HEADLINES

Month: September 2024

Saints To Cut DE Noah Spence

August 15th, 2021 at 6:17pm CST by Sam Robinson

A 2021 rule tweak will force teams to cut down to 85 players by Tuesday, and the Saints included a former second-round pick in their first group of cuts. They intend to release defensive end Noah Spence, according to Nick Underhill of NewOrleans.football (on Twitter).

Despite Spence tearing his ACL in 2020, the Saints brought him back on a one-year deal worth the league minimum. The former Buccaneers second-rounder, however, could not make enough of an impression to stick with the Saints beyond the first cutdown day.

This marks another setback for Spence, who has been a preseason cut previously. The Bucs jettisoned him in August 2019, and while Spence found his way to Washington later that year, he wound up being waived by the NFC East franchise as well. The Saints scooped him up in March 2020, but the ACL tear marred any game action.

An Ohio State cog who transferred to Eastern Kentucky, Spence flashed as a Bucs rookie by registering 5.5 sacks. In 18 games from 2017-18, however, the pass rusher combined for just one. New Orleans did not include any fully guaranteed money in Spence’s latest deal.

The Saints are also waiving running back Stevie Scott, Underhill tweets. The Indiana product caught on with the team as a rookie UDFA but will now head to the waiver wire.

Minor NFL Transactions: 8/15/21

August 15th, 2021 at 5:48pm CST by Rory Parks

Here are today’s minor moves. All teams must cut their rosters to 85 players by 4pm ET on Tuesday.

Buffalo Bills

Cincinnati Bengals

  • Cut: TE Pro Wells

Detroit Lions

Minnesota Vikings

New England Patriots

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

  • Cut: CB Cameron Kinley, TE De’Quan Hampton and WR Josh Pearson

Tennessee Titans

Washington Football Team

QB Notes: Patriots, Dak, Brady, Rosen

August 15th, 2021 at 5:37pm CST by Sam Robinson

Shortly after the draft, Bill Belichick said Cam Newton was the Patriots‘ starter and Mac Jones would develop behind him. Through two-plus weeks of training camp, a competition could be brewing. The gap between Newton and Jones has narrowed, Mike Reiss of ESPN.com notes. It is not certain if Jones can mount a legitimate charge to unseat Newton for Week 1, but modern NFL history — excepting the Packers’ blueprints — points to this transition happening this season. Newton has never played a backup role as a pro, so it would be interesting to see how the Patriots would proceed if Jones beats him out. If Jones does end up winning the job, Belichick giving Newton a choice to either stay with the Patriots or be released would not surprise Reiss. New England re-signed Brian Hoyer this offseason and has Jarrett Stidham on its roster.

Here is the latest quarterback news from around the league:

  • The Cowboys are being cautious with Dak Prescott‘s injured shoulder, but good news continues to emerge on the sixth-year quarterback. After a strange update by the Cowboys’ Twitter account indicated Prescott would undergo a second MRI, Clarence Hill of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram notes that exam took place Saturday and revealed progress. Dak’s ailing shoulder is healing on schedule (Twitter link). Prescott threw before the Cowboys’ second preseason game this weekend and experienced no pain in doing so, according to NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport (video link). Prescott is likely to return to practice this week, and Rapoport notes playing in one preseason game is on the table. It does not appear, at this point, Cowboys fans should be concerned about Dak missing Week 1.
  • Kyle Shanahan said recently Josh Rosen was trending downward. The former top-10 pick, who is vying for the 49ers‘ third-string job, took a couple of steps back in recent practices, per Shanahan (via the San Francisco Chronicle’s Eric Branch). In Rosen’s preseason debut with the team, he completed 10 of 15 passes for 93 yards but threw an interception. When asked postgame about Shanahan’s critique, Rosen said he does not receive many practice reps in the first place, per Branch, who adds it is unlikely Rosen gained ground in his competition with Nate Sudfeld to make the team’s 53-man roster. Sudfeld did not play in the 49ers’ preseason opener. The 49ers keeping both, with the competition’s loser on the practice squad, is in play. But Rosen losing this battle would represent another setback in a pro career filled with them.
  • As you’ve surely heard in recent years, Tom Brady wants to play until age 45. The future first-ballot Hall of Famer recently signed a Buccaneers extension that runs through 2022, and longtime trainer Alex Guerrero said during an appearance on the Adam Schefter Podcast (via Boston.com) his client should not be expected to retire after this season. Guerrero said Brady playing beyond 2022 would not surprise. Brady has kept this door open, though the 44-year-old quarterback has not committed to playing beyond next season.

Aaron Rodgers Wants Packers To Re-Sign Clay Matthews?

