2021 March - Pro Football Rumors

Titans To Sign CB Kevin Johnson

March 18th, 2021 at 5:52pm CST by Ben Levine

Kevin Johnson is heading back to the AFC South. ESPN’s Adam Schefter reports (via Twitter) that the veteran cornerback will be signing a one-year deal with the Titans.

The 16th-overall pick of the 2015 draft spent the first four seasons of his career in Houston. After starting 10 games as a rookie, Johnson settled into more of a backup role during his final three seasons with the team. He also struggled to stay on the field following that 16-game rookie campaign; he missed 10 games in 2016 with a broken foot, four games in 2017 with a sprained MCL, and 15 games in 2018 with a concussion suffered during Week 1.

Following that 2018 season, Johnson was released by the Texans, who had previously picked up his fifth-year option. He caught on with the Bills and proceeded to appear in all 16 games. That performance earned him another one-year deal last offseason, this time with the Browns. He finished the 2020 campaign having appeared in 13 games (six starts), compiling 35 tackles, one forced fumble, and three passes defended. He also started Cleveland’s playoff loss to the Chiefs.

The Titans have worked on revamping their cornerbacks corps this offseason. The team already added Janoris Jenkins, with 2020 second-round pick Kristian Fulton being one of the lone holdovers from last year’s squad.

Texans To Sign Desmond King

March 18th, 2021 at 5:44pm CST by Andrew Ortenberg

The Texans continue to make low-risk, high-upside signings for their defense. This time Houston has agreed to terms on a deal with cornerback Desmond King, Adam Schefter of ESPN.com tweets.

Per Schefter, it’s a one-year pact worth $3.5MM. A fifth-round pick of the Chargers in 2017, King quickly made a name for himself in Los Angeles. He started four games in a rookie and played in all 16, racking up 76 tackles, four sacks, five passes defended, and a 90-yard interception return touchdown.

In 2018 he entered the season as the Chargers’ slot cornerback, and had 62 tackles, ten passes defended, and three interceptions. He earned a first-team All-Pro nod for his work. He also took over punt return duties for the Chargers in 2018, and was a second-team All-Pro as a returner.

Despite being a dual All-Pro it wasn’t long before he fell out of favor with the coaching staff, and butted heads with Anthony Lynn. After seeing his playing time reduced in the secondary he griped on social media, and was traded to the Titans last November.

King is still only 26, and has obviously had a lot of success in the past. On a pretty cheap deal, the signing makes a lot of sense for a rebuilding Texans defense.

NFL Contract Details: Jones, Floyd, Williams, QBs

March 18th, 2021 at 5:42pm CST by Sam Robinson

Some assorted contract details from around the NFL:

RB Aaron Jones, Packers: Four years, $48MM, including $20MM over first two years. $7MM roster bonus in 2023. Owed $16MM in 2023 and $12MM in 2024. Via NFL.com’s Tom Pelissero on Twitter.
LB Leonard Floyd, Rams: Four years, $64MM, including $32.5MM guaranteed. $14MM signing bonus. Salaries: $2MM (2021, fully guaranteed), $16.5MM (2022, fully guaranteed), $15.5MM (2023), $16MM (2024). Via Pelissero on Twitter.
DE Leonard Williams, Giants: Three years, $63MM, including $45MM. $22.5MM signing bonus. Salaries: $3.5MM (2021, fully guaranteed), $19MM (2022, fully guaranteed), $18MM (2023). Cap charges: $11MM (2021), $26.5MM (2022), $25.5MM (2023). Via Manish Mehta on Twitter.
QB Ryan Fitzpatrick, Washington: One year, $10MM, including $6MM guaranteed. Max value of $12MM. $6MM signing bonus. $3MM base salary, $1MM per-game roster bonuses. Up to $2MM in incentives. Via Nicki Jhabvala of the Washington Post on Twitter.
QB Jacoby Brissett, Dolphins: One year, $5MM, including $2.5MM guaranteed. $2.5MM signing bonus, up to $2.5MM in incentives. Via Pelissero on Twitter.
QB Andy Dalton, Bears: One year, $10MM. $7MM signing bonus, $3MM base salary, up to $3MM in incentives. Via Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle on Twitter.
LB Carl Lawson, Jets: Three years, $45MM, including $30MM guaranteed. $1MM signing bonus. Salaries: $6.2MM (2021, plus $7.8MM roster bonus), $15MM (2022), $15MM (2023). Cap charges: $14.3MM (2021), $15.3MM (2022), $15.3MM (2023). Up to $800K in sack incentives each year. Via Mehta on Twitter.

