March 7-9 Signings.

The Jaguars re-sign CB Rashean Mathis and OT Guy Whimper

The Jaguars made a very smart decision re-singing Rashean Mathis to a one-year five million dollar deal Wednesday. It’s odd; five years ago if anyone had said that Mathis would only be worth a one year deal. However, since his last big deal, Mathis has fallen off from the near All-Pro he once was. In his first four years, Mathis never missed a game and recorded twenty interceptions. In the last five years, he’s only played one full season and recorded a combined ten interceptions. He missed about half of last year to a torn ACL and he’ll be 32 at the beginning of the season. For a corner with all of these factors, five-million seems like a lot to pay. Also, the contract is structured so that most of the pay is incentive based, so they won’t necessarily be spending a lot on him.  

However, while Mathis’ play has worsened over the last five years, he can still be a solid player. At the worst, he can be a solid slot corner who can mentor a young replacement. At best, he can still be a good starter. Given the problems the Jaguars already have, they need to keep as many quality players as they can.

Additionally, The Jags re-signed offensive tackle Guy Whimper to a two-year incentive laden contract. Whimper started 15 games last year, mostly at right tackle. While Whimper is likely never going to make a Pro Bowl or even win a starting job, but he’s experienced. It was wise to keep him, since the Jaguars have enough problems on offense, trying to find reliable backup offensive lineman would have just made these problems more severe.

The Falcons sign DE Kroy Biermann and RB Jason Snelling to contract extensions; sign OG Vincent Manuwai

The Falcons locked up reserve defensive lineman Kroy Biermann and back-up running back Jason Snelling to contract extensions. Both were signed to three-year deals worth about nine million dollars and four million dollars respectively. The Falcon made a great decision getting both re-signed, since either could have gone to other teams to compete for starting jobs.

Kroy Biermann has been a solid defensive end, though his sack numbers have been less than amazing. With John Abraham likely leaving via free agency, the Falcons couldn’t afford to allow a defensive end with a familiarity of their system to leave. He’s not going to replace Abraham, but it’s better than allowing him to walk and needing to get another unknown defensive end during the offseason. The same is true of Snelling. He’s a very good running back in a limited role and plays well in the role the Falcons have given him. He’s kind of like a poor man’s Michael Turner, which is one of the reasons he’s been relatively successful in Atlanta. Both signings helped keep some of the Falcons holes plugged for at least a little longer.

The Falcons also signed free agent guard Vincent Manuwai Friday. Terms of the deal were not available. I can’t say that was a bad decision, even though Manuwai was a free agent all of last season. The Falcons have committed to trying to improve their offensive line and the right guard spot was a rotating door of players last season. While I do expect them to push for some higher priced free agents to fill that spot, Manuwai wouldn’t be a bad fill-in should they not be able to sign one of them. Good value signing.

The Bills re-sign TE Scott Chandler, LB Kirk Morrison and WR Ruvell Martin.

The Bills have been busy this past week. After re-signing Stevie Johnson on Monday, the Bills re-signed Ruvell Martin on Wednesday, Scott Chandler on Thursday and Kirk Morrison on Friday. Each deal is short-term and incentive laden. Martin received a one-year deal worth $700,000 dollars while Chandler and Morrison each received two year deals.

Ruvell Martin is strictly a backup receiver and special teamer. He’s never been much of a receiving threat, but having the extra depth couldn’t hurt.

Chandler’s 38 catches last year were the most by a Bills tight end since 2001 and the most of Chandler’s career. Six of those catches went for touchdowns and Chandler was one of Fitzpatrick’s favored goal-line targets. On the whole, this was a smart move by the Bills. After Stevie Johnson, Chandler was probably the second most reliable pass catcher on the team. Also, the Bills did a good job not paying too much for him. Chandler had been a journeyman before having a somewhat breakout season last year. With a two year deal, the Bills have given him the chance to prove that he is the guy they’ve wanted at tight end for a long time, while protecting themselves from the possibility that it was just a blip on the radar.

Morrison’s signing was a good idea. Morrison has bounced between being a starter in Oakland and Jacksonville and being a backup, as he was for part of his tenure in Buffalo. He’s likely to be a starter somewhere in the linebacking corps, since the Bills are likely to switch to a 4-3 alignment. Even if he’s not, the injury history of Nick Barnett makes it likely that Morrison will be seeing plenty of playing time on defense.

The Bengals extend FB Chris Pressley

The Bengals have made the playoffs both years that they relied on the running game to set their offensive schedule. While Cedric Benson has been a solid runner for them, Chris Pressley has been as good if not better as a blocker. By extending his contract for another two years, the Bengals have helped ensure that their running game will be more stable next year, regardless of who the running back is. Good decision, even if it won’t get a lot of attention.

The Chargers sign recently cut LB Demorrio Williams

Linebacker Demorrio Williams has run the gambit of being a professional linebacker since he left Atlanta following the 2007 season. He was initially brought into Kansas City to be a complement to Derrick Johnson and help the starting linebacking corp. Since then, he’s replaced Johnson, been replaced by Johnson, started next to Johnson is a new formation and been replaced by Javon Blecher. Wednesday, the Chiefs ended his tenure with the team. Thursday, the Chargers signed him to a one-year deal to be a special teams ace and primarily coverage linebacker. It was a decent signing, since Williams as good athleticism. But they shouldn’t expect more from him.

The Texans extend long-snapper Jonathan Weeks

The Texans extended the contract of long-snapper Jonathan Weeks by four years on Wednesday. It’s difficult to judge the value the signing because of how quickly and easily replaced long-snappers are, but that being said, it’s worth saying that once you find a long snapper you like, they can go a long time in that job. So it was a smart move to keep the guy they like.

The Saints re-sign DE Turk McBride

The Saints re-signed Turk McBride Friday. Terms were not available. McBride was mostly a reserve defensive end who spent a fair amount of time injured or simply inactive.  On the whole, he was a disappointment as a free agent signing. However, the Saints are likely to have a number of holes they’ll need to fill following free agency. So hanging onto whoever they can will make their job at least a little less difficult. What return they’re going to get for this signing though, is hard to say.