Today’s minor moves:
Carolina Panthers
Chicago Bears
Indianapolis Colts
Jacksonville Jaguars
Miami Dolphins
New York Giants
On Tuesday morning, Jets head coach Adam Gase told reporters that he expects the club to hire its new GM by the end of next week (Twitter link via ESPN.com’s Rich Cimini). However, Cimini hears that the decision is “very likely to happen sooner.” 
“We’ll just keep huddling up and figuring out where we’re at with that, until Christopher [Johnson] is ready to make a decision,” Gase said.
The Jets were originally set to interview at least six candidates for the position, but wound up interviewing only four: Scott Fitterer (Seahawks co-director of player personnel), Champ Kelly (Bears assistant director of player personnel), Saints director of pro scouting Terry Fontenot, and Joe Douglas (Eagles vice president of player personnel). Gase stressed that the club will not interview any more candidates, so the Jets’ next GM will come from that quartet.
Douglas is the reported favorite, but there’s no such thing as a sure thing when it comes to the Jets.
The Colts have signed punter Rigoberto Sanchez to a contract extension, according to a team announcement. Prior to the deal, Sanchez was slated to hit the open market following the 2019 season. Now, he’s under contract for four additional years at a total of $11.6MM with $3MM fully guaranteed, according to ESPN.com’s Field Yates (Twitter link).
Sanchez, a University of Hawaii product, averaged 44.8 yards per boot in college. He’s maintained a similar average (45.3 yards per punt) over the last two years with the Colts while appearing in every single game. Thanks in large part to Sanchez and Adam Vinatieri, the Colts had one of the league’s best special teams units in 2018.
The retirement of Pat McAfee left the Colts with some questions at the punter position, but they haven’t missed a beat thanks to the emergence of Sanchez. Now, the youngster is set to be in the fold for years to come.
The Patriots will release tight end Austin Seferian-Jenkins, according to Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (on Twitter). ASJ plans to step away from football for a month for personal issues, Rapoport hears, and it remains to be seen whether he’ll circle back to the Patriots. 
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Seferian-Jenkins is no stranger to off-the-field hiccups. Substance abuse issues sidetracked him in Tampa, leading him to the Jets, where he enjoyed a productive season in 2017. Last year, he parlayed that success into a two-year, $10MM deal with the Jaguars, but that deal was terminated after he suited up for just five games.
ASJ seemed prime for another comeback with the Rob Gronkowski-less Patriots, but his personal problems have put him in a holding pattern for now. Without the former second-round pick, the Pats will move forward with tight ends Ben Watson, Matt LaCosse, Ryan Izzo, Stephen Anderson, and Andrew Beck. Watson, of course, will miss the first four games of the season due to his PED suspension.
Colts rookie offensive lineman Javon Patterson suffered a torn ACL, according to head coach Frank Reich. The seventh-round pick will miss his rookie season and the team will place him on injured reserve. 
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Patterson, an Ole Miss product, spent most of his time at guard in college, but was projected to play at center in the NFL due to his overall lack of length and strength. The Colts were happy to scoop him up with one of the final picks in the 2019 draft, but they’ll have to wait until 2020 to see what he can do.
The Colts will move ahead with Josh Andrews and center/guard Evan Boehm behind starter Ryan Kelly on the offseason roster.
Good news for the Browns: running back Duke Johnson reported to Browns minicamp on Tuesday. Bad news for the Browns (Twitter link via Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com): Johnson still wants a trade. 
Johnson told reporters that he felt slighted by the Browns’ previous efforts to trade him and wants to be with a team that wants him. He added that he wants a trade sooner rather than later so that he can acclimate to his new club, though he softened things a bit by saying that he’ll still show up to play if he remains in Cleveland.
Johnson, a pass-catching whiz out of the backfield, doesn’t appear to be a major part of the team’s plans this season. Rising sophomore Nick Chubb figures to be the focal point of the team’s running game while new addition Kareem Hunt will take a large share of the carries once his eight-game suspension is through.
Johnson, meanwhile, has averaged roughly 59 catches and 543 yards per season. Even last year when he saw only 40 carries behind Chubb and Carlos Hyde, he still managed 47 grabs for 429 yards.
Redskins tackle Trent Williams skipped the start of the Redskins’ mandatory minicamp in an effort to land a new deal, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (on Twitter) hears. Williams is owed $24MM over the next two years, but wants a better deal now that the market has shifted. 
At the time of signing, Williams’ current deal positioned him as the highest-paid tackle in the NFL, edging Cowboys lineman Tyron Smith. Today, the deal positions him as the sixth-highest paid tackle in the league, thanks in part to recent deals for Trent Brown, Taylor Lewan, and Nate Solder that are worth at least $15.5MM per season.
Williams has missed 13 games over the last three seasons due to various issues, but He still stands as one of the better left tackles in the NFL. He graded out as the league’s best overall tackle in 2016, according to Pro Football Focus, and managed to place No. 21 in a down 2018.
In other Redskins news, the team is reportedly planning to stick with cornerback Josh Norman, despite the savings that would come with releasing him.
Dolphins safety Reshad Jones is in limbo, but that didn’t stop him from showing up for work on Tuesday. The veteran reported for the start of the team’s mandatory minicamp, as Adam Beasley of the Miami Herald writes. 
“I’m really looking forward to working with him,” Dolphins coach Brian Flores said. “He was excited to get into meetings and practice.”
Flores added that Jones showed up “in really good shape.” Taken at face value, that may be a sign that Jones continues to be in the team’s plans. However, a skeptic might see that as an attempt to boost the safety’s trade value. The Dolphins reportedly would prefer to move on from Jones instead of paying out his sizable contract.
Jones skipped the team’s voluntary offseason conditioning program for unknown reasons, but he has clashed with the team many times in the past. Continuing his absence through this week would have cost him nearly $90K in fines, so showing up was the sensible move.
For now, Jones stands as the team’s highest-paid player with $13MM in base salary ($11MM guaranteed) owed to him for 2019. The Dolphins, who are not in position to win in 2019, would probably prefer to swap him for future draft capital.
The Lions will be without two of their best defenders for this week’s mandatory minicamp. Defensive tackle Damon Harrison has decided to stay home, according to Adam Schefter of ESPN.com. This comes on the heels of cornerback Darius Slay taking a similar stand. 
Both Harrison and Slay abstained from voluntary offseason workouts throughout this spring, but this is a sign that they are serious about getting contract adjustments. Snacks, like Slay, could be fined roughly $89K for skipping the minicamp.
Harrison has two years to go on the four-year extension he inked with the Giants in 2016. He’s slated to make $6.75MM in base pay this year before collecting $9MM in 2020. Ultimately, it will come down to a game of chicken – Harrison has already coughed up most of his $250K bonus by skipping voluntary practices, and the fines will only get steeper from here.
Interestingly, Harrison played in 17 games last season since he was traded before the Giants had their bye week but after the Lions already had their’s. A 2016 first-team All-Pro, Harrison had 81 tackles and 3.5 sacks in 2018.
Roughly one-quarter of the NFL’s teams have signed every player in their draft class, as shown in PFR’s tracker. The front offices of the following clubs have a little bit less on their plate as mandatory minicamps get underway:
While the league’s rookie slotting system has been criticized by some, there’s no denying that it has streamlined the signing process for the incoming class. Prominent first-round picks like Joey Bosa and Marcus Mariota have squabbled with teams over offset language in recent years and the third round lacks some structure due to flexibility in base salary, but, on the whole, rookies have been quicker to put pen to paper in recent years.
We’ll likely see several more teams wrap up their draft classes before the week is through. The Bills, Bengals, Cowboys, Packers, Texans, Colts, Dolphins, Vikings, Patriots, Seahawks, Titans, and Redskins each have just one straggler remaining. Unsurprisingly, most of those unsigned players are third-rounders. The Vikings are a notable exception – seventh-round pick Austin Cutting is waiting to find out whether the Air Force will permit him to play instead of immediately fulfilling his two-year service requirement.