Broncos Sign Billy Winn, Mike Purcell
Two defensive linemen who have not seen regular-season action since the 2016 season will join the Broncos, one a familiar face. The Broncos signed Billy Winn and Mike Purcell on Monday, the team announced.
Winn played in 16 games, starting two, for the 2016 Broncos. The team re-signed Winn in 2017, but prior to Vance Joseph’s first season, Winn went down with an ACL tear. He did not play last season. But Vic Fangio will give the 30-year-old lineman another chance.
Winn started 18 games with the Browns from 2012-14. With three career sacks (and none since 2014), Winn would profile as depth if he makes the Broncos’ roster. Purcell would as well.
The former UDFA, though, has a history with Fangio. Purcell entered the NFL as a 49ers UDFA when Fangio was still San Francisco’s defensive coordinator. Having attended the Broncos’ voluntary minicamp last week, Purcell would be entering his age-28 season. Purcell spent the 2018 offseason with the Chiefs but did not make their 53-man roster. He started five games for the 2016 49ers but has not played since.
Derek Wolfe, Adam Gotsis, Shelby Harris and Zach Kerr are almost certain to be back in the Broncos’ D-line rotation. Former second-round pick DeMarcus Walker has played sparingly but remains on the team as well. The Broncos may also address this position in the draft.
Denver also added offensive lineman Jake Rodgers, another attendee at the team’s voluntary minicamp. Rodgers, a seventh-round Falcons pick in 2015, has spent time on five teams’ practice squads.
Falcons Sign J.J. Wilcox
On Monday, the Falcons announced the signing of safety J.J. Wilcox to a one-year deal. Wilcox, 28, played for both the Colts and Jets in 2018.
Wilcox hooked on with the Jets in June of last year and appeared in five games before being released in October. Later on, he saw time in two regular season games with the Colts, plus one playoff contest.
His most notable run came with the Cowboys, where he started 38 games as a safety and recorded 212 tackles, 15 pass defenses, five interceptions, and three fumble recoveries across four seasons.
This year, the Falcons will return safeties Ricardo Allen, Keanu Neal, Damontae Kazee, and Sharrod Neasman. They’ve also added Chris Cooper and Afolabi Laguda, but Wilcox will fight for his spot and playing time in camp.
Bills To Sign T.J. Yeldon
The Bills are set to sign running back T.J. Yeldon, according to Adam Schefter of ESPN.com (on Twitter). When finalized, it’ll be a two-year deal for the veteran. 
The 25-year-old (26 in October) met with the Patriots earlier in the month but wound up signing with a different AFC East team. With Buffalo, Yeldon will serve as a backup behind LeSean McCoy and Frank Gore, two talented players who are both on the other side of 30.
Jacksonville scaled back Yeldon’s role over time. After a 182-carry rookie season, the former second-round pick ended his Jaguars stay as the team’s third-string running back behind Leonard Fournette and Carlos Hyde. Still, Yeldon managed a respectable 4.0 yards per carry last season and has hit the 5.0 ypc mark in the past.
And, despite the lack of carries, Yeldon caught a career-high 55 passes for 487 yards and four touchdowns last year. Only two Bills — wideouts Robert Foster and Zay Jones — topped Yeldon’s receiving-yardage total last season.
Giants WR Corey Coleman Signed New Deal
Although original reports indicated Giants wide receiver Corey Coleman had signed his original round restricted free agent tender for the 2019 season, he actually agreed to a new one-year deal worth only $720K, according to Dan Duggan of The Athletic (Twitter link). However, despite the fact that his RFA tender would have been worth $2.025MM, Coleman won’t end up losing any money.
As a former first-round pick, Coleman’s rookie deal was fully guaranteed. The Bills, who acquired Coleman from the Browns last year before subsequently releasing him, are still responsible for the $2.039MM that Coleman has guaranteed for the 2019 campaign. Therefore, Coleman will now collect $720K from New York and roughly $1.3MM from Buffalo, per Duggan,
Here’s where things get interesting: Coleman’s new pact with the Giants also contains approximately $1.7MM in incentives, reports Duggan. Thus, the 24-year-old pass-catcher can actually earn more than $2.4MM if he maxes out his incentive-based pay. If the Giants release Coleman before the regular season begins, they won’t owe him any money, and the Bills would be responsible for the totality of his remaining guarantees ($2.039MM).
The 15th overall selection in the 2016 draft, Coleman appeared in eight games for the Giants in 2018. While he managed only five receptions on eight targets, Coleman could have a path to playing time next season on a New York depth wide receiver depth chart that is relatively barren behind Sterling Shepard and Golden Tate.
Falcons Sign DT Ra’Shede Hageman
Ra’Shede Hageman is back in the NFL, and right back where it all started. Hageman is signing with the Falcons, the team that drafted him in the second round back in 2014, according to Darren Wolfson of KSTP TV (Twitter link). It’s a one-year deal, tweets Tom Pelissero of NFL Network.
Hageman met with the Falcons last week, so we knew they were interested in a reunion. He’s been out of the league for a couple of years now but drew some legit interest, as the Vikings apparently kicked the tires. Hageman was the 37th overall pick of the 2014 draft, and his career got off to a decent start. But following a domestic violence incident, Hageman was placed on the commissioner’s exempt list in September of 2017 and released not long after.
He was ultimately suspended by the league for six games. He spent the entire 2017 season out of football, and drew interest from the Patriots and Seahawks last offseason but didn’t sign. He was then arrested for a DWI last June. At the time we heard of the Vikings’ interest, the former Minnesota Gopher talked about the need to prove he’d changed off the field.
“It’s been one heck of a two years sitting out and just watching my fellow teammates play, but it’s definitely a learning experience,” Hageman said. “The whole process is just getting back in everybody’s ear (with NFL teams) about me staying out of trouble. You can’t beat around the bush. They obviously want to see consistency with me. I’m letting everybody know that my past is my past.”
Hageman was hit with a two-game suspension for his DWI arrest, so he won’t be eligible to play for the first two games of the 2019 season. He appeared in 44 games with 16 starts during his three years in Atlanta.
Complete 2019 NFL International Pathway Program
Moritz Boehringer is back in the NFL. The German tight end, who became the first European player ever to be drafted without playing American college football back in 2016, has been allocated to the Bengals as part of the league’s international pathway program, per Darin Gantt of ProFootballTalk.com.
Boehringer’s assignment to the Bengals completes this year’s program. Each season, teams in two divisions get a roster exemption to develop a player from another country. The player can be the 91st man on offseason rosters, and can be an 11th player on practice squads during the regular season. Boehringer was drafted by the Vikings, but spent his rookie season on the practice squad without ever appearing in a game. He came into the league as a receiver, but has since transitioned to tight end. He was with the Bengals as part of this program last year, and will be back in Cincy in 2019.
Here’s a list of the rest of the players selected to participate:
Baltimore Ravens
- FB Christopher Ezeala
Buffalo Bills
- RB Christian Wade
Cleveland Browns
- DB Tigie Sankoh
Miami Dolphins
- DT Durval Neto
New England Patriots
- TE/FB Jakob Johnson
New York Jets
- RB/WR/KR Valentine Holmes
Pittsburgh Steelers
- TE Christian Scotland-Williamson
The AFC North participated last year, but this year the AFC East is taking the place of the NFC South. Notably, Efe Obada was a participant in the program with the Panthers last year, and he went on to make Carolina’s 53-man roster last season. He was re-signed this offseason.
Each of the players assigned to the AFC North were with those teams last year. Scotland-Williamson is a former rugby player, while Boehringer, Sankoh, and Ezeala all played American football overseas before making the leap.
