Today’s minor moves:
Cleveland Browns
Denver Broncos
Houston Texans
Minnesota Vikings
New York Jets
Pittsburgh Steelers
Tennessee Titans
Washington Football Team
Titans tight end MyCole Pruitt suffered a fractured and dislocated ankle during today’s game against against the Dolphins (Twitter link via NFL.com’s Tom Pelissero). Now set for surgery, Pruitt will surely be out for the rest of the season, including the playoffs. 
Pruitt, 29, had 14 catches for 145 yards and three touchdowns heading into today’s game. The Titans went on to win 34-3, but they’ve lost an essential run blocker heading into the postseason.
The Titans will still have veteran Geoff Swaim and Anthony Firkser on the roster and they have Austin Fort on the practice squad. Tennessee uses multiple tight end sets pretty frequently to leverage their rushing attack and they’ve utilized all three of their tight ends pretty equally with all three getting their fair share of snaps. Through Week 16, Swaim led the group playing 58.6% of the offensive snaps, Pruitt followed with 44.4%, and Firkser was on the field for 33.4%. None are really receiving threats, so the two remaining tight ends will continue to fill their role and Tennessee will hope a player like Fort can step up in heavy packages or when called upon to give his teammates a breather.
As for Pruitt, the hope is that the severity of the injury is low and the recovery from the surgery is quick as he heads into the offseason as a free agent. On a lucky note, Swaim and Firkser are also in contract years, so if the Titans like their trio of tight ends, it may be an easy decision to extend any combination of the three.
Today’s minor moves:
Carolina Panthers
Dallas Cowboys
Las Vegas Raiders
New Orleans Saints
Philadelphia Eagles
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Tennessee Titans
Like the Texans, the Titans will need their recently added practice squad kicker to contribute immediately. Tennessee placed Sam Ficken on IR on Saturday and promoted Michael Badgley.
The Titans signed Badgley to their practice squad Friday. The former Chargers specialist will suit up against the Cardinals in Week 1. Ficken will not be eligible to begin his season until Week 4. The Titans added their top kicker to their injury report Friday; a groin injury will sideline Ficken to start the year.
This move complicates the Titans’ kicker situation yet again. After a Ryan Succop injury led to a host of kickers suiting up for the Titans in 2019, leading to a historically bad 8-for-18 collective make rate, the Titans signed Stephen Gostkowski last year. The ex-Patriot made just 69% of his field goal tries. The Titans also added Randy Bullock, who worked out for the team Friday, to their practice squad. The Lions cut Bullock, a longtime Bengals kicker, last month.
Badgley kicked in 34 Chargers games over the past three years but could not beat out a younger competitor, Tristan Vizcaino, in training camp. The Texans promoted recent P-squad addition Joey Slye to their active roster Saturday as well, with Ka’imi Fairbairn also on IR with a groin ailment. Badgley auditioned for the Texans, but they went with Slye.
Additionally, the Titans promoted Bradley McDougald and MyCole Pruitt to their active roster. Tennessee signed McDougald earlier this summer but demoted the veteran safety to its P-squad earlier this week. Pruitt is back with the Titans after the 49ers released him on cutdown day.
After a brief stay in San Francisco, MyCole Pruitt will return to Tennessee. The Titans are adding their multiyear tight end contributor to the practice squad Friday.
The blocking tight end played with Tennessee over the past three seasons. Pruitt initially caught on with Tennessee via the practice squad three years ago but ascended to the active roster after Delanie Walker‘s September 2018 injury. He will return to a team that lost Jonnu Smith in free agency.
Pruitt, 29, signed with the 49ers in June but did not make their initial 53-man roster earlier this week. The Vikings draftee started 15 games for the Titans over the past three years and graded as a top-10 run-blocking tight end in 2020, per Pro Football Focus, contributing to Derrick Henry‘s 2,000-yard season.
Tennessee currently has Anthony Firkser in place to succeed Smith as its top tight end, but Geoff Swaim resides on its reserve/COVID-19 list. To make room for Pruitt, the Titans released tight end Miller Forristall from their practice squad.
Additionally, the Titans moved outside linebacker Harold Landry off their reserve/COVID-19 list. Landry spent nearly two weeks on Tennessee’s coronavirus list.
The 49ers made a long list of transactions today to get down to 53 players. Several of these moves have previously been reported, but for posterity’s sake, we’ve listed them all below.
