NFL dealing frenzy hits as signings, free agency begins

National Football League players and teams began making trades and pricey free agent signing for the 2015 season with some big names on the move in a hectic flurry.
Mere minutes after moves were allowed, the St. Louis Rams traded Sam Bradford to Philadelphia for Nick Foles in an exchange of quarterbacks coming off major injuries.
Bradford missed all of last season with a torn left knee ligament while Foles suffered a broken collarbone on November 2 that ended his season and prompted Philadelphia's signing of Mark Sanchez, who re-signed with the team.
Eagles coach Chip Kelly also sent away star rusher LeSean McCoy to Buffalo and receivers DeSean Jackson and Jeremy Maclin are also gone from one of last season's top offensive units.
And the Eagles failed to land a key replacement when rusher Frank Gore, formerly of San Francisco, snubbed a pitch from Philadelphia for a similar deal with the Indianapolis Colts.
Gore gives an Indy team that was one victory shy of the Super Bowl last season a rusher who has gained 1,000 yards in eight of his past nine seasons, faltering only in 2010 when a broken hip cut short his campaign by five games.
New Orleans sent tight end Jimmy Graham, who signed a long-term deal before last season, to the Seattle Seahawks for center Max Unger and a swap of draft picks.
The Detroit Lions, who lost star defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh to the Miami Dolphins, obtained Tongan-heritage defensive tackle Haloti Ngata from the Baltimore Ravens to fill the void left by Suh, whose father is from Cameroon and mother is from Jamaica.
The move opened up $8.5 million in salary cap space for the Ravens to make other moves. Ngata is a five-time Pro Bowl player who was suspended four games last season for using performance-enhancing drugs.
Defensive end Greg Hardy, who faced domestic violence charges and played only one game for Carolina last season while costing the Panthers more than $13 million, became a free agent. Charges were dropped against Hardy last month after his accuser reached a financial settlement with him and did not cooperate with prosecutors. Hardy led Carolina with 15 quarterback sacks in 2013.
Cornerback Darrelle Revis was made a free agent after the Super Bowl champion New England Patriots decided not to use a $20 million contract option and his agents said a deal has been agreed upon for him to return to the New York Jets, where he spent his first six NFL seasons.
"I'm coming home," tweeted Revis, who has a five-year deal with the Jets worth $70 million according to multiple reports, with $39 million guaranteed.
Source: AFP