HEADLINES

Armani Watts

Bears Claim OL Alex Leatherwood

August 31st, 2022 at 11:33am CST by Sam Robinson

After a woeful Raiders tenure, Alex Leatherwood will have a second chance via the NFL’s waiver system. The Bears put in a claim for the former first-round pick, Field Yates of ESPN.com tweets.

The Raiders bailed on Leatherwood after one season, marking a shocking freefall for last year’s No. 17 overall pick. The Bears, however, have also run into extensive O-line uncertainty. The rebuilding team will take a chance on the former Alabama prospect. Leatherwood’s signing bonus is the Raiders’ responsibility, leaving considerable dead money on Las Vegas’ cap sheet. But the Bears are now responsible for $5.9MM in Leatherwood salary.

Chicago, which changed up its roster considerably as it transitioned to a new GM-HC pairing this offseason, made five more waiver claims Wednesday. Defensive tackle Armon Watts, defensive back Josh Blackwell, defensive end Kingsley Jonathan, linebacker Sterling Weatherford and tight end Trevon Wesco will be en route to the Windy City as well, Yates tweets. The Bears’ six waiver claims are a league-high total this year.

This marks quite a haul for Chicago, which added former starters from Las Vegas and Minnesota. Watts started nine games for the Vikings last season, replacing the injured Michael Pierce, but the team changed defensive schemes this offseason and made a trade for former Texans second-round defensive tackle Ross Blacklock on Tuesday. That led Watts off the roster. But he will be back in a 4-3 scheme under Matt Eberflus, whose team cleared some D-tackle space by releasing Mario Edwards on Tuesday.

Viewed as a reach in last year’s first round, Leatherwood did not justify his draft slot when deployed at right tackle or right guard for the Raiders last season. The staff that drafted Leatherwood quickly moved him off right tackle, but Pro Football Focus rated him as one of the league’s worst guards. Despite the Raiders facing a few questions on their offensive line and losing Brandon Parker for the season, their new regime cut bait after trying Leatherwood at tackle again in training camp.

The Bears are expected to start fifth-round rookie Braxton Jones at left tackle, and they have 2021 fifth-rounder Larry Borom on the right side. Riley Reiff, who signed with the team shortly before camp, is also in the tackle picture. The team moved 2021 second-rounder Teven Jenkins from tackle to guard late this offseason, and while Jenkins appeared in trade rumors, he is on the roster and may well start the season at the new position. Leatherwood, his early-career struggles notwithstanding, may now also be a factor at that spot.

Colts Cut Roster Down To 53

August 30th, 2022 at 9:07pm CST by Ely Allen

Indianapolis has made a couple headline moves, but, most notably, succeeded in trimming their roster down to 53 players today. Here are the moves that helped them get down to the limit today:

Activated from active/physically unable to perform:

Released:

Waived:

Placed on IR:

The biggest stories of the day for the Colts come in the linebacking corps. In addition to adding star linebacker Leonard off the PUP, Indianapolis acquired second-year player Grant Stuard in a trade with Tampa Bay today. Stuard was primarily a special teamer with the Buccaneers last year, playing in every game as a rookie. He’ll go from one stacked linebacker room to another, likely backing up Leonard upon his arrival.

The Colts have quite an interesting rookie class. A sixth-round defensive tackle, Brooks is the only drafted rookie not to make the final roster besides sixth-round tight end Andrew Ogletree who will start his NFL career on injured reserve. None of this is spectacular, though. The interesting part is that Indianapolis will roster four undrafted rookies to start the 2022 NFL season.

Former SMU safety Trevor Denbow finds his way onto the initial 53 after leading the NFL this preseason with five special teams tackles. Cornerback Dallis Flowers can also thank his special teams value as his athleticism was supplemented by a 53-yard kickoff return to help him make the team out of Pitt State. Former Cornhusker JoJo Domann joins Leonard and Stuard in the linebackers room. And the French-Fries offensive line combination stays alive as Wesley French makes the final roster out of Western Michigan.

There were a number of other players who have special teams’ ability to thank for their roster spot in addition to Denbow and Flowers. Running back Deon Jackson played on all punt/kick return/coverage units for the Colts last year, earning him a tightly contested roster spot over Lindsay and Williams. Cornerback Tony Brown was the team’s highest-graded special teams player in the preseason, according to Pro Football Focus, and safety Rodney Thomas II played the third-most special teams snaps on the team.

Finally, the biggest performer of the Colts’ preseason was likely quarterback Sam Ehlinger whose stellar preseason led Indianapolis to roster three quarterbacks going into the season. The former-Longhorn’s impressive preseason play helped him earn a spot on the initial roster despite the Colts already rostering starter Matt Ryan and one of the league’s top backup quarterbacks in Nick Foles.

The Colts will have the opportunity tomorrow to announce any moves to form their 16-man practice squad. Players cut today who have not vested will have to clear waivers before returning to the team.

Colts S Armani Watts Out For Season

August 27th, 2022 at 10:05pm CST by Adam La Rose

The Colts have received some significant (and unfortunate) news on the injury front. Safety Armani Watts has suffered an ankle injury which will keep him sidelined for the entire 2022 season, as announced by head coach Frank Reich (and passed along, on Twitter, by Joel A. Erickson of the Indianapolis Star). 

Watts, 26, began his career with the Chiefs in 2018. He played primarily on special teams during his four-year tenure there, logging just one start on defense in 53 appearances. He has 58 tackles and two pass defections to his name, and joined fellow safeties Tyrann Mathieu and Daniel Sorensen in departing Kansas City this offseason.

The Texas A&M alum signed with the Colts in April, giving the team a third phase boost and some defensive insurance. He was in line to remain a backup at the time of his arrival, but Indy was left without a key member of the position group when Khari Willis surprisingly retired. His absence pushed Watts up the depth chart, though the latter still likely wouldn’t have been a first-teamer had he avoided this injury, sustained during the team’s preseason finale.

With Willis, and now Watts, unavailable, the Colts still have Julian Blackmon to lean on, and a noteworthy pair of options to pair him with. The team signed veteran Rodney McLeod in free agency, and traded up to secure Nick Cross in the third round of this year’s draft. Outside of those three, however, the team is now thin on the backend, and could be active in signing at least one free agent as roster cuts loom.

Colts Sign S Armani Watts

April 5th, 2022 at 5:42pm CST by Sam Robinson

The Colts added some depth to their secondary Tuesday. They reached an agreement with safety Armani Watts, per Jim Irsay (on Twitter).

A former fourth-round pick, Watts worked primarily as a special-teamer in four seasons with the Chiefs. The Texas A&M product missed just one Chiefs game over the past three seasons, playing at least 70% of Kansas City’s special teams plays in each of the past two.

Watts stands to replace George Odum as a Colts backup safety and steady special-teamer. Odum signed with the 49ers earlier this offseason. Odum, who started seven games at safety last season, earned All-Pro acclaim as a special-teamer in 2020. Watts, 26, made nine tackles during the Chiefs’ three-game playoff run last season.

The Colts have Julian Blackmon and Khari Willis positioned as their safety starters. The former is coming off a torn Achilles, magnifying Indianapolis’ safety depth. The Colts used Andrew Sendejo as a 10-game starter last season; the 12-year veteran is a free agent.

Kansas City is retooling on its back end, having let Watts and longtime contributor Daniel Sorensen walk in free agency. The Chiefs are likely to separate from Tyrann Mathieu as well, having signed Justin Reid early in free agency. Juan Thornhill is going into a contract year.

