2024 March - Pro Football Rumors

Month: November 2024

Giants To Sign Aaron Stinnie, Austin Schlottmann

March 15th, 2024 at 3:21pm CST by Sam Robinson

After signing Jon Runyan Jr. to work as one of their starting guards, the Giants are bringing in options for the other post. Losing 2023 starter Ben Bredeson to the Buccaneers, the Giants will add an ex-Tampa Bay cog.

Aaron Stinnie and Austin Schlottmann are joining the Giants, according to ESPN.com’s Jeremy Fowler. Both players have been spot starters and would stand to represent depth for a Giants team that was decimated up front last season. Schlottmann agreed to a two-year deal.

Stinnie, 30, mostly worked as a backup during his six-season Bucs tenure — save for his work in place of then-starter Alex Cappa during the team’s Super Bowl LV run — and went down with a season-ending injury before the 2022 regular season. Last year, however, the veteran interior lineman started 11 games and was in the lineup for both Bucs postseason contests. Stinnie took over for Matt Feiler; Pro Football Focus placed him in a tie with Runyan, at 47th, among guards last year.

Schlottmann, 28, has made 14 starts over a five-year career spent in Denver and Minnesota. He filled in at center for Garrett Bradbury late in the Vikings’ NFC North-winning 2022 season and started three games last year.

The Vikings would seem to have a combination of five starters comprised of non-Stinnie/Schlottman parts. Of course, it will depend on what the Giants see from Evan Neal. The former No. 7 overall pick has struggled throughout his young NFL career, and rumblings about a move to guard have surfaced. Neal at guard would allow the Giants to play Jermaine Eluemunor — given a two-year, $14MM contract — at right tackle. But if the team is intent on keeping Neal at tackle, Eluemunor would join Stinnie in a potential guard competition.

Panthers To Add S Jordan Fuller

March 15th, 2024 at 3:08pm CST by Sam Robinson

The Rams came to terms with Kamren Curl late Thursday night. Curl will proceed to take over for Jordan Fuller, whose Panthers visit will produce an agreement.

Carolina is adding the longtime Los Angeles starter, according to NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport. It is a one-year deal worth up to $5.25MM, NFL.com’s Tom Pelissero adds. Fuller will step in after the Panthers moved on from Vonn Bell one year into a three-year deal.

For Fuller, this will bring a reunion with former position coach Ejiro Evero. After the Panthers added one of Evero’s ex-Broncos starters — linebacker Josey Jewell — they will give him one of his old Rams pupils. Evero coached Fuller from 2020-21, working as Rams safeties coach and then DBs coach in that span.

Fuller ran into a couple of bad injury breaks in Los Angeles. The former sixth-round success story saw an ankle injury sustained in Week 18 of the 2021 season keep him out of the Rams’ ensuing playoff run that ended with a Super Bowl LVI win. A hamstring injury then managed to end Fuller’s 2022 slate after just three games. The Rams ran into some IR-activation issues that season, but Fuller did not establish much momentum despite commandeering a starting job as a Day 3 rookie in 2020. Last season did bring a resurgence; Fuller started all 18 Rams games and intercepted three passes while also forcing three fumbles.

A new coaching staff is coming in once again, but Carolina made a point to retain Evero. It is then unsurprising the team is giving the popular interviewee some of his former defenders. Fuller, 26, should still feature some upside. He will attempt to use this season as a means to securing a more lucrative contract.

The Panthers have released Bell and let Jeremy Chinn join the Commanders. A former Defensive Rookie of the Year silver medalist, Chinn had fallen out of favor in Evero’s scheme. The team still has starter Xavier Woods under contract; he will be set to team with Fuller as the Panthers aim to rebound from a woeful 2023 season.

Titans Release T Andre Dillard

March 15th, 2024 at 3:00pm CST by Sam Robinson

Benched last season, Andre Dillard will not make it to Year 2 with the Titans. The team announced Friday it has parted ways with the former first-round pick. This move had been expected.

