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Transactions News & Rumors

Giants Cut Chandler Catanzaro

August 17th, 2020 at 11:24am CST by Zachary Links

The Giants have released kicker Chandler Catanzaro, according to ESPN.com’s Adam Schefter (on Twitter). That job now belongs to former Panthers kicker Graham Gano, who spent years playing under GM Dave Gettleman. 

[RELATED: Giants Sign K Graham Gano]

Catanzaro, 29, hooked on with the Jets last year. After a rocky training camp and equally rough start to the preseason, he announced his retirement. He returned to the game last month with New Jersey’s other team, but his stay was short-lived.

Catanzaro nailed 87.9% of his kicks as a Cardinals rookie in 2014 and 90.3% of his tries in 2015. His success rate dipped to 75% in 2016, but bounced back a bit with the Jets in 2017, making 83.3% of his kicks and all of his PATs. Then, he dipped once again. His three-year deal with the Bucs was torn up pretty quickly after he missed two field goals in a loss to the Redskins, ending his Tampa Bay tenure with a weak 73.3% success rate. His last live action came with the Panthers towards the end of the 2018 campaign.

Gano, meanwhile, has been out of football since he fractured his femur towards the end of the 2018 season. Before that, he was tremendous in 2017, his last full season. Gano nailed 29 of his 30 field goal tries for a league-leading 96.7% conversion rate.

Lions Sign RB Jonathan Williams

August 17th, 2020 at 10:52am CST by Zachary Links

The Lions have signed running back Jonathan Williams, per a club announcement. To make room, the Lions dropped fellow RB Wes Hills. 

[RELATED: Lions Work Out QB Trevor Siemian]

Williams made some noise as a fifth-round Bills rookie in 2016, running for 92 yards on 27 carries. Since then, he’s lived life on the fringe of the NFL. Two seasons with the Saints yielded just three appearances. Last year, he suited up nine times for the Colts, averaging 4.8 yards per carry in a small sample size. All in all, he had 235 yards off of 49 carries with one score.

The Arkansas product will join the Lions’ ~80-man roster and try to make the final cut for Week 1. As it stands, the Lions have Kerryon Johnson, promising rookie D’Andre Swift, and Bo Scarbrough atop their RB depth chart.

49ers’ Spencer Long Retires

August 17th, 2020 at 8:46am CST by Zachary Links

Last week, the 49ers signed Spencer Long to a one-year deal. This week, they placed the offensive lineman on the reserve/retired list, per a club announcement.

[RELATED: 49ers Sign Tavon Austin]

Long, 29, spent last season as a key reserve for the Bills. He was a surprise cut in early August, leading him to the Niners. His stint in SF lasted just three days, and he’s apparently walking away from the sport altogether.

Long came into the league with Washington as a third-round pick in 2014. After four seasons in D.C., he moved on to the Jets in 2018 before landing with the Bills last year. If this is the end fo the line for Long, he’ll leave the sport with 67 games played, including 44 starts at both center and left guard.

Buccaneers Sign DT Kyle Love

August 16th, 2020 at 12:17pm CST by Rory Parks

The Buccaneers have agreed to sign veteran DT Kyle Love, as Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times reports. Love, 33, has spent the last six years as part of the defensive front for the division-rival Panthers.

Love entered the league as an undrafted free agent out of Mississippi State in 2010. He spent three seasons with the Patriots, appearing in 41 total games before he was waived with a non-football illness designation due to a diabetes diagnosis. Love appeared in only three contests from 2013-14 while playing for the Chiefs, Jaguars, and Panthers, but he’s since reestablished his career with Carolina.

In the past three seasons, Love has appeared in at least 37% of the Panthers’ defensive snaps. For what it’s worth, however, Pro Football Focus’ advanced metrics ranked him near the bottom of the league’s interior defenders.

Still, Tampa Bay does not have a ton of defensive line depth behind its starting trio of Vita Vea, Ndamukong Suh, and William Gholston, so Love will add some valuable experience to the rotation. He has 15 sacks and four forced fumbles in his career.

Minor NFL Transactions: 8/16/20

August 16th, 2020 at 11:31am CST by Rory Parks

Here are today’s minor moves. We will update this list as necessary throughout the day:

Buffalo Bills

Carolina Panthers

Cleveland Browns

Dallas Cowboys

Kansas City Chiefs

New York Giants

New York Jets

Seattle Seahawks

Texans’ DL Angelo Blackson Takes Pay Cut

August 16th, 2020 at 9:37am CST by Rory Parks

Texans’ DL Angelo Blackson has agreed to a pay cut, as Mark Berman of Fox 26 reports (via Twitter). Blackson was set to earn nearly $4MM this year, but that number will now drop to $2.5MM.

Blackson was selected by the Titans in the fourth round of the 2015 draft and spent the first two years of his career with Tennessee but was waived prior to the start of the 2017 season. He quickly hooked on with the Patriots’ taxi squad and was signed by Houston a few weeks later.

In 2018, his first full year in Houston, the Auburn product saw the most playing time of his career, appearing in all 16 games and 40% of the team’s defensive snaps. Although Pro Football Focus’ advanced metrics ranked him near the bottom of the league’s interior defenders that season, Houston re-signed him to a three-year, $12MM pact last March.

In 2019, Blackson again appeared in 40% of the Texans’ defensive snaps, recording 20 tackles in the process. But his overall game was still a bit lackluster, and if he did not accept a pay cut, he may have been released.

