The Chargers announced Tuesday that they’ve agreed to a two-year deal with Mike Pouncey after the three-time Pro Bowl offensive lineman visited the team’s facility earlier in the day. The visit with the Chargers was the first for Pouncey with another team since he requested and was granted his release from the Dolphins last week.
The Chargers are set to give Pouncey $15MM over the two-year deal, with $10MM guaranteed, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter (on Twitter).
Pouncey certainly serves as an upgrade to the Chargers’ interior offensive line, with Spencer Pulley and second-year guard Dan Feeney previously set to return at center and right guard, respectively. They also lost versatile offensive lineman Kenny Wiggins to the Lions in free agency this offseason.
Matt Slauson, who started seven games at left guard for the Chargers last year before a biceps injury cut his season short, is an unrestricted free agent and has already visited with the Lions, with a visit scheduled Tuesday with the Colts, according to Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (on Twitter). The Colts had also reportedly shown interest in Pouncey.
The Dolphins and Pouncey parted ways last week after drafting him with the 15th overall pick of the 2011 draft out of Florida. He battled a hip injury last season but still managed to start all 16 games for the third time in his career. He was graded as the No. 25 center in the NFL out of qualifiers last season, according to Pro Football Focus. Hip injuries have hampered Pouncey throughout his career and held him to just five games in 2016 before being placed on injured reserve.
The Dolphins signed Pouncey to a five-year $52.15MM extension back in 2015 but he was one of the team’s numerous cuts as part of an effort to reduce their cap number. Some of those other releases included defensive lineman Ndamukong Suh, linebacker Lawrence Timmons and tight end Julius Thomas. The Dolphins cleared $9MM in cap space, with $2MM in dead cap, by releasing Pouncey.
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Good pickup
Took the words right out of my keyboard.
That’s going to be a boss OL eventually.
The two tackles still need to be improved.
Sad for Mike. He used to be on an NFL team. “Spanos Chargers” = commitment to incompetence.
I think you’re confused it’s his brother that’s been on an NFL team,Mike unfortunately has played for the Dolphins
What an abysmal signing. Learned nothing from the dolphins, who just got out from under a less expensive contract for him. Hasn’t played well in years, even when he was on the field
Incompetent team was 9-7 and a tiebreaker away from the playoffs. They have good, young players on both sides of the ball. Am I pissed about the move? Of course. But this team is going in the right direction
As a team where, YEAR AFTER YEAR, significant injuries to key starters have been an issue for some time…. this is another one waiting to happen. Hard to completely dislike the move, given that he is an absolute upgrade to our line…. however…. he is also a huge injury risk (with a history of injuries) and just took up about 10mil of guaranteed cap space…. so in torn on this move. Better hope he stays healthy
Way way too much money for an injury prone controversial player. Very surprised about this signing.
Have to agree with the “incompetent team” comment. Why do you think Eli Manning (really Archie) didn’t want to play for them. So Rivers has been a HOF QB for 14 years & how many SB’s do they have to show for this? Uh…zero. I’m fact, how many playoff appearances? 6, which isn’t bad & a 4-6 record. They won their division twice, once at 8-8 when they hosted the 12-4 Colts & beat them in OT in Peyton’s last game as a Colt. Very dysfunctional franchise, lots of HC’s, lots of OC’s, not a lot of continuity.