Jonathan Owens

NFL Practice Squad Updates: 9/30/19

Today’s practice squad moves:

Arizona Cardinals

Detroit Lions

Green Bay Packers

Houston Texans

Philadelphia Eagles

NFL Workout Updates: 9/7/19

We’ve got another big batch of workouts, all courtesy of veteran NFL reporter Howard Balzer (on Twitter).

Cleveland Browns

Houston Texans

Indianapolis Colts

Jacksonville Jaguars

Minnesota Vikings

New England Patriots

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

The Texans could be looking for specialist help, as they worked out a pair of punters and a longsnapper. Boddy-Calhoun, who worked out for the Vikings, is probably the biggest name on this list. He started at least seven games for the Browns each of the past three seasons, but was released by Houston at final cuts.

Cardinals Reach 53-Man Max

Arizona has officially announced their cuts. Notably, the Cardinals trimmed their roster all the way down to 51 players, which they said was in preparation for waiver claims on Sunday. Arizona has first priority in the waiver order, so they’ll almost certainly be claiming some players.

The biggest name on this list is probably tight end Ricky Seals-Jones. He showed a lot of promise as an undrafted rookie in 2017, and was a favorite of Bruce Arians. He fell out of favor when Arians retired, and the new staff didn’t take as kindly to him. Seals-Jones has flashed serious potential, so he should land on his feet soon. Pharoh Cooper was a 2017 All-Pro selection for his return prowess, and the Cardinals claimed him off waivers from the Rams late last season. Three other teams also put in claims for Cooper at the time, so maybe one of them will scoop him up now. Receiver Chad Williams was the team’s third-round pick in 2017, but he barely got on the field during his two seasons in the desert.

QB Drew Anderson

QB Charles Kanoff

RB Wes Hills (injury settlement)

RB Dontae Strickland

WR Pharoh Cooper

WR Chad Williams

WR A.J. Richardson

WR Isaac Zico

OL Rees Odhiambo (waived/injured)

OL Colby Gossett

OL Coleman Shelton

OL William Sweet (waived/injured)

OL Parker Ehinger

OL Patrick Lawrence

OL Jacob Ohnesorge

TE Ricky Seals-Jones

TE Darrell Daniels

TE Caleb Wilson

TE Drew Belcher

DL Bruce Hector

DL Pasoni Tasini

DL Siupeli Anau

DL Sterling Bailey

S Jonathan Owens

S Tyler Sigler

CB Brandon Williams (waived/injured)

CB Nate Brooks

CB Deatrick Nichols

Cardinals Sign 24 UDFAs

The Cardinals have signed enough undrafted free agents to fill a starting lineup. Of course, it’s likely that only a few will actually make Arizona’ final cut. The complete rundown of Arizona’s UDFA class is as follows:

  • CB Elijah Battle (West Virginia)
  • TE Alec Bloom (Connecticut)
  • LB Dennis Gardeck (Sioux Falls)
  • LB Frank Ginda (San Jose State)
  • OL Will House (Southern Nazarene)
  • S A.J. Howard (Appalachian State)
  • DE Alec James (Wisconsin)
  • QB Chad Kanoff (Princeton)
  • K Matt McCrane (Kansas State)
  • LB Mike Needham (Southern Utah)
  • CB Deatrick Nichols (South Florida)
  • DT Owen Obasuyi (Hampton)
  • OL Austin Olsen (Southern Illinois)
  • LB Matthew Oplinger (Yale)
  • S Jonathan Owens (Missouri Western)
  • FB Austin Ramesh (Wisconsin)
  • WR Trent Sherfield (Vanderbilt)
  • CB Tavierre Thomas (Ferris State)
  • WR Jalen Tolliver (Arkansas-Monticello)
  • WR Jonah Trinnaman (BYU)
  • S Zeke Turner (Washington)
  • TE Andrew Vollert (Weber State)
  • OL Brant Weiss (Toledo)
  • WR Corey Willis (Central Michigan)

The Cardinals also have six drafted rookies to account for, meaning that they presently have 99 players in total. The Cardinals will be laying off at least nine players in the coming days in order to sign the aforementioned UDFAs to contracts.

Kicker Phil Dawson inked a two-year, $6MM deal with the Cardinals last year, but the team could save $2.5MM with just $1MM in dead money by releasing him. In theory, McCrane could have an opportunity to unseat him, especially since he would represent a cheaper option. Last year, Dawson connected on 80% of his field goal tries, including 4-of-5 from 50+ yards. He also nailed the longest field goal try of his NFL career when he sank a 57-yard game winner against the Jaguars.