Joe Vellano

Cowboys To Cut DE Benson Mayowa

The Cowboys have released defensive end Benson Mayowa, according to ESPN.com’s Field Yates (on Twitter). Cutting Mayowa will give Dallas $2.75MM in cap room while leaving just $1MM in dead money. 

The Cowboys signed Mayowa in 2016 when he was a restricted free agent of the Raiders. Dallas inked him to a three-year offer sheet with a $3.3MM signing bonus, a deal that Oakland declined to match.

At the time, Mayowa had just three starts to his credit but demonstrated serious potential in his limited game film. Not wanting to cap his long-term earning potential, Mayowa’s reps pushed for a clause that would have allowed him to opt out this offseason if he appeared in 60% of Dallas’ snaps between ’16 and ’17. That never became a factor as Mayowa did not blossom as expected.

Mayowa, 27 in August, had just 31 tackles and one sack in his 381 snaps last season.

In a related move, the Cowboys have also cut defensive tackle Joe Vellano. Vellano hooked on with Dallas’ practice squad late last season and re-signed on a futures deal in January.

NFL Reserve/Futures Contracts: 1/2/18

Here are the latest reserve/futures contract signings from around the NFL. These deals will go into effect on the first day of the 2018 league year, with players joining their respective clubs’ offseason 90-man rosters:

Arizona Cardinals

Baltimore Ravens

Chicago Bears

Cincinnati Bengals

Dallas Cowboys

Detroit Lions

Green Bay Packers

  • WR Jake Kumerow
  • WR Colby Pearson
  • TE Robert Tonyan
  • LS Zach Triner
  • WR DeAngelo Yancey

Read more

NFL Practice Squad Updates: 11/7/17

Today’s practice squad moves:

Cincinnati Bengals

Dallas Cowboys

Indianapolis Colts

Los Angeles Chargers

Minnesota Vikings

New England Patriots

Philadelphia Eagles

  • Signed: S Tre Sullivan
  • Cut: LB Don Cherry

Pittsburgh Steelers

Seattle Seahawks

  • Signed: OL Isaiah Battle

Minor NFL Transactions: 10/24/17

Today’s minor moves:

Atlanta Falcons

Carolina Panthers

Denver Broncos

  • Waived: C Dillon Day

Green Bay Packers

Houston Texans

Los Angeles Chargers

New York Jets

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Falcons Promote Joe Vellano From P-Squad

The Falcons promoted defensive tackle Joe Vellano from their practice squad and waived cornerback Deji Olatoye to make room.

This marks the second time in 2017 the Falcons promoted Vellano to their active roster, having done so before the NFC championship game as well. Vellano played in Super Bowl LI as a backup, the fifth playoff contest for which he’s dressed.

A 28-year-old ex-UDFA out of Maryland, Vellano spent 2016 with the Falcons before being signed to Atlanta’s practice squad after this past training camp. But his most notable NFL work came with the Patriots. New England deployed Vellano as a starter in eight games during the 2013 season. Vellano also collected a Super Bowl ring in being a part-time performer with the 2014 Pats.

A Ravens UDFA in 2014, Olatoye has spent time with the Chiefs, Cowboys and Falcons but has yet to play in a regular-season game.

Sunday NFL Transactions: NFC South

Listed below are the Sunday roster moves for the four NFC South teams. Following the 53-man roster cutdown deadline yesterday, many teams will make slight tweaks to their rosters, claiming players off waivers or signing guys who clear waivers. Those transactions for the Falcons, Panthers, Saints, and Buccaneers are noted below.

Additionally, as of 12:00pm CT today, teams can begin constructing their 10-man practice squads. You can check out our glossary entry on practice squads to brush up on those changes, as well as all the other guidelines that govern the 10-man units, whose players practice with the team but aren’t eligible to suit up on Sundays.

Here are Sunday’s NFC South transactions, which will continue to be updated throughout the day:

Atlanta Falcons

Carolina Panthers

New Orleans Saints

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Falcons Reduce Roster To 53

The Falcons have moved their roster to 53 players by making the following transactions:

Placed on commissioner exempt list:

Placed on reserve/suspended list:

Waived: 

Waived/injured:

Released with injury settlement:

Placed on IR:

Minor NFL Transactions: 1/17/17

Today’s minor moves:

Promotion

Atlanta Falcons

Practice Squad

Green Bay Packers

Reserve/Futures Contracts

Atlanta Falcons

Dallas Cowboys

  • TE Rico Gathers
  • WR Andy Jones

Kansas City Chiefs

New Orleans Saints

  • WR Rashad Lawrence

NFL Practice Squad Updates: 9/6/16

Here are Tuesday’s practice squad signings and cuts from around the NFL:

Arizona Cardinals

  • Signed: QB Aaron Murray, QB Zac Dysert (team announcement)

Atlanta Falcons

  • Signed: WR Nick Williams (Twitter link via D. Orlando Ledbetter of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution), DL Joe Vellano (Twitter link via Adam Schefter of ESPN.com)
  • Cut: DT Joey Mbu (Twitter link via Vaughn McClure of ESPN.com)

Baltimore Ravens

  • Signed: QB David Fales (Twitter link via Adam Caplan of ESPN.com), G Jarell Broxton (Twitter link via Jeff Zrebiec of The Baltimore Sun)

Buffalo Bills

  • Signed: LB Carlos Fields, DB Damian Parms (Twitter link via Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle)

Dallas Cowboys

Houston Texans

Kansas City Chiefs

Minnesota Vikings

  • Signed: T Carter Bykowski (Twitter link via Chris Tomasson of the Pioneer Press)
  • Cut: CB Tre Roberson

New England Patriots

New York Jets

New Orleans Saints

Seattle Seahawks

  • Signed: OL Takoby Cofield

Tennessee Titans:

  • Signed: WR Tre McBride (Twitter link via Jim Wyatt of TitansOnline.com)
  • Cut: WR Ben Roberts

Patriots Cut Aaron Dobson, Move To 53

The Patriots have announced the cuts that bring them down to 53, including the waiving of Aaron Dobson.
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Dobson, 25, is a former second-round pick, but he hasn’t done much since joining New England in 2013. In three seasons with the club, the Marshall product has only posted 53 receptions for less than 700 yards. Most of that production came during his rookie season, as Dobson has put up only 16 catches during the past two years. Entering the final year of his rookie deal, Dobson was set to earn about $872K in base salary.

Here’s the list of Patriots cuts so far today:

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.