Giants To Sign Ryan Anderson
The Giants have agreed to sign outside linebacker Ryan Anderson to a one-year deal, according to Art Stapleton of The Record (on Twitter). The deal is worth $1.125MM for the veteran’s salary benefit, so it will count for just ~$988K against the 2021 cap. 
[RELATED: Giants To Sign Adoree’ Jackson]
Anderson, 27 in August, came into the league as a second-round pick out of Alabama. He’s spent much of the last four years as a reserve for Washington, but he showed glimpses of his potential in 2019 as he notched 44 stops and four sacks. He looked especially promising in a late-season game against the Eagles that year, when he came away with two sacks and three forced fumbles. In total, Anderson has 86 tackles and six sacks for his career.
The Giants have been especially active in recent days. On Monday, the Giants agreed a three-year, $39MM deal with free agent cornerback Adoree’ Jackson. And, over the weekend, they inked standout wide receiver Kenny Golladay to a four-year, $72MM pact with $40MM guaranteed.
Packers To Re-Sign Kevin King
The Packers are bringing back Kevin King (Twitter link via NFL.com’s Tom Pelissero). The cornerback will return on a one-year deal worth $6MM. 
The Packers nabbed King in the second-round of the 2017 draft due to concerns about his health. If not for injuries, King would have been a top-32 choice, so the Packers saw the Washington product as a strong value. Though he’s flashed serious ability at times, Packers fans haven’t been wild about his coverage on the whole. King has shown a knack for clutch interceptions in the past, but the memory of his NFC Championship Game performance is still fresh.
King, who hauled in five interceptions in 2019, will return in 2021 to pair with lead corner Jaire Alexander.
Lions’ Nick Williams Takes Pay Cut
Nick Williams has accepted a pay cut to keep his roster spot with the Lions. The defensive tackle will now earn $1.25MM in base salary this year, down from $4.1MM last year (Twitter link via Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press). In exchange, Williams will also get $500K in guaranteed money, though his per-game roster bonus will go down from $400K to $250K. 
Williams, a 2013 seventh-round pick, has managed a lengthy pro career. In 2019, he turned in a career year with new watermarks in tackles (42), and sacks (six) for the Bears. He parlayed that into a solid payday with the Lions, but he was less impressive as a full-time starter. Last year, he had 23 tackles and one sack in 14 games (13 starts).
The extra coin could allow the Lions to pursue other free agents still on the board, including slot specialist K’Waun Williams.
Falcons To Sign Barkevious Mingo
The Falcons have agreed to sign linebacker Barkevious Mingo (Twitter link via NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport). His one-year deal is worth $1.25MM with $1.1MM guaranteed, according to ESPN.com’s Michael Rothstein. 
[RELATED: Falcons To Sign Mike Davis]
Mingo, a 6’5″, 235-pound ‘backer, spent last year with the Bears. He appeared in 36% of the team’s snaps but played a much larger role on special teams. On defense, he finished with a total of 35 stops and 2.5 sacks while appearing in all 16 games.
The LSU product entered the league with lofty expectations as the No. 6 overall pick in the 2013 draft. That pick didn’t exactly work out for the Browns, but Mingo has enjoyed a solid career over the last eight years. His 2016 stop in New England yielded a Super Bowl ring and he’s now signed for his ninth season in the league.
Mingo will be joined by lots of fellow fresh faces in Atlanta, including the newly-signed Mike Davis.
Falcons To Sign Mike Davis
The Falcons are set to sign running back Mike Davis to a two-year contract, according to Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (on Twitter). The former Falcons running back will earn $5.5MM in the deal with $3MM fully guaranteed in the first year.
Davis filled-in for Christian McCaffrey last year and turned in a solid year with 1,015 all-purpose yards and eight total touchdowns. Even though his averages of 3.9 yards per carry and 6.3 yards per grab weren’t quite CMC numbers, Davis demonstrated his value as a reliable and durable veteran.
Before that, the 28-year-old joined the Panthers as a waiver wire claim. Although he’s bounced around, Davis isn’t just a one-hit wonder. He averaged 4.6 yards per carry with the Seahawks in 2018 to go along with four rushing touchdowns.
Now, Davis will stay in the division as he joins Ito Smith and Qadree Ollison on Atlanta’s RB depth chart.
Bengals Re-Sign P Kevin Huber
For the 13th-straight season, Kevin Huber will be punting for the Cincinnati Bengals. The team re-signed the veteran special teamer today, per the NFL’s transaction report.
Huber has established himself as a Cincinnati legend over the years. Following a pair of All-American seasons for the Cincinnati Bearcats, Huber joined the Bengals as a fifth-round pick in 2009. Since that time, the punter has only missed a pair of games for Cincy, earning both a Pro Bowl nod and first-team All-Pro recognition in 2014. Huber owns a number of franchise records, including punts (914) and punting yards (41,362). Huber has also appeared in the fourth-most games (190) in franchise history, and he could break the team record (207, held by defensive back Ken Riley) by playing two more seasons.
