Category: 2023 NFL Free Agency

Report: Texans sign former Raiders LB Denzel Perryman to one-year contract

The Houston Texans have signed former Las Vegas Raiders linebacker Denzel Perryman to a one-year contract.

The Houston Texans have fortified their linebacking corps.

According to Aaron Wilson from KPRC-TV, the Texans have signed former Las Vegas Raiders linebacker Denzel Perryman to a one-year contract.

Perryman, who stands 5-11, 240 pounds, spent two seasons with the AFC West club, earning a Pro Bowl in 2021. The San Diego Chargers 2015 second-round pick generated 156 combined tackles, 19 tackles for loss, eight quarterback hits, 1.0 sack, two interceptions, five pass breakups, a forced fumble, and two fumble recoveries through 27 games, 26 of which he started.

The Texans’ linebacking corps already has a stable veteran presence with Christian Kirksey, who is on the final year of his contract, second-year Christian Harris, and third-year Garret Wallow, who is recovering from offseason surgery.

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Texans still the worst team in the AFC after first wave of free agency

Despite the moves the Houston Texans made during the first wave of free agency, they are still the worst in the AFC according to CBS Sports.

The Houston Texans can’t win for losing.

Despite the Texans trading for guard Shaq Mason, adding tight end Dalton Schultz, acquiring receiver Robert Woods, giving Dameon Pierce support with running back Devin Singletary, and having all of their roster roles filled save for quarterback, edge defender, and receiver, Houston is still at the bottom of the barrel.

According to Jordan Dajani from CBS Sports, the Texans are the 16th-best team in the 16-team AFC.

Key addition: TE Dalton Schultz

The Texans have been rebuilding for a couple seasons now, but 2023 is where the real rebuild begins. Nick Caserio made a good hire in head coach DeMeco Ryans, who has enjoyed a meteoric rise up the coaching ranks, and he’s brought a couple former San Francisco 49ers with him to H-Town in safety Jimmie Ward and defensive tackle Hassan Ridgeway. The Robert Woods signing was confusing. At least, giving him over $15 million following his worst NFL season was confusing. Losing Brandin Cooks doesn’t exactly help either, but Dalton Schultz is a nice addition at tight end. 

The Texans still have plenty of holes to fill, but all that matters is hitting on their new franchise quarterback at No. 2 overall in next month’s draft.

Cooks and Woods were a wash. Cooks generated 57 catches for 699 yards and three touchdowns through 13 games. Meanwhile Woods had 53 passes for 527 yards and two touchdowns through 17 games. Woods produced his totals despite the Tennessee Titans having better receivers. Cooks had his tally and was the Texans’ best receiver.

Across the rest of the AFC South, the Indianapolis Colts were considered the 15th-best team. The Tennessee Titans were the 13th-best team in the conference. The reigning division champion Jacksonville Jaguars were ranked the No. 6 team in the AFC.

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How the Detroit Lions restored the roar with their new secondary in free agency

With free agents Cameron Sutton, Emmanuel Moseley, and C.J. Gardner-Johnson, the Detroit Lions have completely remade a secondary in desperate need.

In 2022, the Detroit Lions finished with a 9-8 record, just missing the playoffs right at the end of the regular season, and compiling the franchise’s first winning record since 2017. The Lions and head coach Dan Campbell did so despite a defense that ranked 28th in Defensive DVOA, and a secondary that allowed opposing offenses to put up some pretty garish numbers. The Lions’ cornerbacks and safeties allowed 171 completions on 295 attempts for 2,657 yards, 17 touchdowns, eight interceptions, and an opponent passer rating of 95.8, which was the fourth-worst in the NFL behind only the Titans, Chiefs, and Panthers. Detroit’s EPA allowed of 28.18 among their secondary was also the NFL’s fourth-worst, behind the Raiders, Bears, and Falcons, and their Positive Play Rate allowed of 47.1% was the NFL’s sixth-worst.