August 15th, 2021 at 4:48pm CST by Sam Robinson

SUNDAY: Although Gutekunst did send the Texans a draft pick for Cobb, he is not moving on a Matthews reunion. The fourth-year Green Bay GM said he and his staff have not discussed bringing back Matthews, via Rob Demovsky of ESPN.com (on Twitter).

SATURDAY: While personnel suggestions from players on social media generally do not carry too much weight, the Packers have already acted on one of their starting quarterback’s requests since his return. Aaron Rodgers may be advocating for another of his high-profile ex-teammates to be brought back.

Already successfully pushing the Packers to reacquire Randall Cobb, Rodgers followed Cobb and David Bakhtiari in voicing Instagram support (h/t Bleacher Report) for the team to re-sign Clay Matthews.

During his lengthy press conference explaining some of his issues with the Packers, Rodgers discussed the team’s past decisions to let certain standouts walk. Cobb and Matthews came up in one expansive response. The Packers traded for Cobb soon after. While Cobb is back in Wisconsin after two years in Texas, Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk notes the Packers are not believed to be interested in re-signing Matthews.

Green Bay let Matthews walk after the 2018 season, and he signed with the Rams. The Packers’ five-year, $66MM extension for Matthews delivered mixed results. While the 2013 deal did precede Matthews making his fifth and sixth Pro Bowls, those honors came in 2014 and ’15. The former first-round pick’s production declined in the years that followed. In 2018, Matthews recorded just 3.5 sacks and 12 QB hits in 16 games. Green Bay moved on from Matthews and edge-rushing mate Nick Perry, with GM Brian Gutekunst adding Za’Darius and Preston Smith in free agency. That outside linebacker changeover has worked out well for the team.

Matthews, 35, did not play last season. After the Rams cut bait on his two-year deal, he turned down an offer from the Broncos and sat out the season amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Matthews did provide a spark to the 2019 Rams, recording eight sacks and two forced fumbles in 13 games. He missed three games that season with a broken jaw.

The Packers still roster both outside linebacker Smiths and have 2019 first-rounder Rashan Gary at that spot, giving the team one of the league’s top pass-rushing stables. Matthews has not been connected to a team since the Broncos offer, which came shortly after Von Miller‘s season-ending injury last September.

Cardinals Targeting Week 1 J.J. Watt Return

August 15th, 2021 at 4:43pm CST by Sam Robinson

The Cardinals acquired a few standout talents this offseason, but J.J. Watt was unquestionably their highest-profile addition. However, the three-time Defensive Player of the Year has not yet taken the field for his new team at training camp due to a hamstring injury.

It does not sound like the Cardinals are expecting Watt to return soon. The 11th-year defensive end remains on the team’s active/PUP list and may not be ready to come off it during the team’s preseason slate. Kliff Kingsbury, however, said he will feel comfortable deploying Watt in Week 1 even if he only practices in the days leading up to that game, per AZCardinals.com’s Darren Urban (via Twitter).

Watt said Saturday he feels “great” and expects to be on the field for the Cards’ season opener. He felt hamstring discomfort during his conditioning test at the outset of training camp. Watt’s injury has come at a time in which Chandler Jones has gone through practice disgruntled. Arizona’s other All-Pro pass rusher requested a trade late last month. As of now, both are expected to be on the field when the Cardinals face the Titans on Sept. 12, but neither is in an ideal situation at this juncture.

The Cards gave Watt a two-year, $28MM deal with $20MM guaranteed this offseason, winning a wide-ranging free agency pursuit. Watt has made it through two of the past three seasons healthy, but injuries halted the dominant stretch he crafted and have played a key role in the past several years of his career. Watt suffered season-ending injuries in 2016 and ’17 — a back malady and a tibial plateau fracture, respectively — and missed a lengthy stretch in 2019 due to a torn pectoral muscle.

While the Cardinals expect to have their recently acquired defensive end on the field when their regular season starts, Watt’s injury history amplifies any health-related setback he encounters.

Giants’ LB T.J. Brunson, DB Joshua Kalu Suffer Major Injuries

August 15th, 2021 at 12:29pm CST by Rory Parks

Two Giants sustained major injuries during last night’s preseason game against the Jets. As Paul Schwartz of the New York Post was among those to report, linebacker T.J. Brunson suffered a torn ACL, which will bring an end to his season (Twitter link). Safety Joshua Kalu suffered a torn pectoral muscle, and his season could be over as well.

Brunson, a 2020 seventh-rounder, played in five games for Big Blue last season, though all but two of his 55 snaps came on special teams. If he had stayed healthy and made the team, he probably would have spent the majority of his time on the Giants’ third unit again, but Jordan Raanan says he was doing some good things in his pursuit of a roster spot (Twitter link). Given New York’s general lack of LB depth, Brunson might have had a shot to get some burn on the defensive side of the ball.

