Kurt Benkert

NFL Practice Squad Updates: 11/2/21

We’ll keep track of today’s taxi squad moves here:

Arizona Cardinals

Atlanta Falcons

Buffalo Bills

Carolina Panthers

Chicago Bears

Denver Broncos

  • Released: CB Rojesterman Farris

Green Bay Packers

Los Angeles Chargers

New York Jets

Pittsburgh Steelers

Washington Football Team

Wednesday NFL Transactions: NFC North

Following the 53-man roster cutdown deadline Tuesday, many teams will make slight tweaks to their rosters. In addition to waiver claims, teams can begin constructing their 16-man practice squads today. These BearsLionsPackers and Vikings moves are noted below.

Here are Wednesday’s NFC North transactions, which will continue to be updated throughout the day.

Chicago Bears

Claimed:

Signed:

Waived:

Placed on IR:

Signed to practice squad:

Detroit Lions

Released/Waived:

Signed to practice squad:

Green Bay Packers

Signed to practice squad:

Minnesota Vikings

Signed:

Claimed:

Placed on IR:

Signed to practice squad:

Packers Cut 26 Players

The Packers cut their roster down to 52 players today, providing the organization with some extra flexibility over the next few days. The team announced the following transactions:

Waived

Released

Placed on Reserve/PUP

Placed on Reserve/Suspended

Packers To Sign QB Kurt Benkert

Shortly after reuniting Blake Bortles and OC Nathaniel Hackett, the Packers are adding another quarterback to their roster. Their Kurt Benkert workout led to agreement (Twitter link).

The Packers worked out Benkert and Chad Kelly at their rookie minicamp; it appears they will choose Benkert to be their fourth QB. This will mark Benkert’s second NFL team. He spent the past three seasons with the Falcons.

[RELATED: Packers To Sign Blake Bortles]

A 2018 UDFA, Benkert played two seasons at East Carolina and Virginia. He started two seasons for the Cavaliers, throwing 46 touchdown passes between his junior and senior seasons. The Falcons used him as roster depth behind Matt Ryan and Matt Schaub but moved in a different direction this offseason. The Falcons waived Benkert in February.

With Aaron Rodgers wanting out, Jordan Love stood alone at this position coming into the week. The Packers now have some depth ahead of the on-field portion of their OTA workouts and minicamp. Should the Rodgers stalemate drag into the late summer, the team has a potential third-string option in Benkert.

Packers To Host Chad Kelly, Kurt Benkert

Two quarterbacks will be reporting to Green Bay this weekend, and neither are named Aaron Rodgers. The Packers will host Chad Kelly and Kurt Benkert at their rookie minicamp this weekend for tryouts, sources told Tom Pelissero of NFL Network (Twitter link). They’ll be the only two signal-callers brought in for now, Rob Demovsky of ESPN.com tweets.

The Packers currently only have two passers on the roster, Rodgers and Jordan Love. Rodgers likely isn’t showing up any time soon, meaning they really only currently have one guy willing to throw the ball for them. As such, they’ll be signing at least a quarterback or two soon, as GM Brian Gutekunst recently acknowledged. Kelly and Benkert will get the first cracks at being those guys.

Kelly is well known to many football fans for being the nephew of Hall of Fame quarterback Jim Kelly, and for his rollercoaster college career that had plenty of ups and downs (including some off-field issues). The Broncos drafted Kelly with the final pick of the 2017 draft, and he was released midway through the 2018 season after getting arrested for trespassing.

After serving a two-game suspension for that he was with the Colts the past two seasons, mostly on the practice squad. Benkert is a 2018 UDFA from Virginia, who has spent the past three seasons with the Falcons. He’s mostly been on Atlanta’s practice squad, and was waived back in February.

Minor NFL Transactions: 11/21/20

Here is Saturday’s usual flood of minor moves:

Atlanta Falcons

Carolina Panthers

Cleveland Browns

Dallas Cowboys

Denver Broncos

Green Bay Packers

Houston Texans

Jacksonville Jaguars

Indianapolis Colts

Kansas City Chiefs

Las Vegas Raiders

Los Angeles Chargers

Los Angeles Rams

Miami Dolphins

Minnesota Vikings

New England Patriots

New Orleans Saints

New York Jets

Philadelphia Eagles

Pittsburgh Steelers

Washington Football Team

Falcons To Carry Two QBs On Practice Squad

The Falcons agreed to add 14 players to their practice squad Sunday. Teams can re-sign players they cut to P-squads if they clear waivers after Saturday’s cuts.

Atlanta will take the unusual step of carrying two P-squad quarterbacks. The team cut both Kyle Lauletta and Kurt Benkert on Saturday, but both landed on the Falcons’ taxi squad. Teams are allowed to carry 16 players — up from 10 in 2019 — on their squads.

Benkert, who was with Atlanta in 2019, and Lauletta — a recent Giants draftee who recently joined the Falcons — will play behind active-roster QBs Matt Ryan and Matt Schaub. Here is the Falcons’ full squad:

Falcons Release Laquon Treadwell, Slash Roster To 53

Here are the players the Falcons cut to trim their roster to the 53-man regular-season limit:

Waived:

Released:

Atlanta added Treadwell last year but did not see a considerable impact from the former first-round pick. The Vikings cut Treadwell ahead of the 2019 regular season, following the formerly coveted prospects struggles to claim a consistent role in Minnesota.

Wilcox re-signed with the Falcons a month ago. He has played for five teams but has not seen regular-season action since the 2018 season. The former Cowboys started suffered a season-ending injury last summer.

The cuts of Benkert and Lauletta leave two quarterbacks — Matt Ryan and Matt Schaub — on Atlanta’s roster. With Ryan being one of the most durable passers in the NFL, the Falcons can take advantage of an extra roster spot by keeping just two QBs.

Minor NFL Transactions: 8/6/19

Here are Tuesday’s minor moves:

Buffalo Bills

Atlanta Falcons

Cleveland Browns

  • Released from IR: WR Blake Jackson

Dallas Cowboys

Detroit Lions

Jacksonville Jaguars

Los Angeles Rams

New York Jets

  • Waived: TE Nick Truesdell

Philadelphia Eagles

Pittsburgh Steelers

Seattle Seahawks