2015 September - Pro Football Rumors

Falcons Reach 75-Man Roster Limit

September 1st, 2015 at 3:04pm CST by Zachary Links

The Falcons got most of their heavy lifting done early when it came to the 75-man roster deadline. This afternoon, they simply reached an injury settlement with guard Peter Konz to get their numbers in order, as D. Orlando Ledbetter of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution tweets.

Konz, 26, started 25 contests during his first two seasons with the Falcons after being drafted in the second round in 2012, but was relegated to a backup role to open the 2014 season. When center Joe Hawley was placed on injured reserve, Konz slid back into the starting lineup, but he saw his campaign end after just seven games.

Chiefs Waive Junior Hemingway, Tavon Rooks

September 1st, 2015 at 3:02pm CST by Zachary Links

The Chiefs have waived Junior Hemingway and Tavon Rooks as a part of their effort to get down to a 75-man roster, Terez A. Paylor of the Kansas City Star tweets. KC also placed Justin March on IR and Tyler Bray on the NFI list.

Hemingway, a wide receiver, was selected by the Chiefs in the seventh round of the 2012 NFL Draft. Over the last two seasons, he has hauled in a combined 25 catches for 233 yards and two touchdowns. Rooks, a sixth-round pick in the 2012 draft, offers great size for the tackle position at 6’5″, 280 pounds.

Chargers Reduce Roster To 75 Players

September 1st, 2015 at 2:54pm CST by Luke Adams

The Chargers are the latest team to officially announce their cuts down to 75 players, and the team’s four Tuesday moves involve a handful of injured players. According to a press release, San Diego has waived/injured the following four players:

WR Torrence Allen
CB Chris Davis
S Gordon Hill
G Melvin Meggs

Each of those players will have to pass through waivers unclaimed in order to remain with the Chargers’ organization. Assuming they do, they’ll revert to San Diego’s injured reserve list.

Having trimmed their roster to 75 players, the Chargers will now have to make 22 more moves in order to get down to a 53-man roster by Saturday afternoon.

Fred Jackson Expected To Sign With Seahawks?

September 1st, 2015 at 2:45pm CST by Luke Adams

2:45pm: Coach Pete Carroll stressed that Jackson’s trip to Seattle was a “visit not a signing,” (via the Seahawks on Twitter). He also told reporters, including Bob Condotta of The Seattle Times (on Twitter) that there has been no decision yet on signing Jackson. However, Condotta notes (link) that Robert Turbin has a high ankle sprain, and that could explain Seattle’s interest in FJax.

7:58am: Having hit the open market yesterday, it didn’t take Fred Jackson long to find an interested suitor. According to Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (via Twitter), the veteran running back is flying to Seattle this morning to meet with the Seahawks, and both sides expect to work out a deal.

Jackson, who debuted with the Bills in 2007 and had been with the team since then, was released by Buffalo yesterday. Despite being the league’s oldest running back, at age 34, Jackson doesn’t have a ton of mileage on his legs, since he started his career late and split carries with other backs throughout his tenure with the Bills.

Over the course of his eight-year career, Jackson has compiled 5,646 rushing yards and 80 rushing touchdowns on 1,279 carries. He’s also a capable receiver out of the backfield, setting a career high in 2014 with 66 catches. While Jackson was slowed by a hamstring injury earlier in the training camp this year, he looked good in his preseason debut this past weekend, carrying the ball five times for 48 yards.

According to Rapoport (via Twitter), Jackson received interest from numerous playoff teams upon his release. Assuming he finalizes a contract agreement with Seattle though, Jackson will reunite with his old backfield mate Marshawn Lynch, who played in Buffalo himself from 2007 to 2010.

Presumably, Jackson would become Lynch’s primary backup and see action on third downs, if and when he officially signs with Seattle. That would bump Robert Turbin down on the depth chart, and would create some uncertainty regarding the roles for Christine Michael and UDFA rookie Thomas Rawls. Seattle showed it was willing to move a young player for a future draft pick yesterday when the team sent wide receiver Kevin Norwood to the Panthers, so perhaps a running back trade could be explored as well.

Dolphins, Cards Trim Rosters To 75 Players

September 1st, 2015 at 2:35pm CST by Luke Adams

The Dolphins and Cardinals each had just one last roster move to make to get their respective rosters down to 75 players, and both clubs have now announced those moves.

According to the Dolphins (via Twitter), the club has waived running back Demitrius Bronson, after having released punter Brandon Fields earlier today. Bronson joined the club less than a month ago as a free agent, and wasn’t part of Miami’s regular season plans.

Meanwhile, the Cardinals moved from 76 players on their roster to 76 by parting ways with offensive tackle Rob Crisp, tweets Darren Urban of AZCardinals.com. Crisp, who played his college ball at North Carolina State, signed back in May with Arizona as an undrafted free agent, receiving a $15K bonus from the club.

Eagles Down To 75-Man Roster

September 1st, 2015 at 2:31pm CST by Zachary Links

The Eagles made a trio of roster moves to get down to 75, as Alex Smith of PhiladelphiaEagles.com writes. Running back Kevin Monangai was waived, linebacker Emmanuel Acho was formally waived/injured (thumb), and cornerback JaCorey Shepherd was placed on injured reserve.

