Ravens To Re-Sign LB Josh Bynes
After seeing Bobby Wagner sign with the Rams, the Ravens are bringing back one of their own at linebacker. Josh Bynes will return to Baltimore, Jamison Hensley of ESPN.com tweets.
Bynes agreed to a one-year deal Friday. This will continue Bynes’ third stint in Baltimore, which acquired him as a UDFA in 2011 and brought him back in 2019. After a year in Cincinnati in 2020, Bynes returned to the Ravens and started 12 games last season.
Baltimore deployed Bynes and Patrick Queen as its primary off-ball linebackers last season, using the former on 61% of their defensive snaps. Bynes played far more regularly than 2020 third-rounder Malik Harrison and, despite going into his age-33 season, will have a chance to reprise his role in 2022.
Last season, Bynes made 76 tackles (six for loss) and registered two sacks in 2021. The Auburn alum has played with four teams, also seeing time with the Cardinals and Lions, but the Ravens have been his most frequent NFL employer.
The Ravens offered Wagner a deal that included $18MM fully guaranteed in the first two years, but the Rams convinced the Los Angeles native to return home. Bynes returning may not mean Baltimore is done at inside linebacker, but this could allow the Ravens to allocate their top remaining offseason resources to other areas.
Colts, S Rodney McLeod Finalizing Deal
After six seasons with the Eagles, Rodney McLeod is preparing to relocate. The former Super Bowl starter is finalizing a deal with the Colts, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets.
The Eagles re-signed Anthony Harris earlier this offseason and went through a virtual visit with Tyrann Mathieu this week. McLeod, a nine-year starter with the Rams and Eagles, will join a Colts secondary that encountered significant injury issues last season.
McLeod is entering his age-32 season. This will mark the veteran’s fourth NFL contract. The Eagles initially signed the UDFA success story in 2016 and kept him around, via a pay-cut agreement, to form a longtime McLeod-Malcolm Jenkins partnership. While McLeod played under former Colts defensive backs coach Jonathan Gannon in Philadelphia last season, Indianapolis hired a new defensive coordinator this year (Gus Bradley). This McLeod agreement comes days after the Colts added veteran safety/special-teamer Armani Watts.
One of the more experienced free agents available, McLeod has made 123 starts during his 10-year career. He has intercepted 16 career passes and forced 11 fumbles. The ex-Virginia Cavalier has bounced back from multiple major injuries as a pro as well, returning from a 2018 MCL tear and a 2020 ACL tear. McLeod’s completion percentage as the nearest defender in coverage did spike following his latest post-injury re-emergence, rising from 48% in 2020 to 71%. Though, these figures are a bit less indicative for safeties than they are for cornerbacks.
Indianapolis has its Week 1 starter pair from last season — Julian Blackmon and Khari Willis — under contract. Blackmon is coming off an Achilles tear, while Willis missed six games last season and battled injuries in 2020 as well. Andrew Sendejo worked as a fill-in last season; the 12-year veteran remains in free agency.
Minor NFL Transactions: 4/8/22
We’ll keep track of today’s minor moves here:
Atlanta Falcons
- Signed: CB Mike Ford
Cincinnati Bengals
- Re-Signed: TE Mitchell Wilcox
Dallas Cowboys
- Signed: RB Ryan Nall
Los Angeles Chargers
- Signed: WR/KR DeAndre Carter
New York Giants
- Signed: OT Roy Mbaeteka
Dolphins To Sign P Thomas Morstead
The Dolphins have signed punter Thomas Morstead, according to Adam Caplan of SiriusXM (on Twitter). This comes just 48 hours after the veteran’s audition in South Beach.
Morstead made his name with the Saints, enjoying a 12-year run that included a Pro Bowl nod in 2012. However, the 36-year-old was dropped in the middle of the Saints’ numbers crunch.
Morstead first entered the league as a 2009 fifth-round draft pick. After earning a ring as a rookie, he signed multiple extensions to stay in New Orleans through 2020. His He caught on with the Jets in mid-September, replacing the injured Braden Mann. But, with Mann eventually designated for return, Morstead’s services were no longer needed in New York and he was cut.
The veteran averaged 48.2 yards per punt with the Jets, his best average since 2016. His spent the second half of the season with the Falcons, where he averaged 46.1 yards on his 22 punts.
The accomplished punter is now in line to replace Michael Palardy, who is out of contract.
Minor NFL Transactions: 4/7/22
Today’s minor moves:
Arizona Cardinals
- Signed: WR Antoine Wesley
Kansas City Chiefs
- Signed: RB Derrick Gore
Tennessee Titans
- Waived: T Brandon Kemp
Broncos Re-Sign S Kareem Jackson
Kareem Jackson will be back in Denver next season. Ryan O’Halloran of The Denver Post reports (via Twitter) that the veteran safety is re-signing with the Broncos. The 33-year-old is inking a one-year deal worth up to $5MM, per Mike Klis of 9News in Denver (on Twitter).
[RELATED: Mutual Interest Between Broncos, Kareem Jackson]
The 2010 first-round pick spent the first nine seasons of his career with the Texans before inking a three-year, $33MM deal with the Broncos in 2019. The Broncos declined his option last offseason, making him an unrestricted free agent, but he ended up reupping with the organization on a one-year, $5MM deal.
In three seasons in Denver, Jackson has started all 44 of his appearances, collecting 248 tackles, four interceptions, and 16 passes defended. He had another 16 interceptions in 132 games with the Texans.
While Broncos GM George Paton believes in 2021 fifth-round pick Caden Sterns, the organization understands that they couldn’t rely on the sophomore as they look to make a playoff run. As Troy Renck of Denver7 tweets, the Broncos believe Jackson has set a high bar on defense, and his leadership and physicality will continue to be relied on throughout the 2022 season.