Placed on reserve/PUP list
Placed on IR
Released
Waived
Placed on Reserved/Suspended List
MyCole Pruitt has found his next gig. The veteran tight end is joining the 49ers, per National Sports Agency (via Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle on Twitter).
The 49ers had been busy hunting for tight ends recently, and the signing of Pruitt would presumably take the team out of the running for veteran Delanie Walker, who auditioned for the team yesterday. In San Francisco, Ross Dwelley was the main backup behind George Kittle, with 2020 sixth-round Charlie Woerner and undrafted free agent Josh Pederson rounding out the depth chart. Pruitt has a good chance to supplant that trio of backups, especially when the team relies on the run.
After bouncing around the league a bit, Pruitt found a home in Tennessee in 2018. While the former fifth-rounder never put up big numbers during his stint with the Titans (20 receptions for 241 yards and one score), he had a consistent role as a blocking tight end, appearing in 42 games (15 starts) in three years. Pruitt also saw time in five playoff games for Tennessee, hauling in six receptions.
Since hitting free agency, Pruitt has also generated interest from the Ravens and Vikings.
The market for MyCole Pruitt is apparently heating up. ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler tweets that the veteran tight end visited with the Ravens this week and is set to meet with the 49ers next week.
After bouncing around the league a bit, Pruitt found a home in Tennessee in 2018. While the former fifth-rounder never put up big numbers during his stint with the Titans (20 receptions for 241 yards and one score), he had a consistent role as a blocking tight end, appearing in 42 games (15 starts) in three years. Pruitt also saw time in five playoff games for Tennessee, hauling in six receptions.
We learned last month that MyCole Pruitt was drawing interest from the Vikings. The tight end actually started his career with Minnesota back in 2015.
While both the 49ers (George Kittle) and Ravens (Mark Andrews) have Pro Bowl tight ends, they could still probably offer Pruitt a solid amount of playing time. In San Francisco, Ross Dwelley is the main backup behind Kittle, with 2020 sixth-round Charlie Woerner and undrafted free agent Josh Pederson rounding out the depth chart.
Baltimore’s depth chart is a bit more crowded, as the team is currently rostering seven tight ends. That includes long-time Raven Nick Boyle, veteran journeyman Eric Tomlinson, and former third-rounder Josh Oliver, who the team traded for this offseason. The team is also rostering 2020 undrafted free agents Jake Breeland and Eli Wolf, and they added 2021 undrafted free agent Tony Poljan earlier this month.
The Vikings have lost a couple of tight ends this offseason, so they’re naturally looking toward free agency for reinforcement. Chris Tomasson of the St. Paul Pioneer Press reports (via Twitter) that Minnesota has “sent out some feelers” on free agent tight end MyCole Pruitt. Tomasson notes that “nothing is close” when it comes to a potential signing.
Pruitt actually started his career with the Vikings back in 2015, with the former fifth-rounder spending one-plus seasons with the organization. After bouncing around the league a bit, the tight end found a home in Tennessee in 2018. While Pruitt never put up big numbers during his stint with the Titans (20 receptions for 241 yards and one score), he had a consistent role as a blocking tight end, appearing in 42 games (15 starts) in three years. Pruitt also saw time in five playoff games for Tennessee, hauling in six receptions.
The Vikings have likely been looking for extra depth at tight end since moving on from Kyle Rudolph earlier this offseason. The team also watched as backup Hale Hentges called it a career. The team’s depth chart is currently led by former second-rounder Irv Smith Jr. and former fifth-round pick Tyler Conklin.
While the team’s interest in Pruitt makes sense from a depth perspective, general manager Rick Spielman seemed to hint recently that he’d feel comfortable with Smith and Conklin atop his depth chart.
“Irv does it with his ability to run and his athletic ability … [hopefully we get the] same type of production going forward,” Spielman said (via Eric Smith of the team’s website). “And I think the other guy that really jumped out at the tight end position was Tyler Conklin, and last year he took a significant jump when he got his opportunity to play, not only making some plays in the passing game but in his development as a blocker at the line of scrimmage as well.”
Here are Tuesday’s minor moves, with the list being updated throughout the day:
Atlanta Falcons
Carolina Panthers
Green Bay Packers
New York Jets
Philadelphia Eagles
San Francisco 49ers
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Tennessee Titans