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Kellen Moore

East Notes: K. Moore, M. Williams, Bills

December 21st, 2015 at 9:56am CST by Luke Adams

After seeing his first action of the season on Saturday night against the Jets, Cowboys quarterback Kellen Moore will get the start for Dallas in Week 16, head coach Jason Garrett confirmed today (Twitter link via Charean Williams of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram). Unlike teammate Matt Cassel, Moore remains under contract with the Cowboys through the 2016 season, so if he can finish strong this year, he should receive consideration for the role of Tony Romo‘s backup going forward.

Here’s more from around the NFL’s two East divisions:

  • With his cap number set to increase to $19.9MM in 2016, Bills defensive end Mario Williams looks like a candidate to be released this offseason, particularly after the trouble he has had adjusting to Rex Ryan‘s defensive scheme. While a pay cut could be an option for Williams, he doesn’t sound like someone interested in taking one for the team, as Tyler Dunne of The Buffalo News writes. “If this is the turnout of our defense, how does that even sound right?” Williams asked on Sunday, when the possibility of a pay cut was mentioned.
  • Meanwhile, after the Bills lost again on Sunday to fall to 6-8 on the season, Ryan suggested that “drastic changes” may await the club this offseason. Matthew Fairburn of Syracuse.com has the details and the quotes from the Buffalo head coach.
  • DeMarco Murray received just two touches in Sunday’s night game against Arizona, which looks like the latest sign that the Eagles may consider simply cutting their losses with the unproductive running back this offseason, says Jeff McLane of the Philadelphia Inquirer.
  • In an Insider-only piece for ESPN.com, Mike Sando speaks to agents and NFL team salary-cap managers about what sort of salaries we should expect for quarterbacks like Washington‘s Kirk Cousins ($15MM per year), the Jets‘ Ryan Fitzpatrick ($8-12MM), and the Eagles‘ Sam Bradford (projections were “all over the map”).
  • Armando Salguero of the Miami Herald questions what interim Dolphins coach Dan Campbell has done to deserve an interview for the team’s permanent head coaching job.

Sunday Roundup: Cowboys, RGIII, Pagano

December 20th, 2015 at 12:52pm CST by Rory Parks

Let’s take a look at some links from around the league while waiting for the murky playoff picture to begin to sort itself out:

  • Although Kellen Moore did not exactly set the world ablaze in the Cowboys‘ loss to the Jets last night, he nearly helped his team to an upset victory and demonstrated that he is a better option than Matt Cassel moving forward. However, as ESPN’s Todd Archer writes, head coach Jason Garrett is as yet unwilling to name Moore the starter for the final two games of the season. The Cowboys will need to address the backup quarterback situation behind Tony Romo next year, and it makes sense for the club to at least see what it has in Moore.
  • Last night’s loss officially eliminated the Cowboys from playoff contention, so owner Jerry Jones expects the team to put Romo on injured reserve, according to Charen Williams of The Fort Worth Star-Telegram (via Twitter).
  • Washington has made it clear that it is ready to move on from Robert Griffin III, but Ian Rapoport (article via Conor Orr of NFL.com) identifies a number of teams that may be interested in RGIII. That list includes the Cowboys, Eagles, Texans, and Saints (or whichever team happens to employ Sean Payton).
  • While Chuck Pagano‘s future in Indianapolis is still very much up in the air, if the Colts do decide to part ways with him, Rapoport says that he would immediately become one of the most sought-after head coaching candidates in the league. Although Pagano has previously said the Colts job would be his last coaching gig, there will apparently be no shortage of teams trying to change his mind.
  • Although things could change in the next several weeks, Mark Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com suggests that Browns owner Jimmy Haslam is growing increasingly weary of his team’s performance and could be leaning towards a “clean sweep” that would see both head coach Mike Pettine and GM Ray Farmer lose their jobs. We had previously heard that one of Farmer or Pettine would be fired, but not both.
  • Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk says the NFL-to-Los Angeles process is getting uglier by the minute, with “members of the league’s Los Angeles committee making promises to St. Louis in an effort to keep the Rams there and publicly trashing San Diego in an effort to get the Chargers out.” Florio suggests one way to placate all parties involved may be to have Chargers owner Dean Spanos and Rams owner Stan Kroenke swap their franchises, much like the Baltimore Colts and Los Angeles Rams were swapped in 1972. The entire article is worth reading, and although Florio concedes it is something of an outlandish idea, he suggests it could gain traction as we get closer to the critical owners meetings in January. Jason Cole of Bleacher Report, however, was quick to throw cold water on that notion (via Twitter).
  • According to Rapoport (via Twitter) Leonard Hankerson, who was claimed by the Patriots this week, was released by the Falcons off the injured reserve list when he told Atlanta that he was healthy and wanted to be cut. The Falcons obliged, and now Hankerson is suited up for New England this afternoon.
  • Jason Fitzgerald of OverTheCap.com looks at the 2016 class of free agent cornerbacks.

