Patiently biding his time before making a decision on where he’ll play next season, free agent safety Darren Sharper has not ruled out heading back to New Orleans for an encore campaign, but stressed that his choice will be the best fit financially and emotionally for his family.

Sharper discussed his status as a free agent with NFL Network’s Rich Eisen last night, and seemed unconcerned with his health heading into next season, despite having arthroscopic surgery on his knee earlier in the off-season.

Teams likely to be interested in acquiring Sharper include Chicago, Kansas City, Seattle, and Miami.

The Seahawks have finally made some noise in the free agent market.

According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter the Seahawks have added former New England Patriots tight end Chris Baker with a two year, $4.75 million contract to be their primary backup at the position. Baker will also be heavily used in two tight end sets.

Seattle recently lost out on Baker’s former teammate, Ben Watson, who signed a three year, $12 million contract to be the starter in Cleveland.

This move gives the Seahawks more flexibility to utilize two tight end sets that offensive coordinator Jeremy Bates likes to use in his offense. The Seahawks were ranked dead last in the use of two tight end sets in the league in 2009. In contrast, Bates’ offense used more two tight end sets then anyone else in the league when he was the offensive coordinator in Denver.

Baker’s most productive season came in 2007 with the Jets when he had 41 catches for 409 yards, three touchdowns, 10.4 yards per catch average, and 29 first downs.

Read the rest of this entry »

Day five of the 2010 free agency period is almost in the books and while the major signings have already come and gone, today’s crew certainly didn’t disappoint with multiple former Pro Bowl players switching teams this afternoon.

With that in mind, here’s a quick update of all the latest signings to have come across the wire this evening. We’ll be adding them to our ever growing roster on the 2010 Free Agency page later on, so feel free to drop in there a little later if you’re looking for the latest list of free agents to sign.

• DT Jason Ferguson (Dolphins)

• PK Matt Prater (Broncos)

Read the rest of this entry »

In a somewhat surprising move for a Super Bowl team, the Indianapolis Colts parted ways with starting guard Ryan Lilja today.

Lilja has been a fixture on the team with the best regular season record over the last seven years, culminating in two Super Bowl appearances and a victory in 2007.

Lilja had 67 career starts for Indianapolis and also bounced back nicely from missing the entire 2008 season with a bum knee by starting every game in 2009.

He was due a $1.7 million roster bonus, but according to the Indianapolis Star the move was not financially driven. The motive was apparently the Colts’ desire to get bigger along the offensive line, making the 290-pound Lilja a casualty in this shift of strategy.

Read the rest of this entry »

Get ready Bengals fans. The pairing of T.O. and Ochocinco may very well happen after all.

The NFL Network is reporting that he has a visit scheduled this week with the Bengals, according to a league source. The interest seems very mutual, with Terrell Owens and agent Drew Rosenhaus immediately showing they were amenable to disucssing a contract when the Bengals reached out to their camp.

Owens is just one of the top available receivers being looked at by the Bengals. Cincinnati is currently hosting fellow free agent Antonio Bryant (Buccaneers) for a visit.

It is not out of the realm of possibility that they lock up both players, as the Bengals lost their number two and number three receivers from last season, after they released Laveranues Coles, and with the tragic passing of Chris Henry.

There has also been sketchy reports that the Bengals are interested in signing restricted free agent Brandon Marshall (Broncos), although it has been widely speculated the Broncos fanned the flame as a ploy to drive the asking price for him up with the Seattle Seahawks. The signing of either of these two would likely quell that rumor.

In desperate need of an upgrade to their pass defense, the Seahawks have expressed serious interest in signing free agent cornerback Leigh Bodden, according to Seattle Times beat writer Danny O Neil.

Bodden, who is the best available player on the market at his position, is currently visiting with the Houston Texans. The Texans recently lost their top cornerback when Dunta Robinson took a mega six-year, $57 million contract from the Atlanta Falcons, becoming one of the leagues highest paid defenders, despite not recording a single interception in 2009.

