Vikings, Kirk Cousins Agree To Extension
The Vikings will make a major move before the tampering period begins. They have reached an agreement on a Kirk Cousins extension, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets. It’ll be a two-year deal worth $66MM, bringing the grand total to $96MM over three years, with $61MM guaranteed at signing.
This could be a significant help to a franchise that is annually up against the cap. The Vikings authorized a historic three-year, $84MM fully guaranteed Cousins pact two years ago. This move will help bring down their quarterback’s $31MM 2020 cap number.
While a Minnesota-Cousins re-up was rumored, this stands to change the Vikings’ near-future outlook. Cousins had one season left on his initial Vikings contract. The soon-to-be 32-year-old passer is now signed through the 2022 season. This will put to rest any further rumors of a Cousins-Kyle Shanahan reunion. With the 49ers also passing on Tom Brady, Jimmy Garoppolo again appears to be in the clear.
Minnesota already cleared cap space by cutting Linval Joseph and Xavier Rhodes, going from over the 2020 cap to $15MM-plus under it. This Cousins accord will create additional space for the team in free agency.
Cousins has played fairly well since choosing the Vikings in 2018. He has thrown 56 touchdown passes compared to 16 interceptions. The former fourth-round pick, however, has only finished 14th and 13th in QBR during his two Vikings seasons. The Vikings did win a playoff game in 2019, but their offense accomplished little in a divisional-round loss to the 49ers.
Nevertheless, this deal will keep Cousins in Minnesota for the foreseeable future. While it is likely not a fully guaranteed contract like the 2018 deal was, Cousins surely did well again. Given where the quarterback market has gone since Cousins’ landmark deal, it’s likely this contract will come in north of $30MM per year.
Falcons To Release Devonta Freeman
Up against the 2020 salary cap, the Falcons will cut their longtime starting running back. They will move on from Devonta Freeman before the tampering period begins, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets. 
This previously rumored move will not be especially beneficial, though. The Falcons will eat $6MM in dead money by releasing their starting back of the past five seasons. A Freeman release would move Atlanta under the cap, however.
The Falcons will save around $3MM in cap space by releasing him outright. The Falcons have been mulling the possibility of moving on from Freeman for a while now – in October, they strongly considered dealing him to the Lions and other clubs in need of RBs.
Freeman was set to play out the rest of his five-year, $41.25MM deal. Signed in August of 2017, it made him one of the league’s highest-paid RBs. Unfortunately, it did not pan out – Freeman was unable to stay healthy and appeared in just two games in 2018. Last year, he played in 14 contests, but averaged just 3.6 yards per tote.
The Falcons are now charged with having to remake their backfield. As of this writing, they’ve got Brian Hill and….not much else. Many expect the Falcons to target their RB of the future in the draft since they’re lacking in cap flexibility.
Falcons To Release Desmond Trufant
The Falcons will release cornerback Desmond Trufant this week, according to NFL.com’s Tom Pelissero (on Twitter). Trufant still had three years remaining on the five-year, $68.75MM extension he signed with Atlanta prior to the 2017 season. 
Trufant had one of his strongest years, by some metrics, in 2019, but it wasn’t enough to keep his spot with the Falcons. By releasing him, the Falcons will save $4.95MM against $10.2MM in dead money.
Trufant came away with four interceptions and seven passes defensed in an injury-shortened eight-game season. He missed the first quarter of the year with a toe injury and was forced to go on IR in December after suffering a broken forearm.
.Before all of that, Trufant logged at least 15 games in five of his first six seasons. He was also a star in the Falcons defense, including his 2015 Pro Bowl season. Releasing Trufant was far from an easy call, but the Falcons find themselves in a difficult cap situation this offseason and they’re desperate for relief anywhere they can find it.
Packers To Sign LB Christian Kirksey
Christian Kirksey made his decision early Monday morning. After visiting three teams last week, the free agent linebacker will sign with the Packers, Mike Garafolo of NFL.com tweets.
Kirksey agreed to a two-year, $16MM deal with Green Bay, per Garafolo. The six-year veteran will reunite with Mike Pettine, the Packers’ DC who drafted him when he was the Browns’ head coach back in 2014.
This marks a notable move for a Packers team that does not usually devote much funding to off-ball linebackers. The team is expected to let top tackler Blake Martinez hit the market and find his second contract elsewhere. Now, the team has an $8MM-AAV contract at this position. Kirksey also adds to a suddenly expensive linebacking corps, with Za’Darius Smith and Preston Smith each earning north of $13MM annually.
It represents another deviation under GM Brian Gutekunst, who has shown a greater willingness to spend in free agency than predecessor Ted Thompson. However, this signing — since Kirksey was a street free agent — will not affect the Packers’ compensatory formula.
The 27-year-old linebacker visited the Raiders and Bills while also communicating with the Ravens. Despite coming off two injury-marred seasons, the recently released defender landed a contract that pays him nearly what his previous Browns deal did. Cleveland signed Kirksey to a $9.5MM-per-year extension and saw the former third-round pick total 286 tackles between the 2016-17 seasons. He will now have a chance to revive his career in a familiar system.
Patriots Re-Sign S Devin McCourty
The Patriots are re-signing a veteran team leader… but it’s not Tom Brady. New England is bringing back safety Devin McCourty on a two-year deal worth $23MM, sources told Ian Rapoport of NFL Network (Twitter link).
Rapsheet adds that McCourty will get $17MM guaranteed with his new pact. Way back in January of 2019 McCourty announced that he was considering retirement, but he obviously ended up playing the 2019 season and said recently that he intended to play in 2020 as well. As Rapoport points out this will likely allow McCourty to finish his career with the Patriots as well as alongside his identical twin brother Jason McCourty, a cornerback with the Patriots.
McCourty, 32, entered the league as a first-round pick of the Patriots back in 2010 and has been with the team ever since. He’s won three Super Bowls with them, and is an important voice in the locker room. He’s also been an incredibly consistent presence on the field, starting at least 14 games in all 10 of his pro seasons.
His performance has always ranged from good to great, and he racked up five interceptions this past year, his most since 2012. He’s been named a second-team All-Pro selection on three occasions. We had heard a couple of weeks ago that the Dolphins were going to be interested in him had he hit the open market. Jason is under contract for 2020 after the Pats recently picked up his option.
Colts Re-Sign LT Anthony Castonzo
The Colts and left tackle Anthony Castonzo have agreed to terms on a new contract, the team announced. Tom Pelissero of the NFL Network reports that it’s a two-year, $33MM deal (Twitter link).
Indianapolis’ offensive line is perhaps the team’s biggest strength, thanks in no small part to Castonzo, who has anchored the blindside for Colts signal-callers since his rookie year in 2011. As ESPN’s Field Yates observes (via Twitter), Indy was the only team to start the same five offensive linemen in every game in 2019, and the current unit will remain intact for the third consecutive year in 2020.
Though Castonzo has never made the Pro Bowl, he’s started in all 132 of his games with consistently strong play. Last year, the Boston College product graded out as Pro Football Focus’ No. 7 ranked tackle in the entire NFL. His 81.3 overall score was even stronger than his 2017 and 2018 showings, proving that he still has plenty of football left in the tank.
His previous four-year, $43.8MM deal expired at the end of the 2019 season, and he was reportedly considering retirement earlier this year. However, he recently announced that he would continue his playing career, and he made it clear that he would not consider signing with a club other than the Colts.
Though that statement didn’t do much to help his leverage, it turns out he didn’t need it. The $16.5MM AAV he will see under his new contract puts him at the top of the left tackle market.
Jaguars To Trade Calais Campbell To Ravens
The Jaguars and Ravens have agreed to a trade that will send veteran DE Calais Campbell from Jacksonville to Baltimore in exchange for a fifth-round pick, per ESPN’s Adam Schefter (via Twitter). The Ravens will try to work out an extension with Campbell.
The extension aspect of this is critical, as Baltimore does not have a ton of cap space, and Pro Football Talk tweets that the Ravens will be taking on the full $15MM owed to Campbell in 2020. An extension for the 33-year-old will obviously help to spread out Campbell’s cap charge, as would a long-term deal for the recently franchised Matt Judon.
