HEADLINES

Month: January 2025

Saints Sign Anthony Chickillo, Margus Hunt To Practice Squad

September 6th, 2020 at 4:04pm CST by Sam Robinson

Two of the Saints’ most notable Saturday cuts will stay with the team. Both Anthony Chickillo and Margus Hunt opted to stay with New Orleans, joining the practice squad Sunday.

The Saints signed Chickillo, a five-year Steelers linebacker, and Hunt — a former first-round defensive lineman whom the Colts cut earlier this year — earlier this year. Each will represent a veteran slot on the Saints’ P-squad.

Teams are permitted, thanks to the COVID-19-altered rules, to carry six veterans of unlimited service time on their taxi squads this year. Here is New Orleans’ full squad:

Johnathan Cyprien, Dion Jordan Land On 49ers’ Practice Squad

September 6th, 2020 at 3:54pm CST by Sam Robinson

A 71-game starter throughout a seven-year career, Johnathan Cyprien expressed skepticism about joining the 49ers’ practice squad recently. Kyle Shanahan expressed intrigue about the opportunity to carry up to six experienced players on his 2020 practice squad. But the 49ers made the longtime safety one of their cuts Saturday, and he changed his tune.

Cyprien, 30, agreed to join San Francisco’s practice squad. He will make $12K per week for each week he is on the 49ers’ P-squad. Were he to be promoted to the active roster, that rate would change to at least the veteran minimum.

Cyprien was a full-time Jaguars starter for four seasons, from 2013-16, and started 10 games for the 2017 Titans. He has not been a regular first-stringer since, however. He will join former Bears top-10 pick Dion Jordan and Kevin White on the 49ers’ P-squad.

San Francisco signed White recently, but he did not make the active roster. The 49ers added Jordan this offseason as well. The former No. 3 overall pick played rotational roles with the Seahawks and Raiders over the past three seasons. While suspensions have defined the defensive end’s career, he will have another chance to stay with a team — albeit in unusual fashion.

Here is the 49ers’ full practice squad:

Eagles Sign Josh McCown To Practice Squad

September 6th, 2020 at 3:39pm CST by Andrew Ortenberg

Well this is an unusual arrangement we didn’t see coming. The Eagles are signing veteran quarterback Josh McCown to their practice squad, Adam Schefter of ESPN.com tweets.

Thanks to a new COVID-19 exception veterans will be able to serve on practice squads, making this possible. As Schefter notes, he’ll easily be the oldest practice squad player in NFL history. Making the situation even more unique, McCown won’t even be reporting to the team. Instead McCown will continue to live in Texas, earn a $12K weekly salary, and serve as Philly’s emergency quarterback remotely.

McCown’s lovable journeyman career has taken him all over the football world, so it feels right for him to blaze this unheard of trail. We had heard back in January the Eagles were talking about adding him to the coaching staff, and this is the next best thing.

After originally announcing his retirement in June of last year, he signed with Philly last August after they had a couple of injuries. After serving as Carson Wentz‘s backup and not starting a game he was suddenly thrown into the spotlight when Wentz went down in the Eagles’ first round playoff game against Seattle.

McCown came into the game cold off the bench and nearly led them to a miracle victory, tearing his hamstring in the process and playing through the injury.

The Eagles have Nate Sudfeld and Jalen Hurts behind Wentz now, but in these uncertain times it can’t hurt to have too much insurance. McCown has turned into a fan favorite over the course of his career that started in 2002 with the Cardinals, and this is a nice feather in his cap.

Here is Philly’s full practice squad:

* = international player

Falcons To Carry Two QBs On Practice Squad

September 6th, 2020 at 3:30pm CST by Sam Robinson

The Falcons agreed to add 14 players to their practice squad Sunday. Teams can re-sign players they cut to P-squads if they clear waivers after Saturday’s cuts.

Atlanta will take the unusual step of carrying two P-squad quarterbacks. The team cut both Kyle Lauletta and Kurt Benkert on Saturday, but both landed on the Falcons’ taxi squad. Teams are allowed to carry 16 players — up from 10 in 2019 — on their squads.

Benkert, who was with Atlanta in 2019, and Lauletta — a recent Giants draftee who recently joined the Falcons — will play behind active-roster QBs Matt Ryan and Matt Schaub. Here is the Falcons’ full squad:

Cowboys To Sign Brandon Carr To Practice Squad

September 6th, 2020 at 3:15pm CST by Sam Robinson

Brandon Carr is coming back to the Cowboys. However, he will do so in an unusual way. The 12-year veteran agreed to join Dallas’ practice squad, Michael Gehlken of the Dallas Morning News tweets.

As recently as a few years ago, he would not have been eligible to do so. But the NFL has loosened the practice squad eligibility requirements, and in this COVID-19-altered landscape, more veterans are allowed on taxi squads. Carr will bring a preposterous 192 career starts to the Cowboys’ practice squad.

Carr, who started every game for Dallas from 2012-16, visited the Cowboys earlier this week. The Ravens made him a free agent by not picking up his 2020 option.

Teams are allowed to carry up to six veterans with unlimited experience onto their P-squads this year. Carr will obviously be the most experienced of Dallas’ practice squad players. Here are the rest of the players on that unit, as of Sunday afternoon:

Lions Set Initial Practice Squad

September 6th, 2020 at 2:58pm CST by Andrew Ortenberg

The Lions have announced their initial practice squad in a release, with Detroit adding 16 players to the unit:

Blough was an undrafted rookie from Purdue last year who ended up starting five games after injuries to Matthew Stafford and Jeff Driskel. The offseason addition of Chase Daniel made Blough expendable, but he’ll serve as the third quarterback.

Wiggins has been in the league since 2012, and he has extensive starting experience. He’s started 13 games for Detroit over the past two years, and will probably be the first guy getting called up if there are offensive line injuries. Williams carried the ball 49 times for Indy last year, but he’ll have a tough time getting any snaps now that the Lions have also added Adrian Peterson.

Bears Announce 16-Man Practice Squad

September 6th, 2020 at 2:36pm CST by Andrew Ortenberg

Teams are starting to announce their full expanded practice squads, and we’ll be bringing you recaps all day. Just in is the Chicago Bears, who announced a full slate of 16 players:

  • QB Tyler Bray
  • RB Artavis Pierce
  • WR Reggie Davis
  • S Stephen Denmark
  • WR Thomas Ives
  • WR Rodney Adams
  • TE Jesper Horsted
  • OL Sam Mustipher
  • OL Jamon Brown
  • OL Lachavious Simmons
  • OL Badara Traore
  • DT Abdullah Anderson
  • DE LaCale London
  • LB Rashad Smith
  • S Xavier Crawford
  • K Cairo Santos

Bray has bounced between the practice squad and active roster the past couple of years now, and will serve as the third quarterback behind Mitchell Trubisky and Nick Foles. Santos is a veteran kicker with a good amount of experience. Right after he was cut we heard the Bears might be planning on him kicking Week 1 against the Lions if Eddy Pineiro still isn’t ready to come back from his groin injury.

Everybody on this list was with the Bears for camp except Brown, who was cut by the Falcons last month. He signed a three-year $18.75MM deal last March, and started nine games for Atlanta last season.

Giants Cut WR Corey Coleman

September 6th, 2020 at 2:05pm CST by Andrew Ortenberg

Another former first-round pick is getting cut loose. The Giants gave receiver Corey Coleman the axe today to make room for some of their waiver claims, the team announced.

Coleman has had a tough time in the pros since the Browns drafted him 15th overall in 2016. Injuries and clashes with the coaching staff caused Coleman to fall out of favor in Cleveland, and he was dealt to Buffalo after just two seasons. The Bills quickly cut him, and after spending some time on New England’s practice squad he found a home in New York.

He spent the back half of 2018 as the Giants’ kick returner, and was looking to compete for a real receiving role in camp last year. Unfortunately he went down with a torn ACL and missed the entire 2019 campaign. He made the initial 53 this time around but that lasted only about a day.

Giants beat reporters were pretty surprised by this move, as Coleman had been expected to be the kick returner yet again. Still only 26 Coleman figures to be a prime candidate for the practice squad, but his draft status no longer carries too much weight and he’s running out of chances.

Cardinals Sign DE Angelo Blackson

September 6th, 2020 at 1:44pm CST by Andrew Ortenberg

The Cardinals are bolstering their defensive line. Arizona has added recently cut former Texans defensive end Angelo Blackson to its 53-man roster, Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle tweets.

Blackson signed a three-year $12MM extension with Houston in March of 2019, but couldn’t make it through that pact. Blackson started 15 games last year and played around 40 percent of the defensive snaps, but he wasn’t too productive as he finished with only 20 tackles and no sacks.

A fourth-round pick back in 2015, Blackson was originally drafted by the Titans and spent his first two years in Tennessee. He was then cut and spent time on the Patriots’ practice squad before finding a home in Houston. He took a pay cut a few weeks ago which dropped his salary from $4MM to $2.5MM, but even that wasn’t enough to save his roster spot.

Eagles Cut CB Cre’Von LeBlanc

September 6th, 2020 at 1:21pm CST by Andrew Ortenberg

The Eagles are making a bit of a surprise move. Philadelphia is releasing cornerback Cre’Von LeBlanc, the team announced on Twitter.

The cut leaves Philly with only four cornerbacks on the roster, including a banged up Avonte Maddox, so another move is coming. Eagles beat writer Eliot Shorr-Parks tweeted that he thinks the team is hoping to be able to re-siign LeBlanc after they place somebody else on injured reserve. The team claimed LeBlanc off waivers midway through the 2018 season, and he ended up starting four games for them that year.

He signed a one-year extension in September of last year, but ended up missing most of 2019 with a foot injury. Still the team thought highly enough of him to use one of their IR/designated for return spots on him, and he appeared in four games with one start.

The Eagles have been cleaning house in their secondary this week, already waiving former second-round pick Sidney Jones and former third-round pick Rasul Douglas. It looks like LeBlanc may be brought back, and we’ll keep you posted if he is.

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