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Saints and ex-Chiefs linebacker Willie Gay agree on one-year deal
NEW ORLEANS | The New Orleans Saints and former Kansas City Chiefs linebacker Willie Gay have agreed to a one-year contract worth up to $5 million, a personal familiar with the matter said Tuesday night.
The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the agreement, first reported by NFL Network, had not been announced.
Gay has played four seasons in the NFL — all with Kansas City, which drafted him in the second round out of Mississippi State in 2020.
The two-time Super Bowl winner has played in 57 games with 47 starts and has 233 tackles and five sacks to go with four fumble recoveries, four interceptions and two forced fumbles.
Last season, Gay started 15 games and had 58 tackles, including one sack. He recovered three fumbles, forced a fumble and intercepted a pass.
In New Orleans, Gay will join a linebacker corps anchored by defensive captain Demario Davis, who on Monday agreed to a two-year contract through 2025.
Gay becomes the second former member of Kansas City’s defensive front to join the Saints in the past two offseasons. Defensive tackle Khalen Saunders left the Chiefs for New Orleans during free agency in last year.
NFL considers rule changes that include challenges for penalties
The Indianapolis Colts are proposing a rule change that would allow for challenges of penalty calls in the last two minutes of the half.
The NFL released a list of several rule change proposals on Wednesday made by teams that included an option to run a fourth-and-20 play in lieu of an onside kick, the moving of the trade deadline and giving teams an additional challenge if they are successful on one of their first two tries.
The competition committee will make its own rule change proposals next week and owners are scheduled to vote on them at the league meetings later this month with 24 votes needed for approval.
The most consequential change would allow for challenges of penalty calls at the end of each half, giving coaches or replay officials the chance to correct egregious mistakes.
Penalties could be challenged by coaches or the replay booth, but would be limited only to penalties that were called on the field and could not impose a penalty when it wasn’t called.
Replay review is currently not used for most penalty calls outside of too many men on the field or whether a ball was touched before a pass interference penalty occurred.
Replay is limited to aspects of a play such as whether a ball was caught or dropped, whether a player reached a first down or touchdown, whether a player fumbled before being down or whether a play was inbounds or out of bounds.
The NFL had a one-year experiment making potential pass interference calls reviewable in 2019 after a bad no-call cost the New Orleans Saints during the NFC championship game against the Los Angeles Rams the previous season. The league dropped that after one year.
The Lions also proposed giving a team a third challenge if one of its two first tries was successful. Currently teams only get a third challenge if they are successful on both of their first two attempts.
The Eagles once again brought up a proposal to alter onside kicks for end-of-game situations after only 5% of onside kicks in the fourth quarter were recovered by the kicking team, according to Sportradar. That’s down from 18.8% as recently as 2017 as new rules for safety have made recovering onside kicks more difficult.
The new proposal would allow a team trailing in the game to attempt a fourth-and-20 play from its own 20 following a touchdown or field goal instead of using a traditional onside kick.
The team would keep the ball at the yard line gained following a conversion or give the receiving team the ball if it failed. Teams could still opt to use surprise onside kicks.
Owners have voted down similar proposals with a fourth-and-15 option in recent years.
Here are some of the other proposals:
— The Steelers proposed moving the trade deadline back one week to the Tuesday following Week 9. Six other teams proposed moving it to the Tuesday following Week 10.
— The Eagles proposed requiring scoreboard clocks to display tenths of seconds in the final minute of each half.
— The Lions proposed eliminating the requirement that a player must be on the roster for at least one day following the cutdown to 53 players in order to be designated to return from injured reserve during the season.
Detroit also proposed allowing teams in the postseason to designate any player to return from IR after missing four games even if a team has used its allotment of eight designated to return slots in the regular season.
— The Bills proposed allowing a team to promote a third player each week from the practice squad to the active roster if that player is a “bona fide” quarterback and was designated as the emergency third QB for the game.
Commanders are signing six-time All-Pro linebacker Bobby Wagner
WASHINGTON | Bobby Wagner is going to the Washington Commanders as they make a major splash in rebuilding their defense.
The six-time All-Pro linebacker has agreed to join the team, according to two people familiar with the deal. One person confirmed it’s a one-year contract worth up to $8.5 million with $6 million in guaranteed money.
The people spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity Wednesday because it had not been announced.
Wagner, who turns 34 this summer, led the NFL with 183 tackles last season. He becomes the centerpiece of the defense under Dan Quinn and is another player the new coach is plenty familiar with: Wagner played two seasons for him with the Seattle Seahawks in 2013 and ‘14, winning a Super Bowl together in the process.
“Seattle, we’ve done this before,” Wagner posted on social media, referencing leaving the Seahawks in 2022 for one season with the Los Angeles Rams before returning in 2023. “You know what it is. It’s always love. Until we meet again. I’m around.”
Signing Wagner is one of many changes new general manager Adam Peters is making after going into free agency with the most salary cap space in the league. Also coming are running back Austin Ekeler, veteran backup quarterback Marcus Mariota, tight end Zach Ertz and several others, including linebacker Frankie Luvu, safety Jeremy Chinn, center Tyler Biadasz and defensive end Dorrance Armstrong.
Quinn has connections to Biadasz and Armstrong from his past three seasons as defensive coordinator of the Dallas Cowboys. Ertz was sold on Peters, Quinn and new offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury’s plan.
“These are guys that I truly believe are going to build long-term success at this place,” Ertz said on a video call with reporters Tuesday. “I’m extremely excited to get back in (Kingsbury’s) offense and also just help this team, help this organization kind of build success from the ground up.”
Earlier Wednesday, the Commanders agreed on a two-year contract with safety and 2022 All-Pro special teams player Jeremy Reaves, a person familiar with the deal tells The AP.
Among several social media posts, Reaves said he has been smiling ear to ear since getting the new contract. He added: “Commanders fans, I’m glad to be coming back HOME!” I got unfinished business!”
Part of that unfinished business is getting back on the field after partially tearing the ACL in his left knee on a punt return Oct. 5 during Washington’s fifth game last season. He went on injured reserve and did not return.
Reaves is the first player from the previous regime Peters opted to bring back.
Chargers release WR Mike Williams, saving $20M
The Los Angeles Chargers released wide receiver Mike Williams on Wednesday, a move that will free up $20 million in salary cap space.
Williams, the seventh overall pick by the Bolts in the 2017 draft, was going into the final year of a 2022 contract extension worth $60 million that included $40 million guaranteed.
He played in only three games last season after suffering a torn ACL in his left knee during a Sept. 24 game at Minnesota. Williams missed four regular-season games in 2022 because of an ankle injury and then was sidelined for a playoff game at Jacksonville after a back injury in the regular-season finale at Denver.
Williams has 22 receptions of at least 40 yards since 2019, tied for fifth in the AFC. His best season was 2021, when he had 76 receptions for 1,146 yards and nine touchdowns. He had 309 catches for 4,806 yards and 31 touchdowns during his seven seasons in powder blue.
Los Angeles is still nearly $7 million over the cap in its first offseason with coach Jim Harbaugh and general manager Joe Hortiz. There are possible decisions looming on defensive stars Khalil Mack and Joey Bosa and wide receiver Keenan Allen — who have cap numbers of at least $32 million for the 2024 season.
—From AP reports