Lions To Sign WR Breshad Perriman

March 18th, 2021 at 5:40pm CST by Sam Robinson

Breshad Perriman‘s journey around the league will make a stop in Detroit. The former first-round pick agreed to a deal with the Lions, Adam Schefter of ESPN.com tweets.

Perriman will sign a one-year, $3MM deal with the Lions, who have also added Tyrell Williams this offseason. Detroit has said goodbye to Marvin Jones and is expected to lose Kenny Golladay soon as well.

This marks an interesting agreement. Perriman’s father, Brett, was a standout for the Lions in the mid-1990s, joining Herman Moore in becoming the first teammates to each catch 100 passes in a season in 1995. Thirty years after Brett signed with the Lions, with whom he played six seasons in a 10-year career, his son will be part of a Detroit rebuild.

The Lions will be Breshad Perriman‘s fifth NFL team. While the younger Perriman did not catch on with the Ravens, who drafted him in the 2015 first round, he has been productive elsewhere. The Browns, Buccaneers and Jets have coaxed 500-plus-yard seasons from the auxiliary wideout. Perriman averaged 17.9 yards per catch with the Bucs in 2019, coming on down the stretch, and he totaled 505 yards and three TDs in 12 games with the Jets.

This move comes after the Lions hired Antwaan Randle El to coach their wide receivers. Randle El was in Tampa during Perriman’s quality season as the Bucs’ WR3. The Browns were also interested in a potential Perriman reunion, but they have since re-signed Rashard Higgins to stay with their Jarvis Landry–Odell Beckham Jr. tandem.

Colts Host OL Julie’n Davenport

March 18th, 2021 at 5:18pm CST by Ben Levine

The Colts are apparently eyeing some offensive line help. ESPN’s Field Yates reports (via Twitter) that free agent offensive tackle Julie’n Davenport visited the team today.

The 2017 fourth-round pick out of Bucknell spent the first two seasons of his career with the Texans, including a 2018 campaign where he started 15 games. He was traded to Miami as part of the Laremy Tunsil trade in 2019, and he proceeded to spent the next two years with the organization. After starting eight games for the Dolphins in 2019, Davenport only appeared in five percent of his team’s offensive snaps in 2020 (although he did see time in all 16 games).

It would make sense for the Colts to be sniffing around at some offensive line help. The team has a hole at left tackle following Anthony Castonzo‘s decision to retire.

Panthers To Sign David Moore

March 18th, 2021 at 5:08pm CST by Andrew Ortenberg

The Panthers just lost a receiver when Curtis Samuel signed with Washington, and now they’re adding one. Carolina has agreed to terms with David Moore, Bill Voth of the team’s official site tweets.

It’s a two-year deal for the D2 product out of East Central University, long-time Panthers beat writer Joseph Person tweets. The pact is worth $4.75MM over two years with $1.25MM guaranteed, Tom Pelissero of NFL Network tweets. Moore was a seventh-round pick of the Seahawks in 2017, and he turned into a nice unheralded find. He appeared in only one game with no stats as a rookie, but quickly broke out as a sophomore.

In 2018 he played in all 16 games, racking up 26 catches for 445 yards and five touchdowns, averaging an impressive 17.1 yards per reception as a deep threat. This past season in 16 games and six starts, he had 35 catches for 417 yards and six touchdowns.

Moore turned 26 in January, and it’ll be interesting to see what he can do when not buried behind Tyler Lockett and D.K. Metcalf. Carolina is reportedly aggressively looking for an upgrade at quarterback over Teddy Bridgewater, so it’s unclear who he’ll be catching passes from in 2021.

The Panthers currently have Robby Anderson and D.J. Moore at receiver, but little outside of them, so Moore should have a good chance at winning the third receiver job depending on what they do in the draft.

Chiefs To Bring Back OL Mike Remmers

March 18th, 2021 at 4:56pm CST by Sam Robinson

Despite Mike Remmers struggling in a Super Bowl for the second time, the Chiefs want him to be part of their reconfigured offensive line.

The two-time defending AFC champions are bringing Remmers back on a one-year deal worth $3.5MM, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets. The nomadic blocker could earn up to $7MM on this contract.

Kansas City signed Remmers last year, and he ended up playing a pivotal role. Mitchell Schwartz‘s back injury thrust Remmers into action. He started 10 regular-season games and all three of Kansas City’s playoff tilts. After Eric Fisher‘s Achilles tear in the AFC championship game, the Chiefs turned to Remmers at left tackle in Super Bowl LV. While his matchup with Jason Pierre-Paul somewhat resembled his Super Bowl 50 encounter with Von Miller, Remmers has been an NFL starter for the past six seasons.

