Former Seahawks DE Tapp will compete for starting job in Philadelphia

25-year-old defensive end Darryl Tapp officially said goodbye to free agency two days after a trade between the Philadelphia Eagles and the Seattle Seahawks. A three-year contract will keep him in the Eagles jersey through the 2012 season and he will have a chance to compete for the starting job at left defensive end.




“I think a change of scenery will be good,” Tapp said. “I guess last year I had 2 1/2 sacks, but honestly in my eyes, I feel like it was my best year. I had 2 1/2 sacks and 18 quarterback hits. Last year was just a difficult situation with the circumstances that we had in Seattle. So, stats don’t always tell the story. It’s what you see on the surface.”

During the four seasons with the Seahawks, Tapp totally had 18 sacks, two interceptions, eight forced fumbles and four fumble recoveries in 64 games. And his competitors for the starting job include Victor Vbiamiri and Juqua Parker. If he wins the job, he will co-work with Pro Bowl right end Trent Cole on defensive line.

Colts retained LB Brackett with five-year deal

The Indianapolis Colts linebacker Gary Brackett has wished that he could finish his NFL career as a Colt, and that may come true- the Colts have offered him a new contract that will keep him in the Colts jersey for the next five years, just a few hours after the 29-year-old linebacker officially became an unrestricted free agent.




“Obviously, this is a great place to play and when you get a chance to stay a Colt for life, you usually jump at it,” Brackett said during a news conference at the team’s complex. “That’s why I wanted to do everything within my power to make this my home.”

According to reports, the five-year contract will offer Brackett a pay $33 million, including a $12 million signing bonus and is likely to make him the team’s highest-paid linebacker in a decade. It’s lucky enough for Brackett to be able to stay with the Colts after becoming unrestricted free agent, and such a big contract is easily taken as the reward for Brackett’s performance during the seven seasons he has spent all only with the Colts.

Colts have rarely made offers to retain unrestricted free agent linebackers. Since the end of the 2002 season, they have allowed four linebackers to leave as unrestricted free agents, including Mike Peterson, Marcus Washington, Cato June and David Thornton.

Bills re-signed safety Scott with a two-year contract

On a day full of news about teams releasing players or making tender offers, the two-year contract the Buffalo Bills offered to safety Bryan Scott sounded so favorable by confirming a long-term relationship between a team and one of its players.




Scott’s agent, Edward Johnson, said the two sides are still completing the final details of the deal, which was reached prior to the start of the NFL’s free agency period, which opens on Friday. The seven-year veteran proved his value by giving consistent performance on an injury-depleted defense last season except for missing seven games because of injuries.

Entering the third season of wearing Bills jersey, Scott opened the season as a starting strong safety before missing his first five games of last season with sprained left ankle. But when a rash of injuries hit the team’s linebackers, he came out in time to fill in and started six games at weak-side linebacker. Then he missed another two games, the final two of the regular season, because he sustained a head injury.

Titans guard Amano received multiyear contract

The Tennessee Titans made an announcement Wednesday that they have agreed to a multiyear contract with veteran guard Eugene Amano, who is a key piece to the team’s offensive line and started 41 games in his past six NFL seasons.




Over the last two years the Titans’ offensive line has ranked second in the league in rushing yards (4,791) and is tied with the Indianapolis Colts for the fewest sacks allowed. For last year only, the offensive line paved the way for running back Chris Johnson to become just the sixth player in NFL history to gain 2,000 yards in one season and became the first NFL team to allow 15 or fewer sacks and average more than five yards per carry.

By signing Amano the Titans avoided losing him in free agent market as the guard was to become an unrestricted free agent March 5 if without contract. But in order to keep the team’s offensive line one of the best in NFL, the Titans should also sign veteran center Kevin Mawae, who is entering his 16th NFL season and will also become an unrestricted free agent March 5 if without contract. However, the center has said that he does not expect to wear back the Titans jersey as the team seems also weighing backup center Leroy Harris.

Cardinals signed an LB from CFL

After playing four seasons in the Canadian Football League, outside linebacker Stevie Baggs will try his career in NFL by signing a one-year contract with the Arizona Cardinals.




Changing the Saskatchewan Roughriders jersey to the Cardinals jersey, Baggs must be confident that he could have big time in the NFL. He had 12 sacks last season, tied for most in the CFL. Overall, he had a career-high 55 tackles. With experience and records, he is believed by someone to be another Ray Lewis.

Baggs’ experience included playing collegiately at Bethune-Cookman, playing for the CFL’s Winnipeg Blue Bombers and Edmonton Eskimos before signing with Saskatchewan. Well, I guess he will do as good job in a different league, at least I hope so.