Monday’s minor moves
New York Jets
- Placed on reserve/PUP list: S Saquan Hampton
Washington Football Team
- Waived: TE Marcus Baugh
The Chiefs carved out a few roster spots today by letting go of three players. Per the NFL’s transactions report, the team released offensive lineman Bryan Witzmann and tight end Sean Culkin. The team also waived quarterback Jordan Ta’amu.
Witzmann, 30, has managed to stick around the NFL for seven years despite going undrafted out of South Dakota State in 2014. The lineman made a name for himself with the Chiefs, appearing in 26 games (with 20 starts) between the 2016 and 2017 seasons. He appeared in 10 games (seven starts) for the Bears in 2018 before he was limited to only a pair of games with the Panthers in 2019.
The veteran spent much of the 2020 season as a free agent before catching on with the Chiefs practice squad in October. He ultimately saw time in only one game for Kansas City, although he did enough to get a new contract from the team back in February. The Chiefs have been active revamping their offensive line this offseason, and Witzmann is just the latest casualty.
Culkin has started 12 of his 19 games since entering the NFL in 2017, but he’s only hauled in a pair of catches. He spent the majority of the 2020 season with the Ravens, and he inked a reserve/futures contract with the Chiefs back in February.
Ta’amu has bounced around the NFL since going undrafted out of Ole Miss in 2019, spending time with the Texans, Lions, and Chiefs (two stints). He joined Kansas City’s practice squad in January and later inked a reserve/futures contract with the organization. The quarterback also spent time in the XFL, earning a Player of the Week award.
Nate Orchard‘s stint with the Titans has come to an end. The Titans released the veteran linebacker today, per the NFL ‘s official transactions report. Tennessee also waived tight end Parker Hesse and long snapper Matt Orzech.
The 2015 second-round pick lived up to his draft stock during his rookie season, finishing with three sacks and four QB hits. After spending most of his sophomore campaign on the IR, Orchard settled into a backup role with the Browns in 2017, but he was cut by Cleveland prior to the 2018 campaign. Since that time, the veteran has bounced around the NFL, spending time with the Bills, Chiefs, Seahawks, Dolphins, Washington, and Texans. He saw time in three games for WFT last season, collecting a pair of tackles.
After getting cut by Washington in November, Orchard caught on with the Titans practice squad. He inked a futures contract with the organization in January. Ultimately, the 28-year-old won’t make it to training camp with the organization.
Orzech, a 2019 undrafted free agent, got into 16 games as a rookie with the Jaguars. In 2020, he had stints with the Jaguars and Dolphins before landing with the Titans practice squad.
Hesse, a former University of Iowa standout, spent most of the 2020 season on Tennessee’s practice squad.
The Browns have added some more competition for Cody Parkey. Cleveland was awarded Chase McLaughlin off waivers from the Jets, Field Yates of ESPN.com tweets.
The Jets had claimed McLaughlin off waivers themselves from the Jaguars last December. He’s already bounced around a remarkable portion of the league considering he only entered the NFL as an UDFA in 2019. Despite playing just two seasons, McLaughlin has already spent time with the Bills, Vikings, Chargers, 49ers, Colts, Vikings (again), Jaguars, Jets, and now Browns.
He’s now played for a fourth of the league, and only just turned 25. Most of those stints were obviously short, and a few were just on the practice squad or during the preseason. As far as regular season action goes, McLaughlin kicked in a few games for the Colts, Chargers, and 49ers all in 2019. He then kicked in three for the Jags last year and one for the Jets.
In his career, the Illinois product is 22/28 on field goals and 31/32 on extra points. Parkey was solid but not spectacular in his first year in Cleveland in 2020, making 19 of 22 field goals and 43 of 47 extra points. The Browns never even had him attempt one from beyond 50 yards. They also currently have Matthew McCrane on the offseason roster.
The Colts just gave Eric Fisher $9.4MM for the 2021 season, but don’t count on him being ready to play right away. There’s a chance Fisher isn’t ready to play until early October, Ian Rapoport of NFL Network tweets.
That would mean Fisher could easily miss the first month-plus of the season. Rapoport writes that the Colts “won’t push” Fisher in his rehab, despite the fact they’ve only got him on a short-term deal. The Colts signed Sam Tevi this offseason, who will presumably open the year as the starter protecting Carson Wentz‘s blindside. That’s not very good news for Wentz.
Tevi was a starter for the Chargers the past three seasons, but the 2017 sixth-round pick never played very well. There’s a reason Indy was able to sign him for only $2.5MM back in March. Regardless the team surprised many by not drafting a tackle, so it appears they’re comfortable with Tevi.
Fisher, of course, tore his Achilles in January. The first overall pick of the 2013 draft made the Pro Bowl for his work during the regular season, but has now suffered serious injuries in back to back years. Either way, he’s about the best possible Anthony Castonzo replacement Colts fans could’ve hoped for at this time of year.
Two quarterbacks will be reporting to Green Bay this weekend, and neither are named Aaron Rodgers. The Packers will host Chad Kelly and Kurt Benkert at their rookie minicamp this weekend for tryouts, sources told Tom Pelissero of NFL Network (Twitter link). They’ll be the only two signal-callers brought in for now, Rob Demovsky of ESPN.com tweets.
The Packers currently only have two passers on the roster, Rodgers and Jordan Love. Rodgers likely isn’t showing up any time soon, meaning they really only currently have one guy willing to throw the ball for them. As such, they’ll be signing at least a quarterback or two soon, as GM Brian Gutekunst recently acknowledged. Kelly and Benkert will get the first cracks at being those guys.
Kelly is well known to many football fans for being the nephew of Hall of Fame quarterback Jim Kelly, and for his rollercoaster college career that had plenty of ups and downs (including some off-field issues). The Broncos drafted Kelly with the final pick of the 2017 draft, and he was released midway through the 2018 season after getting arrested for trespassing.
After serving a two-game suspension for that he was with the Colts the past two seasons, mostly on the practice squad. Benkert is a 2018 UDFA from Virginia, who has spent the past three seasons with the Falcons. He’s mostly been on Atlanta’s practice squad, and was waived back in February.
Well, it’s pretty much official now. The Jaguars are “planning to” sign Tim Tebow as the former star quarterback makes his NFL return as a tight end, sources told Ian Rapoport and Tom Pelissero of NFL Network (Twitter link).
Rapsheet writes that the deal “could be official in the next week or so.” He also reports it’ll be a one-year contract, unsurprisingly. Things have been trending in this direction for a while, with Tony Khan (son of Jaguars owner Shad Khan) recently saying Urban Meyer wanted him on the team.
Meyer, of course, coached Tebow during their glory days together at Florida. Pelissero tweets that Tebow is still “a long shot to make the team,” but it sounds like he’ll have his chance at training camp. It’s not like the Jaguars have a ton at tight end right now, as Meyer recently highlighted when discussing the team’s interest.
Tebow hasn’t played in a real NFL game since the 2012 season. His last pro football stint was with the Eagles during the 2015 preseason. He’s since attempted a pro baseball career, spending time in the minor leagues with the Mets, which he just recently retired from.
If nothing else, you’ve got to admire his resiliency and work ethic. Teams had wanted Tebow to try out at tight end in the past, but he always refused. Turning 34 in August, it’s unclear how much he’ll have left in the tank physically, but it’ll be a fun storyline to monitor this summer no matter what
The Patriots are bringing in a familiar face for some defensive depth. New England has agreed to terms with free agent linebacker Harvey Langi, his agent Kenny Zuckerman tweets.
Pats fans may remember Langi, since the team signed him as an undrafted free agent back in 2017. At the time he was arguably the most sought after undrafted free agent of the class, as the Patriots gave him over $100K guaranteed to sign with them. He ended up only appearing in one game as a rookie, and spent most of the year on the NFI list as the result of a car crash.
He was waived at final cuts the following year, and quickly scooped up by the Jets. After spending 2018 on New York’s practice squad, he began to make a real impact in 2019. Langi played in 30 games with the Jets the past two years, starting nine.
In 2020 he started six games, finishing with 60 tackles. Despite playing 45 percent of the defensive snaps, the Jets elected not to tender him as a restricted free agent this offseason. Now, he’s getting another chance to impress Bill Belichick.
The Chargers are adding some depth to their defensive line. Los Angeles has agreed to terms with free agent defensive tackle Christian Covington, his agent David Canter announced on Twitter.
The Chargers previously had Linval Joseph, but not much else at defensive tackle. With Melvin Ingram leaving in free agency, their defensive front depth as a whole had been looking pretty thin. Covington was drafted by the Texans in the sixth-round back in 2015, and became a solid contributor and part-time starter in Houston.
In his final season with the Texans in 2018 he had his best year as a pass-rusher, racking up 3.5 sacks coming up the middle in only 12 games. He signed a one-year deal with Dallas in 2019, then a one-year $1.75MM contract with the Broncos last offseason.
He never ended up playing a game for Denver, as the Broncos traded him to the Bengals right before the start of last season. He appeared in all 16 games for Cincy, starting 14, and notching a career-high 39 tackles. The folks over at Pro Football Focus gave him middling grades for his work. He’ll turn 28 in October.
The Colts have agreed to sign Eric Fisher, as Adam Schefter of ESPN.com tweets. Once finalized, it’ll be a one-year, $9.4MM deal for the Pro Bowl tackle.
Fisher will now be tasked with protecting Carson Wentz’s blindside. He’ll also have some big shoes to fill, taking over for the job previously held by Anthony Castonzo. The former No. 1 overall pick should be well equipped for the role and he certainly profiles as a better option than the incumbents. After passing on elite tackles in the draft, the Colts were left with newcomers Sam Tevi and Julie’n Davenport as their best LT candidates.
The 30-year-old did not miss a start due to injury from 2014-18, but core muscle surgery derailed him afterwards. But, when he retook the field in 2019, he helped lift the Chiefs to a late-season win streak that culminated in a Super Bowl LIV victory. Last year, he was wiped out by an Achilles tear. The Chiefs opted to release him this offseason, paving the way for former Ravens standout Orlando Brown Jr.
The Colts are comfortable with Fisher’s rehab (Twitter link via NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport), though he’s less than certain to be ready for Week 1. Either way, it’s a notable upgrade for Indy, especially since they can now keep guard Quenton Nelson on the interior.