Cole Wick

Saints Release OL Nick Easton

Operating as a key fill-in player for the Saints over the past two years, Nick Easton is back in free agency. The Saints released him Friday, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets.

New Orleans signed Easton two offseasons ago and used him as a starter in 15 games over the past two seasons. The Saints, however, have one of the worst salary cap situations in history and must continue to make moves to get under a 2021 cap that is expected to be reduced.

The Saints will save $5.87MM by making this move. This marks the second straight offseason in which New Orleans released one of its interior O-line starters. They cut Larry Warford last year. Easton finished his second Saints season on IR and did not play in either of their two playoff games.

Coming into the offseason, the Saints were more than $100MM over the projected 2021 cap, but Drew Breesrecent restructure — one likely to precede his retirement — helped bring that figure down near $70MM. The Easton move will continue the franchise’s process in trimming salary.

While Warford and Easton are now gone, the Saints have invested highly on their offensive line in recent years. They used a first-round pick on Cesar Ruiz last year and extended Andrus Peat. Center Erik McCoy‘s rookie deal runs through the 2022 season.

Following his release from the Vikings in 2019, Easton signed a four-year deal worth $22.5MM with the Saints. Injuries continued to move the veteran swing man into New Orleans’ starting lineup. Pro Football Focus was not particularly high on Easton’s work, ranking him outside the top 50 among guards in each of his two seasons. But given teams’ annual interest in proven offensive linemen, Easton should not have too much of an issue finding work for next season. For his career, the 28-year-old former UDFA has made 32 starts.

The Saints also cut tight ends Cole Wick and Jason Vander Laan. Both players opted out last season. Unlike Easton, neither has vested-veteran status.

2020 NFL Opt Out Tracker

Per an agreement between the NFL and the NFLPA, players with COVID-19 health concerns can opt out of the 2020 season. Initially, the deadline was believed to be Tuesday, August 4. Talks between the league and the union have pushed it to August 6.

Chiefs guard and medical school graduate Laurent Duvernay-Tardif was the first player to officially opt out. Scores of players followed.

Here’s the rundown, so far:

Baltimore Ravens

Buffalo Bills

Carolina Panthers

Chicago Bears

Cincinnati Bengals

Cleveland Browns

Dallas Cowboys

Denver Broncos

Detroit Lions

Green Bay Packers

Houston Texans

Indianapolis Colts

Jacksonville Jaguars

Kansas City Chiefs

Las Vegas Raiders

Los Angeles Rams

Miami Dolphins

Minnesota Vikings

New England Patriots

New Orleans Saints

New York Giants

New York Jets

Philadelphia Eagles

San Francisco 49ers

Seattle Seahawks

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

  • T Brad Seaton

Tennessee Titans

  • OL Anthony McKinney

Washington Football Team

Free agents

NFL Practice Squad Updates: 12/11/19

Here are today’s practice squad comings and goings:

Carolina Panthers

New England Patriots

Oakland Raiders

San Francisco 49ers

  • Signed: CB Jermaine Kelly

Seattle Seahawks

  • Signed: RB Xavier Turner

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

AFC Rumors: OBJ, Patriots, Miller, Raiders

Closing out the worst season of his six-year career, from a per-game production standpoint, Odell Beckham Jr. did not say whether he wants to be part of the 2020 Browns. He’s under contract through 2023.

I couldn’t sit here and tell you whether I’m going to be here, want to be here, don’t want to be here,” Beckham said, via Mary Kay Cabot of cleveland.com, adding that Jarvis Landry‘s presence has energized him about being with the Browns. “This is exactly where I’m at now and I wouldn’t rather be anywhere else. God has a plan. In the offseason, everything will figure itself out. I feel like I’ve been here before, answering questions about the next team when I’m on a team already. That’s just something I’m going to tune out for right now. Catch me in the offseason and we’ll see what happens.”

Despite Beckham’s disappointing year, the Browns will surely attempt to see if their recent trade acquisition can build chemistry with Baker Mayfield and bounce back in 2020. Beckham’s contract having no more guaranteed money on it, thanks to the Giants taking that on, would make the three-time Pro Bowler an interesting trade piece — if this situation did progress to that point. Beckham is due $14MM in 2020.

