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Minor NFL Transactions: 3/10/25

March 10th, 2025 at 10:41pm CST by Ely Allen

Here are today’s minor NFL moves that may have been missed during an otherwise extremely busy first day of the tampering period:

Arizona Cardinals

Chicago Bears

Denver Broncos

Detroit Lions

Indianapolis Colts

Jacksonville Jaguars

Kansas City Chiefs

Las Vegas Raiders

Miami Dolphins

Minnesota Vikings

New England Patriots

New Orleans Saints

New York Giants

San Francisco 49ers

Tennessee Titans

Washington Commanders

Giants To Sign DE Chauncey Golston

March 10th, 2025 at 10:22pm CST by Sam Robinson

The Giants are staying busy to close out Day 1 of free agency. Hours after bringing in Roy Robertson-Harris, the team is adding Chauncey Golston.

An ex-Cowboys front-seven piece, Golston is making in intra-NFC East move by agreeing to a three-year, $19.5MM deal with the Giants, NFL.com’s Tom Pelissero reports. Two-thirds of Golston’s deal is fully guaranteed, the Dallas Morning News’ Calvin Watkins tweets.

Formerly a third-round pick out of Iowa, Golston has spent his entire career with Dallas. A starter path did not emerge for the versatile D-lineman until last season, when he lined up as a first-stringer in 13 games. A Cowboys team that lost DeMarcus Lawrence needed Golston more, and he accumulated 5.5 sacks and eight QB hits.

Golston does not present a flashy resume, starting only three games before 2024 and never eclipsing 1.5 sacks before last season either. Going into his age-27 season, Golston does bring experience at both D-end and D-tackle in Dallas’ 4-3 scheme. Playing more on the edge in 2024, Golston may end up an Azeez Ojulari replacement as a third rusher behind Brian Burns and Kayvon Thibodeaux. Though, a D-end role in the Giants’ 3-4 look would open up a starting spot for a player guaranteed two full seasons.

Ojulari has not yet relocated, but that has long been expected. This addition would seem to further point the four-year contributor out the door. As for Dallas, Lawrence has said he hopes to re-sign with the Cowboys; he is coming off a Lisfranc injury that ended his season before the midway point. The Cowboys also have Sam Williams coming off an ACL tear. Williams may be asked to pick up the slack, as he was last year following the Dorance Armstrong and Dante Fowler exits, but it appears the team is in need for more help alongside Micah Parsons.

Raiders To Sign LB Elandon Roberts

March 10th, 2025 at 10:16pm CST by Sam Robinson

Although Josh McDaniels and Dave Ziegler are long gone, the Raiders are still adding former Patriot regulars. Elandon Roberts will be the latest, though he has enjoyed multiple stopovers since his Patriot Way days.

The Raiders are adding the recent Steelers starter on a one-year deal worth $3MM, ESPN’s Adam Schefter tweets. Roberts has run his career start count to 105 games. After the Patriots added Robert Spillane earlier Monday, the Raiders will bring in one of the players the Steelers used to replace him back in 2023.

While the Raiders are no longer embracing the Patriot Way model, they do have a key holdover from that period in Patrick Graham, who will now work as DC for a third head coach. Graham and Roberts’ Patriots tenures did not overlap, but the current Raiders DC coached Roberts under Brian Flores in Miami.

The Raiders were unable to retain Spillane, Tre’von Moehrig or Nate Hobbs, but they have now added Roberts and Jeremy Chinn to go along with the re-signed Malcolm Koonce and Adam Butler. The team also signed veteran DB Lonnie Johnson. In Roberts, they will add an experienced player that has remained a starter despite a few scheme shifts.

Roberts, 31 in April, comes to the Raiders after seeing his snap share reduced in Pittsburgh. The Steelers used Roberts as a 14-game starter, but he did not share the responsibilities Patrick Queen did. Roberts played only 44% of Pittsburgh’s defensive plays last season — down from 54% in 2023. Despite the reduced role, Pro Football Focus assigned the veteran as the No. 3 overall run defender among off-ball linebackers. This came as Roberts totaled five tackles for loss after he finished with 10 apiece in 2022 and ’23. Butler’s most impressive statistical season came in 2022, when he totaled 107 tackles and 4.5 sacks for the playoff-bound Dolphins.

A Bill Belichick piece on three Patriots Super Bowl teams in the late 2010s, Roberts signed three one-year contracts with the Dolphins. He played on a two-year, $7MM Steelers deal. The Raiders probably still have some work to do at linebacker, with Divine Deablo also a free agent.

Panthers To Re-Sign CB Michael Jackson

March 10th, 2025 at 10:06pm CST by Ely Allen

The Panthers did not tell Michael Jackson to “Beat It.” After trading for the veteran cornerback just prior to the start of the 2024 season in exchange for seventh-round rookie linebacker Michael Barrett, Carolina has opted to retain the 28-year-old defender on a two-year, $14.5MM deal, per Jeremy Fowler of ESPN.

The trade certainly worked out in Carolina’s favor as Barrett was waived just five days after the deal by the Seahawks before re-signing to their practice squad. He was then released just after the team’s season-opener and signed two days later to the Browns’ practice squad. Barrett was once again released in early-October and didn’t get signed again until the Packers brought him onto their practice squad on November 30. He was elevated by the Packers in the final week of the season but didn’t see any snaps. Barrett has not been signed to a reserve/futures deal and remains a free agent.

While Barrett bounced around, unable to find any playing time, Jackson started every game of the season for the Panthers, notching career highs in total tackles (76), tackles for loss (3), passes defended (17), and interceptions (2). It was only the second time Jackson played a full season as a starter.

Like Barrett, Jackson had a similarly rough start to his NFL career. He started as a fifth-round pick for the Cowboys out of Miami, failing to make the make the 53-man roster but signing to the practice squad. He was signed off Dallas’ taxi squad to the Lions’ active roster but only made one appearance in eight weeks with the team. The team announced they were waiving him the following August but instead traded him to New England. He made the initial 53-man roster with the Patriots but was soon waived and re-signed to the practice squad, where he was elevated for the final game of the season.

In 2021, he was waived in the Patriots’ final roster cuts but signed with the Seahawks practice squad two days later, getting elevated for two games. Jackson became a surprise name in Seattle’s camp the following offseason and became a starter in the new-look secondary. He not only earned his first career start but started every game of the season, as well, though he graded out below average, with Pro Football Focus (subscription required) ranking him 84th among 118 players graded at the position. Jackson saw a reduced role in 2023 for Seattle, only starting four games, but his play improved analytically, as PFF graded him as the 19th-best cornerback of 127 players.

In a return to a full-time starting role this year, and despite joining the team just two and half weeks before the season started, Jackson graded out above average, with PFF grading him as the 43rd-best corner of 116. He returns to a secondary that recently gave a big payday to Jaycee Horn. Horn and Jackson will likely continue to act as the team’s top cornerback options while some younger talent fills out the depth lost as Lonnie Johnson, Dane Jackson, and Caleb Farley all head towards free agency.

Cowboys To Sign G Robert Jones

March 10th, 2025 at 9:44pm CST by Sam Robinson

A 17-game Dolphins starter last season, Robert Jones observed James Daniels commit to Miami earlier Monday night. Hours later, the four-year Dolphin is joining the Cowboys.

Dallas is adding Jones on a one-year deal worth up to $4.75MM, ESPN’s Adam Schefter tweets. With Isaiah Wynn missing all of last season due to an injury sustained in 2023, the Dolphins used Jones as their full-time left guard. He joins a Cowboys team that just lost future Hall of Fame guard Zack Martin to retirement.

Unlike wideout Zay Jones, Robert Jones is not related to 1990s Cowboys linebacker Robert Jones. The Robert Jones the Cowboys added Monday night has worked as a guard regular for the Dolphins. Jones joined Liam Eichenberg as Dolphins guards who hit free agency today, and the Miami LG will take what amounts to a “prove it” deal. Jones also started seven games in 2022 and five in 2023. Pro Football Focus slotted Jones 58th among guards last season.

Ahead of his age-26 season, Jones still has some time to convince teams he is worth a better deal down the road. The Cowboys, however, could eat as much as $26.5MM in dead money from Martin void years — depending on how the team processes the seven-time first-team All-Pro’s retirement. With a cap hit of some sort from the Martin decision coming, the Cowboys will suddenly have a line flooded with low-cost contracts.

The team has Terence Steele on a higher-end right tackle deal but used first- and third-round picks on starters last season (Tyler Guyton, Cooper Beebe). Immediate returns on those investments did not emerge, but the Cowboys also have All-Pro guard Tyler Smith still on a rookie deal. It will be interesting to see if the team attempts to work out an early extension for the former first-round pick this offseason.

Texans To Re-Sign DE Derek Barnett, LB Jake Hansen; Team To Sign WR Braxton Berrios, DB Tremon Smith

March 10th, 2025 at 9:34pm CST by Rory Parks

Derek Barnett is staying in Houston, as Ian Rapoport of NFL.com reports. After being claimed off waivers by the Texans in 2023, Barnett remained with the club via a one-year, $2MM pact last offseason and will sign a one-year, $5MM deal this year.

Barnett is now entering his age-29 season, and after serving as a primary starter on the Eagles’ defensive line earlier in his career, it appears those days are behind him. He nonetheless has earned the trust of head coach DeMeco Ryans and defensive coordinator Matt Burke, and he saw a 38% snap share last year. That was enough to get him five sacks — his highest total since the 2020 campaign — and two fumble recoveries returned for touchdowns. He never quite justified Philadelphia’s draft investment (he was the No. 14 overall pick of the 2017 draft), but he is a valuable edge presence behind Houston’s starting tandem of Danielle Hunter and Will Anderson.

The Texans have also agreed to sign WR Braxton Berrios to a one-year, $2MM contract, per Aaron Wilson of KPRC2. Often lauded more for his return work than his receiving acumen, Berrios did not record a single catch during the six games in which he appeared in 2024 (he suffered an ACL tear in Week 7). However, he did return three kickoffs for 76 yards and seven punts for 103 yards, and he earned First Team All-Pro acclaim in 2021 for his efforts as a return specialist (he led the league with a whopping 30.4 yards-per-return average that season).

It is certainly fair to expect Berrios to get some looks as a returner for Houston. Given that Tank Dell is uncertain to suit up at all in 2025, Berrios could see action as a slot receiver as well. He has been a useful ancillary target in the past, catching 128 passes for 1,208 yards over the 2020-23 seasons, which he split between the Jets and Dolphins.

Tremon Smith, who spent the 2021-22 seasons with the Texans and the following two years with the Broncos, is returning to Houston on a two-year, $7.5MM accord, per Tom Pelissero of the NFL Network. Like Berrios, Smith could see more burn in the third phase, as he has never logged a defensive snap share above 17%. Still, he is valued for his ST work, racking up well over 300 special teams snaps in each of the last four seasons. He has clearly impressed during that time, as Pelissero notes that Smith is now the highest-paid core special teamer in the NFL.

Jake Hansen, 26, signed with Houston as a UDFA in 2022 and will return on a one-year pact for 2025, according to Wilson. Hansen will presumably reprise his role as a special teams contributor and depth linebacker.

Steelers Release DT Larry Ogunjobi, To Sign LB Malik Harrison

March 10th, 2025 at 8:49pm CST by Rory Parks

The Steelers have released defensive tackle Larry Ogunjobi, as Ian Rapoport of NFL.com reports. Pittsburgh is also making an addition to its front seven by agreeing to sign linebacker Malik Harrison to a two-year, $10MM deal (via Rapoport’s NFL Media colleagues, Tom Pelissero and Mike Garafolo).