Tennessee gave the ex-Philadelphia draftee a three-year, $29MM contract to succeed Taylor Lewan at left tackle. While a recent report suggested there was a chance Dillard could stay, he was due $9MM in base salary next season.

Amid a cost-cutting spree last year, the Titans cut both Lewan and center Ben Jones. They also let four-year right guard starter Nate Davis sign with the Bears. The team brought in low-cost starters in Chris Hubbard and Daniel Brunskill but gave Dillard a midlevel accord despite his failure to commandeer an Eagles starting job. With Brian Callahan (and his acclaimed O-line coach father, Bill) coming in, the Titans will look elsewhere to fill their blindside post.

Dillard, 28, started 10 games for the Titans last season. Although two of those were the team’s final two contests, the then-Mike Vrabel-led staff benched the 2019 first-rounder around midseason. The team moved RT Nicholas Petit-Frere to the left side to take over for Dillard, keeping Hubbard on the right side following Petit-Frere’s reinstatement from a gambling suspension. When Petit-Frere and Hubbard went down with injuries, Dillon Radunz and sixth-round rookie Jaelyn Duncan were summoned as patchwork tackle solutions.

Unless a post-June 1 cut is coming, this move will cost the Titans nearly $8MM. New staffs are generally more willing to take on dead money, and with the Titans carrying more than $49MM in cap space even after the Calvin Ridley signing, it would not surprise if they took their Dillard medicine now.

Carthon mentioned Peter Skoronski as a tackle solution but later said the team believes it is best if the 2023 first-rounder sticks at guard. The team lost center Aaron Brewer but paid up for his replacement, in Lloyd Cushenberry. Tennessee also added ex-Washington guard Saahdiq Charles. As for its left tackle future, the draft represents a likely avenue here. A deep tackle class awaits, and the Titans hold the No. 7 overall pick.

Cowboys To Release WR Michael Gallup, LB Leighton Vander Esch

March 15th, 2024 at 2:44pm CST by Sam Robinson

Less than a week after giving Michael Gallup permission to seek a trade, the Cowboys are moving on. They plan to release the veteran wide receiver, the Dallas Morning News’ Michael Gehlken reports.

Gallup was due a $4MM guarantee on Monday. This will end a six-year partnership, with Dallas initially selecting Gallup in the 2018 third round. The TCU alum was set to enter the third season of a five-year, $57.5MM deal — one the Cowboys authorized in March 2022, as they traded Amari Cooper.

The Cowboys held out hope for a trade, per the Morning News’ Calvin Watkins, but teams effectively knew the team would cut him due to the injury guarantee vesting. The team will use a post-June 1 designation here, ESPN.com’s Todd Archer tweets. This move will spread out Gallup’s $13.1MM dead money hit, creating $9.5MM in cap space this year. Gallup, 28, was due $8.5MM in 2024 base salary.

Although Leighton Vander Esch is expected to retire, the Cowboys are also releasing the veteran linebacker. They will do so with a failed physical designation. Neck trouble has plagued the talented linebacker, and it recurred last season.

The turning point in Gallup’s career came in December 2021, when the former 1,100-yard receiver suffered a torn ACL. Gallup reached that four-digit total in 2019, just before CeeDee Lamb‘s arrival, and topped 800 yards with Cooper and Lamb in 2020. The Cowboys kept all three again in 2021, but after the expiration of Gallup’s rookie deal, the team gave Gallup a new deal and sent Cooper to the Browns. Cooper has continued to deliver 1,000-yard seasons in Cleveland, while Dallas has remained on the hunt for a No. 2 wideout. Even before the ACL tear, Gallup had no cleared 450 receiving yards. That trend continued from 2022-23.

After its much-publicized Odell Beckham Jr. crusade did not produce a signing in 2022, Dallas sent fifth- and sixth-round picks to Houston for Brandin Cooks. The oft-traded wideout remains under contract for 2024, with Lamb going into his fifth-year option season. Cooks totaled 657 yards in his Cowboys debut, with Jake Ferguson stepping up as a viable auxiliary target post-Dalton Schultz. Still, the Cowboys should be a candidate to add another Lamb supporting-caster soon.