From an on-field perspective, the trade makes plenty of sense for Baltimore. Pass rusher was perhaps the top item on the team’s offseason priority list, but almost all of this year’s top edge defenders who are eligible for free agency are expected to remain with their current teams. So GM Eric DeCosta got creative, and while the Ravens will be left without a fifth-rounder in the 2020 draft, they still have two third-rounders and three fourth-rounders to work with.
Campbell, the reigning Walter Payton Man of the Year, earned Pro Bowl nods in each of his three seasons with the Jags, and though his sack total dipped to 6.5 in 2019 after posting double-digits in 2017 and 2018, he still graded out as the third-best edge defender in the league last year, per Pro Football Focus’ advanced metrics. He is stout against the pass and run, and his ability to collapse the pocket should only create more opportunities for Judon and promising second-year talent Jaylon Ferguson.
The Jags, meanwhile, have recently parted with two formerly prized FA acquisitions in Campbell and corner A.J. Bouye. Both players were key members of Jacksonville’s run to the AFC Championship Game in 2017, but the Jags are clearly in rebuild mode. In addition to the $15MM of cap space created by this move, Jacksonville now has 11 draft picks in 2020 and nine in 2021, including two first-rounders.
Ravens To Re-Sign Jihad Ward
The Ravens are finalizing a new contract for OLB/DE Jihad Ward, per Jeff Zrebiec of The Athletic (Twitter link). Ward was one of the handful of free agents Baltimore added to its defense in the middle of the 2019 season who helped fortify the unit and keyed the club’s 14-2 finish.
The Raiders selected Ward in the second round of the 2016 draft, which gives some clue as to his upside. He was traded to the Cowboys in April 2018, but he did not make Dallas’ roster that year and ultimately caught on with the Colts’ taxi squad. He played in six games for Indy in 2018 and recorded three sacks, but his season was cut short due to an ankle injury.
He saw action in three games for the Colts in 2019 before being waived, and the Ravens, in need of pass rush help, picked him up. Though he recorded just one sack in 11 games in Baltimore, he, like fellow under-the-radar pickups Josh Bynes and L.J. Fort, brought much-needed stability to the team’s front seven.
He also accounted for 23 pressures in only 398 snaps, which is even more valuable since some of those pressures came from the interior. He will turn just 26 in May, so it makes sense for the Ravens to keep him around at what will probably be a low-cost deal and to see if he can’t stay healthy and start converting those pressures into sacks.
Lions Re-Sign LS Don Muhlbach
Don Muhlbach is returning to Detroit for a 17th season. The team announced today that they’ve re-signed the veteran long snapper.
While terms of the deal aren’t known, ESPN’s Michael Rothstein assumes that it’s a minimum-salary pact. Muhlbach has played the past few seasons under this kind of deal.
The 38-year-old has made all 244 of his career appearance with the Lions, and he’s only missed a single game since the start of the 2006 season. As Josh Alper of ProFootballTalk.com points out, Muhlbach is second in franchise history in games played (behind kicker Jason Hanson). The long snapper earned a pair of Pro Bowl nods (2012, 2018) during his career.
As Rothstein notes, the long snapper will some have competition for the gig in 2020. The organization signed James Fisher to a futures contract earlier this offseason.
Texans Re-Sign CB Phillip Gaines
Phillip Gaines is re-signing with Houston. Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle reports (via Twitter) that the veteran cornerback has signed with the Texans. It’s a one-year deal worth the veteran’s minimum.
The 28-year-old has bounced around the league a bit since being selected in the third round of the 2014 draft. His best season came with the Chiefs in 2016, when he had 44 tackles, seven passes defended, an interception, and two forced fumbles.
After splitting the 2018 season with the Bills and Browns, Gaines signed with the Texans last September. After appearing in six games (two starts) for his new squad, Gaines landed on the injured reserve.
The Texans were presumably eyeing some cornerback reinforcement after the squad and Johnathan Joseph mutually agreed to part ways. On the flip side, the organization has reportedly made re-signing Bradley Roby a priority.