Texans To Sign DT Foley Fatukasi
Named as a suitor for the top defensive tackle set to hit free agency, the Texans will make a lower-end addition at the position. Foley Fatukasi has agreed to a one-year deal with Houston, Aaron Wilson of KPRC2 reports. 
Fatukasi was released by the Jaguars last week in a move which ended his two-year run with the team. Suitors emerged rather quickly, though, and the Texans were among those which hosted him on a visit. The run-stop specialist did not need to wait until free agency to land a deal, and he has found a new home in short order.
After a four-year run with the Jets on his rookie deal, the 29-year-old landed a $30MM pact with Jacksonville. Fatukasi did not develop into an impact pass-rusher during his time as a Jaguar, though, leading to the team’s decision to move on with one year left on his pact. He will now aim to maintain a starting role as part of Houston’s defensive line, a unit which has been the source of speculation related to a major addition.
The Texans loom as a potential suitor for Dolphins DT Christian Wilkins. With Chris Jones having landed a monster re-up with the Chiefs, Wilkins comfortably sits atop the list of the best interior defenders who will reach the open market this week. Houston could still be aggressive in pursuing a deal with the former first-rounder, but if that falls short the team will have an experienced rotational option at a minimum in the form of Fatukasi.
Houston entered Sunday with almost $63MM in cap space, so a (presumably) low-cost Fatukasi deal will not tangibly limit the team’s spending power at the position. The Texans will not have Sheldon Rankins in place next season, something which will limit them from an interior pass-rushing perspective as things stand. Fatukasi will help in the run defense department, though, as he makes an intra-divisional move.
Seahawks, Nick Bellore To Part Ways
Another veteran member of the Pete Carrol-era Seahawks will not be in place for 2024. Seattle and special teamer Nick Bellore will part ways on Monday, Tom Pelissero of NFL Network reports. 
One year remained on Bellore’s latest Seahawks contract; he was due to count $4MM against the cap. Seattle will see $2.85MM in cap savings by releasing him just ahead of free agency. Monday marks the beginning of the legal tampering window, and the 34-year-old will be free to discuss a new deal with teams before signing one as early as Wednesday.
The former UDFA served as a starting linebacker with the 49ers in 2016, but throughout the rest of his career he has seen most of his playing time on special teams. Bellore has notably seen usage both at linebacker and fullback, although he only had six offensive touches during his five seasons in the Emerald City. He earned a second career Pro Bowl nod in 2023 after logging an 83% snap share on special teams. In spite of that, the team will move on.
Bellore joins a long list of veterans which have been (or will be) released as part of a financial reset this offseason. Safeties Jamal Adams and Quandre Diggs, along with tight end Will Dissly and defensive tackle Bryan Mone will not return in 2024. Bellore’s absence will not be acutely felt on offense or defense, but his third phase contributions on a Seahawks team which ranked eight in special teams DVOA last season will be missed.
The Central Michigan product has experience with the Jets, 49ers and Lions in addition to his time as a Seahawk. Bellore has played in 200 regular season games (as well as four in the postseason), and Pelissero notes he intends to continue his career. It will be interesting to see how much of a market develops for him in the near future.
Bears, S Kevin Byard Agree To Deal
Kevin Byard saw his brief Eagles tenure come to an end recently, but he has not needed to wait until the new league year to find his next home. The veteran safety has agreed to a two-year deal with the Bears, CBS Sports’ Josina Anderson reports. 
This contract will carry a base value of $15MM, Ian Rapoport of NFL Network adds. Byard was set to visit a non-Chicago suitor today, per a previous Rapoport report. Instead, he has an agreement in place which will send him to the Windy City. Like all players released prior to free agency, he was free to sign with a team at any time.
Considering the Bears (a team which had nearly $63MM in cap space as of Sunday) hosted Byard yesterday, this news comes as little surprise. The 30-year-old was one of several decorated safeties on the open market after a large number of them were let go in the build-up to the new league year. The Eagles traded for Byard at the deadline in 2023, but they cut him earlier this month as part of a notable re-shaping of their secondary.
