Houston is adding a veteran guard to its offensive line.
Per Mike Garafolo of NFL Media, the Texans are signing Laken Tomlinson to a one-year deal worth $4.25 million with a maximum value of $5 million.
Tomlinson, 33, was with the Seahawks last year, playing every offensive snap for the franchise.
A first-round pick in 2015, Tomlinson has also played for the Lions, 49ers, and Jets. He has played 100 percent of his respective team’s offensive snaps every season since 2019. He has not missed a game since 2017.
Houston has needed some help inside after struggling along their interior offensive line last season.
In less than 24 hours, the Vikings have lost Sam Darnold, Daniel Jones, and Nick Mullens to free agency. They now need a veteran quarterback.
Their options will become more clear after the last few QB1 dominoes fall. Both the Steelers and Giants are believed to be looking for a veteran starter. The Browns possibly are, too, despite trading for Kenny Pickett. The Titans could be, as well.
The only clear-cut candidate from the remaining crop of free agents is Aaron Rodgers. Available for backup duty are, among others, Jameis Winston, Mac Jones, Joe Flacco, Carson Wentz, Drew Lock, Mason Rudolph, Jacoby Brissett, Taylor Heinicke, Marcus Mariota, Cooper Rush.
Russell Wilson becomes the wild-card of the bunch. If he doesn’t get a starting job, will he accept a backup role? Few players who were ever the highest-paid quarterback in the league welcome the holding of a clipboard. (Flacco is the rare exception.) Will Wilson want to be on a team if he knows he won’t be playing?
Regardless, the Vikings need to do something. Minnesota currently has only two quarterbacks on the roster — 2024 first-rounder J.J. McCarthy and Brett Rypien.
Last year, quarterback Sam Darnold turned low expectations into a special season. This year, the expectations will be higher.
With Darnold agreeing to terms on a three-year, $100.5 million contract in Seattle, he’ll be expected to start — and to pick up where he left off. It’s the highest bar he’s experienced since entering the league as the third overall pick in the 2018 draft.
And that didn’t end well.
Was last year an aberration? Or were his early-career experiences a direct result of being forced to play for a perennially dysfunctional team?
The Seahawks are betting that last year was the start of a trend. Darnold is making the same bet, even if he’s also the one who has hit the relative jackpot.
It’s relative because $33.5 million per year in a far cry from full market value. Sixteen quarterbacks currently have a higher annual averages. That number will move to 19, when Aaron Rodgers signs, when Brock Purdy inks an extension, and when Geno Smith gets a new deal from the Raiders (if he does).
Still, it’s starter money. Not backup, not bridge (like last year’s $10 million deal in Minnesota). The floor will be higher. The pressure will be greater. And given the case of the yips that Darnold seemed to develop in Week 18 at Detroit, it’s fair to wonder what will happen if/when Darnold feels greater heat than he ever did in 2024 — when the only threat to his status was Nick Mullens.
For Seattle, the question becomes whether a dollar-for-dollar analysis holds up. If Smith wanted more than $40 million per year and if Darnold will take $33.5 million, does it become a good deal if Darnold is more than 75 percent the performer Smith was?
Regardless, they had a multi-year proven commodity in Smith. With Darnold, it’s a roll of the dice that last year will carry over into this year.
On Wednesday, quarterback Geno Smith will officially become a member of the Raiders. And Smith will arrive in Nevada without a new contract, we’re told.
The effort to get a new contract is what prompted the Seahawks to trade Smith. Due to make $31 million in the final year of his three-year deal with Seattle, Smith wanted $40 million or more per year.
Usually, it makes sense for a team that trades for a player who wants a new contract to make the trade contingent on the successful negotiation of a new agreement. It’s not as critical here, since the Raiders gave up only a third-round pick to get Smith.
Still, it’s something the Raiders will need to address. Will they do it soon? Will they do it in August or early September? Will they wait to see whether Smith continues to perform for the Raiders the way he performed for the Seahawks?
There’s also a chance Smith is a short-term insurance policy at the position. The Falcons did it last year, giving Kirk Cousins $90 million fully guaranteed — and another $10 million vesting soon — before picking Michael Penix, Jr. with the eighth overall pick in the 2024 draft.
Given that G.M. John Spytek and minority owner/majority influence Tom Brady reportedly didn’t love the available veterans and that coach Pete Carroll didn’t want a rookie, the compromise could be Smith for now, with a deeper dive over the next six weeks at the incoming class.
Regardless, the lack of a new contract for Smith gives the Raiders both certainty and flexibility. Unless he boycotts the offseason program, the Raiders can take a wait-and-see approach on a one-year, $31 million commitment.
The Seahawks have come to terms with offensive lineman Josh Jones.
Jones will receive a one-year deal worth up to $4.75 million, Ian Rapoport of NFL Media reports.
The Cardinals made Jones a third-round pick in 2020. He spent three seasons in Arizona before the Cardinals traded him to the Texans, where he played one season.
