2021 March - Pro Football Rumors

Jets Receive Trade Calls On C.J. Mosley

March 15th, 2021 at 3:40pm CST by Andrew Ortenberg

The Jets just signed Jarrad Davis to a deal, and they now could be shipping out a different linebacker. New York has been receiving trade calls on C.J. Mosley, sources told Tom Pelissero of NFL Network (Twitter link).

That’s a bit surprising, considering Mosley is on what’s widely considered a very bad contract. He’s got four years and $56MM left on his current deal, and Pelissero writes that $22MM in guarantees remain on that. The Jets signed him to a massive five-year, $85MM deal in March of 2019, but he was limited to only two games that year due to a groin injury. He then opted out of this past season due to COVID-19.

As such, he’s barely played since 2018. A first-round pick of the Ravens in 2014, he was a second-team All-Pro in four of his five seasons in Baltimore. But the Alabama product has seen his stock drop significantly since then. That being said, Pelissero does point out that his 2021 cap hit to a potential new team would only be $6MM.

The signing of Davis makes Mosley look expendable to the rest of the league, and as Connor Hughes of The Athletic tweets, new Jets coach Robert Saleh recently offered a lukewarm assessment of his outlook with the team.

If the Jets do move Mosley, they likely wouldn’t get much at all in return. That’s not to say Mosley still couldn’t be a good player, he just comes with an AAV of $17MM. He’ll turn 29 in June.

Browns, S John Johnson Agree To Deal

March 15th, 2021 at 3:25pm CST by Sam Robinson

Entering the legal tampering period in need of defensive talent, the Browns are making a big move early. They agreed to terms with longtime Rams safety starter John Johnson, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets.

With Justin Simmons, Marcus Maye and Marcus Williams receiving the franchise tag, Johnson moved up the list of available safeties. The Browns will add the former third-round pick on a three-year, $33.75MM contract, according to NFL.com’s Mike Garafolo (on Twitter). Johnson will receive $24MM guaranteed in the deal.

The Rams have lost a host of key role players over the past three offseasons, with the team having made a few splashy moves. Johnson follows the likes of Rodger Saffold, Lamarcus Joyner and Cory Littleton out of Los Angeles. He joined them as a Super Bowl LIII starter and had been a Rams first-stringer since his 2017 rookie season. Being well over the cap, the Rams will lose Johnson to a team with in a better financial spot.

The Browns ranked 25th in defensive DVOA last season. They lost second-round pick Grant Delpit to injury and used multiple stopgaps at the position. This represents a much bigger investment than Cleveland made at the spot last year. Johnson will join Denzel Ward as high-end Browns secondary cogs. Pro Football Focus has regarded Johnson highly for much of his career; he ranked as PFF’s No. 3 overall safety in 2020.

Despite Johnson’s status as a high-end free agent, his contract will not quite hit the top tier among safeties. It is outside the top five at the position in both AAV and guaranteed money. But the Browns will have a key piece to team with both Delpit and Ronnie Harrison under Joe Woods going forward.

Chiefs To Sign Joe Thuney

March 15th, 2021 at 3:15pm CST by Andrew Ortenberg

One of the most high profile free agents is off the board, and the Chiefs have made a big splash. Kansas City is signing guard Joe Thuney to a five-year deal, his agent Mike McCartney announced on Twitter.

Details soon trickled in, with Adam Schefter of ESPN.com tweeting that the five-year pact is worth a whopping $80MM. The first two years are fully guaranteed at $32.5MM, and while the third year is initially only guaranteed for injury it becomes fully guaranteed in year two, Ian Rapoport of NFL Network tweets. As such, he writes that $48MM of the deal is “practically guaranteed.”

Patrick Mahomes was running for his life during this past Super Bowl, and the Chiefs immediately set out to aggressively remake the offensive line. They cut both of their starting tackles, Eric Fisher and Mitchell Schwartz, and are expected to let starting center Austin Reiter walk in free agency.

At $16MM annually, Thuney is now the highest-paid guard in the league. Thuney was highly sought after, and we heard the Jets were preparing a push for the former Patriot. A third-round pick back in 2016, Thuney immediately became a starter in New England and has started all 80 possible games since entering the league.