As Berman writes, the Texans have saved about $8MM of cap space between Blackson’s pay cut, Senio Kelemete‘s extension, and Zach Fulton‘s restructure. The team now has about $20MM of room, and due to the expected cap reduction in 2021, any rollover money will be valuable. Plus, the team also needs to stash some funds for the inevitable Deshaun Watson extension.

Jets Sign WR Chris Hogan

August 16th, 2020 at 9:06am CST by Rory Parks

The Jets are adding a veteran to their WR corps. Per Tom Pelissero of the NFL Network, Gang Green is signing 32-year-old wideout Chris Hogan (Twitter link).

New York is quite familiar with Hogan, who started seeing regular playing time with the division-rival Bills in 2014 and who became a key piece of the Patriots’ offense after New England signed him away from Buffalo in 2016 as a restricted free agent.

During his three-year tenure with the Pats — which included two Super Bowl wins — Hogan averaged a regular-season slash of 36/550/4 and averaged over 15 yards per catch (including a league-best 17.9 figure in 2016). He was equally valuable in the playoffs, recording 34 catches for 542 yards and four TDs in nine postseason games.

He hooked on with the Panthers last offseason, and while his 2019 campaign was largely ruined by injury, he could still be an important contributor for the Jets. As Rich Cimini of ESPN.com writes, promising but raw second-round rookie Denzel Mims is battling a hamstring injury, and beyond Breshad Perriman and slot man Jamison Crowder, the team’s receiver depth chart is incredibly thin.

This will sort of complete Hogan’s tour of the AFC East. In addition to his stints with the Bills and Patriots, Hogan, a 2011 UDFA out of Monmouth, spent some time on the Dolphins’ practice squad in the early part of his career.

Washington QB Alex Smith Activated

August 16th, 2020 at 8:35am CST by Rory Parks

One of the most remarkable comebacks in NFL history is complete. Washington Football Team quarterback Alex Smith has been activated off the PUP list and will return to the field, as Nicki Jhabvala of The Athletic was the first to report (via Twitter). The team formally announced the move this morning.

By now, most NFL fans know the story. Smith, whom Washington acquired in a trade with the Chiefs in January 2018 and subsequently signed to a four-year, $94MM extension, broke the tibia and fibula in his right leg during a game against the Texans in November 2018. The injury was gruesome to behold, and its aftermath was even worse.

Smith developed sepsis, and the possibility of amputation was very real. The three-time Pro Bowler even indicated that he feels lucky just to be alive. He ultimately underwent 17 operations but vowed to resume his playing career, though his wife, Elizabeth, has understandably been conflicted on the matter.

But in an Instagram post that preceded Jhabvala’s report, Elizabeth wrote, “Hard work pays off! Lots to celebrate in the Smith house tonight,” and uploaded a video showing Alex’s family spraying him with champagne.

Of course, much has changed since Smith’s injury (aside from his team’s name). Washington was 6-3 and in the thick of the the NFC East race before Smith was hurt, but they ended up 7-9 that season and finished third in the division. They drafted Dwayne Haskins in the first round of the 2019 draft to be their QB of the future, and after they limped to a 3-13 record last season, they overhauled their front office and coaching staff, bringing in Ron Rivera as their new field general.

Rivera has previously indicated that Smith would be included in the team’s QB competition if activated, and while it would be surprising to see anyone other than Haskins under center when Week 1 rolls around, it’s clearly unwise to count Smith out. As John Keim of ESPN.com writes, Smith will be on the field when Washington begins full-pad work on Tuesday.

Now 36, the No. 1 overall pick of the 2005 draft will, if nothing else, provide invaluable veteran mentorship for Haskins and Kyle Allen. Smith will carry a $21.4MM cap charge in 2020, but Washington can release him after the season for some significant cap relief. He is due to count $24.4MM against the cap in 2021, but his dead cap hit drops to $10.8MM.

Minor NFL Transactions: 8/15/20

August 15th, 2020 at 4:28pm CST by Zachary Links

Today’s minor moves:

Cincinnati Bengals

Green Bay Packers

Jacksonville Jaguars

Miami Dolphins

Minnesota Vikings

New England Patriots

Packers, Kenny Clark Agree To Extension

August 15th, 2020 at 11:25am CST by Zachary Links

The Packers have agreed to a four-year, $70MM extension with Kenny Clark (Twitter link via Tom Pelissero of NFL.com). The nose tackle will receive a $25MM signing bonus and he’ll earn $37MM over the first two years of the deal.

[RELATED: Finding WRs For The Packers]

Before, Clark was due $7.69MM in the walk year of his rookie contract. The re-up makes Clark the 12th-highest paid defensive player in the NFL. It’s more money than some expected for Clark, but he made a strong case by registering 12 sacks over the past two seasons. At the age of 24 (25 in October), he’s one of the game’s better interior defenders, and he now has a deal to reflect his status.

His performance is even more impressive when considering that he was slowed by an elbow injury in 2018. Despite the early end to his season, Clark graded out as Pro Football Focus’ No. 9 ranked interior lineman that year while posting 55 total tackles. This past year, he had a perfect attendance card and set a new career high in stops (62).

Clark’s deal marks yet another major Packers investment in defensive talent. After shelling out big bucks for edge rushers Za’Darius Smith and Preston Smith, giving safety Adrian Amos a $9MM-per-year contract deal, and drafting two Round 1 defenders, they’ve shored up the middle with Clark.

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