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Will Grier

Minor NFL Transactions: 9/17/22

September 17th, 2022 at 7:00pm CST by Adam La Rose

Today’s minor moves around the league, including practice squad elevations for tomorrow’s action:

Arizona Cardinals

Atlanta Falcons

Baltimore Ravens

  • Promoted from practice squad: CB Daryl Worley, WR Raleigh Webb

Carolina Panthers

Chicago Bears

Cleveland Browns

Dallas Cowboys

Denver Broncos

Detroit Lions

Green Bay Packers

Houston Texans

Indianapolis Colts

Las Vegas Raiders

Los Angeles Rams

Miami Dolphins

New York Giants

New York Jets

New Orleans Saints

Pittsburgh Steelers

Seattle Seahawks

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Washington Commanders

Cowboys Sign QB Cooper Rush, K Brett Maher To Active Roster

September 17th, 2022 at 2:06pm CST by Adam La Rose

In anticipation of only his second career start, Cooper Rush is set to officially join the Cowboys’ 53-man roster. He is being signed from the practice squad, along with kicker Brett Maher, per a team announcement. 

Both players suited up last week, of course, but in that instance they were designated as the two taxi squad elevations each team is permitted every week. For Rush, the move confirms the fact that he will take over for Dak Prescott as the team’s starting signal-caller. The duration of Prescott’s absence could be shorter than initially expected, but for the time being, Rush is tasked with keeping the Cowboys afloat and improving on the team’s underwhelming offensive performance in Week 1.

The 28-year-old’s only other start resulted in a victory last season, but with just 63 career pass attempts, little will be known or expected of him. Dallas also has a weakened offensive line in front of him, and a less accomplished assortment of pass-catchers compared to 2021, so the challenge facing him will be significant. Not surprisingly, the Cowboys are elevating Will Grier from the practice squad to operate as Rush’s backup. With Prescott expected to be back relatively soon, that pair will be leaned on, instead of a stop-gap veteran addition.

Maher wasn’t initially in the Cowboys’ kicking plans this offseason. Not long after the team began looking for outside options, however, the 32-year-old returned to Dallas. The Cowboys’ kicker in 2018 and 2019, Maher was responsible for the team’s only points in Week 1, making his only attempt. For his career, he has converted 77.6% of his field goals, a figure which, coupled with his familiarity with the organization, allowed him to make a late push to operate as Greg Zuerlein‘s successor.

Rush, Maher and the Cowboys will look to get into the win column on Sunday against the defending AFC champion Bengals.

Dak Prescott Undergoes Thumb Surgery

September 12th, 2022 at 5:27pm CST by Adam La Rose

5:27pm: Prescott has undergone the thumb surgery, according to Michael Gehlken of the Dallas Morning News (on Twitter). The operation was successful, but the wait begins. Rather than acquire another quarterback, the Cowboys are sticking with Rush. The former UDFA has been Dallas’ primary backup since Tony Romo‘s 2017 retirement. Prescott is expected to attend the now-Rush-centered position meetings as he rehabs.

8:51am: The Cowboys suffered a significant loss on the scoreboard and the depth chart last night, as quarterback Dak Prescott left the game with a thumb injury. He will undergo surgery to address the issue, which ESPN’s Todd Archer reports is expected to keep him sidelined for six to eight weeks. As a result, Archer adds, Prescott will likely be placed on IR. 

During postgame availability, head coach Mike McCarthy confirmed that the injury is “significant.” Prescott, meanwhile, offered a somewhat encouraging update by saying that the fracture in his throwing hand “was much cleaner than it could have been.”

Nevertheless, the injury is a crushing blow for the Cowboys, whose offense already faced plenty of questions heading into last night. Left tackle Tyron Smith will be sidelined until at least December due to a torn hamstring, and the injuries to wideouts Michael Gallup and James Washington leave the team with few established pass-catchers. Overcoming those absences will be significantly more difficult without Prescott, who will be on the shelf for the second time in the past three seasons after an injury-free start to his career.

The two-time Pro Bowler was limited to five games by an ankle injury in 2020, but still landed a $40MM-per-year deal the following offseason. He played in 16 games last year, posting an 11-5 record while throwing for 4,449 yards and 37 touchdowns. Expectations were high for he and the team again in 2022, but things have changed dramatically in the span of one night.

