Source: Chargers reach one-year deal with RB Najee Harris
The Los Angeles Chargers reached an agreement with former Pittsburgh Steelers running back Najee Harris on a one-year deal worth up to $9.25 million, a source told ESPN’s Adam Schefter on Monday.
Harris, a first-round pick in 2021, topped 1,000 yards in each of his four seasons with the Steelers. A durable player, he started all 68 regular-season games during his tenure with the team.
Harris, 27, was selected to the Pro Bowl after his rookie season when he racked up 1,200 rushing yards and added 467 receiving yards on 74 receptions. He also accounted for 10 touchdowns that season.
Despite rushing for more than 1,000 yards each season, Harris averaged just 3.9 yards per carry in his Steelers career.
Harris, a Bay Area native, arrived in Pittsburgh after four seasons at Alabama, where he was part of two national championship teams and averaged 6.0 yards per carry. In his senior season, Harris led the SEC with 1,466 rushing yards and topped FBS running backs with 26 rushing touchdowns. He also earned All-America honors that season after leading FBS running backs with 30 touchdowns from scrimmage in 2020.
In four NFL seasons, he has rushed for 4,312 yards and 28 touchdowns. He has 180 catches for 1,149 yards and 6 scores.
ESPN’s Brooke Pryor contributed to this report.
The Denver Broncos reached an agreement with veteran linebacker Dre Greenlaw, a source told ESPN’s Adam Schefter on Monday.
When healthy, Greenlaw, who now rejoins former 49ers teammate Talanoa Hufanga in Denver, has been one of the league’s most productive off-ball linebackers. He had 455 tackles, 3.5 sacks, 2 forced fumbles, 2 fumble recoveries, 3 interceptions and 14 passes defended for the San Francisco 49ers since entering the league in 2019.
But staying healthy has been Greenlaw’s biggest obstacle, as he has played a full season only once in his career and that was as a rookie.
Greenlaw has sat out 36 games because of quad, groin, calf, hamstring and Achilles injuries and he played in only two games in 2024 as he recovered from the torn Achilles he sustained in Super Bowl LVIII.
A fifth-round pick out of Arkansas, Greenlaw emerged as a starter right away for the Niners and made a game-saving tackle in the 2019 season finale against the Seattle Seahawks that helped San Francisco secure the NFC West division and home-field advantage throughout the playoffs on the way to a Super Bowl appearance.
ESPN staff writer Nick Wagoner contributed to this report.
The New Orleans Saints will re-sign defensive end Chase Young to a three-year, $51 million deal worth up to $57 million, sources told ESPN’s Adam Schefter on Monday.
Young, 25, played all 17 games last season, finishing with 5.5 sacks and 46 pressures, according to TruMedia. His pressures were tied for 11th in the NFL.
Young signed a one-year deal with the Saints worth up to $13 million during the 2024 free agency period. Young’s contract had about $8 million tied up in per-game roster bonuses because of an offseason neck procedure he had last spring.
He was the No. 2 pick in the 2020 draft out of Ohio State and played for the Washington Commanders from 2020 to 2023. He was traded to the San Francisco 49ers for the final nine games of the 2023 season.
Young was the NFL’s Defensive Rookie of the Year and selected to the Pro Bowl in 2020, a season in which he had 7.5 sacks. He tore his ACL in 2021 and played in only three games during the 2022 season. He had 7.5 sacks combined between the Commanders and Niners in 2023.
Young has started 32 games in five seasons and has 22 career sacks.
ESPN’s Katherine Terrell contributed to this report.
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The New York Jets have their replacement for Aaron Rodgers.
Per multiple media reports, the Jets and former Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Justin Fields have reached agreement on a two-year deal. The contract will be for $40 million and include $30 million in guaranteed money, according to ESPN.
A former first-round draft pick by the Chicago Bears, Fields will join the Jets after a single season with the Steelers. Fields played three seasons in Chicago after the Bears selected him with the No. 11 overall pick in the 2021 NFL Draft.
