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NFL Practice Squad Updates: 9/27/16

September 27th, 2016 at 5:26pm CST by Zachary Links

Today’s practice squad moves:

Arizona Cardinals

Buffalo Bills

  • Signed: WR Ed Eagan, C Terran Vaughn
  • Cut: LB Carlos Fields, S Damian Parms

Green Bay Packers

  • Cut: CB Robertson Daniel (Twitter link via Rob Demovsky of ESPN.com)

Indianapolis Colts

Jacksonville Jaguars

Kansas City Chiefs

Los Angeles Rams

  • Signed: LB Lynden Trail (Twitter link via Alden Gonzalez of ESPN.com)

New England Patriots

  • Signed: WR Da’Ron Brown (Twitter link via Mike Reiss of ESPN.com)

New York Giants

New York Jets

Oakland Raiders

  • Signed: DL Demetrius Cherry (Twitter link via Vic Tafur of the San Francisco Chronicle)
  • Cut: LB Korey Toomer (Twitter link via Tafur)

Seattle Seahawks

  • Signed: RB Zac Brooks (Twitter link via ESPN.com’s Sheil Kapadia)
  • Cut: WR Antwan Goodley (Twitter link via Bob Condotta of The Seattle Times)

Philadelphia Eagles

  • Signed: G Darrell Greene
  • Cut: CB JaCorey Shepherd (Twitter link via Adam Caplan of ESPN.com)

Pittsburgh Steelers

  • Signed: DB Jacob Hagen (Twitter link via Aaron Wilson of The Houston Chronicle)

Tennessee Titans

Washington Redskins

Pats Try Out Glenn Gronkowski, Others

September 19th, 2016 at 5:08pm CST by Connor J. Byrne

There could be a second Gronkowski on the Patriots’ roster soon. The club worked out free agent fullback Glenn Gronkowski, brother of superstar tight end Rob Gronkowski, on Monday, ESPN’s Adam Caplan reports (Twitter link). As of now, there’s no indication the team plans to sign “Baby Gronk.”

Glenn Gronkowski (vertical)

The younger Gronkowski signed with the AFC East rival Bills this year as an undrafted free agent from Kansas State and cracked their Week 1 roster, but the team cut him after its opening loss to the Ravens.

Joining Gronkowski in auditioning for New England were seven other free agents, per Mike Reiss of ESPNBoston.com (Twitter link) : running back Storm Johnson; tight ends Rory Anderson and Austin Traylor; defensive tackles Brandin Bryant and Trevon Coley; and defensive backs Jamell Fleming and Doran Grant. Of that septet, only Johnson, Fleming and Grant have seen NFL action. Fleming easily possesses the most experience, having appeared in 46 regular-season games with the Cardinals, Jaguars and Chiefs from 2012-15. Fleming, on whom Arizona once used a third-round pick, appeared in all Kansas City’s games last year, though he didn’t play a significant role with the team.

Notably, no quarterbacks tried out for the Patriots on Monday. With Jimmy Garoppolo hurt and third-round rookie Jacoby Brissett set to start, wide receiver Julian Edelman – a former high school and college quarterback – could be the Pats’ backup Thursday against Houston. Earlier Monday, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported that New England wasn’t planning on signing any signal-callers before its tilt with the Texans, who are also 2-0.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Sunday NFL Transactions: AFC East

September 4th, 2016 at 5:53pm CST by Dallas Robinson

Listed below are the Sunday roster moves for the four AFC East 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 Bills, Dolphins, Patriots, and Jets 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 East transactions, which will continue to be updated throughout the day (all links go to Twitter unless noted otherwise):

Buffalo Bills

Miami Dolphins

New England Patriots

New York Jets

Steelers Trim Roster To 53

September 3rd, 2016 at 1:18pm CST by Zachary Links

The Steelers have reduced their roster to the league-mandated 53 players.

The following players have been cut:

As Fowler observes, the Steelers’ recent wave of offensive lineman cuts could be good news for B.J. Finney, who came into today firmly on the roster bubble. Feiler, like Feeney, is a practice squad candidate.

Hooks, an Ole Miss product, was signed by the Packers as a UDFA following the 2015 draft, but Green Bay cut him last August as part of the 75-man cutdown. He caught on with the Steelers in February, and at least made it to the final cutdown day, so that qualifies as progress.

Ahmed was part of the Falcons’ crop of UDFAs this year but was waived by Atlanta last month. The Temple product made the switch from defensive lineman to offensive lineman during his junior year, and he started 12 of 13 games at left guard for the feel-good Owls last year.

Rory Parks contributed to this post

AFC Notes: Benjamin, Cobb, Steelers

November 5th, 2015 at 9:54pm CST by Zachary Links

Jason Fitzgerald of Over The Cap ran down the top wide receivers in the 2016 free agent class, including Browns speedster Travis Benjamin. Benjamin is on pace for over 1,200 yards and eight touchdowns on the year, but he doesn’t have a history of this production and will have to shed concerns that he is a flash in the pan. Fitzgerald estimates that he’ll get a deal in the range of Julian Edelman, Doug Baldwin, and Emmanuel Sanders. That tier generally has a floor of about $4.5MM per year with perhaps $1MM or $2MM more depending on production.

  • Interim coach Mike Mularkey says that running back David Cobb most likely won’t be activated to the Titans‘ roster until next week, as Terry McCormick of TitanInsider.com tweets. McCormick (link) adds that the Titans may have to make roster move at cornerback this week with cornerbacks Jason McCourty and Blidi Wreh-Wilson ailing.
  • Doran Grant told Mark Kaboly of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review (on Twitter) that a couple of teams were looking to sign him off of Pittsburgh’s practice squad and he indicated that’s why he was promoted to the Steelers‘ 53-man roster.
  • Ty Sambrailo, who was converted left tackle before hitting the IR, probably isn’t the Broncos‘ left tackle of the future, but his college coach believes that he can come back strong, as Chris Mortensen of ESPN.com writes. “I still believe Ty can be a 12- to 15-year player in the NFL,” said Colorado State coach Jim McElwain, now the coach at Florida. “He’s athletic and he’s nasty. It’s just going to take him awhile to get his strength where he needs to be.” It remains to be seen whether that will be the case for Sambrailo and, if it is, whether that will happen in Denver.

Minor NFL Transactions: 11/4/15

November 4th, 2015 at 3:09pm CST by Luke Adams

With the 2015 trade deadline now behind us, NFL teams will have one less tool at their disposal to try to upgrade their rosters. We can expect plenty more signings and cuts in the coming weeks though. Here are today’s minor transactions from across the league:

  • The Raiders have signed receiver and return man Marcus Thigpen, according to Bill Williamson of ESPN.com (via Twitter). Thigpen, who has already spent time with the Bills and Colts this season, will get a chance to take over return duties in Oakland.
  • The Browns have placed tight end Rob Housler on injured reserve, promoting defensive back De’Ante Saunders from the practice squad to replace him on the roster, per Nate Ulrich of the Akron Beacon Journal (Twitter link). Housler caught just one pass for the club before seeing his season derailed by a hamstring issue.
  • After moving Clinton McDonald to their injured reserve list on Tuesday, the Buccaneers have added another defensive lineman, announcing in a press release that they’ve signed Lawrence Sidbury. Sidbury, who initially joined the Bucs last December, has never been an NFL starter, but appeared in 48 games for the Falcons in the first four years of his career.
  • The Chargers announced a slew of roster moves on Tuesday, and they capped that series of transactions today by promoting defensive lineman Damion Square to their 53-man roster, tweets Ian Rapoport of NFL.com. Square is one of four new players on San Diego’s roster this week.
  • Having cut running back Joseph Randle on Tuesday, the Cowboys signed running back Trey Williams off Washington‘s practice squad to fill the hole in the backfield, according to Rapoport (via Twitter). Williams, who has yet to see a regular-season snap, figures to fight Rod Smith for the No. 3 role behind Darren McFadden and Christine Michael.
  • The Steelers have elevated cornerback Doran Grant from their practice squad to the active roster, waiving QB/WR Tyler Murphy in a corresponding move, the team announced today.

AFC Practice Squad Updates: 9/7/15

September 7th, 2015 at 6:54pm CST by Luke Adams

While many teams filled up their 10-man practice squads on Sunday, plenty of teams didn’t confirm their moves right away, or kept a few spots open on those units. On top of that, at least one club that signed 10 players to its taxi squad on Sunday has already made several changes, bringing in new players and jettisoning players who didn’t even spend 24 hours on the squad.

