HEADLINES

Matt Feiler

Buccaneers Sign OL Matt Feiler

April 20th, 2023 at 12:45pm CST by Sam Robinson

APRIL 20: After the Bolts passed on the final season of Feiler’s three-year contract, the Bucs added the veteran O-lineman at a low rate. Feiler will be tied to a one-year deal worth $2.5MM, Greg Auman of Fox Sports tweets. Incentives can bump the value to $3.25MM, and Auman notes the Bucs added four void years for cap purposes. That continues a recent Tampa Bay trend.

APRIL 13: The Chargers made Matt Feiler a cap casualty early in free agency. A month later, the veteran offensive lineman found a new team. The Buccaneers and Feiler agreed to terms Thursday, Fox Sports’ Peter Schrager reports (on Twitter).

Feiler will join the Bucs on a one-year deal. The former Steelers guard and tackle spent the past two seasons with the Chargers; he has been a regular starter for the past five seasons.

This contract will certainly be worth far less than Feiler’s Bolts deal, a three-year pact worth $21MM, but the Bucs are in need at guard after trading Shaq Mason to the Texans last month. Tampa Bay, which also released longtime left tackle Donovan Smith, struggled up front last season. Injuries affected the team during Tom Brady‘s finale. Feiler, who is going into his age-31 season, should have an opportunity to fill in at one of Tampa Bay’s guard spots.

Feiler started 33 of a possible 34 regular-season games during his two-season Chargers run, providing some stability for an offensive front that encountered injury issues at other spots. The Bolts saved more than $6MM by releasing Feiler. The Bucs will swoop in and provide another chance for the former UDFA. Pro Football Focus graded Feiler just outside the top 60 at guard last season but viewed the experienced blocker as far better in 2021, slotting him 12th overall at the position in his Chargers debut.

The Bucs re-signed Aaron Stinnie, a former swingman who filled in for an injured Alex Cappa in the 2020 playoffs, but the veteran guard missed all of last season with an ACL tear. The team still rosters swingman Robert Hainsey, who saw Ryan Jensen‘s MCL and PCL tears move him into a starting role, and Nick Leverett. Luke Goedeke, a 2022 second-round pick, is going into his second NFL season. But the team’s Shaq Mason trade removed the top guard from the equation. The Bucs traded for Mason in the wake of Ali Marpet‘s retirement and Cappa’s free agency defection to Cincinnati, but he will reunite with ex-Patriots exec Nick Caserio in Houston. A constant on an O-line constantly in flux, Mason started all 18 Bucs games last season.

The Steelers used Feiler at both tackle and guard, but he has settled in as an interior blocker in recent years. The Bucs have a need at left tackle — unless Tristan Wirfs moves over to fill it — but Feiler makes more sense as inside help. Feiler started 39 games for the Steelers from 2018-20, parlaying that run into the Chargers deal. He will attempt to provide another team with guard stability soon.

Chargers To Cut G Matt Feiler

March 14th, 2023 at 5:53pm CST by Sam Robinson

Hours after reaching an agreement to bring back right tackle Trey Pipkins, the Chargers will lose one of their starting offensive linemen. They are releasing guard Matt Feiler, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets.

This previously rumored move will create $6.5MM in cap space for the Bolts, who are prepared to staff this position internally. Jamaree Salyer, who filled in for Rashawn Slater for most of 2022 at left tackle, is expected to step in at Feiler’s left guard gig, Daniel Popper of The Athletic tweets.

The Chargers made a push to upgrade their O-line around Justin Herbert‘s rookie contract in 2021, adding Feiler, Slater and Corey Linsley. The latter two will continue on, but Feiler will be looking for a third NFL team. Feiler, 30, spent the first four years of his career with the Steelers.

Pro Football Focus viewed Feiler’s 2021 as a much better offering than his 2022 season, when the advanced metrics site ranked the sixth-year veteran outside the top 60 at guard. Salyer filled in effectively for Slater, who went down with what turned out to be a season-ending injury in September.

A sixth-round pick out of Georgia, Salyer mostly played left tackle for the powerhouse SEC program. But he filled in at guard at points. The Chargers are evidently confident they can roll out a best-five formula that includes Salyer between Slater and Linsley. As for Feiler, he will join a UFA guard contingent that still houses Isaac Seumalo, Dalton Risner, Will Hernandez, along with fellow cap casualties Gabe Jackson and Graham Glasgow.

Chargers To Sign OL Matt Feiler

March 15th, 2021 at 7:44pm CST by Sam Robinson

Minutes after Bud Dupree agreed to terms with the Titans, the Steelers will lose another of their free agents. Matt Feiler agreed to terms with the Chargers on Monday night, Adam Schefter of ESPN.com tweets.

The four-year veteran will sign a three-year, $21MM agreement with the Bolts. Feiler has worked as a Steelers starter for the past three years.

