Titans Re-Sign DE Marlon Davidson
Marlon Davidson will be back with the Titans in 2024. The former second-round defensive end has re-signed in Tennessee, per a team announcement. 
Davidson entered the league with considerable expectations based on his college production. Things did not go according to plan in Atlanta, however, and he was released midway through his third season with the team. That move set up a deal with the 49ers last spring, but Davidson was among San Francisco’s final roster cuts.
The Auburn product was retained via the practice squad, but he did not see any regular season game action with the 49ers. He signed to the Titans’ taxi squad in October not long after being released. That led to a number of gameday elevations and time spent on Tennessee’s 53-man roster. As a result, Davidson appeared in five games last season, making three starts along the way.
Logging a career-high 48% snap share, the 25-year-old posted 10 tackles (including two for loss) and one sack during his time in Tennessee. That production has resulted in a post-draft agreement keeping him in the fold through at least training camp. Davidson will look to carve out a roster spot this summer amongst the Titans’ other options along the defensive front.
Tennessee has Jeffery Simmons, Sebastian Joseph-Day and rookie T’Vondre Sweat in place as D-linemen set to occupy the defensive interior. Along the edge, the team has Harold Landry and Arden Key in place as starters. Davidson will look to earn a rotational role alongside Rashad Weaver; doing so could set him up for a full-time campaign on the team’s 53-man roster.
Seahawks, CB Michael Jackson Agree To Revised Deal
Michael Jackson was among the players tendered as a restricted free agent by the Seahawks this offseason. The veteran corner recently signed his RFA tender, valued at just over $3MM. 
Jackson and the team have worked out a new arrangement, however. Per ESPN’s Brady Henderson, Jackson will now receive a base salary of $1.06MM in 2024, a figure which is not guaranteed. The 27-year-old will collect a $168K signing bonus, however, increasing his up front compensation compared to what it previously was. This agreement will create $1.89MM in cap space – notable breathing space given the team’s lack of financial wiggle room entering Monday.
A fifth-round pick of the Cowboys in 2019, Jackson actually made his regular season debut with the Lions that year. He then spent a single season in New England before beginning his Seahawks tenure. The Miami alum has made 36 appearances with Seattle, and in 2022 he served as a full-time starter. That year, Jackson recorded 75 tackles, one interception and 12 pass deflections while allowing a completion percentage of just under 56%.
In 2023, however, the arrival of fifth overall pick Devon Witherspoon led to a sharp decrease in Jackson’s playing time. The latter saw his defensive snap share fall from 94% to 40%, and it yielded a fall-off in production. Jackson will nevertheless have the opportunity to play at least a rotational role in the Seahawks’ secondary in 2024.
Seattle re-signed Artie Burns this offseason, and the team used two draft picks (Nehemiah Pritchett in the fifth round, followed by DJ James in the sixth) on cornerbacks. Jackson will thus have plenty of competition for playing time this summer as he prepares for a fourth season in the Emerald City.
Panthers Plan To Sign RB Rashaad Penny
Another addition to Carolina’s backfield appears to be on the way. The Panthers plan to sign Rashaad Penny, ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler reports. 
Fowler adds the move will likely be made after the team’s rookie minicamp is completed. Provided it does, Penny will join a running back depth chart which already features second-round rookie Jonathon Brooks along with veterans Chuba Hubbard and Miles Sanders. Despite his underwhelming performance last season, the latter is not on the trade block.
Carolina ranked 20th in the NFL in rushing yards last season, averaging 104 yards per game on the ground. That marked much better efficiency than the team’s passing attack, but it still left plenty of room for improvement. After making a pair of lucrative free agent investments along the interior offensive line (guards Robert Hunt and Damien Lewis), the Panthers made Brooks the first running back to hear his name called at the draft. Hubbard has one year remaining on his rookie contract while Sanders is on the books for three more years.
Penny will aim to carve out a roster spot while competing with those three (along with Tarik Cohen, Mike Boone and Raheem Blackshear) for playing time. The former first-rounder has dealt with considerable injury troubles during his career, with his best season coming in 2021 (749 yards, six touchdowns). Penny led the league with a 6.3 yards per carry average that year, but he has been limited to just eight games since then.
The 28-year-old played on a one-year deal with the Eagles last season, serving in a limited capacity. Penny received just 12 touches, and he will be aiming to secure a larger workload in Carolina. This move will represent a reunion between Penny and new Panthers head coach Dave Canales. The latter was a member of the Seahawks’ staff during all five of the former’s campaigns in Seattle.
The Panthers entered Monday with roughly $8MM in cap space, so a deal for Penny (which will no doubt be a short-term, low-cost endeavor) should be manageable. It will be interesting to see how Carolina’s backfield pecking order shakes out provided a deal is finalized in the near future.
Raiders Sign WR Jalen Guyton
MAY 6: Guyton’s visit has produced a deal. The Raiders announced on Monday that the deep threat has been signed, and he thus represents the newest receiver addition brought in by Telesco. Vegas signed Michael Gallup in the wake of the draft, and he will compete for starter’s snaps alongside Adams in the team’s passing game. Guyton will look to carve out a role of his own as he aims to put together a healthy campaign.
APRIL 29: An ACL tear brought a turning point in Jalen Guyton‘s five-year Chargers tenure, leading to the deep threat tumbling out of the picture as the Brandon Staley era wore on. But the GM that brought in the former UDFA has him back on the radar.
The Raiders met with Guyton on a visit Monday, ESPN.com’s Field Yates tweets. Tom Telesco brought in Guyton as a UDFA in 2019, and the North Texas alum became a key Justin Herbert target in 2020 and ’21. A Week 3 2022 ACL tear sidetracked the 6-foot-1 pass catcher.
Guyton, 26, managed to return last season — after being re-signed — but was not activated off the Chargers’ reserve/PUP list until early November. Despite the Chargers playing most of the season without Mike Williams and losing Keenan Allen late in the campaign, Guyton finished last season with just 10 receptions for 89 yards.
He was a far more relevant option earlier in his Bolts tenure. Guyton totaled 28 receptions for 511 yards in 2020 and 31 receptions for 448 yards in 2021; he scored three touchdowns in each season. Best remembered for being on the receiving end of a Herbert laser that traveled 60-plus yards in the air against the Giants in 2021, Guyton represents a flier at this point. Though, he is now more than 18 months removed from the major knee injury.
The Raiders moved on from Hunter Renfrow this offseason but have not relented on a potential Davante Adams trade. The All-Pro weapon remains Las Vegas’ No. 1 target, and 2023 free agent pickup Jakobi Meyers — a player with close ties to the since-booted Josh McDaniels-fronted regime — is going into Year 2 of a three-year, $33MM deal. The Raiders did not draft a wide receiver this year and did not make a notable signing in free agency. Guyton, who has clear ties to Telesco and ex-Chargers front office lieutenant/interim GM JoJo Wooden, would be a low-cost auxiliary option.
Patriots To Waive QB Nathan Rourke
Following the draft, New England was one of a few teams with five quarterbacks on the roster. That logjam has been addressed to a degree now, however. The Patriots are waiving Nathan Rourke, ESPN’s Mike Reiss reports. 
Rourke put himself on the NFL radar with a decorated tenure in the CFL. The 25-year-old Canadian initially joined the Jaguars, but he was unable to lock down the backup spot in Jacksonville. New England claimed him off waivers in December and he was re-signed in March.
That decision came after the Patriots cycled through a number of passers during the 2023 season, including Matt Corral and Malik Cunningham (who played QB in college but may need to transition to receiver at the NFL level). Starter Mac Jones is no longer in the fold, and the position has seen considerable change over the course of the 2024 offseason. Veteran Jacoby Brissett was signed as a bridge option for a rookie added at the top of the draft.
To little surprise, the Patriots used the No. 3 selection on Drake Maye. The North Carolina product profiles as New England’s quarterback of the future, although Brissett may begin the year atop the depth chart. In any case, those two will each use up roster spots throughout the campaign, leaving the QB3 position up for grabs. With New England having used a sixth-rounder on Joe Milton, three places on the depth chart are likely accounted for regarding the 2024 season.
Reiss noted over the weekend that Rourke would likely be competing with Bailey Zappe for the fourth and final roster spot amongst signal-callers. Monday’s move means the latter will remain in place for the time being, after he made eight starts across the past two seasons. With Maye now in the fold, however, Zappe’s path to a first-team role has become unclear in New England. For Rourke, meanwhile, it will be interesting to see if outside teams put in a claim; failing that, he will become a free agent.
NFL Front Office Updates: Titans, Browns, Eagles, Cardinals, Bears
We mentioned yesterday how a number of teams who have seen changes in the leadership of their front office may be making changes following the NFL Draft. These teams needed their staff at the time, with only weeks leading up to the draft, but with that process now over, the new leadership has started making changes.
The Titans are one such team making changes in recent days. One change is the apparent departure of college scout Tom Roth, who no longer appears on the team’s website, according to Neil Stratton of SucceedinFootball.com. Roth had spent the last six years in Tennessee after serving 14 years as a college scout for the Bills.
It’s not all departures, like yesterday. Stratton noticed two promotions in Tennessee’s front office, as well. Previously the team’s pro scouting coordinator, Rob Riederer now appears on the team’s website as assistant director of football strategy. Likewise, Bryce Wasserman has been promoted from manager of football strategy to chief of staff of football strategy.
Here are a few other updates in player personnel offices around the league:
- The Browns also see a departure, per Stratton, with Joe Dever reportedly not returning to the team for 2024. Joining the team as a scouting intern in 2019, Dever had spent five years with Cleveland. He had risen to the position of mid-Atlantic scout before his departure.
- The Eagles are also losing a longtime staffer, according to Stratton. A 15-year veteran of the NFL, Brad Obee will use the expiration of his contract with Philadelphia as a reason to pursue new opportunities in the NFL. Obee began his scouting career on the personnel staff of the Eagles in 2009, working his way up the ladder for six years. He left to serve as a pro scout for the Bears for the next six years before ultimately returning to Philadelphia as a college/pro scout for the past three.
- The Cardinals, who we noted lost a personnel staffer in yesterday’s post, will also part ways with area scout Darius Vinnett, per Stratton. Vinnett’s contract was expiring, as well, and though Arizona offered him an extension to return in 2024, Vinnett has declined and will seek other opportunities.
- Lastly, the Bears are moving forward without area scouts Drew Raucina and Sam Summerville, according to Stratton. Raucina is a holdover from the Ryan Pace-era, serving the last six years with the team. He had previously been a combine scout for the NFL. Summerville’s departure is a bit more surprising. He had been with Chicago since 2012 and was voted the BART List as one of the NFC’s best scouts in 2022, per Stratton. He was also named NFC Scout of the Year in 2019. Regardless, general manager Ryan Poles is making changes for the 2024 NFL season.
RB Duke Johnson Announces Retirement
Boasting an eight-year career spanning time with five NFL franchises, running back Duke Johnson is now known as one of the league’s best receiving backs in recent history. Having not appeared on an NFL roster since the end of the 2022 season, the now 30-year-old Johnson has made the decision to officially hang up his cleats, announcing this retirement decision on Instagram. 
Johnson came to the league after a storied career at the University of Miami. A five-star recruit, Johnson became an immediate factor as a true freshman, rushing for 947 yards for 10 touchdowns and adding one score through the air and two more on kickoff returns. After a junior season that saw him rush for 1,652 yards and 10 touchdowns and receive for 421 yards and three touchdowns, Johnson announced that he would forgo his final year of eligibility and declare for the draft.
Johnson left Coral Gables as the Hurricanes’ all-time leader in career rushing yards, despite only playing for three seasons. The school has produced such NFL rushers as Chuck Foreman, Ottis Anderson, Cleveland Gary, Edgerrin James, Clinton Portis, Najeh Davenport, Willis McGahee, Frank Gore, and Lamar Miller. Johnson outgained them all at the collegiate level and holds that record to this day.
Johnson was selected by the Browns in the third round of the 2015 NFL Draft. He was the sixth rusher taken off the board behind Todd Gurley, Melvin Gordon, T.J. Yeldon, Ameer Abdullah, and Tevin Coleman and was taken just nine picks before David Johnson.
As a rookie, Duke split starting duties with second-year back Isaiah Crowell while also serving as the team’s primary receiving back. The two would continue in those roles for the next two years. Johnson made the most with the carries he was granted, averaging 4.3 yards per carry over his years in Cleveland, but he truly shined as a receiver for the Browns.
During that 2015 season, Johnson finished third on the team in receiving yards behind only tight end Gary Barnidge and wide receiver (and fellow Hurricane) Travis Benjamin. He was third on the team in 2016, as well. In 2017, though, Johnson was actually the Browns’ leading receiver with 74 catches for 693 yards. His 348 rushing yards that year helped him to lead the team in scrimmage yards, and his seven total touchdowns were the most on Cleveland’s roster that year. His efforts earned him a three-year, $15.61MM contract extension.
In 2018, the arrival of a rookie Nick Chubb and a veteran Carlos Hyde saw a huge cut to Johnson’s carries, though he still averaged 5.0 yards per rush. He still proved a major asset as a receiver, as well, with 62 catches for 429 yards, but with the emergence of Chubb, Johnson became an unnecessary cost. Cleveland traded Johnson to the Texans in exchange for a conditional fourth-rounder that ended up turning into the third-round pick the Browns would use to draft Jacob Phillips.
Hyde would follow Johnson to Houston and would take RB1 duties, though Johnson would still contribute with 410 rushing yards and 410 receiving yards. The Texans would trade for David Johnson in 2020. A talented receiving back in his own right, David’s acquisition led to diminished usage of Duke. Houston would cut Johnson at the end of the season.
Over the final two years of his career, Johnson saw minimal usage as he spent time on the Jaguars’ practice squad, started four of five game appearances for the Dolphins in 2021, and was a practice squad elevation for one game for the Bills in 2022. Those final two years were the first of his career in which the running back had more rushing than receiving yards.
That fact perhaps underlines the feats of Johnson’s career. Despite his rushing pedigree at Miami, Johnson came into the NFL and provided his talents as a bailout option for the league’s worst team at the time, getting utilized early and often. Since his arrival in Cleveland in 2015, only Jarvis Landry, David Njoku, and Amari Cooper have more receiving yards for the Browns over that period.
Circumstances prevented Johnson from ever taking a leading back role in his career, but the 30-year-old made the most of every opportunity he was granted, regardless of the role he was assigned. Though other backs tended to earn carries over him, Johnson was hard to keep off the field thanks to his impressive receiving abilities. He ends his NFL career with 2,265 rushing yards for 11 touchdowns and 2,870 receiving yards for 12 touchdowns.
Minor NFL Transactions: 5/5/24
The only minor moves to close out the week:
Green Bay Packers
- Signed: WR Julian Hicks, C Lecitus Smith, WR Dimitri Stanley
Seattle Seahawks
- Signed: DT Buddha Jones
Some undrafted rookies may not get signed to three-year, undrafted free agent contracts but will, instead, be invited to rookie minicamps on a tryout basis. Such is the case for Hicks, Stanley, and Jones. Both the Packers and Seahawks had already announced the signings of their UDFA classes, but both will now add to that rookie group.
Rookie minicamps also serve as an audition opportunity for some veteran free agents. Smith joins the aforementioned three rookies as players who earned a deal taking advantage of a rookie minicamp tryout opportunity.
Minor NFL Transactions: 5/4/24
Saturday’s minor moves:
Kansas City Chiefs
- Waived: WR Jacob Copeland, TE Izaiah Gathings, S Tyree Gillespie
- Withdrew ERFA tender: LB Cole Christiansen
Christiansen began his career with the Chargers in 2020, and he spent his first two seasons in the league as a core special teamer. The 26-year-old had been with Kansas City since 2022, making six total regular season appearances and playing three postseason games this year. Christiansen was tendered in March, but today’s decision makes him an unrestricted free agent.
NFL Draft Pick Signings: 5/4/24
Saturday’s lone draft pick signing:
Philadelphia Eagles
- G Trevor Keegan (fifth round, Michigan)
Keegan spent five seasons with the Wolverines, serving as a full-time left guard starter from 2021-23. He was a key member of Michigan’s O-line (a unit which won the Joe Moore Award as the nation’s top offensive front in 2021 and ’22) and he earned second-team All-Big Ten honors last season. With Landon Dickerson locked into the left guard spot in Philadelphia, Keegan will look to compete for playing time at the opposite guard position. The Eagles have now signed two members of their nine-man draft class.