2021 March - Pro Football Rumors

Bears To Sign OL Elijah Wilkinson

March 23rd, 2021 at 3:33pm CST by Sam Robinson

The Broncos’ primary right tackle over the past two seasons, Elijah Wilkinson will relocate. The free agent offensive lineman revealed on Instagram he will join the Bears.

Wilkinson wrapped up his Bears visit earlier Tuesday, and 9News’ Mike Klis noted (via Twitter) the sides were close on a deal. It appears Wilkinson will be set to be part of Chicago’s next O-line group. It’s a one-year deal, per the Chicago Tribune’s Brad Biggs (on Twitter).

This move comes after the Bears passed on Bobby Massie‘s 2021 option. Massie had served as Chicago’s right tackle starter for the past five seasons. Since 2018, Wilkinson has logged 26 starts — at both tackle and guard — and became essential for a Broncos team that saw its high-priced right tackle essentially miss two full seasons. Ja’Wuan James missed almost all of Denver’s 2019 season, thrusting Wilkinson into a full-time role on the right side, and then opted out of the 2020 campaign.

Given a second-round RFA tender by the Broncos last year, Wilkinson suffered a leg injury that limited him to nine games in 2020. The former UDFA did not perform like an upper-echelon right tackle, grading among the lower half at his position in the view of Pro Football Focus, but has extensive experience now as a starter there.

Wilkinson worked as a guard in 2018, helping Phillip Lindsay to the first of his two 1,000-yard seasons, and has competed with Garett Bolles for Denver’s left tackle spot as well. But James’ issues made Wilkinson a full-time right tackle over the past two seasons.

The Bears have also re-signed O-lineman Germain Ifedi this month. While Ifedi played right tackle in Seattle, he started 16 games with the Bears at guard last season. While the team could continue to bolster its O-line, Wilkinson appears set to at worst step into their swing tackle role next season.

Bengals To Add CB Eli Apple

March 23rd, 2021 at 2:35pm CST by Sam Robinson

After an injury-plagued season that ended midway through, Eli Apple will receive another chance. The Bengals are signing the veteran cornerback to a one-year contract, Mike Garafolo of NFL.com tweets.

The Panthers released Apple last October, doing so after he experienced consistent hamstring trouble. Despite now being on team No. 4, the former top-10 pick is still just 25. And he is returning to Ohio, where he once starred as a college prospect.

Apple’s Ohio State work prompted the Giants to use their No. 9 overall pick on him in 2016. However, Apple has not been able to justify the pre-draft hype as a pro. Having since bounced to the Saints and Panthers, Apple will join Mike Hilton and Chidobe Awuzie as offseason Bengals cornerback acquisitions.

Last year, Apple reached a one-year, $6MM agreement to join the Raiders. That deal fell through amid the NFL’s first COVID-19-affected offseason. Apple ended up signing with the Panthers for half that amount, but he only played 28 defensive snaps with Carolina. A hamstring injury sent Apple to IR, and after he aggravated the injury upon return, the Panthers cut bait. Apple sat out the final two months of last season.

While Apple is coming off essentially a medical redshirt campaign, the ex-Buckeye star has made 48 NFL starts — including 25 for a Saints team that won the NFC South in each of his two seasons in New Orleans. The Saints traded fourth- and seventh-round picks for Apple in 2018 and used him as a full-time player.

Apple will now join a Bengals team that has struggled extensively on defense over the past two seasons. Cincinnati lost William Jackson in free agency but has now acquired three veteran corners this offseason. They will join Trae Waynes, who missed all of last season due to injury, in an effort to upgrade the rebuilding team’s secondary.

49ers, DL Zach Kerr Agree To Deal

March 23rd, 2021 at 2:28pm CST by Sam Robinson

The 49ers moved to add some defensive line depth on Tuesday. They signed veteran interior defender Zach Kerr.

A seven-year D-line contributor who has been with three teams over the past three years, Kerr signed a one-year contract to join the 49ers. The Panthers released Kerr just ahead of free agency’s outset last week.

Formerly a Colts UDFA find, Kerr has since played with the Broncos, Cardinals and Panthers. After following Vance Joseph from Denver to Arizona, Kerr landed in Carolina on a multiyear deal. He played in 13 Panthers games last season and logged four starts. The 30-year-old D-lineman finished the season with two sacks and a career-high nine quarterback hits, playing 37% of Carolina’s defensive snaps. Kerr’s nomadic recent past notwithstanding, he played well last season. Giving Kerr the best individual grade of his career, Pro Football Focus rated the veteran as its No. 10 overall interior defender .

