Austin Shepherd

NFL Workout Updates: 12/21/17

Today’s workout updates, with all Twitter links via Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle and veteran NFL reporter Howard Balzer:

Arizona Cardinals

  • WRs Harvey Binford, Rashad Ross, Brandon Zylstra; DBs Jonathon Mincy, Kacy Rodgers (link)

Cincinnati Bengals

Cleveland Browns

Dallas Cowboys

Denver Broncos

Detroit Lions

Houston Texans

Kansas City Chiefs

New Orleans Saints

  • WR Diontae Spencer (link)

New York Giants

New York Jets

  • G Greg Pyke (link via Balzer)

Pittsburgh Steelers

San Francisco 49ers

  • TE Brandon Barnes; OL Erik Austell; DT Euclid Cummings; LB Chris Casher; CB Shaq Richardson (link)

Seattle Seahawks

Vikings’ 53-Man Roster Set

The Vikings made their mandatory cuts to pare their roster down to the 53-man ceiling. Here are the rearrangements Minnesota made to set its regular-season roster.

Cut:

Placed on IR:

Placed on Reserve/PUP list:

Placed on Reserve/NFI list:

Placed on Reserve/Suspended list:

NFL Reserve/Futures Contracts: 1/2/17

Here are today’s reserve/futures contract signings from around the NFL. These deals will go into effect on the first day of the 2017 league year, with players joining their respective clubs’ offseason 90-man rosters.

Baltimore Ravens

Carolina Panthers

Read more

NFL Practice Squad Updates: 10/25/16

Today’s practice squad moves:

Arizona Cardinals

Baltimore Ravens

  • Signed: WR Dobson Collins

Buffalo Bills

Cleveland Browns

  • Cut: OL Mike Liedtke

Detroit Lions

Green Bay Packers

Jacksonville Jaguars

Kansas City Chiefs

Minnesota Vikings

New England Patriots

New York Jets

  • Signed: LB Reshard Cliett (Twitter link via Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle)

Pittsburgh Steelers

Seattle Seahawks

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Washington Redskins

Steelers Release David Cobb

The Steelers announced that they have cut running back David Cobb from their practice squad. Meanwhile, the team has added safety Jacob Hagen and offensive tackle Austin Shepherd to the group. David Cobb (vertical)

[RELATED: Steelers’ Heyward, Shazier Nursing Injuries]

Cobb, 23, was a fifth-round pick in the 2015 draft. The ex-Minnesota Golden Gopher picked up 146 yards on 52 carries, good for a paltry 2.7 YPC, in seven games as a rookie. This offseason, he was cut by Titans GM Jon Robinson along with other notable players from ex-GM Ruston Webster‘s time in charge. In early September, the Steelers added him to their taxi squad.

The Steelers still have running back Daryl Richardson on the p-squad with running backs Le’Veon Bell, DeAngelo Williams, and Fitzgerald Toussaint on the 53-man roster. For a full rundown of Pittsburgh’s roster, check out their page on Roster Resource.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

NFL Workout Updates: 9/27/16

Tuesday is workout day in the NFL, and while we’ve dedicated full posts to the more notable tryouts, we’ll round up the stragglers here:

Sunday NFL Transactions: AFC West

Listed below are the Sunday roster moves for the four AFC 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 Broncos, Chiefs, Raiders, and Chargers 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 AFC West transactions, which will continue to be updated throughout the day. All links go to Twitter unless otherwise noted:

Denver Broncos

Kansas City Chiefs

Oakland Raiders

San Diego Chargers

Minor NFL Transactions: 8/29/16

Many clubs are announcing their roster moves in bulk during cutdowns, but we’ll round up the stragglers here:

  • The Eagles announced that they have signed running back Cedric O’Neal, who was previously released by the team on August 21. Additionally, Philadelphia has released cornerback Aaron Grymes with an injury settlement, Geoff Mosher of 97.5 The Fanatic tweets.
  • The Falcons reached an injury settlement with running back Cyrus Gray, who has been dealing a hamstring injury, the team announced.
  • The Redskins announced that they’ve claimed offensive lineman Vinston Painter off waivers from the Dolphins. 
  • The Jets have waived/injured running back Romar Morris, who is going to have shoulder surgery next week, according to Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle (Twitter link).
  • The Cowboys have placed defensive lineman Shaneil Jenkins (knee), linebacker James Morris (shoulder) and cornerback Jeremiah McKinnon on waived/injured list, the club announced. Cornerback Josh Thomas (thumb) was placed on injured reserve.
  • The Vikings have made several roster moves today, cutting quarterback Brad Sorensen, wide receiver Marken Michel, defensive lineman Claudell Louis, and offensive tackle Austin Shepherd (Twitter links: 1, 2, 3 via Chris Tomasson of the Pioneer Press); and tight end Brian Leonhardt (Twitter link via Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN).
  • Chiefs guard/center Garrick Mayweather has been waived, the team announced.
  • The Seahawks have waived OL/DL Kristjan Sokoli, who was selected in the sixth round last year, per his agent Brett Tessler (Twitter link).

Vikings Sign Entire Draft Class

Well, that was pretty easy for the Vikings. While most teams tend to sign their draft choices in drips and drabs, the Vikings announced that they have signed their entire 2015 draft class. Those ten rookies are:

  • Round 1, CB Trae Waynes
  • Round 2: LB Eric Kendricks
  • Round 3: DE Danielle Hunter
  • Round 4: OL T.J. Clemmings
  • Round 5: TE Mycol Pruitt
  • Round 5: WR Stefon Diggs
  • Round 6: OL Tyrus Thompson
  • Round 6: DL B.J. Dubose
  • Round 7: OL Austin Shepherd
  • Round 7: LB Edmond Robinson

The signing of Waynes was leaked out earlier today by Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN. The eleventh player selected in the 2015 draft, Waynes will earn nearly $13MM over the life of his rookie contract, and will have the opportunity to make several extra million in 2019 if Minnesota exercises his fifth-year option. Because he just missed the cutoff to be a top-10 pick, Waynes’ fifth year won’t be as pricey as it otherwise would’ve — those amounts aren’t known yet, but for 2016 options, the difference in salaries between a top-10 cornerback and a corner picked between 11th and 32nd exceeded $3.5MM.

Kendricks was last season’s Butkus Award winner, giving him the crown of best collegiate linebacker in the country. Kendricks’ brother, Mychal, plays for the Eagles and father Marvin Kendricks, played running back at UCLA and enjoyed a stint in the CFL.

With ten UDFAs also in the fold, the Vikings’ roster is now at 90 players, according to the press release.

Draft Pick Signings: Thursday

Over the course of the next few weeks, as the league’s 32 teams lock up their draft picks, we’ll dedicate individual posts to first- and second-round picks reaching agreements with their respective clubs. Already today, for instance, we’ve passed along word of Trae Waynes signing with the Vikings and Nelson Agholor reaching a deal with the Eagles.

However, given the lack of drama involved in rookie contract negotiations under the new CBA, news on players who were selected in the third round or later will be relegated to round-up posts. Here are Thursday’s mid- to late-round picks who signed their deals, with any additional updates added to the top of the page throughout the day:

4:52pm:

  • In addition to confirming the signing of Deon Simon (noted below), the Jets also announced the signings of third-round outside linebacker Lorenzo Mauldin and fourth-round quarterback Bryce Petty, per a team release.
  • The Vikings are gradually agreeing to terms with nearly their entire draft class over the course of the day. Chris Tomasson (Twitter links) has updates on two more, reporting that fifth-round tight end MyCole Pruitt, fifth-round wideout Stefon Diggs, and seventh-round offensive lineman Austin Shepherd have all reached deals with the club.
  • The Ravens have signed fifth-round guard Robert Myers and sixth-round wide receiver Darren Waller, per Aaron Wilson of the Baltimore Sun (Twitter links).
  • The Seahawks have signed fifth-round cornerback Tye Smith, tweets Terry Blount of ESPN.com.

3:50pm:

  • The Vikings have officially added three more draftees to the roster, agreeing to terms with sixth-round defensive lineman B.J. Dubose and seventh-round linebacker Edmond Robinson, according to reports from Matt Vensel of the Star Tribune and Chris Tomasson of the St. Paul Pioneer Press (Twitter links). In addition to those late-rounders, fourth-round offensive lineman T.J. Clemmings has signed his deal, tweets agent Mike McCartney.
  • Sixth-round lineman Kristjan Sokoli has signed his four-year rookie deal with the Seahawks, tweets agent Brett Tessler. A defensive lineman at Buffalo, Sokoli will be moving over to the offensive line in Seattle.
  • Jets seventh-round defensive tackle Deon Simon and Patriots seventh-round defensive end Xzavier Dickson have signed their rookie deals, according to tweets from their respective agencies. Simon will get a signing bonus in the neighborhood of $73K, while Dickson’s bonus will be worth about $53K.

2:43pm:

  • Sixth-round offensive lineman Tyrus Thompson has agreed to terms with the Vikings and will officially sign when he arrives at the team’s facility, tweets Darren Wolfson of KSTP. Thompson is the second Vikes draftee to reach a deal with the club.
  • Another Packers draftee has agreed to terms with the team, per Pete Dougherty of the Green Bay Post-Gazette, who tweets that the club has struck a deal with sixth-rounder fullback Aaron Ripkowski. Ripkowski was the first of three players selected by the Packers in the sixth round, and is also the first one to reach an agreement with the team.
  • The Browns have signed sixth-round tight end Randall Telfer, tweets Nate Ulrich of the Akron Beacon Journal. Telfer will receive a signing bonus of just under $118K.

1:48pm:

  • The Packers have agreed to terms on four-year rookie contracts with fifth-round quarterback Brett Hundley and fourth-round linebacker Jake Ryan, according to Tom Silverstein of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (Twitter links). Green Bay is expected to lock up most or all of the rest of its late-round picks by the end of the day, writes Rob Demovsky of ESPN.com.
  • The Ravens have agreed to contract terms with fourth-round defensive back Tray Walker, reports Tony Pauline of DraftInsider.net (Twitter link). The final player selected in the fourth round, as a supplemental pick, Walker will count for about $521K against the cap in 2015.
  • Seventh-round center Austin Reiter has agreed to terms on his rookie contract with Washington, tweets John Keim of ESPN.com. Reiter will receive a signing bonus worth just under $75K.