Tag: 2021 Free Agency

Bears fans really want Kyle Long to get a Super Bowl ring with Chiefs

Kyle Long signed a 1-year deal with the Chiefs, and Bears fans all want the same – for Long to finally win a Super Bowl ring.

Quinn Harris-USA TODAY Sports

Former Chicago Bears offensive lineman Kyle Long made the decision to come out of retirement after taking the 2020 season off.

Ultimately, Long didn’t return to Chicago, the team that released him. Which honestly wouldn’t make sense given Long has been open about his feelings about head coach Matt Nagy and how he’d “wait for a new staff” if he were to rejoin the Bears.

But Long did find a home in the NFL that has many Bears fans happy for him, especially considering the suffering he’s endured in Chicago over the years.

Long signed a one-year deal worth up to $5 million with the Kansas City Chiefs, according to Adam Schefter.

The reaction on Twitter was incredibly positive, as most Bears fans reacted the same — they all want Long to get a Super Bowl ring. And they know he has a great chance to do that in Kansas City.

https://twitter.com/MattEurich/status/1372316341743534091?s=20

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Cowboys CB Jourdan Lewis is back on new 3-year deal

The Dallas Cowboys continue to examine key players in the secondary position as they look to bounce back from a disastrous 2020 season. Earlier this week the club re-signed cornerback C.J. Goodwin to a two-year contract. Now, as first reported by …

The Dallas Cowboys continue to examine key players in the secondary position as they look to bounce back from a disastrous 2020 season.

Earlier this week the club re-signed cornerback C.J. Goodwin to a two-year contract. Now, as first reported by his management team, the club has retained the services of  cornerback Jourdan Lewis with a three-year deal. Lewis’ agent broke the news as he announced the signing on Instagram.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CMiefMYMdLd/?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet

The total value of the deal could reach $16.5 million over the three years.

Lewis is a highly adept slot blitzer, checking in with six sacks over the last two seasons and has proven to be relatively durable, playing in 61 of 64 games since joining the club out of the University of Michigan as a third-round pick in 2017. He’s recovered four fumbles and picked off four passes in his career. In addition to his two sacks last season he also collected seven tackles-for-loss (TFLs) on the season, second most on the team behind edge rusher DeMarcus Lawrence.

Lewis had one of his worst seasons in coverage last year though, along with several members of the Dallas defense under the misdirection of coordinator Mike Nolan. According to Pro Football Focus (PFF), the Cowboys CB did not fair well in comparison to other corners.

Lewis has primarily been a slot corner for the last three seasons after starting out playing wide as a rookie in 2017. The new regime of Dan Quinn and Joe Whitt, Jr. see potential or even the possibility of using Lewis in a different role in 2021.

A change in defensive coordinator might be just want Lewis needed after he and Kris Richard didn’t see eye to eye on size requirements and several defenders seemed lost with Nolan’s system and his now-departed secondary coaches.

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Nosebleed Seats Podcast: Cowboys fans feel assaulted by lack of FA moves

Free agency is underway, but someone might want to alert the Cowboys front office.

Should fans of the Dallas Cowboys be upset that the club, despite creating a fair amount of salary cap space, have not been players in the early throes of free agency? On Tuesday’s Nosebleed Seats show on 105.3 The Fan, we discussed the team’s philosophy over the tampering portion of pre-free agency that saw players make their way to new teams across the league, but none to Dallas.

The ones Dallas got to? Not necessarily household names. But free agency is far from over. A discussion on whether or not it’s best to be frugal and never get burned big or to go ham and risk catastrophic results in trying to get glorious victory. Can the defense really improve if the club doesn’t bring in big-name veterans?

Finally, the most important thing that happened on Tuesday was it being National Chip Day. The reigning champ? Tune in.

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Bills re-sign CB Levi Wallace to one-year deal

CB Levi Wallace re-signs with Buffalo Bills.

The Buffalo Bills have re-signed cornerback Levi Wallace to a one-year deal.

