Today’s minor moves on a quiet Friday:
New Orleans Saints
New York Jets
Smith is a bit of an interesting story as the Steelers drafted him in the sixth-round back in 2019, as a linebacker. The Northern Illinois recently made the position switch to fullback after getting cut by a few teams, as Mike Triplett of ESPN.com tweets.
The Steelers made a trio of moves in their secondary as we head into the weekend. Pittsburgh signed safety Arthur Maulet while cutting cornerback Trevor Williams and safety John Battle, they announced Friday.
It’s a one-year deal with Maulet, who was with the Jets the past two seasons. Originally an UDFA with the Saints back in 2017, Maulet started a game for the Colts in 2018, but really found his footing in the league with New York in 2019. He appeared in 23 games and started 11 for the Jets over the past two years. In 11 games and five starts in 2020, he had 29 tackles, a sack, five passes defended, and an interception. He entered the league a little older than most so the Memphis product will turn 28 in July.
Williams looked like a potential very solid starter early in his career with the Chargers, but a knee injury derailed his career. Williams started 15 games for the Chargers in 2017 and seven in 2018 before the knee issue landed him on IR. He had been a part of a strong Chargers secondary, but was cut in 2019 after landing on injured reserve again.
Teams keep taking flyers on him since, as he’s had short stints with the Cardinals, Eagles and Jaguars recently, but they keep cutting him too. He’s still only 27, and will likely get another shot soon since teams seem to believe in his potential.
Battle is a 2019 UDFA from LSU who was on the Steelers’ practice squad last year.
The Raiders became the latest team to announce their undrafted free agent class. Las Vegas’ initial group of UDFAs consists of 10 players. Here is the group:
Both Bushman and Stoner received six-figure guarantees. The Raiders guaranteed Bushman $135K, according to veteran NFL reporter Aaron Wilson, who tweets the ex-BYU tight end will receive a $125K base salary guarantee and a $10K signing bonus. Stoner’s arrangement, via Wilson (on Twitter): $120K total guaranteed. Bushman worked as one of Zach Wilson‘s top targets from 2018-19 but suffered an Achilles tear ahead of the 2020 season. He still totaled 1,719 receiving yards in a productive three-year run with the Cougars.
Stoner and Turner join a crowded Raiders receiving corps. Las Vegas, which used first- and third-round picks on wideouts last year, signed both John Brown and Willie Snead this offseason. Stoner saw action in five Oklahoma State seasons, being a regular contributor going back to Mason Rudolph‘s final season. Stoner worked as the Cowboys’ punt returner and surpassed 570 receiving yards in each of his final four seasons, ranking in the top 10 in school history in catches and yards.
The Raiders are giving Hamilton a $75K guarantee, Wilson tweets. Hamilton played four seasons at Stanford before transferring to Duke as a grad student. Ragas worked as a primary Louisiana rusher for four seasons, totaling 596 carries. He topped 1,100 yards as a sophomore, averaged 7.1 per carry as a junior and scored 12 TDs in the COVID-19-shortened 2020 slate. Ragas will join a backfield flush with vets, however. Las Vegas signed Kenyan Drake and returns Josh Jacobs, Theo Riddick and Jalen Richard.
The Achilles’ tendon tear Ja’Wuan James suffered earlier this week has become a critical event in this NFL offseason, due to the veteran right tackle going down away from the Broncos’ facility.
Although there was some uncertainty regarding the veteran blocker’s availability in 2021, the Broncos placed James on the season-ending reserve/non-football injured list, Mike Klis of 9News reports. This opens up a roster spot but, more significantly, shields the Broncos from the obligation to pay James his $10MM base salary. It is not yet known, however, if the Broncos will withhold that salary.
The team could also go after $3MM of James’ $12MM signing bonus as well, but the former first-round pick’s Denver stay is likely over. It did not go well. Adrift at right tackle dating back to the Peyton Manning years, the Broncos attempted to solve this perennial issue by giving James a four-year, $51MM deal in 2019. However, knee trouble and a 2020 opt-out have limited James to 63 snaps as a Bronco.
