Here are today’s practice squad moves.
Buffalo Bills
Green Bay Packers
New England Patriots
New York Jets
The Browns are in the midst of another season in the cellar of the league and while the 49ers are also winless, the teams’ quarterback situations have Cleveland looking like a much less hopeful franchise moving forward. The Browns struggles in finding a franchise quarterback have been been well documented over the years, but despite a botched midseason trade for A.J. McCarron, head coach Hue Jackson still believes that current rookie starter DeShone Kizer has the ability to end the team’s long QB issues, reports Nate Ulrich of the Akron Beacon Journal.
“I think this guy is going to be a really good player in time, but there’s work to be done,” Jackson said. “We all want the instant success, but it’s going to take a little bit of time because I think it’s not just him. I think the whole offensive team has to do their part, too. But does he have to play better? Yes, he does.
Ulrich relays that while Jackson did push for the McCarron trade, it was was a move that the head coach wanted to make in order to help better his team in the short-term, full knowing that Kizer still had a lot of development to do this season.
“My job as a head coach is to always push for better talent on this football team,” “You’re talking about a young player in the National Football League who has had [seven] starts, compared to other players who have either played for me or players that I have seen that have done it week in and week out. I don’t think that’s a knock on DeShone.”
Today’s minor moves:
Cleveland Browns
Indianapolis Colts
New England Patriots
Washington Redskins
The Patriots have claimed former Packers tight end Martellus Bennett, as Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets. The deal brings Bennett back to the team where he thrived in 2016 and won a Super Bowl ring. To make room, defensive end Geneo Grissom has been cut.
Bennett was stellar with the Patriots in 2016, hauling in 55 receptions for 701 yards and seven touchdowns. However, he was a total dud after signing a lucrative free agent deal with the Packers. In seven games, he had just 24 receptions, 233 yards, and zero touchdowns in seven games. Some in Green Bay believe that Bennett starting phoning it in after Aaron Rodgers went down with a broken collarbone.
By claiming Bennett, the Patriots assume the remainder of the veteran’s three-year, $21MM deal. However, much of his Year 1 salary was already paid out to him via signing bonus. Bennett is due just $423K for the rest of the season.
Initially, it was believed that Bennett would likely pass through waivers unclaimed. While he may have been checked out with the Packers, the Patriots are apparently confident that he will pick up right where he left off.
Last month, Bennett announced that he is considering retirement after the 2017 season. It remains to be seen whether his relocation to New England will change his mind about hanging up the cleats. If he can be productive once again, this could prove to be one of the greatest “rentals” in league history.
Bennett will now join a TE group headlined by Rob Gronkowski and Dwayne Allen. After Grissom was cut, it appears that Jacob Hollister will remain on the 53-man roster for now as the fourth TE.
Today’s minor moves:
The Jets are “fully prepared” to release defensive lineman Muhammad Wilkerson if he posts another disappointing campaign in 2017, according to Manish Mehta of the New York Daily News. Wilkerson graded as a bottom-15 edge defender last season, per Pro Football Focus, and sources tell Mehta that Gang Green isn’t happy with Wilkerson’s conditioning or motivation level. Speaking earlier this year, however, head coach Todd Bowles admitted Wilkerson was playing through injury in 2016, and the cost of cutting Wilkerson could also prove prohibitive. Even if he were designated as post-June 1 release, Wilkerson would count for $9MM in dead money over the 2018-19 seasons.
Here’s more from the AFC East:
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:
The Patriots made a massive amount of cuts on Saturday to reach the 53-man limit. Most of the cuts were expected, but there were a few surprises in the bunch.
Released:
Waived:
Karras was widely projected to be the team’s top backup on the interior line, so his release comes as a surprise. The 24-year-old was drafted by the Pats in the sixth round of the 2016 draft and played in all 16 regular season games last year. He also appeared in all three playoff games as a reserve.
O’Shaughnessy, acquired via trade in April, was competing for the third tight end spot. The 6-foot-4, 245-pounder has played in 23 NFL games with six starts.
The Patriots have made team-friendly extension offers to a number of their pending free agents — including Martellus Bennett, Malcolm Butler, Jamie Collins, Dont’a Hightower, and Logan Ryan — but so far, no player has been interested in putting pen to paper, according to Ben Volin of the Boston Globe. Given that the salary cap continues to rise, each of these impending free agents figures to cash in the open market, and therefore have little incentive to agree to any offer New England puts on the table.
Here’s more on the Patriots, who are now 5-1 after beating the Bengals today:
A starter in four of the Patriots’ five games thus far this season, Jonathan Freeny may not return to the field in 2016. The Patriots placed the fifth-year outside linebacker on IR, Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk reports.
Afflicted with a shoulder injury, Freeny played in all five of the Pats’ games and was the recipient of a two-year, $4.1MM extension in August. He will now be out until at least December. New England could activate Freeny after eight weeks, and the second-year starter could return to practice after six, but can only select one player from its IR list to return to action.
The Pats also placed recently added tight end Greg Scruggs on IR. To replace the duo on the 53-man roster, the Patriots signed defensive tackle Anthony Johnson and defensive end Geneo Grissom from their practice squad, Florio reports.
Freeny recorded 10 tackles and forced a fumble this season. He started seven games in 2015 after playing the previous three years with the Dolphins.
Scruggs, who has a knee injury, played in three games with the Bears this season but had yet to see action for his current team. He’s in his first season as a tight end after previously serving as a defensive lineman. However, with Freeny now on IR, Scruggs’ chances of playing again this season are remote.