NFL - NEWS & NOTES

Donte Jackson is on the way out in Carolina

Carolina cornerback Donte Jackson has a $15.7 million salary cap hit in 2024, but none of his money is guaranteed. Which means moving on from him is an easy choice for the Panthers.

And that’s exactly what the Panthers will do: They’ll either release or trade Jackson before his $4 million roster bonus is due on March 16, according to Jeremy Fowler of ESPN.

By cutting or trading Jackson, the Panthers would get $5.9 million in cap space. He’ll still count $9.8 million against the cap in dead money.

The 28-year-old Jackson has played his entire NFL career for the Panthers, who drafted him out of LSU in the second round in 2018. He bounced back from a torn Achilles in 2022 to start 16 games in 2023, but at this point in his career the Panthers don’t think he’s worth the kind of money they’re paying him, and he’ll soon find out whether any other team will pay him.

PFT

Seems to me a whole lotta DB's are going down.

 

Giants will not franchise tag Saquon Barkley

Saquon Barkley is set to hit the open market.

Multiple Tuesday morning reports indicate the Giants will not use the franchise tag on Barkley, which means the running back will become an unrestricted free agent next week.

Barkley, 27, was tagged last year and signed an adjusted one-year contract in late July. In 14 games, he rushed for 962 yards with six touchdowns, averaging 3.9 yards per carry. He also caught 42 passes for 280 yards with four TDs.

The No. 2 overall pick of the 2018 draft, Barkley put up a league-leading 2,028 yards from scrimmage with 15 touchdowns in his first season to win offensive rookie of the year. He reached 1,003 yards in his second season before tearing his ACL during the second game of the 2020 season.

He put together a strong 2022, rushing for a career-high 1,312 yards with 10 touchdowns and catching 57 passes for 338 yards to help the Giants reach the postseason. That was his second Pro Bowl season.

Barkley is now part of a free agent class that includes veteran running backs, including Derrick Henry, Josh Jacobs, Tony Pollard, and Austin Ekeler.

PFT
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Not a bad class of jobless RB's.

 

Its mindboggling (to me anyway) that the most prolific scoring position (RB) in the entire history of the game outside of kickers has always been the running backs, yet they are considered a dime a dozen these days, when in my opinion they arnt.

 

I think guys like McCaffrey are so tantalizing in their ability but those are few and far between.

As a Steelers fan, I saw them use a first rounder on Harris( who I do like), only to see Jaylen Warren look just as good.

Teams feel like it's a crap shoot and the life expectancy isn't great anyway.

 

RBs don’t have a long shelf life. That’s the only reason they aren’t getting the money that they’re deserving. They miss games almost every season, which hurts the team. LeVeon Bell helped the Steelers make the playoffs and then missed the playoff games.

 

Safety Jamal Adams’ time is up in Seattle.

Tom Pelissero of NFL Media reports that the Seahawks will release Adams. Adams joined the Seahawks in a 2020 trade with the Jets that saw two first-round picks go back to the AFC East club and he signed a lucrative extension with the team the next year.

Adams was a second-team All-Pro in his first season with Seattle, but his play slipped in his second season and only played 10 games over the last two seasons due to injuries.

Pelissero reports that the team will also release safety Quandre Diggs and tight end Will Dissly as they get their house in order for their first season with new head coach Mike MacDonald. Diggs made three Pro Bowls in his first three full seasons with the team and Dissly had 127 catches for 1,421 yards and 13 touchdowns in his six seasons with the team.

The Diggs and Dissly moves clear nearly $18 million in cap space while Adams’ departure will save them $7.3 million as a pre-June 1 cut. If it’s designated as a post-June 1 cut, they will see $17 million in savings, but they won’t be able to use the added space in the early stages of free agency.

PFT
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Spring cleaning in Seattle.

 

Buccaneers franchise tag Antoine Winfield Jr., Baker Mayfield set to become free agent

The Buccaneers have made their choice for their franchise tag.

According to multiple reports, Tampa Bay is tagging safety Antoine Winfield Jr. to keep him around for 2024. But the Buccaneers are still interested in signing Winfield to a long-term deal before the mid-July deadline.