That kind of durability must’ve been attractive to a Chiefs team that saw their O-line decimated by injuries last year. Thuney was a second-team All-Pro in 2019, and is one of the league’s best interior linemen. He has versatility, and started a couple of games at center for the Patriots in 2020.

Despite landing one of the big fishes on the market, Kansas City likely isn’t going to stop here with addressing Mahomes’ blockers. They’re also set to host the recently un-retired Kyle Long this week.

The Pats franchise tagged Thuney last offseason, but never got a long-term deal done. Minimal progress had been made right up until the point New England traded for Trent Brown, although Albert Breer of SI.com writes that “lines of communication” had recently reopened and that the Patriots had expressed interest in keeping Thuney.

Obviously nothing got done, and despite New England’s free-wheeling spending so far, Thuney got priced out of their range. It’s a big upgrade for the Chiefs.

Lions Release OL Joe Dahl

March 15th, 2021 at 3:15pm CST by Sam Robinson

The Lions are moving on from one of their offensive line regulars from recent years. They opted to release Joe Dahl on Monday, per a team announcement.

A backup over the first three years of his career, Dahl became a primary starter during the 2019 season. Detroit opened last season with Dahl as one of its starting guards, but Dahl only stuck with the first unit in four games.

Dahl signed an extension to stay with the Lions in 2019 but ended that season on IR due to a back injury. A groin malady halted Dahl early last season. While he returned from IR midway through, he did not stick as a starter.

With this release, the Lions will create just more than $3MM in cap space. The rebuilding team figures to make several retooling-type maneuvers ahead of the 2021 league year. With the legal tampering period having just begun, the now-Brad Holmes-run team is barely over the cap.

Jets To Sign Jarrad Davis

March 15th, 2021 at 3:09pm CST by Andrew Ortenberg

We heard last night the Jets were expected to “make waves” in free agency, and they’re starting to heat up their activity. They’ve agreed to terms with free agent linebacker Jarrad Davis, a source told Ian Rapoport of NFL Network (Twitter link).

The Jets are giving him a one-year deal for $7MM, Rapoport reports. New Jets coach Robert Saleh will be installing a 4-3 defense, and Davis fits nicely as a 4-3 outside linebacker. The 21st overall pick of the 2017 draft by the Lions, Davis didn’t quite pan out in Detroit. He certainly wasn’t terrible but didn’t live up to his draft status, and the Lions declined his fifth-year option last offseason, making him a free agent now.

All told, he started 45 games across his four years in Detroit. After starting at least 11 games in each of his first three pro seasons Matt Patricia curtailed his role sharply in 2020, as he only started four times and played just below 30 percent of the defensive snaps.

His most productive year was in 2018, when he started all 16 games and finished with 100 tackles, six sacks, and five passes defended.

Ravens Re-Sign LB Chris Board

March 15th, 2021 at 2:59pm CST by Andrew Ortenberg

The Ravens just let Matt Judon walk to the Patriots, but they’re retaining a different linebacker. Baltimore has re-signed Chris Board to a one-year deal, a source told Tom Pelissero of NFL Network (Twitter link).

The deal is worth “up to” $2.68MM, and Board will be getting over $1.6MM guaranteed to sign. As Pelissero refers to, the team didn’t tender Board as a restricted free agent but now he’ll actually have the opportunity to make a little more than he would’ve under a tender.

An UDFA out of North Dakota State in 2018, Board made the 53-man roster as a rookie and played on special teams. This past year he earned a real role on defense, starting two games and playing almost 25 percent of the defensive snaps. He finished with 31 tackles, 2.5 sacks, a pass defended, and a forced fumble.

Jaguars To Sign Jamal Agnew

March 15th, 2021 at 2:42pm CST by Andrew Ortenberg

The Jaguars just agreed to terms with defensive tackle Roy Robertson-Harris, and now they’re making their second pickup of the day. Jacksonville is signing return specialist/receiver Jamal Agnew, a source told Mike Garafolo of NFL Network (Twitter link).

The initial numbers are eye-popping, as Garafolo reports it’s a three-year deal that “maxes out” at $21MM. He says that includes “reachable incentives.” It’s a heck of a lot more than the two-year, $6MM deal fellow return ace Andre Roberts just got from the Texans. The Lions drafted Agnew in the fifth-round back in 2017, and he immediately made a name for himself on special teams.

He returned two punt returns for touchdowns as a rookie, led the league in punt return average, and was named a first-team All-Pro as a result. This past year he returned 14 punts for 178 yards and a touchdown, adding 28 kick returns for 783 yards (28 Y/R).

No matter how good of a returner he is, this kind of money is still surprising. It could mean that new Jags coach Urban Meyer envisions a role for him on offense. The Lions tried using him a bit as a gadget player this past year, as he finished with 13 catches for 89 yards and six carries for 33 yards.

Obviously he can make things happen with the ball in his hands, so it’ll be interesting to see what Jacksonville’s staff cooks up for him. Darrell Bevell, who coached Agnew in Detroit this past year, is the new OC for the Jaguars.

Jaguars To Sign Roy Robertson-Harris

March 15th, 2021 at 2:25pm CST by Zachary Links

The Jaguars have agreed to a three-year, $24.4MM deal with Roy Robertson-Harris (Twitter link via NFL.com’s Tom Pelissero). The defensive tackle will receive $14MM in guarantees as a part of the deal.

Robertson-Harris started six of the Bears’ eight games before suffering a season-ending shoulder injury. His specialty is run-stuffing, so he played on roughly 50% of Chicago’s snaps. He’s also shown glimpses as a pass-rusher too, notching 2.5 sacks in 2019 and three the year prior. An UDFA from UTEP back in 2016, he’s already carved out a nice career for himself, despite injuries. He also missed his entire rookie season, spending it on the the NFI list.

The Bears kept Robertson-Harris with a second-round tender last year, but they couldn’t keep him for anything close to that one-year, $3.2MM deal. Instead, he’ll join up with Urban Meyer & Co., potentially with safety John Johnson.

Texans To Sign Kamu Grugier-Hill

March 15th, 2021 at 2:24pm CST by Andrew Ortenberg

The Texans haven’t made any big splashes, so far opting for some cheaper but still quality options. Shortly after agreeing to terms with return specialist Andre Roberts, Houston has set their sights on a linebacker.

The Texans have agreed to terms with Kamu Grugier-Hill on a one-year deal worth “up to” $3.25MM, Tom Pelissero of NFL Network tweets. It’s a nice low-risk signing for a rebuilding Texans defense as Grugier-Hill is still only 26 and has excelled in coverage recently.

Grugier-Hill was used as a passing downs specialist by the Dolphins, and Jeremy Fowler of ESPN.com tweets that he was looking for a more consistent role. He should be able to find that on a Texans team that needed linebacking help.

A sixth-round pick of the Patriots in 2016, Grugier-Hill didn’t make New England’s roster as a rookie and was scooped up by the Eagles. He started 10 games for Philly in 2018 and six the following year before signing a one-year deal with Miami for 2020. He played about 20 percent of the defensive snaps for the Dolphins last year.

Patriots To Sign Jalen Mills

March 15th, 2021 at 2:12pm CST by Andrew Ortenberg

The Patriots just won’t stop. After signing Jonnu Smith, Davon Godchaux, and Matt Judon to big deals already, New England is adding another high profile player.

The Pats are signing defensive back Jalen Mills, agent Drew Rosenhaus tells Adam Schefter of ESPN.com (Twitter link). Interestingly, Rosenhaus also represents both Smith and Godchaux, so clearly he and Bill Belichick have a good relationship. It’s a four-year deal for Mills, worth $24MM with $9MM of that guaranteed. The Patriots have been the most active team so far, and it isn’t even close.

New England entered free agency with a lot of cap space, and they weren’t about to let it go to waste. A seventh-round pick of the Eagles in 2016, Mills quickly established himself as a starter and was a huge part of the team that beat the Patriots in Super Bowl LII as he started 15 games that year.

Known for his versatility, Mills has extensive experience at both cornerback and safety. Foot injuries limited him to only eight and nine games in 2018 and 2019, but he again started 15 in 2020. This past year he finished with 74 tackles, 1.5 sacks, three passes defended, and an interception.