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Ty’Son Williams

Cardinals Get Down To 53 Players

August 29th, 2023 at 7:04pm CST by Ely Allen

The source of some strange, unpredicted preseason trades in the past few weeks, the Cardinals have been busy trying to figure out the 53-man roster they’ll open the season with. While some of their biggest cuts came in the days leading up to the deadline and the team is likely to continue making adjustments leading up to opening day, here are the cuts made to officially set team’s initial 53-man roster:

Waived:

Released:

Placed on IR:

Waived/injured:

Veteran running back Clement and former Ravens standout Williams both fell victim to a resurgent Keaontay Ingram, who surpassed them both on the depth chart after getting healthy. That means a roster spot for undrafted rookie Emari Demercado, who will get to reap the unfortunate benefit of Marlon Mack‘s season-ending injury. He’s joined by undrafted wide receiver Daniel Arias and tight end Blake Whiteheart.

The release of the long-time Cardinals long snapper, Brewer, comes as a bit of a surprise as the only other long snapper on the roster, undrafted rookie Matt Hembrough, is currently on injured reserve. They’ll likely target a free agent who is left available after cut day.

Quarterback Kyler Murray was not moved from the physically unable to perform list, nor was cornerback Garrett Williams moved from the non-football injury list. Both will attempt to make returns shortly after the start of the season. Rookie backup center Gaines’ first NFL season is unfortunately over before it could begin after sustaining a knee injury in the team’s preseason finale.

Minor NFL Transactions: 1/7/23

January 7th, 2023 at 4:38pm CST by Ely Allen

Today’s minor transactions heading into the final Sunday of the regular season:

Arizona Cardinals

Atlanta Falcons

  • Promoted from practice squad: WR Josh Ali

Baltimore Ravens

Buffalo Bills

Carolina Panthers

Chicago Bears

Cincinnati Bengals

Cleveland Browns

Denver Broncos

Detroit Lions

Houston Texans

Indianapolis Colts

Jacksonville Jaguars

Los Angeles Chargers

Miami Dolphins

Minnesota Vikings

New England Patriots

New York Giants

New York Jets

Pittsburgh Steelers

San Francisco 49ers

Seattle Seahawks

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

NFL Practice Squad Updates: 10/11/22

October 11th, 2022 at 7:34pm CST by Ben Levine

Today’s practice squad moves:

Arizona Cardinals

Atlanta Falcons

Buffalo Bills

Dallas Cowboys

  • Signed: TE Seth Green
  • Released: LS Tucker Addington

Denver Broncos

Detroit Lions

Houston Texans

  • Signed: DL Micah Dew-Treadway, OT K.C. McDermott
  • Released: TE Nick Eubanks

Indianapolis Colts

Jacksonville Jaguars

Las Vegas Raiders

New England Patriots

  • Released: OL Sebastian Gutierrez

New York Jets

Pittsburgh Steelers

San Francisco 49ers

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Cardinals To Sign RB Corey Clement

October 11th, 2022 at 6:13pm CST by Sam Robinson

Dealing with some backfield injury trouble, the Cardinals auditioned a few veterans and tried to make a waiver claim. The team’s early-week process will end with Corey Clement‘s arrival.

Clement will join Arizona’s practice squad, according to NFL.com’s Tom Pelissero (on Twitter). The former Eagle was part of a running back workout that also included Devontae Booker, Ty’Son Williams, Trey Edmunds and T.J. Pledger, Aaron Wilson of ProFootballNetwork.com tweets. The Cardinals also, per ESPN.com’s Field Yates (on Twitter), tried to claim Tony Jones off waivers from the Saints, joining the Broncos in that regard. The Seahawks’ waiver priority landed them Jones on Monday.

While Clement will have a tough time producing a more memorable NFL performance than his Super Bowl LII outing — his role as the Philly Special point man preceding a long touchdown reception in the Eagles’ upset victory — he has been in the league for five seasons now. Clement went to training camp with the Ravens this year but did not last with the team beyond mid-August, but he also auditioned for the Jaguars between that transaction and Tuesday’s.

Clement, 27, spent four season with the Eagles but played as a Cowboys backup in 18 games last season. He averaged 4.2 yards per carry (33 totes, 140 yards) with Dallas and played 61% of the NFC East champions’ special teams snaps. The former UDFA held a special teams role throughout his Philly tenure as well. He also surpassed 400 scrimmage yards during the 2017 and ’18 seasons, totaling eight touchdowns in that span. The Eagles’ ensuing Miles Sanders addition ended up bumping Clement down the depth chart.