Raanan suggested that Kalu, a 2018 UDFA who got into 28 games with the Titans over the course of the past three years, also had a good chance of earning a job. Like Brunson, Kalu has spent most of his time as a pro as a special teamer, but he did appear in a career-best 91 defensive snaps for Tennessee in 2020. He has 26 total tackles, one forced fumble, and one pass defensed in his career.

In other Giants news, head coach Joe Judge said his club is likely to add an offensive lineman or two this week (via Dan Duggan of The Athletic on Twitter). The team lost 2021 signees Joe Looney and Zach Fulton to retirement, and even though Ted Larsen was signed on Friday, New York is still a little thin up front. 

Rams Shuffle Offensive Line

August 15th, 2021 at 11:56am CST by Rory Parks

Rams HC Sean McVay did not play most of his projected starters in last night’s preseason tilt against the Chargers, but when his starters do take the field for live action, there will be a notable shakeup on the O-line. Earlier this week, Austin Corbett — who took almost all first-team reps at center during the spring — was shifted to right guard, and Brian Allen was inserted at the pivot, as Jourdan Rodrigue of The Athletic writes.

Allen served as the Rams’ starting center for nine games in 2019 before an MCL injury ended his season prematurely. He spent all of last season recovering, and Austin Blythe took over the center position. But Blythe signed with the Chiefs in March, so Los Angeles moved Corbett, 2020’s right guard, to center for spring practices. He stayed there throughout the early stages of training camp, but Allen has done enough to show that he can be trusted as QB Matthew Stafford’s snapper.

Because Corbett offers more size than Allen, whose body type lends itself more to the wide-zone concepts than the gap-power looks that McVay started to favor with RB Cam Akers, it was believed that Corbett might be the better option at center for the Rams’ offense. But McVay thinks Allen will allow the team to do everything it wants to do in the run game (especially now that Akers has been lost for the season due to a torn Achilles).

“We’ll be able to do the same things,” McVay said. “If you look at Brian Allen, he looks physically impressive. He’s strong, he’s sturdy. You can see all of the work that he has really put in. I think you can see that he’s feeling really good being another year removed from that knee injury.” 

Corbett’s move to right guard could put Bobby Evans on the bubble. Evans did play extensively in last night’s game — which clearly suggests he has fallen down the depth chart — and he struggled. He entered the spring as the projected starter at RG, but one wonders if he will even make the final roster at this point.

49ers Sign LB Mychal Kendricks

August 15th, 2021 at 11:20am CST by Sam Robinson

Aug. 15: Kendricks’ visit with the 49ers went well enough to land him a contract, as Rapoport tweets. It will likely be a veteran minimum pact, and based on head coach Kyle Shanahan‘s comments on the matter, Kendricks will have to fight for a roster spot.

Shanahan indicated that the plan is for Kendricks to add competition and depth to San Francisco’s LB corps as the team waits for Azeez Al-Shaair and Demetrius Flannigan-Fowles to return (Twitter link via Nick Wagoner of ESPN.com). Still, Kendricks’ experience could be a boon to a club that is hoping to contend for a postseason berth in 2021.

Aug. 13: Mychal Kendricks managed to continue his career through legal turmoil, but the veteran linebacker has not been connected to a team this year. The 49ers, however, are taking a look.

Kendricks met with the 49ers on Friday, according to Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (via Twitter). Now 30, Kendricks played in just one game last season. But he is another year removed from the ACL tear he suffered late in the 2019 season.

The 49ers present an interesting connection for Kendricks as well. New San Francisco defensive coordinator DeMeco Ryans, a 10-year NFL veteran as a linebacker, was Kendricks’ teammate for four years in Philadelphia. The Eagles drafted Kendricks in the 2012 second round, making that pick shortly after signing Ryans as a free agent. The two were Eagles starting ‘backers in each of those seasons.

The Seahawks employed Kendricks from 2018-19, using him as a starter alongside stalwarts Bobby Wagner and K.J. Wright. They did so despite the linebacker’s insider trading issue, which caused the Browns to cut him in the summer of 2018. However, a ruling finally came down on that matter this year. Kendricks received three years’ probation last month, clearing a path for him to continue his career without this looming cloud.

San Francisco recently gave Fred Warner a top-market linebacker extension and employs Dre Greenlaw as a fellow starter. The team is light on a surefire third starter option for its 4-3 look. Kendricks operated as an outside linebacker in Seattle’s 4-3 scheme, with his presence prompting the Seahawks to use more base sets during his tenure, and did the same in Philly for much of his six-year Eagles stay.

