Buccaneers Sign S Ryan Neal
APRIL 6: Neal will not end up making what he would have on a Seahawks RFA tender. He signed for the veteran minimum, Greg Auman of Fox Sports tweets. The deal will come with just $108K guaranteed, but after the Bucs lost Edwards and Keanu Neal in free agency, Ryan Neal said he chose Tampa Bay for a chance to start. It appears the four-year Seahawk will have a chance to team with Antoine Winfield Jr. as the Buccaneers’ first-string safeties.
APRIL 4: Following a breakout season in Seattle, Ryan Neal is heading to Tampa Bay. The free agent safety is signing with the Buccaneers, reports Ari Meirov (via Twitter). Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times has confirmed the move (on Twitter), noting that the safety is inking a one-year deal with Tampa Bay.
Neal, a former undrafted free agent out of Southern Illinois, spent some time with the Eagles and Falcons before joining the Seahawks in 2019. He appeared in around 40 percent of Seattle’s defensive snaps in 29 games between 2020 and 2021, but he took on a significantly larger role in 2022.
This past year, Neal started 10 of his 14 appearances while collecting 66 tackles and eight passes defended. He graded out as one of the league’s top safeties, with Pro Football Focus ranking him as the fourth-best player at his position. Predictably, the impending free agent was hit with an RFA tender after the season, but he was squeezed out of the starting lineup when the Seahawks added Julian Love. As a result, the organization withdrew the $2.6MM offer, making Neal an unrestricted free agent.
He’ll now help a Buccaneers secondary that lost safeties Mike Edwards and Keanu Neal and hasn’t re-signed Logan Ryan. Neal will surely fill in one of those starting spots, but Greg Auman of Fox Sports expects the organization to still pursue a safety in the draft (Twitter link).
Minor NFL Transactions: 4/5/23
Today’s minor moves:
Jacksonville Jaguars
- Signed: OL Chandler Brewer
New England Patriots
- Signed (RFA tender): T Yodny Cajuste
Cajuste will earn just over $2.7MM on his low-round tender in 2023. The 27-year-old has made five right tackle starts starts across his 17 total appearances with the Patriots, logging a 32% snap share last season. He took a step forward in run blocking in 2022, per PFF, but continued to struggle in pass protection. The former third-rounder will look to maintain at least a backup/swing tackle role with New England this summer.
Raiders Add Danny Amendola To Staff
Danny Amendola retired following the 2021 season, wrapping a 14-year career. He will now be one of many former Patriots on either Josh McDaniels‘ Raiders coaching staff or offseason roster.
The Raiders have added Amendola as a coaching assistant in charge of the team’s returners. This will be Amendola’s first regular coaching role. He will join ex-Patriots staffers McDaniels, GM Dave Ziegler, OC Mick Lombardi and DC Patrick Graham in Las Vegas.
Amendola, 37, spent six seasons under McDaniels — both in St. Louis and New England — during his career. The accomplished wide receiver was with the Rams during McDaniels’ 2011 one-and-done stay as their offensive coordinator. He then signed with the Patriots in 2013, coming over on a five-year deal that came together shortly after Wes Welker‘s Broncos agreement. Winning two Super Bowls with the Pats, Amendola is certainly best known for that tenure. He will now follow in Welker’s footsteps by breaking into coaching.
More faces will greet Amendola upon his arrival in Vegas. Ex-teammates Jimmy Garoppolo and Brian Hoyer will be part of the 2023 Raiders. The team added Hoyer on Tuesday. They are not the only ones. Special-teamer Brandon Bolden joins Chandler Jones, Phillip Dorsett, Adam Butler and DeAndre Carter as ex-Amendola teammates now with the Raiders. Twelve former Pats reside on the Raiders’ roster, Ben Volin of the Boston Globe tweets. Carter did not see action in New England, but the wideout/return specialist was with the team from 2015-16.
Raiders To Sign QB Brian Hoyer
APRIL 5: Hoyer’s two-year deal will check in at $4.5MM, Field Yates of ESPN.com tweets. This agreement places the former UDFA in position to surpass $35MM in career earnings. The Raiders will be Hoyer’s eighth NFL team. Hoyer’s deal is nearly fully guaranteed, Ben Volin of the Boston Globe adds (via Twitter). The 15th-year veteran is locked into $4.2MM at signing.
APRIL 4: Weeks after Josh McDaniels secured a Jimmy Garoppolo reunion, the second-year Raiders HC is bringing in another familiar face. The Raiders are signing Brian Hoyer, according to his agency (on Twitter).
Hoyer agreed to a two-year deal with Las Vegas on Tuesday. The Raiders attempted to keep Jarrett Stidham, but the ex-Patriots draftee preferred the opportunity the Broncos will provide. Now, another ex-McDaniels Pats pupil will head west.
Hoyer and Garoppolo did not cross paths in New England; the latter’s trade to the 49ers in 2017 led Hoyer out of San Francisco and back to Foxborough. Hoyer finished out his first Patriots tenure with McDaniels, who rejoined the Pats in the 2011 playoffs after the Rams did not bring him back following a rough season as St. Louis’ OC. Hoyer caught up with McDaniels again in 2017 and played four seasons under the longtime Pats OC. The two will work together again soon.
