Chase Dixon

Washington Makes Cuts, Down To 75 Players

The big news out of Washington today will be Jay Gruden‘s announcement that Kirk Cousins is heading into the year not just as the starter for Week 1, but as the starter for the 2015 season. However, “Kirk’s team,” as Gruden referred to it today, also made a series of roster moves to get down to the required 75-man roster in advance of tomorrow’s deadline.

One of today’s roster moves for Washington is the placement of pass rusher Junior Galette on injured reserve. Galette, who joined the club after being released by the Saints, tore his Achilles last week and will miss the entire 2015 campaign.

Here are the rest of Washington’s moves (via Twitter):

Waived:

  • Ernst Brun, TE
  • Dyshawn Davis, LB
  • Chase Dixon, TE
  • Tajh Hasson, CB
  • Alonzo Highsmith, LB
  • DreQuan Hoskey, CB
  • Tony Jones, WR (waived/injured)
  • Ty Long, K
  • Devin Mahina, TE
  • Bryce Quigley, G
  • Trey Wolfe, CB

Released:

  • Bryan McCann, CB
  • Willie Smith, T

Minor Moves: Monday

We’ll track today’s minor transactions in this space, including small tweaks to 53-man rosters as well as practice squad signings and cuts. Here’s the latest:

  • To fill the roster spot vacated by Williams (referenced below), the Bears have promoted guard Ryan Groy from the practice squad to the 53-man roster, reports Brad Biggs of the Chicago Tribune (Twitter link). In a separate tweet, Biggs notes that right tackle Jordan Mills said he was set to have his rib injury examined today, suggesting the Groy promotion could be a precautionary move in case Mills is sidelined.

Earlier updates:

  • Following Aaron Rodgers‘ shredding of the Bears‘ secondary last night, Chicago has waived defensive back Teddy Williams, according to Aaron Wilson of the Baltimore Sun (via Twitter). The team has yet to announce a corresponding move.
  • The Chiefs have replaced one offensive lineman with another on their practice squad, announcing in a press release that they’ve released Curtis Feigt and signed Jarrod Pughsley.
  • Offensive lineman Darren Keyton is joining the Lions‘ practice squad in the wake of an injury to Larry Warford, tweets Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press. Birkett speculations that Rodney Austin could be promoted to the team’s 53-man roster in order to accommodate the move.
  • Washington has signed tight end Chase Dixon, an undrafted free agent out of Central Arkansas, to their practice squad, tweets Mike Jones of the Washington Post. Dixon, who initially signed with the Seahawks in May, was cut during the summer and worked out for Washington last week.
  • The Ravens have added offensive tackle Terren Jones to their practice squad, cutting defensive tackle Jamie Meder in order to clear room on the unit, the team announced today in a press release. Following Meder’s release, only one of the 10 players on Baltimore’s taxi squad is a defender.

East Notes: Pryor, Jets, Patriots, Pierre-Paul

Earlier today, Washington became the latest team to have free agent quarterback Terrelle Pryor in for a workout, according to Michael David Smith of Pro Football Talk. The club now has a fully healthy group of signal-callers in Robert Griffin III, Colt McCoy, and Kirk Cousins, so it appears to be an unlikely landing spot for Pryor. Running backs Tim Hightower and Jeff Demps were also among the free agents whom Washington auditioned today, per John Keim of ESPN.com (Twitter links). The club worked out nine more players, and Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk provides a full list: tight end Chase Dixon, tight end D.C. Jefferson, safety Ahmad Black, defensive tackle Lanier Coleman, tackle Chris Faulk, tight end Tyler George, defensive end Donte Paige-Moss, defensive tackle Justin Renfrow, and safety Nickoe Whitley. Here’s more from the NFL’s two East divisions.

  • The Jets’ plan to rely on second-year player Dee Milliner, rookie Dexter McDougle, and mediocre free agent Dimitri Patterson as their primary corners was flawed from the beginning, writes Brian Costello of the New York Post. Milliner and McDougle both suffered serious injuries, while Patterson went AWOL during the preseason and was released.
  • The Jets worked out linebacker Shayne Skov today, tweets Costello. Skov, a 2014 undrafted free agent, has worked out for the Chargers and Texans in recent days after spending time with the 49ers and Buccaneers earlier this year.
  • The Patriots also brought in several players for tryouts today, writes Mike Reiss of ESPN.com, who identifies kickers Dave Teggart and Zach Hocker, long snappers Charley Hughlett and Patrick Scales, punter Cody Mandell, and quarterback Garrett Gilbert as having auditioned for New England.
  • Responding to a reader’s Twitter question, Jordan Raanan of the Star-Ledger gave defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul a 55% chance of returning to the Giants next season. Pierre-Paul is having a solid season as he approaches free agency — though he has only 3.5 sacks, he’s graded as the league’s third-best 4-3 defensive end among 54 qualifiers, per Pro Football Focus (subscription required). PFF’s metrics rate the 25-year-old as the best run defender at his position by far; his +17.1 grade against the run is nearly double that of Derek Wolfe, the No. 2 finisher.