The Chiefs have cut both Schwartz and Fisher, leaving two gaping holes on the edges of their offensive line. While Kansas City added Joe Thuney on a monster guard deal and brought Kyle Long out of retirement, the team’s tackle needs remain noticeable. Remmers, 32 in April, would stand to either fill one of them at a low cost or reprise the swing role he was brought in to play last year. In his tweet announcing the agreement, Rapoport characterizes Remmers as a Chiefs starter. Remmers’ agent, Brett Tessler, concurs, understandably (Twitter link). It will be interesting to see if the Chiefs go in that direction given the tackle stability the organization possessed going into 2020.

Remmers worked as Carolina’s starting right tackle from 2015-17. He played with Minnesota in 2018 and the Giants in 2019, starting 30 games between those two seasons. While maligned at times, Remmers has started 88 games in his career. Both he and Andrew Wylie, a guard whom the Chiefs turned to at right tackle in the Super Bowl, are back for 2021.

Jets To Sign Dan Feeney

March 18th, 2021 at 4:54pm CST by Andrew Ortenberg

The Jets are staying active, and just moments after we heard they’d be signing Keelan Cole they’re now adding an offensive lineman. New York has agreed to terms with interior lineman Dan Feeney, a source told Adam Caplan of Sirius XM NFL Radio (Twitter link). It’s a one-year deal worth $3.5MM, although the deal could peak at $4.25MM, per Brian Costello of the New York Post (via Twitter).

It’s the first offensive line addition for the Jets this offseason, and a fallback move after they struck out on fellow guard Joe Thuney. Feeney was a third-round pick of the Chargers back in 2017. The Indiana product started nine games as a rookie, and then all 16 in each of the past three years.

That’s a lot of starting experience, although to be sure the Chargers’ offensive line was never a particularly strong unit during those years. There’s a reason the Chargers just opted to sign Matt Feiler to help replace him.

That being said, it’s a presumably cheap signing that can’t hurt the Jets too much. Feeney likely won’t be counted on to be a starter, and will slot in as a versatile reserve who can play both center and guard. They can take as many O-line flyers as they need as they look to set up solid protection for Sam Darnold or whoever their next quarterback of the future is.

Bucs To Re-Sign Rakeem Nunez-Roches

March 18th, 2021 at 4:47pm CST by Sam Robinson

While it will not register on the level that Shaquil Barrett or Lavonte David‘s re-signings did, the Buccaneers brought another member of their Super Bowl champion roster Thursday.

They are re-signing defensive lineman Rakeem Nunez-Roches, with Sirius XM Radio’s Adam Caplan reporting the veteran interior defender will sign for two years and $5MM. Nunez-Roches, who can earn up to $6.5MM on this deal, has been with the Bucs since 2018. The former Chiefs draftee will collect $2.25MM in guarantees on his latest Bucs contract.

Nunez-Roches played a career-high snap rate last season, starting 11 games for the Bucs and playing 45% of Tampa Bay’s defensive snaps. The Bucs relied on Nunez-Roches more after Vita Vea‘s injury. Nunez-Roches does not have notable pass-rushing abilities, having recorded 1.5 sacks in six seasons, and Pro Football Focus graded him as one of the worst D-tackles last season. But the Bucs have now made him a priority under two coaching staffs, and he has been a part of two strong run defenses over the past two seasons.

The team has not yet re-signed Ndamukong Suh, though given its spree of re-ups, that certainly cannot be ruled out. Nevertheless, they have one of their D-line starters back on a low-cost deal. Suh, however, remains a priority to re-sign, according to Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times (on Twitter).

Jets To Sign WR Keelan Cole

March 18th, 2021 at 4:36pm CST by Andrew Ortenberg

The Jets are adding another pass-catcher. New York is signing former Jaguar Keelan Cole to a one-year deal, a source told Adam Schefter of ESPN.com (Twitter link).

The pact is worth $5.5MM, Schefter writes. It’s a nice payday for a player who went undrafted out of D2 school Kentucky Wesleyan. The move comes just a few days after the Jets gave a big contract to Corey Davis as they look to upgrade last year’s underwhelming receiving group. With Davis, Jamison Crowder, second-year player Denzel Mims and now Cole, the Jets will have a respectable corp in 2021.

Cole signed with Jacksonville as an UDFA in 2017, and turned into a nice diamond in the rough find. He came out of nowhere as a rookie to play in all 16 games and rack up 748 yards. He never eclipsed that total again as other Jags young players moved up the depth chart, but he’s coming off a solid 2020 season.

In 16 games and five starts, he turned 55 receptions into 642 yards and five touchdowns. Not bad for a player the Jets will be counting on to be a third or fourth option. Cole has never missed a game during his pro career, and the Jags thought highly enough of him to give him a second-round tender last offseason as a RFA. He’ll turn 28 next month.