HEADLINES

Atonio Mafi

Minor NFL Transactions: 11/30/24

November 30th, 2024 at 9:34pm CST by Ely Allen

Saturday’s minor moves and standard gameday practice squad elevations:

Atlanta Falcons

Baltimore Ravens

Carolina Panthers

Cleveland Browns

Houston Texans

Indianapolis Colts

Jacksonville Jaguars

Minnesota Vikings

New England Patriots

New Orleans Saints

Philadelphia Eagles

San Francisco 49ers

Seattle Seahawks

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Falcons kicker Younghoe Koo is listed as questionable, but head coach Raheem Morris is confident he’ll play, calling Patterson an emergency option.

Speculation out of Baltimore was that Maulet wouldn’t require a second stint on injured reserve with his calf injury, but that intel appears to have been off. Maulet and Kolar could potentially make a return in time for the postseason, but they’ll miss four games before they do.

VanSumeren served double-duty as a fullback and linebacker. With his placement on IR, Uzomah was targeted as a possibility to fill in at fullback.

Colts Activate DE Tyquan Lewis

November 23rd, 2024 at 12:35pm CST by Ben Levine

The Colts will soon get some reinforcement on the defensive line. The team announced today that they’ve activated defensive end Tyquan Lewis off the injured reserve. Lewis is still questionable for tomorrow’s game against the Lions.

Lewis dealt with a long list of injuries to begin the season, with the defensive end suffering wrist, calf, and elbow issues. He landed on injured reserve in early October and has been on the shelf for the past month-plus. He returned to practice earlier this week, and the Colts didn’t take long to add him to the active roster.

The 2018 second-round pick has spent his entire career in Indy. He hasn’t necessarily lived up to his draft billing, as Lewis has only started 20 of his 69 appearances. He’s also spent much of his Colts tenure dealing with injuries, as the Ohio State product has missed 41 games in six-plus seasons with the team.

Still, he’s proven to be a useful rotational pass rusher. The defensive end has collected 15 career sacks, including a career-high four sacks (along with a career-high 13 QB hits) in 2023. That performance earned him a two-year extension from the Colts, and Lewis proceeded to start each of the team’s first four games of the 2024 campaign. 2021 second-rounder Dayo Odeyingbo and 2024 first-rounder Laiatu Latu have both garnered more opportunities with Lewis out of the lineup. With 2021 first-round pick Kwity Paye also sticking around, it’s uncertain if Lewis will continue to start once he’s ready to take the field.

The Colts made a handful of additional moves in anticipation of Week 12. The team announced that they’ve waived defensive end Genard Avery and elevated guard Atonio Mafi from the practice squad.

Minor NFL Transactions: 11/16/24

November 16th, 2024 at 8:56pm CST by Ely Allen

Saturday’s minor moves, including standard gameday practice squad elevations:

Baltimore Ravens

Buffalo Bills

Cincinnati Bengals

Cleveland Browns

Denver Broncos

Detroit Lions

Indianapolis Colts

Jacksonville Jaguars

Kansas City Chiefs

Los Angeles Chargers

Los Angeles Rams

Miami Dolphins

Minnesota Vikings

New England Patriots

San Francisco 49ers

Seattle Seahawks

Tennessee Titans

Toney is set to make his debut for the regular season. The former first-round pick out of Florida has had a rocky first four years in the league, despite coming away with two Super Bowl rings in Kansas City. He was signed to the Browns’ practice squad just after the season opener and will be eligible to see game action with Cleveland in Week 11.

O’Donnell was added to the 49ers’ practice squad earlier this week given the chance of Mitch Wishnowsky missing time. The latter is now on injured reserve, ensuring at least a four-game absence. O’Donnell, 32, is a veteran of 145 games but Week 11 will mark his first regular season action since 2022.

NFL Practice Squad Updates: 8/29/24

August 29th, 2024 at 8:58pm CST by Sam Robinson

PFR’s practice squad rundown, signaling we are indeed close to games that count, begins Thursday. Here is how teams began to handle their 16-man P-squads.

Arizona Cardinals

Atlanta Falcons

Carolina Panthers

Chicago Bears

Cincinnati Bengals

Cleveland Browns

Dallas Cowboys

Detroit Lions

Houston Texans

Indianapolis Colts

Jacksonville Jaguars

Las Vegas Raiders

Los Angeles Chargers

Los Angeles Rams

Miami Dolphins

Minnesota Vikings

New England Patriots

New Orleans Saints

New York Giants

Philadelphia Eagles

Pittsburgh Steelers

San Francisco 49ers

Seattle Seahawks

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Tennessee Titans

Washington Commanders

Slovis went to camp with the Colts, joining the team as a UDFA this year. Houston placed Case Keenum on IR and released Tim Boyle, who is now the Dolphins’ P-squad QB. Slovis, who played at USC, Pittsburgh and BYU in college, is now the Texans’ de facto third-stringer.

Shelley has 11 career starts — with the Bears and Vikings — on his resume. He joined the Raiders last year but ended up with the Rams, playing in 11 games as a backup. The Giants have spent time searching for a cornerback answer, having not been too satisfied with their Cor’Dale Flott–Nick McCloud CB2 competition. New York did not make any waiver claims at the position Wednesday.

Reagor, who played for the Patriots last season, is back after being released earlier this week. The former Minnesota first-rounder played in 11 New England games last season, returning a kick for a touchdown. Latu joins the Browns after being a 49ers cut. The 2023 third-round pick missed all of last season with an ACL tear. Jefferson is back with the Bolts hours after being released.

Patriots Set 53-Man Roster

August 27th, 2024 at 9:19pm CST by Ben Levine

The Patriots have set their first 53-man roster in a post-Bill Belichick era. The team announced the following moves:

Released:

Placed on reserve/PUP list:

Placed on reserve/NFI list:

Placed on IR:

Atonio Mafi was a fifth-round pick by the Patriots just last year, and he ended up starting five of his 17 appearances as a rookie. It wasn’t pretty for the UCLA alumni, as Pro Football Focus ultimately graded Mafi as the second-worst qualifying guard in the NFL (among 79 qualifying players).

Kevin Harris was a sixth-round pick by New England in 2022, but the running back struggled to carve out a role through his two seasons with the squad. The South Carolina product was ultimately limited to nine appearances (one start), collecting 175 yards from scrimmage and two touchdowns.

AFC East Rumors: Patriots OL, Saleh, Milano

May 26th, 2024 at 6:38pm CST by Ely Allen

With veteran left tackle Trent Brown departing in free agency, the Patriots are looking to fill his old role this offseason. As organized team activities have opened, free agent addition Chukwuma Okorafor has been taking first-team snaps at the position, according to Mike Reiss of ESPN.

Okorafor, a former third-round pick for the Steelers, has spent the first six years of his NFL career in Pittsburgh. His first two seasons only saw the Nigerian find starting time as an injury replacement. After Okorafor finished out his rookie contract with two straight seasons as a starter, the Steelers rewarded him with a three-year, $29.25MM extension. After losing his starting job to first-round rookie Broderick Jones last year, though, the Steelers released Okorafor to free agency.

Now in New England, Okorafor will have the opportunity to re-earn a starting job and fill in for the departed Brown. Okorafor’s competition for the job will be Vederian Lowe, who started eight games in injury relief for the Patriots last year, and third-round rookie Caedan Wallace out of Penn State.

In additional offensive line news out of New England OTAs, second-year lineman Atonio Mafi was seen taking snaps at center behind starter David Andrews. Mafi, a former fifth-round pick who converted from defensive line to guard at UCLA, had yet to seen time at center while making five starts at left guard as a rookie. New offensive line coach Scott Peters and assistant offensive line coach Robert Kugler seem to have some interest in expanding his role on the line.

Here are some other rumors coming out of the AFC East:

  • We had reported previously that Jets head coach Robert Saleh had explored the idea of reducing the role of offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett. This exploration came after the seeing Hackett seemingly lost for options after the loss of starting quarterback Aaron Rodgers early in the season. A more recent report from ESPN’s Rich Cimini claims that Saleh is now taking a deeper role in the offense himself. The former defensive coordinator seems to be keeping a close eye over the shoulder of Hackett as their jobs both heat up in 2024.
  • Long-time Bills starting linebacker Matt Milano missed 12 games after suffering a season-ending knee injury last year. The team is looking to pair Milano back up with last year’s emergent starter Terrel Bernard, but that won’t be happening in OTAs. According to Alaina Getzenberg of ESPN, Milano is on schedule with his recovery, but “it’s probably going to be more closer to training camp until” he sees the field again.

Patriots Place G Cole Strange On IR

December 18th, 2023 at 9:51pm CST by Ely Allen

The Patriots bad season got worse this weekend when they saw starting offensive guard Cole Strange carted off the field yesterday. After the knee injury forced him to leave the game, Strange has been placed on injured reserve, per a team announcement.

In his second NFL season out of Chattanooga, the former first-round pick has fared much better against his professional competition this year. After grading out as the 61st best guard in the league as a rookie, according to Pro Football Focus (subscription required), Strange currently ranks as the 28th best guard this season.

Unfortunately, injuries have kept him from really blossoming in 2023. After missing the team’s season-opener, Strange came back for two games before being forced to leave the Patriots’ Week 3 contest early. He would be forced to sit out for three games before coming back to make eight straight starts up until this most recent injury.

Atonio Mafi, the fifth-round rookie out of UCLA started in place of Strange in the previous four games he’d missed and filled in for Strange when he left the game yesterday. With Strange out for the rest of the year, Mafi will be starting three more games to end his rookie campaign.

New England also added another body to the quarterbacks room today. Joining Bailey Zappe and Mac Jones at the position will be Nathan Rourke. Rourke was waived by the Jaguars this weekend to make room for return specialist Jamal Agnew to come off IR and found himself getting claimed off the waiver wire by the Patriots. The former CFL quarterback hasn’t made an NFL appearance, but with the season all but decided for New England, the Patriots may decide to see just what they have in Rourke.

NFL Draft Pick Signings: 5/9/23

May 9th, 2023 at 7:15pm CST by Sam Robinson

Teams are moving quickly on inking their Day 3 draftees to their four-year rookie deals, with this process involving a slot system that does not feature many complications for late-round players. Here are the latest such agreements to commence:

Cincinnati Bengals

Denver Broncos

Detroit Lions

  • OL Colby Sorsdal (fifth round, William & Mary)

Jacksonville Jaguars

New England Patriots

Seattle Seahawks

An additional quintet of fifth-round picks is now under contract. Last year, the slot system pegged Round 5’s contracts between $4.1MM and $3.9MM over four years, with full guarantees ranging from $361K to $243K.

Brown finished his Fighting Illini tenure with back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons, including a 1,643-yard slate as a senior. He joins a Bengals team that did not outbid the Broncos for Samaje Perine and had been expected to ask Joe Mixon for a pay cut. Post-draft, Zac Taylor issued a vote of confidence for Mixon to be back. Abdullah combined to tally 19.5 sacks and 31 tackles for loss during his final two seasons at Louisville.