Today’s minor moves:
Chicago Bears
Irving played about 12 percent of the defensive snaps last year as a reserve linebacker, also contributing on special teams. The San Jose State product signed with Chicago as an undrafted free agent back in 2017.
Jadeveon Clowney is surprisingly still on the market this late in the process, and he’s one of the most interesting situations left to monitor. A couple of days ago we heard that Clowney had lowered his asking price from around $20MM a year to $17-18MM annually after not receiving the offers he was hoping for.
Now we’ve got a new batch of notes on his status, courtesy of John Clayton of ESPN 710 Seattle. Clayton writes that the Seahawks are taking a wait and see approach with Clowney and are being patient. He thinks Seattle might be willing to only pay between $13-15MM for him, which would be a steep discount. New York has been talked about as an interested team, but Clayton writes to “scratch the thoughts on the Jets.”
Clayton writes the Jets’ discussions consisted of only one phone call to his agent and that they haven’t made him an offer, so it sounds like their interest has possibly been a bit overstated. Clayton acknowledges that the Titans are interested, but thinks it might be hard for Tennessee to fit him into their cap after they already gave fellow outside linebacker Vic Beasley a $9MM contract.
Of course Titans head coach Mike Vrabel coached Clowney during their time in Houston, so maybe he’ll be extra motivated to make it work. Clayton opines that had Clowney lowered his demands in the first couple of days of free agency, he would’ve had a deal. The Seahawks by all accounts want to bring him back, and it sounds like they might end up getting a great deal if Clowney’s leverage continues to decrease. We’ve also heard the next best free agent rusher Everson Griffen is interested in joining the Seahawks, so that could be their backup plan if Clowney heads elsewhere.
The Chiefs are adding a tight end behind Travis Kelce. Kansas City has agreed to terms with free agent Ricky Seals-Jones, a source told Terez Paylor of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link).
In a follow-up tweet, Paylor notes it’s a one-year deal. It’s an interesting developmental pickup for the Chiefs, as Seals-Jones only turned 25 last month. He signed with the Cardinals as an undrafted free agent in 2017, and made some noise down the stretch of his rookie season. There was a lot of buzz surrounding the Texas A&M product heading into his second season, but he was arrested that summer and ended up underwhelming.
In 15 games and five starts in 2018, he caught 34 passes for 343 yards and a touchdown. He was waived at final cuts in 2019, and claimed by the Browns. The Steelers put in a claim as well. He ended up with 229 yards and four touchdowns in 14 games with Cleveland last year. He’s flashed plenty of potential in the past and the Chiefs don’t have much else behind Kelce, so he should be in line to be Kansas City’s number two in 2020.
We heard earlier today that the Bears were planning an open quarterback competition between Nick Foles and Mitchell Trubisky, but that might not be entirely accurate. Both general manager Ryan Pace and head coach Matt Nagy insisted during a teleconference with the media that it would be a fair battle and even that Trubisky would take the first snaps whenever they hit the field for their first practices, but Brad Biggs of the Chicago Tribune is skeptical.
Trubisky is the incumbent and is being treated as such for now, but Biggs thinks the team is just paying lip-service to the former number two overall pick. “Short of the 31-year-old falling on his face or being injured,” it’s Foles’ job to lose, Biggs writes. It makes sense why Pace doesn’t want to admit defeat with Trubisky, considering he traded up to draft him so early in 2017. Biggs writes that it’s the inverse of the situation the Bears had in 2017, when Mike Glennon was technically the starter but everyone knew Trubisky would be taking over sooner rather than later. As of right now, Foles looks like a heavy favorite to be under center Week 1.
Here’s more from the NFC:
The Bengals have officially signed D.J. Reader, according to Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (on Twitter). The two sides agreed to a deal weeks ago, but the pandemic threw a wrench into their plans. 
The deal, at long last, is done after Reader agreed to additional language that has been popping up more and more as of late. In essence, Reader’s deal is done, though he still must pass a physical in order for the deal to take effect. If he doesn’t pass, the Bengals will have the option of cutting him immediately or keeping the contract as-is. It adds an extra layer of protection for the Bengals, of course, but also ensures that Reader will not be left in a holding pattern.