James Conner, Darrel Williams and Jonathan Ward all left Week 5’s Cardinals-Eagles tilt with injuries, leaving Eno Benjamin as the last man standing. The Cards entered Tuesday without a running back on their 16-man practice squad.

AFC Workouts: Texans, Nsekhe, Blankenship

September 28th, 2022 at 7:47pm CST by Ely Allen

The Texans are bringing in a pair of running backs for workouts Thursday, according to Aaron Wilson of Pro Football Network. With starting rookie Dameon Pierce dealing with a hip injury this week, Houston invited Abram Smith and Ty’Son Williams in for workouts.

Smith is an undrafted rookie out of Baylor who converted from linebacker to running back in 2020. The Texans got a look at him some weeks ago when he played against them as a member of the Saints in the preseason. He led the Saints that day with 30 rushing yards on seven carries. Smith also worked out for the Seahawks yesterday, likely a result of Seattle placing running back Travis Homer on injured reserve.

Williams is a former Raven who came into the league after going undrafted in 2020. He spent much of his time on the practice squad but got the opportunity to start for Baltimore when injuries landed J.K. Dobbins, Gus Edwards, and Justice Hill all on injured reserve. He eventually was supplanted by free agent additions such as Le’Veon Bell and Latavius Murray.

The hope for Texans fans is that the workouts are solely precautionary measures that don’t speak to the injury status of Pierce, who had a strong outing last week.

Here are a few other workouts from around the league:

  • The Ravens reportedly worked out offensive tackle Ty Nsekhe yesterday, according to Doug Kyed of Pro Football Focus. Nsekhe has been a long-time backup tackle in the league, spending time with St. Louis, Washington, Buffalo, and Dallas since going undrafted back in 2009. The 36-year-old tackle has appeared in 93 games over his career and started 17. He has never served as a full-time starter and all but one of his starts came in Washington. The Ravens are getting desperate at tackle, once again. Star blindside blocker Ronnie Stanley still has not returned from an injury sustained in November 2020. The player meant to fill in until his return, Ja’Wuan James, had their season ended with a torn Achilles in the season opener. They replaced James with their sixth-man of the offensive line, utility lineman Patrick Mekari, but he left last week’s game against the Patriots with a low ankle sprain. Mekari may be able to recover quickly, but, in the meantime, the Ravens have two healthy tackles on the depth chart: free agent addition Morgan Moses and rookie fourth-round pick Daniel Faalele. If Nsekhe can earn a contract, he’ll be a much needed depth addition at tackle.
  • Former Colts kicker Rodrigo Blankenship worked out with a team yesterday for the first time since he was waived by Indianapolis, according to ESPN’s Field Yates. He and veteran kicker Sam Ficken worked out for the Jaguars, who currently roster second-year kicker Riley Patterson. After two full seasons with the Colts that turned out middling results, Blankenship was waived after he kicked two kickoffs out of bounds and missed a potential game-winner in overtime of the team’s season-opening tie. Patterson, on the other hand, hasn’t given Jacksonville any reason to search for his replacement yet. In three games with the team, Patterson has converted seven of eight field goal attempts, including a 52-yarder, and all seven extra point attempts. He’s showing continued success from his rookie season, in which he played seven games for the Lions and made 13 of his 14 field goal attempts and all 16 extra points.

Colts Cut Roster Down To 53

August 30th, 2022 at 9:07pm CST by Ely Allen

Indianapolis has made a couple headline moves, but, most notably, succeeded in trimming their roster down to 53 players today. Here are the moves that helped them get down to the limit today:

Activated from active/physically unable to perform:

Released:

Waived:

Placed on IR:

The biggest stories of the day for the Colts come in the linebacking corps. In addition to adding star linebacker Leonard off the PUP, Indianapolis acquired second-year player Grant Stuard in a trade with Tampa Bay today. Stuard was primarily a special teamer with the Buccaneers last year, playing in every game as a rookie. He’ll go from one stacked linebacker room to another, likely backing up Leonard upon his arrival.

The Colts have quite an interesting rookie class. A sixth-round defensive tackle, Brooks is the only drafted rookie not to make the final roster besides sixth-round tight end Andrew Ogletree who will start his NFL career on injured reserve. None of this is spectacular, though. The interesting part is that Indianapolis will roster four undrafted rookies to start the 2022 NFL season.

Former SMU safety Trevor Denbow finds his way onto the initial 53 after leading the NFL this preseason with five special teams tackles. Cornerback Dallis Flowers can also thank his special teams value as his athleticism was supplemented by a 53-yard kickoff return to help him make the team out of Pitt State. Former Cornhusker JoJo Domann joins Leonard and Stuard in the linebackers room. And the French-Fries offensive line combination stays alive as Wesley French makes the final roster out of Western Michigan.

