Here are today’s workout updates from around the NFL with all credit going to Howard Balzer’s Twitter account.
Cleveland Browns
- LB Nick Moody (Twitter link)
Jacksonville Jaguars
- P A.J. Hughes (Twitter link)
Here are today’s workout updates from around the NFL with all credit going to Howard Balzer’s Twitter account.
Cleveland Browns
Jacksonville Jaguars
The latest minor moves from around the NFL:
Today’s minor moves:
The Chiefs worked out a host of linebackers on Monday, including a handful of notables. James Laurinaitis, Nate Irving, Jasper Brinkley, Jayson DiManche, Nick Moody, and Miles Burris all showed their stuff for Kansas City (Twitter link via Adam Caplan of ESPN.com). KC could look to sign a linebacker with Derrick Johnson out for the season.
[RELATED: Derrick Johnson Not Considering Retirement]
Laurinaitis inked a three-year, $8.5MM deal with the Saints in the offseason. Expected to provide veteran leadership for New Orleans, Laurinaitis suffered a setback when he went down with a quad injury. He insisted that he was healthy enough to return from IR, but that possibility went out the window when rookie Sheldon Rankins was activated. Last month, the Saints agreed to release Laurinaitis after having paid him roughly $2MM for his six games and 17 tackles.
Irving was speculatively connected to the Colts after D’Qwell Jackson‘s four-game suspension, but Indianapolis wasn’t interested in a reunion. The 28-year-old was dropped by the Colts at final cutdowns despite being in the midst of a multi-year deal. Injuries limited him to eight games (two starts) last year with just eleven tackles. Prior to joining Indianapolis, Irving spent four years with the Broncos, but wasn’t a starter until his final season in Denver.
We haven’t heard much about Brinkley since October when he auditioned for the Patriots. The 31-year-old had 67 tackles and one sack for the Giants last year and he has been exceptionally durable throughout his career. Still, he has been unable to find work so far in 2016.
With fifth-year option decisions due Tuesday, May 3, the Chiefs are procrastinating — at least publicly — on their choice on whether or not to pick up Eric Fisher‘s.
“I know a lot of guys have been exercising these options on players right now,” Chiefs GM John Dorsey said (via Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk). “I do things a little bit different. I think what I do is, I’m, at times, compartmentalizing a little bit too much. So really, the task at hand, for me, is to make sure we nail this draft. And I think when we get to Monday, we’ll deal with Monday.”
Fisher would be due a guaranteed-against-injury $11.9MM in 2017 if the Chiefs pick up their left tackle’s option. The No. 1 overall pick in 2013, Fisher improved last season after an unremarkable initial two years. But at $11.9MM, he’d stand to be the fourth-highest-paid tackle in 2017 — behind only Tyron Smith, Trent Williams and Anthony Castonzo. And by waiting until the draft is over, the Chiefs appear to be keeping their options open regarding their blind-side protector’s future, considering he hasn’t yet shown himself worthy of a cornerstone-type contract similar to the ones the aforementioned players received.
Kansas City has already participated in extension talks with Fisher in a likely effort to bring that prospective $11.9MM cap number down for a franchise that doesn’t look to have much cap space come next year, with most of its key players locked in for the next two seasons.
Here’s the latest from the AFC West.
Free agent safety Taylor Mays has been suspended for the first four games of the 2016 season, a source tells Adam Schefter of ESPN.com (on Twitter). Linebacker Nick Moody has also been suspended for the first four games, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets. Mays’ suspension is for a violation of the league’s substance abuse policy (Twitter link via Rapoport).
Moody was a restricted free agent this offseason, but the Seahawks declined to issue him a tender. Since that decision, we have not heard much with regards to free agent interest for Moody. In 2015, Moody only saw time in three games for Seattle after spending much of the year on the team’s taxi squad. In 2014, he appeared in every regular season contest for the 49ers and even made two starts. In total, he notched 21 tackles with San Francisco in ’14.
Mays bounced all around the NFL last year and was yo-yo’ed on and off of the Raiders’ roster multiple times. The 28-year-old recorded 23 tackles and 5 passes defensed in his 14 Raiders games. Mays, who hopes to enter his seventh-year in the NFL, was selected in the second round of the 2010 draft by the 49ers. Needless to say, the USC product has not exactly fulfilled his expectations.
Unrestricted free agent news will obviously dominate the day, but several clubs also had to make decisions on whether to offer tenders to restricted free agents. We’ll round up those decisions here:
Tendered
Non-Tendered
Today’s minor NFL signings, cuts, and other moves..
Former Browns nose tackle Ishmaa’ily Kitchen, who was cut by Cleveland earlier this month, will pay a visit to the Texans this week, a source tells Zac Jackson of Pro Football Talk. With 2014 third-rounder Louis Nix no longer on their roster, and sixth-round rookie Christian Covington backing up Vince Wilfork, the Texans may be seeking some veteran depth to help complement J.J. Watt on their defensive line.
As we wait to see if anything materializes between Kitchen and the Texans, let’s check in on a few other items from across the AFC….
Here are the latest practice squad signings and cuts from around the NFL: