Marshall Koehn

Vikings’ 53-Man Roster Set

The Vikings made their mandatory cuts to pare their roster down to the 53-man ceiling. Here are the rearrangements Minnesota made to set its regular-season roster.

Cut:

Placed on IR:

Placed on Reserve/PUP list:

Placed on Reserve/NFI list:

Placed on Reserve/Suspended list:

North Notes: Browns, Ravens, Lions, Vikings

Browns edge rusher Myles Garrett, the first pick in this year’s draft, suffered a left foot injury Wednesday that left him in “obvious pain,” reports Mary Kay Cabot of cleveland. A day later, Garrett sat out practice as team doctors evaluated his foot, a club spokesman announced. The Browns won’t provide further details on Garrett’s ailment, per Cabot, who relays that the injury likely isn’t serious. Meanwhile, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets that Garrett should be “fine.” Foot issues are nothing new for Garrett, who dealt with soreness throughout organized team activities and battled a high ankle sprain during his final year at Texas A&M last season. Fortunately, though, it looks as if he and the Browns will escape relatively unscathed in this instance.

More from the NFL’s North divisions:

  • Unsurprisingly, it appears injured tight end Dennis Pitta‘s release from the Ravens last week will bring an end to his career. When speaking with reporters Thursday, Pitta didn’t announce his retirement, but he conceded, “I’m not delusional” (Twitter link via Jeff Zrebiec of the Baltimore Sun). Hip problems limited Pitta to seven games from 2013-15, but he returned last season to post a 16-game campaign and catch a team-high 86 passes. The soon-to-be 32-year-old suffered a hip dislocation earlier this month, though, leading the Ravens to cut ties after seven seasons.
  • In his first meeting with the Detroit media on Thursday, newly acquired Lions offensive tackle Greg Robinson called the trade that sent him from Los Angeles to the Motor City “a big surprise,” per Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press. Robinson busted with the Rams, who selected him second overall in 2014, and acknowledged that things “haven’t really went the way I would like” to this point. The 24-year-old expects to jump-start his career in Detroit, however. “I plan on benefiting from (my fresh start) tremendously,” Robinson declared. “It’s really refreshing and I plan to make the most out of it.”
  • Browns quarterback Brock Osweiler has been “very happy” with his performance this spring, and the ex-Texan explained Wednesday why his play has improved from his disastrous 2016 in Houston. “The best part is I’m getting coached hard on my fundamentals,” Osweiler said, via Nate Ulrich of Ohio.com. “And I believe firmly that when your fundamentals and your feet are right as a quarterback, you’re going to make great decisions and you’re going to throw accurate footballs.” Osweiler added that his “fundamentals slid” last year, but he declined “to go into great detail” on why. Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk interprets Osweiler’s remarks as a shot at the Texans’ coaching staff, particularly Bill O’Brien, who didn’t get along well with the signal-caller last season.
  • Defensive back Lardarius Webb experienced a “tepid market” during his month of unemployment before re-signing with the Ravens in May, as Zrebiec details. The only club known to have expressed interest in the 31-year-old Webb was the Vikings, although Baltimore reportedly had interest in bringing Webb back almost instantly after releasing him. The Ravens saved $5.5MM in cap space by originally cutting ties with Webb, who has since inked a new three-year deal worth $6.3MM (with another $1.4MM available annually via incentives).
  • Vikings special teams coordinator Mike Priefer indicated Wednesday that both kicker Kai Forbath and punter Ryan Quigley will have to fight for their jobs this summer, telling reporters that “there’s an open competition” at both spots (via Mark Craig of the Star Tribune). Forbath, whom the Vikings signed last November after releasing Blair Walsh, made all 15 of his field goal attempts with Minnesota in 2016 but will battle second-year man Marshall Koehn to stay with the club. “He’s got the stronger leg,” Priefer said of Koehn. “This kid is coming on strong. It’s a great competition.” Quigley, an April signing, will try to fend off another second-year player, Taylor Symmank, after averaging a career-worst 41.6 yards per punt on 34 attempts with the Cardinals last season.

Dallas Robinson contributed to this post.

Workout Notes: Pack, Vikes, Chiefs, Giants

In addition to the previously reported Joique Bell, the running back-needy Packers worked out fellow rushers James Wilder Jr. and Brandon Wegher on Tuesday, according to Rob Demovsky of ESPN.com. Defensive end Arthur Miley and defensive back Brandon Dixon also tried out.

More of the latest workouts (courtesy of Howard Balzer, unless otherwise noted):

Dolphins Release Brandon Harris, Waive 10 Others

The Dolphins have pared their roster down to 78 players today, moving closer to the first-cut deadline of 75. They waived 10 players (Twitter link) and released cornerback Brandon Harris, who has sufficient service time to avoid waivers.

A former Texans second-round pick out of the University of Miami in 2011, Harris has played in 42 games but has yet to start one. His service time runs from 2011-14, with the ex-Hurricane seeing action for three years in Houston and one, 2014, in Tennessee. A torn ACL sustained last summer while employed by the Titans stalled Harris’ career, one that saw him land with the Dolphins late last month.

Miami’s Chris Culliver signing pushed Harris further on the bubble, and he’ll now attempt to find a new home.

Hazel landed with the Dolphins as a sixth-rounder in 2014 and played in five games last season, starting one. This leaves seven wideouts still on the Fins’ roster, with Griff Whalen and UDFA Rashawn Scott potentially battling for a roster spot.

DiSalvo lost the long-snapping battle to longtime Dolphin John Denney, and Koehn couldn’t beat out Andrew Franks for the kicker job.

Painter was a Broncos sixth-rounder in 2013 who’s played in three games — all with the Browns in 2014.

Dolphins Sign Laremy Tunsil, 12 UDFAs

The Dolphins have locked up their first-round pick, announcing today (via Twitter) that offensive lineman Laremy Tunsil has signed his rookie contract. The team also confirmed that seventh-round quarterback Brandon Doughty has signed his deal, as reported on Thursday.Laremy Tunsil

Tunsil, the 13th overall pick last Thursday, had been expected to be the No. 1 overall pick before the Titans sent that selection to the Rams in a pre-draft trade. Tunsil continued to slip on draft night when, less than an hour before the event got underway, a video surfaced of the former Ole Miss tackle smoking marijuana out of a gas-mask bong.

While the Dolphins were thrilled to have Tunsil fall to them, there’s still some lingering concern within the organization about how he may have been affected by the pre-draft leak, and whether that leaker may continue to attempt to do damage, according to Ed Werder of ESPN.com (Twitter links). Still, those concerns aren’t significant enough to postpone Miami’s signing of Tunsil, and the rookie lineman’s contract contains no unique clauses to protect the team, says Werder.

In addition to signing Tunsil, the Dolphins also announced that they have added 12 undrafted free agents to their roster. Here’s the full list of Miami’s UDFAs: