AROUND THE NFL
Bills sign Bengals backup A.J. McCarron to free-agent deal ... Patriots lose Solder to Giants ... New Titans cornerback Butler talks about Super Bowl benching
After all those NFL trades and free-agency deals of the past few weeks and days finally became official Wednesday afternoon, with the start of the new league year, the news kept flowing.
And not just about prominent New England Patriots bolting left, right and centre.
The Buffalo Bills agreed to terms Wednesday night with a second-tier free-agent quarterback, A.J. McCarron.
The 27-year-old from the University of Alabama has backed up Andy Dalton on the Cincinnati Bengals for his first four NFL seasons. McCarron has three pro starts to his credit, all in 2015; he won two, and by that season’s end completed 66% of his throws for six touchdowns against two interceptions.
But McCarron did not throw a pass in either 2014 or 2016, and in mop-up duty this past season he completed 7-of-14 for 66 yards and no TDs or picks. McCarron joins Nathan
Peterman as Buffalo’s only QBs under contract.
The Bills are expected to try to move up further from No. 12 in the first round of next month’s NFL draft, in order to select one of four or five phenom quarterback prospects, which include USC’s Sam Darnold and Wyoming’s Josh Allen.
The NFL’s biggest QB moves, agreed to Tuesday, became official Wednesday: Kirk Cousins to Minnesota, Case Keenum to Denver, Sam Bradford to Arizona and Teddy Bridgewater to the New York Jets, with
Drew Brees staying in New Orleans, and Josh McCown remaining with the Jets.
Also on Wednesday, Denver traded Trevor Siemian to Minnesota (to back up Cousins), in a trade filled out by a swap of third-day draft picks. And Chase Daniel left New Orleans for Chicago, to hold Mitchell Trubisky’s sideline tablet. Miami’s Ryan Tannehill — out since December 2016 with knee issues — has agreed to restructure his contract to reportedly lower his 2018 cap hit by $11 million, and make it costlier for the Dolphins to cut him next year.
Easily the most impactful signing on Wednesday — out of dozens of deals agreed to before the 4 p.m. official kickoff to free agency — involved a left tackle, Nate Solder.
A seven-year starter with the New England Patriots, Solder agreed to a fouryear, $62-million deal with the New York Giants.
Solder now is the highest paid O-lineman in the league, with a $15.5-million average salary.
His departure is one of four key player losses suffered by the Patriots this week, along with running back Dion Lewis (to Tennessee), cornerback Malcolm Butler (also to Tennessee) and wideout Danny
Amendola (to Miami). New England’s only acquisition of note by supper-hour Wednesday was huge defensive tackle Danny Shelton, in a trade with Cleveland.
Notable other new contracts agreed to on Wednesday, according to reports:
RB Carlos Hyde, to Cleveland from San Francisco, for $15 million over three years; DE Julius Peppers, to remain with Carolina for one year and $5 million;DE Trent
Murphy, to Buffalo from Washington, for $21 million over three years;LB Demario
Davis, to New Orleans from the New York Jets, for $24 million over three years; LB
Nigel Bradham, to remain with Philadelphia for five years and $40 million; CB
Patrick Robinson, to New Orleans from Philadelphia; DT Beau Allen, to Tampa Bay from Philadelphia;RB Jerick McKinnon, to San Francisco from Minnesota, for $30 million over four years; LB Kareem Martin, to the Giants from Arizona; DL Mo
Wilkerson, to Green Bay from the New York Jets, for one year and $5 million; OG
Josh Kline, to remain with Tennessee; CB D.J. Hayden, to Jacksonville from Oakland; CB Nevin Lawson, to remain with Detroit; CB
DeShawn Shead, to Detroit from Seattle; S Keith Tandy, to remain with Tampa Bay; S T.J. Carrie, to Cleveland from Oakland; TE Lee Smith, to remain with Oakland; WR
Brian Quick, to remain with Washington; C-G Zach Fulton, to Houston from Kansas City; OT Michael Schofield, to remain with the LA Chargers; OT Seantrel Henderson, to Houston from Buffalo; OG Senio Kelemete, to Houston from New Orleans; CB Teddy Williams, to the Giants from Carolina; DL DaQuan Jones and DE David King, both to remain with Tennessee; LB Sam Acho and CB Prince Amukamara, both to remain with Chicago; WR John Grant ,to Baltimore from Washington.
OFFICIALLY DUMPED
Among players cut Wednesday was Miami’s Ndamukong Suh, a move telegraphed Monday but which went down just after the new league year began. Other big names who suffered the same fate: Arizona DB Tyrann Mathieu; Detroit TE Eric Ebron; Baltimore WR Jeremy Maclin; Chicago QB Mike Glennon ,WR Marcus Wheaton, DB Marcus Cooper.
CLASSY BUTLER
Patriots beat reporter Jeff Howe of the Boston Herald reached Malcolm Butler, after he officially became a Tennessee Titan for $61 million over five years, to ask him why in the world he was benched on defence throughout the Super Bowl loss to Philadelphia.
Butler’s answer: “I never got a reason. I feel like this was the reason. I got kind of sick. I went to the hospital. They probably thought I was kind of late on the game plan; I wasn’t as locked in as I should be, and could have been a matchup deal. It could have been anything. “But (head coach) Bill Belichick has been doing this for a very long time. He took a veteran out of Super Bowl XLIX (against the Seahawks) and put in a first-year rookie (Butler), and that turned out right, so you could never question his decision. It didn’t work out right. It didn’t work out the best for me or him or the New England Patriots.
“But I can say he won more than he lost, so it is what it is. I always have love for New England, Bill Belichick, (owner Robert) Kraft, all those guys. Life just goes on.”
EXTRA POINTS
Veteran PK Sebastian
Janikowski, cut by Oakland after 18 seasons, was reportedly set to visit the Los Angeles Chargers ... Cincinnati reportedly was seeking to trade hard-to-block but even-harder-to-control LB Vontaze Burfict ... Oklahoma QB prospect Baker
Mayfield had his pro day on Wednesday, and in a T-shirt and shorts threw near perfectly, as all college quarterbacks always do in such attire, unpressured ... WR
Jordy Nelson, cut Tuesday by Green Bay, reportedly was to visit Oakland. Surely there are other teams coveting his services ... Tweeted J.J.
Watt of the Houston Texans after the Cards cut Mathieu: “Come on over, bro.”