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Malik Reed

Minor NFL Transactions: 1/13/24

January 13th, 2024 at 4:52pm CST by Ely Allen

Today’s transactions and callups for the Saturday night and Sunday games:

Dallas Cowboys

Green Bay Packers

Kansas City Chiefs

Los Angeles Rams

Miami Dolphins

The three-game limit for practice squad players to be elevated under a single contract is reset in the playoffs, allowing players who weren’t able to be activated anymore by the end of the year to return in the coming weeks.

Packers starting cornerback Jaire Alexander injured his ankle this week in practice, leading to his current questionable status. Long will be elevated to provide some depth in the off chance that Alexander is unable to go versus the Cowboys.

Dolphins To Sign Bruce Irvin, Malik Reed

January 9th, 2024 at 1:11pm CST by Sam Robinson

Down their top three edge rushers due to season-ending injuries, the Dolphins are overhauling their outside linebacker group at an unusual time. Following the Justin Houston addition Tuesday morning, Miami will add two more edge defenders.

Bruce Irvin is signing with the Dolphins, according to NFL.com’s Tom Pelissero, who adds the team will also bring back Malik Reed. The latter, a former Vic Fangio piece in Denver, had spent time with Miami earlier this year. Irvin will be added to Miami’s 53-man roster; Reed will join the practice squad.

Since Thanksgiving, the Dolphins have lost Jaelan Phillips, Bradley Chubb and Andrew Van Ginkel. This situation reminds of Fangio’s Broncos tenure, which almost never featured Chubb and Von Miller available together. Those Denver teams never advanced to the playoffs, though. The Dolphins are facing a rare situation as they venture into the wild-card round. On the edge at least, the 11-6 team will roll out a cast of 30-somethings to pressure Patrick Mahomes on Saturday.

This is team No. 7 for Irvin, who resumed his career as a Lions auxiliary pass rusher this season. Irvin, 36, signed with the Lions’ practice squad in November and played in two games. The former Seahawks first-rounder registered a sack while playing as a P-squad elevation. The Lions moved on in December. Like Houston, Irvin cleared waivers and has been waiting for another chance. The Dolphins’ unique quandary will provide it.

Irvin has made a habit of in-season arrivals in the final years of his career. The 12th-year veteran joined the Bears in mid-November 2021 and re-signed with the Seahawks in mid-October 2022. Irvin and Fangio have not previously crossed paths, but the former did play under Fangio disciple Clint Hurtt in Seattle last season. Irvin also has a history of excelling as a rental piece. He totaled 8.5 sacks for the Panthers in 2019 and collected 3.5 in eight Falcons games in 2018. The Dolphins may well need Irvin, as rookie backup Cameron Goode suffered a torn patellar tendon during what became a brutal night for the team in Week 18.

A Fangio charge for three seasons in Denver, Reed reunited with his former coach in March. But the Dolphins released Reed just before cutting their roster to 53 players in August. He spent time with the Raiders this season, playing in four games and starting two. A Miller-Chubb sub in Denver, Reed totaled 13 sacks between the 2020 and ’21 seasons.

Reed, 27, certainly will represent youth on what is now one of the older OLB crews in recent NFL history. Houston and the recently re-signed Melvin Ingram are 34, while Emmanuel Ogbah — whom Fangio benched this season — is 30. While obviously not an ideal setup going into a playoff game against a defending Super Bowl champion, the Dolphins have gotten creative during this time of need.

Raiders Waive DE Malik Reed

December 21st, 2023 at 6:33pm CST by Ben Levine

Malik Reed‘s stint in Las Vegas has come to an end. According to NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero, the Raiders are waiving the veteran edge rusher.

After spending the preseason with the Dolphins, Reed caught on with the Raiders’ practice squad back in September. He eventually worked his way up to the active roster and got into four games this season, compiling three tackles while playing a limited role on defense.

The former UDFA had a strong start to his career in Denver. The Nevada product got into 15 games as a rookie before collecting eight sacks in 16 games (13 starts) in 2020. He added another five sacks to his resume in 2021, but after getting traded to the Steelers in 2022, he went on to see a reduced role on defense.

Tyree Wilson and Malcolm Koonce have commanded the majority of the snaps opposite Maxx Crosby this season. The Raiders have played around with multiple players at the fourth spot on the depth chart. Isaac Rochell got the first shot at the gig before being replaced by Reed in November. Reed got into four games in his new role but didn’t see the field on defense over the past two weeks, with Janarius Robinson earning the leftover snaps.

Minor NFL Transactions: 11/4/23

November 4th, 2023 at 3:49pm CST by Ben Levine

Today’s minor moves and gameday callups for Week 9:

Arizona Cardinals

Atlanta Falcons

Baltimore Ravens

Buffalo Bills

Cincinnati Bengals

Cleveland Browns

Dallas Cowboys

Green Bay Packers

Houston Texans

Indianapolis Colts

Kansas City Chiefs

Las Vegas Raiders

Los Angeles Rams

  • Elevated: QB Dresser Winn

Minnesota Vikings

New England Patriots

New Orleans Saints

New York Giants

Philadelphia Eagles

Seattle Seahawks

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Washington Commanders

With Kyler Murray not being activated from injured reserve this week, the Cardinals are heading into Week 9 with Clayton Tune as the only quarterback on their active roster. Driskel will be called up for the week as a standard gameday elevation to back up Tune.

With Matthew Stafford listed as questionable for tomorrow’s game, the Rams are adding some depth at the quarterback position. Dresser Winn had a breakout 2022 campaign at UT Martin, tossing 18 touchdowns while adding another three scores on the ground. He joined the Rams as an UDFA but was cut at the end of the preseason. He had a brief stint in the Canadian Football League before rejoining the Rams practice squad earlier this week. If Stafford can’t go, Brett Rypien will get the call under center for the Rams.

Peters will be elevated for the second straight week in Seattle. The 41-year-old, playing in his 19th NFL season, split snaps with right tackle Stone Forsythe last week against Cleveland.

Minor NFL Transactions: 9/30/23

September 30th, 2023 at 8:58pm CST by Adam La Rose

Saturday’s gameday elevations and other minor moves ahead of tomorrow’s slate of Week 4 games:

Arizona Cardinals

Atlanta Falcons

Baltimore Ravens

Carolina Panthers

Chicago Bears

Cincinnati Bengals

Cleveland Browns

Dallas Cowboys

Denver Broncos

Houston Texans

Indianapolis Colts

Jacksonville Jaguars

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

San Francisco 49ers

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Tennessee Titans

Washington Commanders

Walker’s elevation comes amidst a degree of uncertainty regarding Deshaun Watson‘s Sunday availability. The latter is dealing with a shoulder injury, but he has expressed confidence he will be able to suit up. In the event he is unable to play, though, Walker will provide insurance under center. NFL Network’s James Palmer reports Watson will be a game-time decision.

Chosen, formerly Robbie Anderson, made his Dolphins debut in Week 3, scoring a 68-yard touchdown on his only catch. His performance – along with other depth wideouts currently being sidelined for Miami – will give the 30-year-old a longer look with his new team.

Gore’s elevation will give him the chance to see regular season game action for the first time since 2021. The former UDFA recorded 361 scrimmage yards with the Chiefs that season, but a subsequent IR stint marked the end of his time in Kansas City. Gore has since spent time on the Saints’, and now Commanders’, taxi squads. Nicki Jhabvala of the Washington Post notes that fellow depth back Chris Rodriguez has bee ruled out with an illness, opening the door to Gore seeing limited snaps.

Raiders To Sign OLB Malik Reed

September 27th, 2023 at 10:20am CST by Sam Robinson

The Raiders’ pass-rushing plan has changed since the beginning of the month. Chandler Jones is not presently in the picture, with concerning off-field issues leading the former All-Pro to the team’s reserve/NFI list. First-round pick Tyree Wilson has not started in Jones’ place yet.

A former AFC West sack artist will be part of Las Vegas’ equation as of Wednesday. The Raiders are adding Malik Reed, Tom Pelissero of NFL.com tweets. This is a practice squad agreement, but the increased P-squad flexibility in recent years has led to these deals often serving as bridges to the active roster.

Reed spent three years with the Broncos, working as a regular sub for a team that could not keep Von Miller and Bradley Chubb healthy at the same time for most of Vic Fangio‘s HC tenure. After signing Randy Gregory and drafting Nik Bonitto last year, the Broncos traded Reed to the Steelers, with whom he played a rotational role. Reed ended up a contract-year one-and-done with the Steelers and rejoined Fangio with the Dolphins this offseason, but Miami did not keep the former UDFA on its active roster after cutdown day last month.

This will mark a return to Nevada for Reed, who played collegiately at the University of Nevada-Reno. Reed, 27, posted 13 sacks between the 2020 and ’21 seasons. Although Chubb was invited to the 2020 Pro Bowl, Reed’s eight sacks paced the Broncos that season. Reid has worked exclusively as a 3-4 outside linebacker over the course of his career.

The Raiders have tallied five sacks thus far, with Maxx Crosby responsible for two of those. But no other edge rusher has contributed to the team’s sack total through three games. Viewed as a Jones successor opposite Crosby this offseason, Wilson has operated as an off-the-bench rusher thus far, playing 40% of Las Vegas’ defensive snaps.

Dolphins Reduce Roster To 53 Players

August 29th, 2023 at 10:34pm CST by Ben Levine

The Dolphins began trimming their roster yesterday, cutting 14 players. That made today’s daunting task a bit more bearable, but the team still had to cut a number of players to get to the 53-player roster limit:

Released:

Waived:

Waived/injured:

Placed on reserve/PUP:

Placed on IR:

Nik Needham, a 2019 UDFA out of UTEP, has spent his entire career with the Dolphins, appearing in 51 games (27 starts). He started five of his six appearances in 2022 before landing on IT in October with a torn Achilles tendon. His placement on PUP means he can’t make his season debut until at least Week 5.

Tight end Tyler Kroft signed with the Dolphins back in May, but the veteran was unable to beat our younger options for a roster spot. Kroft has seen time in 92 career games (52 starts), hauling in 105 catches for 1,081 yards and 13 touchdowns. He spent the 2022 campaign with the 49ers, collecting four receptions in 11 games (four starts).

Dolphins Release LB Malik Reed

August 28th, 2023 at 1:41pm CST by Rory Parks

The Dolphins have released linebacker Malik Reed, as ESPN’s Adam Schefter reports. Reed signed with the club in March.

Reed started his career in Denver, joining the Broncos as an undrafted free agent out of Nevada in 2019. In the defense installed by then-head coach Vic Fangio, Reed quickly made an impact, tallying his first sack by Week 4 of his rookie season and going on to start the next eight games. His strongest season came the following year, when he and Bradley Chubb formed a dynamic pass rushing duo that generated 15.5 sacks (Reed led the team with eight sacks, and Chubb was right behind him with 7.5).

Unfortunately, he fell off a bit in 2021, as he posted just five sacks and was regarded by Pro Football Focus’ advanced metrics as the 89th-best edge defender out of 110 qualifiers. Fangio was dismissed after that season, and Reed was dealt to the Steelers almost one year ago today.

Although PFF was kinder to Reed in 2022 than it was the year prior, he produced just one sack in 14 games, and he was forced to settle for a one-year, veteran minimum contract this offseason. He was always unlikely to become a starter for Miami, but there was a chance that Reed could rekindle some of his Mile High magic working under Fangio, who was hired as the ‘Fins defensive coordinator in February. Clearly, that will not happen, and Reed will instead search for a new employer.

Another team will surely take a flier on Reed given his past production and the general need for pass rushing talent, though he could be running out of opportunities.

Dolphins Sign OLB Malik Reed

March 18th, 2023 at 2:58pm CST by Ely Allen

The Dolphins have added some pass rushing depth today, agreeing to a one-year deal with Malik Reed, according to Field Yates of ESPN. Both parties have intentions of improving on a disappointing 2022 season.

Reed started his career in Denver, signing with the Broncos as an undrafted free agent out of Nevada in 2019. He quickly made an impact as a rookie, tallying his first sack by Week 4 and starting the next eight games for the Broncos. His strongest season came the following year when he led the team in sacks with eight, combining with Bradley Chubb for 15.5 sacks.

While still under his entry level deal, Reed was traded to the Steelers for 2022. No longer starting on his new team, Reed struggled to produce in Pittsburgh, following up 15.0 sacks in three years with the Broncos with a single sack on the Steelers. He’ll attempt to get back on track with the Dolphins.

Miami was middle of the pack with their pass rush last year, led by the second-year linebacker out of Miami (FL), Jaelan Phillips, who totaled seven sacks. The team is set to lose its second- and third-highest sack getters, Melvin Ingram (6.0) and Elandon Roberts (4.5), to free agency this offseason but still have Chubb, whom they acquired and extended last season.

Reed will be reunited with Chubb in Miami, backing him and Phillips up as a depth pass rusher. The Dolphins passing rushing depth is extremely thin right now, making Reed an immediate asset no matter what the result. If Reed can return to the production he had in Denver, Miami is looking at a strong top group of pass rushers.

Steelers Hopeful T.J. Watt Can Return In October

September 13th, 2022 at 8:35am CST by Sam Robinson

SEPTEMBER 13: More information is still being gathered, but there is a growing sense that surgery will not be needed and that, as a result, Watt will indeed be able to return in roughly six weeks (Twitter link via Rapoport). His colleague Tom Pelissero tweets that the Steelers are likely to place him on IR given that timeframe, though they have yet to do so.

SEPTEMBER 12: The next couple of days will be important for the Steelers’ 2022 defensive aspirations. Fears of T.J. Watt having suffered a torn pectoral muscle have not been proven unfounded, but the 2021 Defensive Player of the Year is not being shut down for multiple months just yet.

Watt will receive second and third opinions from doctors on Tuesday, NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport and ESPN.com’s Adam Schefter report (Twitter links). A surgery would likely lead to a season-ending shutdown, but the Steelers are also optimistic Watt did not suffer a full tear. The team is hopeful Watt, in the event of a partial tear, could to return in around a month, per CBS Sports’ Jonathan Jones (on Twitter).

Pittsburgh’s wild overtime win finished without Watt, who left the field during the fourth quarter. The NFL’s two-time reigning sack leader posted a sack — one of the Steelers’ seven on Joe Burrow in Week 1 — and three tackles for loss in Pittsburgh’s five-period victory. Their prospects of pressuring quarterbacks would take a substantial hit if Watt sustained a full pectoral tear.

In each year of Watt’s career, the Steelers have led the NFL in sacks. That has helped fuel a defensive turnaround, after a more offensively oriented “Killer B’s” period, during that stretch. Since drafting Watt in the 2017 first round, the Steelers have not had to play an extended period without him. Watt, 27, has never missed more than two games in a season.

No matter what the final rounds of testing produce, it appears certain Watt will be out for a while. The league’s highest-paid edge rusher missing half the season and the rest of it are obviously two vastly different realities, however. This season marks the first of Watt’s four-year, $112MM extension. The Steelers No. 2 and No. 3 edge rushers are signed to rookie contracts.

Pittsburgh’s trade for Malik Reed looms large now. The former UDFA will now be in position to play alongside Alex Highsmith. The team sent Denver a 2023 seventh-round pick for the fourth-year veteran last week. Reed has three years’ worth of experience being called into action as a result of a major injury. Bradley Chubb‘s ACL tear made Reed Von Miller‘s top 2019 complementary rusher, and Miller’s season-nullifying ankle injury a year later kept Reed in the lineup. Chubb missed much of last season due to ankle trouble. That and the Miller trade kept Reed (34 career starts) a lineup fixture. Reed played 32 defensive snaps against the Bengals.

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