NFL Free Agency starts on Thursday, March 9 at 4:00 pm ET (the start of the new league year), but teams are already taking advantage of the two-day free agency negotiating window that opened yesterday. During this time before free agency starts, teams may negotiate all aspects of the contract but can't finalize the deal. As such, there are plenty of rumors circulating around the league about the potential destinations for some of the league's top players. Here is all the latest news & rumors you need to know:
Many teams not interested in Adrian Peterson
The Minnesota Vikings released All-Pro running back Adrian Peterson to save them his $18 million cap hit, but he was expected to have plenty of suitors on the open market. However, the opposite has been true with virtually no teams showing interest in him, according to Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk:
It’s becoming more and more clear that: (1) teams aren’t as interested in running back Adrian Peterson as he expected them to be; and (2) he’s starting to get a little frustrated about that.
There’s no other way to explain his father’s decision to vent regarding the decision of the Vikings to not make Peterson an offer before deciding last Tuesday not to exercise the option on his contract for 2017. The Vikings actually did Peterson a favor, giving him a full and complete opportunity to determine, via impermissible tampering at the Scouting Combine and permissible tampering this week, to determine his market.
The problem is that Peterson’s market (if there even is one at this point) is nowhere close to where Peterson thought it would be. That’s why the news regarding Peterson is entirely one sided, with the player, his father, and/or unnamed sources close to Peterson identifying teams he’d be interested in joining but no one reporting that teams are interested in him.
Peterson has expressed interest in signing with either the Giants, Raiders, Seahawks or Patriots, even saying he would take a team-friendly deal to play in New England.
A knee injury limited Peterson to just three games in 2016, in which he rushed for just 72 yards on 37 carries. In 2015, he led the league with 1,485 rushing yards and 11 touchdowns.
Chicago expected to sign Mike Glennon
The Bears are in need of a quarterback going into the 2017 season, and they have identified Mike Glennon as their top target. According to NFL Network's Ian Rapoport, via 670 The Score's Greg Gabriel, Chicago is expected to sign Glennon soon after free agency officially begins.
@RapSheet is reporting that Bears/Glennon will most likely "agree" on deal for 14-15M. Key is @RapSheet is close to Glennon's agent D.Dunn
— Greg Gabriel (@greggabe) March 8, 2017
@RapSheet reported the Glennon/ Bears connection earlier this morning on the NFL Network's "Good Morning Football" show
— Greg Gabriel (@greggabe) March 8, 2017
Glennon spent the last two seasons as Jameis Winston's backup in Tampa Bay. Hewas the starter for part of his first two years with the Bucs before they drafted Winston, completing 57.9 percent of his passes for 4,025 yards with 29 touchdowns and 15 interceptions in 19 appearances.
Jets to re-sign Geno Smith?
New York needs to find a starting quarterback as they do not believe either Bryce Petty or Christian Hackenberg are ready to take over the role. With Brian Hoyer and Tyrod Taylor off the market and Mike Glennon expected to sign with the Bears, Brian Costello of the New York Post writes that bringing back Geno Smith might be the Jets' best option.
Then, there is Geno Smith, who will become a free agent on Thursday. It seemed as if Smith and the Jets were ready to part ways by the end of last year, but what if they are each other’s best options? The Jets may look around and feel Smith is the best quarterback left on the market. Smith may find teams are reluctant to sign him coming off ACL surgery. The Jets probably give him his best chance to start. He could compete when he is healthy with Bryce Petty and Christian Hackenberg for the starting job.
In his career, Smith has passed for 5,962 yards with 28 touchdowns and 39 interceptions in 33 games played.
Redskins not trading Kirk Cousins
Washington had been rumored to be engaged in trade talks with the 49ers about sending quarterback Kirk Cousins to San Francisco, but that is not the case, according to Master Tesfatsion of the Washington Post.
Not sure how it picked up steam, but a source said there's no truth to a Kirk Cousins-49ers trade being "all but done." #Redskins
— Master Tesfatsion (@MasterTes) March 8, 2017
Cousins has spent the last two season as Washington's starter, and set new franchise records for passing yards each year. In 2016, Cousins passed for 4,917 yards with 25 touchdowns and 12 interceptions
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