More deals are getting done in advance of the official start of the new league year on Wednesday.
Via Adam Schefter of ESPN.com, Panthers safety Xavier Woods has agreed to terms with the Titans. It’s a two-year, $10 million deal.
As Schefter notes, Woods participated in 100 percent of the Panthers’ defensive snaps in 2024.
Woods also was fined $16,833 in November for the hit that ended Saints receiver Chris Olave’s season.
Woods was a sixth-round pick of the Cowboys in 2017. He spent four years with the Cowboys, one with the Vikings, and three with the Panthers.
The Dolphins are set to make an addition to their receiving corps.
NFL Media reports that they have agreed to sign former Titans wideout Nick Westbrook-Ikhine. It’s a two-year deal worth $6.5 million with $3.2 million in guaranteed money.
Westbrook-Ikhine spent the last five seasons in Tennessee and set a career-high with nine touchdown catches during the 2024 season. He had 126 catches for 1,776 yards and 19 touchdowns over his entire time with the AFC South club.
Tyreek Hill, Jaylen Waddle, Malik Washington, Tahj Washington, and Erik Ezukanma are already under contract at receiver in Miami.
The Titans will have a new punter in 2025.
Adam Schefter of ESPN reports that they have agreed to terms on a contract with Johnny Hekker. It will be a one-year pact between the team and the four-time All-Pro.
The move reunites Hekker with Titans special teams coordinator John Fassel. Fassel had the same job with the Rams while Hekker was punting for the team from 2012 to 2019.
Hekker spent the last three seasons with the Panthers and averaged 42.7 net yards per kick. Carolina is set to sign Sam Martin to take over the role.
With Hekker joining the Titans, Ryan Stonehouse will be moving on. Stonehouse tweeted a goodbye message to Titans fans on Tuesday and he won’t be tendered as a restricted free agent before Wednesday’s start to the new league year.
The 49ers are bringing in a player to elevate their special teams.
Per NFL Media, San Francisco has agreed to sign Luke Gifford to a one-year contract.
Gifford, 29, entered the league in 2019 as an undrafted free agent with the Cowboys. He stayed with the club through 2022 before joining the Titans in 2023.
He appeared in 16 games with four starts for Tennessee in 2024, tallying 49 total tackles with a pair of passes defensed and an interception. He was on the field for 77 percent of special teams snaps and 20 percent of defensive snaps in games played.
Safety Mike Brown played in every game for the Titans during the 2024 season and he’ll be back with the team in 2025.
The Titans announced on Tuesday that they’ve agreed to terms on a new deal with Brown. Brown was set to be an exclusive rights free agent, but signing him eliminates the need to tender him with a contract and go through that process.
Brown made four starts and saw extensive time on special teams through all 17 outings. He had 49 tackles and a pass defensed in those appearances.
Quandre Diggs and Daryl Worley are set to become free agents on Wednesday while Amani Hooker, Kendall Brooks, and Julius Wood join Brown as options for the coming season.
The Patriots have a new backup quarterback.
With Jacoby Brissett a free agent, New England has agreed to terms with veteran Josh Dobbs.
His agent, Mike McCartney, announced the move on Twitter. It’s a two-year deal.
Dobbs started a pair of late-season games for the Titans in 2022, when Pats coach Mike Vrabel was the head coach in Tennessee. With limited prep after being signed from the Detroit practice squad, Dobbs played well (albeit in two losses, including a Week 18 AFC South championship game against the Jaguars).
The Patriots will be his ninth overall team. Dobbs was selected by the Steelers in the fourth round of the 2017 draft. The Steelers traded him to the Jaguars early in the 2019 season. He returned to the Steelers the next year, and he has also spent time with the Browns, Cardinals, Vikings, and 49ers.
A 2023 in-season trade to Minnesota after the Kirk Cousins Achilles tendon tear resulted in Dobbs becoming the guy after Jaren Hall suffered a concussion at Atlanta. He won that game and was 2-2 until he was benched for Nick Mullens.
He made two late-season appearances for San Francisco, including a Week 18 start.
Dobbs has 23 regular-season appearances and 15 starts.
The Titans have agreed to terms on a three-year, $21 million deal with inside linebacker Cody Barton, NFL Media reports.
Barton is 96th on PFT’s top-100 free agents list.
He started 14 of the 17 games he played for the Broncos in 2024, totaling 106 tackles, 1.5 sacks, two interceptions, five passes defensed, a forced fumble and a recovered fumble.
The Seahawks drafted Barton in the third round in 2019, and he played his first four seasons in Seattle before going to Washington in 2023. He signed a one-year, $2.5 million deal with the Broncos a year ago.
He has appeared in 95 games with 43 starts in his career, recording 458 tackles, 3.5 sacks, five interceptions, 14 passes defensed and three forced fumbles.
The Titans struck deals with a couple of their exclusive rights free agents on Monday.
The team announced that they have agreed to terms with cornerback Darrell Baker and offensive lineman Andrew Rupcich. They also re-signed long snapper Morgan Cox and reached agreements with a pair of free agents — defensive tackle Sebastian Joseph-Day and offensive tackle Dan Moore — on Monday.
Baker joined the Titans in 2024 after two seasons with the Colts and he appeared in every game. He made nine starts and finished the year with 40 tackles and five passes defensed.
Rupcich has played in 12 games and made two starts for the Titans over the last two seasons.
The Titans have agreed to terms on a new one-year contract with long snapper Morgan Cox, the team announced Monday.
Cox, a five-time Pro Bowler, joined the Titans in 2021 after spending his first 11 NFL seasons with the Ravens.
He earned one of his Pro Bowls with the Titans in 2022.
In 2024, Cox was a finalist for the Bart Starr Award, which honors those who exhibit outstanding character, integrity and leadership on and off the football field.
The 15-year veteran has appeared in 233 career regular-season games and 11 postseason contests.
In 2024, Cox appeared in every game and handled all of the team’s long snapping duties for the fourth consecutive year.
He helped kicker Nick Folk post a 95.5 percent accuracy on field goals, which led the NFL in 2024, and he assisted Ryan Stonehouse in averaging 50.6 yards per punt, which ranked third in the NFL in 2024.
Cox’s five career Pro Bowls (2015, 2016, 2019, 2020 and 2022) are more than any other player at his position since the league began naming long snappers to the Pro Bowl in 2004.
The Titans have a new special teams coordinator in John Fassel, who left Dallas for Tennessee in January.
The Titans are re-signing defensive tackle Sebastian Joseph-Day to a one-year deal worth a max of $7.5 million with $5 million guaranteed, Ian Rapoport of NFL Media reports.
Joseph-Day joined the Titans on a one-year deal last March. He played all 17 games with 12 starts and totaled 44 tackles, 2.5 sacks and six quarterback hits.
A sixth-round pick of the Rams in 2018, Joseph-Day did not appear in a regular-season game during his rookie year. But he made 38 starts over the next three seasons, winning Super Bowl LVI with Los Angeles to cap the 2021 season.
He joined the Chargers in 2022 but the team released him late in the 2023 season, and he finished that season with the 49ers.
In 88 career games with 80 starts, Joseph-Day has 13.5 sacks, 273 tackles, 24 tackles for loss and 37 quarterback hits.