There were a number of other players who have special teams’ ability to thank for their roster spot in addition to Denbow and Flowers. Running back Deon Jackson played on all punt/kick return/coverage units for the Colts last year, earning him a tightly contested roster spot over Lindsay and Williams. Cornerback Tony Brown was the team’s highest-graded special teams player in the preseason, according to Pro Football Focus, and safety Rodney Thomas II played the third-most special teams snaps on the team.

Finally, the biggest performer of the Colts’ preseason was likely quarterback Sam Ehlinger whose stellar preseason led Indianapolis to roster three quarterbacks going into the season. The former-Longhorn’s impressive preseason play helped him earn a spot on the initial roster despite the Colts already rostering starter Matt Ryan and one of the league’s top backup quarterbacks in Nick Foles.

The Colts will have the opportunity tomorrow to announce any moves to form their 16-man practice squad. Players cut today who have not vested will have to clear waivers before returning to the team.

Colts Sign RB Ty’Son Williams

May 24th, 2022 at 12:06pm CST by Adam La Rose

The Colts are continuing to add depth at the running back position. The team announced on Tuesday that they have signed Ty’Son Williams.

The 25-year-old joined the Ravens as a UDFA, quickly finding himself climbing the team’s depth chart last offseason. Originally intended to serve as practice squad depth, Williams was thrust into a significant role after the team lost J.K. Dobbins, Gus Edwards and Justice Hill to season-ending injuries in the build-up to the campaign.

That opened the door for the BYU product to take on a starter’s workload. He produced 187 scrimmage yards during the first two weeks of the season, but things changed dramatically after that. Williams only started one more contest, totalling just 82 yards throughout the rest of the season as Baltimore leaned more heavily on veterans Devonta Freeman and Latavius Murray.

That drop in usage signalled that Williams could be headed elsewhere this spring. Then, earlier this month, the Ravens rescinded his ERFA tender, making him a free agent. The move came on the same day that Baltimore signed Mike Davis as insurance behind the trio lost through injury.

In Indianapolis, Williams will face similar competition to what he would have seen in Baltimore with respect to making the opening-day roster. The Colts already have Jonathan Taylor and Nyheim Hines, along with a number of candidates to fill the No. 3 role. The team signed Phillip Lindsay last week, giving them a much more experienced option to round out the depth chart. Williams would likely have to beat out Lindsay, along with Deon Jackson and several 2022 UDFAs, to avoid landing on the practice squad.

RFA/ERFA Tender Decisions: 3/9/22

March 9th, 2022 at 8:06pm CST by Ben Levine

The deadline for teams to extend tender offers to their restricted free agents and exclusive rights free agents looms next week. We’ll keep tabs on the latest here:

RFAs

Non-tendered:

ERFAs

Tendered:

Ravens Receiving Trade Interest On RBs

October 11th, 2021 at 8:58am CST by Zachary Links

The Ravens are receiving trade inquiries on their running backs, according to ESPN.com’s Adam Schefter. Their revamped backfield currently features second-year pro Ty’Son Williams plus veterans Latavius Murray, Devonta Freeman, and Le’Veon Bell. 

[RELATED: Ravens Elevate RB Le’Veon Bell]

The Ravens’ position group was decimated by injuries to J.K. Dobbins, Gus Edwards, and Justice Hill just before the start of the season. Now, their replacements are drawing interest from teams in advance of the November 2 trade deadline.

Through four games, the Ravens have averaged 164.5 rushing yards per contest, good for fourth in the league. Quarterback Lamar Jackson is responsible for much of their ground game success, but Williams has also impressed with 164 rushing yards and a touchdown off of 27 carries — good for a 6.1 ypc average. Freeman, in a much smaller sample of six attempts, has averaged 6.8 yards per tote. Meanwhile, Murray has three rushing TDs to lead the team.

They’ll all look to advance the Ravens to 4-1 tonight when they face the Colts in Baltimore.

NFL Reserve/Futures Contracts: 1/18/21

January 18th, 2021 at 4:38pm CST by Andrew Ortenberg

With the Ravens, Browns, and Rams getting eliminated from the playoffs over the weekend, both teams announced their slew of reserve/futures deals on Monday. As a reminder, these are all non-guaranteed deals, usually for practice squad type players, to help teams flesh out their 90-man offseason rosters.

Baltimore Ravens

Cleveland Browns

Los Angeles Rams

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