Here are today’s practice squad moves.
New York Giants
- Signed: QB Logan Thomas (via the Giants, on Twitter)
- Cut: LB Deontae Skinner
Greg Roman‘s early-season dismissal has generated consistent fallout since the Bills and their OC parted ways on Friday. The latest comes from Bills sources who are glad the firing occurred.
“I haven’t talked to anybody that isn’t excited about the move,” a Bills source told Tom Pelissero of USA Today.
According to the sources, Bills players believed their offense lacked an identity, even as the team raced to the top of the NFL in rushing in 2015. They saw an offense that would change randomly from week to week instead of building on what was working, per Pelissero, leaving the team prone to three-and-outs when big plays didn’t occur.
Here’s the latest from the AFC East.
- The Dolphins did not appear to like DeVante Parker‘s approach to healing a troublesome hamstring this offseason, Armando Salguero of the Miami Herald writes. The second-year wideout’s nutritional habits were less than ideal, per Salguero, who adds the projected starter perhaps wasn’t doing enough in practice to prepare his muscles for game speed. Parker missed Week 1 with a hamstring injury.
- Similarly, the team has soured somewhat on Jay Ajayi. The second-year ball-carrier was a healthy scratch against the Seahawks and, per Salguero, did not like being deployed in Miami’s fourth preseason game. Another undetermined Ajayi action at the Dolphins’ facility helped lead to Adam Gase leaving him off the travel list for Seattle, Salguero reports, and Gase wanted to send him a professionalism-fueled message. The first-year coach told media Ajayi showed more maturity since the benching, but the 2015 fifth-round pick who was the starter before Arian Foster‘s arrival delivered the same response to nine questions Friday in a two-minute interview, Salguero reports.
- The Patriots paid out varying injury settlements to defensive lineman Frank Kearse, running back Tyler Gaffney and linebacker Kevin Snyder, Ben Volin of the Boston Globe reports. Kearse received $201K for what amounts to eight weeks of pay, with Gaffney’s Pats divorce netting the running back $117K, or six weeks’ salary, Volin reports. Snyder’s was just $25K (one week). The trio released from the Pats’ IR cannot sign with another team until their settlements pay out.
- Former New England executive Michael Lombardi has indeed resurfaced in the media, accepting a position with Fox Sports. On a Friday appearance on the Bill Simmons Podcast, the former Pats front office staffer and Browns GM categorized Jimmy Garoppolo as a superior deep-ball thrower to Tom Brady. “[Garoppolo] does things really well and in the right scheme, in the right system, he can be really effective. He throws the ball vertically down the field better than [Brady] does,” Lombardi told Simmons (via Doug Kyed of NESN.com). “And he can make throws all over the field. He can move around.” Kyed points out the 39-year-old Brady ranks 36th of 45 qualified quarterbacks with at least 100 deep attempts since 2012.
Despite Jeff Fisher‘s Rams underwhelming on opening night of their Los Angeles reboot, the subject of an extension for the longtime coach has been one of this week’s primary discussion topics. That continued on Saturday.
On the subject of a long-rumored extension for the fifth-year Rams coach, Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk reports “widespread belief” around the NFL points to the sides already having an extension in place. The sense around the league, Florio writes, is Fisher’s extension will be announced at an appropriate time for the Rams. Days after a 28-0 defeat to a 49ers team expected to finish last in the NFC West doesn’t look like the right time, in the event an agreement has been completed.
In the final season of a five-year, $35MM deal, Fisher evaded these rumors earlier this week but didn’t deny an extension was in place, only saying he would not discuss it publicly. This came on the heels of conflicting reports regarding the 58-year-old Fisher’s future.
We heard midway through the week the presumed extension for Fisher wasn’t on the table after the Rams became the first team to be blanked in Week 1 since the 2009 Rams, but another report emerged later saying re-ups for Fisher and GM Les Snead remained likely.
Under Fisher, the Rams have improved from their late-2000s swoon. Although, despite the franchise re-emerging as a competent operation following four years featuring three or fewer victories between 2007-11, the team has not finished above .500 under Fisher’s watch. The Rams have won seven games three times during the former Titans coach’s run.
Fisher is 169-157-1 in his 22-year coaching career, with the 157 losses tying him for third all-time. With 165 defeats, Dan Reeves (190-165-2) holds the NFL record for losses as a head coach. Fisher’s longevity lends itself to a high ranking in this category, but he trails both coaches ahead of him — Reeves and Tom Landry (250-162-6) — in wins by a considerable amount. It would be interesting if the Rams made a decision to extend Fisher as he approached this mark, but signs continue to point to the Los Angeles native remaining with the team.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
The Vikings intend to begin the Sam Bradford era on Sunday night, with the team set to displace Shaun Hill in the starting lineup and plug in the trade acquisition against the Packers, Ben Goessling of ESPN.com reports. A league source informed Goessling Bradford took each of the first-team snaps in practice this week.
Minnesota traded next year’s first-round pick and another selection that could rise to future second-rounder for the former No. 1 overall pick. The 28-year-old Bradford completed a career-best 65% of his passes for the Eagles in 2015, but when separated from Chip Kelly‘s offense, the ex-Heisman Trophy winner has never exceeded the 61% mark.
Hill guided the Vikings to a victory against the Titans but did not produce an offensive touchdown in Minnesota’s 25-16 road win. Bradford’s potential inability to make pre-snap adjustments after such a short time with the team played into Hill receiving the Week 1 nod, Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk notes.
Here’s more from the NFC North as Week 2 Sunday nears.
- Former Vikings scouting director Scott Studwell, who remains with the team in a different capacity after stepping down from that role two years ago, said the team was able to acquire middle linebacker Eric Kendricks in the second round last year due to the second-year player’s smaller stature. “Kendricks went in the second round because he’s 6-foot,” Studwell said, via Patrick Reusse of the Minneapolis Star Tribune. “In a perfect world, you might want a ‘Mike’ a bit bigger with Eric, but with his instincts for the ball, we’re not complaining. He’s a playmaker.”
- The Lions currently have Brandon Pettigrew on their PUP list but could opt to move on from the veteran tight end if they like what they see from current backup Cole Wick, Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press writes. Pettigrew tore his left ACL last December and reworked his contract due to his PUP standing earlier this month. He’s under contract through 2017 thanks to the four-year, $16MM deal he signed in 2014.
- A potential Browns–Jimmy Garoppolo union had big support from inside the franchise’s power structure in 2014 before Jimmy Haslam ordered the staff to select Johnny Manziel, Ben Volin of the Boston Globe reports. Volin, who notes the Browns studied the eventual second-round pick intensely, wonders if the new Browns’ brass would consider a Garoppolo trade after Tom Brady‘s suspension ends. The teams play in Week 5 in Cleveland, although the trade deadline doesn’t fall until November 1. A report earlier this week described third-round rookie Cody Kessler as being a ways away from being ready to contribute.
- The Bengals’ cornerback corps is flush with high draft picks, and the team added another in 2016 third-rounder KeiVarae Russell off waivers from the Chiefs.
On the heels of former Chargers GM A.J. Smith categorizing the team’s agreement with Los Angeles as basically a bluff, the team’s point man regarding the push for a downtown San Diego stadium responded.
“I can tell you if it was you or me or any other reasonable person, we’d be looking for a house somewhere on the west side of Los Angeles,” Fred Maas told Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune during a radio interview. “… There is a very fixed and firm opportunity that far surpasses whatever the best opportunity may be in San Diego.
“I can tell you first-hand — not from people I’ve spoken to at the NFL, not from rumor central — the only option other than Measure C [the downtown stadium] is a departure to Los Angeles. … Measure C is what is before the voters, and that is what we’re putting our full faith effort and credit into, but for that I’m afraid the most prudent choice would be to go north.”
The Chargers, as of now, need a two-thirds majority to pass this measure in November. Acee notes the team may be looking for a moral victory of sorts and a reason to stay in San Diego, one that could show up at the polls even if the number ultimately falls short of the two-thirds majority. The team acknowledges the measure will be difficult to pass at 66.6%.
Maas, who said he agreed to work with the Bolts on this project after observing Dean Spanos‘ desire to keep the team in San Diego, continued to maintain the voters have the choice of either keeping the Chargers via the measure passing or watching them move to a city they haven’t played in since 1960, the franchise’s first year.
“Who knows what happens after the election, though, but I’m telling you, I want to make sure I say it as unequivocally as I can, that really the option is staying here downtown and the choice that will be before voters — or not,” Maas said.
The team still has the option to share Stan Kroenke‘s Inglewood stadium when it opens in 2019. But Acee notes many in the league are believed not to want Los Angeles to have two teams, nor does the Rams’ owner want to share the market.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Shiloh Keo incurred a two-game suspension stemming from a DUI arrest this offseason and was scheduled to be eligible to return in advance of the Broncos’ Week 3 game. He will now be looking for another team after the defending Super Bowl champions released him from their suspended list, Mike Klis of 9News reports (on Twitter).
Keo functioned as a second-string safety for the Broncos after his notable Twitter plea to Wade Phillips partially led to a then-safety-depleted Denver team signing him midway through last season. However, Denver then drafted safeties Justin Simmons and Will Parks this year, and the former saw action in sub-packages against the Panthers.
Despite the DUI arrest, the Broncos re-signed Keo to a one-year, $760K deal in mid-April. They will now keep four safeties, with Simmons and Parks working as the second-teamers behind T.J. Ward and Darian Stewart. The latter is playing in the final season of a two-year contract.
Injuries to Ward, Stewart and David Bruton helped Keo see action in four regular-season games last season. He intercepted a fourth-quarter pass against the Chargers that resulted in the Broncos scoring the go-ahead touchdown shortly after and weeks later recovered the AFC title-cementing onside kick against the Patriots.
Originally a fifth-round Texans pick in 2011, the 28-year-old Keo started 11 games in 2013 and made 52 tackles.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Robert Griffin III took some criticism for putting himself in danger during the Browns‘ season-opener against the Eagles. On a third and 14, the speedy quarterback ran towards the sideline, where his ribs collided with Eagles cornerback Jalen Mills‘ helmet. The result? Well, if you haven’t heard, RG3 landed on the injured reserve.
Griffin explained the hit (and defended the play) to Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com:
“It was just an unlucky situation. I got pushed in the back — maybe not the hardest push — but I was running full speed, and I didn’t have an opportunity to slide before that. I felt like I could get out of bounds. That didn’t happen. I watched the play. I did get pushed in the back, and at the last second, the defender (Mills) came off of Gary, and hit me and I didn’t have an opportunity (to protect myself). That’s why I think what happened happened, because I didn’t get a chance to truly protect myself and that’s when I got hit underneath my shoulder pad.
“(But) not everybody wants to look at that. They want the sexy story. They want to say that I’m not protecting myself. It’s just something that happened and it’s unfortunate.”
Let’s check out some more notes from around the NFL…
- Falcons outside linebacker Vic Beasley is on the “hot seat,” writes D. Orlando Ledbetter of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Despite playing 39 snaps in the team’s season-opener against the Buccaneers, Beasley didn’t compile a single tackle. The former eighth-overall pick understands that he needs to produce if he wants to stay on the field, and his coach is optimistic that he can be a force on the Falcons defense. “I’m looking for his arrow to be going up in this game,” said Dan Quinn. “He just didn’t perform the way he’s capable of. When those opportunities come up to go make a play, can we just nail the technique just right?”
