Lions To Add TE Tyler Conklin
After a season with the Chargers, Tyler Conklin is heading back to the NFC North. The former Vikings and Jets tight end is joining the Lions, according to his agent.
Conklin saw his pass-catching momentum stall last season. The emergence of fifth-round rookie Oronde Gadsden II diminished Conklin’s standing in Los Angeles’ offense, but prior to that disappointing campaign, the former Minnesota fifth-rounder had been a consistent receiving option. He joins a Lions team that played much of last season without Sam LaPorta, who underwent back surgery in November.
Outplaying fellow 2022 Jets tight end signee C.J. Uzomah in New York, Conklin amassed at least 550 receiving yards each season from 2021-23. Creating a nice 2022 FA market after a 593-yard Vikings performance in his contract year, Conklin caught 58 passes for 552 yards and three touchdowns in Zach Wilson‘s second Jets season.
Although Wilson proved to be a megabust in New York, Conklin totaled a career-high 621 receiving yards in 2023 — after Aaron Rodgers went down four plays into the season. With Davante Adams joining the Jets during the 2024 season, Conklin saw his numbers dip a bit after Rodgers’ return (51/449/4) but still brought a quality auxiliary option.
Playing out a three-year, $20.25MM Jets deal, Conklin landed only a one-year pact worth $3MM from the Chargers. The 30-year-old TE caught just seven passes for 101 yards in 13 games as a Charger. The Bolts rostered Will Dissly alongside Gadsden last year as well, though they have since released him.
This represents a homecoming for Conklin, who is a Chesterfield, Mich., native. Conklin also played his college ball in the state, suiting up for Central Michigan. Conklin combined for 11 TD grabs during his final two seasons with the Chippewas. He will represent a solid receiving option behind LaPorta, giving the Lions some insurance. Blocking option Brock Wright remains on the roster as well, though he is now in a contract year two offseasons after the team matched his 49ers RFA offer sheet.
Panthers To Sign LT Rasheed Walker
Rasheed Walker entered free agency as one of the top options, representing a prime-years player with multiple seasons of left tackle experience. The ex-Packers starter is heading to the Panthers, NFL.com’s Tom Pelissero and Ian Rapoport report.
Carolina lost LT starter Ikem Ekwonu to a torn patellar tendon during their wild-card loss to the Rams. Walker will be poised to open the season as the team’s replacement. This is a one-year deal, per Pelissero, likely giving Walker a chance to reset with an aim toward doing better on the 2027 market. This contract features a $10MM max value, ESPN.com’s Jeremy Fowler tweets.
This year’s free agent class, as some tend to be, was light on left tackle talent. Walker appeared poised to follow Dan Moore Jr. in fetching an upper-crust contract as a young LT with significant starter seasoning. Instead, this free agency has followed Cam Robinson‘s 2025 path. Robinson ended up settling for a one-year, $12MM Texans deal — one later traded to the Browns. While Walker’s precise terms are not in, a one-year contract represents a disappointment for a player universally expected to be one of this year’s biggest FA winners.
Walker, 26, ranked 11th in pass block win rate last season and 14th in 2024. Pro Football Focus was a bit less bullish due largely to the Penn State product’s run blocking. The advanced metrics site never ranked Walker higher than 40th overall among tackles. Connections to the Browns, Chiefs and Patriots emerged; though, Pats GM Eliot Wolf shot down the New England rumor.
The Packers had hoped David Bakhtiari could reemerge as a consistent starter in 2023, but he lasted just one game. With the former All-Pro quickly out of the picture that season, the Pack plugged in Walker despite having waited until Round 7 to draft him in 2022. He has since started 48 games. The Packers are on track to give the LT keys to 2024 first-round pick Jordan Morgan, who has been an O-line nomad in Green Bay. Walker beat out the Arizona alum for the 2025 first-string gig, following in Moore’s footsteps by holding off a first-round challenger (as Moore did with Broderick Jones in Pittsburgh).
Despite trouble in pass protection with the Steelers, Moore received a four-year deal worth $82MM ($42.51MM guaranteed at signing). It appears teams had reservations about Walker. Considering LT being a premium position and a 48-game starter being available at 26, this represents perhaps the biggest value surprise on the 2026 market. But Walker will work toward making a better impression on teams soon. Ekwonu’s injury should provide a runway to do so.
Drafted in the 2022 first round, Ekwonu has stopped a decade-long Panthers LT carousel. A locked-in starter throughout his career, Ekwonu looked to be moving toward an extension. But the Panthers may wait now; the former No. 6 overall pick is almost certainly ticketed for the reserve/PUP list to open next season. As a three-year starter who was expected to do much better on this year’s market, Walker represents a high-end insurance option. It will be interesting to learn Ekwonu’s timetable. The Bears have a similar situation, with Ozzy Trapilo suffering a patellar tendon tear in the wild-card round, but they opted to bring back Braxton Jones on a one-year, $5MM deal.
Commanders To Bring Back WR Dyami Brown, Sign WR Van Jefferson
Dyami Brown‘s Jaguars signing did not produce a great return for the AFC South franchise, and the sides will separate after one season. Brown will receive a second chance in Washington, however.
The Commanders are bringing back their former third-round wide receiver draftee, NFL.com’s Tom Pelissero tweets. It is a one-year deal worth up to $3MM. Veteran wideout Van Jefferson is also joining Washington, The Athletic’s Nicki Jhabvala reports.
Despite a thin resume on his Washington rookie contract, Brown scored a $10MM Jacksonville guarantee. He caught just 20 passes for 227 yards and one touchdown. The Jaguars acquired both Tim Patrick and Jakobi Meyers after adding Brown last year, and the North Carolina alum played 38% of the team’s offensive snaps during a season that featured Travis Hunter shut down at the midpoint.
That 227-yard showing represented Brown’s second-best as a pro; he reached a career-high 308 in 2024. For a player without a 350-yard season, Brown has managed to remain a viable option for teams in free agency. He joins a Commanders roster that may lose Deebo Samuel on this year’s market. Washington has Luke McCaffrey and Jaylin Lane complementing Terry McLaurin. Washington also re-signed Treylon Burks this offseason.
Jefferson has put up more impressive numbers as a pro, though his 802-yard performance in the Rams’ Super Bowl LVI-winning season now looks fluky. The former second-round pick has not surpassed 375 yards in a season since. Though, he did manage a 350-yard showing last season on a bad Titans team.
Heading into an age-30 season, Jefferson is heading to a fifth NFL team over the past four years. The Rams traded him in a low-level pick swap in 2023, sending the Florida alum to the Falcons. The Steelers deployed Jefferson as a role player in 2024, and the Titans handed him a $1.67MM deal last year. Jefferson and Brown will compete for roles in the Commanders’ McLaurin-fronted receiving corps.
Colts Sign DT Derrick Nnadi, Re-Sign TE Andrew Ogletree
For a second straight offseason, Derrick Nnadi is leaving the Chiefs. Although Kansas City reacquired the veteran defensive tackle via trade (from the Jets) last summer, he is on the move again.
The Colts are adding Nnadi this year, announcing the signing. The team also re-signed tight end Andrew Ogletree and wide receiver Laquon Treadwell. Nnadi is a 98-game career starter; he joins a veteran-heavy Colts D-tackle cadre housing DeForest Buckner and Grover Stewart.
Chris Ballard was not in the Chiefs’ front office when the team selected Nnadi in the 2018 third round; the move came a year after the ex-John Dorsey lieutenant’s departure for Indianapolis. Nnadi is heading into an age-30 season. He will join Buckner (32 next week) and Stewart (32) as 30-somethings at defensive tackle in Indy.
Nnadi has been a career-long 4-3 D-tackle, playing most of his career under Steve Spagnuolo. The Chiefs’ run-stuffing Chris Jones sidekick played 34% of Kansas City’s defensive snaps last season, despite being reacquired in August. Pro Football Focus has not viewed Nnadi as a productive defender in years, ranking him outside the top 110 among qualified options at the position each season from 2022-25. The Chiefs, however, have consistently fielded top-10 defenses. Nnadi played in Super Bowl LIX and started Super Bowls LIV, LV and LVII.
As Nnadi joins Colby Wooden as new DTs acquired by the Colts over the past week, the AFC South club has rostered Ogletree since 2022 and Treadwell since 2024. Arriving during Frank Reich’s final draft as Colts HC, Ogletree has started 20 Colts games. The 2022 sixth-round pick ended up playing a more consistent role than 2022 third-rounder Jelani Woods, who has not played since his rookie season. The Colts cut Woods last year.
After logging 40% snap shares in both 2023 and ’24, Ogletree played 24% of Indianapolis’ plays in 2025. The Colts have used Ogletree more as a blocking tight end, and for good reason. Although not qualifying as a full-time TE in 2025, Ogletree drew the top pass-blocking grade among all players at the position. More than three quarters of Ogletree’s snaps came as a run or pass blocker.