“It’s very disappointing,” Prescott said, via Bobby Kownack of NFL.com. “But injuries happen. You can’t necessarily control it. It’s just unfortunate… but I’ll do what I’ve always done any time adversity comes. Take it on headfirst, give it my best, and I’m sure I’ll come out of this thing better.”

Cooper Rush will now take over as Dallas’ starting QB; the former UDFA had made 11 appearances with the Cowboys before filling in for Prescott last night (but only one start). He, along with Will Grier, were temporarily let go of during roster cutdowns, but the team fully intended to keep both of them in the fold. Grier will likely be signed to the active roster from the practice squad, unless the Cowboys search for outside options to replace their signal-caller for the intermediate future.

Wednesday NFL Transactions: NFC East

August 31st, 2022 at 2:53pm CST by Sam Robinson

Following the 53-man roster cutdown deadline Tuesday, many teams will make slight tweaks to their rosters. In addition to waiver claims, teams can begin constructing their 16-man practice squads today. These Commanders, Cowboys, Eagles and Giants moves are noted below.

Here are Wednesday’s NFC East transactions, which will continue to be updated throughout the day.

Dallas Cowboys

Signed to practice squad:

New York Giants

Signed:

Released:

Claimed:

Placed on IR:

Signed to practice squad:

Philadelphia Eagles

Claimed: 

Waived:

Signed to practice squad:

Washington Commanders

Released:

Claimed:

Waived:

Placed on IR:

Signed to practice squad:

Cowboys Set 53-Man Roster

August 30th, 2022 at 7:49pm CST by Ben Levine

The Cowboys got their roster down to 53 players today, and to get there, they cut all their backup QB options, their kicker, and their long snapper:

Released:

Waived:

Waived/injured:

Placed on reserve/NFI:

The Cowboys are currently rolling without a second QB behind Dak Prescott after the team moved on from Cooper Rush, Will Grier, and Ben DiNucci. Rush has the most experience of the group, appearing in 10 career games, including five appearances (one start) with Dallas in 2021. The 28-year-old finished last season having completed 30 of his 47 pass attempts for 422 yards, three touchdowns, and one interception. The Cowboys also aren’t rostering a kicker or long snapper at the moment, something that will certainly change over the next few days.

Special teams ace C.J. Goodwin could also land back on the active roster once the dust settles. Goodwin has spent the past four seasons in Dallas, and he hasn’t missed a game over the past three years. The 32-year-old finished last season with a career-high 10 tackles.

Cowboys To Cut QBs Cooper Rush, Will Grier

August 30th, 2022 at 11:20am CST by Sam Robinson

For a bit, Dak Prescott will be the only quarterback on the Cowboys’ roster. Dallas is releasing Cooper Rush and waiving Will Grier on Tuesday, Todd Archer of ESPN.com tweets.

This certainly does not mean Prescott Solo will be the Cowboys’ QB plan. In fact, both Rush and Grier are expected back. Rush does not need to clear waivers to return to the Cowboys, though Grier does. The team hopes to have each back soon, Archer adds.

Teams use the annual cutdown deadline to prioritize players they do not feel are certain to pass through waivers. It appears the Cowboys are using the quarterback spot to do this, being confident they can reacquire their backups after today’s cutdown to 53. Rush was already on his second Cowboys stint, having returned after spending time with former HC Jason Garrett with the Giants.

The Cowboys already cut QB Ben DiNucci, parting ways with the third-year veteran Sunday night. It is possible all four arms will be back with Dallas, which can keep 16 players on its practice squad. It will be somewhat interesting to see how the Cowboys reacquire their reserve passers. Rush, Grier and DiNucci were each with the team, with DiNucci on the P-squad, in 2021.

Despite coming into the league as a UDFA, Rush has been Prescott’s primary backup since Tony Romo‘s retirement. Andy Dalton, however, served in that role in 2020 — the only point in which multiple starts were available during the Prescott era, due to his severe ankle injury — and Rush has primarily been a bench option throughout his career.