Not paying James the $10MM would free up some cap space for the Broncos, who held the second-most room ($25MM-plus) before James went down. This would allow for funds to acquire a replacement; Bobby Massie and Dennis Kelly are set to meet with the team. The Broncos are not yet certain to release James, per Klis. Doing so would trigger a $9MM dead-money hit, if they do not go after part of his signing bonus.
In the wake of James’ injury, the NFL and NFLPA released statements regarding their most recent contentious issue. The union has called for a boycott of voluntary offseason workouts; the Broncos were the first team to indicate they would stand with the NFLPA’s proposed boycott. While some Broncos have reported to the facility, James was training away from Broncos headquarters because of the boycott. The league and union remain at odds on this matter.
Kerryon Johnson will not make it to free agency. The Eagles submitted a successful waiver claim Friday and will bring in the three-year veteran running back, Adam Schefter of ESPN.com tweets.
The Lions waived the 2018 second-round pick this week. Johnson, who has battled injuries as a pro but returned to play in 16 games last season, has one year left on his rookie deal.
Sitting sixth on the waiver wire, Philadelphia has Miles Sanders entrenched as its starter. The team also rosters Boston Scott and used a fifth-round pick on Kenneth Gainwell last week. An Auburn alum who went off the 2018 draft board 43rd overall, Johnson fell out of favor in Detroit. The Eagles also have a new coaching staff, however, and will see if Johnson can play a complementary role.
Although Johnson joined Mikel Leshoure and Ameer Abdullah as 2010s Lions second-round backs that fell short of expectations, he did show some promise as a rookie. Johnson averaged 5.4 yards per carry in 2018 and scored four touchdowns in 10 games. However, the first of his knee injuries sidetracked that season. Johnson suffered a knee injury in 2019 as well. The 2018 knee malady did not require an IR stay, but Johnson went on IR twice in 2019.
Interestingly, the 23-year-old back did not miss any time in 2020. But the Lions had moved in a different direction. They drafted D’Andre Swift in Round 2 and signed Adrian Peterson. Both played in front of Johnson, who logged 52 carries for 181 yards during an off-radar season.
2:57pm: A fourth candidate is now in the mix. Another ex-Panther starter — tight end Jeff King — is on the team’s interview list for the assistant GM job, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets. A former Panthers fifth-round pick who played with the team from 2006-10, King currently serves as the Bears’ assistant director of pro scouting. King and Morgan, who has also interviewed for this position, were teammates for two seasons in Carolina.
2:02pm: Add Jimmy Raye III to the growing list of interviewees for the Panthers’ assistant GM post under Scott Fitterer. Raye is meeting with the team about the position, per Joe Person of The Athletic (on Twitter).
Raye most recently worked with the Lions under Bob Quinn but did not retain his role under the team’s new regime. The veteran NFL executive, however, previously served as the Colts’ interim GM and interviewed for several GM jobs over the past several years. Raye joins ex-Panthers linebacker-turned-Bills exec Dan Morgan and Eagles director of player personnel Ian Cunningham on this interview list.
This marks Raye’s latest interview with the Panthers, though it comes under new management. Before Carolina rehired Marty Hurney as its full-time GM in 2018, the franchise interviewed Raye for the post. Raye, who interviewed for that job during Jerry Richardson‘s ownership tenure, ended up in Detroit and spent the past three seasons there. Four months after Raye’s previous Panthers interview, David Tepper purchased the franchise.
Morgan has an extensive history with Carolina, having played with the team for seven seasons, and with Fitterer; he was part of Seattle’s front office before heading to Buffalo. But Raye has interviewed for GM positions with the Colts, 49ers and Texans. Overall, Raye has 25-plus years’ experience as an NFL staffer — in scouting or executive capacities.
Justin Fields will begin his NFL career in the NFC North, with the Bears having traded up to land the Ohio State passer with hopes of ending their run of quarterback struggles. But one of Chicago’s top rivals was monitoring this situation.
After seeing Fields drop past the Panthers and Broncos at Nos. 8 and 9, the Vikings contacted teams about moving up for a quarterback. Fields was the primary target, according to ESPN.com’s Courtney Cronin. Although Minnesota has Kirk Cousins locked in through 2022, the team wanted to draft one of this year’s top QBs.