This move comes hours after the Chargers agreed to terms with Corey Linsley on a center-record contract. Feiler figures to have a spot on the Bolts’ starting O-line as well. Where he lands will be interesting. Feiler has seen time at both tackle and guard, taking over for Marcus Gilbert at right tackle and spending time on Pittsburgh’s interior line as well. Pro Football Focus graded Feiler as a middling guard starter last season but has charted him as an upper-echelon lineman throughout his career.

With Los Angeles, Feiler’s spot would seem to be guard. The Chargers paid up for Bryan Bulaga at right tackle last year. They just cut guard Trai Turner and have fellow guard Dan Feeney set for free agency. Feiler’s position notwithstanding, he represents more resources thrown into protecting Justin Herbert going forward.

The Steelers have brought back B.J. Finney but have some major questions up front going forward. They have now lost Feiler and perennial Pro Bowler Maurkice Pouncey, and left tackle Alejandro Villanueva may well be on his way out as well.

Minor NFL Transactions: 1/9/21

January 9th, 2021 at 3:23pm CST by Sam Robinson

Here are the latest NFL minor moves:

Baltimore Ravens

Cleveland Browns

Green Bay Packers

New Orleans Saints

New York Giants

  • Signed to reserve/futures deal: QB/WR Joe Webb

Philadelphia Eagles

Pittsburgh Steelers

Seattle Seahawks

Tennessee Titans

AFC North Notes: Browns, Steelers, Ravens

June 25th, 2020 at 4:03pm CST by Sam Robinson

Odell Beckham Jr. will be good to go when the Browns convene for training camp. Kevin Stefanski confirmed the three-time Pro Bowl wideout has 100% recovered from the core muscle surgery he underwent earlier this offseason, Mary Kay Cabot of cleveland.com notes. Beckham battled this problem for much of last season, often not being able to practice until Fridays, while also navigating a hip injury. While the star receiver suited up for 16 games — after failing to do so in three of his five Giants seasons — OBJ did not develop much of a rapport with Baker Mayfield. In Year 2 with the Browns, Beckham attended the team’s virtual offseason meetings. He skipped much of Cleveland’s onsite OTAs last year.

Jarvis Landry also underwent winter surgery — a hip procedure — and is behind Beckham in recovery. Stefanski expects his other Pro Bowl wideout to be healthy at some point in August. So it appears Landry will miss some time in camp, and Stefanski said he would be cautious with Beckham as well. Moving away from Cleveland, here is the latest from the AFC North:

  • Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin will begin training camp with right tackle Matt Feiler at left guard (Twitter link via Gerry Dulac of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette). The Steelers need a new left guard after Ramon Foster‘s retirement. However, a Feiler position switch would create a hole at right tackle — where he started 16 games last season. The Steelers signed Stefen Wisniewski as a possible Foster replacement, and Dulac does not expect Feiler to ultimately make the move to guard. Should Feiler be a genuine option at left guard, third-year tackle Chukwuma Okorafor and fourth-year blocker Zach Banner would compete for the Steelers’ right tackle gig.
  • Both James Conner and JuJu Smith-Schuster are in contract years. While nothing has transpired on the Conner extension front, Dulac expects the Steelers to extend Smith-Schuster and avoid the franchise tag to do so. The Steelers have displayed an excellent ability to identify receiver talents for many years and have often let starters walk in free agency (Plaxico Burress, Emmanuel Sanders, Mike Wallace) or traded them (Santonio Holmes, Martavis Bryant). But the team does not have a veteran contract in its current receiver stable, leaving the door open for JuJu to get paid.
  • The Ravens have several standouts either in contract years (Matt Judon, Ronnie Stanley), extension-eligible now (Marlon Humphrey) or set to become free to negotiate in 2021 (Lamar Jackson, Mark Andrews). John Harbaugh is optimistic the team will be able to keep some key players, even as the threat of a reduced 2021 salary cap looms. “We’ll keep as many guys as we can,” Harbaugh said, via The Athletic’s Jeff Zrebiec (subscription required). “I’m very optimistic about the fact that we have a good cap situation going forward. We have not been in good cap shape for the last six years or so. Really, seven years. Every year, we’ve been behind the eight ball with the cap. That’s just the way it was. This year was a little better, and next year will be a lot better.”

Steelers’ OT Matt Feiler Signs Tender

June 11th, 2020 at 12:59pm CST by Zachary Links

Steelers offensive tackle Matt Feiler has signed his one-year restricted free agent tender, according to Dan Graziano of ESPN.com (on Twitter). The Steelers cuffed Feiler at the second-round level earlier this year to ward away other teams.

Per the terms of the tender, Feiler is now set to earn $3.27MM this year. If another club signed him to an offer sheet and the Steelers declined to match, that club would have had to forfeit a second-round pick. As good as Feiler is, that was too high of a price tag for other teams.