The Patriots dropped Hoyer earlier this offseason, taking on nearly $2MM in dead money to do so. New England has second-year QB Bailey Zappe in place behind Mac Jones. This will lead to yet another opportunity for the veteran backup. Hoyer, 37, has been in the NFL since joining the Patriots as a 2009 UDFA.
Enjoying two stints as Tom Brady‘s backup and having been a starter for a few teams in between, Hoyer backed up Cam Newton in 2020 and Jones for the past two seasons. Given Garoppolo’s injury history, Hoyer could become a key figure for the Raiders. Hoyer seeing starts would be interesting at this stage of his career; the 15th-year veteran has started three games over the past five seasons and only finished one of those. Hoyer also suffered a concussion early last season, having replaced Jones after the starter’s high ankle sprain, and did not return from New England’s IR. The October concussion was not expected to end Hoyer’s season, and NBC Sports’ Tom Curran said during a recent WEEI appearance the backup believed he was ready to return (video link). He remained on IR, however.
For his career, Hoyer has made 40 starts. He played a relevant role in the mid-2010s, guiding his hometown Browns into rare playoff contention and then leading the Texans to the AFC South title a year later. Cleveland was 7-6 in Hoyer’s starts in 2014, despite Josh Gordon missing most of that stretch due to a suspension, but the Browns sat the veteran for then-rookie Johnny Manziel. Hoyer finished 2015 with a 19-7 TD-INT ratio in Houston, but after a playoff loss to the Chiefs, the Texans replaced him with Brock Osweiler.
Holding the No. 7 overall pick, the Raiders are also doing extensive work on this year’s rookie class. It certainly will be possible Las Vegas will finish this offseason with Garoppolo, Hoyer and a rookie signal-caller — perhaps a first-round pick on a developmental track — on the depth chart. As of now, though, the team’s post-Derek Carr QB room is full-on Patriots West.
Minor NFL Transactions: 4/4/23
Today’s minor moves:
Green Bay Packers
- Re-signed:S Dallin Leavitt
Seattle Seahawks
- Re-signed: WR Cody Thompson
Following a four-year stint with the Raiders, Leavitt joined the Packers last offseason and ended up collecting 13 special teams tackles for his new squad. As NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo tweets, Leavitt is a favorite of Packers special teams coordinator Rich Bisaccia, who has coached the player with both the Packers and Raiders.
Thompson was expected to see a bigger role in 2022 after getting into five games with Seattle in 2021. However, a preseason shoulder injury ended up wiping out his entire campaign.
Jaguars Sign OL Josh Wells
Josh Wells is back with his first organization. The Jaguars announced today that they’ve signed the free agent offensive lineman.
Wells joined the Jaguars as an undrafted free agent out of James Madison in 2014 and ended up spending five years with the organization, appearing in 56 games (10 starts). Following a 2018 campaign where he was limited to seven games thanks in part to a groin injury and a concussion, the lineman was cut by Jacksonville.
He later caught on with the Buccaneers, where he spent the past four seasons. After starting eight of his first 45 games with the organization, Wells started a career-high seven games in 2022. Other than his first season in Tampa Bay, Pro Football Focus has generally graded the veteran as a steady offensive tackle, with the site giving hims props for both his pass- and run-blocking abilities in 2022.
Wells will likely serve as a swing tackle once again in 2023. Cam Robinson and Walker Little are entrenched as the team’s starting tackles, so Wells would need an injury to crack the starting lineup.
Cardinals Sign OL Elijah Wilkinson
Elijah Wilkinson is heading out west. The free agent offensive lineman is signing with the Cardinals, per Charean Williams of ProFootballTalk.com. Earlier today, Aaron Wilson of ProFootballNetwork.com tweeted that Wilkinson was auditioning for the team.
A standout at UMass, Wilkinson went undrafted during the 2017 draft. He was quickly scooped up by the Broncos and proceeded to spend four years in Denver, including a 2019 campaign where he started 12 of his 15 appearances.
He had mostly a reserve role with the Bears in 2021 but found himself with a starting gig after joining the Falcons in 2022. He started all nine of his appearances for Atlanta last season, missing a chunk of games with a knee injury.
While Pro Football Focus wasn’t particularly fond of Wilkinson’s performance early in his career, they’ve been more positive in recent years. The site was particularly fond of his run blocking in 2021 and his pass blocking in 2022, although he only finished this past year as the 34th guard (among 50 qualifying players).
Still, Wilkinson’s versatility should come in handy for the Cardinals, as the 28-year-old has played both guard and tackle during his career. He previously got a look in Dallas, visiting them earlier this offseason.
Bengals To Meet With QB Trevor Siemian
A former seventh-round pick, Trevor Siemian has managed to overcome the odds and become an NFL regular for nearly a decade. The ex-Broncos starter remains a viable backup option, and the Bengals will take a look.
Siemian will head to Cincinnati for a Wednesday meeting, James Palmer of NFL.com tweets. While the Northwestern alum has not been a regular starter since his three-year Broncos tenure wrapped after the 2017 season, teams have continued to add him as a backup.