The Cowboys traded their No. 10 overall pick to the Eagles, who moved up for DeVonta Smith, and the Giants shipped their 11th overall choice to the Bears, scuttling the Vikings’ Fields hopes. While the Vikes sought to acquire one of the first-round-caliber QBs that did not go in the top three, they were not willing to give up the draft capital necessary for a player who would sit for at least one season, per Cronin.
[RELATED: Vikings Tried To Trade Up Twice In First Round]
A Vikings coach briefed Cousins ahead of the draft to prepare him for the prospect of a quarterback selection, Cronin adds. The team was prepared to select Fields, had he fallen No. 14. The Bears, however, beat them by three picks. It cost them a 2022 first-round pick to move up nine spots to No. 11, but it also denied their rivals a chance to create a Cousins-to-Fields QB transition.
That reality would have likely meant Fields sitting for at least one season. While the Bears hope to execute this strategy as well, it is unlikely Andy Dalton will keep Fields off the field for too long. The Vikings ended up selecting Kellen Mond near the top of the third round. Mond was the seventh quarterback off the board, with the Buccaneers ending Round 2 with their Kyle Trask selection. Mond is viewed as more of a developmental player than Fields and may not end up being a starter-level NFLer.
Rick Spielman said the Vikings tried to trade up from No. 14, and although he declined to specify the target, Cronin notes the team — presumably after Fields went to the Bears at 11 — eyed tackle Rashawn Slater. The left tackle-needy Chargers nabbed Slater at 13. Minnesota traded down to No. 23 and selected Virginia Tech tackle Christian Darrisaw.
Thanks to a clause in Cousins’ 2020 extension, his being on the roster on Day 3 of the 2021 league year guaranteed him $45MM in 2022. His run as Minnesota’s starter will almost certainly stretch to at least five seasons.
Yet another Texans one-year linebacker deal will commence this offseason. Veteran linebacker Neville Hewitt agreed to terms with the team Friday, Adam Schefter of ESPN.com tweets.
Hewitt arrived in Houston on Thursday for a visit; the meeting produced an accepted offer. The six-year vet spent the first four seasons of his career as a backup, working primarily in a reserve capacity for the Dolphins and Jets. But he operated as a starter for the past two years.
The 28-year-old off-ball ‘backer will join several new arrivals at the position for the Texans. They have agreed to deals with Christian Kirksey, Tae Davis, Kamu Grugier-Hill, Joe Thomas, Hardy Nickerson and ex-Hewitt Jets teammate Kevin Pierre-Louis this offseason. Hewitt, Pierre-Louis and outside linebacker Jordan Jenkins were each part of the 2018 Jets’ linebacking corps.
The Texans will add Hewitt after his best NFL season. The former UDFA finished eighth in the league with 134 tackles; he added six for loss and two sacks. While the Jets went 2-14, Hewitt produced throughout the season and logged a career-high 99% of his team’s defensive snaps.
Although the Texans traded Benardrick McKinney to the Dolphins, they still have starter Zach Cunningham signed long-term. The rest of this lot will vie for the other off-ball linebacker jobs, doing so alongside fifth-round pick Garret Wallow.
Earlier this week, Bills GM Brandon Beane caused a stir by saying that he would release players who refused to receive the COVID-19 vaccine. Since then, the league has spoken with Beane to let him know that teams cannot cut players solely for not getting their shots (Twitter link via NFL.com’s Tom Pelissero). 
“Yeah, I would [cut them], because it would be an advantage,” Beane said on One Bills Live (via the New York Post). “I think there’s going to be some incentives if you have X -percent of your players and staff vaccinated. You can live normal…let’s just call it, back to the old days.”
“If you don’t, it’s going to look more like last year…I hope that, if those are the rules, we’ll be able to get enough people vaccinated and not have to deal with all the headaches from a year ago.”
The NFL has previously said that the vaccine would not be mandatory for players. However, players who do get vaccinated will have less restrictions put upon them, including distancing requirements.
We’ll keep track of today’s late-round signings here:
New York Jets