Rush has thrown 50 career passes. Many of those came last season, when a Prescott minor injury kept him out of a game against the Vikings. Rush led Dallas to a win in Minnesota. He and Grier were vying for the QB2 job during training camp. The latter, a 2019 Panthers third-round pick, arrived in Dallas via waiver claim last year. The West Virginia product has not played in a game since making two starts as a Carolina rookie.

Panthers QB Transactions Since 2020

July 6th, 2022 at 10:11pm CST by Ben Levine

It’s been two years since the Panthers moved on from Cam Newton, and the organization’s QB room has seen plenty of change in that short amount of time. Besides the financial commitments to free agent additions like Teddy Bridgewater and Newton (for a second stint), the Panthers have also invested plenty of draft capital into the position. Over the past 15 months, the organization has effectively used a second-round pick, third-round pick, fourth-round pick, fifth-round pick, and sixth-round pick to construct their current depth chart of Baker Mayfield, Sam Darnold, and Matt Corral.

Of course, the Panthers have rostered plenty of additional signal-callers since settling on their current trio. Over the past two years, the Panthers have started four different QBs, and 13 different quarterbacks have made their way through the organization (either via the active roster or practice squad). These 13 different QBs have accounted for 18 different transactions over the past 28 months.

We went back to the 2020 offseason and listed all of the Panthers QB transactions below:

March 10, 2020

Allen inked a one-year pact with the Panthers to avoid ERFA.

March 17, 2020

March 23, 2020

March 24, 2020

April 5, 2021

  • Acquired Sam Darnold from Jets for 2022 second-round pick, 2022 fourth-round pick, 2021 sixth-round pick

April 28, 2021

April 30, 2021

August 31, 2021

Grier was a 2019 third-round pick by the Panthers.

September 2, 2021

November 2, 2021

November 9, 2021

Barkley was signed off the Titans practice squad.

November 11, 2021

December 28, 2021

December 31, 2021

April 29, 2022

May 1, 2022

July 6, 2022

 

Minor NFL Transactions: 1/12/22

January 12th, 2022 at 10:30pm CST by Sam Robinson

Here are Wednesday’s minor moves:

Dallas Cowboys 

Green Bay Packers

Los Angeles Rams

Pittsburgh Steelers

San Francisco 49ers

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Cowboys Claim QB Will Grier

September 1st, 2021 at 11:50am CST by Zachary Links

The Cowboys have claimed quarterback Will Grier off waivers (Twitter link via Field Yates of ESPN.com). Grier missed the cut in Carolina, but he’s now found a spot on Dallas’ 53-man roster.

The Cowboys now have three QBs on the roster with Dak Prescott, Cooper Rush, and Grier. That doesn’t necessarily mean that Rush and Grier will stick throughout the year, but Rush will at least stay on board while Grier learns the playbook.

Grier isn’t the ex-Panthers QB that some Cowboys fans were hoping for, but he offers plenty of upside in his own right. The Panthers used a third-round choice on him in 2019 — lots of other clubs had their eyes on the West Virginia product too. To date, Grier has two games (both starts) to his credit, but they were pretty lackluster. Those rookie outings saw four interceptions, zero TDs, and a 53.8% completion rate.

Panthers Set Initial 53-Man Roster

August 31st, 2021 at 3:17pm CST by Andrew Ortenberg

Add the Panthers to the list of teams who have officially trimmed their roster down to the required 53 players. Remember this is only the initial roster, so not everybody who was spared Tuesday will make it through to the regular season after the waiver wire frenzy the next few days.

Here’s the list of players Carolina cut on Tuesday:

Released:

Waived:

Placed on season-ending IR

You’ll probably recognize at least a few names on this list, including Bynes, Grier, Kirkwood, and Bonnafon. Bynes is a veteran linebacker with 117 appearances and 63 starts under his belt since entering the league all the way back in 2011. He started all 16 games for the Bengals last year, but it took him until just a few weeks ago to get signed by Carolina.

Grier is the West Virginia product who had a fair amount of buzz coming out of college. Despite some initial talk that he could get drafted in the first or second-round, he ended up as a third-round pick in 2019. He ended up starting two games for the Panthers as a rookie, struggling mightily while tossing four interceptions and no touchdowns. Carolina is throwing in the towel after just two seasons, electing to roll with only P.J. Walker behind Sam Darnold. Grier should be able to at least end up on somebody’s practice squad.

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