Tag: ERFA

Browns bring back TE Pharaoh Brown as exclusive rights free agent

Browns bring back TE Pharaoh Brown as exclusive rights free agent

It was more of a paperwork formality than any great question, but the Cleveland Browns have officially brought back tight end Pharaoh Brown for the 2020 NFL season.

Brown signed his exclusive rights free agent offer extended by the team. As an ERFA, Brown could not negotiate with other teams unless the Browns refused to give him a qualifying offer to remain in Cleveland. The Browns did that, and now the tight end is locked up for another season.

Brown, who turns 26 in May, caught two passes for 27 yards in 2019. He was acquired off the Raiders practice squad in 2018 but never made it to the Browns active roster until last fall. He is a Cleveland native.

Broncos have just one player left to sign a tender

The Broncos have one player remaining to sign his one-year tender.

The Denver Broncos have nearly completed their offseason housekeeping.

Last week, the Broncos signed offensive lineman Elijah Wilkinson and nose tackle Mike Purcell to second-round, $3.259 million tenders. No other teams submitted offer sheets for Wilkinson or Purcell so the players were never in danger of leaving Denver.

The Broncos also signed four exclusive rights free agents to one-year tenders last week: cornerback Shakial Taylor, safety Trey Marshall, wide receiver Tim Patrick and returner Diontae Spencer. As EFRAs, those players were not eligible to negotiate with other teams. They received league-minimum contracts.

After signing Wilkinson, Purcell, Taylor, Marshall, Patrick and Spencer, Denver has just one remaining player left to sign his tender: offensive lineman Jake Rodgers.

Rodgers’ only options are to sign or sit out the season so his singing is likely just a formality. Once signed, Rodgers will become the 79th player on the Broncos’ roster, leaving 11 open spots entering the NFL draft.

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Broncos WR Tim Patrick signs 1-year tender

Broncos wide receiver Tim Patrick is returning to Denver after signing his one-year tender.

Denver Broncos wide receiver Tim Patrick has signed his one-year tender, according to The Athletic’s Nicki Jhabvala.

Patrick (6-4, 212 pounds) signed with the Baltimore Ravens as a college free agent out of Utah following the 2017 NFL draft. After spending OTAs in Baltimore, he was cut and then signed with the San Francisco 49ers.

Patrick failed to make San Francisco’s 53-man roster and signed with Denver’s practice squad two months into his rookie season.

Because he only has two accrued years of experience in the NFL, Patrick became an exclusive rights free agent when his contract expired. As an ERFA, Patrick was not allowed to negotiate with other teams.

After receiving a one-year, league-minimum offer from Denver, Patrick’s options were to sign it or sit out the season. Given that he had no leverage, signing the tender was just a formality for the receiver.

The minimum salary for a second-year player is $750,000.

Patrick has served as a rotational receiver and key special teams contributor over the last two seasons. In 24 games, he has caught 39 passes for 533 yards and one touchdown. He is 26 years old.

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Broncos returner Diontae Spencer signs 1-year tender

Broncos wide receiver/returner Diontae Spencer has signed his one-year tender.

Denver Broncos wide receiver/returner Diontae Spencer has signed his one-year tender, according to the player’s agency, DEC Management.

Because he only has one year of experience in the NFL, Spencer became an exclusive rights free agent when his contract expired. As an ERFA, Spencer was not allowed to negotiate with other teams.

After receiving a one-year, league-minimum offer from Denver, Spencer’s options were to sign it or sit out the season. Given that he had no leverage, signing the tender was just a formality for the returner.

The minimum salary for a second-year player is $675,000.

Spencer had a long road to the NFL that included four years in the Canadian Football League. He went to camp with the Pittsburgh Steelers last summer but failed to make their 53-man roster.

After being cut by the Steelers, Spencer was picked up by the Broncos and quickly claimed kickoff and punt return duties. After averaging 29.1 yards per kickoff return and eight yards per punt return, Spencer was named a Pro Bowl alternate following his first season in the NFL.

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Lions tender Mike Ford, elect to not offer RFA’s J.D. McKissic and Jamie Meder

The Detroit Lions have tendered exclusive right free agent Mike Ford and elected not to offer restricted free agent contracts to J.D. McKissic and Jamie Meder making them unrestricted free agents.

The Detroit Lions have tendered exclusive right free agent corner Mike Ford and elected not to offer restricted free agent contracts to running back J.D. McKissic and defensive lineman Jamie Meder, making them unrestricted free agents.

In addition to Ford, it was already announced that the Lions were also picking up the tender on corner/gunner Dee Virgin, who was also an exclusive rights free agent.

Both Ford and Virgin played key roles on special teams, rotating with undrafted rookie safety C.J. Moore as the primary gunners on special teams. Ford also held down a key reserve role at cornerback and stepped up when his number was called against the Chiefs.

As a tendered exclusive right free agents, Ford and Virgin can only accept a new contract from the Lions, unless the team chooses to release them. And because the Lions hold all the leverage in this negotiation, they will likely only offer them a league minimum contract with no guaranteed money.

The Lions claimed McKissic off of waivers on cut day last September and he played an important role on offense as a change-of-pace/gadget back. The Lions are interested in bringing him back but not at the restricted free agent tender level, which was roughly $2.1 million.

Meder was a late-season addition to an injury-depleted roster and he isn’t expected back at this time.

Report: Lions picking up ERFA tender on Dee Virgin

ESPN’s Michael Rothstein is reporting that the Detroit Lions are picking up exclusive right free agent tender on defensive back/special teams gunner Dee Virgin.

ESPN’s Michael Rothstein is reporting that the Detroit Lions are picking up the exclusive right free agent tender on defensive back/special teams gunner Dee Virgin.

As a tendered exclusive right free agent, Virgin will not be able to enter free agency and can only accept an offer from the Lions — unless they choose to release him.

Because the Lions hold all the leverage in this negotiation, they will likely only offer him a league minimum contract with no guaranteed money, and if Virgin wants to play in the NFL in 2020, he will have to accept the offer.

As one of the Lions starting gunners, this was a no brainer move for the Lions to (likely) retain one of the key members on their special teams. In his 15 games played last season — almost exclusively on special teams — he had 10 tackles and a forced fumble.

The only other player from the Lions 2019 roster that also an exclusive rights free agent is cornerback Mike Ford. We reached out to get an update on Ford’s status, but at this time, there has been no confirmation either way.

Pharaoh Brown among 3 Browns tendered as exclusive rights free agents

Pharaoh Brown, Dontrell Hilliard and KhaDarel Hodge all tendered as ERFAs

The Cleveland Browns have issued qualifying tender offers to three of their exclusive rights free agents. In what’s more of a paperwork formality, the team locked up the trio for 2020. The Browns announced the move in conjunction with issuing a second-round tender offer to restricted free agent RB Kareem Hunt.

Tight end Pharaoh Brown, running back Dontrell Hilliard and wide receiver/special teams ace KhaDarel Hodge were all issued their tender offers prior to the deadline.

Brown caught just two passes in nine games but demonstrated some promise for a larger role. He’s a Cleveland native.

Hilliard and Hodge made their primary contributions on special teams in 2019. They figure to remain fixtures on those units more than they contribute to the base offense.

An Exclusive Rights Free Agent (ERFA) is a player that has less than three accrued seasons in the NFL but an expired contract. They do not have the ability to negotiate deals with other teams.

Report: Chiefs expected to tender OG Andrew Wylie

A former Mack Lee Hill Award winner will be back with the Kansas City Chiefs in 2020 according to a new report.

The Kansas City Chiefs continue their busy Monday ahead of the start of the NFL’s free agency period.

The team has exclusive negotiating rights with four free agents this season. They’ve come to a decision on one of those players, tendering him a contract for the 2020 NFL season. Former starting left guard Andrew Wylie has been tendered a contract according to Yahoo Sports’ Terez Paylor.

Wylie is an exclusive rights free agent for the Chiefs, which means his first contract ended prior to accruing three seasons. To accrue a season, you must spend six games on the roster, injured reserve or the PUP list. If a team tenders a contract to an ERFA, they can’t turn down that contract. Wylie’s tender amount will likely be the lowest amount which was previously $570K, but that number could increase under the new CBA.

It makes a ton of sense to bring Wylie back. He’s an ultimate team player as showcased by his career in Kansas City. He worked his way up to becoming a starter in 2018, filling in for both Laurent Duvernay-Tardif and Cameron Erving at both guard spots. His performance earned the Mack Lee Hill Award as the Chiefs top first-year player.

In 2019, he began the season as the starting left guard, but he was sidelined with injuries multiple times. Wylie didn’t regain his starting role and was relegated to backup duty with Stefen Wisniewski taking over at left guard through Super Bowl LIV.

Overall, Wylie has started 21 games for the Chiefs during his two-year career. Wylie could be in the mix, once again, for a starting spot among the interior offensive linemen in Kansas City for the 2020 season.

Cowboys bring back third FA of offseason

The Cowboys bring back a young OL member to try and keep the party going.

The Dallas Cowboys have a plethora of offseason free agents they need to address, and they come in all shapes, sizes and statuses. QB Dak Prescott, WR Amari Cooper, CB Byron Jones and DE Robert Quinn get all of the headlines, but they are hardly the only decisions the club needs to render verdict on. No, they are just four of 25 unrestricted free agents and the club has another entire subset to decide on before the market opens up on March 18.

Earlier in the month, the team indicated they were going to place tenders on restricted free agents TE Blake Jarwin and QB Cooper Rush. Now, they’ve indicated they are going to bring back reserve lineman Adam Redmond to help ensure continuity among the backups on the offensive line.

Redmond did not dress for a single game for the Cowboys last season, after being active for 10 games in 2018. Thanks to only appearing in four games with Indianapolis  in 2017, he has only accrued two seasons towards free agency, thus his ERFA status. Players with three years towards free agency are restricted free agents (Jarwin, Rush) and players with four years or more are unrestricted free agents (Prescott-4, Cooper-5).

Bringing back Redmond is imperative, as Joe Looney and Xavier Su’a-Filo are the primary interior backups and both are UFAs this offseason. Dallas has third-round pick Conner McGovern in line to be the main swing interior, but they normally like to keep either 3 or 4 OL backups on the roster.

Rosters will expand from 53 to 55 if the new CBA is ratified, so there could be more help in the trenches there as well.

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