The team announced the move on Wednesday at an interesting time. Wallace, 25, was a restricted free agent. Buffalo did not tender him a contract as a RFA and he briefly became an unrestricted free agent.

However, the two sides evidently decided to work together on a deal and it’s for 2021. Financial details for the contract have yet to be announced.

After signing with the Bills as an undrafted rookie out of Alabama in 2018, Wallace eventually got a chance to start across from Tre’Davious White that season and has ever since.

Despite that, the Bills continued to bring in veteran cornerbacks on one-year deals to compete with him the past two years and Wallace will get a chance to start again with this contract. In most cases, he keeps finding ways to get playing time and he has remained a consistent player on the Bills defense.

His competition in 2020, Josh Norman, is an unrestricted free agent… But 2020 rookie Dane Jackson will factor into the battle for playing time at the No. 2 corner spot, per Bills general manager Brandon Beane.

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Cowboys complete ST overhaul, release punter Chris Jones

The Dallas Cowboys now have a completely different kicking regime from early offseason 2020 with the latest ST release.

As free agency officially gets underway, the first move the team makes is a departure, not an arrival. The Dallas Cowboys released long-time punter Chris Jones on Wednesday. Jones’s exit spares the Cowboys a $2 million cap hit as his base salary comes off the books. Jones’s release does leave $500,000 of dead money on the books.

Hunter Niswander had taken over punting duties after Jones was lost for the season due to sports hernia surgery. Prior to that, Jones had punted in all 16 games for seven consecutive seasons. 

Niswander had an average of 44.6 yards per punt attempt while playing in XFL. He performed even more admirably with the Cowboys, in 8 games averaging 47.2 yards per punt. His play down the stretch likely made the decision for the Cowboys easier, seeing that they could save money with beter production.

John Fassel, the special teams coordinator for the Cowboys, has already brought forth a complete change to the unit since being hired. First, Greg  Zuerlein was brought in as kicker replacing Kai Forbath without much competition, then long snapper Jake McQuaide from the Rams agreed to terms earlier this week, replacing 16-year veteran L.P. Ladouceur. The Dallas Cowboys are left with only Niswander, who although he is on the roster isn’t guaranteed not to get competition in the coming months.

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Cowboys complete ST overhaul, release punter Chris Jones

The Dallas Cowboys now have a completely different kicking regime from early offseason 2020 with the latest ST release.

As free agency officially gets underway, the first move the team makes is a departure, not an arrival. The Dallas Cowboys released long-time punter Chris Jones on Wednesday. Jones’s exit spares the Cowboys a $2 million cap hit as his base salary comes off the books. Jones’s release does leave $500,000 of dead money on the books.

Hunter Niswander had taken over punting duties after Jones was lost for the season due to sports hernia surgery. Prior to that, Jones had punted in all 16 games for seven consecutive seasons. 

Niswander had an average of 44.6 yards per punt attempt while playing in XFL. He performed even more admirably with the Cowboys, in 8 games averaging 47.2 yards per punt. His play down the stretch likely made the decision for the Cowboys easier, seeing that they could save money with beter production.

John Fassel, the special teams coordinator for the Cowboys, has already brought forth a complete change to the unit since being hired. First, Greg  Zuerlein was brought in as kicker replacing Kai Forbath without much competition, then long snapper Jake McQuaide from the Rams agreed to terms earlier this week, replacing 16-year veteran L.P. Ladouceur. The Dallas Cowboys are left with only Niswander, who although he is on the roster isn’t guaranteed not to get competition in the coming months.

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Bears are re-signing safety Deon Bush to 1-year deal

The Bears are bringing back veteran safety Deon Bush on a one-year deal to bolster the secondary.

AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack

The Chicago Bears are bringing back another one of their own free agents to bolster the secondary.

According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, the Bears are re-signing safety Deon Bush to a one-year deal. Bush, who has been with Chicago since 2016, has proven to be a reliable safety and special teams contributor, and he should certainly be on the cheaper side.