Prior to his Philadelphia stint, the former third-rounder had a productive tenure with the Titans from 2016 through to this fall. Byard earned a Pro Bowl nod as well as first-team All-Pro honors in the 2017 and 2021 seasons, and he has remained a full-time starter for the past seven years. He will be expected to provide experience and high-end production in Chicago given the terms of his new deal.
The Bears released Eddie Jackson this offseason, marking an end to his seven-year run with the franchise. Byard will take on Jackson’s starting role alongside Jaquan Brisker on the backend. Given the latter’s play to begin his career, along with the other young pieces in place in the Bears’ secondary, the team could be well-positioned to improve on its 25th place finish against the pass from 2023.
Standout corner Jaylon Johnson will be a major part of that effort, as he landed a lucrative extension shortly after receiving the franchise tag. Johnson had a breakout campaign in terms of ball production in particular last season, and continued play in that regard will go a long way to ensuring defensive success for Chicago. Byard will aim to play a central role in that regard as well.
The latter notched one interception and three pass breakups in his Eagles tenure; when taking his time with the Titans into account, Byard recorded over 100 tackles for the third time in the past four seasons. This pact represents a step back financially compared to his Titans extensions (averaging $14.1MM, then $12.55MM per season), but it comes during what could be a buyer’s market at the S position. Byard’s deal will likely be used as a barometer as other safeties find new teams over the course of free agency.
Jets To Sign CB Isaiah Oliver
The Jets have agreed to terms with cornerback Isaiah Oliver on a one-year deal, per Mike Garafolo of the NFL Network. Oliver, who spent the 2023 campaign with the 49ers after a five-year run with the Falcons, was released by San Francisco last month. 
This is the second move to fortify the defensive backfield that New York has made today, as reports on the club’s one-year agreement with safety Chuck Clark surfaced a little over an hour before the Oliver news. As The Athletic’s Matt Barrow observes, New York is adding the latter with the intention of also using him at safety. Oliver spent time practicing at that spot toward the end of his 49ers tenure.
The 27-year-old was brought to San Francisco to man the slot corner role, but things did not go according to plan in that regard. Oliver allowed a completion percentage of 84% and a passer rating of 101 as the nearest defender in 2023. He also surrendered three touchdowns in coverage, and those factors no doubt informed San Francisco’s decision to move on. Oliver will be reunited with defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich with this move, after the pair worked together in Atlanta.
The Jets have Sauce Gardner and D.J. Reed in place as cornerback starters; rather than joining that tandem in the slot, Oliver will aim to carve out a role on the backend. Clark’s new deal will provide the Jets with a first-team option at one safety spot, and Oliver could compete for the other one. Jordan Whitehead – who started all 17 games in each of the past two seasons after signing with New York in 2022 – is a pending free agent.
New York entered Sunday with nearly $21MM in cap space, flexibility which will be useful this week once the legal tampering begins and free agency opens two days later. It will be interesting to see if Whitehead is retained given the Oliver acquisition, but the latter could serve as experienced depth if another starter is also brought in. In any case, Oliver will aim to rebuild his value in 2024 after a disappointing one-and-done tenure in the Bay Area.
Rory Parks contributed to this post.
Panthers To Release C Bradley Bozeman
Bradley Bozeman‘s tenure in Charlotte has come to an end. Per Ian Rapoport of NFL.com, the Panthers will release the veteran center at the start of the league year on Wednesday. Bozeman was due a $1.5MM roster bonus on March 16, so Carolina will avoid that payment. 
Bozeman began his career with the Ravens, seeing first-team playing time at both guard and center. It was in the latter role that he finished his rookie contract in 2021, remaining a full-time starter over the course of that campaign. In his first trip to free agency, the former sixth-rounder headed to Charlotte on a one-year pact. Bozeman made 17 appearances (and 11 starts) in that time.
A mutual interest existed between team and player to work out a new arrangement, and that was indeed the case last March. Bozeman inked a three-year, $18MM deal to remain with the Panthers. After only one year on that pact, however, Carolina – now led by general manager Dan Morgan – will cut bait and begin to search out a replacement. Joe Person of The Athletic notes Bozeman declined to take a pay cut to remain with the team. By timing the release after the new league year begins, the Panthers will have the option of designating this move a post-June 1 cut. That route would yield $2MM in cap savings and $5.64MM in dead money.
Bozeman earned a PFF grade of 62.2 in 2023, a figure which falls roughly in line with most of his past performances . Strong play as a run blocker was overshadowed by shortcomings in terms of pass protection; the 29-year-old was charged with eight sacks allowed as part of a Panthers’ O-line which struggled to keep quarterback Bryce Young upright. Major changes up front will be a top priority for Morgan and Co. in free agency and/or the draft.
The 2024 free agent class already featured a few center options for teams to choose from, but Bozeman will be a notable addition to the group. Highly regarded for his work off the field, the Alabama product has earned the Walter Payton Man of the Year nomination in both Baltimore and Carolina. He will be hard-pressed to land another pact averaging $6MM as he did last offseason, but he should manage to find a new home in relatively short order.
Rory Parks contributed to this post.
Jets Re-Sign S Chuck Clark
The Jets will bring back safety Chuck Clark on a one-year contract, per ESPN’s Adam Schefter. New York acquired Clark from the Ravens last March, sending a seventh-rounder back to Baltimore in the trade.
Unfortunately, Clark suffered a torn ACL during OTAs in June, thereby ending his first Jets season before it started. Obviously, Gang Green is comfortable with Clark’s recovery, and as fellow safeties Jordan Whitehead and Ashtyn Davis are also out of contract, retaining Clark on what is surely a modest deal makes plenty of sense.
As we heard earlier this week, Whitehead appears unlikely to return to the team, leaving Clark as the likely starter at strong safety and Tony Adams as his running mate at free safety. Although Clark is not a world-beater, he was a regular starter for the Ravens from 2019-22 and only became expendable once Baltimore authorized a high-end free agent contract for Marcus Williams in 2022 and selected Kyle Hamilton in the first round of that year’s draft. Even after those acquisitions, the Ravens retained Clark for the 2022 campaign, underscoring his value to the club.
Over his final two years with the Ravens, Clark earned high marks from Pro Football Focus for his work in run defense. While his coverage grades were not as strong, they were at least passable, and with the Jets likely to deploy him close to line of scrimmage on most snaps, his limitations in the passing game will be mitigated to some degree.
Until his ACL tear, Clark had proven himself to be a highly durable player, having missed one game due to injury to that point in his career. The Jets will hope the 2017 sixth-rounder, who turns 29 next month, can turn in a healthy campaign while offering stability on the back end of their defense.
Chiefs, Chris Jones Agree To Extension
Chris Jones will not be reaching the market. The three-time Chiefs Super Bowl winning defensive tackle has been retained on a monster extension, as first reported by Ian Rapoport of NFL Network. The deal is five years in length and includes a staggering $95MM in guaranteed money, ESPN’s Adam Schefter notes. 
Jones’ agency has since confirmed the move, which will ensure his Kansas City tenure continues and add considerably to his career earnings. The five-time Pro Bowler was on track to be the top prize amongst defenders in free agency, but the Chiefs made consistent efforts recently to retain him. That has now taken place, with the agreement shattering the record for guaranteed compensation at the D-tackle spot.
Schefter clarifies Jones will receive the $95MM figure – which is guaranteed – over the first three years of the pact. That $31.67MM average matches the AAV mark set by Aaron Donald on his historic Rams extension, but it far outpaces the $46.5MM guaranteed which Donald’s deal includes. The deal is still being ironed out, per Schefter, but once finalized it will move Jones to the top of the DT pecking order.
The 29-year-old had been seeking a deal in the $30MM-per-year range, and he has indeed landed it. Jones was always Kansas City’s top free agent priority, despite a younger defensive stalwart (cornerback L’Jarius Sneed) also being in need of a new deal. The latter has been franchise-tagged, but it remains to be seen if he will be retained or traded to avoid a 2025 free agent departure. Regardless of what happens in the team’s secondary, Kansas City’s defensive front will remain strong given Jones’ continued presence.
Earning first-team All-Pro honors in each of the past two seasons, Jones has not slowed. The Mississippi State product has totaled 26 sacks over the that span in the regular season, adding 2.5 in the postseason. Game-changing plays in the playoffs have remained a fixture for Jones, as he as contributed immensely to the Chiefs’ dynasty construction. Given his durability (multiple missed games in only two seasons), a long-term investment could be less risky from the team’s perspective than most others with players his age.
Kansas City has seen head coach Andy Reid commit to playing at least one more season (and likely more) in an offseason after Patrick Mahomes had his own mega-deal restructured. Jones agreeing to a re-up means all three pillars of the Chiefs’ core will be intact moving forward. In the latter’s case, it comes with the added benefit of avoiding a repeat of the holdout which began the 2023 regular season.
Jones remained out of the lineup through Week 1 this past campaign, missing out on a game check in addition to fines incurred from missed training camp time. He and the team worked out a one-year deal laden with incentives, but hammering out another multi-year pact was an obvious priority for team and player. Working one out before free agency was the expectation of many around the league, and to no surprise Jones has landed a raise from the four-year, $80MM pact he inked in 2020.
As of Saturday, the two-time defending champions sat at just $1.2MM in cap space, a figure which of course did not include Jones given his pending free agency (although he will account for $3.4MM in dead money with his previous deal already having voided). The structure of the guaranteed payouts – along with whatever compensation is included in Years 4 and 5 – will be interesting given the importance of Kansas City maintaining cap flexibility in the immediate future.
The team is expected to devote finances to the offensive side of the ball (aside from this historic Jones agreement, of course) this offseason. That comes as no surprise given Kansas City’s inconsistency relative to its defense in 2023. Jones will remain an anchor of DC Steve Spagnuolo‘s unit for the foreseeable future, though, something which will have a ripple effect around the league next week.
Jones coming off the board leaves a major vacancy at the top of the DT market. Christian Wilkins is now positioned as the best player at the position on track to land a deal with an outside suitor. In the short term in Wilkins’ case, as well as the long term given the upward financial trajectory along the defensive interior, this Jones deal will keep moving the bar higher in terms of both annual and guaranteed compensation.
Broncos Trading WR Jerry Jeudy To Browns
Jerry Jeudy is heading to Cleveland. The Browns and Broncos have agreed to a deal for the wide receiver, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter. Denver will receive 2024 fifth- and sixth-round picks from Cleveland, per NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero. The deal will become official on Wednesday.
Jeudy has seemingly been involved in trade talks for more than a year, and we heard that the Broncos were actively fielding offers for the receiver prior to the trade deadline. Schefter notes that the Browns were among the teams that made a run at Jeudy last season, with NFL Network’s James Palmer noting that Cleveland’s front office previously thought the price was too high. The Broncos apparently reduced their demands, leading to today’s agreement.
According to ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler, the front office recently indicated that they were “warming up” to trading Jeudy (and, at the same time, presumably dropping their asking price). According to Fowler, the Jets and Patriots were among the teams that also expressed interest in the receiver before he was dealt to the Browns.
The former first-round pick never developed into a top-end receiver during his time in Denver, although that was partly due to inconsistent play from the quarterback position. Jeudy followed up a solid rookie season with a disappointing sophomore campaign, but he seemed to bounce back in 2022. Jeudy finished that season with 67 catches for 972 yards and six touchdowns, leading to the Broncos picking up his fifth-year option.
However, after emerging as a trade candidate in 2022, the talks picked up steam in 2023. Jeudy was constantly mentioned alongside teammate Courtland Sutton in trade rumors, but the Broncos ultimately decided to hang on to both of their top receivers. Jeudy wasn’t able to follow up on his promising 2022 campaign, as the wideout finished 2023 with 54 catches for 758 yards and two touchdowns in 16 games (11 starts). He finished the season ranked 62nd on Pro Football Focus’ ranking of 128 qualifying wideouts.
