Champion Chiefs cutting ties with T Brown, DE Clark GIANTS MAKE DANNY BLUE & GREEN ALL OVER
Jones, signs 4-year, $160M deal with incentives; Barkley tagged
The Kansas City Chiefs are about to have two big holes to fill, along with plenty of salary cap space to do it, as they enter free agency and begin putting together a roster for the defense of their Super Bowl title.
The Chiefs plan to decline using the franchise tag for the second time on left tackle Orlando Brown Jr., and they will release pass rusher Frank Clark, a person familiar with the decisions told The Associated Press on Tuesday.
The person spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because neither of the moves has been officially made.
The Chiefs and Brown’s representatives spent all last season working on a long-term deal for him, but the two sides never could reach an agreement and he wound up earning about $16.6 million on the franchise tag. Brown would have made more under second-year franchise tag rules and the Chiefs were unwilling to go there with his salary.
The deadline for teams to use the franchise tag is later Tuesday. And the Chiefs and Browns could still agree to a long-term deal by Monday, at which point he can begin negotiating with other teams.
JUVENILE SHOT AT MIXON’S HOME
Cincinnati Bengals running back Joe Mixon’s home was swarmed by cops and surrounded by crime scene tape Monday night after a juvenile was shot.
The wounded teenager suffered non-life-threatening injuries and was transported to a nearby hospital, police said Tuesday.
No arrests have been made. Mixon’s connection to the incident remains unclear. His sister, Shalonda, said Mixon was not involved in any way, local NBC affiliate WLWT reported.
The Hamilton County sheriff’s office said only that “part of the crime scene involves a home connected to Bengals player Joe Mixon.”
Cops responded to a shots fired report on the 7900 block of Ayers Rd. in Cincinnati around 8:30 p.m. Monday.
After the juvenile was taken to the hospital, officers searched Mixon’s home and taped off the property.
“Our detectives will continue to review this evidence diligently and conduct interviews,” the sheriff’s office said. “We hope to provide a more comprehensive update to the investigation later this week.”
BUCS RELEASE T SMITH
Veteran left tackle Donovan Smith was released by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in a cost-cutting move.
The durable 2015 second-round draft pick started 124 regular-season and seven playoff games over eight seasons with the Bucs, who entered the offseason more than $58 million dollars over the NFL salary cap.
Releasing Smith, who signed a two-year, $31.8 million contract extension in March 2021, creates about $9.95 million in cap space. Smith, 29, became an immediate starter for the Bucs in 2015 and missed only two games in eight years. He struggled in 2022 after suffering a hyperextended elbow in the season opener
AMAZON’S BLACK FRIDAY GAME WILL BE FREE
Prime Video will give an early Christmas gift to football fans for the coming season: Amazon announced that the Black Friday game on Nov. 24 will be available for all fans to stream for free.
The 2023 season will mark the first time the league has scheduled a game for the day after Thanksgiving. The teams for the 3 p.m. Eastern game will be announced later.
The additional game gives Prime Video 16 regular-season games for the 2023 season, which will air from Weeks 2-17, as well as a preseason exhibition.
The Giants and Daniel Jones just beat the clock.
Jones and the Giants agreed to a long-term contract extension just prior to Tuesday’s 4 p.m. franchise tag deadline, a source said.
That allowed the Giants to place the franchise tag on running back Saquon Barkley to retain his rights and possibly work out a multi-year contract for him, as well.
Jones’ new contract is a four-year, $160 million deal with $35 million more available in additional incentives, according to NFL Network. The contract includes $82 million guaranteed at signing and allowed the Giants to reduce Jones’ 2023 cap hit to around $19 million, per ESPN.
Based on those numbers, Jones received the $40 million annual average salary he desired at minimum. And he has a chance to average up to $48.75 million per year — in the neighborhood of Jones’ initial contract ask — if he earns all of those incentives.
The Giants are paying Jones, 25, more on this contract than they intended to. The negotiations weren’t easy. Jones changed agencies from CAA to Athletes First, which delayed their start until late February.
This went down to the wire.
But two factors prompted this compromise: first, the organization believes in Jones, from ownership on down; and second, GM Joe Schoen did not want to tie up $32.4 million of his salary cap space on a quarterback franchise tag, even though he had it as a last resort.
Failing to re-sign Jones on Tuesday would have sent Barkley into free agency, too.
Instead, the Giants got Jones’ deal done, so they were able to place the non-exclusive franchise tag on Barkley. That gives the team until mid-July to work out a multi-year extension with the running back, or he will play on a one-year, $10.1 million deal.
With Barkley tagged, that $10.1 million now becomes unavailable to the Giants. But they still are operating with around $37 million in space approaching next week’s opening of free agency with other in-house contracts to tackle, led by safety Julian Love.
Jones’ contract rewards the quarterback favorably compared to Derek Carr’s new Saints deal ($37.5 million per year) and Geno Smith’s new Seahawks contract ($25 million per year).
Jones’ $40 million a year average puts him in a three-way tie for seventh at the moment with the Rams’ Matthew Stafford and Cowboys’ Dak Prescott for average annual QB value.
The structure of Jones’ contract on the surface seems to mirror that of the Buffalo Bills’ Josh Allen, which was agreed to when Schoen was the assistant GM in Buffalo. Allen got $43 million per year but can reach $48 million per year with incentives.
Carr, 31, reportedly is getting four-year, $150 million contract from New Orleans with $100 million in guarantees. Smith, 32, reportedly is receiving a threeyear, $75 million contract with $40 million guaranteed at signing and $30 million more available in incentives.
“I said after the season I love this place,” Jones said in a statement. “I’ve really enjoyed my time here & I want to be here. I have great respect for this organization, the Maras, the Tisches, my coaches & teammates. I am happy we were able to come to an agreement.”
The Baltimore Ravens’ Lamar Jackson received the non-exclusive franchise tag on Tuesday, which opens the door to another suitor signing him away and compensating Baltimore with two first-round picks.
Jackson, the Bengals’ Joe Burrow, the Chargers’ Justin Herbert and the Eagles’ Jalen Hurts all are expected to land big paydays soon, perhaps all of them as soon as this offseason.
It’s a bit alarming that the Giants agreed to $40 million plus more with incentives considering Jones’ 3-10 combined record against the Dallas Cowboys and Philadelphia Eagles in the division, coming off a 15-passing touchdown season.
Jones did guide the Giants to their first playoff win since 2016, though, including a road Wild Card playoff win in Minnesota.
In that victory, Jones became the first QB in NFL playoff history to throw for 300-plus yards, throw two touchdown passes and rush for 70-plus rushing yards in the same game.
And co-owner John Mara was a staunch supporter of the 2019 sixth overall pick as his franchise QB going back to Jan. 2022 when Schoen was first hired.
Mara hasn’t done an on-the-record group interview with the local media in almost a calendar year, but he was quoted saying the Giants were “back” after beating the Vikings in this year’s postseason.
So it would have been a major story if two months later, the Giants had not locked Jones up long-term and instead pivoted elsewhere.
The most fascinating part of this saga is that the Giants declined Jones’ fifth-year option last spring, and it was obvious the long-term plan likely was not going to include Jones — unless he forced the Giants’ hand otherwise with an unexpectedly strong season.
Jones stepped up, bet on himself, led the Giants back to the playoffs, then changed agents and held the Giants’ feet to the fire to make sure he received what he was owed.
Now the Schoen-Brian Daboll regime is locked in with Jones as their quarterback, rather than going out to draft their own. It’s time for them to go get Jones a stud No. 1 receiver next. And it’s time for Jones to raise the level of his play even further to justify this.
“We had productive conversations with Daniel & his representatives over the course of the past week or so,” Schoen said in the statement. “We are all pleased that we were able to come to an agreement prior to today’s deadline. This gives us a greater ability to continue to build our roster.”