Feiler, 28 in July, came into the league as an undrafted free agent with the Texans. His time in Houston aside, he’s pretty much spent his entire career in Pittsburgh. Feiler cracked the starting lineup in 2018 and, last year, he was first-string for all 16 of the Steelers’ games. For his work, Pro Football Focus ranked him as the 20th best tackle in the entire league out of 80 qualified players.

With a repeat performance, Feiler could be in line for a much bigger pay bump in 2021.

Steelers Place Second-Round Tender On OT Matt Feiler

March 17th, 2020 at 9:20pm CST by Ben Levine

The Steelers have placed a second-round tender on offensive tackle Matt Feiler, reports NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo (via Twitter).

Besides a brief stint with the Texans, Feiler has spent most of his career with Pittsburgh. The lineman has earned more responsibility each season, leading to him starting a career-high 16 games this past season.

In total, the 27-year-old has appeared in 32 career games (27 starts).

The Steelers have been busy with their impending restricted free agents. Earlier this evening, the organization placed a second-round tender on cornerback Mike Hilton.

AFC Notes: Patriots, Bills, Steelers

July 7th, 2019 at 1:58pm CST by Andrew Ortenberg

Bill Belichick did something he had never done before when he drafted N’Keal Harry 32nd overall in April. During his time in New England, the Patriots had never drafted a receiver in the first round before, so they must’ve been high on the Arizona State product. That being said, Harry won’t be handed anything because of his draft status. Plenty of receivers have come and gone without making much of an impact on the Pats, so Nick Underhill of The Athletic tracked a few of them down to see what advice they might have for Harry.

Underhill talked to 2006 second-round pick Chad Jackson, 2004 fifth-round pick P.K. Sam, and Chad Johnson, who joined the team toward the end of his career in 2011. Underhill asked them about their advice for working with Belichick and Brady and Jackson, one of the Patriots’ biggest draft busts, had some interesting comments. “Some people say Brady’s an asshole, and he can be at times – everybody can be an asshole at times,” he said. “The guy wants perfection. He wants everything done right. I’m sure he makes his mistakes too, but it’s not like everybody else.”

Jackson said Harry will have to be prepared for a lot, and that he wasn’t ready for it. “I think I went to the wrong organization when I first got drafted,” he said. “They expected a lot from you, which is, of course, OK, but I think they put the expectations a little bit higher than for any type of rookie coming in.” All of them stressed that developing a chemistry and a relationship with Brady were important, with Johnson saying he “didn’t really have time to come in and build that currency with Tom.” The whole piece is worth a read, and provides an interesting glimpse into life on the Patriots. Harry should have an easier time than any of those three did, but it’s not a given.

Here’s more from around the AFC:

  • The Bills made overhauling their offensive line a priority this offseason. Josh Allen spent most of his rookie year running for his life, so it makes sense. The team made some high profile signings like Mitch Morse, Ty Nsekhe, and Spencer Long, but they also added Quinton Spain. Spain is competing for a starting spot at one of the two guard positions, and his cause got hurt by a thumb injury that required surgery and sidelined him for the rest of spring practices. Fortunately for him, Spain is expected to be ready to go for the start of training camp, per Nate Mendelson of the team’s official site. Spain entered the league as an undrafted free agent with the Titans back in 2015, and started at least 13 games in each of the past three years for them. He received average marks from Pro Football Focus last year, grading out as their 35th-best guard. Spain is probably a favorite to win a starting job, and Buffalo’s offensive line looks on paper to be a lot better than it was last year.
  • Marcus Gilbert, the Steelers‘ longtime right tackle, was traded to the Cardinals this spring. That means the Steelers will have a new right tackle, and most have assumed it’ll be Matt Feiler. Feiler filled in for an injured Gilbert, and ended up starting ten games last year. But while he’s the favorite, Feiler isn’t taking it for granted and is insisting it’ll be an open competition. “I’m not by any means the starter,” Feiler said earlier this offseason, per Mike Prisuta of the team’s official site. “Anytime you’re out here, you’re getting pushed by the younger guys.” “It’s up for grabs,” he added. “It’s going to be a tough battle.” While the comments are interesting and suggest we may have to pay attention to the position in camp, it would still be a surprise if Feiler isn’t starting Week 1. While he took the majority of first-team reps, Prisuta does note that he rotated some with 2018 third-round pick Chukwuma Okorafor during spring work. Feiler is a 2014 undrafted free agent from Bloomsburg University, who had only started one game before last year.
  • In case you missed it, Broncos receiver Emmanuel Sanders is looking uncertain for the start of the season.

RFA/ERFA Tender Decisions: 3/7/19

March 7th, 2019 at 7:19pm CST by Dallas Robinson

Here are today’s restricted free agent and exclusive rights free agent tender decisions:

RFAs

Non-tendered:

ERFAs

Tendered:

Non-tendered:

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