With the Broncos moving on from Russell Wilson, the organization will be featuring a new-look offense in 2024. That divorce probably contributed to the organization’s decision to finally rip off the Jeudy band aid, but there were also financial reasons to move on from the former first-round wideout. The cash-strapped Broncos will clear around $13MM with the trade, as Jeudy’s fifth-year option was fully guaranteed.
Focus will now shift to Sutton, who will likely continue to be on the trade block. Marvin Mims will also be eyeing a larger role heading into 2024. As Palmer notes, Sean Payton has made it clear that he wants the 2023 second-round pick on the field, but the coach believed the wideout was being blocked on the depth chart by Jeudy. This trade should clear Mims up for a significant role next season.
Jeudy will now look to rehabilitate his value in Cleveland before hitting free agency next offseason. With the Browns having made a massive commitment to Deshaun Watson, Cleveland’s front office has done everything in their power to surround the QB with intriguing targets.
The team first traded a fifth-round pick to have Amari Cooper lead their depth chart, and they later swapped a second-round pick for a third-round pick in order to acquire Elijah Moore. The organization has once again looked to add a target without giving up significant draft capital, although their offensive hopes will still depend on Watson’s ability to return to his previous form.
Minor NFL Transactions: 3/9/24
Saturday’s minor moves:
Houston Texans
- Re-signed: CB Kris Boyd, DT Khalil Davis
Retired
The Texans’ efforts to retain several key contributors includes both Boyd and Davis landing new deals, according to Aaron Wilson of KPRC2. The former joined Houston after he was released by the Cardinals in October. Boyd made a pair of appearances with the Texans, playing almost exclusively on special teams. Davis, meanwhile, earned an extended Houston stay after logging a 41% defensive snap share and recording two sacks in his debut Texans campaign. After playing for three teams in as many years, the 27-year-old will have a degree of stability in 2024.
Scarbrough entered the league as a Cowboys seventh-rounder in 2018, but it was one year later (and with the Lions) that he made his regular season debut. The Alabama alum received 89 carries that season, and followed it up with a much smaller workload in 2020 with the Seahawks. After not seeing any further NFL action, the 29-year-old was set to play with the UFL’s Birmingham Stallions (the team with which he won a pair of USFL titles) this spring. Instead, he has elected to hang up his cleats.
Broncos To Re-Sign S P.J. Locke
The Broncos moved on from a franchise mainstay earlier this week by releasing Justin Simmons. While he will not be in place for 2024, P.J. Locke will be. The latter has agreed to a new Denver deal, Ian Rapoport of NFL Network reports. 
Rapoport notes Locke will receive $7MM in base compensation on a two-year deal. The maximum value sits at $9MM, which will mark a hefty raise from his previous deals. The former UDFA had amassed less than $4MM in career earnings across five seasons. He will now remain in Denver and avoid a trip to the open market.
Simmons’ release created the possibility that all three safeties which played signficant time in 2023 (he, Locke and Kareem Jackson, who was waived and finished the campaign with the Texans) could be gone by the 2024 campaign. However, a recent report noted interest from the team to work out a new deal in Locke’s case. The 27-year-old took on starting duties filling in for Jackson last year, and he will be counted on as a first-teamer moving forward.
Locke tallied 53 tackles, one interception, five pass deflections, two forced fumbles and three sacks last season. Each of those figures represented career highs, and he could have generated a notable market given his age and play down the stretch even with numerous veterans now available. After playing each of his 59 games with the Broncos, however, Locke has elected to take another new deal in lieu of gauging his outside value.
The Texas alum joins Caden Sterns and a pair of other recent draftees (Delarrin Turner-Yell, JL Skinner) in being on the books for Denver ahead of free agency. That group is severely lacking in experience compared to the Broncos’ longtime Simmons-Jackson tandem, so an addition at the position would come as no surprise. The team will have several options to choose from on the open market. Regardless of what happens on that front, though, Locke will face significant expectations ahead of 2024 and ’25.
The Broncos entered Saturday with roughly $30.5MM in cap space with free agency on the horizon. Locke’s new deal will lower that figure to a slight extent, but his continued presence will be welcomed on a Denver defense which will feature a number of new faces next year.