2016 March - Pro Football Rumors

Steelers Re-Sign William Gay

March 8th, 2016 at 12:33pm CST by Luke Adams

12:33pm: Gay’s new deal is a three-year pact, tweets Kabloy.

11:35am: The Steelers have re-signed veteran cornerback William Gay to a new contract, agent Jerrold Colton confirms to Mark Kaboly of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. The deal, first announced by Gay on his Instagram account, will keep him from reaching the open market on Wednesday.

Gay, a fifth-round pick in 2007, has been with the Steelers for all but one season since being drafted by the team, appearing in 128 regular-season contests and another 11 postseason games for the franchise. In 2015, head coach Mike Tomlin and defensive coordinator Keith Butler continued to lean heavily on the 31-year-old, who played a team-high 1,065 defensive snaps.

The veteran cornerback has shown a knack for making big plays, racking up five return touchdowns in the last three years, and while his best years may be behind him, Gay can still be a reliable contributor in the secondary. Pro Football Focus viewed his 2015 performance as solid, albeit unspectacular, ranking him 46th out of 111 qualified cornerbacks.

Gay’s previous contract was worth $4.5MM over three years, and while terms of his new pact aren’t yet known, I’d expect him to be in line for a raise, given the relative consistency he has shown since signing his last deal.

While the Steelers aren’t expected to be all that active in free agency this week, the team has been busy when it comes to re-signing its own free agents. Pittsburgh has also reached agreements with safety Robert Golden and wide receiver Darrius Heyward-Bey.

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Broncos To Release G Louis Vasquez

March 8th, 2016 at 12:14pm CST by Luke Adams

The Broncos will make a cap-clearing move, releasing veteran guard Louis Vasquez, according to Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (via Twitter). Vasquez will immediately become an unrestricted free agent once the move is made official.

Vasquez, who turns 29 in April, was a key piece of the offensive line that helped the Broncos win the Super Bowl, having started all but one game for Denver over the past three seasons, primarily spending his time at right guard. However, he had been set to count for $6.75MM against the team’s cap in 2016. Denver will create $5.5MM in cap savings by releasing him.

The Broncos’ offensive line will be undergoing some changes this winter, with Vasquez departing and fellow starting guard Evan Mathis potentially on his way out as well. Mathis has contemplated retirement, and isn’t under contract with Denver for 2016 anyway.

While Vasquez’s release will create some cap flexibility for the Broncos, perhaps to use on a new deal for quarterback Brock Osweiler, the club apparently won’t be putting that space toward an extension for Malik Jackson — the standout defensive lineman appears set to join the Jaguars.

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Extra Points: Campbell, Murray, Cowboys, Suh

March 8th, 2016 at 11:58am CST by Luke Adams

Contradicting a report from another outlet, Kent Somers of the Arizona Republic writes that the Cardinals aren’t trying to trade Pro Bowl defensive end Calais Campbell, and haven’t received any inquiries from teams asking if he’s available.

Still, while Campbell may not be on the trade block, his situation is still worth keeping an eye on this offseason, as Somers points out. The standout defensive lineman is entering the final year of his contract, and has a cap hit of $15.25MM, making him a prime extension candidate if Arizona wants to keep him around for the long term.

Here are a few more odds and ends from around the NFL on a busy Tuesday:

There was some discussion about the Cowboys, rather than the Titans, acquiring DeMarco Murray from the Eagles, according to Ed Werder of ESPN.com (Twitter link). However, Werder says Dallas wasn’t on board with the compensation or the guaranteed money necessary to make a deal.
The Dolphins created $16MM in cap room when they restructured Ndamukong Suh‘s contract, a source tells Field Yates of ESPN.com (Twitter link). James Walker of ESPN.com breaks down the specifics.
Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press has the details on Tyrunn Walker‘s new one-year deal with the Lions, which features a $150K signing bonus, $550K in total roster bonuses, and $650K in playing-time incentives.
Safety Andrew Sendejo will receive $2.5MM fully guaranteed on his new deal with the Vikings, tweets Ben Goessling of ESPN.com. Goessling adds that Sendejo will make $4MM in the first year and $7MM through two years.