Bears To Re-Sign WR Dante Pettis

March 15th, 2024 at 2:34pm CST by Sam Robinson

Dante Pettis missed last season due to injury. Since the wideout last played, the Bears have changed offensive coordinators and are likely to change quarterbacks. But the veteran pass catcher will have another chance.

The Bears are re-signing Pettis to a one-year deal, ESPN.com’s Courtney Cronin tweets. The former 49ers second-round pick played an auxiliary role for the 2022 Bears. He will join a receiving corps that now includes Keenan Allen, whom the team acquired late Thursday night.

Pettis re-signed in 2023 but opened training camp on the Bears’ non-football injury list; he was not activated until August. Chicago then shuttled the veteran backup, who had served as a part-time starter for a receiver-thin 2022 Bears edition, to IR. That ended Pettis’ season. Even with Luke Getsy gone, the team will give Pettis another shot.

Pettis did not stick in San Francisco, and he did not exceed 110 receiving yards in a season from 2019-21. The Bears took a flier on him during a 2022 offseason in which they added a few receivers — Byron Pringle, Equanimeous St. Brown, N’Keal Harry among the others — on low-cost short-term deals. Pettis caught 19 passes for 245 yards and three touchdowns that season.

The Bears now have Allen and D.J. Moore atop their receiver depth chart, and another addition early in the draft could be in play for a team that will be ready to supply Caleb Williams with weapons. The team added Gerald Everett to pair with Cole Kmet this week, while acquiring pass-catching back D’Andre Swift. At wide receiver, the likes of Tyler Scott and Velus Jones reside as Chicago’s tertiary options presently.

Buccaneers To Sign OL Ben Bredeson, CB Bryce Hall

March 15th, 2024 at 12:55pm CST by Sam Robinson

Two former New York residents are heading to Tampa to compete for Buccaneers jobs. The Bucs are signing offensive lineman Ben Bredeson and cornerback Bryce Hall, according to Pewter Report and Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times, respectively.

Bredeson spent last season as a full-time Giants starter at guard, while Hall is a former Jets starter who also played out his rookie contract in New York. Bredeson is joining the Bucs on a one-year deal worth up to $3.5MM, per NFL.com’s Mike Garafolo.

Amid an injury-ravaged season on the offensive line, the Giants relied on Bredeson as a 16-game starter. The Giants put Bredeson — a 2020 Ravens draftee acquired in a trade a year later — in competition for guard and center spots last summer. As expected, second-round pick John Michael Schmitz won the center job. But Bredeson was in place at guard as turnover occurred across Big Blue’s front.

As could be expected on a line that gave up the second-most sacks (83) since the league began charting them in the early 1960s, Bredson graded poorly in 2023. Pro Football Focus viewed the Michigan alum as one of the NFL’s worst guard regulars last season. He has 25 starts on his resume, however. The Bucs have not re-signed guards Matt Feiler or Aaron Stinnie — during an offseason that featured higher-priority player-retention tasks — opening the door for Bredeson to compete for a starting job or settle in as a swing backup.

The Jets chose Hall in the 2020 fifth round and used him as a starter in 26 games. Twenty-four of those came over Hall’s first two years, as the Jets refrained from investing in corners. That changed in 2022, via the D.J. Reed signing and Sauce Gardner draft pick, relegating Hall to a bench role. Hall did return a fumble for a touchdown last season but only played 138 defensive snaps.

The Bucs traded Carlton Davis to the Lions this week. While Hall could conceivably be thrown into a competition to replace the veteran cover man, it seems likely the Bucs will bring in a higher-profile option as the favorite to start opposite Jamel Dean.

Browns To Add Mike Vrabel To Staff

March 15th, 2024 at 12:39pm CST by Sam Robinson

Mike Vrabel did not land a head coaching job and was not closely tied to any coordinator opening. While this profiles as a gap year for the former Titans HC, he has a gig lined up.

The Browns are hiring Vrabel as a coaching and personnel consultant, ESPN’s Adam Schefter and Field Yates report. This will bring Vrabel back to Ohio, where he played and coached previously. The Ohio State alum is also an Akron native.

Vrabel has been working for the Browns since the Combine, per NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport and Tom Pelissero. He will work with the AFC North team this season. This reminds of Vic Fangio‘s gap-year setup with the Eagles in 2022, but word of that partnership did not come out until the season was nearly finished. The Browns look to be set to involve Vrabel in their offseason plan.

Vrabel, 48, interviewed for for the Chargers, Falcons and Panthers’ HC jobs this offseason. Seahawks connections emerged at multiple points, but no interview transpired. As was the case with his former mentor, Bill Belichick, Vrabel found himself out of the mix despite being a well-regarded leader. The former NFL Coach of the Year figures to be a better bet to be coveted in 2025 compared to Belichick, whose age (72 in April) will work against him. While no Belichick connections to a team have emerged, Vrabel is jumping back in as he presumably prepares for his next move.

Fangio spent the 2022 season as an Eagles consultant, and the team had hoped to keep him on as its defensive coordinator. That came to fruition a year later, but Vrabel’s situation should differ. Fangio’s age and middling work as Broncos HC moved him off the radar for a top job, as he had committed to hopping back on the DC carousel. Vrabel should be expected to be an HC candidate again soon, and he will take what could well be a part-time position in Cleveland in the meantime.

Prior to becoming a Texans assistant, Vrabel began his coaching career at his alma mater. He coached under Urban Meyer at Ohio State from 2011-13. Going to high school in the Cleveland area (Cuyahoga Falls), Vrabel makes for an interesting fit close to his hometown. He will work alongside Kevin Stefanski and DC Jim Schwartz.

Eagles To Retain DE Josh Sweat Via Restructured Deal

March 15th, 2024 at 12:35pm CST by Sam Robinson

Both the Eagles’ top incumbent edge rushers landed on the trade block as of late. While Haason Reddick‘s status remains uncertain, Josh Sweat is staying in Philadelphia.

The Eagles and Sweat reached a restructured contract that will keep the young pass rusher in town, NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport and Tom Pelissero report. Sweat will receive $10MM guaranteed in 2024, per ESPN.com’s Jeremy Fowler, who adds he can collect up to $13MM via incentives.

Bryce Huff is coming to Philly on a three-year, $51.1MM deal. The Eagles currently have three edge contracts in the same range on their books presently, though Reddick’s status will now need to be monitored. With Huff in place and Sweat agreeing to stay — after coming up in trade talks — Reddick could be on his way out. The Pro Bowler has outplayed the three-year, $45MM deal he signed with the Eagles in 2022. While Reddick has said he wants to stay with his hometown team, his status is up in the air.

No guaranteed money remained on Sweat’s three-year, $40MM extension, which he agreed to in 2021. The Eagles allowed both Reddick and Sweat to seek a trade and gauge their value. It is a bit surprising Sweat would come back at this rate, given where the cap went this month, but the Eagles would have also needed to view a trade as fair value. The team has determined Sweat will remain an asset this year, his age-27 season.

Sweat and Reddick went cold down the stretch, which became a sore spot for the team as its defense cratered. Vic Fangio is now running Philly’s defense, after serving as a consultant with the team in 2022, and he presumably wanted Huff as one of his starters. With Fangio in a minor role in 2022, Sweat put together his best season — an 11-sack slate — as the Eagles made a run at the 1984 Bears’ single-season sack record. Sweat has not totaled more than eight sacks in a season in any other year, and after a hot 2023 start, the former fourth-round pick went sackless over the season’s final two months. He did drop Baker Mayfield once in the Eagles’ wild-card loss, however.

With Nolan Smith likely set for more playing time, signs would seem to point to a Reddick exit. No known trade offers have emerged, but Huff, Sweat and Smith are now locked in — along with the recently re-signed Brandon Graham — for 2024. Huff can certainly use this season as a platform for a big-ticket free agency deal next year, with the cap rising at rates not seen during the previous CBA.

