Jim Irsay: Chuck Pagano has leukemia, “He can beat this thing”

AP

Colts owner Jim Irsay confirmed on Monday morning that head coach Chuck Pagano is hospitalized with leukemia, but Irsay said the cancer is treatable and that everyone is optimistic.

“It’s been a very difficult week,” Irsay said. “The coach was feeling some fatigue over the last two weeks, had noticed some bruising on his body that at first he thought could have been from contact on the field, coaching, or playing with his grandkids or whatever, and eventually through talking to his wife, Tina, she said, ‘You need to check that out.’”

As it turned out, Pagano was informed that he has leukemia. Irsay said he doesn’t expect Pagano to come back as the head coach this season, although he does think Pagano may be ready to coach from the press box at some point late this year. Colts offensive coordinator Bruce Arians will take over as the interim head coach while Pagano is away, and Irsay said he’s confident in Arians and wants Pagano focused on getting better.

“Knowing Chuck, his first concern is going to be for his children, his grandchildren, his wife, for others: That’s just how he is,” Irsay said. “I feel with every fiber of my body, and Chuck feels the same way, that he can beat this thing.”

Still, Irsay said it’s tough for Pagano to think about anything other than football.

“He was disheartened that NFL Network wasn’t on in his hospital room,” Irsay said.

Irsay said that his message to Pagano was that they’re going to triumph over this: “When we grab the Lombardi Trophy some day,” Irsay said he told Pagano, “it’s going to be that much sweeter.”

Getty Images

The Eagles signed Patrick Chung as a free agent last year in hopes of solidifying their safety spot, but things didn’t work out as planned and the Eagles were back in the market for safeties this offseason.

They landed one on the first day of free agency. Adam Schefter of ESPN reports that the Eagles signed former Saints safety Malcolm Jenkins to a three-year, $16.25 million deal. Jeff McLane of the Philadelphia Inquirer reports that $8.5 million of that total is guaranteed.

New Orleans made Jenkins the 14th overall pick of the 2010 draft, although he was a cornerback at that point in his career. He moved to safety the next season and has started all but seven games over the last four seasons. He’s been a solid player for the Saints, if a bit below the upper echelon of the league’s safeties, and should be a huge upgrade over the collection of players that the Eagles used at safety last season.

The Eagles cleared some room on the roster by announcing that they have released Chung after one subpar year with the team. Given the struggles of the rest of the safety unit last season, Jenkins may not be the only new face added at the position this offseason.

UPDATE 5:20 p.m. ET: The Eagles have announced the deal with Jenkins as well.

Follow @ProFootballTalk

AP

Packers tight end Jermichael Finley won’t have to wait long to find out if he’s ready to be cleared.

The free agent is headed to Seattle tonight, and will take a physical for the Seahawks tomorrow, according to Rob Demovsky of ESPN.com.

Finley’s condition has been a question since he had surgery to fuse two vertebrae in his neck, but all the recent reports have been optimistic.

If he’s well and signs there, he gives quarterback Russell Wilson another dynamic weapon in the passing game, on a team that barely needed last year’s big addition (Percy Harvin) to win a Super Bowl title.

Finley hinted at this move in January, saying he wouldn’t hesitate to hop on a plane.

And he didn’t.

Getty Images

The team with the NFL’s best offense is making a big push to improve its defense.

The Denver Broncos have signed free agent safety T.J. Ward, Adam Schefter of ESPN first reported and the Broncos have announced.

“Excited to announce we’ve agreed to terms with strong safety T.J. Ward,” Broncos G.M. John Elway wrote on Twitter. “He’ll bring energy and toughness to our secondary.”

Ward started all 16 games for the Browns last year and should provide an instant upgrade to the Broncos’ secondary. Ward was the No. 20 player in our Free Agent Hot 100.

The Browns are replacing Ward by signing free agent safety Donte Whitner, formerly of the 49ers.

Getty Images

If Blaine Gabbert is to jump-start his career, it will not be in Jacksonville.

