HEADLINES

Month: September 2024

Patriots, DL Lawrence Guy Agree To Deal

March 24th, 2021 at 3:05pm CST by Sam Robinson

The Patriots will have a host of new starters next season, but they are finalizing an agreement to keep one of their own first-stringers. Lawrence Guy and the Pats are closing in on a new four-year deal, Mike Reiss of ESPN.com tweets.

Guy’s second Pats contract is worth $11.5MM over four years, according to Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (on Twitter). This represents a discount from the sides’ 2017 agreement, and it will keep Guy in New England — where he will join a brigade of incoming talent acquired over the past two weeks.

Guy visited the Dolphins on Monday, but it does not look like ex-Patriots assistant Brian Flores will be able to lure the veteran defensive tackle to Miami. A staple on the Pats’ defensive line, Guy has been with New England for the past four seasons.

A role player who bounced around prior to joining the Patriots in 2017, Guy started for each of New England’s most recent Super Bowl-qualifying teams and has been a steady first-stringer on each of the Pats’ past four squads. Guy, 31, has started 60 of the 62 games he has played with the Pats.

Flores did bring ex-Patriots defensive tackle Adam Butler to Miami, leaving the Pats thinner on their defensive front. However, the Pats — quite busy in this free agency period — have added on their D-line as well. New England signed Henry Anderson, Davon Godchaux, Montravius Adams and Carl Davis to help up front.

A 2011 Packers seventh-round pick, Guy has played a similar role on each of the Patriot teams on which he has played. He has logged between 50-55% of New England’s defensive snaps from 2017-20. The Pats gave Guy a four-year, $20MM deal in 2017 and agreed to a slight pay bump ahead of his 2020 contract year. It appears the sides are set to continue this partnership, with Guy set to be joined by numerous new faces on the 2021 Pats.

Colts To Re-Sign T.Y. Hilton

March 24th, 2021 at 1:57pm CST by Andrew Ortenberg

T.Y. Hilton isn’t going anywhere. The Colts legend will be returning to Indianapolis on a new deal, his agents the Katz Bros tell Ian Rapoport of NFL Network (Twitter link).

It’ll be a one-year deal for the veteran receiver worth $10MM with $8MM guaranteed, Adam Schefter of ESPN.com tweets. It’s a nice payday for a player on the back half of his career. Hilton has been with the Colts ever since they drafted him back in 2012, but this offseason for the first time it looked like a divorce was possible. Both sides had insisted they would like a reunion, but we heard right before free agency opened that there had been little progress on talks and Hilton would test the market.

Another team is believed to have submitted Hilton a stronger offer, according to The Athletic’s Stephen Holder (on Twitter). But the 31-year-old wideout opted to stay in Indianapolis. The Chiefs were not the team that offered more to Hilton, per Holder.

Owner Jim Irsay had said back in January he’d want to see the franchise icon return if the financials could be worked out. Hilton had been one of the top receivers left on the market. The wideout market in general has been heating up recently, with big names like Hilton, Kenny Golladay, and Will Fuller all signing over the past week. Teams like the Ravens looking to add a veteran pass-catcher are running out of top options.

He was still dominant as recently as 2018, when he put up 1,270 yards and six touchdowns in 14 games. Injuries limited him to ten contests in 2019, but he bounced back with a healthy 2020.

He wasn’t a true number one option as Indy had a lot of mouths to feed in a diverse offense, but he developed a rapport with Philip Rivers down the stretch and finished with a solid 56 catches for 762 yards and five scores in 15 games.

Hilton made four straight Pro Bowls from 2014-17, and although he’ll turn 32 this season, showed last year he’s still got something left in the tank. He’ll be catching passes from his fourth quarterback in as many years in 2021, this time from Carson Wentz.

Lions To Sign LB Alex Anzalone

March 24th, 2021 at 1:44pm CST by Andrew Ortenberg

New Lions coach Dan Campbell is getting the gang back together. Well not entirely, but he is adding a familiar face to his inaugural defense.

Detroit has agreed to terms on a deal with free agent linebacker Alex Anzalone, a source told Mike Garafolo of NFL Network (Twitter link). It’s a one-year pact worth a modest $1.75MM, he reports. Campbell and Anzalone were together in New Orleans for the past four years when Campbell was an assistant head coach under Sean Payton. 

The Saints drafted Anzalone in the third-round back in 2017, and he spent his first four pro seasons with the team. This past season he appeared in all 16 games and started nine, playing almost exactly half of the defensive snaps. He finished with 41 tackles, three for a loss.

The Lions have so far made the defensive line more of a priority, adding guys like Michael Brockers and Charles Harris, and this is their first real addition to the linebacking corp.

Cowboys Won’t Re-Sign Aldon Smith

March 24th, 2021 at 1:05pm CST by Andrew Ortenberg

Aldon Smith made an impressive comeback to the NFL last season, but if he wants a go around, it won’t be with the Cowboys. Dallas has informed the defensive end that they’ll be moving on from him and won’t re-sign him, a source told Ed Werder of ESPN.com (Twitter link).

It’s interesting because Cowboys owner Jerry Jones made it sound like back in November that he wanted to keep Smith in the fold. Werder noted in a follow-up tweet that the Cowboys’ desire to give Randy Gregory an expanded role and their recent signing of defensive end Tarell Baham both played a part in the decision.

Once one of the best pass-rushers in the league, Smith hadn’t played since the 2015 season before improbably returning to the field last year. Considering it was his first game action in five years he played pretty well, racking up 48 tackles, five sacks, and a couple of fumble recoveries.

The seventh overall pick of the 2011 draft, Smith became a star right away with the 49ers and was a firs-team All-Pro in 2012 when he had an eye-popping 19.5 sacks. Unfortunately, off-field issues quickly derailed his career and caused him to miss games in every season after that.

After a third DUI arrest in 2015, Smith was cut by the 49ers and signed with the Raiders, playing in nine games for them that season. It would be his last NFL action for a while. Suspended numerous times and denied reinstatement often, he finally made it back last year.

The 31-year-old showed last year he’s still got something in the tank, and it’ll be interesting to see who takes a flyer on his upside.

Jaguars To Sign C.J. Beathard

March 24th, 2021 at 12:35pm CST by Andrew Ortenberg

The Jaguars won’t get Trevor Lawrence until next month, but they’re adding to the quarterback room in the meantime. Jacksonville is expected to sign C.J. Beathard, a source told Ian Rapoport of NFL Network (Twitter link). It’s a two-year pact worth $5MM with additional incentives available, Tom Pelissero of NFL Network tweets.

Beathard was originally drafted by the 49ers in the third-round back in 2017, and has spent the past four years in San Francisco. He started five games as a rookie, another five in 2018, none in 2019, and another two this past year due to various benchings and injuries. The Iowa product is 291/497 for 3,469 yards (7.0 YPA), 18 touchdowns and 13 interceptions in his career.

Not terrible numbers for a backup, although some would argue they’re the product more of a Kyle Shanahan system than anything else. We’ve heard that current Jags passer Gardner Minshew is drawing trade interest, so this move could be a precursor to a deal there. Funnily enough the 49ers have been linked to Minshew, so they could end up just swapping places.

New Jaguars coach Urban Meyer did say recently the team wasn’t shopping Minshew “at this point.” The 49ers had discussions about Beathard over the years, and apparently could’ve gotten a sixth-rounder for him around the 2019 deadline. Besides Minshew the Jaguars also have 2020 sixth-round pick Jake Luton, who started three games last year, on the roster.

Bears To Sign Damien Williams

March 24th, 2021 at 12:22pm CST by Andrew Ortenberg

The Bears are adding to their running back room. Chicago has agreed to terms on a deal with free agent Damien Williams, a source told Ian Rapoport of NFL Network (Twitter link). It’s a one-year pact, he notes.

Williams was a COVID-19 opt out of the 2020 season, and the Chiefs then cut him last week after the drafting of Clyde Edwards-Helaire made him expendable. As Rapsheet points out there’s some familiarity here, as Bears head coach Matt Nagy is an Andy Reid protege who runs a similar offensive scheme. New Bears offensive coordinator Bill Lazor also coached Williams in Miami.

