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Titans, S Jamal Adams Agree To Deal

July 12th, 2024 at 11:10am CST by Adam La Rose

JULY 12: Per Ari Meirov of the 33rd Team, Adams’ deal is one year in length and it qualifies for the veteran salary benefit. After being attached to a Seahawks deal worth $17.5MM per year prior to his release, Adams will therefore earn $1.13MM in 2024.

JULY 11: One of the many veteran safeties still on the market has found a new home. Jamal Adams has an agreement in place with the Titans, ESPN’s Turron Davenport notes. The move is now official, per a team announcement. Adams’ agent confirmed (via ESPN’s Adam Schefter) that this is a one-year accord.

Tennessee was known to be interested in making an addition at the safety spot earlier this offseason. The team had not been publicly connected to any of the available options at the position recently, however. Nevertheless, Adams will provide the Titans with an experienced secondary option as he aims to deliver a healthy campaign and restore his free agent value in the process.

Adams recently visited the Titans, the team announced Thursday. That summit quickly produced this agreement, one which will thin the safety market to a degree once training camps open around the league later this month. The 28-year-old was (alongside Quandre Diggs) let go by the Seahawks in a cost-shedding move earlier this offseason. Adams remained in contact with Seattle after the draft, but instead of re-joining the team on a less expensive pact he will return to the AFC in 2024.

Interestingly, a potential Seattle reunion was contemplated (on the team’s side) with the understanding Adams would play at linebacker rather than safety. The former Jets first-rounder has played exclusively on the backend during his career, one which has been marred by injuries during recent times in particular. Adams’ mobility will be a question mark in Tennessee entering 2024 after he was limited to just 10 games over the past two seasons.

The Ravens hosted Adams on a free agent visit in May, but no updates on his market had emerged since then. The 2024 offseason saw a number of accomplished safeties let go in cost-shedding moves this spring, and the depth of available contributors has hindered the position’s overall market. It will be interesting to see if Adams’ signing will spur further action amidst the veterans looking to land with a new team ahead of training camp or at least the beginning of the season.

The three-time Pro Bowler has started all 80 games in his career, but he has failed to replicate his pass-rushing success (9.5 sacks) demonstrated in his debut Seahawks campaign of 2020. Tennessee – a team which traded away mainstay Kevin Byard midway through the 2023 season – had yet to make a free agent signing prior to today’s Adams agreement. With seventh-rounder James Williams being the Titans’ only safety draft addition, Adams could carve out a notable role in Nashville.

As Davenport notes, this agreement will allow Adams to reunite with Dennard Wilson. The latter served as New York’s defensive backs coach in 2018 and ’19, two of Adams’ best seasons. Wilson spent last season working with the Ravens, but he took Tennessee’s defensive coordinator gig in the winter. As he embarks on a new point in his career, Wilson will have a familiar face to work with in the secondary.

Rams Re-Sign S John Johnson

July 11th, 2024 at 4:39pm CST by Sam Robinson

JULY 11: Johnson will receive a slight raise for 2024, with USA Today’s Howard Balzer indicating his latest Rams contract is a one-year, $1.38MM accord. The Rams are guaranteeing Johnson $750K. This obviously pales in comparison to the eight-figure-per-year Browns contract Johnson inked in 2021, but he has settled in as a role player during his second Rams stint.

JULY 4: The Rams made the move to reunite with John Johnson last year, bringing the former Super Bowl LIII starter back midway through training camp. Working on a holiday, the club again moved to keep Johnson in the fold.

Johnson re-signed with the Rams on Thursday, the team announced. He will join some new safeties in L.A., most notably Kamren Curl. With Thursday’s agreement poised to extend Johnson’s second Rams stint to two years, this will be his sixth season with the team.

After the Browns cut bait on Johnson’s three-year, $33MM deal in 2023, he played in every Rams game last season. The 2017 third-round pick made eight starts and lined up with Los Angeles’ first-stringers in the team’s narrow wild-card loss in Detroit. Going into his age-28 season, Johnson will vie for another regular role at a position group that has seen some offseason updates.

As they did with Johnson three years ago, the Rams let safety starter Jordan Fuller walk in free agency. The Day 3 find wound up with the Panthers. The Rams replaced him with Curl, who signed a modest contract (two years, $9MM) despite being one of the top free agent DBs available. Curl’s contract overlaps with Russ Yeast‘s rookie deal. With both Curl and Yeast signed through 2025, Los Angeles also added Kamren Kinchens in the third round. Despite Fuller’s exit, Johnson returns to a more crowded group.

Johnson played 574 defensive snaps last season, making 42 tackles and intercepting two passes. Pro Football Focus ranked Johnson 77th at the position, however, and no free agency rumors followed the Boston College alum this offseason. Johnson played for just $1.1MM last season; it stands to reason his third Rams contract comes in at a similar rate.