Jaguars On Verge Of Signing Malik Jackson?

March 8th, 2016 at 11:58am CST by Zachary Links

11:58am: Jackson is about to sign with the Jaguars, Mike Klis of KUSA writes. Jackson’s Broncos teammates have heard that the Jaguars are the clear frontrunners for his services, according to Troy Renck of The Denver Post (on Twitter).

11:31am: The Jaguars are making a very strong push for Broncos defensive lineman Malik Jackson, Jason La Canfora of CBSSports.com tweets. La Canfora adds that Jackson could agree to sign with Jacksonville “well before” the start of the league year.

On Monday, we learned that the Jaguars, Bears and Raiders have “expressed serious interest” in signing the Broncos defensive lineman. Denver has offered Jackson anywhere from $11MM to $12MM per season but they’re apparently not the only club that’s willing to go to eight figures per season.

Jackson recorded a personal-best 45 tackles and five sacks during his third straight 16-game regular season in 2015-16, finishing 16th out of Pro Football Focus’ 123 qualifying interior defenders in overall performance (subscription required). PFR’s Luke Adams ranks Jackson the second-best free agent in this year’s class. As of this writing, the Jaguars have roughly $82MM in cap space, per Over The Cap.

In other news, Jaguars defensive tackle Abry Jones signed his one-year contract, as Ryan O’Halloran of the Florida Times-Union tweets. The restricted free agent will earn $2.553MM.

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Ravens Hit Kamar Aiken With Second-Round Tender

March 8th, 2016 at 11:24am CST by Zachary Links

The Ravens will put the second-round tender on restricted free agent Kamar Aiken, as Jeff Zrebiec of The Baltimore Sun tweets. The second-round tender is worth $2.55MM this year.

With Aiken coming off a 75-catch breakout season, it made sense for the Ravens to pull the trigger on the second-round tender. After all, there’s a dearth of talent on the wide receiver market this offseason, and Baltimore didn’t want to risk losing Aiken or paying him even more if a rival team signed him to an offer sheet.

As PFR’s Top 10 list of free agent wide receivers shows, there isn’t a ton of high-end talent in this year’s class. Marvin Jones stands as our top-ranked receiver, followed by Travis Benjamin, Rishard Matthews, Rueben Randle, Anquan Boldin, Jermaine Kearse, Mohamed Sanu, Marques Colston, Brandon LaFell, and James Jones. Other notables include Andre Johnson, Roddy White, Nate Washington, Brian Quick, and Andre Holmes. While there’s name value in that bunch, Aiken’s ability and age (27 in May) would have put him pretty high on that list.

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Alshon Jeffery Signs Bears Franchise Tag Tender

March 8th, 2016 at 11:01am CST by Zachary Links

Bears wide receiver Alshon Jeffery has officially signed his franchise tag tender, the team announced (on Twitter). The star receiver can still ink a long-term deal up until July 15th.

After averaging 87 receptions and 1,277 yards in 2013 and 2014, Jeffery was plagued by injuries in 2015, but he was excellent when healthy, averaging a career-high 89.7 yards per game. Now that he has accepted the tag, he’ll be in line for a salary north of $14MM for 2016.

The Bears started to remodel their team last season but, despite some speculation to the contrary, the team did not shop Jeffery. This offseason, there was little chance that the Bears would let the 26-year-old get away. Had he entered the open market, however, he would have ranked high on PFR’s Top 50 NFL Free Agents list. The current wide receiver market is headlined by Marvin Jones, Travis Benjamin, Rishard Matthews, Rueben Randle, Anquan Boldin, Jermaine Kearse, and Mohamed Sanu.