Campbell and general manager Brad Holmes knew that changes needed to be made if the Lions were to take a major step forward in 2023, and with two picks (sixth and 19th) in the first round of the upcoming draft, most everybody has auto-slotting the best available cornerback prospect to Detroit with that first pick in their mock drafts. That may still happen when mocks become reality in the last week of April, but the Lions’ braintrust also knew that they didn’t want to wait until the draft to start sorting it all out — free agency would have to provide more than one piece of the puzzle.

To the credit of that braintrust, the Lions went all-out and got three new members of their secondary; all potential impact players on team-friendly deals.

  • Cornerback Cameron Sutton signed a three-year, $33 million contract with $22.5 million guaranteed;
  • Cornerback Emmanuel Moseley signed a one-year, $6 million deal with $2 million guaranteed; and
  • Safety/slot defender C.J. Gardner-Johnson signed a one-year, $8 million contract.

And with that, the Lions completely remade their secondary for less than other teams might spend on one really good cornerback. It was a series of masterstrokes by Holmes and his staff, and here’s why these deals will matter so much for defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn and his staff.

4-Down Territory: Free-agency winners and losers, best and worst deals

NFL free agency is mostly in the rearview, so it’s time for Kyle Madson and Doug Farrar to review the winners and losers in “4-Down Territory!”

Now that the major part of the 2023 NFL free agency cycle is past, it’s time to look at which teams accomplished the most with their transactions, and which teams still have a lot of work to do. 4-Down Territory hosts Kyle Madson of Niners Wire and Touchdown Wire’s Doug Farrar get into it at the team level, and also the individual player level, with their winners and losers from free agency!

00:00 – Which team did the most to bolster their prospects for the 2023 season?

04:40 – Which team put itself on the wrong track?

09:38 – Which deal was the best in terms of player quality, team need, and price?

13:55 – Which of these deals was the worst in all these categories?

You can watch this week’s episode of “4-Down Territory” right here:

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Texans sign former Bills running back Devin Singletary

The Houston Texans have signed former Buffalo Bills running back Devin Singletary.

The Houston Texans are adding another running back to give Dameon Pierce some assistance carrying the load.

According to Adam Schefter from ESPN, the Texans are signing former Buffalo Bills running back Devin Singletary to a one-year contract worth $3.75 million.

Singletary, 25, generated 672 carries for 3,151 yards and 16 touchdowns along with 145 catches for 971 yards and four touchdowns through 61 games, 56 of which he started.

The Bills drafted Singletary with their third-round pick from Florida Atlantic in 2019. The 5-7, 203-pounder never had a 1,000-yard season rushing with Buffalo, although he did crest the 1,000-yard mark in scrimmage yards in each of the past two seasons.

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Report: Texans sign former Cowboys TE Dalton Schultz

The Houston Texans have signed former Dallas Cowboys tight end Dalton Schultz to a one-year contract.

The Houston Texans let Jordan Akins get away to the Cleveland Browns, and O.J. Howard had a visit with the Las Vegas Raiders.

With the Texans a week into free agency, they developed a need a tight end, but it appears Houston will plug that hole.

According to Aaron Wilson from KPRC-TV, the Texans are signing former Dallas Cowboys tight end Dalton Schultz to a one-year contract worth $9 million.

Schultz played 75 games for Dallas since 2018, starting in 51 of them. The former 2018 fourth-rounder from Stanford caught 211 passes for 2,122 yards and 17 touchdowns.

The past two seasons were stellar campaigns for Schultz as he won the starting tight end job. Schultz caught 78 passes for 808 yards and eight touchdowns in 2021 and then followed up with 57 catches for 577 yards and five touchdowns.

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Report: Former Steelers WR Steven Sims visiting Texans

The Houston Texans are bringing in former Pittsburgh Steelers receiver Steven Sims for a visit.

The Houston Texans are looking for a way to bolster their receiving corps.

According to Aaron Wilson from KPRC-TV, the Texans are bringing in former Pittsburgh Steelers receiver Steven Sims for a visit.

Sims played in just one game for the Steelers in 2021. Last year, Sims contributed more with 14 catches for 104 yards through 12 games, two of which he started.

The Steelers used Sims more for offensive snaps at 284, but he did log 102 snaps on special teams, which would mean Texans special teams coordinator Frank Ross would have some utility for Sims, too.