The Bears released Siemian last month, cutting ties after they had inked the veteran to a two-year, $4MM deal in 2022. Since being traded from the Broncos to the Vikings in 2018, Siemian has played for the Jets, Titans, Saints and Bears. His most notable post-Denver work came in New Orleans in 2021, when a Saints team riddled with QB injuries used him as a four-game starter. New Orleans lost all four games, though the team did defeat Tampa Bay after Siemian replaced an injured Jameis Winston in October 2021.
The Bengals no longer have multiyear Joe Burrow backup Brandon Allen under contract. Allen had been with Cincinnati for the past three seasons. No team has signed the career reserve, but Siemian does offer considerably more in-game seasoning by comparison. The 2015 draftee has started 30 career games.
Siemian, 31, has a clear connection to the Bengals. OC Brian Callahan was in Denver as an offensive assistant during Siemian’s rookie season, when he played behind Peyton Manning and Brock Osweiler. The Broncos, after refusing to match the Texans’ Osweiler offer in 2016, turned to Siemian to start their Super Bowl title defense season. Despite having selected Paxton Lynch in the 2016 first round, Denver kept Siemian as its primary starter for most of the next two seasons. Callahan was only present in 2015, however, having joined the Lions’ staff shortly after Super Bowl 50.
Beyond Burrow, only former UDFA Jake Browning resides on Cincinnati’s roster at quarterback. Browning has been with the Bengals for two seasons, but the Super Bowl contenders are eyeing a more seasoned backup.
Titans OL Aaron Brewer Signs RFA Tender
Aaron Brewer is back in the fold for the Titans. Given a second-round restricted free agent tender in March, the 2022 Tennessee guard starter signed it Tuesday, Field Yates of ESPN.com tweets. The Titans had given Brewer and defensive tackle Teair Tart second-round tenders.
The veteran blocker had until April 21 to sign an offer sheet with another team or sign his tender; the Titans could have retained Brewer for 120% of his 2022 salary had he not done so. Tart, in turn, should be expected to follow suit soon.
While RFA offer sheets are not too common, the Bears gave Ryan Bates one last year. The Bills matched it. However, the Titans tendered Brewer at the second-round level likely squashed any offer-sheet momentum. Not only does the Round 2 tender lock him into $4.3MM this season, an unmatched offer sheet would have required the signing team to send the Titans its second-round pick.
That would be a steep price for a guard who has one season of full-time starter experience. But the Titans, as they retool up front, look set to turn to Brewer once again. Signing the tender locks Brewer into his biggest payday yet. He played for the league minimum from 2020-22, coming into the NFL as a UDFA.
Brewer, 25, has experience at both guard and center. The Titans used him as their full-time left guard in 2022, making Rodger Saffold a cap casualty. Brewer started 17 games, which stood out on a Titans O-line flooded with backups by season’s end. Tennessee has since lost four-year right guard starter Nate Davis. Brewer and right tackle Nicholas Petit-Frere will be positioned as the only two starting O-linemen returning for the team.
The Titans have added tackle Andre Dillard and guard Daniel Brunskill in free agency, and with Brewer having center experience as well, he could be an option there as well. Prior to letting Davis join the Bears in free agency, the Titans cut longtime center Ben Jones and left tackle Taylor Lewan. While Dillard is ticketed to replace Lewan, the Titans have not signed a veteran center. The team will likely look to address its interior O-line in the draft at some point, but Brewer and Brunskill’s positional flexibility give the team options.
Panthers Sign LB Kamu Grugier-Hill
Former Eagles and Texans starting linebacker Kamu Grugier-Hill will end up in Carolina. The Panthers announced an agreement with the veteran defender Tuesday.
The Panthers have some openings at the position after having released Damien Wilson and let Cory Littleton walk in free agency. The team still has Shaq Thompson and hybrid player Frankie Luvu in place as its linebacker regulars. Grugier-Hill, who is going into his age-29 season, can provide some experience as a depth player and special-teamer.
The Texans cut Grugier-Hill just before last year’s trade deadline, granting the starter a release days before he would have been subject to the waiver process. The former Patriots draftee-turned-Eagles contributor finished out the season with the Cardinals, who used him as a backup in six games. While the Texans deployed Grugier-Hill as a starter, he has spent more games as a backup.
Grugier-Hill started 20 games for the Texans between the 2021-22 seasons, having reunited with Nick Caserio, who was on the Patriots’ staff when the team drafted him seven years ago. Grugier-Hill finished with career-high marks in tackles (108) and sacks (three) in 2021. He was part of the Eagles’ Super Bowl LII-winning team and then started 10 games for Philadelphia’s 2018 edition. The Eagles used the Eastern Illinois alum steadily on special teams, and he resumed that role with the Cardinals, seeing time on 66% of Arizona’s ST snaps during a six-game cameo with the NFC West team.
This will be Grugier-Hill’s sixth team. After the Patriots moved on before the former sixth-rounder’s rookie season began, he moved to Philly, Miami, Houston and Arizona.