This was the expected move from the Bucs, as opposed to the club tagging quarterback Baker Mayfield. But Tampa Bay is still expected to push to re-sign the quarterback, who will become an unrestricted free agent next week.

Winfield, 25, was a second-round pick in 2020. He has started all 59 games in which he’s played. In 2023, he was on the field for 98 percent of Tampa Bay’s defensive snaps, recording 122 total tackles, 6.0 sacks, six tackles for loss, three interceptions, and a league-leading six forced fumbles.

Winfield was named a first-team All-Pro for the first time in 2023 for his performance.

PFT

 

Washington Commanders signing TE Zach Ertz to one-year deal

Zach Ertz has found a new home for his 12th NFL season.

The veteran tight end is signing a one-year deal with the Washington Commanders, NFL Network Insider Tom Pelissero reported on Wednesday, per a source. The contract is worth up to $5 million, per Pelissero.

Ertz rejoins a division he knows quite well in the NFC East, having spent the majority of his career with the rival Philadelphia Eagles before moving to Arizona. He'll find even more familiarity in Washington's offensive staff, which includes former Cardinals head coach Kliff Kingsbury as the Commanders' new offensive coordinator.

Kingsbury is well-versed in how to use Ertz. In their time spent together in the desert, Ertz saw 150 targets, catching 103 of them for 980 yards and seven touchdowns before Kingsbury was fired following the conclusion of the 2022 season.

Ertz departed Arizona months ago, playing his final game in a Cardinals uniform in October before heading to injured reserve with a quadriceps injury and eventually being granted his release. Ertz hopped on board with the red-hot Detroit Lions in early 2024, joining the team's practice squad, but did not see any game action before their postseason run ended in a loss to the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC Championship Game.

Without a clear plan at quarterback in place, it's unlikely the Commanders will be good enough to even dream of an appearance in the conference title game in 2024. But Ertz will have a place to play under the direction of a coach who has proven he can help the veteran make a difference.

NFL.com

 

Dalton Schultz was eager to re-sign with Texans to keep playing with C.J. Stroud

Instead of waiting until next week to test free agency, Texans tight end Dalton Schultz re-signed with the Texans this week, and he says he didn’t want to go anywhere else because he didn’t want to stop playing with quarterback C.J. Stroud.

Schultz, who signed a one-year deal with the Texans last year after spending his previous five years in Dallas, said on the Pat McAfee Show that he loved his first year in Houston largely because of how great it was to play with Stroud.

“To have a guy come in like that, step in, take the reins and hit the ground running, C.J.’s quickly cemented himself as one of the top quarterbacks in the league.” Schultz said. “Talking to C.J., the amount of belief and trust he has in himself, the way he carries himself, he does special things. That was a big part of me wanting to come back. I wanted to surround myself with guys like that. Guys that galvanize a football team, and I think he absolutely does that. It’s a great time to be a Texan and I’m super excited that I’m back.”

Schultz said one of the most exciting things to him about playing with Stroud is that Stroud wants to keep getting better after his Rookie of the Year season in 2023.

“When you see a quarterback that’s able to make every single throw again and again and again, and stay humble about it and realize he’s not quite there,” Schultz said. “Through all the success he was having, he kept going back to, ‘How can I get better, though?’”

Now Schultz is on a new three-year contract, and he expects to be catching passes for Stroud in big games for years to come.

PFT

 

Report: Saints will release Michael Thomas before start of new league year

Michael Thomas’ run with the Saints has apparently reached its end.

Jeff Duncan of The Times-Picayune reports that New Orleans will release Thomas before the start of the new league year next week.

Duncan cites multiple sources who noted it’s not a matter of if but when the Saints will make the move.

Thomas, 31, has been through several injury-riddled seasons since catching a record 149 passes in 2019. He played just seven games in 2020 before missing the entire 2021 season. He then played three games in 2022 and 10 games in 2023.

He missed the final seven games of last season after catching 39 passes for 448 yards with a touchdown.

Thomas had one year remaining on his contract.

A second-round pick in 2016, Thomas eclipsed 1,000 yards receiving in each of his first four seasons. He led the league with 125 receptions in 2018 before setting the record at 149 in 2019. He also topped the NFL with 1,725 yards receiving in 2019, winning AP offensive player of the year.

Thomas is also a two-time first-team All-Pro for his performances in 2018 and 2019.

PFT

 

I found Schultz' comments about his stay in Dallas quite interesting... "Its literally a zoo"

“The focus is just football,” Schultz said of playing in Houston. “Going back and telling some people about being around the Cowboys’ practice facility and game day, describing some of the interactions and stuff that you see on a day-to-day basis, it surprises a lot of people. They’re like ‘Holy crap, that actually happens at a practice facility?’ You think it’s normal, and then you come to a place like this.”

Schultz said that while the Texans get to do their work uninterrupted, the Cowboys give tours of their team facility while the players are trying to do their jobs.

“There’s people literally going on tours while you’re lifting in the weight room. They’ve got a one-way mirror for people to look in. It’s literally a zoo,” Schultz said of Dallas. “There’s people tapping on the glass, trying to get people’s attention while they’re doing power cleans or whatever. It’s different. That’s the brand that they’ve built, that’s what Jerry Jones likes, that’s the way they run things, and there’s nothing wrong with that, it’s just you don’t realize how many eyeballs and how much that can maybe distract from stuff in the locker room being in the facility, until you go somewhere else and you’re like, ‘Holy crap, there’s none of that.’”

 

Jonnu Smith to sign with Dolphins on two-year deal

Jonnu Smith has found a new team.

According to multiple reports, Smith is signing with the Dolphins on a two-year deal.

The contract is worth up to $10 million.

Smith, 28, spent last season with the Falcons. That reunited him with his former offensive coordinator with the Titans, Arthur Smith, after two years with the Patriots. in 2023, Smith set career highs in receptions (50) and yards (582) while playing 58 percent of Atlanta’s offensive snaps. He also finished with three touchdowns.

A third-round pick in 2017, Smith has recorded 219 career catches for 2,423 yards with 20 touchdowns in 107 games.

The Falcons released Smith last week, saving the club $6.5 million in cap space.

PFT
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Great news for the 'THUNDER' in the L4SN WDF fantasy League.

 

According to multiple reports, Johnson has agreed to a four-year contract to keep him with the Bears on a long-term basis. The deal is reportedly worth $76 million with $54 million guaranteed.
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Of all the DB's getting cut, this one got paid.

 

And yet another...



The Saints have reached an agreement on a new contract with safety Tyrann Mathieu.

Nick Underhill of NewOrleans.football reports Mathieu has signed a new two-year deal with the franchise. Mathieu was previously under contract through the 2024 season.

Per Josina Anderson of CBS Sports, Mathieu’s new contract is worth $13 million.

 

The car jump blew me away! lol

 

the unsung hero, o-lineman gets a deal...


A career-best year has earned Kevin Dotson a new contract.

The Rams are re-signing Dotson to a three-year, $48 million deal that includes $32 million in guaranteed money, NFL Network Insider Mike Garafolo reported on Thursday.

The deal will pay Dotson $16 million per year, placing him among the likes of Browns guard Joel Bitonio and Chiefs guard Joe Thuney in terms of average annual value. It also produces a massive jump in pay for Dotson, who played for $2.25 million in 2023 -- less than fellow starting guard Steve Avila, a standout rookie.

 

This year, even with the cap surging to a record high of $255.4 million per year, a handful of franchises have had some work to do in order to get themselves in line. The Bills engaged in a massive cap maneuvering on Wednesday, slashing millions to get within striking distance of compliance. (They’re still more than $7.5 million over, via Spotrac.com.)

A few other teams need to slash and burn before next Wednesday at 4:00 p.m. ET, when the top 51 contracts must land at or below the cap limit.

The Chargers are $18.6 million over. The Dolphins are $16.6 million over. And the Saints, who seem to always be in a jam and who seem to always slip their way out of it, are nearly $15.5 million over.

 

And I, for one am getting really tired of it. I get it back in the Drew Brees days. We had a SB caliber team for a lot of years. It took a lot of money to try to hold that team together and not let the good players get away. So what do you do? Redo contracts. In other words, kick the can down the road. Now that works if you have a great team. The Saints aren't a great team right now. Stop doing that. Start to re-build the team!! Right now, we're just treading water.

 

Whats your opinion on releasing Michael Thomas?