For never coming close to living up to his first-round billing, Treadwell has managed to stick around. Should he see action in 2026, it would be his 11th NFL season. Treadwell, 30, has not caught a pass as a Colt; he did, however, see action on 51% of Indy’s special teams plays in 2025.
Colts To Sign S Jonathan Owens
Already home to WNBA superstar Caitlin Clark, Indianapolis will be poised to draw some Simone Biles visits soon. The Colts are bringing in veteran safety Jonathan Owens, ESPN’s Adam Schefter tweets.
Owens, who is married to the Olympic gold medal-winning gymnast, will join the Colts after spending the past two seasons with the Bears. This is a one-year contract, per Schefter.
Working as a part-time starter in Chicago, Owens has made 35 starts in seven seasons. Managing to carve out a long career out of Division II Missouri Western, Owens is obviously best known for his Biles relationship. But he has served as a long-running special teams presence — with the Texans and Packers prior to the Bears deal — and a valuable backup. Owens is going into an age-31 season.
Making 125 tackles as a full-season starter for the 2022 Texans, Owens landed a one-year $1MM Packers deal but secured a slight raise (two years, $3.8MM) with the Bears. Chicago used Owens as a five-game starter in 2024 and as a full-time backup behind Jaquan Brisker and Kevin Byard last season. The Bears have now lost Byard, Brisker, Owens and Nahshon Wright from their secondary this week. Byard joined the Patriots, with the Steelers and Jets respectively adding Brisker and Wright.
The Colts are also signing former Cowboys safety Juanyeh Thomas, NFL insider Jordan Schultz tweets. Thomas made three Cowboys starts last season and played three years in Dallas. Indianapolis has an opening at safety after losing starter Nick Cross (to the Commanders). The team will likely not devote notable funds to replacing him, as Camryn Bynum joins Sauce Gardner, Charvarius Ward and Kenny Moore in carrying pricey contracts in this secondary.
Browns Re-Sign G Teven Jenkins
MARCH 13: The former second-round Bears draftee agreed to another one-year Browns deal, with KPRC2’s Aaron Wilson noting the contract is worth $4MM and brings a $2MM cap hit. This pact includes $3.96MM guaranteed, per OverTheCap. As they are wont to do, the Browns are tacking four void years onto the deal to keep the cap hit low. Jenkins played for $3.1MM in 2025.
MARCH 10: Teven Jenkins will remain in place with the Browns for 2026. The veteran guard has agreed to a new Cleveland deal, per a team announcement.
After Jenkins concluded his college career with First-Team All-Big 12 honors in 2020, the Bears drafted the former Oklahoma State Cowboy 39th overall the next spring. A back injury limited Jenkins to six games and two starts as a rookie, though, and the Bears shifted him to guard in his second season.
Although injuries held Jenkins to 39 of a possible 51 games from 2022-24, he racked up 36 starts. Pro Football Focus generally took a favorable view of Jenkins’ work as a guard in Chicago. The team still did not retain Jenkins last offseason, instead bringing in Joe Thuney and Jonah Jackson as its new starting guards.
With his time in Chicago up, Jenkins headed to Cleveland on a one-year agreement last March. Jenkins put together the first 17-game season of his career, but the 28-year-old started just four times on a team with established guards Joel Bitonio and Wyatt Teller. Bitonio played every game and barely missed any snaps, but Jenkins stepped in four times for an injured Teller.
After totaling 329 offensive snaps last year, Jenkins’ role moving forward is in flux as the Browns continue a wide-ranging overhaul up front. Bitonio may retire, while Teller is on track to leave in free agency. Knowing they would need new guard starters, the Browns traded for ex-Texan Tytus Howard (who can also play tackle) and worked out an agreement with former Charger Zion Johnson on Monday.
Earlier today, Dianna Russini of The Athletic reported Cleveland would still be involved in the guard market, so more outside additions could be coming. In any case, Jenkins will again be at least a depth option.
Broncos To Re-Sign RB Jaleel McLaughlin
As the low-end RFA tender figure has climbed near $4MM, those are being handed out at a lower rate. The Broncos declined to tender running back Jaleel McLaughlin, but he is still in their 2026 plans.
Despite re-signing J.K. Dobbins, Denver is re-signing McLaughlin (per NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport). The diminutive running back is rejoining the team on a one-year deal, continuing a string of re-signings for a Broncos team that has otherwise been inactive in free agency.
McLaughlin will receive a $125K signing bonus, according to the Denver Gazette’s Chris Tomasson. This likely represents the RB’s only guaranteed money on the deal, making it far from certain he makes the 53-man roster.
Denver now has its top four RBs from 2025 under contract, with Tyler Badie remaining in the fold. Badie’s increased usage on passing downs led to McLaughlin — a regular from 2023-24 — being a healthy scratch for a chunk of the season, but Dobbins’ Lisfranc injury opened the door for another opportunity.
Sean Payton‘s team has yet to sign an outside free agent this week, but plenty of re-signings have commenced. Denver has brought back linebackers Alex Singleton and Justin Strnad to go with tight ends Adam Trautman and Nate Adkins. Third-string quarterback Sam Ehlinger is also returning. While the Broncos’ inactivity with regards to outside FAs is a bit unexpected — as the Russell Wilson contract is off the books during what will likely be Bo Nix‘s final rookie-contract year — the team is doing plenty to retain contributors from a 14-3 roster.
The NCAA’s all-divisions rushing leader — from his time at Youngstown State and Notre Dame College (Ohio) — McLaughlin impressed as a UDFA. Playing as a Javonte Williams complementary piece, the 5-foot-7 RB totaled 410 rushing yards as a rookie and 496 in Year 2. The elusive back combined for six touchdowns in those seasons. The Broncos only gave McLaughlin 37 carries last season, but he averaged 5.1 yards per tote as a reserve option behind rookie RJ Harvey.
Dobbins will only count $6MM against Denver’s cap this year, per Spotrac, as his $8MM guarantee (on a two-year, $16MM deal) will produce a 2027 cap hit of $10MM. Dobbins’ health history effectively makes this a one-year, $8MM pact with a team option. Trautman’s four-year, $17MM contract will bring $9.5MM guaranteed at signing, per OverTheCap. This includes a partial 2027 guarantee, with $3.76MM of the ex-Saint’s $4.99MM base salary locked in at signing. Adkins is back on a one-year, $1.64MM deal, according to KPRC2’s Aaron Wilson. The TE/FB received $300K guaranteed at signing.
Dolphins, WR Jalen Tolbert Agree To Deal
The Cowboys franchise-tagging George Pickens gives them two high salaries at wide receiver. A four-year CeeDee Lamb supporting-caster will now relocate.
Jalen Tolbert is joining the Dolphins, according to NFL insider Jordan Schultz, who adds the parties agreed to a one-year deal. Pickens’ Dallas arrival cooled the momentum Tolbert established as Lamb’s top sidekick in 2024, and he will attempt to rebound as one of Malik Willis‘ targets in Miami. As Schultz points out, Tolbert and Willis have been close since playing in the Senior Bowl together four years ago.
In 2024, Tolbert broke through with a 49-reception, 610-yard season that produced seven touchdowns. That is an outlier on the former third-round pick’s resume, however. Tolbert has not eclipsed 300 yards in another season, and he combined for just three TDs between the 2022, 2023 and 2025 campaigns.
Dallas saw little from Tolbert in 2022 and ’23, but he moved into the starting lineup in 2024. His breakthrough receiving season came in a year in which Dak Prescott missed extensive time with a hamstring injury. Tolbert teamed with Cooper Rush down the stretch, catching a touchdown pass in three straight games. He then closed that season with four receptions for 98 yards in Trey Lance‘s only start. Tolbert, 27, will be working with a similarly unseasoned QB in 2026.
After the Dolphins cut Tyreek Hill, they have an opening for a No. 2 receiver alongside Jaylen Waddle. The team has added two NFC tertiary targets in Tolbert and Tutu Atwell, each likely representing low-cost additions for a team set to carry a single-year dead money record (Tua Tagovailoa‘s $55.4MM) to go with dead cap from the Hill and Bradley Chubb cuts. Malik Washington, a 2024 sixth-round pick, remains on the roster as well. Washington averaged just 6.9 yards per reception last season.
Chargers, Dalvin Tomlinson Agree To Deal
Dalvin Tomlinson has lined up his next opportunity. The veteran defensive tackle has agreed to terms with the Chargers, per his agency (h/t Tom Pelissero of NFL Network).
Pelissero’s colleague Ian Rapoport reports this is a one-year deal. Tomlinson is in line to collect $7.5MM with $6MM of that figure fully guaranteed. The Bolts will be his fifth career NFL team.