Here is the latest from the AFC:

  • Tom Brady sought a longer commitment from the Patriots this year, but given one-year pay bump the sides agreed on, NBC Sports Boston’s Tom Curran expects the iconic quarterback to depart in 2020. Brady’s age figures to be a sticking point for Bill Belichick signing off on a multiyear deal, per Curran, just as it seemed to be in recent years. A scenario where Brady tries to play until age 45 elsewhere would obviously create a major need for the Pats, who traded Brady’s would-be heir apparent to the 49ers two years ago, and would thrust them to the center of what will be a complicated QB marketplace.
  • As for Antonio Brown coming back to the Patriots to aid the defending Super Bowl champions’ receiving situation, that seems next to impossible. The free agent wide receiver shared a social media post (Twitter link) questioning Robert Kraft‘s desire to win (and one that referenced his alleged acts in the Florida spa sting). Brown, who has filed grievances against the Patriots, figures to be one of the most controversial free agents in NFL history in 2020.
  • Von Miller is battling an MCL sprain, one that forced him to miss his first game since he suffered an ACL tear in December 2013. The Broncos‘ star pass rusher is iffy for Sunday’s game against the Texans. The ninth-year linebacker indicated (via Nicki Jhabvala of The Athletic, subscription required) he should not play until he can utilize his array of pass-rushing moves, pointing to him missing at least one more week.
  • The Raiders worked out tight ends Matt Flanagan, Pharoah McKever and Bryce Williams this week, Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle tweets. Oakland also auditioned tight end Cole Wick, who booked the emergency tight end gig.

NFL Practice Squad Updates: 12/4/19

Here are Wednesday’s practice squad decisions:

Arizona Cardinals

Baltimore Ravens

Denver Broncos

Detroit Lions

Los Angeles Chargers

New Orleans Saints

Oakland Raiders

  • Signed: CB Jordan Brown, WR De’Mornay Pierson-El, TE Cole Wick

Philadelphia Eagles

NFL Workout Updates: 10/16/19

Today’s NFL workout updates, all courtesy of Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle:

Baltimore Ravens

Denver Broncos

Detroit Lions

Jacksonville Jaguars

Miami Dolphins

New England Patriots

New Orleans Saints

San Francisco 49ers

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Washington Redskins

NFL Workout Notes: 10/8/19

Here are today’s workout updates. There are a number of notable names on this list, so pay attention!

Arizona Cardinals

Baltimore Ravens

Buffalo Bills

Carolina Panthers

Cleveland Browns

Denver Broncos

Detroit Lions

Green Bay Packers

Houston Texans

Indianapolis Colts

Jacksonville Jaguars

Los Angeles Chargers

New England Patriots

Oakland Raiders

Philadelphia Eagles

Seattle Seahawks

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Tennessee Titans

Washington Redskins

Minor NFL Transactions: 8/28/19

We’ll keep track of today’s roster shuffling here as teams gear up for major cuts at the end of the week:

Buffalo Bills

Carolina Panthers

Chicago Bears

Detroit Lions

  • Signed: RB James Williams

Green Bay Packers

Houston Texans

Jacksonville Jaguars

New England Patriots

Philadelphia Eagles

Tennessee Titans

  • Waived: TE Cole Wick
  • Waive/injured: OLB Josh Smith

Seattle Seahawks

  • Signed: T Will Holden, DE Logan Tago
  • Waived: DT Jay-Tee Tiuli

Minor NFL Transactions: 12/24/18

Here are the NFL’s minor moves on Christmas Eve:

Dallas Cowboys

Oakland Raiders

Tennessee Titans

Titans Place RT Jack Conklin On IR

The Titans have formally placed right tackle Jack Conklin on injured reserve, according to a team announcement. The club also officially placed tight end Jonnu Smith on IR. 

Both Conklin and Smith went down in Thursday night’s game against the Jaguars. For Smith, the seriousness of the injury was readily apparent – the Titans learned on Friday that he would be sidelined for the year with a severe MCL injury. However, the Titans were hoping to get Conklin back on the field for the postseason, should they qualify.

Conklin, the No. 8 pick in the 2016 draft, played in every possible regular season game over the first two years of his career before going down with a torn ACL in the Titans’ divisional round loss to the Patriots. That injury cost Conklin time this year, as he missed the first three games of the season before returning in Week 4. Since then, Conklin played nearly every snap for Tennessee (save for Week 5 when he suffered a concussion), grading as the NFL’s No. 42 offensive tackle among 78 qualifiers in the process, per Pro Football Focus.

Unfortunately, Conklin’s knee issue will keep him out of action the rest of the way. The Titans, meanwhile, still have a 34% chance of reaching the playoffs, according to FiveThirtyEight.

To fill the gaps, the Titans signed tight end Cole Wick off of the 49ers’ practice squad and signed veteran offensive lineman Austin Pasztor.