The Buccaneers are not exercising the fifth-year option on outside linebacker Joe Tryon-Shoyinka’s contract, Greg Auman of TheAthletic.com reports.
The move is not a surprise given it would have guaranteed Tryon-Shoyinka $13.2 million for 2025.
Instead, Tryon-Shoyinka now is scheduled to hit free agency in March.
Tryon-Shoyinka, 25, was the 32nd overall pick in 2021. He played 49 percent of the defensive snaps as a rookie but 75 percent in 2022 and 51 percent last season.
He has totaled only 13 sacks in three seasons.
Tryon-Shoyinka also has 114 tackles, 31 quarterback hits and six passes defensed in his career.
The Cardinals will decline the fifth-year option on outside linebacker Zaven Collins’ contract, General Manager Monti Ossenfort told Arizona Sports on Tuesday.
The move is not a surprise considering it would have guaranteed Collins $13.2 million.
“We’ve talked a lot about it here the last couple weeks. We’re not going to pick up the fifth-year option on Zaven,” Ossenfort told Arizona Sports. “We’ve had discussions with Zaven. We’re extremely happy with where he’s at and the versatility that he brings to the defense. We want to keep Zaven around here, it’s just the fifth-year option removes some flexibility in terms of the cap that comes along.
“We’re going to have some discussions here as we go. Love Zaven; love where he’s at; love what he brings to our defense, and hopefully we can keep him around here for a long time.”
Collins now is scheduled for free agency after this season.
The Cardinals drafted him 16th overall in 2021, and he began his NFL career at inside linebacker before the new regime moved him outside in 2023.
Collins totaled 3.5 sacks, six tackles for loss, an interception, three passes defensed and six quarterback hits in 17 games last season.
Free agent running back Boston Scott has agreed to a one-year deal with the Rams, Adam Schefter of ESPN reports.
The Rams now have Kyren Williams, Blake Corum and Scott in their running backs room.
Scott bid farewell to the Eagles in a social media post.
The Eagles signed Scott off the Saints’ practice squad in 2018 after New Orleans drafted him in the sixth round that year. By the next season, Scott had become a regular contributor to the Eagles.
He played 75 games with 12 starts in his six seasons in Philadelphia, getting 373 touches for 1,861 yards and 17 touchdowns.
Whatever Roger wants, Rogers gets. And Roger wants 18 games.
If/when (when) he gets it, the NFL’s calendar could change.
Goodell has dangled the possibility of moving the Super Bowl to President’s Day Weekend, which will help build support for an 18th game. But what if the NFL Players Association insists on a second bye week? That would require the season to start on Labor Day Weekend, in order for it to end the day before President’s Day.
The league has avoided Labor Day for years, because the ratings are lower on the last unofficial weekend of summer. Given the way the NFL has grown in recent years, the NFL would probably gobble up Labor Day Weekend in the same way it has devoured Thanksgiving and Christmas.
As noted by Mark Maske of the Washington Post, an 18th game also could result in the offseason tentpole events sliding from their current spots, with the Scouting Combine moving to March, free agency shifting to April, and the draft slip-sliding to May.
The NFL already owns the sports calendar. They would steal even more attention away from other leagues by expanding the offseason like an accordion.
However it plays out, 18 games is inevitable. As is, I believe, 19. Eventually, 20.
With the revenue that comes from games that count, the NFL will want more of them. That’s why expansion from 32 teams is inevitable, too.
More football leads to more money. It’s that simple.
More.
Please, sir, can I have some more?
More is coming, whether they ask nicely or not.
The Jaguars are hosting veteran cornerback Jerry Jacobs on a free agent visit, Aaron Wilson of KPRC reports.
The Lions did not tender Jacobs this offseason, making him a free agent.
He made the roster in 2021 as an undrafted rookie and started at least eight games each of his three seasons with the Lions, including 12 in 2023.
Jacobs appeared in 40 games in Detroit, with 29 starts, and totaled 131 tackles, four interceptions and 23 passes defended. Three of his interceptions came last season.
The Lions overhauled the position this offseason, training with the Bucs for Carlton Davis, signing Amik Robertson in free agency and drafting Terrion Arnold and Ennis Rakestraw Jr.
Receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. was the first non-quarterback drafted last week. No matter who had the fourth overall pick, that likely was going to be the case.
Harrison goes to the Cardinals, where he soon begins learning offensive coordinator Drew Petzing’s offense and developing chemistry with quarterback Kyler Murray.
“We’ve got to get out on the practice field and watch him move around and see what he does well, and make sure we’re trying to utilize the best of his abilities to operate our offense at a high level,” Petzing said Tuesday, via Jose Romero of the Arizona Republic. “I don’t think that’s going to change with him as with anyone else that walks into the building.”
Harrison caught 144 passes for 2,474 yards and 28 touchdowns the past two seasons at Ohio State, but Petzing said Harrison will have to earn his role, whatever that role is, regardless how good his resume looks.
“In my opinion, he has to be like everyone else if he’s going to be the best version of himself,” Petzing said. “The way that he comes in and approaches his job, the way that he goes out there and practices, the way that he integrates himself into the team, if he’s going to be the best version of himself, I think those are the things he has to focus on. And that’s certainly what we’re going to emphasize.”
That all sounds good, but the Cardinals have no other real option as WR1, so it’s Harrison or bust.
The Browns are considering a $1 billion renovation to their current stadium or a new, $2.4 billion domed stadium in Brook Park. However it goes, they want the taxpayers to pay half.
According to the Cleveland Plain Dealer, via Sports Business Journal, the Browns want public money for 50 percent of either solution.
Per the report, team officials recently met with state lawmakers to discuss plans, and to review renderings of a new stadium.
A Brook Park facility would open before the 2029 season. A local law named for former Browns owner Art Modell could complicate a move out of Cleveland proper.
Nearly 30 years ago, Modell moved the Browns to Baltimore after he was unable to get a new stadium. Negotiations between Cleveland, the league, and the Browns resulted in the city keeping the name, colors, and records — and getting an expansion team that assumed the franchise’s identity and legacy.
The Haslams bought the Browns in 2012. They’ve given no indication that they’d consider moving the team. They also have yet to hear “no way” in response to their effort to get free money for an upgraded or new stadium.
After Patriots edge rusher Joshua Uche agreed to re-sign with the Patriots last month, there was a report that he passed up a two-year, $15 million offer from another team.
Uche — he has gone by Josh in the past, but now wants to be known as Joshua — signed a one-year deal in New England that is worth up to $8 million and the decision to accept the shorter deal was a topic at his press conference on Tuesday. Uche said that “despite what was offered, I felt like this was my calling to be a Patriot” and that he feels it is best to “follow your heart” in such situations.
“It was interesting. I had a lot of people calling me crazy. A lot of people focusing on the financial parts of the decision. But I feel like the team that gave me an opportunity, there’s nowhere else I’d rather be,” Uche said, via Doug Kyed of the Boston Herald. “I can’t envision myself playing for another team. However that shakes out, I know at the end of the day, the ball was in my court, and this is the dream that I wanted to fulfill, to be a Patriot.”
Uche had 3.5 sacks last season after posting 11.5 in 2022 and attributed that drop to “different roles that the team asked me to do” over the course of the year. If his role leads to a spike in sacks, Uche might find even better offers in New England and elsewhere come next year.
The Vikings signed punter Seth Vernon on Tuesday, according to the NFL’s transactions report.
Vernon went undrafted in 2022 before signing with the Falcons as an undrafted free agent out of Portland State.
The Falcons cut Vernon before the start of the season.
He has never punted in a regular-season game.
In 2021 at Portland State, Vernon’s 44.9 yards per punt average ranked sixth in the nation.
He joins Ryan Wright at the position for the Vikings.
The Broncos traded for Zach Wilson earlier this month before drafting Oregon quarterback Bo Nix in the first round. Wilson will get a chance in Denver this season, but he could be moving on after this season.
The Broncos are declining the fifth-year option on Wilson’s contract, Chris Tomasson of the Denver Gazette reports.
That was expected, given the option would pay Wilson a guaranteed $22.4 million for 2025. The Broncos already exercised the fifth-year option on cornerback Pat Surtain II for 2025, guaranteeing him $19.8 million.
Wilson, the No. 2 pick of the 2021 draft, was traded by the Jets for a sixth-round pick (No. 203) in exchange for the quarterback and a seventh-round pick (No. 256). The teams will split Wilson’s guaranteed salary for 2024 when he’s due to make $5.5 million.
Wilson, 24, completed 57 percent of his throws for 6,293 yards with 23 touchdowns and 25 interceptions in 34 games with the Jets.
The Broncos’ quarterbacks room now has Wilson, Nix, Jarrett Stidham and Ben DiNucci in it as the team moves on from the ill-fated Russell Wilson era.