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Mario Alford

NFL Workout Updates: 12/31/17

December 31st, 2017 at 12:07pm CST by Rory Parks

Here are today’s workout notes from around the league:

Jacksonville Jaguars

New Orleans Saints

NFL Workout Updates: 12/6/17

December 6th, 2017 at 7:58pm CST by Dallas Robinson

Today’s workout updates, with all links going to veteran NFL reporter Howard Balzer’s Twitter account unless otherwise noted:

Buffalo Bills

Denver Broncos

Detroit Lions

Houston Texans

Indianapolis Colts

Miami Dolphins

New England Patriots

New York Jets

  • WR Brandon Zylstra; C Leo Koloamatangi (link)

Practice Squad Updates: 11/27/17

November 27th, 2017 at 9:33pm CST by GregGoldstein

Here are today’s practice squad moves:

Arizona Cardinals

Buffalo Bills

Chicago Bears

Cincinnati Bengals

Cleveland Browns

  • Signed: DB Jacob Hagen

Detroit Lions

Indianapolis Colts

Green Bay Packers

Jacksonville Jaguars

Los Angeles Rams

Miami Dolphins

New England Patriots

Seattle Seahawks

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

NFL Practice Squad Updates: 9/12/17

September 12th, 2017 at 4:42pm CST by Zachary Links

Tuesday’s practice squad moves…

Baltimore Ravens

Buffalo Bills

Chicago Bears

Indianapolis Colts

Kansas City Chiefs

New Orleans Saints

Oakland Raiders

  • Signed: LB Max Valles

Philadelphia Eagles

  • Signed: T Victor Salako, CB De’Vante Bausby
  • Cut: CB C.J. Smith, WR Greg Ward

San Francisco 49ers

Seattle Seahawks

Tennessee Titans

NFC Notes: Rams, Donald, Falcons

September 7th, 2017 at 11:38am CST by Zachary Links

No surprise here, but Rams defensive tackle Aaron Donald is expected to miss Sunday’s season opener against Indianapolis as he continues his holdout, Adam Schefter of ESPN.com tweets. Donald is presently at home with his family on the east coast and the two sides are not close to an agreement.

Holdouts typically do not drag into the regular season, but Donald has less to lose by staying home than other players fighting for a better contract. Le’Veon Bell, in theory, could have tried to drum up leverage by taking his holdout into mid-September, but that would have meant forfeiting game checks on a $12.12MM salary. Donald, meanwhile, is slated to earn only a fraction of that – $3.225MM – in 2017.

While we wait to see how things shake out between Donald and the Rams, let’s take a look at more news from the NFC:

  • The Falcons converted $1MM of center Alex Mack‘s $6.75MM base salary into a signing bonus, Field Yates of ESPN.com tweets. The move creates $750K of cap space for the current season. The Falcons are near the bottom of the league in terms of cap space this year, so every bit of flexibility will help them.
  • Cardinals punter Andy Lee‘s new contract calls for base salaries of $1MM per year in 2017 and 2018, Mike Jurecki of 98.7 FM tweets. Arizona is hoping that Lee, 35, will help to turn around one of the league’s poorest punting units from 2016.
  • The Bears auditioned eight players on Wednesday, reports Brad Biggs of the Chicago Tribune: wide receivers Mario Alford, Montay Crockett, Frankie Hammond, and Darreus Rogers were joined by defensive backs Dante Blackmon, Alex Carter, Brian Dixon, and Damian Swann. While Hammond and Dixon have played in the most NFL games, Carter might the most notable name on the list. A third-round pick of Detroit only two years ago, Carter has been limited by injuries and poor play and has only appeared in one pro contest.
  • The Cardinals worked out running back Darius Victor on Wednesday, according to Herbie Teope of the Times-Picayune (Twitter link), who reports Victor has another audition on Monday for an unidentified team. Victor, an undrafted rookie free agent out of Towson, spent a month on New Orleans’ roster earlier this summer but was waived during final cutdowns. He’s likely a candidate for Arizona’s practice squad.

Sam Robinson contributed to this post.

Browns Trim Roster To 65

September 1st, 2017 at 12:34pm CST by Dallas Robinson

The Browns have begun reducing their roster count in advance of tomorrow’s 53-man deadline. Cleveland announced the following transactions:

Placed on reserve/PUP:

Released:

Waived:

Browns Promote WR Mario Alford

December 17th, 2016 at 11:23am CST by Ben Levine

The Browns will have a new wideout in uniform for Sunday’s game against the Bills. Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com reports (via Twitter) that the team has promoted receiver Mario Alford from their practice squad.

Mario AlfordAlford, a seventh-round pick in the 2015 draft, spent his rookie season with the Bengals, where he hauled in one 15-yard reception in one game. The West Virginia product was cut by the team following the 2016 preseason, and he briefly caught on with the Jets practice squad. The 24-year-old was released by the organization in early December, and he caught on with the Browns a week later.

It’d be a stretch to expect the 5-foot-8, 177-pound wideout to make a significant impact on the Browns passing game. Of course, the Browns could use all the help they could get. Despite Terrelle Pryor‘s breakout campaign, Cleveland’s passing game still ranks towards the bottom of the league in nearly every passing/receiving category. Five different quarterbacks (excluding Pryor) certainly hasn’t boosted the passing game, nor did the loss of Josh Gordon and Jordan Payton to suspension.

NFL Practice Squad Updates: 12/13/16

December 13th, 2016 at 5:24pm CST by Dallas Robinson

Today’s practice squad moves:

Arizona Cardinals

  • Signed: LB Reshard Cliett

Carolina Panthers

  • Signed: OL Blaine Clausell

Cleveland Browns

Indianpolis Colts

  • Signed: T Pierce Burton

Minnesota Vikings

New Orleans Saints

  • Signed: DT Justin Zimmer

New York Giants

Philadelphia Eagles

Pittsburgh Steelers

  • Signed: LB Shaquille Riddick

San Francisco 49ers

  • Signed: OT Mitchell Van Dyk

Tennessee Titans

  • Signed: RB David Fluellen

Washington Redskins

Workout Notes: Bears, Pack, Chiefs, Pats

October 24th, 2016 at 6:20pm CST by Connor J. Byrne

The Redskins worked out six free agents – including defensive tackle Jordan Hill – on Monday, according to Adam Caplan of ESPN (Twitter link). Also among their tryouts: Running back Isaiah Pead; quarterback Josh Woodrum; receivers Matt Hazel and Mekale McKay; and defensive end Sterling Bailey. and Hill was a backup from 2013-15 in Seattle, where he appeared in 27 regular-season games and recorded seven sacks (5.5 in 2014).

More workouts from Monday:

  • Cornerbacks Darryl Morris, Shaun Prater, Blidi Wreh-Wilson and Melvin White auditioned for the Bears, tweets Caplan. Chicago is on the hunt for defensive back help after getting torched by the Packers on Thursday Night Football.
  • The Packers worked out six receivers – Mario Alford, Dez Stewart, Harvey Binford, Da’Ron Brown, Marcus Johnson and Wendall Williams – according to Rob Demovsky of ESPN.com. Stewart ended up signing with their practice squad. Guard Josh Walker and quarterback Keith Wenning were also among Green Bay’s tryouts Monday. Walker was previously with the Packers, who waived/injured him in training camp.
  • Receiver Cayleb Jones tried out for the Chiefs, according to Field Yates of ESPN.com (on Twitter). The 6’3″, 205-pound receiver spent training camp with Philadelphia.
  • The Patriots auditioned safety Shamiel Gary, per Doug Kyed of NESN (Twitter link). The ex-Dolphin was with the Patriots for a brief period in 2014.
  • The Cowboys took a look at defensive tackles Montori Hughes and Casey Walker, reports Caplan (Twitter link). The team doesn’t plan to sign either of them, however, according to Clarence Hill of the Star-Telegram (via Twitter).

Zach Links contributed to this post.

NFL Workout Updates: 9/27/16

September 27th, 2016 at 8:26pm CST by Dallas Robinson

Tuesday is workout day in the NFL, and while we’ve dedicated full posts to the more notable tryouts, we’ll round up the stragglers here:

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