Monangai, a rookie free-agent signing out of Villanova, was unable to stick in Philly due to a deep depth chart at running back. Acho provided the Eagles with solid depth at inside linebacker for parts of the last two seasons and he saw time in 14 games and made two starts in 2014. The release of Acho was reported in August, but it apparently did not become official until today. Acho received an injury settlement in the deal, so he is now a free agent, Zach Berman of the Philadelphia Inquirer tweets.

After Brandon Boykin was traded to Pittsburgh, it appeared that Shepherd was on track take over the nickel position. Unfortunately, however, he suffered a torn ACL soon after the deal.

Cowboys Down To 75-Man Roster

September 1st, 2015 at 2:22pm CST by Zachary Links

The Cowboys made a number of moves on Tuesday afternoon to get down to a 75-man roster. The full list is presented below, courtesy of DallasCowboys.com’s David Helman (Twitter links):

Waived:

Brandon Barden, TE
Jonathan Brown, LB
Antwan Goodley, WR
David Porter, WR

Waived/Injured:

Ken Boatright, DE
R.J Dill, OT
Michael Hill, RB

Placed on IR:

Orlando Scandrick, CB

NFI List:

Mark Nzeocha, LB

Scandrick tore his ACL in late August, ruling him out for the 2015 season. It was a big loss for Dallas as he ranked as the 10th-best cornerback in the NFL in 2014 out of 108 qualified players, according to Pro Football Focus’ advanced metrics (subscription required). According to PFF’s data, quarterbacks completed 74.3% of their passes into Scandrick’s coverage, but those completions averaged just 9.9 yards, and the Cowboys’ corner didn’t allow a touchdown in his 14 games. For the year, he recorded 63 tackles and grabbed a pair of interceptions.

Washington Notes: RGIII, Williams, Roberts

September 1st, 2015 at 1:48pm CST by Luke Adams

While Washington’s decision to name Kirk Cousins as the team’s starting quarterback for the 2015 season has been viewed as a signal that Robert Griffin III‘s time in D.C. is coming to an end, Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk makes the case for why it makes some sense for the club to keep him on the roster. As Florio writes, Cousins and Colt McCoy aren’t exactly the safest QB duo in the league, and RGIII’s salary isn’t exorbitant for a backup.

Still, as Charles Robinson of Yahoo! Sports observes, the RGIII era in Washington seems likely to come to an end by next February, with the club likely cutting him in the new year or sooner. Here’s more on the former No. 2 overall pick, along with a couple more Washington-related notes:

Robinson and Peter King of TheMMQB.com both look ahead and attempt to identify an ideal landing spot for Griffin after he and Washington officially go their separate ways. In Robinson’s view, the Chiefs are the best fit for RGIII, while King cites the Seahawks and Cardinals as logical potential suitors.
Although most observers don’t believe Washington would be able to trade Griffin, it may be possible if the quarterback is willing to renegotiate his 2016 option year to remove the injury-only guarantee, writes former agent Joel Corry of CBSSports.com. Of course, as Corry acknowledges, Washington still wouldn’t be able to get much in return for the 25-year-old.
$30MM of Trent Williams‘ five-year, $66MM contract extension with Washington is fully guaranteed at signing, according to Joel Corry of CBSSports.com (all Twitter links). Corry adds that the team, having used a signing/option bonus structure on the deal, will pick up $3.55MM in cap room for the 2015 season.
In his latest mailbag for the Washington Post, Mike Jones fields questions about Washington’s outside linebackers, Andre Roberts‘ role, and – of course – the quarterback situation.

Broncos Down To 75-Man Roster

September 1st, 2015 at 1:38pm CST by Zachary Links

The Broncos have gotten down to a 75-man roster with a handful of moves. Denver has waived tight end Dan Light and linebacker Danny Mason, Jeff Legwold of ESPN.com tweets. Wide receiver Nathan Palmer has also been shown the door and he has no remaining practice squad eligibility, Mike Klis of 9NEWS tweets.

Palmer spent the bulk of 2014 on the team’s practice squad and now the third-year receiver will be looking for work elsewhere in the NFL. Light, a Fordham University product known as “The Gronk of the Bronx,” had a tryout with the Broncos earlier this month that resulted in a deal. Mason, a speedy 235-pound linebacker, came to Denver after playing some indoor football in recent years.

AFC Notes: A. Jones, Bryant, Simms, Jaguars

September 1st, 2015 at 1:22pm CST by Zachary Links

Colts defensive tackle Arthur Jones is now seeking the opinion of another foot and ankle specialist to determine his course of action and how long he might be sidelined, according to Josina Anderson of ESPN.com (via Facebook). The Colts previously sent Jones to a specialist who informed him that he would not have to go on IR. Now, he’s looking for a second opinion on the matter. Here’s more from the AFC..

The Steelers have known about wide receiver Martavis Bryant‘s possible four-game suspension for some time and it even impacted their approach in May’s draft, Mark Kaboly of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review writes. Coach Mike Tomlin said that the news pushed Pittsburgh to use a third-round draft choice on Sammie Coates.
Bills coach Rex Ryan says the “odds are probably stacked against” quarterback Matt Simms making the 53-man roster but he will “never say never,” Mike Rodak of ESPN.com tweets. Many have speculated that Simms could bump Matt Cassel from the Bills’ roster, but that sounds like something of a longshot at this time.
Jaguars owner Shad Khan anticipates a long-term extension to the team’s London deal, keeping the partnership going until roughly 2030, Ryan O’Halloran of The Florida Times-Union tweets. O’Halloran (link) expects that announcement to come in October when the Jaguars have their scheduled game in England.