Johnny Holton

NFL Practice Squad Updates: 10/5/20

Today’s practice squad updates will be posted here:

New York Giants

New York Jets

White was a fifth-round pick of the Cowboys out of Western Kentucky in 2018. He signed with the Jets’ practice squad the following year and spent most of the 2019 season there. He was on the active roster for a bit this season before being cut last week. Holton has spent time with the Raiders, Eagles, and Steelers, and he had 218 yards and three touchdowns with the Raiders in 2017. He was a special teamer in Pittsburgh last year.

Minor NFL Transactions: 9/26/20

Here are Saturday’s minor moves:

Arizona Cardinals

Buffalo Bills

Cincinnati Bengals

Cleveland Browns

Denver Broncos

Green Bay Packers

Indianapolis Colts

Las Vegas Raiders

New England Patriots

New Orleans Saints

New York Giants

New York Jets

Philadelphia Eagles

San Francisco 49ers

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Tennessee Titans

Washington Football Team

Giants Cut Jon Halapio, Slash Roster To 53

The Giants revealed the moves they made to pare their roster down to 53 players. Here are the cuts Big Blue made Saturday:

Waived:

Waived/injured:

The two quarterback cuts will leave Daniel Jones and Colt McCoy as the Giants’ only two quarterbacks to start their post-Eli Manning era, though Rush certainly would profile as a practice squad candidate. He played for new OC Jason Garrett in Dallas for three seasons.
Connelly’s cut is somewhat surprising, given the linebacker’s three starts last season. But an injury cut short his rookie season. The Giants can place 16 players on their practice squad this season. If Connelly clears waivers, it is likely he will be part of that group.
The Giants re-signed Halapio days ago. He has been Big Blue’s starting center in each of their past two Week 1 games, and the former Patriots draft pick started 15 games in 2019. The Giants did not tender Halapio as an RFA this offseason and kept Nick Gates, whom they extended this year, and Spencer Pulley on the roster over him.

Minor NFL Transactions: 9/2/20

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

Atlanta Falcons

Carolina Panthers

Dallas Cowboys

Denver Broncos

  • Acquired via trade: 2021 7th-Round Pick (from Giants)

Minnesota Vikings

New York Giants

New York Jets

  • Signed: RB Pete Guerriero
  • Waived: LB B.J. Bello, DL Sterling Johnson

San Francisco 49ers

Tennessee Titans

Giants Work Out Jon Halapio, Jaron Brown

The door appears to remain open for Jon Halapio to return to the Giants. The team worked out its Week 1 center starter of the past two years on Monday, Jordan Raanan of ESPN.com tweets.

Wideouts Jaron Brown, Johnny Holton, and quarterback Jalan McClendon also auditioned for the Giants today. Halapio, however, has the most recent track record as a starter.

After letting Weston Richburg walk in 2018, the Giants turned to Halapio at center. He started two games for the Giants in 2018, but a broken leg ended his season. The former sixth-round Patriots pick then started 15 games last season, but a Week 17 Achilles tear clouded his NFL future. The Giants did not tender him as a restricted free agent this offseason.

Halapio, 29, worked out for the Texans last week. Big Blue has held a Nick GatesSpencer Pulley competition at center during training camp. Joe Judge called this competition “scratch even” last week. Halapio played over both when healthy the past two seasons. The Giants, however, gave Gates an extension earlier this year.

The 49ers signed Brown earlier this month but released him last week. He has played seven NFL seasons — five with the Cardinals, two with the Seahawks. The Giants are fairly set at wide receiver — at least, among their top three — but lost wideout/special-teamer Cody Core to a season-ending injury. Brown, 30, has started 18 career games. The 6-foot-3 target has mostly been a depth player in his career. Last season, he caught 16 passes for 220 yards and two TDs with Seattle.

49ers Working Out Kevin White, Justin Hardy, Other WRs

Despite agreeing to terms with three veteran wide receivers recently, the 49ers are still looking for help at the position. They are working out four wideouts Tuesday.

Former top-10 pick Kevin White, ex-Falcons role player Justin Hardy, Johnny Holton and River Cracraft are taking part in the audition, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets. This marks White’s second workout in a week. The Jets brought in the former Bears draftee previously.

San Francisco already added Tavon Austin, J.J. Nelson and Jaron Brown, but the team is dealing with a host of injuries. Deebo Samuel remains out with his foot fracture, while Richie James is battling a broken hand. First-round pick Brandon Aiyuk is dealing with a hamstring injury, further clouding the 49ers’ potential first-string wideout picture. Jalen Hurd also suffered an ACL tear recently, with that setback following Travis Benjamin‘s opt-out decision.

Kyle Shanahan was in Atlanta when the Falcons drafted Hardy in the 2015 fourth round. He played five seasons with the Falcons, playing a reserve role. While Hardy has 95 career catches for 946 yards, he has never eclipsed 225 in a season. Holton played a lesser role for the Raiders and played 16 games — mostly as a special-teamer — with the Steelers in 2019. Cracraft has operated mostly as a Broncos return man. The latter’s most recent work in Denver came in ex-49ers assistant Rich Scangarello‘s offense.

White went nearly a year without a connection to an NFL team. The Cardinals released the former No. 7 overall pick last August, but he has begun to resurface on the NFL radar. Although White has played in only 14 games since being a sought-after 2015 prospect, 2020 would still be just his age-28 season. It does not appear teams are throwing in the towel on his career yet.

Steelers Cut Mark Barron, Anthony Chickillo

The Steelers have released linebackers Mark Barron and Anthony Chickillo, according to a team press release. In a related move, the club also cut wide receiver Johnny Holton.

For Barron, it’s an early end to the free agent deal he inked with the Steelers one year ago. With his two-year, $12MM deal terminated, he’ll look for work elsewhere. After coming over from the Rams, Barron registered 82 tackles, three sacks, and one fumble recovery in 15 games.

Chickillo, meanwhile, has mostly played as a reserve throughout his career in Pittsburgh. He has 65 total appearances to his credit with just nine starts. All in all, he’s logged 67 tackles, 9 tackles for loss, eight sacks, three pass defenses, three forced fumbles, and lots of time on special teams.

Minor NFL Transactions: 9/7/19

Here are today’s minor moves on the eve of regular season openers:

Arizona Cardinals

Cleveland Browns

Philadelphia Eagles

Pittsburgh Steelers

Tennessee Titans

Washington Redskins

NFL Practice Squad Updates: 9/2/19

We’ll keep track of Monday’s practice squad moves here:

Atlanta Falcons

Arizona Cardinals

Buffalo Bills

Cincinnati Bengals

Dallas Cowboys

Detroit Lions

Indianapolis Colts

Jacksonville Jaguars

Kansas City Chiefs

Miami Dolphins

Minnesota Vikings

  • Signed: WR Davion Davis

New England Patriots

New York Giants

New York Jets

Oakland Raiders

Philadelphia Eagles

Pittsburgh Steelers

San Francisco 49ers 

Seattle Seahawks

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Washington Redskins

Steelers Cut Eli Rogers; Reach 53

The Steelers got down to the 53-man max by releasing wide receiver Eli Rogers and a host of other players. Among other notables released 2019 draft picks Sutton Smith (linebacker, sixth round) and Derwin Grey (offensive lineman, seventh round), as well as Marcus Allen, a fifth-round defensive back from the 2018 class.

Rogers came out of nowhere and had a breakout season in 2016, catching 48 passes for 594 yards and three touchdowns in just 13 games. It was a promising debut, but he took a pretty big step backwards the next season when he had just 149 yards and 18 catches. Then in the playoffs, he suffered a torn ACL. The ACL took a long time to recover from, and Rogers didn’t end up making it back until Week 15 of last year.

The rest of the rundown is below.

Offensive players released:

Defensive players released:

Special teams cuts: