Free agent quarterback Case Keenum has agreed to a one-year deal worth up to $3 million with the Bears, Adam Schefter of ESPN reports.
Keenum will help mentor Caleb Williams in Chicago as he did for C.J. Stroud in Houston.
Tyson Bagent and Austin Reed are the other quarterbacks on the roster behind Williams.
Keenum, who was with the Texans the past two seasons, spent all of last season on injured reserve after injuring his foot in a preseason game against the Rams.
Keenum, 37, has played for seven teams in 12 seasons, with the Bears his eighth team in 13 seasons. He has 66 starts, going 30-36 with 15,175 passing yards, 79 touchdowns and 51 interceptions.
The Texans have Davis Mills as Stroud’s backup, with Kedon Slovis also on the roster.
Offensive lineman Xavier Newman-Johnson signed his exclusive rights tender to return to the Jets, according to the NFL’s transactions report.
Newman-Johnson, 25, spent the past two seasons with the Jets.
In 2024, he played 11 offensive snaps and 31 on special teams in nine games.
Newman-Johnson signed with the Titans as an undrafted free agent in 2022. He played one game as a rookie after spending most of that season on the practice squad.
In 2023, he split time between the Titans and the Jets.
He has played 20 games with five starts in his career, seeing action on 307 offensive snaps and 65 on special teams.
The Panthers reached agreement on a one-year deal with running back Raheem Blackshear, the team announced Tuesday.
Blackshear spent the past three seasons in Carolina.
In 2024, he played 61 offensive snaps and 179 on special teams. Blackshear 15 carries for 80 yards and returned 17 punts for an 8.5-yard average and returned 31 kickoffs for a 25.5-yard average.
In his career, he has 52 carries for 203 yards and three touchdowns. He has added 23 punt returns for an 8.7-yard average and 66 kickoff returns for a 26.3-yard average.
He initially joined the Panthers off the Bills’ practice squad in 2022.
Blackshear entered the league as an undrafted rookie after playing at Rutgers and Virginia Tech.
The Giants re-signed linebacker Ty Summers, the team announced.
Summers, 29, is a core special teams player, having played 272 special teams snaps and 112 on defense in 16 games last season. He totaled 29 tackles and one pass defensed.
Summers entered the league as a seventh-round choice of the Packers in 2019. He spent three seasons in Green Bay, split the 2022 season with the Jaguars and Saints and stayed in New Orleans in 2023.
The Giants signed him to their practice squad before the start of the season after the Lions cut him. He earned a promotion to the active roster Sept. 25.
Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin spoke to reporters from the league meetings in Palm Beach on Sunday and the team’s conversations with Aaron Rodgers were a lead topic.
Tomlin confirmed that Rodgers visited the team’s facility in Pittsburgh earlier this month to discuss the possibility of joining the Steelers. Tomlin said that it was a “really good day,” but didn’t shed much other light on where things sit with the four-time NFL MVP.
“It was really good to spend some time together man and get to know each other more intimately, but it is free agency,” Tomlin said, via Brooke Pryor of ESPN.com.” It is a process. I have nothing of any more significance to add other than that.”
Tomlin said there’s no deadline in place for the team to sign Rodgers or any other quarterback. He said the team is going to continue evaluating options at the position in both free agency and the draft — they’re reportedly set to meet with Jaxson Dart of Ole Miss — for the time being.
Mason Rudolph and Skylar Thompson have both signed with the team since the end of the 2024 season while Russell Wilson, Justin Fields, and Kyle Allen have all signed with other teams. Wilson signed with the Giants, which took the NFC East club off the board as a possible landing spot for Rodgers.
Unless the Vikings revisit their current course, that appears to leave the Steelers as Rodgers’s best chance to start in 2025 but it seems everyone’s willing to keep playing the waiting game a little longer.
The Falcons signed tight end Teagan Quitoriano on Friday, the team announced.
They also made the signing of German-born kicker Lenny Krieg official. The addition of Krieg previously was reported.
Quitoriano entered the NFL as a fifth-round pick of the Texans in 2022, and he spent most of his first three seasons in Houston. He briefly was on the Bears’ practice squad last season before re-joining the Texans.
As a rookie for the Texans, Quitoriano appeared in nine games with six starts and caught seven of his 14 targets for 113 yards and two touchdowns. He averaged 16.1 yards per reception.
In 2023, Quitoriano appeared in seven games, starting five. He caught two of his three targets for 33 yards, averaging 16.5 yards per reception.
Quitoriano played seven games in 2024, starting four, but did not record any stats.
He spent time on injured reserve in each of his first three seasons, missing time in 2022 with a knee injury, undergoing surgery for a groin injury in 2023 and injuring a calf in 2024.
Quitoriano joins a tight ends room in Atlanta that features Kyle Pitts, Charlie Woerner and Feleipe Franks.
The Packers signed linebacker Kristian Welch on Friday, the team announced.
He spent the 2023 season with the Packers before splitting last season between the Broncos and Ravens.
The Packers originally signed him to their practice squad Aug. 31, 2023, after the Ravens cut him. He signed to the Packers’ active roster Sept. 28 of that season and appeared in 12 regular-season games and both postseason contests for Green Bay.
He primarily contributed on special teams, playing 210 snaps and ranking third on the team with six tackles.
Welch entered the NFL as an undrafted free agent in 2020, signing with the Ravens.
In his career, Welch has played 72 regular-season games with two starts, recording 13 tackles on defense and 27 tackles and a fumble recovery on special teams. Welch has also played in seven postseason contests and registered four tackles on special teams.
The Raiders are signing free agent linebacker Devin White to a one-year deal, Jordan Schultz of Fox Sports reports.
Raiders General Manager John Spytek was with the Bucs when they drafted White with the fifth overall pick in 2019. White also played with Raiders minority owner Tom Brady with the Bucs, winning a Super Bowl in the 2020 season.
White spent five years in Tampa, but his time there ended unceremoniously. He wanted a contract extension, and when he didn’t get it, White asked for a trade. In Week 15 of the 2023 season — his last with the Bucs — the team indicated he was a healthy scratch for a game against the Packers, prompting White to defend himself against accusations he quit on his team.
He signed a one-year deal with the Eagles worth up to $7.5 million a year ago, but the Eagles cut him Oct. 8 without White ever seeing the field. He signed with the Texans on Oct. 23 and played seven games, totaling 19 tackles while seeing action on 176 snaps.
White made the Pro Bowl in 2021 and has 585 career tackles with 23 sacks, 64 quarterback hits, three interceptions and 21 pass breakups.
The Patriots are moving on from Ja’Whaun Bentley.
After the linebacker posted a “goodbye” message on social media, Mike Reiss of ESPN reports New England is expected to release Bentley on Friday.
A fifth-round pick in 2018, Bentley was a three-time captain for the Patriots. But he played just two games in 2024, suffering a torn pectoral muscle.
Reiss notes Bentley said over the weekend that he’s been fully cleared.
By releasing Bentley, the Patriots will save $4.6 million against the cap.
In 2023, Bentley started 16 games for New England, recording 114 total tackles with five tackles for loss, a career-high 4.5 sacks, and three passes defensed.
Bentley has appeared in a total of 83 games with 68 starts.
Hunter Renfrow wants back in.
After not playing in the 2024 season, Renfrow has recently taken a free-agent visit with the Panthers and is set to take another with the Raiders, according to NFL Media.
Renfrow met with Carolina on Wednesday and will meet with Las Vegas on Friday.
A fifth-round pick in 2019, Renfrow was a critical piece of the 2021 Raiders team that made the postseason. He caught 103 passes for 1,038 yards with nine touchdowns that year.
But injuries limited him to 10 games played in 2022. While he was on the field for all 17 in 2023, his production dropped as he caught just 25 passes for 255 yards with no TDs.
Las Vegas released Renfrow in March 2024. After spending a year out of the game, the Clemson product is looking to restart his career.
In 73 career games in his first stint with the Raiders, Renfrow caught 269 passes for 2,884 yards with 17 touchdowns.