Commanding the three-year Cleveland commitment in 2021, Johnson delivered good value for a Rams team that needed to keep hitting on later-round draft choices due to the lack of first-round picks available and high-priced contracts flooding the top of the payroll. Chosen in Sean McVay‘s first offseason in L.A., Johnson started 48 games from 2017-20. While the 2018 NFC championship game is better known for a missed pass interference call, Johnson keyed the team’s route to the Super Bowl by intercepting an overtime Drew Brees pass.

Johnson was initially one of the starters the Rams were comfortable parting with to afford their high-end contracts, but after the veteran DB tumbled off the eight-figure-per-year level, he has settled in as a role player back with his original team.

Texans Re-Sign DE Jerry Hughes

July 11th, 2024 at 8:56am CST by Adam La Rose

JULY 11: Hughes’ new Texans deal has a maximum value of $2.6MM, per Wilson. Half of that figure is guaranteed, including a $650K signing bonus. Hughes can also receive up to $350K via per game roster bonuses; considering his durability, he should have a strong chance of collecting all of that total.

JULY 8: Jerry Hughes spent the past two seasons with the Texans, and his tenure with the team will continue into 2024. The veteran defensive end re-signed on Monday, as first detailed by Aaron Wilson of KPRC2.

Hughes began his career with the Colts for two seasons before enjoying a nine-year stay as a Bills regular. The 35-year-old logged 127 starts across his 144 appearances in Buffalo, reaching double-digit sacks twice in that span and remaining a consistent and durable producer afterwards. He joined the Texans in 2022 on a two-year, $10MM deal.

The former first-rounder enjoyed a highly successful debut campaign in Houston, recording nine sacks. That was his highest figure since the 2014 season, pointing to his potential to remain a starting-caliber option in the waning stages of his career. The Texans selected Will Anderson with the No. 3 pick in the 2023 draft, however, pairing him with Jonathan Greenard in the starting lineup.

That resulted in a sharp decline in playing time for Hughes. The TCU alum logged a 42% defensive snap share last season, the lowest total of his career. He posted 32 tackles, three sacks and one forced fumble while playing all 19 of the team’s regular and postseason games. A similar workload should await Hughes – who has missed multiple games in a season just twice – in 2024.

Greenard departed in free agency, but Houston added former Vikings Pro Bowler Danielle Hunter on a big-money deal. The latter will thus step into a first-team role opposite Anderson as the Texans look to improve on last year’s overall output in the sack department (44, 17th in the league). Hughes will once again play a complementary role in that effort as he embarks on a 15th NFL campaign.

Steelers CB Cameron Sutton Issued Eight-Game Suspension

July 8th, 2024 at 9:26pm CST by Adam La Rose

The NFL’s investigation into Cameron Sutton has concluded, and it has resulted in a suspension. The Steelers cornerback has been issued an eight-game ban for violating the league’s personal conduct policy, as noted by NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero. He will not appeal the suspension, per ESPN’s Adam Schefter.

Sutton was the subject of an arrest warrant which was issued in March on the charge of domestic battery by strangulation. The 29-year-old was a member of the Lions at the time, having played in Detroit for 2023 on a $11MM-per-year deal. One day after news of the warrant broke, the Lions released him.

More than three weeks after the warrant was issued (which was well before it became public knowledge), Sutton surrendered to police. The Lions had advised him to do so, and since then he has seen misdemeanor battery charges resolved by entering a pretrial diversion program. As past disciplinary decisions have shown, however, players do not need to be convicted of crimes to face punishment under the NFL’s personal conduct policy.

Shortly before the draft, Sutton took part in a free agent visit with the Steelers, the team with which he spent the first six years of his career. No further developments on that front took place for several weeks until, in June, the parties agreed to a one-year deal. Sutton was set to earn the veteran minimum on his Pittsburgh accord, so being suspended without pay for the campaign’s opening eight weeks will lower his earnings considerably.

A third-round pick in 2017, Sutton logged just two starts across his first three seasons in the league. The Tennessee alum has been a mainstay on his teams’ defenses since then, though, logging over 1,000 snaps in 2021 and doing so again during his single Lions campaign last season. That experience will give Pittsburgh a starting-caliber option in the secondary during the second half of the year.

The Steelers have Joey Porter Jr. in place as a perimeter starter, and the same will likely be true of trade acquisition Donte Jackson. Sutton has primarily played on the boundary during his career, but he has experience in the slot and could find himself there upon returning to Pittsburgh’s lineup once his suspension has been served. A depth addition this summer could now be on the team’s radar knowing they will be shorthanded in the secondary, however.

The Steelers’ bye week falls on Week 9, meaning the earliest point at which Sutton could make his debut would be during the team’s Week 10 matchup against the Commanders.

S Tashaun Gipson Handed Six-Game Suspension

July 2nd, 2024 at 7:05pm CST by Adam La Rose

7:05pm: Gipson has been suspended for violating the league’s policy against performance-enhancing substances, per Cam Inman of The Mercury News.

3:30pm: Tashaun Gipson is among the numerous veteran safeties still on the free agent market, and that will likely continue for the foreseeable future. Gipson has been handed down a six-game suspension by the NFL, Aaron Wilson of KPRC2 reports.

The cause of the ban is unclear, but it will nevertheless limit his availability at the start of the 2024 campaign. Gipson spent his last two seasons with the 49ers, and the team has been open to a reunion this offseason. With it remaining unclear if the 33-year-old intends to continue his career, though, San Francisco has elected to remain patient and allow him to decide on his future.

The team has struggled with injuries at the safety spot in recent years, and the draft addition of Malik Mustapha has lowered any potential urgency the 49ers would have proceeded with regarding a Gipson deal. The latter has played 173 games (165 starts) across time with the Browns, Jaguars and Bears prior to his two-year San Francisco spell. It will be interesting to see if today’s news impacts his aspirations regarding his playing career.

Gipson has not previously received a suspension in his career, one which included a Pro Bowl nod in 2014. His resume features five seasons with at least three interceptions, the most recent of which came in 2022. The former UDFA has remained steady in terms of coverage statistics as well, although in his case and others past performances has not translated to interest on the market this offseason.

The safety position has not fared well with respect to veteran producers in 2024, and the expectation remains most or all players still unsigned will be forced to settle for low-cost deals this summer. Gipson was already on track to be in such a position, but his stock will no doubt take another hit in the wake of today’s suspension.

NFC Front Office Updates: White, 49ers, Seahawks

June 30th, 2024 at 9:56pm CST by Ely Allen

The Commanders recently announced all the updates to their personnel and football support staff that the team has made this offseason. We’ve already covered nearly all of the updates as they occurred throughout the past few months, but we finally got confirmation of a rumor we’d seen back in May. We saw the writing on the wall before, but Chris White has officially been announced as a member of the Commanders scouting staff, according to the team announcement.

White comes from Chicago, where he recently served as assistant director of pro scouting before being removed from the team’s website a month ago. He had served in the role for two years, getting promoted after five seasons as a pro scout for the Bears.

As predicted, White will be serving in Washington as director of pro scouting. He’s essentially filling the role left vacant by former director of pro personnel Chris Polian, who made his way to Cleveland to work as an advisor under Browns general manager Andrew Berry.

Here are a couple other updates from around the NFC:

  • The 49ers are bringing on Jordan Fox to work as a player personnel analyst in 2024, according to Neil Stratton of SucceedinFootball.com. Fox debuted in the NFL as a seasonal personnel operations intern for the Jets in 2022. After two years with New York, Fox earns his first full-time NFL position in San Francisco.
  • Up the coast, the division-rival Seahawks are granting a first full-time NFL position, as well. Per Stratton, the team’s player personnel intern, Azzaam Kapadia, has officially been promoted to the full-time player personnel assistant role. Kapadia interned with the Colts at one point in time and worked part-time as a film analyst for the Browns during the 2022 season.

NFC Front Office Updates: Panthers, Falcons, Cardinals

June 29th, 2024 at 6:00pm CST by Ely Allen

The Panthers are one of several NFC teams who continue to make updates to their front office staff in recent days. Carolina made two moves and two new hires in this month.

The first move sees area scout Caden McCloughan move from the west coast to the southwest, per Neil Stratton of SucceedinFootball.com. He’s in his third year with the team since joining as a scouting intern in 2022. Joining McCloughan as an area scout is Kaleb Leach, who is getting promoted to northeast area scout for Carolina after also joining the team in 2022. Leach started as a scouting assistant after both playing and scouting in international football.

The two new hires are pro scout Adam Maxie and scouting assistant Gabby Weinrich. Maxie has NFL experience dating back t0 2017. He’s worked as a quality control coach with the Buccaneers, a scouting intern with the Vikings, and a pro scout with the Raiders. Weinrich takes Leach’s old position as scouting assistant. She attended scout school with the Jets in 2022 and worked as a training camp intern with the Bears the following year, all while working as a player personnel and recruiting assistant for the University of Nebraska. This will be her first full-time position in the NFL.