We’ll have updates on Monday’s AFC practice squad signings and cuts in this space, with teams listed in alphabetical order. When new moves occur, we’ll bump this post back to the top of the page. Here’s a round-up of today’s moves:

Baltimore Ravens

  • Signed (press release):

    • WR Daniel Brown
    • TE Dominique Jones
    • WR Jeremy Ross

Buffalo Bills

  • Signed (press release):
    • OLB IK Enemkpali
    • T Chris Martin
    • DE Cedric Reed
    • QB Alex Tanney

Cleveland Browns

Denver Broncos

  • Signed (press release):
    • RB Kapri Bibbs
    • TE Arthur Lynch
    • T Kyle Roberts
    • DE George Uko

Jacksonville Jaguars

  • Signed:

Kansas City Chiefs

  • Signed (press release):
    • DT Hebron Fangupo
    • T Laurence Gibson
    • CB Jeremy Harris
    • DL David Irving
    • TE Ross Travis
    • FB Spencer Ware

Miami Dolphins

New England Patriots

  • Signed (Twitter links):
    • OL Chris Barker
    • T Blaine Clausell
    • OL Cameron Fleming (Twitter link via Jeff Howe)
    • LB Darius Fleming
    • LB Brandon King
    • WR Nathan Palmer
    • DB Daxton Swanson
    • DT Jimmy Staten
  • Signed and subsequently released:

New York Jets

  • To be signed:

Oakland Raiders

  • Signed:
    • George Atkinson III, RB
    • Mitch Bell, G
    • SaQwan Edwards, CB
    • Shelby Harris, DE
    • Dan Kistler, T
    • Tevin McDonald, S
    • Josh Shirley, LB

Pittsburgh Steelers

  • Signed (Twitter link via Burt Lauten + team transactions page):
    • WR Isaiah Burse
    • LB Anthony Chickillo
    • T Matt Feiler
    • CB Doran Grant
    • TE Xavier Grimble
    • OL Barrett Jones
    • RB Fitzgerald Toussaint
  • Released:
    • RB Dominique Brown
    • OL Reese Dismukes
    • LB Shayon Green
    • DE Ethan Hemer
    • OL Antonio Johnson
    • TE Harold Spears
    • WR Jarrod West

San Diego Chargers

  • Signed:
    • OL Michael Ola (link via Michael Gehlken)

Tennessee Titans

Sunday NFL Transactions: AFC North

September 6th, 2015 at 5:41pm CST by Luke Adams

Listed below are the Sunday roster moves for the four AFC North 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 Ravens, Bengals, Browns, and Steelers are noted below.

Additionally, as of 11:00am today, teams can begin constructing their 10-man practice squads. For the 2014 and 2015 seasons, changes were made to practice squad rules that allow teams to carry eight players instead of 10, and the eligibility requirements for those extra two spots were also loosened. 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 North transactions, which will continue to be updated throughout the day:

Baltimore Ravens

Cincinnati Bengals

(press release)

  • Removed from IR list:
    • WR Onterio McCalebb
  • Signed to practice squad:
    • T Dan France
    • CB Troy Hill
    • G Trey Hopkins
    • WR Jake Kumerow
    • TE Matt Lengel
    • LB Trevor Roach
    • RB Terrell Watson
    • QB Keith Wenning
    • RB James Wilder Jr.
    • DT DeShawn Williams

Cleveland Browns

Pittsburgh Steelers

(press release)

  • Signed:
    • RB Jordan Todman
  • Claimed off waivers:
    • DT Caushaud Lyons
  • Cut:
    • LB Anthony Chickillo
    • CB Doran Grant
  • Signed to practice squad:
    • RB Dominique Brown
    • DB Jordan Dangerfield
    • OL Reese Dismukes
    • LB L.J. Fort
    • LB Shayon Green
    • DE Ethan Hemer
    • OL Antonio Johnson
    • WR Shakim Phillips
    • TE Harold Spears
    • WR Jarrod West
    • OL Matt Feiler (Twitter link via Aaron Wilson)

Draft Visits: Perriman, DGB, Clemmings, Jones

April 21st, 2015 at 10:13am CST by Luke Adams

Here are the latest updates on a few draft prospects taking some visits and working out for teams this week:

  • Breshad Perriman, WR (UCF): Visiting the Titans today, according to Pro Football Talk (via Twitter). Second overall is too high for Perriman, but 33rd overall is likely too late to nab him, so Tennessee could be doing its due diligence in the event of a trade.
  • Dorial Green-Beckham, WR (Missouri): Visiting the Chiefs today, according to Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (via Twitter).
  • T.J. Clemmings, OT (Pittsburgh): Visiting the Saints, Falcons, and Rams this week, and has met with 19 teams since his Pro Day, per Rapoport (Twitter link).
  • Byron Jones, CB (UConn): Visiting the Dolphins, according to Adam Caplan of ESPN.com (via Twitter). Jones was previously identified as a player on Miami’s radar.
  • Anthony Harris, S (Virginia); Marcus Rush, DE (Michigan State): Both players are visiting the Lions today, according to Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press.
  • Kyle Emanuel, DE (North Dakota); Eric Rowe, CB (Utah); Doran Grant, CB (Ohio State): All three players visited the Steelers today, tweets ESPN.com’s Scott Brown.
  • Daryl Williams, OL (Oklahoma); Tyrus Thompson, OL (Oklahoma); Adam Shead, OL (Oklahoma): All three players worked out for Panthers offensive line coach John Matsko today, writes Aaron Wilson of the National Football Post. Williams and Thompson previously worked out for Cowboys offensive line coach Frank Pollack.
  • Jesse Davis, OL (Idaho): Has a private workout with the Seahawks later this week, per Rand Getlin of Yahoo! Sports (via Twitter).

Draft Updates: Mariota, White, Falcons, Jags

April 9th, 2015 at 12:01pm CST by Luke Adams

The previously-reported visits for top draft prospects Marcus Mariota, Leonard Williams, and Dante Fowler Jr. are all happening today for the Titans, tweets Jim Wyatt of the Tennessean. Although the Titans are getting a closer look at Mariota, another team in the top five apparently won’t get an opportunity to do so. Albert Breer of the NFL Network tweets that Washington had planned to bring in Mariota for a visit, but the two sides couldn’t work out a time, so that trip is now off.

The news may not mean anything significant, but Charles Robinson notes in his latest piece for Yahoo! Sports that sources around the league are skeptical that Washington is truly interested in selecting Mariota with the No. 5 overall pick. “They’re trying to create leverage to get someone to [trade] up,” said one AFC personnel source.

With a report today suggesting that the Browns have real interest in moving up for Mariota, the Oregon quarterback is certainly generating the most draft buzz this week, but we have plenty of updates on other prospects as well. Here’s the latest:

  • Within Robinson’s previously-linked piece, he notes that Buccaneers ownership will ultimately make the final call on whether or not to draft Jameis Winston, adding that there have been some internal questions about the community relations impact of selecting Winston.
  • Kevin White, arguably the top receiving prospect in this year’s class, said today that he’s setting up visits with the Jets, Bears, Rams, and Giants, per Ross Tucker of SiriusXM NFL Radio (Twitter link).
  • The Falcons are hosting a pair of top-tier pass rushers today, according to Ian Rapoport of NFL.com, who reports (via Twitter) that Clemson’s Vic Beasley and Kentucky’s Bud Dupree are in town.
  • Ryan O’Halloran of the Florida Times-Union provides a full list of the 20 prospects that visited the Jaguars this week. While we’ve passed along many of those names already, there are also plenty of new ones: Javorius “Buck” Allen (RB, USC), T.J. Yeldon (RB, Alabama), Amari Cooper (WR, Alabama), Rashad Greene (WR, FSU), DeAndre Smelter (WR, Georgia Tech), Cedric Ogbuehi (T, Texas A&M), Andrus Peat (T, Stanford), Eli Harold (DE, Virginia), Arik Armstead (DL, Oregon), Landon Collins (S, Alabama), and Trae Waynes (CB, Michigan State).
  • In addition to visiting the Eagles, UCF wide receiver Breshad Perriman met with the Raiders, Colts, and Steelers this week, according to Rand Getlin of Yahoo! Sports (via Twitter).
  • Washington cornerback Marcus Peters, Stanford cornerback Alex Carter, and Virginia linebacker Max Valles made visits to Pittsburgh to meet with the Steelers today, tweets Scott Brown of ESPN.com.
  • The Giants, Steelers, and Texans have hosted visits for Ohio State cornerback Doran Grant, who has also worked out for the Cowboys, Raiders, and Buccaneers, sources tell Aaron Wilson of the National Football Post.
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