As previously reported, Reader’s four-deal is set to pay him $53MM with a favorable cash flow. He’ll get $22.25MM in Year 1 and $31.75MM over the first two years of the contract. It’s a big commitment, but the Bengals believe that it’s a worthwhile one – Reader is fantastic against the run and he’ll be downright scary when lined up next to Geno Atkins on the interior line.
“I know we’re in a good spot with the mix of young and experienced players that know what they’re doing. You’ve got guys like Geno and Carlos Dunlap that have played a lot of ball,” Reader told the team website recently. “They’re great leaders and everybody in the back end. And we’ve got some new guys coming in now. It’s a revamped team, but a lot of their standard pieces are in place. It wasn’t like you needed that much to come. You’ve got young guys like (right end) Sam Hubbard, the receivers are good. Running back Joe Mixon is good; the offensive line is good and has a lot of guys that have been there. I knew the record didn’t reflect what the team had last year.”
The Broncos, Bills, and Titans were among the clubs looking at Reader last month. Ultimately, the Bengals came out on top to land one of the league’s best young 3-4 NTs.
The Buccaneers have made it official: Blaine Gabbert is headed back to Tampa to serve as the backup to Tom Brady. His one-year deal is “guaranteed,” according to NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport (on Twitter).
[RELATED: Bucs GM Jason Licht On Landing Tom Brady]
Gabbert, 31 in October, joined the Bucs this time last year. Unfortunately, his season ended before it could even begin, thanks to a dislocated shoulder suffered in the preseason.
Before that, Gabbert saw time in eight games (including three starts) for the Titans. As the QB2 to Marcus Mariota, he completed 60.4% of his passes for 626 yards, four touchdowns, and four interceptions.
Now, he’ll serve as Brady’s clipboard holder while continuing his relationship with head coach Bruce Arians. Arians coached Gabbert in Arizona, including the 2017 season in which he started five games.
Gabbert, the former No. 10 overall pick in the 2011 draft, has 49 career starts with a career 13-35 record and a 56.2% completion percentage. He also has a nearly 1:1 TD-INT ratio.
It may not come as much of a surprise given the team’s trade for Nick Foles and his sizable contract, but Bears GM Ryan Pace has declared that there will be an “open competition” between Foles and incumbent Mitchell Trubisky for the starting quarterback job (Twitter link via Brad Biggs of the Chicago Tribune).
Those were probably not easy words for Pace to say, as he famously gave up a good deal of draft capital in the 2017 draft to move up one spot — from No. 3 overall to No. 2 overall — for the right to select Trubisky. After a disappointing rookie campaign, Trubisky seemed to be coming into his own with a quality sophomore effort in which he posted a 95.4 quarterback rating and threw for 24 touchdowns against 12 interceptions en route to a Pro Bowl nod.
But Pace’s vindication would be short-lived, as Trubisky had just 17 TDs against ten INTs in 2019, and the Bears’ talented D couldn’t make up for the offense’s shortcomings. The Bears went 8-7 in Trubisky’s 15 starts and finished .500 on the season, leaving them short of the postseason. To be fair, Trubisky did battle through a number of injuries, but Chicago still thought it was necessary to bring in legitimate veteran competition for its fourth-year signal-caller.
Foles, meanwhile, signed a four-year, $88MM deal with the Jaguars last March after leading the Eagles on a legendary ride to a Super Bowl title at the end of the 2017 season and more playoff heroics following the 2018 campaign. Unfortunately, he broke his clavicle in the first game of the 2019 season and did not play well enough after returning from injury to keep his job over sixth-round rookie Gardner Minshew. The 31-year-old is not as good as he looked during his Super Bowl run but is better than his disappointing effort in Jacksonville, and even competent QB play may be enough to get Chicago back to the postseason.
The Bears still have a decision to make on Trubisky’s fifth-year option, the deadline for which is next month, but Pace said he is not yet ready to make that call (Twitter link via Biggs). Per head coach Matt Nagy, Trubisky will be the first QB in the huddle whenever the team reconvenes, but the competition will be transparent and honest and the players will split reps equally (Twitter links via Biggs).
