2016 August - Pro Football Rumors

Lions To Release Geoff Schwartz

August 29th, 2016 at 10:11am CST by Zachary Links

The Lions will release Geoff Schwartz today, as Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press tweets. Schwartz is healthy but the team’s logjam on the offensive line left him on the outside. By releasing Schwartz today, the Lions are giving the veteran a little bit of a head start on finding his next job.

Schwartz, 29, signed a four-year contract with the Giants in March 2014, but injuries limited him to just 13 games over two seasons for New York. This offseason, he inked a one-year deal with Detroit. His Lions deal marked his fifth team in nine NFL seasons, though he never got to suit up for them in a regular season game. Schwartz has also had stops in Carolina, Minnesota, and Kansas City since entering the league as a seventh-round pick in 2008.

After trading for guard Brandon Thomas on Sunday, there was no room left for Schwartz. The Lions are now decidedly younger on the O-Line than they were one year ago.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Jets Receiving Trade Interest In Geno Smith?

August 29th, 2016 at 9:15am CST by Zachary Links

Does Geno Smith have trade value? Apparently, there are at least a couple of teams out there with at least a little bit of interest in the Jets quarterback. There is “soft interest around the league in Smith,” according to Manish Mehta of the New York Daily News.

Teams have called the Jets to ask about their surplus players at a few different positions, including quarterback. Those types of calls are very common during this time of year when teams are trimming down from 90 to 75, then from 75 to 53. However, it’s interesting to note that some executives are intrigued by Smith despite his struggles in New York and his awful luck in 2015.

For his part, Smith said this summer that he will not rule out a future with the Jets in 2017 and beyond. The Jets, meanwhile, seem to have other plans at the position. Ryan Fitzpatrick will be the starter this season and the Jets are hoping that rookie Christian Hackenberg will be the go-to guy down the line. That leaves Bryce Petty and Smith to battle over the primary backup spot and some reports have indicated that Petty has looked better than Smith so far this summer.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Ravens Place Watson, Arrington On IR

August 29th, 2016 at 9:07am CST by Zachary Links

The Ravens took a big step towards getting their roster down to 75 today. The Ravens announced that they have placed veteran tight end Ben Watson and cornerback Kyle Arrington on injured reserve. Meanwhile, the team has also waived eight other players and cut one.

Both Watson and Arrington suffered their season-ending injuries during preseason. In the Ravens’ preseason opener against the Panthers, Arrington suffered a concussion that he has yet to recover from. Watson, meanwhile, tore his Achilles on Saturday night against the Lions.

The Ravens cut linebacker Kavell Conner and he’ll immediately hit the free agent market as a vested veteran. Meanwhile, the following eight players have been waived:

G Jarell Broxton
DT Trevon Coley
WR Dobson Collins
C Anthony Fabiano
WR Chuck Jacobs
QB Jerrod Johnson
LB Mario Ojemudia
WR Darius White

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Latest On Cowboys’ QB Search

August 29th, 2016 at 8:59am CST by Zachary Links

The Cowboys will spend the next week searching for a quarterback with Tony Romo sidelined, but any quarterback they bring in will be No. 2 on the depth chart behind Dak Prescott, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets. Prescott will be Dallas’ starter until Tony Romo is ready to return.

Meanwhile, it doesn’t sound like the Cowboys and Browns will get together on a Josh McCown trade (link). Apparently, between the Browns’ asking price and McCown’s salary, it’s all a little too rich for the Cowboys’ blood. Earlier this summer, it was reported that the Browns were seeking a fourth-round pick for McCown. The Cowboys, meanwhile, didn’t want to give up anything of value for the veteran signal caller and it was speculated that they would not sacrifice more than a sixth-rounder for him.

Romo suffered a compression fracture to his L1 vertebra. He will not need surgery on his back, but the 36-year-old could miss 6-10 weeks as he heals up.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Redskins To Work Out Cullen Jenkins

August 29th, 2016 at 8:50am CST by Zachary Links

The Redskins are on the lookout for some veteran help on the defensive line. Cullen Jenkins is on his way to the Washington D.C. area to work out for the Redskins, according to Chris Cooley of ESPN 980 (on Twitter).

Jenkins, 35, spent the first seven years of his career with the Packers before hooking on with the Eagles (2011, 2012) and the Giants (2013-2015). You may also know Jenkins as the victim of a Damontre Moore outburst in New York when Moore did not receive a free pair of Beats by Dre headphones in the Giants locker room.

Last season, the defensive end started in 14 games for the Giants and appeared in all 16 contests. He tallied 26 tackles and 3.0 sacks.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Colts Release Four Players

August 29th, 2016 at 8:44am CST by Zachary Links

The Colts have released four players as they continue to trim their way down to a 75-man roster. On Monday morning, the Colts announced that they have released tight end Konrad Reuland while waiving wide receiver Daniel Anthrop, tackle Keith Lumpkin, and running back Trey Williams.

Reuland was at the bottom of the Colts’ tight end depth chart with Dwayne Allen, Jack Doyle, Erik Swoope, and Darion Griswold all ahead of him. The well-traveled 29-year-old appeared in 26 games for the Jets between 2012 and 2013 and also appeared in four games for the Ravens last season.

The Colts’ roster now stands at 77 thanks to the wave of cuts made over the weekend. They must drop two more players between now and the 75-man deadline.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

49ers Could Cut Colin Kaepernick

August 29th, 2016 at 8:36am CST by Zachary Links

49ers coach Chip Kelly has said that Colin Kaepernick‘s controversial decision not to stand for the national anthem will not affect his standing in the team’s quarterback competition. However, there’s now word that Kaepernick could potentially be released before the start of the season for football reasons.

“Regardless of politics or not, he has a very, very big uphill battle to make this team,” insider Jay Glazer said on FOX. “I’d be shocked if he’s on the 49ers by the time this season ends. It has nothing to do with political views whatsoever. He lost a ton of weight this offseason, had three surgeries, couldn’t work out, lost that double threat, that size-speed ratio. No political views, he just hasn’t been effective. He’s regressing as a player. I’d be shocked if he’s on this roster by the end of this year. He may not be on it in the next two weeks.”

It would certainly be surprising if the 49ers cut their one-time franchise quarterback before the start of the season, particularly given that his $11.9MM salary is guaranteed for 2016. By releasing Kaepernick, the Niners would effectively be saying that regardless of salary, Christian Ponder and Jeff Driskel are both better quarterbacks than he is at this moment. It’s also possible that the Niners view Kaepernick’s presence as a distraction and they may not want him lurking over Blaine Gabbert‘s shoulder in 2016.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Bryan Stork Trade Rescinded

August 29th, 2016 at 8:21am CST by Zachary Links

Bryan Stork won’t be joining the Redskins after all. The center failed his physical with his new team, meaning that the trade between the Redskins and the Patriots has been rescinded, as Chris Cooley of ESPN 980 tweets. Stork’s rights will revert back to the Patriots while the Redskins get the conditional seventh-round pick back.

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.

Had Stork actually joined Washington, he would have likely slotted in as the No. 2 center to Kory Lichtensteiger. In fact, there were some rumblings that the Redskins were hoping that Stork could push Lichtensteiger for the starting job. Now, Washington will have to look for interior line help elsewhere.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Patriots Cut Terrance Knighton

August 29th, 2016 at 8:14am CST by Zachary Links

The Patriots have had enough Pot Roast. Veteran defensive lineman Terrance Knighton was released by the Pats this morning, as first reported by Knighton himself on Twitter. By cutting Knighton, the Pats save $900K in salary and $3MM in bonuses.

This offseason, the Pats inked Knighton to a one-year, $4.5MM deal. However, he struggled in the team’s second preseason game against Chicago and he did not log a single defensive snap during New England’s third preseason contest against Carolina on Friday night. Knighton found himself slipping on the Pats’ depth chart in recent weeks and his salary was no longer justifiable for the team, even though they have seen stars like Rob Ninkovich go down with injuries.

Knighton, who started his career in Jacksonville, spent two seasons in Denver before heading to Washington for the 2015 campaign. The 30-year-old has been very durable in his first seven NFL seasons, appearing in 108 total regular-season games, including 96 starts.

A nose tackle in Washington’s 3-4 scheme, Pot Roast logged 29 tackles and 1.5 sacks in 2015. Although he didn’t have quite the same impact last year that he did during his final season as a Bronco, Knighton ranked in the top half of Pro Football Focus’ list of qualified interior defenders, placing 58th out of 123 players. Predictably, PFF assigned Knighton a much better grade as a run defender than as a pass rusher.

The Patriots now must release six more players by 3pm CT on Tuesday in order to reach the 75 man max.

Photo courtesy of PFR on Instagram.

Browns Cut Paul Kruger, Others

August 29th, 2016 at 8:00am CST by Zachary Links

The Browns have released linebacker Paul Kruger, as Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com writes. Also in this wave of cuts were kicker Travis Coons, quarterback Austin Davis and tight end E.J. Bibbs.

Kruger recorded 11.0 sacks in 2014, but last season he saw his sack count drop to 2.5. Over the summer, Kruger didn’t perform as well as the team had hoped and today he became a roster casualty as the club focuses more on its young players. According to Cabot, Friday night’s preseason game against the Bucs was Kruger’s last chance to make a strong impression on the team but he failed to do that as he didn’t get close to sacking starter Jameis Winston.

Kruger came to the Browns in 2013 when he inked a five-year free agent deal worth $40.5MM, including $13MM guaranteed. He was under contract through next season at $6.5MM this year and $7MM next year. Now, the Browns will save millions by cutting him loose.

Meanwhile, the release of Coons means that former Bucs kicker Patrick Murray has won the Browns’ kicking job.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.