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Saints To Re-Sign Michael Hoomanawanui

March 8th, 2016 at 10:50am CST by Luke Adams

The Saints have agreed to terms on a new contract for pending free agent Michael Hoomanawanui, a source tells Alex Marvez of FOX Sports (Twitter link). Marvez reports that it’ll be a three-year deal for the veteran tight end.

[RELATED: Saints to re-sign CB Kyle Wilson]

Hoomanawanui, 27, joined the Saints in late September last season, coming over from New England in a trade that sent defensive lineman Akiem Hicks to the Patriots. Upon his arrival in New Orleans, Hoomanawanui started eight of his 12 games for the club, and displayed a knack for finding the end zone — three of his 11 receptions went for touchdowns.

Among Saints tight ends, Hoomanawanui ranked third in total offensive snaps, behind Ben Watson and Josh Hill. However, both of those players are eligible for free agency this week – Watson is unrestricted and Hill is restricted – and Hoomanawanui still played a decent amount (366 snaps). Locking him up gives New Orleans a little certainty at the position as the team decides what to do with Watson and Hill.

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Packers Sign G Lane Taylor To Two-Year Deal

March 8th, 2016 at 10:47am CST by Zachary Links

The Packers have signed guard Lane Taylor to a two-year deal worth $4.15MM, per Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (on Twitter). Only $600K of that total contract is guaranteed, however.

We learned last week that Taylor wouldn’t be getting a restricted free agent tender and now we know why. Last year, Taylor appeared in four games for the Packers and the club is likely banking on him becoming a bigger part of the offensive line rotation going forward. Had he been given a low tender, Taylor could have been in line for a $1.671MM salary in 2016. Instead, he has a mostly non-guaranteed two-year deal that hurts his 2017 upside but still gives him a decent chunk of guaranteed cash.

Raiders Interested In Doug Martin

March 8th, 2016 at 10:35am CST by Zachary Links

The Raiders might not be done making free agent splashes. After agreeing to terms with Kelechi Osemele earlier today, Oakland is now entering the Doug Martin sweepstakes, according to Rand Getlin of NFL.com (on Twitter).

Adding Martin to the mix would make the Raiders offensive attack even more potent as he would form a dangerous 1-2 combo with Latavius Murray. One has to imagine that quarterback Derek Carr would be thrilled to command an offense with Murray and Martin in the backfield and Amari Cooper at wide receiver.

We heard recently that Martin was hoping to “hit the jackpot” in free agency after producing the second 1,400-yard rushing season of his career. Sometime after that, his talks with the Bucs broke down. Martin’s 1,402 ground yards last season came on a career-best 4.9-yards-per-carry average. He’s poised to cash in based off of that performance, but teams also haven’t forgotten that Martin sputtered in his second and third seasons, combining to gain fewer than 1,000 yards with a per-carry average below 4.0.

Martin’s market reportedly includes at least six teams.

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Chargers, Joe Barksdale Agree To Four-Year Deal

March 8th, 2016 at 10:27am CST by Connor J. Byrne

TUESDAY, 10:27am: Barksdale’s new four-year deal with the Chargers is worth $22.2MM, with $10.5MM in fully guaranteed money, per Caplan (Twitter link).

MONDAY, 8:48pm: Joe Barksdale was close to becoming one of the top right tackles on this year’s free agent market, but he’s staying put. Barksdale will re-sign the Chargers, according to Michael Gehlken of the San Diego Union-Tribune (Twitter link). It’s a four-year pact, reports ESPN’s Adam Caplan (on Twitter). Financial details are not yet available.

“We got the deal done. I’ll be signing tomorrow,” Barksdale said.

Barksdale proved to be a bargain for the Chargers last season after joining them on a one-year deal. The 27-year-old made 16 starts and played the second-most snaps in the league among tackles (1,150). His performance earned him the No. 21 overall ranking among 77 qualifying OTs from Pro Football Focus (subscription required).

Barksdale, a third-round pick of the Raiders in 2011, joined the Rams in 2012 and emerged as a dependable starter the next season. Since then, he has appeared in 48 straight games and made 45 starts for the Rams and Chargers.

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