An Oklahoma product, Williams got his NFL start as an UDFA with the Dolphins in 2014. After four years there as a role player, Williams signed with the Chiefs in 2018 and took on a bigger load. In 2019 he was the team’s leading rusher despite playing in only 11 games, carrying the ball 111 times for 498 yards and five touchdowns.

In Kansas City’s Super Bowl win that season he came up huge, rushing for 104 yards and scoring two touchdowns. That’s the last game he’s played. He’ll turn 29 next month, and will join a backfield that includes last year’s workhorse David Montgomery and Tarik Cohen returning from injury.

Bengals To Sign Ricardo Allen

March 24th, 2021 at 11:41am CST by Zachary Links

After being cut by the Falcons, Ricardo Allen has found a new home. On Wednesday, the Bengals agreed to sign the veteran safety to a one-year deal (Twitter link via NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport). 

Allen operated as a first-string safety for the Falcons from 2015-2020, including a start in Super Bowl LI. Despite losing his 2018 season to injury, the 29-year-old has been mostly healthy over the last two years.

The Bengals made a point to upgrade their secondary by bringing in new cornerbacks like Eli Apple, Mike Hilton, and Chidobe Awuzie. Allen, meanwhile, gives them another option at safety on what should be a fairly low-cost deal.

In his 12 games last season, the 29-year-old registered 25 stops and a pair of interceptions. He comes to Cincy with plenty of veteran experience, having appeared in 77 games (76 starts) since 2014.

Vikings To Re-Sign Ameer Abdullah

March 24th, 2021 at 11:33am CST by Zachary Links

The Vikings have agreed to a new deal with Ameer Abdullah (Twitter link via ESPN.com’s Adam Schefter). Terms of the deal are not yet known,

Abdullah had lots of hype coming out of Nebraska in 2015. The Lions’ second-round pick was reasonably productive as a rookie, averaging 4.2 yards per carry plus added 25 catches for 183 yards. His follow-up season was mostly lost to injury and he was unable to reassert himself in 2017, as he averaged just 3.3 yards per tote. In 2018, he found his way to the rival Vikings as a backup RB.

Abdullah, 28 in June, has only seen 31 carries across two-years-and-change in Minnesota. Still, he’s suited up for every possible game across the last two years with much of his time spent on special teams. He also serves as the Vikes’ main kick returner with a career average of 26.4 yards per attempt. This year, he may see more time behind Dalvin Cook and Alexander Mattison now that Mike Boone is out of the picture.

Giants Complete Kyle Rudolph Signing

March 24th, 2021 at 10:28am CST by Zachary Links

Despite Tuesday’s roadblocks, the Giants have ironed things out with Kyle Rudolph. The former Vikings tight end inked his new deal with the G-Men on Wednesday morning (Twitter link via NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport). 

[RELATED: Giants Concerned About Kyle Rudolph‘s Physical]

Rudolph first agreed to a two-year, $12MM deal last week. Then, a Giants physical yielded concerns about a foot issue that put surgery on the table. While it loomed possible that Rudolph’s reworked contract would have less in the way of guarantees or other added protections in the event of an injury, the Giants are honoring the original deal they agreed to with the veteran tight end, Mike Garafolo of NFL.com tweets.

Rudolph will undergo surgery this offseason, Garafolo adds, but he is expected to ready for action by the time the Giants begin the regular season. It is not certain if Rudolph will be full-go when training camp opens.

The 31-year-old marks yet another notable signing for the Giants, who have also landed star wide receiver Kenny Golladay and former Titans cornerback Adoree’ Jackson. Rudolph is now set to support top tight end Evan Engram as the Giants look to reignite their offense.

Minor NFL Transactions: 3/24/21

March 24th, 2021 at 10:21am CST by Zachary Links

We’ll keep track of today’s minor moves here:

Buffalo Bills

Carolina Panthers

Green Bay Packers

Miami Dolphins

New England Patriots

Seattle Seahawks

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