All of the AFC East players are new to the program. Given the Patriots’ track record of finding hidden gems, Johnson will likely end up leading the league in receiving yards at some point. Johnson was signed from the German football league. Neto was playing football in Brazil before being added to the Dolphins. Wade and Holmes are both former prominent rugby players.
Minor NFL Transactions: 4/18/19
Here are Thursday’s minor moves:
Denver Broncos
- Signed: OL Jake Brendel, CB Trey Johnson
- Waived: CB Craig Mager
Washington Redskins
- Signed: QB Josh Woodrum (AAF)
Dolphins Exercise Laremy Tunsil’s Fifth-Year Option
Although many high-profile Dolphins from last year’s team are elsewhere now, some stalwarts remain firmly in the organization’s plans. Laremy Tunsil is one of them.
The Dolphins will pick up their left tackle’s fifth-year option, Adam Beasley of the Miami Herald tweets. This will push Tunsil’s rookie deal through 2020.
After a pre-draft slide, Tunsil wound up in Miami three years ago. He has started 44 regular-season games, moving from left guard to left tackle full-time in 2017. Tunsil will be a constant for an offensive line that has since lost Ja’Wuan James, Ted Larsen and Josh Sitton. Miami returns Daniel Kilgore, but the 24-year-old Tunsil obviously profiles as a longer-term starter.
Pro Football Focus viewed 2018 as Tunsil’s best season, one that ended with the site grading the Ole Miss product as the No. 36 overall tackle. His salary will spike to around $10MM in 2020, barring an extension in the meantime. These options are guaranteed for injury only.
Redskins, DE Matt Ioannidis Agree To Extension
The Redskins and DE Matt Ioannidis have agreed to a three-year, $21.75MM extension, per Mike Garafolo of the NFL Network (via Twitter). The former fifth-round pick out of Temple can earn another $3MM in incentives, and Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets that Ioannidis will receive $14MM in guaranteed money.
Ioannidis has quietly turned himself into a quality member of Washington’s defensive line rotation, and he’s gotten better with each year. He would have been eligible for free agency for the first time in 2020, but the Redskins made sure that didn’t happen. Instead, they locked him up on a relatively modest deal that still gives Ioannidis a nice influx of cash. He will now be under club control through 2022.
Ioannidis had something of an inauspicious start to his professional career, as the Redskins waived him during final cutdowns in September 2016 but re-signed him to the practice squad immediately thereafter. He was promoted to the active roster several weeks into the season and ultimately suited up for 10 games in his rookie campaign.
He cracked the starting lineup in 2017, and although his snap count actually decreased a bit in 2018, his sack totals went up, from 4.5 in 2017 to 7.5 in 2018. There is still room for him to grow, but the Redskins are clearly confident in his ability to continue developing his game as they continue to utilize his pass-rushing skills.
In 2018, Ioannidis graded out as an above-average player at his position per Pro Football Focus’ advanced metrics.
Texans K Ka’imi Fairbairn Signs RFA Tender
Texans kicker Ka’imi Fairbairn has signed his second-round restricted free agent tender, according to Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle (Twitter link). Defensive tackle Brandon Dunn and linebacker Brennan Scarlett, each of whom was tendered at the original round level, also inked their tenders, per Wilson.
Restricted free agents have until Friday to sign offer sheets, but it was always unlikely that a rival club would sacrifice a second-round pick to sign a kicker such as Fairbairn. Still, the Texans thought enough of Fairbairn to assign him a second-round tender, which costs nearly $1MM more than an original round tender. For Fairbairn, he’ll see his base salary increase to $3.095MM, a significant raise for a player who earned less than $1.5MM over the first three years of his career.
A 2016 undrafted free agent out of UCLA, Fairbairn became the Texans’ kicker in 2017 after spending his rookie campaign on injured reserve. Last year, he led the NFL in both field goal attempts and conversions while ranking 13th in field goal percentage. Football Outsiders‘ ranked Houston eighth in its field goal/extra point metric.