The former Travis High School product averaged 25.5 yards per kickoff return with the Steelers last season along with 5.5 yards per punt return.

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Report: Former Texans TE O.J. Howard visiting the Raiders

Former Houston Texans tight end O.J. Howard is visiting with the Las Vegas Raiders.

O.J. Howard is testing the market.

According to Aaron Wilson from KPRC-TV, the former Houston Texans tight end is visiting with the Las Vegas Raiders.

Howard signed with the Texans on Sept. 2, 2022, to provide depth following Houston’s finalizing of their 53-man roster. Tight end Antony Auclair was placed on injured reserve, and Howard gave the Texans some flexibility at the position behind second-year Brevin Jordan, rookie Teagan Quitoriano, and Jordan Akins.

Howard caught 10 passes for 145 yards and two touchdowns in his 13 games with the Texans, 10 of which he started. The former Tampa Bay Buccaneers 2017 first-round pick had two catches for 38 yards and two touchdowns in Week 1 against the Indianapolis Colts, but never exceeded that production throughout the rest of the season.

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Post-free agency mock draft: Three-round projections with multiple QB-related trades

Now that free agency has died down, here’s how the first three rounds of the 2023 NFL draft might look in the changed landscape.

Once free agency frenzy has died down in any new league year, it’s fun and necessary to put our minds back in full draft mode, and see how all the transactions might have affected the first round and beyond. Of course, the biggest potential story of the league year so far — Aaron Rodgers’ continued star turn in “Survivor: Green Bay” has not resolved itself yet, and since we’re all pretty much sick of it, I’ll make this short.

For the purposes of this mock draft, the Packers eat enough of Rodgers’ remaining contract to get the first-round pick they want in return. That would be the 13th overall pick, which the Jets currently hold. There, done.

That’s the big trade involving a quarterback in this mock draft if we’re not counting the ridiculous haul the Seahawks got in the Russell Wilson heist, which now starts to bear fruit. Or, the trade the Panthers made with the Bears to go up to the first overall pick. In this case, we also have the Buccaneers moving up a bit with the aforementioned Packers to get their Tom Brady replacement, though it may take a year or two for this particular quarterback to be NFL-ready.

With all that out of the way, here’s how the first three rounds of the 2023 NFL draft might look in the post-free agency landscape.

(Note: The Miami Dolphins, who would have had the 21st overall pick, forfeited that pick as punishment from the NFL for tampering).

(All advanced metrics courtesy of Pro Football Focus, Sports Info Solutions, and Football Outsiders unless otherwise indicated). 

Browns sign former Texans tight end Jordan Akins

The Cleveland Browns have signed former Houston Texans tight end Jordan Akins, who helped beat the Indianapolis Colts in Week 18.

The Cleveland Browns have signed the tight end who was responsible for the Houston Texans losing the No. 1 overall pick in the 2023 NFL draft.

The Browns signed Jordan Akins to a two-year contract worth $5.2 million on Friday.

Akins caught a desperation fourth-and-20 pass from quarterback Davis Mills to score a 28-yard touchdown to pull the Texans within one point with 50 seconds to go in Week 18 at Lucas Oil Stadium. Houston beat the Indianapolis Colts when Akins also caught the ensuing two-point conversion to push the Texans ahead 32-31. As a result of the win, and the Chicago Bears losing to the Minnesota Vikings, the Texans weren’t able to secure the top pick in this year’s draft.

The former 2018 third-rounder from Central Florida had a career year with 37 catches for 495 yards and five touchdowns through 15 games, three of which he started. Akins’ efforts made him the first Houston tight end since C.J. Fiedorowicz in 2016 to log 425 receiving yards and three touchdowns in a season.

Then-tight ends coach Ben Berbenich praised Akins on Dec. 29, 2022, for his ability to take over the tight end role despite returning to the team at the end of preseason when Houston was making its roster moves to finalize its 53 and practice squad.

“Jordan has been great since we got him in the building late in training camp. He’s done everything we’ve asked him. He’s given us a spark. When he has the ball in his hands, Jordan can be a special player.”

Akins did not play the first two games of the season, and was eventually signed to the active roster on Oct. 12.

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