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Ellis Lankster

Contract Updates: Jets, Bills, Ratliff, Titans

March 6th, 2014 at 11:59am CST by Luke Adams

Restricted free agent cornerback Darrin Walls agreed to a new deal with the Jets last night, and agent Jordan Woy tweets that it’s a two-year contract. Ellis Lankster, who also agreed on a new deal with the Jets, will be on a two-year, $1.63MM contract, according to Manish Mehta of the New York Daily News (Twitter link). Lankster’s pact appears to be worth slightly more than the minimum.

With free agency looming and several players having already signed new contracts or reworked old ones, we have plenty more contract and cap updates to pass along, so let’s dive right in….

  • The Bills extended contract tenders to all four of their exclusive rights free agents, and cornerback Brandon Smith has accepted his, according to Joe Buscaglia of WGR550 (Twitter links). With Smith set to return to the team on a one-year, minimum-salary deal, offensive guard Antoine McClain, fullback Frank Summers, and wide receiver Chris Hogan will also be back in Buffalo if and when they sign their tenders.
  • Adam Caplan of ESPN.com (Twitter link) has the details on Jeremiah Ratliff‘s new two-year contract with the Bears. It’s worth a total of $4MM, with $600K guaranteed.
  • The cap figures on Troy Polamalu‘s new three-year contract with the Steelers are $6.387MM (2014), $8.25MM (2015), and $8MM (2016), with respective base salaries of $1.5MM, $6MM, and $5.75MM, according to Aaron Wilson of the Baltimore Sun (Twitter link).
  • The Browns have extended a contract tender to inside linebacker Craig Robertson, according to Nate Ulrich of the Akron Beacon Journal. Robertson, who was an exclusive rights free agent, will be in line for a minimum salary of $570K for 2014.
  • New one-year deals for running backs Jackie Battle (Titans) and Bobby Rainey (Bucs) are both worth the minimum, according to Jim Wyatt of the Tennessean and Tom Pelissero of USA Today, respectively (Twitter links). Battle’s minimum salary ($855K) is a little more substantial than Rainey’s ($570K) due to his extra years of service time.
  • Wyatt also shares (via Twitter) a few more specifics on Bernard Pollard‘s two-year deal with the Titans, which has base salaries of $1.65MM in 2014 and $3.1MM in 2015.

AFC Notes: Johnson, Amendola, Lankster, Nwaneri

March 5th, 2014 at 8:53pm CST by Zachary Links

Titans running back Chris Johnson took to Twitter to provide an update on his contract situation. According to Johnson, his agent met with the Titans yesterday, but talks remain at a standstill as the running back continues to play the waiting game. Tennessee is believed to have interest in retaining Johnson, but not at his current $10MM cap figure. Here are a few more AFC notes:

  • The Patriots can’t designate Danny Amendola as a post-June 1 cut in 2014, according to Albert Breer of NFL Network (Twitter links). The Pats have to carry the wide receiver on the roster into the ’14 league year to make him a June 1 cut and if they do that, his ’14 base is guaranteed.
  • The Jets announced that they have agreed to deals with reserve cornerbacks Ellis Lankster and Darrin Walls. Lankster, 26, has seen time in 30 combined games for Gang Green over the last two years.
  • In an interesting piece for ESPN.com, Kevin Seifert outlines why many members of this year’s free agent class – including Broncos standout Eric Decker – may be better off re-signing with their current teams before next week.
  • Two or three teams are already in on former Jaguars guard Uche Nwaneri, tweets Adam Caplan of ESPN. The Jags released their longtime starting guard yesterday to create $3.706MM in cap savings for the team. Nwaneri ranked 34th among 81 qualified guards in 2013, according to Pro Football Focus’ advanced metrics, and had an overall grade of +18.0 over the last five seasons.

Luke Adams contributed to this post.