NFL free agency: Jalen Mills gets big contract from New England, Rudy Ford headed to Jacksonville

Jalen Mills is going to need to schedule an appointment with his hairstylist.

The Eagles defensive back, nicknamed “The Green Goblin,” will need to change his hair dye from green to red after agreeing to a reported four-year, $24 million contract with the New England Patriots, merely hours after the start of the official “tampering period” of NFL free agency on Monday.

New England, which will go into the new league year Wednesday with almost $70 million in cap space, went on a spending spree about as quickly as possible, agreeing to contracts with Mills, former Eagles receiver Nelson Agholor (Las Vegas), tight end Jonnu Smith (Tennessee), edge rusher Matt Judon (Baltimore), defensive tackle Davon Godchaux (Miami) and several others.

Agholor, who will turn 28 in May, bet on himself last year with a one-year, $1 million deal with the Raiders after regressing with the Eagles in 2019. He’ll get a two-year, $26 million deal from the Patriots, who had the second-most cap space in the league going into free agency.

Mills, who turns 27 next month, signed a one-year, $4 million contract a year ago and moved from corner to safety for an Eagles team trying to replace Malcolm Jenkins’ multipositional role. The 2016 seventh-round pick out of LSU didn’t exactly play up to the level of Jenkins, but he proved to be a quality starter and gained additional praise for his willingness to switch back to cornerback when injuries left the Eagles with few options on the outside.

Going into free agency, it seemed as though Mills would have been one of the few free agents the Eagles could retain while managing their salary cap struggles. The team is still about $17 million over the cap, although imminent moves for receiver Alshon Jeffery, defensive tackle Malik Jackson, and tight end Zach Ertz should get them under the cap. Still, the Patriots’ interest in Mills, especially at $6 million a year, made a reunion unlikely.

The team also announced a contract extension that will substantially lower defensive end Brandon Graham’s cap figure for next year with a contract extension through 2022 that will increase his salary in his final year. Graham was originally set to count for nearly $18 million against the cap next year.”

Mills said last month that he wanted to return to the Eagles, partially because of the “Green Goblin” persona he’d gone so far to establish and partially because of his intrigue in new defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon’s two-high-safety defensive scheme.

“When you got fans that passionate, why not want to play here?” Mills said on CBS Sports HQ early February. “I’m the Green Goblin. I love it in Philadelphia. I won a Super Bowl with them. ... When you’re talking about a guy like [Gannon], it’s a lot of two-high safety. I kind of feel that’s where the league is going. He does a great job at giving guys more opportunities in two-high.”

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All in all, Mills vastly outperformed his draft status, playing in 63 games and starting 49 of them over a five-year span at two positions. He and Ronald Darby were the starting outside cornerbacks for the team’s Super Bowl LII run and he had the game-saving pass breakup against Atlanta star Julio Jones in the NFC divisional round.

Mills wasn’t the only Eagles safety to make plans elsewhere Monday. According to NFL Network, the Jacksonville Jaguars agreed to a two-year, $4.2 million contract with Rudy Ford shortly after Mills’ deal was first reported.

Ford was a special teams captain for the Birds last year, although he battled injury for most of the season. He was on the field for 31% of the Birds’ special teams snaps and just 46 plays on defense.

With Mills’ departure and Rodney McLeod recovering from a torn ACL suffered in December, the Eagles are in dire need of at least one safety, if not two. K’Von Wallace will be going into his second year after playing minimal snaps as a box safety last season, and Marcus Epps played sparingly as a deep safety.

According to a CBS Sports report, the Eagles showed interest in Los Angeles Rams safety John Johnson before the start of the tampering period, but the 25-year-old agreed to a three-year, $33.75 million contract with Cleveland on Monday.

The Patriots agreed to more than $120 million in salary Monday, including four-year deals with Judon ($56 million) and Smith ($50 million).

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Smith was one of the top tight ends available, a group of players that includes Zach Ertz as the Eagles seek a suitable trade offer for the three-time Pro Bowler. According to an NFL Network report, the 30-year-old Ertz is getting impatient as the Eagles try to get a trade offer they find acceptable. If things drag along, the report says, he could seek his release.

The Eagles will have to hope Smith’s contract, which will be about $12.5 million per year, could convince interested in teams that trading for Ertz would be more cost-effective. According to overthecap.com, the team that trades for Ertz would only have to pay him $7.7 million, although Ertz might want a contract extension.

Les Bowen contributed reporting.