He spent last season with the Ravens.
Jones played 16 games in 2024 but had no starts, seeing action on 46 offensive snaps and 87 on special teams.
In his career, Jones has appeared in 76 games with 24 starts.
Defensive tackle Roy Robertson-Harris has found a new home.
NFL Media reports that Robertson-Harris has agreed to a two-year deal with the Giants. It is worth $10 million.
The Seahawks released Robertson-Harris last week and he visited with the Cardinals after becoming a free agent, but he will be in New Jersey for the coming season.
Robertson-Harris was traded from the Jaguars to the Seahawks during the 2024 season. He had 20 tackles and two sacks over the two stops.
The Giants also agreed to a deal with cornerback Paulson Adebo on Monday as they’ve focused on defense in the early stages of free agency.
As expected since late last week, Sam Darnold has found his new home in the Pacific Northwest.
Darnold has agreed to a three-year deal with the Seahawks, according to multiple reports.
The value of the contract is different from different reports. NFL Media notes Darnold’s deal is worth nearly $100 million while ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported Darnold will earn $110.5 million with $55 million guaranteed.
After the Seahawks traded Geno Smith to the Raiders late last week, it was widely believed that Darnold would end up with Seattle.
No. 2 on PFT’s list of the top 100 free agents, Darnold had far and away his best season with the Vikings in 2024. He completed 66.2 percent of his passes for 4,319 yards with 35 touchdowns and 12 interceptions in 17 regular-season games.
But he did not perform well in his last two games, including completing 25-of-40 passes for 245 yards with a touchdown and an interception in Minnesota’s playoff loss to the Rams.
Still, Darnold played well enough throughout the season to cash in with a big new contract.
Darnold will reunite with Klint Kubiak, who served as San Francisco’s passing game coordinator in 2023 when Darnold was the 49ers’ backup. Kubiak is now Seattle’s offensive coordinator.
The No. 3 overall pick of the 2018 draft, Darnold has completed 61.2 percent of his career passes for 16,383 yards with 98 touchdowns and 68 interceptions.
With Darnold signing elsewhere, the Vikings are now more likely to go into 2025 with 2024 first-round pick J.J. McCarthy as their starting quarterback.
The Seahawks wouldn’t have traded quarterback Geno Smith without a clear plan for replacing him.
Currently, there’s chatter in some league circles that the plan could include making a run at making a trade.
The name to watch is Trevor Lawrence.
Yes, the Jaguars have said they won’t trade him. (The Seahawks said basically the same thing about Smith.)
Here’s one last nugget. When a report emerged last month that the Steelers had called the Jaguars about Lawrence, we were told that it wasn’t the Steelers who had called. It was the Seahawks.
If it happens, it’ll happen quickly. The fallback, we’re told, is Sam Darnold.
So stay tuned on this one. And everything else.
But not on Twitter. Check PFT and Bluesky, until further notice.
The Seahawks are set to make a pair of major trades when the new league year begins on Wednesday.
According to multiple reports, they have agreed to trade wide receiver DK Metcalf to the Steelers. Friday brought word that they are trading quarterback Geno Smith to the Raiders and they’ve also released wide receiver Tyler Lockett, so the 2025 Seahawks are going to look very different on offense than they did for the last few seasons.
The Steelers haven’t settled on a quarterback yet and Metcalf’s arrival will guarantee that their offense looks significantly different as well. Metcalf is set to be in Pittsburgh for a while as Tom Pelissero of NFL Media reports that the Steelers will sign him to a four-year, $132 million extension that is the biggest contract in franchise history. Metcalf has one year at $18 million left on his current deal.
Pittsburgh will send a 2025 second-round pick to Seattle and the teams will also swap late-round draft picks.
The quarterback question will now be the central one for the Steelers to answer this week. Metcalf’s former Seahawks teammate Russell Wilson closed out last season as the starter in Pittsburgh, but reports have indicated that they are likelier to bring back Justin Fields.
Another linebacker is staying put instead of heading to free agency.
According to Ian Rapoport of NFL Media, Ernest Jones has agreed to a three-year contract to stay with the Seahawks.
The initial report indicates Jones’ deal is worth $33 million with $15 million guaranteed.
Jones, 25, was traded to Seattle from Tennessee in October. He started 10 games for the Seahawks, recording 94 total tackles with an interception, two passes defensed, and a forced fumble.
That was the second trade of 2024 for Jones, who was dealt from the Rams to the Titans during the offseason.
A Rams third-round pick in 2021, Jones has played 63 career games with 48 starts. He’s tallied 23 tackles for loss, 13 QB hits, four interceptions, and 16 passes defensed.
Jones was No. 55 on PFT’s list of top 100 free agents.
Jones now joins the likes of Chiefs linebacker Nick Bolton, Eagles linebacker Zack Baun, and Commanders linebacker Bobby Wagner as inside linebackers who elected to stick with their respective teams instead of hitting the open market.