- The Panthers considered quarterback Blaine Gabbert with the first-overall pick in the 2011 draft, coach Ron Rivera told Joseph Person of The Charlotte Observer. The team ultimately preferred Cam Newton, who impressed the organization during his pre-draft visit. “As you go through it, you look for certain things, certain characteristics. And probably the biggest difference was the situation Cam had been in, going through the adversity and then coming out on top,” Rivera said. “Cam was tremendously impressive, and Blaine did a nice job for us.”
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The Jets need to handle the Darrelle Revis “problem” sooner than later, opines Mark Cannizzaro of The New York Post. The cornerback has struggled through his team’s first two games, and while the writer doesn’t anticipate a move to safety, he believes the Jets may start double-teaming the opposition’s top target.
Following one-plus seasons with the organization, the Chiefs have cut bait with a former draft pick. Terez A. Paylor of The Kansas City Star tweets that the team has waived defensive tackle Rakeem Nunez-Roches, replacing him with offensive lineman Jordan Devey.
The Southern Mississippi standout was selected by the Chiefs in the sixth round of the 2015 draft. Born in Dangriga, Belize, Nunez-Roches was the first Belizean-born NFL player. The 23-year-old played in seven games as a rookie, compiling only four tackles. The defensive tackle didn’t make an appearance during the Chiefs’ season-opener.
The team will be filling Nunez-Roches’ roster spot with Devey, who was experience playing all over the offensive line. The 28-year-old lineman has made 22 NFL appearances (13 starts) since going undrafted out of Memphis in 2013. The lineman won a Super Bowl with the Patriots in 2013, and he started four games for the team in 2014. Last summer, Devey was traded to the 49ers, and he proceeded to start a career-high nine games for the squad. The lineman was claimed by the Chiefs earlier in the 2016 offseason, and he ultimately made the team’s practice squad.
Long-time Ravens assistant coach Clarence Brooks has passed away following a battle with esophageal cancer, the team announced the morning. Brooks was 65-years-old, and he was the longest-tenured member of the Ravens’ coaching staff.
Brooks first joined the organization back in 2005 as the team’s defensive line coach, and John Harbaugh declared him “the greatest defensive line coach” he’s ever worked with. Jason La Canfora tweets that much of the Ravens defensive success has been attributed to Brooks, while Jeff Zrebiec of The Baltimore Sun tweets that Brooks was “one of most popular and beloved assistants that Ravens have ever had.”
Garrett Downing of BaltimoreRavens.com highlights the respect the Brooks had earned in the locker room, adding that it “was evident throughout the last two seasons as he continued coaching despite the cancer diagnoses.” His wife, Justa, also remarked on the impact he left on his players.
“We knew he loved his players,” she said. “Through all of this, we’ve found out how much his players loved him. We thank everyone for the loving support.”
Prior to his tenure with the Ravens, Brooks spent time on the Dolphins, Browns, and Bears coaching staff. He also coached at the University of Arizona, Syracuse, and the University of Massachusetts, where he played for three seasons.
Our thoughts and condolences are with Mr.Brooks’ family and friends.
After playing in his first game since 2014, 49ers offensive tackle Anthony Davis will likely miss this weekend’s contest against the Panthers. According to Matt Barrows of SacBee.com, Davis suffered a concussion during practice this week and has been ruled out for Sunday’s game.
It’s been a hectic start of the season for the 26-year-old. The lineman ended his brief retirement this offseason, but he reportedly missed a crucial practice prior to his team’s season-opener. Davis’ concerns apparently stemmed from his displeasure at playing offensive guard, although the lineman and coach Chip Kelly described the absence as a “miscommunication.” Davis ultimately served as the team’s reserve offensive tackle during their first game.
Davis, a first-round pick in 2010, had started all 71 of his NFL appearances prior to last weekend’s game. The lineman had originally announced his retirement during the summer of 2015, citing injury concerns.
With Davis out of the picture for this weekend’s game, the 49ers will likely rely on Trenton Brown and rookie John Theus to cover the offensive tackle spots.