Fish Smithson

Ravens Move Down To 53

The Ravens minced their roster to 53 players, parting ways with UDFA Gerald Willis to get there. Baltimore also placed Tavon Young and Kenneth Dixon on IR.

Young suffered a neck injury recently and will miss a full season for the second time in three years. While Baltimore boasts a deep cornerback corps, losing its slot man again will not help the high-end defense’s cause. Dixon will head back to IR. The Ravens placed him on IR in September 2018 but used an IR-return slot on him. That will not be an option this year, which doubles as the running back’s contract slate.

Character concerns caused Willis, viewed as a high-Day 3-type prospect out of Miami, to go undrafted. He is now on the waiver wire.

Here are Baltimore’s cuts:

Placed on IR:

Minor NFL Transactions: 8/27/19

It was a busy day in the NFL as teams made early cuts in advance of the 53-man deadline. We’ll keep track of today’s minor moves here:

Atlanta Falcons

Arizona Cardinals

  • Signed: OL Jacob Ohnesorge

Baltimore Ravens

Detroit Lions

Kansas City Chiefs

New England Patriots

Philadelphia Eagles

Pittsburgh Steelers

San Francisco 49ers

Seattle Seahawks

Yannick Ngakoue Reports To Camp

Jaguars star defender Yannick Ngakoue still doesn’t have a new contract, but he reported to camp Sunday, as Adam Schefter of ESPN.com tweets. He needed to report by Tuesday in order for 2019 to count as an accrued season towards free agency, and the 24-year-old pass rusher did not want to miss that deadline. He is now eligible for unrestricted free agency next year.

The last report concerning negotiations between Ngakoue and Jacksonville indicated that the club had offered a short-term extension to the Maryland product, which Ngakoue declined. It is currently unclear how close the two sides are to getting something done, but Ngakoue indicated that talks are not active. He said, “I don’t want to keep talking about the deal. Like I said they had a chance to sign me for a long-term deal and it didn’t get done” (Twitter link via James Palmer of the NFL Network).

However, Ngakoue’s return does restore a key piece to one of the league’s best defensive lines, a unit that includes players like four-time Pro Bowler Calais Campbell and promising rookie Josh Allen. With 29.5 sacks, 70 QB hits, and no missed games over the last three years, Ngakoue has emerged as one of the best young pass-rushers in the league, and if the Jags are to return to contention this season, he will likely be a big reason for it.

Luckily, the 2016 third-round draft choice apparently doesn’t need any time to knock the rust off. Head coach Doug Marrone said that Ngakoue has passed his conditioning test and will immediately be a full participant in practice (Twitter link via John Oehser of Jaguars.com).

The team has officially removed Ngakoue from the Reserve/Did Not Report list and has waived Fish Smithson in a corresponding move.

Minor NFL Transactions: 7/25/19

Here are Thursday’s minor moves:

Baltimore Ravens

Cincinnati Bengals

Jacksonville Jaguars

New Orleans Saints

New York Jets

  • Waived: DL Fred Jones

San Francisco 49ers

Tennessee Titans

Washington Redskins

Practice Squad Updates: 12/19/18

Today’s practice squad moves:

Arizona Cardinals

Atlanta Falcons

Carolina Panthers

Detroit Lions

Los Angeles Chargers

New England Patriots

New Orleans Saints

Oakland Raiders

San Francisco 49ers

Seattle Seahawks

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Washington Redskins

NFL Workout Updates: 10/22/18

Here’s a rundown of today’s NFL workouts. Each workout comes from Howard Balzer’s (on Twitter), unless noted otherwise:

Arizona Cardinals

Cleveland Browns

Houston Texans

Los Angeles Rams

Seattle Seahawks

Redskins Form Initial Roster

The Redskins moved their roster to 53 players on Saturday by making the following transactions:

Released:

Waived:

Placed on injured reserve:

Placed on PUP:

Placed on NFI: