Austin Seibert

Lions Waive K Austin Seibert

Michael Badgley‘s Week 4 showing with the Bears may be leading to their NFC North rival landing a new full-time kicker. Days after Badgley’s Detroit arrival, the Lions are waiving Austin Seibert, Field Yates of ESPN.com tweets.

The Lions used Seibert as their kicker at points in 2021 — prior to his season-ending injury — and this season. Seibert kicked in Detroit’s first three games, before another injury led him to miss Week 4.

Badgley is on Detroit’s practice squad, but that status will soon change. The Lions added him to their taxi squad shortly after the Bears cut ties with him. Chicago deployed Badgley as a fill-in leg for Cairo Santos, who missed Week 4 due to personal reasons. Santos returned to the team this week, leading the Bears to go with their multiyear kicker and jettison Badgley. The Lions are doing the opposite.

Seibert, who began his career with the Browns in 2019, has not gone through a full season since that rookie campaign. The Browns moved on from him early in the 2020 season, and after the Oklahoma product landed an opportunity with the Bengals, Cincinnati drafted Evan McPherson last year. That led to Seibert being waived and the Lions claiming him.

Seibert missed two field goals in his most recent outing — a 28-25 Lions loss to the Vikings — including a final-minute 54-yarder Dan Campbell admitted was the wrong choice soon after. Badgley went 4-for-4 on field goal tries during the Bears’ loss to the Giants on Sunday.

Minor NFL Transactions: 11/13/21

Here are Saturday’s minor moves:

Arizona Cardinals

Carolina Panthers

Cincinnati Bengals

Cleveland Browns

Dallas Cowboys

  • Activated from PUP list: DT Trysten Hill
  • Promoted: K Lirim Hajrullahu

Denver Broncos

Detroit Lions

Green Bay Packers

Indianapolis Colts

Kansas City Chiefs

Las Vegas Raiders

Minnesota Vikings

New England Patriots

New York Jets

Pittsburgh Steelers

Seattle Seahawks

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Tennessee Titans

Washington Football Team

Minor NFL Transactions: 10/6/21

We’ll keep track of today’s minor moves here:

Arizona Cardinals

Cincinnati Bengals

Cleveland Browns

Detroit Lions

Green Bay Packers

Houston Texans

Miami Dolphins

New England Patriots

New Orleans Saints

New York Jets 

Lions Claim K Austin Seibert

The Lions have claimed kicker Austin Seibert from the Bengals, per the league’s official transactions wire. Meanwhile, they’ve also claimed wide receiver Khadarel Hodge from the Browns.

The Lions dropped Randy Bullock and Zane Gonzalez on Tuesday, leaving them with zero kickers at the end of the business day. Now, they’ve got Seibert, a 24 year-old (25 in November) leg with 21 career games to his credit.

Seibert enjoyed a solid 2019 with the Browns, banking 86.2% of his field goals including 9-of-12 from 40-49 yards out. The Browns dropped him after a bad showing in September, leading him to the Bengals. Seibert went 6-of-8 on FG tries in Cincinnati, but lost out on the kicking competition this year.

Bengals Down To 53

The Bengals are in the books. With less than an hour before the deadline, the Bengals announced a series of roster cuts to take them down to 53. Here’s the full rundown:

Placed on Reserve/Non-Football Injury list:

Placed on Reserve/Injured list:

Released:

Waived:

For now, this leaves the Bengals with seven wide receivers on the roster: Ja’Marr ChaseTyler Boyd, Mike Thomas, Auden Tate, Stanley Morgan Jr., Tee Higgins, and Trenton Irwin. Meanwhile, they’re down a couple starters from last year in Michael Jordan and Mike Daniels.

AFC North Notes: Bullock, Hunt, Browns

The Bengals claimed K Austin Seibert off waivers from the Browns, and when that happened, most assumed that incumbent Randy Bullock would be placed on IR, or perhaps even released. However, head coach Zac Taylor said he expects Bullock to stay right where he is. “Randy’s our kicker,” Taylor said. (Twitter link via Ben Baby of ESPN.com).

Cincinnati suffered a difficult Week 1 loss against the Chargers, and Bullock shanked a 31-yard field goal try that would have sent the game to overtime. He also appeared to injure his left calf on the kick — though some are skeptical — but Tom Pelissero of the NFL Network reported that the injury isn’t serious (Twitter link). In fairness to Bullock, he did make a 50-yarder and a 43-yarder earlier in the game, and he converted his only PAT.

The Bengals take on Seibert’s former employer in a divisional battle tomorrow night.

Now for more from the AFC North:

  • The Browns recently handed running back Kareem Hunt a two-year extension, and Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com has a few details. As previously reported, the new money can max out at $13.25MM, and Hunt will take home base salaries of $4MM, $1.3MM, and $1.35MM over the next three seasons. The remaining money will come via roster bonuses designed to make sure that Hunt keeps himself out of trouble. One is tied to his making it to training camp without incident, one is tied to his making it to Week 1 without incident, and one is tied to his making it to the end of the season without incident. He will also receive weekly 53-man roster bonuses.
  • In the same piece linked above, Cabot reports that the Browns were indeed the team that would have been involved in a Jadeveon Clowney sign-and-trade with the Saints. In the proposed deal, which the NFL nixed, Cleveland would have signed Clowney to a one-year, $15MM contract, including a $5MM signing bonus. The team would have then shipped Clowney to New Orleans in exchange for a second-round pick and a player.
  • Cabot further notes that the Browns should be getting CB Greedy Williams back soon. Williams missed the team’s Week 1 loss to the Ravens with a shoulder injury but is not expected to land on IR.
  • The Steelers placed right tackle Zach Banner on IR yesterday.

Bengals Claim Austin Seibert Off Waivers

The Bengals have claimed kicker Austin Seibert off waivers from the Browns, as Tom Pelissero of NFL.com tweets. The move won’t become officially official until 4pm ET/3pm CT, but the Bengals are guaranteed to get Seibert thanks to their No. 1 priority on the waiver wire.

[RELATED: Bengals Place Trae Waynes On IR]

The Browns dropped Seibert earlier this week and it now appears that they’ll be facing him on Thursday night for their intrastate showdown. The Bengals grabbed Seibert as insurance for Randy Bullock, who may be out with a calf injury. Injury aside, Bullock also missed a 31-yard field goal down the stretch of their Week 1 loss to the Chargers.

Seibert’s last straw in Cleveland came after a blowout loss to the Ravens. The young kicker missed a field goal and an extra point attempt in the 38-6 defeat, though there was plenty of blame to go around. As a rookie last year, Seibert nailed 86.2% of his field goal tries, though he missed five of his XPs.

Browns Promote K Cody Parkey

The Browns have called Cody Parkey up from the practice squad, according to NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport (on Twitter). Parkey, presumably, will replace kicker Austin Seibert who had a rough outing on Sunday.

This marks a return to Cleveland’s active roster for Parkey, who kicked in 14 Browns games in 2016. Parkey, a 2014 Pro Bowler with the Eagles, made 80% of his field goals that year.

The Browns watched Seibert miss a 41-yard field goal try and an extra point in their 38-6 blowout loss to the Ravens. His two kickoff tries left much to be desired, as well. The Browns used a fifth-round pick on the Oklahoma product just one year ago, but they’re leaving nothing to chance as they try to turn things around in 2020. As a rookie, Seibert nailed 86.2% of his field goal tries and was perfect inside of the 40. His XP completion rate was spotty, however – the youngster missed five of his 35 attempts.

The Browns and Parkey will try to get to .500 on Thursday night when they face the Bengals in Cincinnati.

Cody Parkey Lands On Browns’ P-Squad

After bringing Cody Parkey in for a workout and a subsequent visit, the Browns are indeed keeping the veteran kicker around.

Parkey agreed to join Cleveland’s practice squad. He represents kicker insurance behind incumbent Austin Seibert, whom the Browns — under the previous John Dorsey regime — drafted in the fifth round last year.

This marks a return to Cleveland for Parkey, who kicked in 14 Browns games in 2016. He made 80% of his field goals that year. The Browns have used different kickers in each of the past six seasons, though Seibert looks likely to snap that streak. He will have Parkey, a 2014 Pro Bowler with the Eagles, representing continual competition, however.

Former Titans third-round wide receiver Taywan Taylor also landed on the Browns’ practice squad. Taylor, who posted 466 receiving yards in 2018, was with the Browns last year and in training camp this year.

Following their Tuesday addition of tackle Greg Senat to the practice-only crew, here is the Browns’ squad:

Browns Eyeing Free Agent Kickers

Both Browns kickers — incumbent Greg Joseph and fifth-round rookie Austin Seibert — missed their only field goal tries Saturday night. Although each came from beyond 50 yards, the Browns are now considering bringing in additional competition.

Freddie Kitchens said he and John Dorsey have discussed adding another kicker to their mix, Mary Kay Cabot of cleveland.com notes.

While it would certainly be odd for the Browns to go elsewhere, after spending a mid-Day 3 pick on one of the nation’s best college kickers, teams are quicker to give up on kicker draft picks than they are at nearly every other position. The Browns did this just last year, cutting 2017 seventh-rounder Zane Gonzalez two games into last season.

To me, those critical errors are just as important as the missed field goals themselves because we’ve got to put them in a better position to make them. But are they expected to make a 53-yard field goal? Yes they are,” Kitchens said, via Cabot. “Am I concerned about it? No, because we’re not playing for real yet, but I will be.”

Joseph made 17 of 20 field goal attempts last season and went 1-for-2 from beyond 50 yards. Seibert was 17-for-19 as an Oklahoma senior and kicked for the Sooners for four years. Joseph made a 43-yarder in Cleveland’s preseason opener but missed an extra point. Seibert has yet to miss a PAT in his brief time as a pro.