Here are a few other front office updates from around the NFC, starting with another NFC South squad:

  • The Falcons have promoted Nathan Ellis from scouting assistant to scouting coordinator, per Stratton. Previously a pro scouting intern for the Chargers for two summers, Ellis joined Atlanta as a scouting intern last summer, turning that time into a full-time gig at the start of the season. His previous full-time job was as a recruiting assistant/coordinator with the University of South Carolina.
  • The Cardinals made a number of moves to their scouting staff, as well, per Stratton. Chad Jenkins has been moved from NFS scout to area scout. Jenkins has been with the team since 2018 after some time at Tulane and Tennessee State. Stephen Wise will take Jenkins’ NFS scout role, moving from his role as a scouting assistant. Wise joined the team in 2021 after three years as a football recruiting assistant at South Carolina where he overlapped with Ellis for a few months. Andrew Ford will also get promoted from scouting assistant. Formerly a quarterback at UMass, he’ll now work as a pro scout for Arizona. Landon Grier has been hired to fill one of the two newly vacated scouting assistant roles. This will be Grier’s first job out of college after graduating from South Carolina.

NFC North Front Office Updates: Vikings, Lions, Packers

June 28th, 2024 at 9:40pm CST by Ely Allen

The Vikings announced a number of hires to their scouting staff in recent weeks. As general manager continues to find the path to draft success in the NFL, he is enlisting the help of these new additions to achieve the best possible results.

Before getting to the new hires, Minnesota promoted Sam DeLuca to director of pro personnel, according to Neil Stratton of SucceedinFootball.com. DeLuca joined the Vikings about a year ago as a senior assistant director of pro personnel before getting the full director title. His NFL start came as a scouting intern with the Eagles in 2012 before he spent ten years in the Browns scouting department.

The biggest new hire comes in DeLuca’s department as Shane Normandeau joins the team as a pro scout. Normandeau worked alongside DeLuca in Cleveland, joining the Browns two years ago as football operations coordinator after interning for three months with the Colts.

The team also hired on Brian Schnorr as a scouting associate. Schnorr is making his NFL staff debut after three and a half years working in college recruiting with UCF, Florida State, and Nebraska. Schorr also has three years of experience as a data analyst with Pro Football Focus. Lastly, Minnesota added Dabness Atkins as a scouting assistant. After playing college ball at Holy Cross, Dabness spent the 2023 season as a recruiting assistant at UMass.

Here are a few other front office updates out of the NFC North:

  • The Lions made a big move, adding Charlie Adkins to the staff as senior director of football administration, per ESPN’s Seth Walder. Adkins comes from Arizona, where he spent the last seven years in the Cardinals’ football analytics and research department, eventually working his way up to manager of football analytics and research. He reunites with chief operating officer Mike Disner, who joined the Lions in 2019 after six years with the Cardinals as director of football administration.
  • Stratton informs us of one more NFC North scouting hire, noting the addition of Sam Fleming as a scouting assistant for the Packers. Fleming first worked in the NFL as an intern with the Saints before serving two years at Samford, where he played wide receiver in college, in personnel and operations. He has spent the last three years working with National Football Scouting.

Minor NFL Transactions: 6/28/24

June 28th, 2024 at 6:52pm CST by Ely Allen

Today’s only minor move comes out of Charm City:

Baltimore Ravens

Since going undrafted out of Temple in 2018, Kirkwood has been a frequent flyer on our minor moves, often signing with practice squads and getting promoted for gamedays. His rookie season saw him start one of eight game appearances and catch 13 passes for 209 yards and two touchdowns. While he has yet to reach that success in his career again, he has started five games in the past two years during his second stint in New Orleans, including four last year. In 13 game appearances in 2023, Kirkwood caught his first touchdown since his rookie campaign. He’ll look to win a depth role in a crowded Ravens receiving room.

Minor NFL Transactions: 6/26/24

June 26th, 2024 at 6:46pm CST by Ely Allen

Today’s only minor transaction:

Baltimore Ravens

Aside from re-signing veteran Nelson Agholor and drafting North Carolina’s Devontez Walker in the fourth round this year, the Ravens have opted not to make any big additions to their wide receiving corps after watching Odell Beckham Jr. and Devin Duvernay walk in free agency. Instead, they opted to sign a number of undrafted free agent receivers with the potential to strike gold and find a role player.

Robinson was the definition of a strong role player in college. In three years at Virginia Tech and two at Kentucky, Robinson was productive in every year of play. While he consistently found himself on teams without any stars in the receivers room, he was always a main part of the contributions. The career lows of his freshman year were still an impressive 31 receptions for 404 yards and a touchdown. That said, he never rose significantly past that. He had career highs of 44 receptions (2021), 592 receiving yards (2020), and five touchdowns (2021).

Over his five years in college, all his stats stayed consistently between those numbers. Still, he was able to lead the Hokies in receptions and yards in 2020 and receptions and receiving touchdowns in 2021. He’s a proven contributor who may still be offered a chance to play elsewhere in the NFL.

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