NFL COVID-19 List Updates: 12/29/21

December 29th, 2021 at 3:19pm CST by Sam Robinson

Several key players returned to practice Wednesday. Here are the latest COVID-19 updates from around the league:

Arizona Cardinals

Atlanta Falcons

Baltimore Ravens

Buffalo Bills

Carolina Panthers

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 Chargers

Los Angeles Rams

Miami Dolphins

Minnesota Vikings

New England Patriots

New Orleans Saints

New York Giants

New York Jets

Philadelphia Eagles

Pittsburgh Steelers

  • Activated from practice squad/COVID-19 list: WR Rico Bussey

Seattle Seahawks

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Tennessee Titans

Washington Football Team

NFL COVID List Updates: 12/21/21

December 21st, 2021 at 10:49pm CST by Ely Allen

Once again, we’ve had a busy day of moves on and off the reserve/COVID-19 list. Here are the players who were placed on the list or activated off of it today:

Atlanta Falcons

Baltimore Ravens

Buffalo Bills

Chicago Bears

Cincinnati Bengals

Denver Broncos

Green Bay Packers

Houston Texans

Kansas City Chiefs

Los Angeles Chargers

Los Angeles Rams

Minnesota Vikings

New England Patriots

  • Activated from reserve/COVID-19 list: TE Dalton Keene (remains on IR)

New Orleans Saints

New York Jets

Washington Football Team

Minor NFL Transactions: 7/24/21

July 24th, 2021 at 4:00pm CST by Sam Robinson

Here are Saturday’s minor moves, with the list being updated throughout the day:

Denver Broncos

Green Bay Packers

  • Placed on reserve/COVID-19 list: LB Ray Wilborn
  • Placed on active/PUP list: RB Patrick Taylor

Jacksonville Jaguars

Kansas City Chiefs

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Tennessee Titans

Chiefs Place LDT, Watts On IR

October 9th, 2018 at 3:15pm CST by Zachary Links

The Chiefs formally placed guard Laurent Duvernay-Tardif and defensive back Armani Watts on injured reserve. In a related move, the club brought back outside linebacker Frank Zombo. 

Duvernay-Tardif was injured in the fourth quarter of the Chiefs’ 30-14 win over the Jaguars. As coach Andy Reid explained, the fibula is a non-weight bearing bone, so LDT should be able to heal up before the end of the season. Per league rules, he’ll have to spend at least eight weeks on the sidelines, meaning that he cannot return until Week 14, when the Chiefs face the Ravens. The Chiefs have their bye in Week 12, so Duvernay-Tardif might only miss seven games in total.

Watts, a fourth-round pick in this year’s draft, recorded one sack and two total tackles in five games this year. He’s just the latest Chiefs safety to succumb to injury thanks to a groin tear suffered against the Jaguars.

Zombo, 31, appeared in all of the Chiefs’ regular season games between 2013-2017. He started in 27 of those contests for KC and racked up 7.5 sacks for them in total.

Draft Pick Signings: 5/14/18

May 14th, 2018 at 9:05pm CST by Sam Robinson

Here are Monday’s draft pick agreements.

  • Two Chiefs Day 3 draftees agreed to terms on Monday. Kansas City signed Texas safety Armani Watts (Round 4, pick 124) and Tennessee lineman Kahlil McKenzie (Round 6, pick 198), Adam Teicher of ESPN.com reports (Twitter links). The son of Raiders GM Reggie McKenzie, Kahlil most recently played defensive tackle for the Volunteers. But the Chiefs are beginning his NFL career as a guard. Watts figures to push for a starting job for a Chiefs team that released Ron Parker.
  • The Bengals signed their final pick of the draft in Florida State wide receiver Auden Tate, whom Cincinnati selected in the seventh round (No. 253 overall).
  • Ohio’s other team signed a fifth-round pick Monday, with the Browns agreeing to terms with Memphis linebacker Genard Avery (Round 5, pick 150).
  • Jon Gruden‘s presumptive Marquette King replacement also signed today. Florida punter Johnny Townsend (Round 5, pick 173) signed his four-year Raiders deal.
  • The 49ers signed a fellow former Gator — No. 184 overall pick — in sixth-rounder Marcell Harris, Nick Wagoner of ESPN.com tweets. San Francisco now has six of its nine selections under contract.