Texans Extend WR Brandin Cooks
It sounds like Brandin Cooks will be sticking in Houston. ESPN’s Adam Schefter reports (via Twitter) that the receiver has inked a two-year extension with the Texans.
[RELATED: Texans Seeking Second-Round Pick For Brandin Cooks]
A report from earlier this week suggested that the wideout was on the trade block. However, Schefter notes that Cooks “is off the trade market,” while NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport tweets that Cooks is “not going anywhere.”
With the Texans in the midst of a rebuild, it only made sense that the wideout was included in trade rumors. However, Rapoport tweets that the Texans declined to deal the receiver at last year’s deadline, and the front office made it clear that they wanted the veteran to stick around Houston for the foreseeable future.
Of course, an extension doesn’t necessarily preclude a trade. We heard yesterday that the Browns considered a trade for Cooks but were wary of the player’s pending free agency in 2023. The Texans were reportedly seeking a second-round pick for the receiver, and you could make an argument that the extension now makes Cooks more valuable in a potential trade (pending terms). However, based on the sentiment from reporters, it sounds like Cooks will indeed be staying put.
Cooks was set to earn $12.5MM in base salary this season, the final year of a five-year, $81MM ($50.5MM) extension he signed with the Rams back in 2018. He was traded to the Texans two years later, and Cooks has topped 1,000 receiving yards in each of his two seasons in Houston. Cooks is still only 28, and while that might not necessarily mesh with the rest of the roster (including 23-year-old QB Davis Mills), the receiver should provide the offense with some veteran savviness as they navigate through their rebuild.
49ers, WR Marcus Johnson Agree To Deal
The 49ers hosted a pair of wide receivers on visits this week and agreed to terms with one of them. Marcus Johnson is signing with San Francisco, Field Yates of ESPN.com tweets.
This will end a lengthy AFC South stay for Johnson, who spent last season with the Titans and the previous three with the Colts. Johnson, 27, is on track for his sixth NFL season. He and Malik Turner visited the 49ers earlier this week.
Part of an Eagles-Colts trade in 2018, the former UDFA is coming off a season in which he was placed on IR twice. In between those stints, Johnson made a notable contribution for a Tennessee team playing without A.J. Brown and Julio Jones. Johnson’s five-catch, 100-yard day helped the Titans to a narrow win over the Saints, a victory that ended up mattering significantly in the AFC South champions’ pursuit of the conference’s No. 1 seed. Johnson landed on season-ending IR shortly after that performance.
A Texas alum, Johnson served as a part-time contributor with the Colts during Jacoby Brissett‘s second starter season and Philip Rivers‘ Indianapolis one-off. Between the 2019 and ’20 slates, the 6-foot-1 target combined for 31 receptions, 532 yards and three touchdowns.
San Francisco has a low-cost receiver room, at the moment, and is set to return its top pass catchers from 2021. Deebo Samuel‘s status figures to change that, with the team planning an extension — one that may now be more costly, given the receiver market’s early-offseason explosion — for its versatile star. The 49ers have Brandon Aiyuk under contract through at least 2023, and emerging complementary performer Jauan Jennings is attached to an ERFA tender — one he has not yet signed.
Vikings To Sign DT Jullian Taylor
Jullian Taylor has missed the past two seasons, having seen an injury during his second 49ers campaign throw his career off course. But the former seventh-round pick will have another chance soon.
The Vikings agreed to a one-year deal with Taylor on Thursday, Adam Schefter of ESPN.com tweets. While Taylor has not been out of football altogether since his December 2019 ACL tear, he has not seen the field since that setback. This signing comes under new Vikings GM Kwesi Adofo-Mensah, who was with the 49ers when they drafted Taylor in 2018.
San Francisco drafted Taylor out of Temple and used him as a rotational backup in six games in 2018 and ’19. Taylor played roughly a quarter of the 49ers’ defensive snaps when active, recovering a fumble and making four tackles for loss for the Super Bowl LIV-bound San Francisco squad in 2019. The Titans signed Taylor on June 3 of last year but cut him a day later.
Minnesota added Harrison Phillips from Buffalo in free agency this year and has Dalvin Tomlinson under contract. The Vikings are switching to primarily a 3-4 scheme under new defensive coordinator Ed Donatell. They will give Taylor, 27, a shot to revive his career.
Dolphins Re-Sign John Jenkins
John Jenkins‘ second stint in Miami will continue in 2022. The Dolphins announced on Thursday that they have re-signed the veteran defensive tackle. 
Jenkins, 32, began his career in New Orleans after the Saints drafted him in 2013. It was in his three-plus years there that he saw the most playing time of his career, eclipsing the 50% mark in terms of snap share for the first and only time in 2015. In 49 games as a Saint, he totalled 100 tackles and 1.5 sacks.
Jenkins seemed to be on the way out of New Orleans during his fourth year there, so it came as little surprise that the team gave him a head start on free agency and released him mid-season in 2016. That began a series of brief stints with four different teams, including the Seahawks and Giants. Between those two stays was the first of a pair of campaigns in Chicago.
His heaviest workload since his time with the Saints came with the Dolphins, however. Jenkins signed in Miami in 2019, then again last offseason. In two years in Florida, he has started seven of 23 contests and made 50 tackles. His retention will not only give him a tenure of multiple seasons with the same team for the first time in six years, but it also marks another re-signing from the Dolphins’ 2021 defense. That unit will still feature, most notably, Emmanuel Ogbah and Xavien Howard as it looks to help the team take a step towards AFC contention in 2022.