Here is the latest from the workout circuit:
Carolina Panthers
- CB Andre Chachere, WR/TE Caleb Smith
Cleveland Browns
- TE Drew Belcher, LB Ukeme Eligwe, TE Tyree Mayfield, S Montrel Meander, LB Silas Stewart, DB Kyle Wilson
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Here is the latest from the workout circuit:
Carolina Panthers
Cleveland Browns
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
The Saints announced that they have placed cornerback Kyle Wilson on injured reserve, ending his season before it could even begin. The nature of the injury is not yet known. In a related move, the team has signed defensive tackle C.J. Wilson.
[RELATED: Former Saints LB Curtis Lofton Hopes To Continue Playing]
Kyle Wilson, a former first-round pick, spent the first five seasons of his NFL career with the Jets before heading to New Orleans for the 2015 season. While he didn’t live up to expectations in the Big Apple, Wilson played well as the Saints’ third cornerback last season, picking up 27 tackles and an interception. Pro Football Focus ranked him 47th out of 111 qualified players at the position. In March, the Saints re-signed him to a one-year, minimum salary deal.
As the Saints’ depth chart on Roster Resource shows, New Orleans doesn’t have much in the way of depth at cornerback. Aside from Wilson, the Saints will draw from a group of Delvin Breaux, P.J. Williams, Brian Dixon, Damian Swann, Keenan Lewis, Brandon Dixon, and Tony Carter. Of course, not all of those players will make the 53-man roster.
C.J. Wilson, meanwhile, is a 29-year-old defensive lineman with 78 career games under his belt, with most of that time coming as a rotational option with Packers from 2010-2013. He played in 12 contests in 2016 (eight with the Lions, four with the Raiders), and picked up nine total tackles to go along with one sack.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
The Saints announced that they have re-signed running back Travaris Cadet. Cadet, a four-year NFL vet, originally signed with New Orleans as a UDFA out of Appalachian State in 2012.
For his career, Cadet has appeared in 48 games (2 starts) with 62 catches for 559 yards and three scores plus 22 carries for 65 yards. This past season, he spent time with the Patriots and Niners. Cadet, 27, saw his first significant action for the Saints in 2014, hauling in 38 passes on 51 targets, totaling 296 yards and a touchdown on those receptions. He didn’t see that kind of usage in 2015 but he’s certainly hoping to find that same level of involvement in ’16 as he returns to New Orleans.
Within the announcement, the Saints also confirmed new deals for kicker Kai Forbath, tight end Michael Hoomanawanui, center/guard Senio Kelemete, and cornerback Kyle Wilson.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Here are the latest updates on many recently agreed-upon or signed contracts from around the NFC:
NFC East:
NFC South:
NFC North:
NFC West:
Pending free agent cornerback Kyle Wilson won’t hit the open market on Wednesday, according to Rand Getlin of the NFL Network, who reports (via Twitter) that the Saints and Wilson have agreed to terms on a one-year contract that will keep him in New Orleans.
Wilson, a former first-round pick, spent the first five seasons of his NFL career with the Jets before heading to New Orleans for the 2015 season. While he didn’t live up to expectations in the Big Apple, Wilson played well as the Saints’ third cornerback last season, picking up 27 tackles and an interception. Pro Football Focus ranked him 47th out of 111 qualified players at the position.
Despite re-signing Wilson and retaining Delvin Breaux, the Saints will likely be in the market for help at the cornerback position this offseason. The team reportedly intends to cut Brandon Browner from its roster when the new league year begins on Wednesday, after Browner ranked dead-last among PFF’s cornerback rankings in 2015.
Chris Borland surprised the football world when he announced his retirement in March on the heels of a promising rookie campaign. Perhaps even more surprising was that he agreed to return three-quarters of his signing bonus to the 49ers, a sum of over $460,000. Speaking at the 2015 Legends of Wisconsin Golf Classic last week, Borland was asked about his decisions and emphasized that his choice to retire was motivated by health concerns. As Jeff Potrykus of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel writes, Borland said he decided to walk away based on “a combination of my own experience, along with a lot of data that is out there regarding long-term health effects of head injuries. And I play a position and a style of play where I was susceptible to the worst of it. I played a physical brand of football and played through some things where it makes sense for me.”
When asked about why he returned a large portion of the signing bonus, Borland said simply, “I signed a contract. I was living by the contract.” As for his future plans, Borland said a trip to Europe is next on his agenda, but otherwise, “I’ve got a few pretty decent options. I’m not going to hurry up and start a career. I’m going to take my time.”
Now for a few more links from around the league:
10:39am: The Saints have officially signed Wilson, the team announced (via Twitter). It’s a one-year deal for the cornerback (Twitter link).
10:34am: Having reworked Keenan Lewis‘ deal and signed Brandon Browner as a free agent last month, the Saints are making another move at cornerback, according to Manish Mehta of the New York Daily News. Mehta reports (via Twitter) that that ex-Jet Kyle Wilson will be signing with New Orleans.
Wilson, who turns 28 next month, was a first-round pick back in 2010, but only started 28 of the 80 regular season contests he played for the Jets since entering the league. In 2014, Wilson didn’t start a single game for the club, and only saw 320 defensive snaps. In his limited playing time, Wilson allowed a 73.3% completion rate and a 111.9 passer rating on passes thrown into his coverage, according to Pro Football Focus (subscription required).
The Jets no longer had room for Wilson in a crowded secondary that has received an influx of talent at the cornerback spot within the last few weeks. Darrelle Revis, Antonio Cromartie, and Buster Skrine all signed with New York as free agents, and 2013 first-rounder Dee Milliner will also rejoin the team after missing most of the 2014 season with an Achilles tear. Of course, even before adding all those new corners, the Jets didn’t appear interested in re-signing Wilson.
In New Orleans, Wilson will compete for playing time on a defense led by Rob Ryan, the brother of the cornerback’s old head coach. Lewis and Browner are penciled in as the starters, but Patrick Robinson and Corey White, two of the Saints’ top corners last season, are now playing elsewhere, so Wilson, Brian Dixon, Terrence Frederick, and others should get an opportunity to earn snaps.
The Jets are not expected to bring cornerback Kyle Wilson back next season, sources tell Kimberley A. Martin of Newsday. The 27-year-old former first-round pick will become a free agent on March 10th. Wilson never fulfilled his promise during his time with Gang Green and was never able to develop into anything more than an average slot cornerback. Here’s a look at some items out of the AFC and NFC East..
It’s Saturday, and that means a fresh batch of NFL mailbags from ESPN.com’s writers. Let’s start with some interesting notes out of the AFC…
ESPN personality (and former Broncos offensive lineman) Mark Schlereth was critical of Jets acquisition Eric Decker, who Schlereth described as a “marginal No. 2 [receiver] at best” (via New York Post’s Brian Costello). The wide receiver commented on the remarks to the New York Post’s Brian Lewis…
“Am I surprised? I guess, yeah. I mean, I don’t know how to answer that. We did interviews in Denver a couple times, and it always was good.”
“Like it was a little personal? Really, I’m just going to handle my business. I’ve got more things to worry about as far as getting ready for the Oakland Raiders.
“There was never anything that I could think of that’d give us to have beef. I’m not going to get into a battle of who-said-what or how-he-feels-about-what. He said what he said, and he’s obligated to his opinion. We’ll just move on. … I’m going to let my talking be on the field. That’s really what will in time prove itself.”
Teammate David Nelson also gave his take on the criticism:
“It sounded like jealousy to me. I don’t know why you’d ever come out and bash a guy, especially as a former player, why you’d come out and say something like that about somebody. That’s inaccurate, first of all. It’s unfortunate that someone like that has to come out and say those things.”
Let’s take a look at some more notes from the AFC East…