The Bears re-signed Bush last offseason to compete for the starting safety job opposite Eddie Jackson. Bush ultimately lost out to Tashaun Gipson, who remains a free agent, but he was a dependable reserve and key special teamer. Last season, Bush had 5 total tackles, 1 interception and 2 pass break-ups in 11 games for the Bears.

Bush has been a reliable player for Chicago, and he’s someone that’s familiar with the defense that new defensive coordinator Sean Desai is going to install.

With Bush inking a one-year extension, Chicago has just two safeties under contract for the 2021 season in Jackson and Bush. Gipson remains a free agent, and it wouldn’t be a surprise to see the Bears bring him back and give him and Jackson another season together.

Key reserves DeAndre Houston-Carson and Sherrick McManis also remain free agents, and it wouldn’t be a surprise to see Chicago re-sign both of them.

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2021 NFL free agency: 10 remaining players for Bills to sign

As NFL free agency officially opens, here are 10 players for the Buffalo Bills to still sign.

It might seem like the NFL’s free agency market was already open all week, but it wasn’t. Now it offiically is.

At 4 p.m. on Wednesday, the new “league year” begins. All prior reported signings or trade actually had not happened… they were just “agreed” to. Now all those can go through.

However, even though this deadline has been passed, that doesn’t mean the Bills can’t still continue adding players. The free agency market is still stockpiled with talent for the Bills and general manager Brandon Beane to look at adding.

With that, here are some free agents who have yet to agree to any terms with teams that could interest Buffalo:

As deadline passes, Bills don’t tender CB Levi Wallace

Buffalo Bills don’t tender restricted free agent CB Levi Wallace.

At 4 p.m. ET, the NFL free agent market officially opened. All prior deals announced this week included the phrase “agreed to terms” because nothing is official until that deadline.

While unrestricted free agency dominates all at this time of the year, it’s important to keep tabs on restricted free agents. RFAs, if not tendered a contract, become unrestricted free agents.

As of now, this is the case with cornerback Levi Wallace.

The third-year pro was not tendered by the Bills. Earlier on Wednesday, the team announced that offensive lineman and RFA Ike Boettger was. Now the Bills will have an opportunity to match any contract that is sent Boettger’s way.

The same won’t be said for Wallace, however, the two sides can still continue to potentially work out a deal.

Along with Wallace, Josh Norman, who rotated with Wallace at the No. 2 cornerback spot in 2020, is also a free agent now. Wallace is also not alone in changing from an RFA to UFA as punter Corey Bojorquez is free to sign with any team, as well. However, after the Bills signed punter Matt Haack on Tuesday, that was expected.

Stay tuned to Bills Wire for the latest update on Wallace and all free agent happenings in Buffalo.

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Buffalo Bills tender RFA Ike Boettger

OL Ike Boettger re-signed by Buffalo Bills to tender.

The Buffalo Bills have tendered restricted free agent offensive lineman Ike Boettger a contract on Wednesday. The team announced the move about 90 minutes before he was slated to become an unrestricted free agent when the market officially opens at 4 p.m.

Boettger, 26, started in seven games for the Bills at left guard in 2020, along with all three playoff games. Pro Football Focus graded him a 65.3 overall, good for their 36th best guard in the league last year.

Boettger signed with the Bills in 2018 as an undrafted rookie out of Iowa. He briefly was signed by the Kansas City Chiefs that same season when the Bills cut him, however, Buffalo got him back by the same means later thatyear.

According to The Athletic’s Joe Buscaglia, the Bills tendered Boettger the first right of refusal offer. That cost is $2.133 million and if another team decided to sign Boettger to a contract, Buffalo has an opportunity to match that deal. If the Bills were to lose him, they would not receive and draft pick compensation with this tender, though.

Boettger could see a chance to earn a starting spot via a training camp battle in 2021. The likely candidate he’d battle against is Cody Ford, who ended his 2020 season on the team’s injured reserve list.

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