Andre Carter

NFL Reserve/Futures Contracts: 1/2/18

Here are the latest reserve/futures contract signings from around the NFL. These deals will go into effect on the first day of the 2018 league year, with players joining their respective clubs’ offseason 90-man rosters:

Arizona Cardinals

Baltimore Ravens

Chicago Bears

Cincinnati Bengals

Dallas Cowboys

Detroit Lions

Green Bay Packers

  • WR Jake Kumerow
  • WR Colby Pearson
  • TE Robert Tonyan
  • LS Zach Triner
  • WR DeAngelo Yancey

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Sunday NFL Transactions: NFC West

Listed below are the Sunday roster moves for the four NFC West teams. Following the 53-man roster cutdown deadline yesterday, many teams will make slight tweaks to their rosters, claiming players off waivers or signing guys who clear waivers. Those transactions for the Cardinals, Rams, 49ers, and Seahawks are noted below.

Additionally, as of 12:00pm CT today, teams can begin constructing their 10-man practice squads. You can check out our glossary entry on practice squads to brush up on those changes, as well as all the other guidelines that govern the 10-man units, whose players practice with the team but aren’t eligible to suit up on Sundays.

Here are Sunday’s NFC West transactions, which will continue to be updated throughout the day:

Arizona Cardinals

Los Angeles Rams

San Francisco 49ers

Seattle Seahawks

Staff Notes: Pats, Fins, Bolts, Hawks, 49ers

The Alabama Crimson Tide are searching for an offensive coordinator in the wake of Steve Sarkisian‘s departure and will likely interview Patriots tight ends coach Brian Daboll for the role, reports Bruce Feldman of FOX Sports (Twitter link). Daboll previously served under Alabama head coach Nick Saban at Michigan State, as Ryan Hannable of WEEI.com notes, and worked as an NFL offensive coordinator in Cleveland, Miami and Kansas City from 2009-12.

More coaching news from around the league:

  • Former defensive end Andre Carter is joining the Dolphins’ staff as an assistant D-line coach, tweets Adam Caplan of ESPN. Carter, 37, played in the league from 2001-13 and piled up 80.5 sacks.
  • The Chargers have hired ex-Atlanta defensive coordinator Richard Smith to coach their linebackers, per a team announcement. Smith, who was atop ATL’s defense the past two years, became a coaching free agent when the team fired him last week. The 61-year-old has been working with pro linebackers since 1988, when he was with the now-defunct Houston Oilers, and has since coached LBs in Denver, San Francisco, Detroit and Carolina.
  • Sherman Smith is out as the Seahawks’ running backs coach, a position he had held since 2009, according to Sporting News’ Alex Marvez. The Seahawks are promoting assistant RBs/assistant special teams coach Chad Morton to Sherman’s former spot (Twitter links).
  • The 49ers have landed ex-Buccaneers tight ends coach Jon Embree as an assistant head coach/TEs coach, writes Kevin Lynch of the San Francisco Chronicle. His son, Taylor Embree, is coming aboard as a quality control coach. The younger Embree spent last season as a defensive assistant in Kansas City.
  • Elsewhere on the 49ers’ staff, the team has interviewed Falcons assistant special teams coach Eric Sutulovich to become its special teams coordinator, per Marvez (Twitter link). Caplan reported last week that the Niners were likely to meet with Sutulovich.
  • The Redskins have hired Cannon Matthews as a defensive quality control coach, relays JP Finlay of CSN Mid-Atlantic. Matthews served as the assistant defensive backs coach last year with the Browns, who parted with him in January.

Coaching Notes: Kafka, Chiefs, Bucs, 49ers

After a bit of a lull, today was a busy day for coaching moves. We first learned that the Falcons would be hiring Alabama’s Steve Sarkisian to replace Kyle Shanahan as the team’s offensive coordinator. Later, it was reported that the Rams were bringing in Matt LaFleur as their new offensive coordinator.

Of course, there were plenty of other coaching moves today, and we’ve compiled all of those below…

  • Former quarterback Mike Kafka has been hired by the Chiefs as an offensive quality control coach, reports ESPN’s Adam Caplan (via Twitter). The 29-year-old spent six years in the NFL after being selected by the Eagles in the fourth round of the 2010 draft, as he has an obvious connection with current Kansas City (and former Philadelphia) head coach Andy Reid. Kafka spent the 2016 season serving as an offensive graduate assistant with Northwestern, his former college.
  • The Chiefs have also hired Rod Wilson as their new assistant special teams coach, reports Terez A. Paylor of The Kansas City Star (via Twitter). The former NFL linebacker will be replacing Brock Olivo, who was hired as the Broncos special teams coordinator earlier this offseason. The 2005 seventh-round pick spent six years in the NFL with the Bears, Buccaneers, and Jaguars.
  • The Buccaneers have promoted Ben Steele to tight ends coach, reports ESPN.com’s Jenna Laine. The former NFL tight end spent the past three seasons serving as Tampa Bay’s offensive quality control coach. “We’re fortunate that we have a qualified coach like Ben already on our staff and are able to fill this role from within. He earned it through the quality of his work,” said head coach Dirk Koetter (via Greg Auman of the Tampa Bay Times on Twitter). “Ben played the position at the NFL level and has spent a great deal of time with our tight ends on the practice field and in the meeting room. We know he will do an excellent job leading that group going forward.”
  • The 49ers have released their entire strength and conditioning staff, reports Matt Maiocco of CSNBayArea.com. This includes director of human performance Mark Uyeyama, strength, conditioning and nutrition assistant Kurt Schmidt, and strength and conditioning assistants Brian Johnson, Taylor Johnson and David Young. We learned last week that Uyeyama would be leaving the organization, and (as Maiocco notes on Twitter) Brian Johnson’s departure was evident after he took a job with Texas A&M. The reporter notes that Taylor Johnson “is still in play” to remain on Shanahan’s new staff.
  • Former NFL defensive end Andre Carter will meet with the Dolphins regarding their assistant defensive line coach vacancy, reports Alex Marvez of The Sporting News. After being selected in the first-round of the 2001 draft, Carter spent 13 seasons in the NFL with the 49ers, Redskins, Patriots, and Raiders. Marvez notes that the 37-year-old spent the 2015 season as a student assistant coach at the University of California.

Patriots Cut Aaron Dobson, Move To 53

The Patriots have announced the cuts that bring them down to 53, including the waiving of Aaron Dobson.
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Dobson, 25, is a former second-round pick, but he hasn’t done much since joining New England in 2013. In three seasons with the club, the Marshall product has only posted 53 receptions for less than 700 yards. Most of that production came during his rookie season, as Dobson has put up only 16 catches during the past two years. Entering the final year of his rookie deal, Dobson was set to earn about $872K in base salary.

Here’s the list of Patriots cuts so far today:

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Minor NFL Transactions: 1/12/16

Today’s minor signings, cuts, and other moves:

  • The Jets signed wide receiver Chandler Worthy to a reserve/future deal, as Mark Berman of FOX 26 tweets. Worthy was previously on Houston’s taxi squad.
  • The Packers worked out former Nebraska linebacker Jason Ankrah on Tuesday, according to Rob Demovsky of ESPN.com (on Twitter).
  • The Chargers have signed former CFL inside linebacker Dexter McCoil to a futures deal, Aaron Wilson of The Baltimore Sun tweets.
  • The Broncos have signed tight end Manasseh Garner, punter Will Johnson, and tackle Darrion Weems to futures deals, James Palmer of NFL.com tweets.
  • Washington signed defensive linemen Corey Crawford and Kamal Johnson and linebacker Derrick Mathews to reserve/future contracts, as Master Tesfatsion of the Washington Post writes.
  • The Panthers have signed guard David Yankey to a futures contract, as Chris Tomasson of the Pioneer Press tweets.
  • The Cardinals signed Quayshawn Nealy to the practice squad, Aaron Wilson of The Baltimore Sun tweets.
  • The Patriots signed safety Cedric Thompson and wide receiver J.J. Worton to the practice squad and cut wide receiver DeAndre Carter, Wilson tweets.

Practice Squad Updates: 12/15/15

Here are today’s practice squad signings and cuts from across the league:

Atlanta Falcons

Baltimore Ravens

Buffalo Bills

Chicago Bears

Dallas Cowboys

Detroit Lions

Indianapolis Colts

New England Patriots

Philadelphia Eagles

  • Signed: S Craig Bills (Twitter link via team)
  • Cut: CB Mike Lee

St. Louis Rams

  • Signed: LB Matthew Wells

Washington

West Rumors: Seahawks, Baldwin, Rams, Chargers

With just a few hours left until the 2014 NFL draft gets underway in New York, the first round is rightly the focus of the football world. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t a handful of other reports on non-draft subjects. One such report comes from Aaron Wilson of the National Football Post, who writes that the Seahawks recently hosted veteran defensive end Andre Carter for a visit. At age 34, Carter is no longer the difference-maker he once was, but he could be a worthwhile backup piece on an elite defensive unit in Seattle.

Here’s more from around the NFC and AFC West divisions:

  • Wide receiver Doug Baldwin is the only unsigned restricted free agent out there, but it sounds like he and the Seahawks are making progress on a longer-term deal, as he tells Bob Condotta of the Seattle Times. “I will say things are going in the right direction,” Baldwin said. “I don’t know how much time it’s going to take. They’ve got the draft to deal with. So we are in preliminary talks. But hopefully we will figure something out soon.”
  • The Rams are more likely to have trade options with the No. 13 pick than the No. 2 pick, unless Jadeveon Clowney is available at No. 2, tweets Jim Thomas of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. If Clowney goes first, Greg Robinson is viewed as the likely pick for St. Louis — if Clowney is still on the board, another team could push the Rams for a trade.
  • TheMMQB.com’s Peter King suggested earlier today that if Blake Bortles falls into the twenties, “a team with a very good quarterback” will try to make a trade to land him. King doesn’t name the team, but a Broncos source confirms to Mike Klis of the Denver Post that it won’t be Denver.
  • Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune (Twitter link) is hearing rumblings about the Chargers having interest in Missouri defensive end Kony Ealy. Acee adds in a second tweet that cornerback remains the team’s top priority in the first round, but that San Diego is performing due diligence on pass rushers.