Washington signed Kendricks late last season, poaching him off the Seahawks’ practice squad. He has come back from both an ACL tear and a broken tibia, which ended his 2018 season early, and will attempt to continue his career in a 10th season.

Grand Jury To Be Convened In Deshaun Watson Case

August 15th, 2021 at 10:36am CST by Rory Parks

A grand jury will be convened to determine if there is sufficient evidence against Texans QB Deshaun Watson to bring criminal charges against him, per Mark Berman of Fox 26 KRIV (via Twitter). As Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk observes, Watson’s camp has expected that this would be the case, so it’s not as though the embattled QB is surprised by the development.

Of the 22 women who have filed civil suits against Watson alleging sexual abuse/misconduct, 10 of them have filed criminal complaints. At this time, the Harris County DA’s Office is sending out subpoenas to compel witnesses to testify before the grand jury.

It would not be surprising if an indictment is handed down. As Florio points outs, the nature of grand jury proceedings — which take place without the defendant present and without the opportunity for the defendant’s attorney to cross-examine witnesses — make an indictment relatively easy for prosecutors to obtain. 

If Watson is, in fact, indicted, it would likely be enough for the NFL to place him on the Commissioner’s Exempt list, which has been rumored for some time but which has not happened yet. Following the publication of an expansive piece by Jenny Vrentas of SI.com (subscription required) that criticizes the league’s investigation into the allegations against Watson, the NFL has said there is still no change to Watson’s playing status (Twitter link via ESPN’s Kimberley A. Martin).

Indeed, veteran writer Clarence Hill Jr. reports that the league is not planning to interview Watson until it has spoken to all 22 of his accusers, and as of right now, it has only spoken to 10 (Twitter link). So, even if an indictment forces the NFL to put Watson on paid leave, it seems as if this matter is still a long way from a resolution, both in the courtroom and on the football field.

Steelers To Acquire Joe Schobert From Jags

August 15th, 2021 at 10:00am CST by Sam Robinson

Aug. 15: The Jags are paying $3.65MM of Schobert’s 2021 pay, as Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk reports. That is exactly half of Schobert’s $7MM base salary plus $300K in per-game roster bonuses. Schobert is also converting $2.36MM of his remaining salary into a signing bonus in order to decrease his cap charge on Pittsburgh’s 2021 books.

Schobert’s non-guaranteed salaries of $8.75MM, $10.25MM, and $10.75MM from 2022-24 will remain unchanged.

Aug. 12: Joe Schobert is headed back to the AFC North. The Jaguars are trading the veteran linebacker to the Steelers, according to NFL.com’s Tom Pelissero (on Twitter). The Steelers will send a 2022 sixth-round pick to the Jags to complete this deal, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets.

Schobert will end up having spent just one season in Jacksonville, with the team’s new regime moving in a different direction. The Steelers will pick up the sixth-year vet’s five-year, $53.75MM contract. This addition comes a few weeks after longtime Pittsburgh inside linebacker Vince Williams announced his retirement.

The Steelers are plenty familiar with Schobert, who worked as a Browns starter for three seasons prior to his March 2020 departure for Jacksonville. Schobert led the NFL with 144 tackles in 2017, earning him a Pro Bowl nod, and he led the Browns in stops in 2018 and ’19 as well. Schobert, 27, paced the Jags in tackles in 2020, with 141, but the effort came for a team that capped a 15-game losing streak that produced the No. 1 overall pick. That led Trevor Lawrence and Urban Meyer to Jacksonville, where changes are taking place.

Pittsburgh has Devin Bush returning from a torn ACL; Schobert will provide the team with a proven starter alongside its 2019 first-round pick. A former fourth-round pick out of Wisconsin, Schobert is set to earn $7MM in base salary this year. This move will hand the Jaguars a few million in dead-money charges, but the team leads the NFL in cap space as of Thursday.

Mike Tomlin has been high on Schobert’s coverage ability for a while, per ESPN.com’s Jeremy Fowler (via Twitter). Pro Football Focus did not view Schobert as a plus coverage ‘backer in 2020, but he graded in the top 15 overall at the position in 2018. Schobert will soon adjust to his fourth defensive system in four seasons. Of course, that was already the case with the Jaguars retooling their staff under Meyer.

Schobert and Myles Jack resided as the most productive players in the Jags’ lineup last season, with numerous backups joining them in the lineup as the season careened off course. The team has since signed Damien Wilson and used a fourth-round pick on Jordan Smith at linebacker. They also added ex-Alabama standout Dylan Moses as a UDFA, though he remains on the team’s NFI list.

Bold Take Pod’s Eric Dilla was the first to report a trade was in the works (Twitter link).

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