Huber had another steady season in 2020. The 35-year-old collected 71 punts for 3,350 yards, with his 47.2 yards per punt serving as a new career-high.
The Bengals special teams units may look a bit different in 2021. The team re-signed long snapper Clark Harris, but they watched as starting kicker Randy Bullock left for the Lions.
Colts To Sign OL Sam Tevi
Following the retirement of Anthony Castonzo, the Colts have been seeking a new left tackle. The organization has added one potential replacement, as NFL.coms’ Tom Pelissero reports (via Twitter) that Indy has signed offensive lineman Sam Tevi.
The 2017 sixth-round pick out of Utah had spent his entire four-year career with the Chargers, including three seasons as a full-time starter. After starting 29 of his 30 games at right tackle between the 2018 and 2019 seasons, Tevi started 14 games at left tackle in 2020. He finished the season having appeared in a career-high 1,025 snaps (87 percent of the Chargers’ offensive possessions).
The Colts have been relatively busy looking for players to protect Carson Wentz‘s blindside. We learned last week that the team was hosting free agent lineman Julie’n Davenport.
As Charean Williams of ProFootballTalk.com writes, the Chargers will likely turn to Storm Norton to replace Tevi’s spot in the lineup. The 26-year-old joined the organization last summer, and he proceeded to appear in six games (with three starts).
Giants To Sign Adoree’ Jackson
One of the biggest names on the free agent market has been officially scooped up. The Giants will sign cornerback Adoree’ Jackson, sources told Ian Rapoport of NFL Network (Twitter link).
It’s a three-year deal worth a whopping $39MM, Adam Schefter of ESPN.com tweets. The contract comes with a signing bonus of $13.5MM, full guarantees of $26.5MM, and incentives can bring the total value up to $44.5MM, Schefter tweets. It’s the culmination of a several days long courtship that saw the Giants go all-out in their recruitment. Jackson was also scheduled to meet with the Eagles later this week, but he’ll be canceling that now.
Jackson was cut by the Titans last week before the fifth-year option on his rookie contract became guaranteed. He had been set to cost Tennessee $10.2MM under that fifth-year option, so his release actually ended up getting him a raise as his new pact has an AAV of $13MM. A number of other teams reportedly showed interest, including the Rams, Chiefs, Raiders, and Cardinals.
Giants GM Dave Gettleman, whose job status beyond 2021 is tenuous at best, has been aggressive in what could be his final free agency if things don’t go well this season. The team just committed a large contract to Kenny Golladay over the weekend.
As many Giants writers were quick to point out, this signing likely means that even more contract restructures are coming to clear space. Jackson, a USC product, was drafted 18th overall in 2017. He became a starter as a rookie with the Titans, and also returned punts his first two years.
This past season, a knee injury limited him to only three games. Jackson only has two interceptions in 46 career games, but does have 33 passes defended. He’s played well at times and struggled at others, but is capable of being a very solid player. He’s still only 25, and will slot in opposite James Bradberry at corner for the Giants.
Texans To Sign Hardy Nickerson
Nick Caserio just won’t stop signing guys to one-year deals. The new Texans GM has found his latest low-risk flyer on the free agent market, this time signing linebacker Hardy Nickerson, a source told Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle (Twitter link).
Houston has been making a flurry of cheap signings of under the radar players as they rebuild their defense. The strategy seems to be throwing as many darts at the board as possible, and hitting on a couple of guys. It makes a lot of sense on paper. Nickerson signed with the Bengals as an UDFA in 2017, and started nine games for Cincy across his first two seasons.
He fell out of favor when the new coaching staff took over in 2019, then signed with the Vikings for 2020. He appeared in 14 games for Minnesota, starting one and playing about ten percent of the defensive snaps overall. He finished with 14 tackles, two forced fumbles, and an interception. There’s some familiarity here, as Nickerson played for new Texans DC Lovie Smith in college at Illinois.
Chiefs Finalizing Deal With Daniel Sorensen
It looks like the Chiefs are going to be bringing back a key piece of their Super Bowl runs. Kansas City is “closing in on” finalizing a deal to re-sign safety Daniel Sorensen, a source told Herbie Teope of the Kansas City Star (Twitter link).
Teope reports that it’ll be a one-year deal. Sorensen is one of the longest-tenured members of the team, having been with the Chiefs since they signed him as an undrafted free agent back in 2014. The BYU product became a nice diamond in the rough find for Andy Reid, and after a few years as a reserve he became a starter in 2017. He just wrapped up a four-year, $16MM deal that he signed that year.
This past season he played in 15 games and started 11, racking up 91 tackles, five passes defended, two forced fumbles, and three interceptions. He returned one of those for a touchdown. He played 100 percent of the defensive snaps in each of the past two Super Bowls. Sorensen turned 31 a few weeks ago.
The Chiefs have mostly focused on remaking their offensive line this season, but it appears their attention is shifting toward the defense now. They’re set to host defensive end Melvin Ingram, and will also have cornerback K’Waun Williams in for a visit on Tuesday.