The Bears traded Fields to the Steelers last offseason after obtaining the No. 1 pick in the draft to select Caleb Williams. Fields then split time in Pittsburgh with Russell Wilson. He started Pittsburgh’s first six games after Wilson suffered a calf injury in training camp before Wilson took over at quarterback for the rest of the season.
In 10 appearances, including his six starts, Fields completed 65.8% of his passes last season for 1,106 yards on 6.9 yards per attempt with five touchdowns and one interception. He ran for 289 yards on 4.7 yards per carry with five rushing touchdowns. The Steelers were 4-2 in games he started, but moved on to Wilson once he was healthy.
In a free-agent market with limited options at quarterback, the Jets are confident enough in Fields to make him their starter despite the Bears and Steelers each moving on from him. The Jets made the move after cutting ties with Rodgers, who didn’t pan out in his two seasons in New York after the four-time MVP’s blockbuster trade from the Green Bay Packers in 2023.
Rodgers missed all but the opening drive of his first season in New York with a ruptured Achilles tendon, then quarterbacked the Jets to a 5-12 record in 2024. It was a disappointing outcome for a Jets team with talent on defense and at skill positions that expected to contend.
The Jets now have to reset while placing their hopes on Fields.
C
It’s not like the Philadelphia Eagles didn’t know this was coming.
On practically any list of the top free agents that would be available when the so-called legal tampering period started Monday, there were two Eagles defensive players in the top five. Defensive tackle Milton Williams and defensive end Josh Sweat were two of the very few impact players to reach free agency.
The Eagles couldn’t afford to sign them before they hit the market. They have a lot of stars to pay, including Saquon Barkley, who got a two-year, $41.2 million extension, and linebacker Zack Baun, who got a three-year, $51 million deal.
And still, when Williams and Sweat agreed to big deals elsewhere in the first few hours of free agency Monday, it had to sting. Williams agreed to a reported $104 million, four-year deal with the New England Patriots. Sweat followed that up with a $76.4 million deal over four years with the Arizona Cardinals, via ESPN, reuniting with his old Eagles defensive coordinator and current Cardinals head coach Jonathan Gannon.
On top of losing those two, former Eagles cornerback Darius Slay Jr. agreed to terms with the Pittsburgh Steelers, per Fox Sports. Slay was cut last week by the Eagles, who had to save salary cap space and didn’t want to have Slay’s $16 million on the books.
The Eagles will be fine. Nobody is crying for them. But it was a lot to lose in a few hours off a championship defense.
The Eagles had a defense that finished first in the NFL last season and had a Super Bowl performance that will go down as one of the best ever. Their first-half dominance against Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs will live on for a long time.
Sweat and Williams were a big part of that game. They combined for 4.5 sacks and it could be argued they were the Eagles’ two best defensive players that night. Sweat got some Super Bowl MVP votes.
Slay made three Pro Bowls in his five seasons with the Eagles and was a big part of shutting down the Chiefs as the Eagles took a big lead into halftime.
But time moves on. At 34 years old, Slay was deemed too expensive for a secondary that hit big on draft picks of Quinyon Mitchell and Cooper DeJean last year. Williams is an exciting talent but also was the team’s third-best defensive tackle behind Jalen Carter and Jordan Davis. Sweat had 39 sacks the past five seasons and while every team needs as many edge rushers as it can get, the Eagles have options there too.
Decisions needed to be made, and it gets harder with other teams wanting to pick away at the Super Bowl champion’s roster.
The Eagles have been fantastic at player acquisition, which put them in this month’s enviable catch-22. The Eagles won a Super Bowl because they had an embarrassment of riches, and they couldn’t afford to keep everyone because they have an embarrassment of riches.
The players who left will do well for their new teams. Williams can finally show what he can do as a full-time player, for a Patriots team that thought he was worth $26 million a year. Sweat gives the Cardinals a pass rusher the defense desperately needed to go to a new level. Slay is aging but hasn’t fallen off yet and can help a secondary that was looking for depth.
They would have been valuable to the Eagles too, but it’s difficult to keep everyone together year after year. The good news for Eagles fans is they can trust general manager Howie Roseman to replace all of them.