The Bolts have specialized in low-cost veteran D-linemen during Jim Harbaugh and Joe Hortiz‘s time in Los Angeles. The team has brought in the likes of Da’Shawn Hand, Poona Ford, Teair Tart and Naquan Jones on low-cost deals. Ford and Tart played their way into bigger deals — Tart’s coming with the Bolts — after impressing for low-level money. Tomlinson checks in with a higher pay rate by comparison to the original pacts for the aforementioned D-linemen, but he has now been cut twice in two years.
The Browns released Tomlinson in 2025, and the Cardinals cut him days ago. Tomlinson follows Jonathan Allen and Javon Hargrave as D-tackles being cap casualties twice in two years only to find a new home shortly after. The Chargers are Tomlinson’s fifth team, as he played for the Giants and Vikings before signing a big-ticket Browns contract.
A 142-game starter throughout a nine-year career, Tomlinson has only missed seven career games. The former second-round pick logged 17 starts for the Cardinals last season. Pro Football Focus graded the run stuffer 114th among 127 qualified interior D-linemen last season. PFF viewed Tomlinson’s run defense as having fallen off considerably; the Chargers obviously disagree. Though, Tomlinson has needed to take pay cuts in each of the past two years. After the Browns moved his four-year, $57MM contract off their payroll, the Cardinals gave the 335-pound defender a two-year, $29MM accord.
Tomlinson, 32, was far more disruptive in Cleveland. He tallied a career-high 18 quarterback hits in 2024; he racked up 12 in his 2023 Browns debut season. That helped him secure the Arizona pact. Combining for 10 TFLs with the Browns, Tomlinson totaled three in 2025 with a career-low three QB hits.
Tart re-signed with the Bolts on a three-year, $30MM deal. That represents the top D-line commitment during the Harbaugh-Hortiz years. The team still rosters 2025 third-rounder Jamaree Caldwell — though, the Chargers’ Jamaree count is down to one after Jamaree Salyer joined the Dolphins today — and 2024 fourth-rounder Justin Eboigbe. Tomlinson will mix in with younger players under new Bolts DC Chris O’Leary.
In other Chargers news, Tyler Biadasz‘s three-year, $30MM deal includes $17MM guaranteed (per KPRC2’s Aaron Wilson). Of that total, $15MM is guaranteed at signing. Trey Pipkins‘ third Chargers contract (two years, $10MM) carries $4.58MM guaranteed, Wilson adds. If the veteran O-lineman is on L.A.’s roster by Day 3 of the 2027 league year, he will earn a $1MM roster bonus.
Cole Strange‘s two-year, $13MM pact comes with $7MM guaranteed at signing, per OverTheCap. A $2MM injury guarantee is in place for 2027, per Wilson, who adds that figure will become fully guaranteed on Day 3 of the 2027 league year. That day also carries a $1MM roster bonus for the veteran guard. Fullback Alec Ingold‘s two-year, $7.5MM deal comes with $3.56MM guaranteed, according to OverTheCap. Safety Deane Leonard‘s latest Bolts contract is a one-year, $2MM accord, Wilson tweets. Leonard will see $1.22MM guaranteed.
Adam La Rose contributed to this post.
Titans To Release CB L’Jarius Sneed
The Titans are releasing L’Jarius Sneed, per ESPN’s Adam Schefter, making him a late addition to the cornerback market in free agency.
Sneed, 29, arrived in Tennessee in a tag-and-trade deal with the Chiefs during the 2024 offseason. The Titans sent a third-round pick to Kansas City and handed the veteran corner a four-year, $76.4MM contract with $44MM guaranteed.
He only played 12 games on that deal due to quad injuries in both 2024 and 2025. When healthy, Sneed’s performance dipped notably with career-worst marks in several categories, including his ball production, tackling, and yards per target allowed. His grades from Pro Football Focus (subscription required) plummeted relative to his time in Kansas City, too.
The Titans certainly hoped to get more out of Sneed, especially since the third-round pick they sent to Kansas City turned out to be the second in the round. Instead, they will release him with two years remaining on his contract to save $11.4MM against the 2026 salary cap, per OverTheCap. The remaining prorations of Sneed’s signing bonus will leave an $8.1MM dead cap hit.
Tennessee used several different cornerbacks in the last two years and seem to be rebuilding the unit entirely under new head coach Robert Saleh. He declined to retain Darrell Baker, who led the corner room in snaps in 2025, and instead signed Cordale Flott, Alontae Taylor, and Joshua Williams, all young potential starters that will give the Titans plenty of options in their secondary.
More to come.