Earlier this month, the Jets gave receiver Allen Lazard permission to seek a trade. A trade has not yet been found.
As noted by Rich Cimini of ESPN.com, it’s a surprise that Lazard is still on the roster, nearly a week into free agency.
Per a source with knowledge of the situation, there have been “many conversations.” For now, however, nothing has changed.
The guaranteed seasons of Lazard’s four-year deal have ended; he made $22 million in 2023 and 2024 combined. He’s currently on the books for a 2025 base salary of $11 million, with a cap number of $13.184 million. With no early triggers in the third year of his contract (such as a roster bonus or a new guarantee), the Jets can squat on his contractual rights — if they’re willing to carry his cap number.
Even with a post-June 1 release, they’d carry the current cap charge until June 2. So they’re apparently waiting for a trade to materialize, since the cap realities won’t change for another two-and-a-half months.
The most obvious guess is the Jets are waiting to see where quarterback Aaron Rodgers lands. That team would become the most obvious candidate to trade for Lazard, if Rodgers wants Lazard on the team and if the new team is willing to let Rodgers play quasi-G.M. (like the Jets were).
Cutting Lazard after June 1 (or with a post-June 1 designation) would result in a $2.184 million cap charge this year and another $4.368 million in 2026. Cutting him without a post-June 1 designation would cause the full $6.552 million to hit the cap in 2025. He’d then be off the books for 2026.
A trade before June 1 also would result in a $6.552 million cap charge for 2025.
It seems likely that Lazard will be off the roster by the time the 2025 season begins. The only question is whether the Jets will end up cutting him or getting a late-round pick from whichever team signs Rodgers — if that team is willing to take on the salary. Even then, Rodgers’ new team might decide to wait until the Jets inevitably terminate Lazard’s contract.
Another possibility would be for Lazard to take less to stay with the Jets, or whether he’d take less to facilitate a trade.
The possible three-way game of chicken will have greater stakes once the offseason program begins. If Lazard suffers a torn ACL or a ruptured Achilles tendon or any other season-ending injury, the Jets will be on the hook for his full $11 million salary for 2025.
UPDATE 8:09 p.m. ET: The Jets can’t designate Lazard as a post-June 1 cut, because they’ve already used their two per year on Rodgers and linebacker C.J. Mosley. So the options are to trade him, cut him after June 1 (and split the cap charge over two years), or cut him before June 1 (and take the full cap charge in 2025).
The Vikings are moving on from center Garrett Bradbury. The Patriots could be moving him in.
In his weekly look at various Pats-related issues, Mike Reiss of ESPN.com floats the notion that, if Bradbury is released, New England could pursue him. Last year, the Patriots released veteran center David Andrews.
As Reiss explains it, the Patriots wouldn’t assume his $4.9 million salary via trade. So he’d have to be released for the Patriots to be in play for Bradbury.
The 2019 first-round pick became an immediate starter in Minnesota, where he spent six seasons.
Bradbury was supplanted in Minnesota by former Colts center Ryan Kelly, who received $9.235 million fully guaranteed on a two-year, $18 million deal.
Former NFL receiver Paul Flatley, the UPI’s NFL offensive rookie of the year in 1963, has died. He was 84.
A fourth-round pick of the Vikings (he was also drafted by the AFL’s Broncos), Flatley spent five seasons with the Vikings and three with the Falcons.
In 106 games with 96 starts, Flatley caught 305 passes for 4,905 yards and 24 touchdowns. He made it to the Pro Bowl in 1966.
His 51 catches were a rookie record for the Vikings until Randy Moss shattered it in 1998. (In 1976, Sammy White tied the record. All three players were named offensive rookie of the year.
Flatley was traded to the Falcons in 1968, when Norm Van Brocklin (Flatley’s coach in Minnesota) was hired by Atlanta.
We extend our condolences to Flatley’s family, friends, teammates, and colleagues.
In some respects, the posting of an item on PFT operates like a bat signal.
Stymied in our effort through usual channels to get a full breakdown of quarterback Sam Darnold’s three-year, $100.5 million deal with Seattle, we posted a little while ago that the numbers aren’t available.