While Kerr has never been a regular starter in his NFL career, he has made 16 starts and played in 88 games. While he has experience playing as a defensive end as well, Kerr profiles as an inside player in San Francisco’s 4-3 scheme. He figures to join the 49ers’ Javon Kinlaw-headed D-tackle rotation.

The 49ers also re-signed defensive tackle D.J. Jones but lost Solomon Thomas, who often played inside despite being listed as a defensive end, to the Raiders early in free agency.

Bengals To Re-Sign Quinton Spain

March 23rd, 2021 at 1:56pm CST by Andrew Ortenberg

It looks like Quinton Spain is headed back to Cincinnati. The veteran offensive lineman is finalizing a one-year deal with the Bengals, a source told Tyler Dragon of Cincinnati.com (Twitter link).

Moments before Spain had alluded to the deal on social media, tweeting “prove it year again I been there before I know how to handle it,” a reference to the short-term nature of the pact. Spain signed with the Titans as an undrafted free agent back in 2015, and immediately made an impact in Tennessee. He started six games at guard as a rookie, then became a full-time starter in 2016.

He started 42 games for them from 2016-18, then signed with the Bills for 2019. He started all 16 games for Buffalo that season, and got a three-year, $15MM extension from them around this time last year. He didn’t make it very far into that deal, as he was benched just a couple of games into the 2020 season and then cut in October.

Cincinnati scooped him up, and he ended up starting eight games for them down the stretch. He’ll turn 30 in August. He played solid enough for the Bengals, who are looking to remake Joe Burrow‘s protection this offseason. They recently signed Riley Reiff to be their new starting right tackle, and have been connected to franchise left tackles like Oregon’s Penei Sewell in next month’s draft.

Broncos To Bring Back Kareem Jackson

March 23rd, 2021 at 1:35pm CST by Andrew Ortenberg

Kareem Jackson isn’t going anywhere. A deal has been reached for the veteran safety to return to the Broncos, a source told Ian Rapoport of NFL Network (Twitter link). It’s a one-year, $5MM contract, a source told Mike Klis of Denver 9 News (Twitter link).

This isn’t unexpected, as we heard that the door was open for a return not long after the team declined his option and made him a free agent. Jackson signed a three-year, $33MM deal in 2019, and the team saved about $7.1MM in cap space by declining the option on the final year. Now they’ve got their other starting safety spot figured out opposite Justin Simmons, who they just gave a huge extension to.

Jackson started all 16 games for Denver last year, and the long-time vet has now started 153 for his career. The Alabama product was a first-round pick of the Texans all the way back in 2010, and has never played in less than 12 games through 11 pro seasons. He’ll turn 33 in April, but was graded very solidly by Pro Football Focus last year and should still have something left in the tank.

New GM George Paton was aggressive in signing Kyle Fuller and Ronald Darby to play corner, so the secondary is pretty well taken care of with fellow corner Bryce Callahan also returning. With Bradley Chubb and Von Miller returning at edge rusher and Vic Fangio coaching, this Denver defense has the chance to be one of the league’s best units.

Paton said just a few days ago about the safety spot “there’s free agency, there’s a lot of safeties on the market, including Kareem, and then we have the draft. There’s also the trade market. The good thing is we don’t play a game for a while. We have a lot of time.

Apparently he didn’t need too much time.

Steelers Release Steven Nelson

March 23rd, 2021 at 1:10pm CST by Andrew Ortenberg

Apparently there wasn’t much trade interest in Steven Nelson. The Steelers have released the veteran cornerback, the team announced on Tuesday.

We heard last Friday that Pittsburgh had given Nelson permission to seek a trade, but nothing materialized. The move came less than an hour after Nelson tweeted his displeasure with the process, asking the team not to hold him “hostage.” Nelson was due a reasonable base salary of $8.25MM, but was set to count for $14.4MM against the Steelers’ cap. A third-round pick of the Chiefs in 2015, he spent his first four years in Kansas City.

His work there landed him a three-year, $25.5MM deal from the Steelers in March of 2019. He started 30 games for Pittsburgh over the last two seasons, racking up 17 passes defended and three interceptions, and received strong marks from Pro Football Focus. Over the last two years, PFF has him graded as the NFL’s 11th-best cornerback.

Nelson just turned 28 in January, and should have plenty of suitors on the open market. The Steelers have now cut Nelson, let Mike Hilton walk in free agency, and have Joe Haden turning 32 next month. They’ve got a lot of planning to do for their secondary of the future.