Luke Adams contributed to this post.

Vikings Cut Fred Evans, Others

7:05pm: The Vikings roster is officially down to 53 players, as the team formally announced their transactions in a press release. The following players have been cut by Minnesota:

Released:

Placed on Injured Reserve:

  • Antonio Richardson, OT

2:24pm: The Vikings have released veteran defensive lineman Fred Evans on their way down to 53 players, according to Pro Football Talk (via Twitter). The longtime Viking has 94 games under his belt for the team since arriving in Minnesota in 2007, but it seems he won’t have a spot on the club’s regular-season roster this time around. Here are all of the Vikings’ Saturday roster cuts:

Minor Moves: Seahawks, Steelers, Cowboys

There were tons of housekeeping moves in the NFL yesterday and we’ll keep track of the latest here..

  • Former Steelers wide receiver David Gilreath signed a one-year deal with the Seahawks, agent Sean Stellato tells Mike Garafolo of FOX Sports 1 (on Twitter). Gilreath was cut by the Raiders after a short stint in June. The Seahawks also signed offensive guard C.J. Davis, according to agent Neil Schwartz (on Twitter).
  • The Seahawks cut tight end Chase Dixon and waived-injured offensive lineman Jared Smith, Wilson tweets. Seattle signed Smith to a reserve contract in February and added Dixon as a UDFA in May.
  • The Steelers cut linebacker Kion Wilson, Wilson tweets.
  • The Cowboys cut Tyronne Green with an injury settlement, Wilson tweets. The offensive guard was placed on the reserved/injured list late last month.
  • The Steelers signed defensive back Lew Toler, according to Aaron Wilson of the Baltimore Sun (on Twitter).
  • The Bills waived/injured cornerback Brandon Smith, according to ESPN’s Field Yates (via Mike Rodak of ESPN on Twitter).
  • The Bengals waived punter T.J. Conley, according to Paul Dehner Jr. of The Cincinnati Enquirer (on Twitter).
  • The Bills claimed center Jared Wheeler off waivers from the Panthers while the Bengals grabbed wide receiver Conner Vernon after he was waived by the Browns, according to Field Yates of ESPN.com (on Twitter).
  • The Panthers signed linebacker Anthony Morales, according to Joe Person of the Charlotte Observer (on Twitter). Morales, will fill Edmund Kugbila‘s roster spot after he was waived-injured. Morales played at Weber State and had career totals of 342 tackles, five sacks, and 38 tackles for a loss.
  • The Texans signed nose tackle David Hunter, according to Brian T. Smith of the Houston Chronicle (on Twitter). It’s a homecoming for Hunter, who plied his craft at the University of Houston. Hunter will provide depth on the interior of the defensive line with third-round pick Louis Nix on the PUP list.
  • The Buccaneers have been awarded linebacker Brandon Magee off waivers from the Browns, tweets Aaron Wilson of the Baltimore Sun.
  • The Bengals have signed rookie wide receiver Jeremy Johnson, according to Paul Dehner Jr. of The Cincinnati Enquirer (on Twitter). The SMU product was recently cut loose by the Patriots.

Seahawks To Sign Nine Undrafted FAs

The Seahawks have released their official list of undrafted free agent signings, and Bob Condotta of the Seattle Times has the details in a series of three tweets. Here are the UDFAs being added to the roster by Seattle:

  • Dion Bailey, S, USC
  • Brock Coyle, LB, Montana
  • Chase Dixon, TE, Central Arkansas
  • Garry Gilliam, OT, Penn State
  • Bronson Irwin, G, Oklahoma
  • Jackson Jeffcoat, DE, Texas
  • Jimmy Legree, CB, South Carolina
  • Keith Price, QB, Washington
  • Andru Pulu, DT, Eastern Washington

Washington Signs Nine To Reserve Deals

JANUARY 6TH: Washington also signed outside linebacker Austin Spitler to a futures deal, according to Zac Boyer of The Washington Times (on Twitter).

DECEMBER 29TH: Washington has signed eight players to reserve/futures contracts, the team announced today (via Twitter). The following eight players have been locked up by the club, moving from the practice squad to Washington’s offseason roster:

Of the players who finished the season on Washington’s practice squad, only running back Michael Hill and center Tevita Stevens haven’t signed futures contracts with the team.