Today’s taxi squad moves:
Houston Texans
- Signed: RB Jaylen Samuels
Kansas City Chiefs
- Signed: DB Josh Jackson
Los Angeles Chargers
- Signed: K Tristan Vizcaino
Today’s minor moves:
Cleveland Browns
- Promoted: CB Herb Miller
Houston Texans
- Promoted: CB Cre’Von LeBlanc
Jacksonville Jaguars
- Promoted: OL K.C. McDermott
- Placed on IR: Jay Tufele
Jabrill Peppers‘ torn ACL will keep him sidelined for the rest of the 2021 campaign, and considering his expiring contract, there’s a chance his stint with the Giants has effectively come to an end. However, head coach Joe Judge kept the door open when speaking with reporters on Wednesday.
“Look, this guy is in a contract year, it’s something I’ve talked to him about directly,” Judge said (h/t to Josh Alper of ProFootballTalk.com). “He’s a guy that I value a lot in this program. I’d love to have this guy going forward, I’ve told him that directly. He’s been a very good leader for us. You can talk about him being local, that the Giants mean something to him. I think that’s very important. He’s a guy that loves football, he loves this organization, he loves this area. Those are things we talk about building as cornerstones and pillars of this program and he’s a very important part of our program.”
The safety started five of his six games this season, compiling 29 tackles and one sack. Considering Peppers’ contract status, his reduced playing time, and continued trade rumblings, there was a chance the veteran would be traded prior to his injury. The ACL injury certainly changed things, and Peppers could pursue a comeback with his current team.
More notes out of the NFC East…
- With the Giants sitting at 2-5, it wouldn’t be a surprise if several Giants veterans end up hitting the trade block. Ralph Vacchiano of SNY.tv explored which players could be on the move, with tight end Evan Engram, cornerback James Bradberry, guard Will Hernandez, tight end Kyle Rudolph, and offensive tackle Nate Solder earning spots on the list. Vacchiano even goes as far as to list running back Saquon Barkley as a potential trade candidate, but he can’t envision the Giants receiving a haul that would convince them to bail on the former second-overall pick.
- Randy Gregory has dealt with his fair share of suspensions, but the former Cowboys second-round pick followed an impressive 2020 campaign with an even better start to the 2021 season. In five games (four starts), Gregory has collected four sacks. The 28-year-old will hit free agency following the 2021 season, but David Moore, Calvin Watkins, and Michael Gehlken of The Dallas Morning News all believe that the defensive end will be back next season. Moore notes that the team wouldn’t have held on to Gregory for all these years if they didn’t plan on a long-term pact, while Watkins cautions that the franchise tag could prove to be a risky move considering Gregory’s limited track record.
- There was once some hope that Ryan Fitzpatrick would be back by now, but NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport writes that Washington Football Team will have to wait a bit longer. The 38-year-old is still weeks away from returning, with Week 10 being the earliest possible return for the starting quarterback. Fitzpatrick suffered a hip subluxation back in September, forcing Taylor Heinicke into the lineup.
The 49ers have started three running backs through six weeks, and the organization is hoping they’ll be adding another option at the position before long. 49ers general manager John Lynch told reporters that running back Jeff Wilson should be back from a knee injury before the end of the season.
“It’s not in the next couple weeks, but kind of beyond that,” Lynch said (via Matt Maiocco of NBC Sports Bay Area on Twitter). “He’s doing really well. He’s had some real positive breakthroughs in the last couple of weeks in his recovery.”
Matt Barrows of The Athletic writes that Wilson is only a few weeks away from practicing, with the organization targeting a late-November return.
Wilson had a breakout campaign in 2020, finishing with 733 yards from scrimmage and 10 touchdowns in 12 games (three starts). The running back landed on injured reserve prior to the 2021 season, and his timeline has since been pushed back a bit. Per Maiocco (on Twitter), Wilson was initially expected to return around midseason, but now it sounds like he’s eyeing a late-season return.
Raheem Mostert, Trey Sermon, and Elijah Mitchell have all seen stints as the 49ers starting running back this season, and none of those players have been in uniform for all six games. Mitchell currently leads the running back corps with 63 carries.
After trading off one running back yesterday, the Texans are eyeing some free agents at the position. According to Aaron Wilson (via Twitter), Houston auditioned Jaylen Samuels and Darius Jackson.
[RELATED: Texans Trading RB Mark Ingram To Saints]
Samuels was a fifth-round pick by the Steelers back in 2018, and he saw time in 42 games through three seasons with the organization. However, after collecting 935 yards from scrimmage and five touchdowns through his first two years in the NFL, he was limited to only 74 yards on 18 touches in 2020. The 25-year-old was cut by the Steelers at the end of the preseason and later landed on their practice squad, but he was released yesterday.
Jackson has bounced around the league since being selected in the sixth round of the 2016 draft. He’s had three stints with the Cowboys, two stints with the Colts, and cameos with the Browns, Packers, Buccaneers, Raiders, and Texans. The 27-year-old spent the 2021 preseason with Las Vegas and Houston. In total, he’s seen time in four games, getting six touches for 16 yards.
The Texans traded veteran Mark Ingram to the Saints yesterday, although the team still has plenty of depth at the position. At the moment, the team is rostering David Johnson, Rex Burkhead, Phillip Lindsay, and Scottie Phillips.
The Dolphins were looking to clear their roster in 2019, and that led to one of the more notable trades that took place around that season’s deadline. On October 28, 2019, the Dolphins traded running back Kenyan Drake to the Cardinals for a conditional sixth-round pick.
Drake had spent his first three-plus seasons in Miami, including a 2018 campaign where he collected 1,012 yards from scrimmage and nine touchdowns in a part-time role. However, the 2019 iteration of the Dolphins had no hopes of contending, and the organization traded off pieces as they looked towards 2020 and beyond. So, on this date two years ago, they sent their starting running back to Arizona.
The Cardinals didn’t give up a whole lot to acquire Drake, and they needed some reinforcement at the position with both David Johnson and Chase Edmonds struggling with injuries. Drake ended up having a solid eight-game stint for the organization, collecting 814 yards from scrimmage and eight touchdowns. Still, the move didn’t do much to help the team’s record, as Arizona finished at 5-10-1.
The organization ended up placing the transitional tag on their acquisition following the 2019 season, and Drake eventually signed a one-year, $8.48MM tender. During his lone full season in Arizona, the running back finished with a career-high 10 touchdowns to go along with 1,092 yards from scrimmage. Drake moved on to the Raiders prior to the 2021 season (via a two-year, $14.5MM deal), and the Cardinals pivoted to James Conner in a rushing attack that also includes Edmonds and quarterback Kyler Murray.
While the Dolphins did everything in their power to clear their 2019 roster of any talent, the team still only finished with the fifth-worst record in the NFL. As a result, the team missed out on LSU superstar Joe Burrow and had to settle for Alabama’s Tua Tagovailoa. Further, the front office made a curious move with the draft pick they acquired from Arizona. That conditional sixth-rounder ended up improving to a fifth-round pick, and the Dolphins proceeded to…trade the pick for running back Matt Breida, who’s only a year younger than Drake.
Each team had different intentions when making the selection, but neither team ended up with their desired outcome. Hindsight is always 20/20, but both teams may have been better off avoiding this trade altogether (although it’s tough to be overly critical of the Cardinals for ditching a late-rounder or the Dolphins for essentially swapping Drake for Breida).
Here are Thursday’s minor moves:
Denver Broncos
- Signed: RB Damarea Crockett, LB Curtis Robinson
New Orleans Saints
- Signed: OL Will Clapp, DL Albert Huggins
- Released: RB Ryquell Armstead, LB Lakiem Williams
New York Jets
- Activated from practice squad IR: DL Ronald Blair
- Released: DB Natrell Jamerson
Here are Thursday’s minor moves:
Arizona Cardinals
- Promoted: OL Danny Isidora, OL Zack Johnson, DL Josh Mauro, LB Joe Walker
Carolina Panthers
- Placed on IR: DT Daviyon Nixon
Chicago Bears
- Activated from reserve/COVID-19 list: LB Caleb Johnson
Cleveland Browns
- Waived: OL Alex Taylor
Detroit Lions
- Waived: DL Eric Banks
Green Bay Packers
- Activated from IR: TE Dominique Dafney
- Promoted: OL Ben Braden
Minnesota Vikings
- Placed on IR: TE Ben Ellefson
Knee trouble has plagued Marquise Blair for much of his career, and the former second-round pick has run into perhaps his toughest challenge yet.
The third-year Seahawks cornerback suffered a fractured right kneecap, and Pete Carroll said (via the Seattle Times’ Bob Condotta) season-ending surgery is on tap. This marks the second straight year Blair’s season has ended early because of a right knee injury. Blair suffered a torn ACL in 2020. Blair suffered this latest injury in the fourth quarter of the Seahawks’ Monday loss to the Saints.
Blair sustained a torn left ACL during his junior season at Utah but bounced back in 2018 to be one of the top corners drafted. The Seahawks selected Blair 47th overall in 2019 and used him in a part-time role as a rookie. He played in just two games last season but had bounced back to rotate with Ugo Amadi at Seattle’s nickel spot. Amadi, a 2019 fourth-round pick, will move forward in that role.
This is certainly a concerning run of setbacks for Blair, whose rookie contract runs through the 2022 season. While the Seahawks salvaged their 2019 draft by choosing D.K. Metcalf later in the second round, Blair and first-rounder L.J. Collier have not been able to contribute much.
The Seahawks have undergone a retooling effort at corner, having let Shaquill Griffin walk in free agency and having recently cut Tre Flowers. The team, which also traded offseason addition Ahkello Witherspoon weeks ago, drafted Tre Brown in the fourth round. Recent trade get Sidney Jones and 2020 waiver claim D.J. Reed join Amadi as Seattle’s top three corners.
La’el Collins‘ five-game PED suspension has elapsed, and the high-end right tackle returned to practice this week. But the Cowboys are not giving Collins his starting job back — at least not yet.
Terence Steele will remain Dallas’ starting right tackle this week, Mike McCarthy said Thursday. A former UDFA, Steele served as Collins’ primary right tackle fill-in last season — which Collins missed due to hip surgery — and returned to that role after Collins’ PED ban became official this year.
McCarthy said Collins will play a swing role to start out post-suspension, playing behind Steele and working as a reserve left guard, via David Moore of the Dallas Morning News. While Collins began his pro career at left guard, he has been Dallas’ top right tackle since the 2017 season. Collins, 28, is signed to a $10MM-per-year extension that runs through 2024.
“Obviously, LC has position flexibility,” McCarthy said, adding that he needs to see Collins go through practices before reinstalling him as a starter. “We are going to start the week with Terence at right tackle. So LC gives us some great competition in there. We are going to try to work him as much as possible.”
Pro Football Focus graded Collins as one of the NFL’s best right tackles in 2019, but he has missed 21 of the Cowboys’ past 22 games. After rating Steele as one of the league’s worst starting O-linemen last season, PFF slots the Texas Tech product 27th among tackles this year. Whichever way the Cowboys end up going at right tackle, the player that ends up as the reserve stands to create some plus depth for the NFC East leaders.