Along with the Seahawks and Texans, the Steelers have shown some interest in Bodden, and is 2009 squad, the New England Patriots still remain a definite suitor. Bodden had a resurgent year last season in New England, recording five interceptions, 55 tackles, and a career high 18 passes defensed.

The defending Super Bowl champion New Orleans Saints are hosting their first free agent of the new NFL season.

They are bringing in former Rams defensive end Leonard Little for a visit this Wednesday.

The reason the Saints have not hosted any other free agents is because as the Super Bowl champions they fall under the new provisions of the uncapped year called the “Final Eight Plan”.

This new language restricts what the eight best eight teams from 2009 can do in free agency. The four teams who lost in the divisional round of the playoffs are allowed what is akin to the NBA’s mid level exception. Allowing them to sign one unrestricted free agent for a base salary of $5.5 million or more, in addition to anyone with a $3.7 million salary or less with a 30 percent limit on annual salary growth.

Read the rest of this entry »

Is there anything worse than being back at work on Monday mornings? Especially after a weekend filled to brim with free agent signings, trades, and other assorted football goodies being tossed out like candy… I know I’m not pleased to be back at the grindstone this morning, but I’ll make it through (thank God for coffee).

Not much going on this morning around the league, aside from a few free agent visits that is. That said, we’ve got some links for your reading pleasure, so feel free to hit those up while I douse my innards with liberal doses of caffein. I’ll be back later on with any updates as they break…
Read the rest of this entry »

While many of the players who were considered the prime value of the free agent market have signed with teams (i.e. Julius Peppers, Karlos Dansby, Chester Taylor), the massive amounts of recent releases have added some notable names to the list of players currently looking for jobs. For instance, without the announcing that defensive back Gibril Wilson had been cut from the Dolphins, the value remaining at the Safety position in free agency would be quite low right now.

Here’s a look at some players around the league who were recently removed from their respective organizations and have spiced up the pickings on the free agency market:
Read the rest of this entry »

It’s officially the morning of day two in the NFL free agency period, and things seem to have settled down quite a bit overnight. Yours truly finally got in more than a hour of sleep and now it’s time to hit the ground running once more for the stretch portion of the race where free agent signings will be coming in far less frequently.

In spite of this year being different with the uncapped season changing all the rules, day one of free agency was still chaotic and exciting throughout. As usual, several teams jumped into the fray head first, while others stayed back to watch and wait for things to calm down. There were big time splashes with crazy amounts of money being handed out, and multiple trades between teams going down that moved key players from one side of the country to another.

With that in mind, I wanted to take a look back at all the major signings that came across the wire yesterday and point out a few winners and losers as I saw it. Feel free to leave any thoughts you may have in the comment section, and don’t forget to check us out on Twitter either @NFLNewsRumors

Free agent signings Read the rest of this entry »

One player that isn’t being mentioned all that often in this class of free agents is Pittsburgh running back Willie Parker, who has battled injuries in recent years and could have trouble finding a starting job next season. That said, it seems as though there is at least one team interested in adding the speedy back to their roster, and it’s somewhat of a surprise considering the players they already have at his position.

According to the Jim Flynn at the Pewter Report, Tampa Bay is quietly kicking the tires so to speak on Parker, and could make a play for his services once things die down in the coming weeks. Parker would have to okay a reduced role with the team, as the Bucs are already set at running back with Derrick Ward and Cadillac Williams.

Parker would provide an element that’s been missing from the team though, with his lightning fast speed on the field, and can also be a weapon on third down with his ability to catch the ball out of the backfield.

Fri @ 1:15 am – The deal is official. Five years, $25 million, with $11 million guaranteed.

1:06 am – ESPN’s Adam Schefter is reporting the deal is for five years.

1:00 am – It’s taken a bit longer than usual, but the 2010 free agency period has its first signing, with former Seattle wide receiver Nate Burleson coming to an agreement with the Lions just a few minutes ago.

Scout.com’s Adam Caplan was the first to break the story. We’ll have more on this as we get it, but for now it seems like Detroit is looking to be this year’s go getter with available players, and could potentially add several other key free agents before the dawn arrives.