Tag: Gerald Everett

Details of TE Gerald Everett’s contract with Bears

The Bears have agreed to terms with TE Gerald Everett. See the details of his contract here:

The Chicago Bears have agreed to terms with former Los Angeles Chargers tight end Gerald Everett, which marked their second move of free agency.

While Chicago has its TE1 in Cole Kmet, they needed to add some depth at tight end with Robert Tonyan and Marcedes Lewis hitting free agency. Everett comes to the Bears as an established pass-catching tight end.

Details of Everett’s contract have emerged, and the Bears got a nice deal for a TE1 who will serve as a TE2. According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, Everett gets a two-year deal worth 12 million with a maximum value of $14 million that incluides $6.1 million full guaranteed.

Everett has plenty of experience with new Bears offensive coordinator Shane Waldron, as the pair have worked together with the Los Angeles Rams (2017-20) and Seattle Seahawks (2021). He’s spent the past two years with the Chargers, including a career year with Justin Herbert in 2022, where he had 58 receptions for 555 yards and four touchdowns.

Everett is coming to Chicago to serve as a complement to Kmet in the tight end room, and there’s no denying he’s a clear upgrade over Tonyan from last year. Everett gives the Bears a productive move tight end to pair with Kmet in the passing game. With Waldron running things, expect a lot of two tight-end sets featuring Kmet and Everett, giving whichever quarterback is under center plenty of options.

Bears agree to terms with TE Gerald Everett on 2-year deal

The Bears have agreed to terms with TE Gerald Everett.

The Chicago Bears have agreed to terms with former Los Angeles Chargers tight end Gerald Everett, according to ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler.

Everett is signing a two-year deal worth $12 million with a maximum value of $14 million, per ESPN’s Adam Schefter, which includes $6.1 million fully guaranteed.

Everett, a former second-round pick by the Los Angeles Rams, spent the past two years with the Chargers. That included a career year in 2022, where he had 58 receptions for 555 yards and four touchdowns.

Everett worked with new Bears offensive coordinator Shane Waldron with the Rams (2017-20) and Seattle Seahawks (2021).

Everett joins a tight end room featuring starter Cole Kmet, who’s coming off a career year after signing a four-year extension last offseason. He’s a good complement to Kmet as a pass-catching tight end. Kmet and Everett will be featured prominently in Waldron’s offense, as he utilizes a lot of 12-personnel.

This is the second move of free agency for the Bears, who previously agreed to terms with running back D’Andre Swift.

7 free agent tight ends Giants could target to replace Darren Waller

If Darren Waller opts to retire, here are seven free agent tight ends the New York Giants could target as a replacement option.

One year after acquiring tight end Darren Waller via trade with the Las Vegas Raiders, the New York Giants may be forced into replacing him.

Waller told the New York Post on Friday that he’s “still undecided” about his future and could opt to retire.

“I have not made a decision either way,” Waller told the Post.

If Waller does return in 2024, he will be owed a base salary of $10.5 million which accounts for a cap hit of $14 million. If he opts to retire, the Giants will clear $6.2 million in cap space but be left with a dead cap hit of roughly $7.9 million.

Because of Waller’s transparency with the Giants, they have already begun to pour over the names slated to become available in free agency.

With Waller’s future uncertain and a need at the position beyond just 2024, here’s a look at seven free agent tight ends the Giants could consider.

PFF: Current projected contracts for Chargers’ 2024 internal free agents

Brad Spielberger has current contract valuations available for Austin Ekeler, Alohi Gilman and Gerald Everett.

The Chargers will enter March with 27 internal free agents.

Of that group, three of Los Angeles’ players received contract projections from PFF’s Top 200 free agent ranking.

Brad Spielberger has current contract valuations available for Austin Ekeler, Alohi Gilman, and Gerald Everett.

Chargers 2024 offseason position preview: Tight end

Evaluating the Chargers’ tight end room entering the offseason.

Gerald Everett will test the market after two seasons with the Chargers. In his 2022 season, Everett extended his streak of seven straight seasons with an increasing receiving yards total. He was a beacon of consistency, especially when his services were needed most with Keenan Allen and Mike Williams missing in action for long stretches.

In 2023, Everett had 58 receptions for 411 yards. In the grand scheme of things, it wasn’t far off from the same ballpark that his single-season career numbers usually gravitated toward. But it was the lowest yards per reception mark of the veteran tight end’s career at 8.6.

Jim Harbaugh makes tight ends a rather critical focal point of his offensive approach relative to Kellen Moore. As the Chargers gravitate towards a more physical style of offense with him and Greg Roman at the helm, it’s worth seeing where the roster currently stands at the position. Will the team keep Everett? Is it a clean slate start? Could someone like Georgia star Brock Bowers be in play?

In continuing our offseason position preview series, let’s turn to the tight end room entering the offseason.

7 Tight ends the Vikings should pursue in free agency

Do the Minnesota Vikings sign a tight end to fill in for T.J. Hockenson? From Noah Fant to Hunter Henry, these 7 options are intriguing

The Minnesota Vikings are in an interesting position at tight end going into free agency. They theoretically are set with T.J. Hockenson and Josh Oliver as the top two tight ends in the room. However, that is murky for 2024 with the torn ACL suffered on Christmas Eve by Hockenson since he didn’t have surgery to repair the injury until the end of January.

What should the Vikings do at the position? If they plan on redshirting Hockenson, would they end up signing a bridge player to get them through 2024? Do they choose to bring back Johnny Mundt and ride with the three guys in the room?

With how general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah has pursued things so far, a bridge tight end makes a lot of sense. Here are seven different tight ends that could fit the bill and be that bridge player.

Ranking 2024’s top 12 free-agent tight ends

Top tight ends hitting free agency this offseason:

Even after last year’s signing of Hayden Hurst, could the Carolina Panthers be in the market for a new tight end?

If so, here are some of the best that free agency has to offer:

PFF: Chargers ‘can’t afford to lose’ this free agent

PFF named one pending free agent that each team in the NFL “can’t afford” to lose.

Pro Football Focus’ Brad Spielberger revealed one free agent for every team they couldn’t afford to lose and tight end Gerald Everett was their submission for the Chargers.

Here is what Spielberger had to say on why Los Angeles shouldn’t let Everett walk.

The Chargers and their new regime are in for an offseason of major contraction, with so many potential cut or trade candidates. But we’ll get to that later. For now, retaining a solid tight end who has good chemistry with Justin Herbert makes sense.

Everett’s 28 forced missed tackles over the past two seasons are the second most among tight ends, and Herbert was never afraid to look his way in high-leverage moments down in the red zone and on third downs.

Signed two offseasons ago, Everett was a vital piece in the passing game. Everett proved to be reliable with his yards-after-the-catch ability and clutchness on money downs.

Everett finished with career-highs in receptions (55) and receiving yards (555) in his first season with the Chargers. This past season, he still managed to surpass the 50-catch mark.

Everett and Justin Herbert had a solid connection the past two seasons, and it’s worth noting that new offensive coordinator Greg Roman uses a heavy dose of tight ends in his scheme.

The only thing that Everett has going against him is that he doesn’t offer much as a blocker, which Roman likes to have in his tight ends.

If the Chargers elect to let Everett walk, they could upgrade the positional room in the draft with someone like Brock Bowers with the No. 5 overall selection and a later pick.

3 Chargers among Pro Football Focus’ top 150 free agents

PFF dropped their top 150 free agents heading into the 2024 offseason and there are three Chargers on the list.

With a new general manager and head coach soon to be brought in, they will quickly have to figure out which pending free agents will be re-signed.

Set to have 20 pending free agents, the Chargers have three players that made Pro Football Focus’ top 150 free agent rankings.

No. 56: RB Austin Ekeler

Even though he surpassed 1,000 total yards on the year, Ekeler had a disappointing 2023 season. He wasn’t efficient on the ground, averaging a career-low 3.5 yards per carry.

Even though Ekeler will be 29 years old next season, his versatility should still appeal to a handful of NFL teams.

Ekeler pushed for a contract extension and then a trade before the season once it became clear the Chargers didn’t plan to add years to his contract.

The former undrafted free agent has lost some of his top-end speed and acceleration, but he is still shifty over the middle with good start-and-stop ability laterally and a natural pass-catching prowess that rivals any back in the NFL.

No. 83: TE Gerald Everett

The Chargers found a consistent safety net for Justin Herbert to target last year when they acquired Everett in free agency ahead of the 2022 season. He finished with career-highs in receptions (55) and receiving yards (555).

While he didn’t top those numbers this past season, Everett was still a reliable target, and his ability to pick up yards after the catch came in handy. A team looking for a pass-catching tight end could use his services.

Everett earned Justin Herbert’s trust on critical downs and in the red zone over the past two seasons and has forced 28 missed tackles since 2022, the second most among tight ends. Everett does well to plant his foot in the ground on his first step after the catch and then bounce off contact, and he consistently shakes out of arm tackles by continuing to drive his feet.

Everett is more of a check-down and tunnel screen outlet, averaging more than five yards after the catch in five consecutive seasons with an average depth of target around just six yards, but he can make the occasional contested catch — which was particularly on display in 2022 when he made eight contested snags.

No. 137: S Alohi Gilman

Gilman became a starter for the first time in his career and took every bit of his opportunities, amassing career-high numbers in tackles (73), interceptions (2) and forced fumbles (3). He was always around the football to make a play and at only 26, Gilman has plenty of good seasons in him.

4 matchups to watch in Chargers vs. Broncos

Here are a few matchups to keep an eye on in the game.

The Chargers’ extended audition for 2024 continues on Sunday with a matchup against the Broncos, a team that has only recently entered the “looking ahead to next year” tier.

Here are a few matchups to keep an eye on in the game.