And, within 20 minutes, the numbers arrived.
Per a source with knowledge of the terms, here’s the rough breakdown:
1. 2025 compensation: $37.5 million, fully guaranteed.
2. 2026 compensation: $27.5 million, $17.5 million of which is guaranteed for injury and becomes fully guaranteed in the week after Super Bowl LX.
3. 2027 compensation: $35.5 million, non-guaranteed.
The deal also includes $2 million per year for individual performance, $2.5 million per year for postseason performance, and $500,000 per year for team performance.
The structure allows the Seahawks to escape the contract after one year and $37.5 million. While it’s generally frowned upon for teams to scrap contracts when the guarantee flips from injury-only to full in the early days of the waiver period, that’s what the Raiders did with Derek Carr in 2023. (The good news for the player is that it gives him a head start on free agency, by more than a month.)
If the Seahawks pick up the second year of the Darnold contract at $27.5 million, it’s a two-year, $65 million deal. That’s an average of $32.5 million per year.
The upside of $5 million per year could push the total value of the contract from $33.5 million per year to $38.5 million per year. Unlocking those payments would entail the kind of player/team performance that would make the Seahawks more than happy to pay every penny.
Bottom line? If Darnold regresses in 2025, he could be released after only one season. And the Seahawks will be out only $37.5 million. With Geno Smith apparently looking for much more than $37.5 million per year on a new deal in Seattle, the strategic decision to pivot from Smith to Darnold makes sense — even if it ultimately puts the Seahawks back in the market for a quarterback a year from now.
Six days ago, the Seahawks struck a deal with quarterback Sam Darnold. He has since signed it.
And the details of the deal remain under lock and key.
Dozens of contracts have been filed and dissected over the past week. To date, Darnold’s hasn’t shown up. Anywhere.
We’ve shaken the trees we usually shake in search of contract details. We shook it again this morning, after sharing with the source the theory that it’s being kept hidden. The source agreed.
It can’t stay hidden forever. The goal might be to delay it past the point at which most will noice.
It was reported as a three-year, $100.5 million deal. The biggest question is whether it has a year-to-year structure, like the three-year, $75 million base deal signed by Geno Smith in 2023.
Depending on the amount of full guarantees in 2026, it’s possible that Darnold is getting one year to show that last year wasn’t an aberration, and that the Seahawks will be able to cut Darnold loose if he reverts to a ghost-seeing pumpkin without Kevin O’Connell, Justin Jefferson, Jordan Addison, and T.J. Hockenson.
If so, that would show he didn’t have a very robust market, with no one presumably offering him multiple years of fully-guaranteed compensation.
Regardless of the specific reason(s), the fact remains that, despite many of the deals being available for analysis and comment, Darnold’s deal remains a question mark.
It can’t stay under wraps forever. Whenever it surfaces, we’ll break it all down.
Three weeks ago, it seemed as if he was in danger of slipping into irrelevance. Now, he’s in the center of the NFL’s spotlight.
And everybody wants to know what Aaron Rodgers will do in 2025.
The four-time NFL MVP participated in the RX3 charity flag football game on Saturday. We’ve searched high and low for any indication that Rodgers had anything to say, to anyone about anything. We’ve seen no quotes from him.
The rumor mill will churn, with or without his input. And we’ve seen reports and contentions aiming in every possible direction: Steelers, Vikings, Giants, and even possibly retirement.
Retirement is a new one. While Rodgers hasn’t addressed the situation personally (and silence contributes to, if not invites, speculation), reports that he wanted to return to the Jets have fueled the presumption that he wants to play this year. And that, if he wanted to play for a chronically misguided franchise like the Jets, he’d play for anyone.
That perception was fueled by the news that, during the week of the Scouting Combine, he reached out to the Giants. This confirmed the notion he wants to play — and reinforced the appearance that there wasn’t widespread interest in his services.
Since then, the Steelers lowballed Justin Fields, the Vikings saw Sam Darnold sign with Seattle, and the Giants have added no one at the position (but for a one-year deal with Tommy DeVito).
On Saturday, TheAthletic.com posted a three-byline article regarding Rodgers’s interest in the Vikings. It was the most definitive link yet between Rodgers and Minnesota.
At the risk of being chastised, privately or publicly, for pointing this out, the Cal connection between Rodgers and one of the three names on the article (Mike Silver) gives the report added credibility, since it’s easy to conclude that Rodgers either supplied information or did nothing to tell Silver that he was way, way, way off.
Per the report, “Rodgers is hoping to sign with the Vikings.” And the Vikings have been “strongly weighing the possibility” of signing Rodgers.
The report claims that Rodgers wants a Darnold-style deal, at $33.5 million per year. That’s on the low end of reasonable for a quarterback like Rodgers, whose agent might be pushing him to expect more. (The agent, of course, gets a percentage of whatever Rodgers receives. Moreover, few agents want their names to be attached to contracts that look objectively subpar.)
The item from TheAthletic.com paints the situation as a simple one. Rodgers is waiting for the Vikings to make a decision, and he has put the Steelers and Giants on hold until he gets an answer from Minnesota.
It’s unclear why Rodgers would want to take the next step on the Brett Favre career arc, especially since joining the Vikings made Favre into Public Enemy No. 1 in Green Bay. Although fences eventually mended, Favre had to endure a game at Lambeau Field in 2009, during which he was loudly booed from start to finish. Rodgers might not be interested in having those who loved him for so long hating him, if only for one season or as little as one day.
The Vikings’ interest in Rodgers is confusing, too. First, Rodgers has shown only flashes of what he was when he won back-to-back MVP awards in 2020 and 2021. The Vikings need to see what they have in J.J. McCarthy. If they make a two-year commitment to the 41-year-old Rodgers, McCarthy could (and perhaps will) request a trade.
Rodgers could be the difference between another “just good enough is just good enough” season for the Vikings and a return to the Super Bowl for the first time in 49 years. Or it could be a siren’s song that crashes Minnesota’s entire season, while also delaying if not destroying the possibility that they have a young franchise quarterback in McCarty.
Ultimately, it comes down to what Rodgers wants, and what the Vikings want. Are the Steelers and Giants leverage for the Vikings? Are the Vikings leverage for the Steelers or Giants? Do the Giants realize, given that they recently hosted Russell Wilson and Joe Flacco, that they’re the team Rodgers is least likely to choose?
We’ll all keep waiting. And until Rodgers speaks for himself on the matter, the reports and rumors and speculation and candid (or staged) beach photos will continue.
The official numbers are in for the new deal to be signed by new Vikings running back Jordan Mason.
He’s getting a two-year deal to replace his one-year, second-round restricted free agency tender of $5.346 million.
Here are the full details, per a source with knowledge of the terms:
1. Signing bonus: $4 million.
2. 2025 offseason workout bonus: $100,000
3. 2025 base salary: $1.23 million, fully guaranteed.
4. 2025 per-game roster bonus: $10,000 per game, up to $170,000.
5. 2026 workout bonus: $100,000.
6. 2025 base salary: $4.73 million, $2 million of which is fully guaranteed.
7. 2026 per-game roster bonus: $10,000 per game, up to $170,000.
The deal also includes incentives for each of the two seasons. He gets $200,000 for 800 rushing yards or $350,000 for 900 rushing yards or $500,000 for 1,000 rushing yards.
He also gets a salary escalator for 2026 under this formula: $200,000 for 800 rushing yards or $350,000 for 900 rushing yards or $500,000 for 1,000 rushing yards.
It’s a base deal of $10.5 million with $7.23 million fully guaranteed at signing. He can make up to $1.5 million more in incentives and escalators. Giving it a maximum value of $12 million.
The Vikings are adding a body to their backfield, and the 49ers are subtracting one from theirs.
Via multiple reports, the 49ers have traded running back Jordan Mason to Minnesota.
He gets a two-year, $10.5 million deal with more than $7 million of it fully guaranteed. The 49ers recently had applied a second-round restricted free agency tender to Mason, at a salary for 2025 of $5.346 million.
The 49ers and Vikings swapped late-round picks, with the 49ers getting a 27-spot bump from No. 187 in round six to No. 160 in round five.
Mason appeared in 12 games with six starts in 2024. The Week 1 replacement for Christian McCaffrey, Mason had three 100-yard games in the first four weeks of the season. He had a career-high 28 carries for a career-high 147 yards in a Week 1 win over the Jets.
Mason missed the last five games of the season due to ankle injury.
Aaron Jones re-signed this week; he’s the No. 1 tailback in Minnesota. Mason will give them a quality backup, along with a guy who can give Jones a breather from time to time.
As a quartet of teams in need of veteran quarterbacks consider options that include a couple of Super Bowl-winning quarterbacks who were once the highest-paid players in the NFL, a third one who checks the same two boxes could end up being a prime fallback option for one of them.
Aaron Rodgers and Russell Wilson are getting the headlines. Joe Flacco is waiting patiently to see how it plays out.
Flacco recently visited the Giants. He’s in play, we’re told, for jobs with the Steelers, Browns, and Vikings.
The Super Bowl XLVII MVP with the Ravens, Flacco secured the best quarterback contract in league history in 2013. (The deal was later renegotiated to give Flacco that title a second time.)
Since his time with the Ravens ended, following the arrival of Lamar Jackson in 2018, Flacco has taken whatever he can get. He played for the Broncos in 2019 (eight starts), the Jets from 2020 through 2022 (nine total starts), the Browns in late 2023 (he won Comeback Player of the Year and pushed the team to the playoffs), and the Colts in 2024 (six starts).
Flacco is now 40, but he can still throw it. And since he was never a mobile quarterback, the aging of the legs (which always go before the arm) has been a non-issue.
He has shown that he loves football. He fully intends to take a job this season, somewhere. And he likely won’t be expensive; he made $4.5 million last year.
So while Rodgers stares into the ocean to carefully contemplate his options (at a time when dozens of players are making snap decisions) and while Wilson tries to convince the likes of the Browns and Giants that his repertoire consists of more than moonball left and moonball right, Flacco is content to wait.
Eventually, he’ll get an offer. Maybe more than one. And if the Steelers are looking to go cheaper than Rodgers at the position, Flacco could be their best move.
It also would bring Flacco back to the place where his college career began. Yes, Flacco was at Pitt until Tyler Palko arrived. He then parlayed three years at Delaware into a first-round pedigree and had a very good run with the Ravens.
Now, the Ravens could be seeing him twice in 2025, as the quarterback of their most hated rival.
Executives across the NFL can’t always be right.
In December, the reported belief throughout the league was that the Falcons would release quarterback Kirk Cousins before a $10 million roster bonus due in 2026 shifted from guaranteed for injury to fully guaranteed.
ESPN, which reported nearly three months ago that Cousins was expected to be released before the fifth day of the 2025 league year, now reports that the Falcons will allow today’s 4:00 p.m. ET deadline for cutting Cousins to pass.
There had been a misconception in some circles that the Falcons would immediately owe Cousins $10 million. That’s not the case. They owe it next year. And, if they cut him before it comes due in March 2026, they’d be entitled to offsets. And there’s no reason to think he’d make less than $10 million as a free agent. Which meant the Falcons weren’t worried about it.
In other words, the supposedly very meaningful guarantee ultimately meant jack squat. They paid him $62.5 million last year. They owe him $27.5 million this year. They’re not sweating the final $10 million of his $100 million in guarantees.
They can still trade him, if he’ll waive his no-trade clause. And while it was smart for him to take the position that he wouldn’t waive it, if he prefers to make $27.5 million this year and play (as opposed to making $27.5 million this year and not playing), he’ll possibly if not probably waive it if/when an opportunity comes along to be traded to a team where he’ll be the starter.
At this point, Cousins should wait until after the draft. If he’s traded to a team with a hole at QB1 (Steelers, Browns, Giants) before the incoming quarterbacks are selected, he could have the same thing happen with his new team that happened to him in Atlanta last April.
