Atlanta Falcons
It is being reported by numerious outlets that Tony Gonzalez has informed the Falcons that he plans on returning for the 2013 NFL season. This comes just a couple months after it seemed the future Hall of Fame tight end was going to retire. This may change what Atlanta does in the draft, we had previously mocked them to go with either Tyler Eifert or Zach Ertz. Either way, Gonzalez definitely has a few solid seasons left in the tank.
Atlanta is currently the frontrunner to land St. Louis Rams' running back Steven Jackson who opted out of his contract this past weekend. As another future Hall of Fame player, Jackson would be able to come in and perform at a higher level than what we saw from Michael Turner this past season. That being said, the days of Jackson putting up 20 rushes and triple-digit yards on a weekly basis is pretty much over. The New York Giants, Arizona Cardinals and Green Bay Packers have also shown interest in him.
New Orleans Saints
With new defensive coordinator Rob Ryan switching to a 3-4, we can expect New Orleans to be relatively active in free agency. It appears that Will Smith is no longer in its plans, which makes sense for a variety of different reasons. As it is, the only current Saints' player that seems to fit as a front-seven contributor in their 3-4 is Cameron Jordan. This means that the Saints have a whole heck of a lot to do.
The Saints may be hosting John Abraham later this week, well at least according to reports. Indications I am hearing are that Abraham will choose between the Seattle Seahawks and San Francisco 49ers in the coming days; the latter of which may have a contract offer on the table. If Abraham decides to play the market further, New Orleans is a realistic option. He has met with San Francisco, who also runs a 3-4 defense. Abraham translates into a 3-4 outside linebacker on both teams.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
The obvious news here is that Tampa Bay has been in discussions to acquire Darrelle Revis from the New York Jets. Various reports indicate that it had offered a second-round pick in 2013 and conditional pick in 2014 to New York for the Pro Bowl cornerback. These reports also suggest that the Jets turned it down flat. This leads me to believe that the Jets may be overplaying the market for Revis a bit. If their asking price in terms of picks goes down, Tampa Bay is a logical fit.
Tampa Bay has brought LeGarrette Blount back on a one-year contract after giving a second-round tender to the restricted free agent. The former Oregon standout, who rushed for 1,000 yards as a rookie in 2010, was stuck behind Doug Martin last season and only received 41 rushes. This deal seems to indicate that the Buccaneers will look to trade Blount. Meanwhile, Tampa Bay is interested in bringing back its longest-tenured player Ronde Barber, who is going to play yet another season. Barber was decent in his transition from cornerback to safety this past season.
In another interesting bit of news, Tampa Bay will NOT be retaining free-agent defensive end Michael Bennett. This is incredibly surprising considering that Da'Quan Bowers was arrested on gun possession charges last month and faces prison time. Bowers and Bennett tallied over half of Tampa's 27 sacks last season. It looks like the Buccaneers will have to hit free agency and the draft hard when it comes to defensive ends. This also reinforces my projection that they go in this direction in the first round of April's draft.
Carolina Panthers
Not a whole heck of a lot to report here. Carolina released its longest-tenured player Chris Gamble on Friday and isn't in the greatest of salary-cap situations right now. It will have to get creative in order to make a major splash when the league year opens tomorrow. New general manager Dave Gettleman has indicated that Carolina will look for "wide receiver depth." While it is hard to project exactly what that means, I am pretty sure they will look at the free-agent market here. One name that has been thrown out there as complete conjecture is Mike Wallace. Considering that Carolina's salary-cap figure currently stands at $126 million, I don't see that as a viable option.