The Browns are now in roster compliance, as they’ve announced several moves today. In addition to confirming the previously reported cuts of Paul Kruger, Austin Davis, K’Waun Williams, Travis Coons, and E.J. Bibbs, Cleveland has announced the following transactions:
Released:
Waived:
Placed on injured reserve:
The Giants have begun whittling down their roster in advance of tomorrow’s 75-man deadline, and they’ve made four transactions today. New York still has 86 players on its roster, so it will need to make several more moves before Tuesday.
Waived:
Waived/Injured:
LaCosse, a 2015 UDFA will require knee surgery and will be sidelined indefinitely. If he and Whitlock clear waivers, they’ll revert to the Giants’ IR list.
The NFL has suspended two players that are currently unemployed, as defensive tackle Sammie Lee Hill and linebacker Prince Shembo have both been handed bans. Hill will be suspended four games, according to Field Yates of ESPN.com (Twitter link), while Shembo is banned for two games, tweets Doug Kyed of NESN.com. 
Hill, 29, was accused of sexual assault back in 2014, but it’s more likely (given the length) that this suspension is for violating the NFL’s substance abuse policy. In his seventh NFL season, Hill played in 10 games for the Titans, starting five, and picked up six tackles. He missed a portion of the season thanks to an MCL injury, and he’s continued to sit on the open market since March, though he did take a meeting with the Seahawks earlier this year.
Shembo, meanwhile, was accused of killing his ex-girlfriend’s dog. According to Denica Williams, Shembo’s former girlfriend, she left Shembo and her Yorkie unattended at the linebacker’s home, and the dog was unresponsive when she returned. Per a necropsy, the cause of death was blunt force trauma, and the animal also had a fractured rib, a fractured liver, and several other injuries. However, the charges against Shembo were later dismissed.
It’s not the first time that Shembo has run into off-field trouble. The former Falcons linebacker was investigated for allegedly sexually assaulting a Saint Mary’s College freshman in 2010, though he was never charged in that case. Lizzy Seeberg, Shembo’s accuser, killed herself 10 days after the alleged incident.
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6:10pm: The Dolphins will receive a conditional seventh-round pick, tweets Jackson.
5:11pm: The Saints have struck a deal to acquire linebacker Chris McCain from the Dolphins, according to Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald (Twitter link). Rand Getlin of NFL.com (Twitter linknk) the first to report that a trade was in the works.
McCain, 24, is entering his third season in the NFL, but hasn’t contributed much during his first two years in the league. He’s appeared in 19 games, but he’s been more of a special teams player than a defensive stalwart. McCain picked up a sack and a forced fumble in 2015, but only played on 113 total snaps (43 on defense), and wasn’t ticketed for a larger role this year.
In New Orleans, special teams will likely be the area of focus for McCain once again. The Saints have a decent crop of linebackers, with Stephone Anthony, James Laurinaitis, and Dannell Ellerbe making up the starting three, and McCain is unlikely to push free agent addition Craig Robertson for playing time. Given that he was an undrafted free agent, McCain is entering the final year of hi deal, but will only reach restricted free agency after 2016.
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The Broncos have reached out to the Cowboys regarding a potential trade of quarterback Mark Sanchez, tweets Jane Slater of the NFL Network. However, Dallas is not interested in Sanchez at his current salary. Meanwhile, Jason Cole of Bleacher Report says (Twitter link) the Cowboys are just one of several teams Denver has contacted about Sanchez.
Dallas has been looking for a veteran backup to play behind rookie Dak Prescott since it was announced that Tony Romo will be sidelined for awhile with a back injury. The Cowboys talked to the Browns about Josh McCown, but found their asking price to be too high, and also had discussions with Nick Foles earlier this offseason. At the current time, Dallas’ No. 2 QB would be 2015 UDFA Jameil Showers.
The Broncos traded for Sanchez this spring as a Plan B in case they were unable to re-sign Brock Osweiler or bring in an established veteran at QB. Denver did not retain Osweiler or land a vet, but Sanchez was unable to win the starting job or even secure the No. 2 role. He’s set to earn a base salary of $4.5MM in 2016, $1MM of which is guaranteed.
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The Patriots announced that they’ve placed guard Tre’ Jackson on the reserve/PUP list. As such, Jackson will miss the first six weeks of the regular season — New England will then have a three-week window during which it can decide to activate Jackson.
Jackson, 23, was selected by the Patriots in the second round of last year’s draft. During his rookie season, Jackson played a key role on a New England offensive line that was dealt injury blows throughout the year, and he ended up starting nine games (and appearing in 13). According to Pro Football Focus, Jackson was roughly average in 2015, grading as the NFL’s No. 47 guard.
Additionally, the Patriots announced last Tuesday defensive lineman Frank Kearse was released, but he was instead was placed on IR, according to the NFL transaction wire (via NESN’s Doug Kyed). Originally drafted by Miami in the seventh round of the 2011 draft, Kearse has also had stops with Carolina, Tennessee, Dallas, and Washington.
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The Chiefs have made running back Knile Davis available, according to Mike Garafolo of FOX Sports (Twitter link). Davis’ only chance at making the Kansas City roster was as a return man, but as Garafolo notes, that role has been taking by Tyreek Hill.
Davis finds himself buried on Kansas City’s depth chart with Jamaal Charles, Charcandrick West, and Spencer Ware ahead of him on the depth chart. Earlier this year, West and Ware both inked brand new deals with KC that will keep them in the fold for the next two seasons.
Davis, meanwhile, reportedly requested a trade prior to the new deals for Charles’ primary backups. The Dolphins called the Chiefs about acquiring a running back in March and asked about all four tailbacks on KC’s depth chart, including Davis.
Davis was once listed as Charles’ primary backup, but he has since been leapfrogged by Ware and West. Last season, Davis’ main contribution came in the Wild Card playoffs when he opened up the contest against the Texans with a 106-yard kick return touchdown. In the regular season, Davis had just 28 total carries for 72 yards and one score. Over three seasons for the Chiefs, the former third-round pick has carried the ball 232 times for 777 yards, good for a 3.3 yards-per-carry average.
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The Seahawks’ release of veteran defensive back Brandon Browner had already been reported, but now the club has officially confirmed the move, along with announcing several other transactions that moves their roster to 84 players. Seattle has until 3pm tomorrow to get to 75 men.
Waived:
Placed on injured reserve:
If any NFL team is looking for a center, they should call the Vikings and/or the Seahawks. Minnesota is shopping John Sullivan, according to Tom Pelissero of USA Today (Twitter link), while Seattle is trying to trade Patrick Lewis, reports Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk.
Sullivan, 31, has long been on the league’s more underrated pivots, as though he’s never been named an All Pro or Pro Bowler, he’s been considered among the top centers in the NFL. Until last season, he had started at least 14 games in every season since 2009. Sullivan missed all of 2015 due to injury, and veteran Joe Berger performed like a top-five center in his stead. Given that Berger is much cheaper, it makes sense that the Vikings are trying to trade away Sullivan and his $5.4MM base salary.
Lewis, meanwhile, isn’t the caliber of player that is Sullivan, but he did start nine games for the Seahawks last season. Seattle has been reshuffling its offensive line, and Justin Britt, who was formerly both a tackle and a guard, is now set to move to the middle, and early reports on the transition have been glowing. Lewis is entering the final year of his deal, and will earn $1.671MM for 2016.
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The Patriots have decided to waive center Bryan Stork after a trade that would have sent Stork to the Redskins fell through, according to Doug Kyed of NESN.com (Twitter link).
For those of you keeping score at home, here’s the finally tally of Stork’s travels over the last week. On Wednesday, Stork was supposedly on the verge of being released by the Patriots. However, the Redskins got word that Stork was about to be released and, rather than fight it out with other teams on the open market, they worked out a trade with the Patriots. Hours later, it was learned that Stork was thinking about quitting football altogether. The Redskins got Stork to change his mind, but it turns out he’s not healthy enough to play right now anyway.
Stork, 25 (26 in November), emerged as the Patriots’ starting center just four weeks into his rookie season in 2014, and finished the year there. Pro Football Focus’ grades suggested that Stork’s performance was somewhat up and down, but most of his worst performances came during the first half of the season. In 2015, Stork suffered a concussion which limited him to just eight games.
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