2015 August - Pro Football Rumors

Seahawks Reduce Roster To 75 Players

August 31st, 2015 at 4:26pm CST by Zachary Links

The Seahawks announced that they have made a number of moves before the deadline to reduce rosters to 75 players. The full list of moves, recapped below, includes the outright release of center Lemuel Jeanpierre and defensive tackle D’Anthony Smith. As veterans, neither player is subjected to waivers.

Released outright:

Lemuel Jeanpierre, C
D’Anthony Smith, DT

Waived:

Jesse Davis, T
George Farmer, CB
Deshon Foxx, CB
Deontay Greenberry, WR
Keelan Johnson, CB
Quayshawn Nealy, LB
Greg Scruggs, DE
Ty Zimmerman, S

Waived/injured:

Brandon Cottom, FB
Triston Wade, CB

Jeanpierre, started six games at center over the past two seasons and was in competition with Drew Nowak for the starting job. Nowak, who has started the past two preseason games, has presumably beat him out for the starting gig.

Cowboys Cut Phil Bates, 4 Others

August 31st, 2015 at 4:19pm CST by Zachary Links

The Cowboys are on their way to a 75-man roster. As Todd Archer of ESPNDallas.com tweets, Dallas has dropped five players:

Phil Bates, WR
Tom Hornsey, P
Robert Steeples, CB
Casey Kreiter, LS
Carlif Taylor, DT

The Cowboys signed Bates less than two weeks ago. The 25-year-old (26 in September) was a longtime Seahawks practice squad player and also spent some time with the Browns. Seattle thought highly of Bates, making him one of just a few NFL taxi squad players to earn more than the minimum.

Lions Release Ryan Broyles, 8 Others

August 31st, 2015 at 4:12pm CST by Zachary Links

The Lions have cut ten players loose, including wide receiver Ryan Broyles, as Tim Twentyman of DetroitLions.com writes. The full list is below:

Deon Butler, TE
Ryan Broyles, WR
Garret Gilbert, QB
Vernon Johnson, WR
Desmond Martin, RB
Roy Philon, DT
Jocquel Skinner, CB
R.J. Stanford, CB
Erik Williams, DE

In addition to those moves, cornerback Chris Owens has been placed on IR with an undisclosed injury. Broyles, 27, has spend the last three years with the Lions and appared in 21 total games. In his rookie season, the second round selection hauled in 22 catches for 310 yards and 2 touchdowns, leading many to wonder if he could be on his way to becoming a leading wide receiver. Since then, however, he has notched just 10 total catches.

Steelers Reduce Roster To 75 Players

August 31st, 2015 at 4:00pm CST by Luke Adams

The Steelers added one player to their roster today, acquiring Josh Scobee in a trade with the Jaguars, but most of the day’s transactions for the team involve removing players onto reserve lists, or cutting them from the team entirely.

Here are the rest of the moves completed today by Pittsburgh in order to get the roster down to 75 players, according to the club’s transactions log:

Placed on reserve/PUP list:

T Mike Adams

Placed on injured reserve:

CB Senquez Golson
K Garrett Hartley

Waived/injured:

TE Cameron Clear
DE Niko Davis
TE Ray Hamilton

Cut:

G Miles Dieffenbach
WR Kenzel Doe
WR C.J. Goodwin
RB Braylon Heard
DE Joe Kruger
DT Joe Okafor
OL Collin Rahrig
CB Jordan Sullen
T Kevin Whimpey
S Ian Wild

Texans Cut 10 Players, Move Cliett To IR

August 31st, 2015 at 3:50pm CST by Luke Adams

3:50pm: The Texans have made another cut, waiving punter Will Johnson, according to Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle (via Twitter).

1:34pm: The Texans’ cutdown to 75 players is underway, with Mark Berman of FOX 26 Houston reporting, in a series of Twitter links, that the team has removed 10 players from its roster, cutting nine and moving linebacker Reshard Cliett to the injured reserve list. Cliett, a sixth-round pick, went down several weeks ago with a knee injury, and will be sidelined for his rookie season.

Per Berman, here are the nine players cut by the Texans today:

Aaron Adams, T
Jason Ankrah, OLB
Alan Bonner, WR
Jace Davis, WR
Chris Neild, NT
Cam McLeod, DE
Travis Labhart, WR
Bryan Witzmann, T
Cody White, NT

By my count, the Texans are now carrying 80 active players, following their acquisition of tackle Chris Clark, so they’ll have to make a few more moves by Tuesday afternoon’s 75-man deadline.

49ers Trim Roster To 75 Players

August 31st, 2015 at 3:39pm CST by Luke Adams

The 49ers have reduced their roster count to 75 players in advance of tomorrow’s deadline, announcing a series of transactions today in a press release.

The club placed offensive lineman Daniel Kilgore on the reserve/PUP list and receiver DeAndre Smelter on the reserve/NFI list, meaning both players will be sidelined for at least six weeks. Additionally, wideout Dres Anderson and linebacker Desmond Bishop were placed on injured reserve, which will end their respective seasons, barring an eventual injury settlement.

The 49ers also waived the following players:

K Corey Acosta
LB Steve Beauharnais
CB Mylan Hicks
T Sean Hooey
WR Mario Hull
WR Chuck Jacobs
WR Nigel King
LB Shawn Lemon
FB Trey Millard
DL Lawrence Okoye

Colts Cut Donald Thomas, Trim Roster To 75

August 31st, 2015 at 3:26pm CST by Luke Adams

3:26pm: The Colts are down to 75 players, after announcing this afternoon that they’ve waived/injured cornerback Deveron Carr. Carr will land on the team’s IR list if he clears waivers.

8:23am: In addition to releasing Thomas, the Colts have also cut 11 other players this morning, and placed two more on reserve lists, reducing their roster to 76 players. Here’s the full list of Indianapolis roster moves:

Cut:

Harland Gunn, G
Nicklas Haag, ILB
Zach Hodges, OLB
Tyler Hoover, T
Ryan Lankford, WR
Jeris Pendleton, DT
Ezell Ruffin, WR
Justin Shirk, ILB
Justin Sinz, TE
Abou Toure, RB
Brandon Vitabile, C

Waived/injured:

Donald Celiscar, CB

Placed on injured reserve:

Tevin Mitchel, CB

8:04am: The Colts have parted ways with another offensive lineman from their 2013 free agent class, according to Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk, who reports (via Twitter) that the club has released veteran guard Donald Thomas. Indianapolis also cut tackle Gosder Cherilus earlier in the offseason.

Thomas, who turns 30 next month, signed a four-year deal with the Colts in 2013 after having made 21 starts in four seasons for the Dolphins and Patriots. However, multiple quad injuries prevented him from seeing the field much in Indianapolis — Thomas played just two regular season contests in 2013 and none in 2014 before starting this year on the team’s physically unable to perform list. The former sixth-round pick was activated from the PUP list last week.

Had the Colts kept Thomas on their roster, he would’ve counted for a cap hit of $3.75MM in 2015, an exorbitant charge for a player who hasn’t seen any significant game action for a couple years. By cutting him, the Colts will reduce his cap numbers to just $250K each for 2015 and 2016. Thomas, meanwhile, will immediately become a free agent, giving him the opportunity to sign with any team.

Falcons Trim Roster To 76

August 31st, 2015 at 3:21pm CST by Dallas Robinson

MONDAY, 3:21pm: In an unusual twist, the Falcons announced today (via Twitter) that Terrell Manning, whose name is listed below as one of the team’s roster casualties, is actually still on the team, since the transaction was never sent into the league office.

The club waived defensive back Jonathon Mincy today, according to a press release, but is still at 76 players since Manning remains on the roster. Presumably, the club will officially cut Manning tomorrow in order to get to a 75-man squad, but we’ll see if the Falcons have a change of heart at all.

SUNDAY, 4:46pm: The Falcons have announced a series of roster moves, trimming their roster to 76 players:

Waived:

Boris Anyama, LB
Marquez Clark, WR
Michael Ford, RB
John Harris, WR
Warren Herring, DT
Derrick Hopkins, NT
Matt Huffer, T
Michael Lee, CB
Eric Lefeld, G
Terrell Manning, LB
Sam Meredith, DE
Valerian Ume-Ezeoke, C

Released:

Mickey Shuler, TE

Placed on Physically Unable To Perform List:

Lamar Holmes, T

Atlanta will still need to move one more player off its roster before Tuesday’s deadline.

Bengals Cut Denarius Moore, Eight Others

August 31st, 2015 at 3:15pm CST by Luke Adams

3:15pm: The Bengals have removed two more players from their roster, waiving wide receiver Tevin Reese and waiving fullback Mark Weisman with an injury designation, according to the team (Twitter link). The roster is now at 78 players.

10:10am: Less than five months after signing him, the Bengals have released wide receiver Denarius Moore, the team announced today (via Twitter). Moore was one of seven players cut loose by Cincinnati as the team looks to reduce its roster to 75 players in advance of tomorrow’s deadline.

Moore, 26, showed some promise during his first three seasons in Oakland, averaging about 43 receptions, 685 yards, and six touchdowns per season in spite of inconsistent quarterback play. However, he had a poor 2014 campaign, catching just 12 balls for 115 yards and no TDs, and missed the final few weeks of the season with knee and ankle issues.

Signing with the Bengals reunited the former Raiders wideout with Hue Jackson, who now serves as Cincy’s offensive coordinator. However, Moore, who got a $25K signing bonus and a $25K workout bonus from the Bengals, was unable to earn a spot on the club’s 53-man roster. He’ll immediately become a free agent.

Here are the other six players cut today by the Bengals:

Kwame Geathers, DT
Chris Jasperse, C/G
Nico Johnson, LB
Desmond Lawrence, WR
Sam Montgomery, DE
John Peters, TE

Steelers Acquire Josh Scobee From Jaguars

August 31st, 2015 at 3:02pm CST by Zachary Links

3:02pm: The Steelers have sent a 2016 sixth-round pick to Jacksonville for Scobee, tweets O’Halloran.

2:28pm: Scobee will receive his full $3.425MM salary for 2015, but it sounds like the Jaguars will be paying a portion of that amount, says Jason La Canfora of CBSSports.com (Twitter links). According to La Canfora, Pittsburgh had interest in adding a year to Scobee’s deal, but that didn’t come to fruition, so he’ll still be eligible for free agency in 2016.

1:39pm: According to Ray Fittipaldo of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (via Twitter), Scobee has agreed to restructure his contract as part of the trade. As noted below, he only had one year remaining on his deal, so it appears he either agreed to a pay cut or received an extension. We’ll have to wait for further details, but if Scobee did get an extension, it would complicated Suisham’s return next year.

9:40am: The Jaguars are getting a late-round pick from the Steelers in the deal, according to Adam Schefter of ESPN.com (Twitter link).

9:32am: The Steelers have acquired kicker Josh Scobee from the Jaguars, as Ryan O’Halloran of The Florida Times-Union writes. The kicker also confirmed the trade to Jeff Prosser of 1010XL. The Jaguars’ return in the deal is not yet known.

Scobee, 33, was the longest-tenured player on the Jaguars. Now that the former 2004 fourth-round pick is headed to Pittsburgh, that title belongs to tight end Marcedes Lewis, who is in his tenth season with the team. The deal also means that rookie Jason Myers has ostensibly won the kicking competition in Jacksonville. Scobee currently stands as franchise leader in field goals (235) and points scored (1,022).

Meanwhile, the Steelers have now added a kicker in the wake of Shaun Suisham‘s season-ending ACL tear. The Steelers brought in Garrett Hartley to fill his spot, but Hartley suffered a hamstring injury over the weekend. In the preseason with Jacksonville, Scobee was 2-for-2 on field goals with makes from 36 and 52 yards. Last season, Scobee only converted on 20 of 26 field goals in total for an overall mark of 76.9%. To his credit, two of those misses came from 40-49 yards out and three of them were from 50+ range.

Scobee is entering the final year of his contract and is scheduled to hit the open market after the 2015 season.