PFT has confirmed that the Jaguars have dealt Gabbert to the 49ers.  Adam Schefter of ESPN, who first reported the news, says the compensation will be a sixth-round pick.

The Jaguars’ No. 1 pick in 2011, has Gabbert struggled with his play and with injuries in his NFL career. He was benched last season, his third in Jacksonville.

With the Jaguars re-signing Chad Henne and looking like a candidate to draft a passer, Gabbert’s future in Jacksonville seemed tenuous.

Now, he will get a fresh start in San Francisco with head coach Jim Harbaugh, a former NFL quarterback. Gabbert, who has a manageable base salary of $2 million, figures to compete for a reserve role behind Colin Kaepernick, also a 2011 draft pick.

UPDATE 5:23 p.m. ET: The Jaguars have confirmed that Gabbert has been dealt.

Getty Images

The Jets made sure that kicker Nick Folk wouldn’t leave the team by slapping a franchise tag on him last week.

On Tuesday, they made sure that they wouldn’t have to make the same decision again next season. The team announced that Folk has signed a multiyear agreement with the team.

No financial terms were announced, but Folk would have made $3.55 million in 2014 if he played out the year under the tag.

Folk is heading into his fifth season as a member of the Jets and had another strong year in 2013. He made 33-of-36 field goals, including three game-winning kicks to end Jets victories. His accuracy was the best in his career and upped his career mark to 80.3 percent over seven overall seasons in the NFL.

Folk is the first of this year’s franchise tag recipients to agree to a long-term deal with his team. Panthers defensive end Greg Hardy, Saints tight end Jimmy Graham and Redskins linebacker Brian Orakpo are the other three players to get tagged.

Follow @ProFootballTalk

Getty Images

Vontae Davis will stay in Indianapolis.

Davis, a free agent cornerback who was expected to be sought after by several teams, has decided to stick with the Colts. It was Colts owner Jim Irsay who announced the deal on Twitter.

“Glad to welcome back Vontae Davis to the team!” Irsay wrote, in a rare tweet from Irsay with no spelling or grammatical errors.

According to Adam Schefter of ESPN, it’s a four-year, $39 million contract with $20 million guaranteed. That’s comparable to the contract Sam Shields got from the Packers, and it raises the question: If Davis and Shields are worth $10 million a year, what kind of money will Darrelle Revis make if he hits the open market tomorrow?

Getty Images

The Redskins have bolstered their linebacking corps and special teams coverage units.

The club has reached a three-year deal with Buccaneers reserve linebacker Adam Hayward, Adam Schefter of ESPN.com reported Tuesday.

An eighth-year pro, the 29-year-old Hayward has started 13 regular season games in his NFL career. Hayward (6-1, 240) projects to inside linebacker in Washington’s 3-4 scheme and would also figure to be a core special teams player.

AP

The Giants had to have some fresh faces for their offensive line, and moved quickly to add a versatile blocker.

According to Kim Jones of the NFL Network, the Giants have agreed to terms with Chiefs guard Geoff Schwartz, and the deal could be signed as soon as tomorrow.

Schwartz can also play tackle, and has overcome hip problems which ended his stint with the Panthers to play out one-year deals with the Vikings and the Chiefs. He tweeted earlier today he anticipated some more stability this time through.

With the retirement of David Diehl and the release of David Baas, the Giants needed to add some toughness up front, and they did so.

AP

The NFL is open for business and the deals are coming fast enough to give you whiplash.

So take your eyes off Twitter (but not the fully recovered PFT rumor mill) for a while and join Pro Football Talk on NBCSN for a rundown of everything that’s gone on in the 90 minutes since free agency got underway.

We’ll have takes on all the big deals and talk about what moves might be coming our way later on Tuesday or this week. We’ll also have the latest on the Darrelle Revis situation, DeMarcus Ware’s departure from Dallas and everything else that is making news on the busiest day of the offseason.

It all gets started at 5:30 p.m. ET on NBCSN.

Getty Images

For teams that would have a hard time persuading cornerback Darrelle Revis to choose them from a field that would include, you know, contending franchise, there’s only one way to get Revis:  Trade for him.

And so at a time when teams like the Patriots and Broncos are, per a source with knowledge of the situation, biding their time under the assumption Revis will be cut, any team that wants to prevent Revis from picking his next destination can trade for his contract.

Per a league source, the Browns are indeed exploring the possibility of trading for Revis.  The Raiders, we’re told, are not.

In Cleveland, Revis would be reunited with former Jets defensive coordinator Mike Pettine, who’s now the head coach of the Browns.

Whoever trades for Revis would have to take him at his current contract.  He won’t take a pay cut to facilitate a trade.

The Buccaneers are expected to make trade or cut Revis by 4:00 p.m. ET on Wednesday.  After that, he’s owed a $1.5 million roster bonus, and the 2014 draft pick to complete the trade from the Jets upgrades from a fourth-round pick to a third-round pick.

Getty Images

The Eagles won’t need to find a new punter this offseason.

PFT has learned, via a league source, that the Eagles have re-signed punter Donnie Jones to a three-year deal. The deal is worth up to $6 million.

Jones’ return to the Eagles has been expected, but the team had to wait until the start of the new league year to get the deal done at anything more than the veteran’s minimum after Jones played for that amount last season.

Jones is coming off a very strong 2013 season, his first with the Eagles, that saw him drop 33-of-81 punts inside the opposition’s 20-yard line. Jones had a net average of 40.5 yards per punt, which set a franchise record.

Jones joins wide receivers Jeremy Maclin and Riley Cooper as potential free agents to remain with the Eagles rather than seek their fortune elsewhere in 2014.

Getty Images

Arthur Jones is leaving Baltimore for Indianapolis.

The Colts announced just 45 minutes after free agency started that they have signed Jones, a defensive lineman who has played his entire four-year career with the Ravens.

“We are happy to announce we have agreed to terms with defensive lineman Arthur Jones,” Colts General Manager Ryan Grigson said in a statement. “He is an outstanding producer down after down versus the run and pass. He’s a guy who plays at a championship level week after week and lays it on the line every time he steps out on the field. He is a great fit for our team.”

Jones previously played for Colts coach Chuck Pagano when Pagano was the Ravens’ defensive coordinator, so he won’t have any trouble learning the playbook in Indianapolis. Last year Jones started 13 games for the Ravens and had 27 solo tackles and four sacks.

Getty Images

The champs have lost their second free agent in less than an hour.

Linebacker O’Brien Schofield is leaving the Seahawks, and he’ll be playing for the team that plays in the place where Seattle won the Super Bowl.

Per a league source, Schofield has agreed to terms on a two-year, $8 million contract.

Waived last year by the Cardinals and claimed by the Seahawks, he appeared in 15 regular-season games with two starts.

AP

The Falcons are wasting no time in making their emphasis on toughness clear.

The Falcons have already announced deals with defensive end Tyson Jackson and defensive tackle Paul Soliai, after the day’s earlier deal with guard Jon Asamoah.

“We were focused on adding pieces along our offensive and defensive lines and I feel we were able to accomplish that today,” General Manager Thomas Dimitroff said in a release.

In adding Jackson and Soliai, it makes it look like they’re also more intent on using more 3-4 looks under defensive coordinator Mike Nolan, as Jackson is a classic 3-4 end and Soliai a stout player against the run who can play the nose.

They also tapped into new assistant G.M. Scott Pioli’s background, as Pioli used the third overall pick in the 2009 Draft on Jackson when he was with the Chiefs.

Those are significant moves for a defense that look soft last season, and now have some hefty parts on which to build.

AP

Kevin Kolb’s career in Buffalo has reportedly to come to a close.

The Bills released Kolb on Tuesday, Adam Caplan of ESPN reported.

The 29-year-old Kolb suffered a season-ending concussion in the Bills’ August 24 preseason game vs. Washington. He was due a $1 million roster bonus this month and $2 million in salary in 2014, per Rotoworld data.

Kolb has started 21 regular season games in his NFL career, which began in 2007 in Philadelphia. However, were he to resume his career, he would need to be medically cleared.