Marcus Mariota To Take Pay-Cut, Stay With Raiders

March 23rd, 2021 at 12:58pm CST by Andrew Ortenberg

It looks like Marcus Mariota will be staying with the Raiders after all. The quarterback is expected to sign a reworked deal with Las Vegas that will drop his salary to $3.5MM, sources told Ian Rapoport of NFL Network (Twitter link).

We heard last week that the team was going to “move on” if he refused to cut his compensation, either through a trade or release, and that a divorce was “likely.” It was reported at the time that Mariota was reluctant to cut his deal because he felt like he had options on the market, but perhaps seeing a few more quarterbacks get signed made him less confident in having those options. Now, he’ll sign a one-year deal worth $3.5MM that can be worth up to $8MM with inceentives.

Rapsheet writes that “it was up and down the last few weeks, but he recently made the call to stick around.” In a follow-up tweet, Rapoport notes the original pay-cut offer was for $3MM, and that Mariota negotiated up and got himself some upside. He had previously been scheduled to take home $10.725MM, a hefty price for a backup to Derek Carr.

Mariota appeared in one game in place of an injured Carr last season and showed fairly well against the Chargers on national TV, completing 17 of 28 passes for 226 yards a touchdown and an interception. He also added 88 yards and another score rushing.

Mariota is now on a very trade-friendly contract should a team come calling. We heard around the Super Bowl that there was legit interest in the former second overall pick, but then that interest reportedly cooled significantly.

Mariota spent his first five years in the league as Tennessee’s starter, but was benched by the Titans in favor of Ryan Tannehill midway through the 2019 season. Jon Gruden added him as his high-level clipboard holder last offseason. The 27-year-old will enter free agency next spring.

Bills To Re-Sign Isaiah McKenzie

March 23rd, 2021 at 12:36pm CST by Andrew Ortenberg

The Bills are keeping their gadget player. Buffalo has agreed to terms on a new deal for receiver/returner Isaiah McKenzie, his agency announced on Twitter. It’s a one-year deal worth $1.15MM with $350K guaranteed, Ian Rapoport of NFL Network tweets.

Before he decided to re-sign with the Bills, the Bears were a team that expressed interest in McKenzie as a free agent, a source told Jeremy Fowler of ESPN.com (Twitter link). McKenzie entered the league as a fifth-round pick of the Broncos back in 2017. He struggled fielding punts, was cut midway through the 2018 season, and promptly claimed by Buffalo. Since then, he’s turned into a very nice find for Sean McDermott.

On his only punt return of the season in 2020, he returned it 84 yards four a touchdown. He couldn’t be the normal returner due to the presence of All-Pro Andre Roberts, but with Roberts signing in Houston McKenzie should be the return guy in 2021.

He also carved out a sizable role on offense, playing around a quarter of the offensive snaps last year. He finished with 30 catches for 282 yards and five touchdowns, and also had ten carries.

Lions To Sign WR/KR Kalif Raymond

March 23rd, 2021 at 11:56am CST by Zachary Links

The Lions have agreed to sign Kalif Raymond, per an announcement from his agents. The Titans non-tendered the wide receiver/kick returner earlier this year, freeing him up to sign with any club.

Raymond, 27 in August, has performed as one of the league’s better punt returners. He brought back 23 punts for 208 yards last year, good for a 9.0 yard average per try. He also returned 15 kickoffs for 275 yards total. After previous stints with the Broncos, Jets, and Giants (twice), he’ll push to make the Lions’ final cut in September.

After losing Kenny Golladay to the Giants and Marvin Jones to the Jaguars, the Lions are expected to keep searching for solutions at wide receiver. For now, they’ve added Raymond, Tyrell Williams, and Breshad Perriman to the group.

Broncos Cut Nick Vannett

March 23rd, 2021 at 11:50am CST by Zachary Links

The Broncos have released tight end Nick Vannett, as Mike Klis of KUSA tweets. The move will save the Broncos $2.68MM against the salary cap with $875K left in dead money.

Vannett recorded 14 receptions for 95 yards with a touchdown across 15 games last year. He was deployed mainly as a blocking TE, as has been the case for most of his career. He was involved in the Seahawks’ passing offense for a time, however. In 2018, Vannett turned 43 targets into 29 catches for 269 yards.

Vannett will now look for work elsewhere as he enters his sixth NFL season. Meanwhile, the Broncos will look to replace his blocking via free agency or the draft. Currently, their tight end depth chart is headlined by Noah Fant and Albert Okwuegbunam, who are used more as pass-catchers.