As you probably know by now, the 2020 NFL Draft is proceeding as scheduled and will take place from April 23-25. However, it’s going to look and feel a lot different than it normally does, and the league has issued a memo on that front. The entire memo can be found here, courtesy of Albert Breer of SI.com (via Twitter).
Essentially, teams can conduct the draft in one of two ways. They can conduct them at their facilities, though they would obviously be subject to all applicable health and safety guidelines (including a limit on the number of personnel that can be at the facility and rigorous cleaning requirements). Or, they can conduct them totally remotely from the personal residences of their staff, though there would certainly be a limit on the number of personnel that could be present at any one residence.
The memo went on to say that a team can choose to draft from remote sites even if other teams choose to operate from their facilities. On the other hand, if any one team’s state prohibits that team from using its home facility, then all teams will be so prohibited and must conduct the draft remotely. Although the league has drawn plenty of criticism for pressing forward in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is at least trying to maintain some semblance of fairness in the way clubs can handle their business.
It seems that at least one team will be in a state that prohibits a gathering of personnel in a war room setting at a team facility, so it presently sounds as though execs and coaches from around the league should start preparing to select their collegiate prospects from their living rooms. The NFL’s IT department is working to make that process as seamless as possible.
After receiving good news on his voluntary medical re-check, Tua Tagovailoa says his surgically-repaired hip is completely healed, as NFL.com’s Steve Wyche writes. 
“I feel 100 percent,” the Alabama quarterback said. “I feel like if there was a game today, I’d be able to go out and perform the same way I was able to perform in previous years. I feel as mobile as possible. I feel 100 percent.”
Tagovailoa’s reps have echoed similar sentiments in recent days. They say that Tagovailoa is looking strong despite the devastating injury and grueling rehab he’s been through. So far, NFL teams seem to agree, and that could pave the way for him to be one of the top picks in the April draft.
For months, Tagovailoa has been linked to the Dolphins, who hold the No. 5 overall pick. That may represent his floor in the draft, but it’s also possible that another team could leapfrog the ‘Fins to take the Alabama star, who was once projected to be the No. 1 overall pick. It seems unlikely that the Bengals will pass up the opportunity to take Joe Burrow No. 1 overall, or that the Redskins would trade the No. 2 pick and lose out on a generational talent in Chase Young, but the Lions could theoretically move out of the No. 3 pick and try to snag Ohio State corner Jeff Okudah – their rumored target – further down the board. The Giants, who hold the No. 4 pick, are also a candidate to trade back.
As a fully healthy sophomore, Tagovailoa had scouts drooling as he threw for almost 4,000 yards and 43 touchdowns against only six interceptions. In that season, he was the runner-up for the Heisman trophy behind Kyler Murray.
Damarious Randall is headed to Las Vegas. On Friday, the safety agreed to a one-year deal to join up with Jon Gruden & Co., according to ESPN.com’s Josina Anderson (Twitter link). Ian Rapoport of NFL.com adds that the pact will be worth up to $3.25MM (Twitter link).
[RELATED: Raiders Call Off Deal With Eli Apple]
Randall, 28 in August, spent the first three years of his career with the Packers before moving on to the Browns in 2018. Last year, he was limited to just eleven games, though he still managed 2.5 sacks, 61 total stops, and six passes defensed. All in all, he’s got 56 career starts and 14 interceptions to his credit across five NFL seasons.
Randall clashed with head coach Freddie Kitchens at times last year, but he wasn’t the only player in Cleveland to get into it with the since-fired coach. Besides, Gruden likes to see a little bit of fire in his veteran players.
The Redskins and Seahawks also expressed interest in Randall in March, but the Raiders stayed patient and landed him on a short-term deal in April. Luckily for them, Randall was still available to help fortify the secondary after their deal with Eli Apple fell through.
One way or another, the Raiders will have to improve their pass defense in order to contend in 2020. Last year, they surrendered 256.7 passing yards per game, the eighth-highest total in the league.