Extra Points: Broncos, Cowboys, Draft

December 19th, 2015 at 6:26pm CST by Connor J. Byrne

With quarterback Peyton Manning nearing a return from injury, the Broncos are on the brink of having to make the most important decision of their season, Troy Renck of The Denver Post offers.

The 39-year-old Manning was having a bottom-of-the-barrel season before he landed on the shelf in mid-November with a torn plantar fascia in his left foot, and his loss looked like addition by subtraction as the Brock Osweiler era got off to a solid beginning. Osweiler’s first three starts all ended up as wins for Denver, but some shine wore off two weeks ago in a 17-3 victory over a horrific San Diego team and matters worsened in a 15-12 loss to Oakland last Sunday.

Manning will be inactive for Sunday’s game against playoff-caliber Pittsburgh, but he’s likely to be healthy enough for activation by Week 16. That means Osweiler might be playing for the starting job at Heinz Field. As Renck points out, Denver’s Osweiler-led offense has gone 23 straight possessions without scoring a touchdown, which isn’t going to cut it with a prolific Steelers offense on the other side. With another underwhelming showing from Osweiler, head coach Gary Kubiak could turn back to Manning as the playoffs near.

Some other NFL news and notes:

  • Tonight is potentially the end of the Matt Cassel era in Dallas. The 33-year-old has fared poorly in place of Tony Romo this season, and he’ll be on a short leash against the Jets, ESPN’s Ed Werder tweets. The Cowboys’ current No. 2 QB, Kellen Moore, got some first-team reps in practice this week and could see his first action since going undrafted out of Boise State in 2012.
  • Arizona linebacker Scooby Wright capped off an injury-riddled junior year Saturday by announcing he’ll enter the 2016 draft, Michael David Smith of Pro Football Talk reports. A foot injury cost Wright all but three games this season, making it a disappointing follow-up to a highly productive 2014 campaign that saw him earn All-America honors, the Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year Award, the Jack Lambert Award (nation’s best linebacker), and the Chuck Bednarik Award (nation’s top defender).
  • A list of the top 20 failed free agent signings from last offseason reveals predictable names – Dwayne Bowe, DeMarco Murray, Brandon Browner, among others – but also mentions lower-tier additions like Tampa’s Bruce Carter and Arizona’s Sean Weatherspoon, Alex Marvez of FoxSports.com writes. Both Carter and Weatherspoon were beaten out early for starting linebacker jobs.

Sam Robinson contributed to this report.

Extra Points: Bucs, Bills, LA, Cowboys, Pryor

December 17th, 2015 at 9:51pm CST by Connor J. Byrne

The latest from around the NFL as Thursday wraps up:

  • Buccaneers general manager Jason Licht is enamored with rookie quarterback Jameis Winston. “I wouldn’t trade him for another quarterback in the league,” Licht said, per Jeff Darlington of NFL.com. Licht stated he expected more growing pains and perhaps as many as 30 interceptions this year from Winston, but the ex-Florida State star and No. 1 pick in this year’s draft entered Thursday with only 11 in 13 games.
  • The Bills are in wait-and-see mode when it comes to the long-term status of signal caller Tyrod Taylor, but if they give him a new contract, it could end up being their most important transaction over the next several years, opines Sal Maiorana of the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle. Taylor, who has been one of the top statistical QBs in the league this year, will be a free agent after next season. If he acquits himself well again in 2016 and the Bills wait until the season’s over try to lock him up, he could either sign a sizable deal elsewhere or stay in Buffalo and take up a large portion of its cap. For his part, Taylor says he isn’t focused on anything other than this season. “I have three important games. I don’t have time to talk about contract situations.”
  • With as many as two of the Rams, Raiders and Chargers potentially relocating to Los Angeles at season’s end, Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk examined where exactly the teams could call home starting next year. Multiple league sources believe the Chargers are the likeliest of the three teams to end up in LA, per Florio.
  • Cowboys quarterback Kellen Moore took “a couple” first-team practice reps this week, head coach Jason Garrett said. That’s a sign his first NFL action could be approaching, Charean Williams of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram writes. With the Cowboys out of contention and Matt Cassel having performed poorly in place of the injured Tony Romo, giving Moore a shot before the year’s out would seem to make sense. Dallas signed Moore, 26, to its practice squad in November and added him to its active roster earlier this month. The fourth-year man has never taken a regular-season snap since going undrafted out of Boise State in 2012.
  • Browns receiver Terrelle Pryor, formerly a quarterback, made his regular-season debut at wideout last week and played 16 snaps. Quarterback Johnny Manziel didn’t target Pryor, but that could change this week because Pryor will get more playing time, Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com reports.
  • Veteran safety Brandon Meriweather, whom the Giants cut Wednesday, went through waivers unclaimed and is now a free agent, per Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle (Twitter link).

Cowboys Sign Kellen Moore

December 2nd, 2015 at 5:07pm CST by Zachary Links

Today’s minor moves from around the NFL:

  • The Cowboys have signed quarterback Kellen Moore to the active roster, as David Moore of The Dallas Morning News tweets. In other news, the Cowboys placed defensive end Ryan Russell on IR with an abdominal injury. Taking his place on the 53-man roster will be rookie offensive tackle Chaz Green, who is being activated off the PUP list.
  • The Chiefs placed Ben Grubbs on injured reserve, as Terez A. Paylor of the Kansas City Star writes. Grubbs last played in the Chiefs’ 23-13 win over Pittsburgh on Oct. 25. “We’ve gone four or five weeks here with rehabilitation (and) he hasn’t improved,” head athletic trainer Rick Burkholder said. “He’s going to need at least another month to come back from this.” The Chiefs promoted offensive lineman Daniel Munyer to the active roster to fill the newly-created opening.

NFL Practice Squad Updates: 11/12/15

November 12th, 2015 at 8:19pm CST by Luke Adams

Here are Thursday’s practice squad signings and cuts from around the league:

Dallas Cowboys

Kansas City Chiefs

Minnesota Vikings

  • To be signed: TE Chase Ford (link via Chris Tomasson of the St. Paul Pioneer Press)

New England Patriots

Minor NFL Transactions: 11/11/15

November 11th, 2015 at 2:44pm CST by Luke Adams

Here are today’s minor signings, cuts, and other transactions from around the NFL, with any additional moves listed at the top of the page throughout the day:

Earlier updates:

  • The Vikings have activated cornerback Josh Robinson from the physically unable to perform list, waiving tight end Chase Ford in a corresponding roster move, writes Chris Tomasson of the St. Paul Pioneer Press. As Tomasson writes, Ford – who has been with Minnesota since 2012 – took the news well, pointing out that it’s “part of the game” and it’s not his first time being cut.
  • Having cut quarterback Kellen Moore, the Cowboys added linebacker Mark Nzeocha to their active roster, per Charean Williams of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram (Twitter link). Nzeocha, who began the season on the non-football injury list, will help add depth to a group of linebackers that has been affected by injuries.
  • The Cardinals have waived-injured cornerback Cariel Brooks, elevating cornerback Robert Nelson from their practice squad to fill the empty roster spot, according to Darren Urban of AZCardinals.com (Twitter link). Brooks, who is dealing with an ankle issue, played exclusively on special teams during his limited action this season, so Nelson isn’t expected to have a major role either.
  • After placing him on the injured reserve list last weekend, Washington has now removed outside linebacker Jackson Jeffcoat from the roster entirely with an injury settlement, tweets Zac Boyer of the Washington Times.

Cowboys Release QB Kellen Moore

November 10th, 2015 at 4:17pm CST by Zachary Links

The Cowboys have waived quarterback Kellen Moore, according to Adam Schefter of ESPN.com (on Twitter). If the QB clears waivers, Dallas would like to re-sign him to the practice squad, according to David Moore of the Dallas Morning News (on Twitter).

Moore, 25, re-signed with the Lions for two years this past offseason before being released in early September. Later on, Dallas inked Moore to the taxi squad before eventually promoting him to the 53-man roster. Still, the three-year veteran has yet to make an appearance in the NFL. With Tony Romo scheduled to return in Week 11, the Cowboys are prepared to roll with only two quarterbacks on the main roster – Matt Cassel and Brandon Weeden.

Cowboys Acquire Matt Cassel From Bills

September 22nd, 2015 at 5:52pm CST by Zachary Links

5:52pm: The Cowboys will send their 2017 fifth-round pick to the Bills in exchange for Buffalo’s 2017 seventh-round choice, David Moore of The Dallas Morning News tweets.

5:30pm: The Cowboys have acquired quarterback Matt Cassel from the Bills, according to a source who spoke with Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (on Twitter). The Bills will receive a 2017 pick, according to ESPN.com’s Todd Archer. Albert Breer of NFL.com (Twitter link) hears that there will actually be a swap of picks.

Cassel, 33, was cut loose by the Bills on September 5th but his unemployment lasted less than 72 hours as he re-signed with Buffalo just days later. The veteran was first acquired by the Bills back in March in a trade with the Vikings, but didn’t initially survive the cutdown to 53 players over the weekend. The Bills kept Cassel around as veteran insurance for Tyrod Taylor and EJ Manuel, but they apparently feel comfortable enough to part with him at this point.

Of course, the Cowboys were motivated to acquire a veteran QB due to Tony Romo‘s injury, which will sideline him for at least seven games. Dallas will turn to Brandon Weeden as their starter in Week 3, but if he falters, Cassel could jump in and take the job. Prior to this trade, the Cowboys auditioned a number of quarterbacks including Christian Ponder, Matt Flynn, and Josh Johnson. Apparently, none of those options were satisfactory for them.

He had initially been slated to make a base salary of $4.15MM in 2015, which likely contributed to his release from Buffalo. His new deal is probably be closer to the veteran’s minimum, perhaps with some playing-time and performance bonuses attached.

In a related move, the Cowboys have also promoted quarterback Kellen Moore from the practice squad, as Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets. Moore’s promotion coupled with the Cassel acquisition gives Dallas three QBs on the depth chart.

NFL Practice Squad Updates: 9/8/15

September 8th, 2015 at 7:27pm CST by Luke Adams

Here are Tuesday’s practice squad signings and cuts from around the NFL:

Atlanta Falcons

Baltimore Ravens

Buffalo Bills

Chicago Bears

Dallas Cowboys

Detroit Lions

Green Bay Packers

Indianapolis Colts

  • Signed:
  • Released:
    • G David Arkin

Jacksonville Jaguars

  • Signed:

New Orleans Saints

New York Jets

Philadelphia Eagles

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Tennessee Titans

Washington

  • To be signed:
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