Tag: new contract

BREAKING: Zack Martin to end holdout, reaches new deal with Cowboys

From @ToddBrock24f7: The 8-time Pro Bowler and the club reportedly reached a deal that will pay him over $18 million, fully guaranteed, in both 2023 and 2024.

The Cowboys and right guard Zack Martin have agreed to terms on a reworked contract that will pay him $18 million-plus in 2023 and 2024, with both years full guaranteed.

The news was first reported Monday afternoon by ESPN NFL insider Adam Schefter. Martin himself confirmed via social media that his holdout, which hit 21 days on Monday, is ending.

“Back to Work,” the former first-round draft pick posted.

Martin, 32, lost $1 million in fines by not reporting to Cowboys training camp in Oxnard, unhappy with a contract that was set to pay the eight-time Pro Bowler just $13.5 million this year and $14 million next year. Those figure ranked well below the salaries of several other guards around the league who are not nearly as decorated or dominant.

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Some of Martin’s teammates may have suspected that No. 70 would be reporting soon.

After Monday’s walkthrough practice. defensive end DeMarcus Lawrence was asked if he found it strange to be at camp without Martin, who was in his draft class of 2014.

“Yes and no,” Lawrence replied, per ESPN’s Todd Archer. “A lot of my training camps, I’ve been on the sideline, so I haven’t been able to be in action like I was this year. But I know what’s up, man. Zack’s going to be OK. The Cowboys [are] going to be OK. And I’ll see him soon.”

Real soon, it sounds like, much to the delight of Cowboys Nation.

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WATCH: Geno Smith joins ‘NFL Total Access’ to discuss new deal with Seahawks

Seattle Seahawks quarterback Geno Smith appeared on “NFL Total Access” to discuss his new $105M deal keeping him in the Emerald City.

Seattle Seahawks quarterback Geno Smith appeared on “NFL Total Access” to discuss his new $105M deal keeping him in the Emerald City.

You can watch the clip below.

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Seahawks QB Geno Smith hopes his story is an ‘inspiration to everyone’

Seahawks QB Geno Smith was rewarded with a three-year deal to stay in Seattle and hopes his NFL story and journey are inspirational.

Seahawks quarterback Geno Smith finally got what he deserved on Thursday when he officially signed his new three-year deal keeping him in Seattle.

“I wanted to stay here,” Smith said as he sat smiling between coach Pete Carroll and John Schneider at the Virginia Mason Athletic Center. “I was hoping we could get something done quickly. I didn’t want to have to test the free agent market. Obviously, if I had to then I had to, but I think everyone did a great job at making this work, and now it’s about having it pay off in the future.”

Smith did everything in his power to get to where he is now – back in a starting position. He trusted himself and the organization to do the right thing, rewarding him with a new deal that recognized how far he’s come.

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“I had no doubts, honestly,” Smith said. “I mean, I just kept working, man. And I would always tell myself, ‘Hey, man, if I never got the opportunity, at least I worked for it. At least I put everything I had, and I can leave this game with no regrets.’ I think God kind of shined down on me. He saw me working and gave me (the) opportunity.”

Now it’s Smith’s turn to return the favor.

“Hopefully it’s an inspiration to everyone just to continue to believe in yourself, to work hard, to never waver in your confidence, and then to be opportunistic,” he said. “When you get an opportunity, you’ve got to run with it.

“So hopefully everyone can see that when they see me.”

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New quarterback deals reset standard for Chargers’ extension of Justin Herbert

The contracts divvied out to quarterbacks this week have virtually guaranteed Justin Herbert an eye-watering payday on his next contract.

With the offseason in full swing and free agency set to start, two quarterback contracts finalized this week could set the market for the Chargers’ future negotiations with Justin Herbert. Herbert is entering his fourth season under center in Los Angeles and will be due for a massive payday.

The Saints’ signing of Derek Carr earlier this week sent shockwaves around the league. And the Giants’ decision to give Daniel Jones more than $80 million in guaranteed money set a new standard for what quarterbacks can expect to make.

Herbert’s youth will factor into the length and total dollar amount of his new contract, and negotiations could get tense as the Chargers will almost certainly want to keep their franchise quarterback in Los Angeles for the better part of a decade on his second deal.

With the market’s volatility and seemingly parabolic rise in average pay per year, the Chargers may be forced to resort to the franchise tag when dealing with Herbert and could deploy a strategy similar to that of the Ravens in their negotiations with former MVP Lamar Jackson.

Baltimore placed a non-exclusive franchise tag on Jackson, paving the way for other teams to set his market while Baltimore has the right of first refusal and the ability to match any contract offered to the 26-year-old.

Los Angeles’ salary cap situation will need to be rectified before they can give Herbert a second contract. Given the utter lack of flexibility, the Chargers may be resigned to using the fifth-year option to keep Herbert under center in powder blue and sunshine gold in 2024.

5 QBs, including Geno Smith make top list of best offensive free agents

Five quarterbacks, including Seattle Seahawks Geno Smith, round out the top five potentially available offensive free agents in 2023.

With the start of free agency and the new league year now just a month away, it’s time to take a good, hard look at who’s out there for the taking.

Jared Dubin over at CBS Sports ranked the top 25 potential offensive free agents and the first five players are all quarterbacks: Ravens Lamar Jackson, Giants Daniel Jones, former Raiders Derek Carr, 49ers Jimmy Garaoppolo and No. 5 . . . Seahawks QB Geno Smith.

“The top of the free-agent market is all about the quarterback position,” Dubin writes. “Former MVP Lamar Jackson is far and away the best player available … you know, if he becomes available.”

Dubin believes that the top two on the list – Jackson and Jones – could be tag candidates, leaving Carr and Garoppolo as the best remaining QB options.

“Geno Smith seems likely to come to some sort of medium-term deal to remain in Seattle, even if the Seahawks don’t necessarily go all-in on him as their quarterback of the future,” Dubin asserts, and he’s correct.

Seattle likely will, and should, find a way to keep Smith around since he’s earned another shot fair and square and it shouldn’t break the bank.

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Entering 9th season, Seahawks safety Quandre Diggs feeling ‘just right’

Now entering his ninth year in the NFL, Seahawks safety Quandre Diggs is feeling “just right” after his leg injury and contract extension.

Seattle Seahawks safety Quandre Diggs had a brutal finish to his season last year, dislocating his ankle and breaking his fibula in Week 18 against the Arizona Cardinals. The seasoned veteran has managed an impressive recovery amongst immense pressure to return to camp healthy.

“I am just right,” Diggs told reporters last week. “I am just where God wants me to be and for me it is important for me to get out here and be out here with my teammates as much as I can, so for me I am just taking it one day at a time and for me just being blessed and living in the moment for the most part. I got a beautiful family and getting a beautiful opportunity to come out here and be around the guys and be back with my coaches, so it’s really dope.”

Diggs signed a contract extension with the Seahawks in March, keeping him in Seattle for the next three seasons. Now entering his ninth year in the NFL, he isn’t taking his recovery or his contract for granted.

“You can always feel settled, but you can never get comfortable,” Diggs explained. “So for me I’m happy to be here for another three years and at the end of the day you know I still got work to do and still got stuff to prove, so for me you can never just think you are settled in somewhere and think everything is fine and dandy because it’s a business at the end of the day.”

Diggs and the rest of the Seahawks return to the practice field on Monday afternoon.

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Report: WR Michael Gallup to re-sign with Cowboys on $62.5M deal

Gallup, entering his fifth year, will sign a five-year contract keeping him in Dallas alongside CeeDee Lamb. | From @ToddBrock24f7

Life moves pretty fast in the NFL. The Cowboys’ wide receiver room gave a textbook example over the 2021 season, and it’s culminated in two blockbuster moves over the weekend.

On the day after trading Amari Cooper away to Cleveland, the team will be re-signing Michael Gallup, NFL insider Adam Schefter has reported. Entering his fifth year as a pro, Gallup will ink a five-year deal worth $62.5 million instead of becoming a free agent.

At the beginning of the season, it looked as though it would be the other way around. Cooper had a brilliant Week 1 versus Tampa Bay; Gallup got hurt during the game, bringing an uncertain wrinkle to what was supposed to be a contract year for him. Many Cowboys observers had already assumed Gallup would be gone in free agency, suddenly too expensive for Dallas to keep.

But Gallup missed seven games with that calf injury and then tore an ACL in Week 17. His market woefully limited, he had improbably became a potential bargain in a locker room where $20 million man Cooper had managed to wear out his welcome by season’s end.

Now Cooper will be a Brown, and 26-year-old Gallup will be earning $12.5 million per year while staying in Dallas alongside CeeDee Lamb.

The Cowboys are reportedly confident that Gallup is recovering well from his February knee surgery; they expect him to be ready for the start of a 2022 season that he will be now paid handsomely for.

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Report: Rehabbing WR Michael Gallup could land new Cowboys deal ‘north of $10M per season’

The Cowboys feel ‘confident’ enough about Gallup’s ACL recovery that they’ll sign him before free agency, according to one NFL insider. | From @ToddBrock24f7

The Cowboys have several irons in the proverbial fire right now, trying to get multiple pieces of business done in fairly short order as the franchise tag deadline, new league year, free agency, and draft all loom in the very near future.

One of those irons is wide receiver Michael Gallup. After news on Friday that Gallup and the Cowboys front office were “close” on a new deal that would keep the 26-year-old in Dallas, NFL insider Mike Garofalo reported on Monday that an agreement is likely sometime this week. He also revealed that Gallup’s recovery from knee surgery just one month ago appears to be on-schedule enough to encourage the Cowboys front office to pursue a new long-term pact with the Colorado State product.

The deal could be a five-year contract “north of ten million dollars per season,” Garofalo said on NFL Network. And that, of course, will have ripple effects on the other moving pieces that make up the Cowboys’ current financial puzzle.

It was believed early in the 2021 season that it would be Gallup’s last in Dallas, that he’d put on enough of a show during the season to earn himself a massive payday elsewhere for 2022 as the Cowboys moved forward with CeeDee Lamb and Amari Cooper.

Things changed on opening night when Gallup was lost with a calf injury that kept him out for seven games. He returned in Week 10, but then tore his ACL making a touchdown grab versus Arizona in Week 17.

Gallup didn’t have surgery to repair the ligament for another five weeks, a waiting tactic often used to facilitate a speedier rehab by allowing swelling to go down before the procedure.

According to Garofalo, the Cowboys “are confident that the ACL tear that he suffered was a clean one, so they believe medically, he is going to be okay.”

Team officials said even before Gallup’s surgery that they expected him to be ready for the start of the 2022 season. If the two sides can now come to terms on the finer points of a contract, Gallup will not hit free agency on March 16 and remain with the club.

Now it is Cooper who is expected to have a new home next season. After a year in which the veteran didn’t perform up to expectations and seemed to ruffle some feathers around The Star, the Cowboys appear unwilling to pay him the $20 million he would be owed for another season in Dallas.

Garofalo believes the organization could do the deal with Gallup and also re-sign impending free agent receiver Cedrick Wilson “for less than what you were supposed to pay Amari Cooper on that non-guaranteed money.”

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Quandre Diggs could be the 1 free agent Seahawks must keep on roster

Free safety Quandre Diggs could be the one free agent the Seattle Seahawks must keep on their roster heading into the new league year.

The start of the new league year and NFL free agency kick off in just under a month and analysts and teams are cramming to put together their lists of the best available players.

Over at NFL.com, senior analyst Gil Brandt took a look at every team and picked one potential free agent each club needs to keep on its roster. For the Seahawks, it’s free safety Quandre Diggs.

“If Russell Wilson stays in Seattle, Pete Carroll and John Schneider will be under pressure to produce a winning roster after a disappointing 7-10 finish,” Brandt starts. “Bringing Diggs back would be one of the more straightforward moves they could make in that effort. Since being traded to Seattle in 2019, Diggs has piled up 13 interceptions and 20 passes defensed.”

“There are multiple defensive backs hitting the market, and an argument could be made for inking cornerback D.J. Reed, who broke out in his first season as a full-time starter in Year 4 and bested Diggs in catch rate over expectation (-11.9 for Reed, -0.3% for Diggs),” Brandt continues. “But if I had to choose, I’d go with the more proven Diggs, even with the caveat that he’s coming off a broken fibula and dislocated ankle suffered in Week 18.”

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Browns rework Olivier Vernon’s contract

Vernon will now get $11 million in guaranteed money and will be a free agent in 2021

The Cleveland Browns and veteran EDGE Olivier Vernon have agreed to restructure Vernon’s contract.

Per ESPN’s Field Yates, Vernon will receive $11 million in guaranteed compensation for 2020, including a $4 million signing bonus and a new salary of $6.75 million. Previously, Vernon was on the books for $15.2 million, but none of that figure was guaranteed.

The team also included a no-tag clause in the new deal that will guarantee that Vernon, 29, will become an unrestricted free agent following the season.

Vernon notched 29 tackles and 3.5 sacks in his first season with the Browns after being acquired in a trade from the New York Giants. He missed six games with injury, a recurring theme for Vernon over the last few seasons.

The move, coupled with the off-season addition of Adrian Clayborn, effectively closes the door on the Browns’ well-documented pursuit of free agent Jadeveon Clowney.