Ogunjobi, who is entering his age-31 season, has spent his entire eight-year career in the AFC North. A third-round pick of the Browns in 2017, the Charlotte alum finished out his four-year rookie pact in Cleveland before joining the Bengals on a one-year accord in 2021. He produced a career-high seven sacks that season, and it initially looked as if he would parlay that statistical success into a three-year, $40.5MM contract with the Bears.

Unfortunately, a foot injury suffered in a playoff game with Cincinnati caused enough lingering issues to compel the Bears to nix the deal, and Ogunjobi ultimately landed with Pittsburgh on a one-year, $8MM pact. He signed a three-year, $28.75MM contract with the Steelers the following offseason, though he will not see the final year of the deal. By releasing Ogunjobi now, Pittsburgh will avoid paying out a $3MM roster bonus due on March 15 and his $4MM base salary for 2025. In all, the club willl save $7MM against the cap and will take on a $3.5MM dead money hit.

Ogunjobi has never been an advanced metrics darling, but the 48.3 overall grade he received from Pro Football Focus for his 2024 work was especially low and positioned him as the 94th-best interior DL out of 118 qualifiers. Still, with 108 starts to his name, he should be able to find a new employer seeking an established interior presence. The Steelers, who will again rely on soon-to-be 36-year-old Cameron Heyward to anchor their defensive front, will surely be on the lookout for DL help early in the draft.

The Steelers got to see Harrison more frequently than most during his first five seasons in the league. The former Ravens draftee functioned primarily as a rotational defender during his Baltimore tenure, though he did see a career-high 38% defensive snap share in 2024. Much of that work came in the latter half of the season, as Baltimore pivoted to Harrison to replace the struggling Trenton Simpson as Roquan Smith‘s primary running mate.

This is the second offseason in a row in which Pittsburgh has poached a free agent linebacker from its longtime rival. The club signed Patrick Queen last year, and now Harrison will likely operate behind Queen and 2024 third-rounder Payton Wilson. Having earned over 300 special teams snaps in each of his five pro seasons, he will likely be asked to take on a meaningful third phase role as well.

Jets Agree To Deal With S Andre Cisco

March 10th, 2025 at 8:47pm CST by Ely Allen

The Jets are in line to have a complete reset at their safety positions in 2025, and it looks like they’ll start by signing former Jaguars safety Andre Cisco. According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, Cisco and the Jaguars have come to an agreement on a one-year, $10MM contract.

A former third-round pick out of Syracuse, Cisco made himself a key part of the Jaguars secondary as a rookie in 2021. He slowly took over the job as a starter from Andrew Wingard that season before establishing himself as a full-time starter. Cisco’s best two seasons came in 2022 and 2023, in which he started all 30 games he appeared in and racked up 15 passes defensed and seven interceptions for 136 yards and a touchdown.

In those two seasons, Cisco graded just above average, according to Pro Football Focus (subscription required). The analytics site ranked him as the 39th-best safety out of 88 graded players in 2022 and the 34th-best out of 95 in 2023. The 2024 NFL season saw a decline in analytics and production for Cisco, as PFF ranked him the 70th-best safety of 98 players graded at the position. Statistically, he only logged one interception to go along with seven passes defensed.

New York will be willing to disregard a down year likely based on Cisco’s youth. At only 24 years old, Cisco already has 47 starts under his belt and has shown he can be effective. The Jets will hope to see that potential turn back into production in 2025. With Chuck Clark, Tony Adams, Ashtyn Davis, and Jalen Mills all hitting the free agent market from New York this offseason, Cisco immediately becomes a crucial addition to the roster.

The Jaguars, on the other hand, have already filled the vacancy left by Cisco, as they’ve reportedly reached a deal to acquire former Texans safety Eric Murray. Murray will team up with Darnell Savage and Antonio Johnson to fill out the back end of Jacksonville’s secondary.

Vikings To Bring Back CB Byron Murphy

March 10th, 2025 at 8:42pm CST by Sam Robinson

The youngest of the high-end cornerbacks who entered free agency seeking a third contract, Byron Murphy has fared the best of the bunch so far. The Vikings are bringing Murphy back on a monster raise.

It will take a three-year, $66MM deal for Minnesota to retain Murphy, NFL.com’s Tom Pelissero and Ian Rapoport report. Murphy had been a Viking for less than $9MM per year; he has now scored a $22MM AAV after a two-year stay.

After losing Camryn Bynum to a $15MM-per-year Colts deal, the Vikings faced a quandary. Two of their other five secondary regulars — Harrison Smith, Stephon Gilmore — are considering retirement. Losing four of those five, with Josh Metellus being the only returner, would have presented a challenge for a team that relied on players executing Brian Flores’ complex defense. Hours after the Bynum defection, however, the Vikings ensured at least two of their secondary quintet will be back.

PFR’s No. 11-ranked free agent this year, Murphy played a central role in the Vikings’ climb from their woeful Ed Donatell season. Pro Football Focus ranked Murphy as a top-25 corner in 2024, as he improved in yards per target (7.2) and passer rating allowed as the closest defender (76.7) compared to his first Minnesota season. Murphy also was a turnover producer during his first Vikings contract, intercepting nine passes — including six last season — during that term. The six-pick year booked Murphy a Pro Bowl nod. He added 27 passes defensed in that span.

The former four-year Cardinals starter also has extensive slot experience, giving Flores options. Murphy is also only going into his age-27 season. That undoubtedly made the Vikings more comfortable authorizing a $22MM-per-year deal. Murphy has not only outdone the other third-contract-seeking CBs on this market; he has secured a top-five payday at the position. Even after Jaycee Horn‘s new contract is factored in, Murphy becomes the NFL’s fourth-highest-paid corner.

As it turns out, Murphy was right to bet on himself via the two-year, $17.5MM deal. It provided a prelude to a substantial raise, and he was seeking $20MM-plus on this market. The Vikings will count on the 5-foot-11 defender working as their No. 1 corner for at least two more seasons.

Saints To Re-Sign DE Chase Young

March 10th, 2025 at 8:14pm CST by Rory Parks

Although the Saints could not bring back Paulson Adebo, the other key defender they wanted to re-sign is staying. Chase Young will remain in New Orleans, NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport reports.

Young, who had signed a one-year contract in 2024, will stay a Saint on a multiyear deal. The Saints saw enough from Young to move out of the “prove-it deal” stage, as ESPN’s Adam Schefter adds this is a three-year, $51MM agreement. The deal can climb to $57MM based on incentives.

The size of the pact is at least partially a reflection of the fact that proven pass rushers are generally not available on the free agent market given the importance of the position. As a result, even players several tiers below the upper crust of edge defenders can get paid quite handsomely. Young, who has seemingly settled in as a productive EDGE instead of the star he was once projected to be as the No. 2 overall pick of the 2020 draft, is proof of that.

Still, he did put together a solid 2024 season, the second year in a row in which he was able to play a full (or nearly full) slate of games after appearing in just 12 total contests across the 2021-22 campaigns due to a severe knee injury that significantly altered his career trajectory. Because of a subsequent neck injury that both impacted his value at the 2023 trade deadline and again in free agency last offseason, Young joined New Orleans via a one-year accord containing much of its value in per-game roster bonuses.

He maxed out those bonuses by playing in all 17 games. While he only registered 5.5 sacks, Young topped his career high with 21 QB hits, and his 34 pressures were tied for 13th-most in the league. Those underlying numbers suggest that the soon-to-be 26-year-old could still unlock his vast potential, especially since his health woes are now further in the rearview mirror. Even if he does not reach his ceiling, though, he should provide the Saints with quality work on the edge for the next several seasons.

Sam Robinson contributed to this post.

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