49ers To Sign LB De’Vondre Campbell

March 15th, 2024 at 11:13am CST by Sam Robinson

11:13am: The 49ers will bring in Campbell, with NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport noting a deal is in place. The sides agreed on a one-year contract. This will be a fourth team for Campbell, who will join Warner as a presumptive starter while Greenlaw recovers.

9:12am: Having an agreement to add a veteran starter as Dre Greenlaw insurance, the 49ers saw their plan come apart when the Cowboys instead lured Eric Kendricks. The defending NFC champions are now looking at another recent cap casualty.

De’Vondre Campbell is on the team’s radar. San Francisco is showing “strong interest” in the recently released Green Bay linebacker, NBC Sports Bay Area’s Matt Maiocco tweets. The Packers cut Campbell two seasons into his five-year, $50MM deal this week.

Kendricks had been tentatively in place to work as insurance while Greenlaw rehabs the Achilles tear he suffered while trotting onto the field early in Super Bowl LVIII. The Cowboys featured a bigger need at the position compared to the 49ers, who should be expected to have Greenlaw back on the field alongside All-Pro Fred Warner at some point next season. Campbell now may be the target for this No. 3 linebacker role.

Oren Burks operated in this capacity last season, playing 433 defensive snaps following Azeez Al-Shaair‘s free agency exit. A former Campbell Packers teammate, Burks is unsigned for the 2024 season. Campbell, 30, played in front of Burks in 2021 — an All-Pro season — en route to signing a new Packers contract. As the Packers transition to a new defensive coordinator, they dropped Campbell’s contract to free up cap space. The former Cardinals and Falcons defender had no guarantees remaining on the deal.

Campbell started 40 games in Green Bay, including 11 last season. After back-to-back years with six tackles for loss and two interceptions apiece, the former Atlanta second-rounder took a step back last year (75 tackles, three for loss) in an injury-shortened season. Campbell, whose Falcons tenure overlapped with Kyle Shanahan‘s in 2016, also played through a shoulder injury in 2022.

Greenlaw underwent surgery shortly after the Super Bowl. While the timeline could allow for the veteran linebacker to be back by Week 1, he will likely begin training camp on the active/PUP list and could be a candidate for a reserve/PUP designation. The latter transaction would sideline Greenlaw for four games to start the season. The 49ers are preparing to take precautions while Greenlaw rehabs; seeing if Campbell would accept the former Al-Shaair part-time role — when Greenlaw is healthy, that is — will be something to monitor.

Panthers To Sign OLB K’Lavon Chaisson

March 15th, 2024 at 10:54am CST by Sam Robinson

The Panthers met with Jadeveon Clowney on Thursday, but the team is waiting out other clubs’ interest. Clowney is meeting with the Jets on Tuesday. In the meantime, Carolina has added two edge rushers.

K’Lavon Chaisson will follow D.J. Wonnum to Charlotte. The former Jaguars first-round pick is joining the Panthers on a one-year deal worth up to $5MM, NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport tweets. Chaisson disappointed in Jacksonville, but Carolina will provide a second chance for the LSU alum.

Chosen with one of the picks obtained in the Jalen Ramsey trade, Chaisson could not establish himself as a starter or a productive rotational rusher with the Jaguars. He will head to Charlotte with just five career sacks. Though, he did notch two of those last season. The Jags used Chaisson as a starter in just 11 games during his four-year tenure. During Doug Pederson‘s two-year run, Chaisson logged 18% and 25% snap shares on defense.

Chaisson, 24, posted eight QB hits last season while playing 17 games as a backup. Wonnum has a better history as a sack artist, having registered 23 on his Vikings rookie contract. Chaisson profiles as more of a flier who should probably not be considered a lock to make the team. After the Jags passed on Chaisson’s fifth-year option, he came up in trades. As expected, a Jags regime that did not draft the former SEC standout is moving on.

Trading Brian Burns for an underwhelming haul (second- and fifth-round picks) and seeing Yetur Gross-Matos join the 49ers, the Panthers are starting over on the edge. Hybrid pass rusher Frankie Luvu is also bound for Washington. Burns, Luvu and Gross-Matos combined for 18 of the Panthers’ NFL-low 27 sacks last season.

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