panthers Release S Eric Reid
Eric Reid and the Panthers are going their separate ways. On Wednesday, the veteran safety took to Twitter to announce that he will be released by the club: 
“It’s been a pleasure Carolina! I enjoyed my time and the support I received from the fans, media, teammates, and staff there will be remembered. Looking forward to furthering my career in another city!”
The Panthers subsequently confirmed the move. This will end a two-year tenure with Carolina.
Reid, 28, hasn’t been on the open market since 2018. In that offseason, he was forced to wait until September before landing the deal. Some believe that Reid’s relationship with Colin Kaepernick and role in national anthem protests hampered his market. Others pointed to the NFL’s safety market stagnating league-wide – other notable safeties also struggled to find substantial dollars in that cycle. In truth, both were likely factors.
This time around, Reid should fare much better. Last season, Reid started in all 16 games and thrived as he was deployed in blitz action. He finished out the year with four sacks and an eye-popping 130 tackles, good for a brand new career best.
Reid was set to play out the final two years of the three-year extension he signed in February of 2019. Instead, the Panthers will drop him to save $3MM against $5MM in dead money. Per the terms of his deal, his 2020 salary would have shifted to a full guarantee on the third day of the league year had he remained on the roster.
The release comes as a surprise, though the Panthers have been in full rebuild mode all throughout the offseason. After cutting ties with head coach Ron Rivera and tight end Greg Olsen, the club kicked things into high gear this week by putting quarterback Cam Newton on the trade block.
Dolphins To Sign Ted Karras
The Dolphins have landed the Patriots’ starting center. Ted Karras will come to the Dolphins on a one-year, $4MM deal, as Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald tweets. 
The offensive line has been a major area of need for the Dolphins this offseason and they’ve moved to address it in recent days. Earlier this week, they inked Ereck Flowers to a three-year deal worth $30MM, including $19.5MM fully guaranteed – a pact reflective of the league’s dearth of quality linemen. Next, the Dolphins will have to figure out their left tackle situation and Jackson hears they’re likely to find their man in the draft.
The Patriots are hoping to have David Andrews retake his spot in the middle of the line, but that will all depend on his health. Andrews missed all of 2019 with blood clots in his lungs and has expressed optimism about being about to play in 2020.
The rumors linking the Dolphins to Tom Brady didn’t pan out, but they’ve been aggressive in March nonetheless. So far this week, they’ve signed cornerback Byron Jones, running back Jordan Howard, linebacker Kyle Van Noy, and defensive ends Shaq Lawson and Emmanuel Ogbah.
Bengals To Cut John Miller
The Bengals are releasing starting guard John Miller, Adam Schefter of ESPN.com tweets. Miller joined the team as a free agent just one year ago, but he no longer fit into their plans. 
Miller was set to play out the last two seasons on his three-year, $16.5MM deal. By dropping him, the Bengals will save $2.61MM against $2.66MM in dead money.
Last year, Miller started in 13 games for the Bengals. Previous to that, he started in 47 games for the Bills across four seasons. His tenure in Buffalo garnered mixed reviews – in 2017, he was demoted in favor of Vlad Ducasse. But, in 2018, he regained his starting gig and showed enough to land a decent payday with the Bengals. Now, he’ll look for work elsewhere.
Titans Trade Jurrell Casey To Broncos
The Broncos have landed Jurrell Casey, and it didn’t cost him much. On Wednesday, the Titans agreed to send the defensive tackle to Denver in exchange for a seventh-round pick. 
Casey is on the books for $11.85MM in 2020, with $5.45MM of that sum becoming fully guaranteed this weekend. The Titans were likely to release him, but they found a taker and a small bit of compensation instead.
Casey, 30, missed the final game of the 2018 season with a knee injury and was held out of training camp as he recovered. He passed his physical in time for 2019 and managed to appear in 14 games, all starts. Casey has been first-string for his entire Titans tenure; he has 139 career games and has started in all but two of them.
With this deal, the Broncos have added a five-time Pro Bowler to their defensive line on the cheap. Casey has 51 career sacks from the interior under his belt and an impressive track record of disruption on the line. Last year, Pro Football Focus gave him a 74.3 score – a notch below his usual work, but still good enough to place as the No. 24 ranked interior defender in the NFL.
Bengals To Cut B.W. Webb
The Bengals will release B.W. Webb today, according to ESPN.com’s Josina Anderson (on Twitter). The move will save the team $3.5MM against the 2020 salary cap while leaving $1MM in dead money. 
Webb joined the Bengals last year on a two-year, $10.5MM deal, but he only fetched $2.5MM in guaranteed dollars. In his lone Bengals season, Webb appeared in 15 games and started in 12 of those contests. In a difficult season full of injuries, the Bengals finished the year 2-14.
Webb, who turns 30 in May, had a stronger 2018 when he was with the Giants. In that season, he graded out as the No. 77 ranked corner in the league, according to Pro Football Focus. By those advanced metrics, he performed roughly as well as Morris Claiborne, Marcus Peters, Minkah Fitzpatrick, and Jimmy Smith.
It’s just the latest shuffling of cornerbacks for the Bengals, who added Trae Waynes and lost Darqueze Dennard to the Jaguars this week.
Lions To Sign Danny Shelton
The Lions have agreed to sign former Patriots defensive lineman Danny Shelton, according to Adam Schefter of ESPN.com (on Twitter). It’ll be a two-year deal worth $8MM, agent Drew Rosenhaus tells Schefter.
Shelton hooked on with Rosenhaus in February, just weeks before entering unrestricted free agency. Last year, he sat on the market for a few months before re-signing with the Patriots on a one-year deal. This time around, he’s found his deal much sooner.
A better run defender than pass rusher, the 6’2″, 345-pound Shelton took on a key role for the Pats last year. He played in every regular season game and started in 14 of those contests. Overall he played around 49 percent of the defensive snaps for one of the league’s best defenses. With the Lions, he figures to serve as a key rotational piece on the interior.
The Washington product was drafted 12th overall by the Browns back in 2015. He became an instant starter in Cleveland but never quite lived up to his draft status, and was shipped to New England along with a fifth-rounder in exchange for a third-round pick before the 2018 season.
He had three sacks coming up the middle last year, and this continues a trend of Detroit and Matt Patricia picking up former Pats players after they also signed linebacker Jamie Collins earlier this week.
Jets To Release Trumaine Johnson
The Jets will officially cut Trumaine Johnson when the league year opens this afternoon, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets. This has been a long expected move as the Jets look to move on from an absolute disaster of a free agent signing. 
Since-fired GM Mike Maccagnan signed Johnson to a five-year, $72.5MM in 2018 after striking out on quarterback Kirk Cousins and other top targets. What seemed like an over-pay at the time went in a much worse direction than anyone could have anticipated. Injuries hampered Johnson and Jets officials were sometimes left with the impression that his effort was lacking.
The move will not free up lots of cap room for Gang Green – they’ll be saddled with $12MM in dead money versus just $3MM in cap savings. The silver lining, however, is that the Jets can spread his $12MM dead money cap hit by marking him as a post-June 1 release.
The Jets tried to scare up interest in Johnson before the trade deadline last year, but there were no takers. Predictably, there was no market for Johnson in March.
Between the Jets and the Rams, Johnson has earned $70M as an NFL pro.