HEADLINES

Month: August 2014

Steelers Cut 15 Players

August 26th, 2014 at 3:25pm CST by Luke Adams

3:25pm: The Steelers have made their remaining six cuts, and Mark Kaboly of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review (Twitter link) has the list of players who are no longer on the team’s active roster:

7:52am: The Steelers have become the latest team to make a series of roster cuts in advance of today’s 75-man deadline. According to the club’s PR rep Burt Lauten (via Twitter), the Steelers parted ways with nine players this morning, meaning they’ll still need to make an additional six cuts by this afternoon. Here are the players no longer with the team:

Titans Make Cuts, Will Work Out Feely

August 26th, 2014 at 3:21pm CST by Luke Adams

The Titans have made four transactions in order to reduce their roster count from 79 players to 75, per Paul Kuharsky of ESPN.com (Twitter links). Here are the four players no longer on the team’s active roster:

In addition to making that series of roster moves, the Titans are also eyeing kicker Jay Feely, who was recently released by the Cardinals, tweets Jim Wyatt of the Tennessean. Feely, who joined the Cards in 2010, kicked for the team for the last three years of Ken Whisenhunt’s tenure in Arizona, so the current Titans head coach is familiar with the veteran. According to Wyatt, the club will host Feely for a workout.

The Titans also may be ramping up extension talks for defensive lineman Jurrell Casey. As Wyatt writes, agent Drew Rosenhaus is in Nashville today to discuss a new deal for his client, so while an agreement may not be imminent, a face-to-face meeting seems to be a step in the right direction. Per Wyatt, the two sides have been in contact about an extension for Casey since first broaching the topic earlier in the summer.

Rams Place Bradford On IR, Roster Down To 75

August 26th, 2014 at 2:51pm CST by Luke Adams

The Rams have formally placed Sam Bradford on season-ending injured reserve, according to Jim Thomas of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch (via Twitter). The move had been expected, but now – with this afternoon’s first cutdown deadline looming – it has been made official.

St. Louis came into the day with 79 players on its active roster, so in addition to putting Bradford on IR, the team also made three other roster moves. Thomas tweets that seventh-round center Demetrius Rhaney, who has a knee injury, will join the quarterback on the team’s injured reserve list. Additionally, safety Matt Daniels and defensive end Sammy Brown have been waived, according to Thomas (Twitter links).

The Rams’ final cutdown this weekend will draw a little more national attention than usual, as we wait to see whether seventh-round defensive end Michael Sam is among the 53 players the team will carry into the regular season.

Chargers Cut Ghee, Place Three On IR

August 26th, 2014 at 2:38pm CST by Luke Adams

About five and a half months after signing him during the first week of the league’s 2014 free agent period, the Chargers have parted ways with defensive back Brandon Ghee, according to Michael Gehlken of the San Diego Union-Tribune (Twitter links). Although Ghee, who received $300K guaranteed when he signed with the team, was one of five players removed from San Diego’s active roster today, he was the only player who was cut outright.

Per Gehlken, here are the Chargers’ other transactions, which reduced their roster to 75 players:

Placed on injured reserve:

Placed on reserve/PUP list:

Cowboys Cut Caleb Hanie, 10 Others

August 26th, 2014 at 2:23pm CST by Luke Adams

The Cowboys are the latest NFL team to trim its roster to 75 players, with former Bears quarterback Caleb Hanie and former fourth-round pick Matt Johnson among the players cut today by Dallas. Per Todd Archer of ESPN.com (via Twitter), here’s the full list of roster moves made by the Cowboys in advance of this afternoon’s deadline:

Cut:

Waived-injured:

Placed on injured reserve:

  • Ben Gardner, DE

Placed on reserve/non-football injury list:

Colts Place Ballard, John, Karim On IR

August 26th, 2014 at 2:12pm CST by Luke Adams

The Colts have reduced their roster count from 79 players to 75 without waiving or releasing anyone, according to Aaron Wilson of the Baltimore Sun, who reports (via Twitter) that Indianapolis has made the following roster moves:

Placed on injured reserve list:

Placed on reserve/PUP list:

The three players placed on IR won’t have to pass through waivers, since the Colts waited until the first roster cutdown date to move them to the injured reserve list. As for Havili, he’ll be eligible to return to the team’s active list after the season’s first six weeks.

Saints, Eagles, Bears Down To 75 Players

August 26th, 2014 at 1:58pm CST by Luke Adams

The Saints have officially announced their roster cuts down to 75 players, and many of the names – most notably linebacker Victor Butler – have previously been reported. However, three players’ releases had previously been unreported. According to the team (via Twitter), quarterback Logan Kilgore, linebacker Kevin Reddick, and defensive back Rod Sweeting are among the players who didn’t make the cut down to 75.

The Eagles, who were vanquished from last year’s playoffs by New Orleans, have also finalized their 75-man roster in advance of this afternoon’s deadline. Sheil Kapadia of PhillyMag.com tweets that offensive lineman Julian Vandervelde has been waived by the team with an injury settlement. In a series of tweets, Vandervelde thanked the organization for the opportunity.

Meanwhile, a third NFC playoff contender has also trimmed its roster down to 75 players, with the Bears announcing today (via Twitter) that offensive lineman James Brown and cornerback Isaiah Frey are the latest roster casualties in Chicago.

All three teams, as well as the NFL’s other 29, will have until Saturday afternoon to further cut their rosters down to 53 active players.

Bengals Waive Six Players, Down To 75

August 26th, 2014 at 1:44pm CST by Luke Adams

The Bengals have taken six players off their active roster, reducing their player count to 75 in advance of this afternoon’s roster cutdown deadline. Per Paul Dehner Jr. of the Cincinnati Enquirer (Twitter links), here are the six players cut today by the Bengals:

Raiders, Seahawks Trim Rosters To 75 Players

August 26th, 2014 at 1:34pm CST by Luke Adams

The Raiders have officially announced that D.J. Hayden has been placed on the PUP list, which we heard earlier this morning would happen. In addition to that move, the team also announced a series of transactions in a press release, with seven more players removed from the active roster, which now stands at 75 players. Here’s a rundown of the players no longer on Oakland’s active roster:

The Seahawks have also made seven transactions to reduce their roster to 75 players. Here’s a breakdown of Seattle’s moves, via Brian McIntyre (Twitter link):

Bucs Acquire Logan Mankins From Pats

August 26th, 2014 at 1:03pm CST by Luke Adams

1:03pm: The Pats will receive Tampa Bay’s fourth-round pick for 2015 in the deal, according to Adam Schefter of ESPN.com (via Twitter). Meanwhile, the Bucs have officially confirmed the trade in a press release.

12:38pm: The Buccaneers and Patriots have reached an agreement on the parameters of a trade that will send Pro Bowl guard Logan Mankins to Tampa Bay, reports Jay Glazer of FOX Sports (via Twitter). In exchange for Mankins, the Pats will receive a future draft pick and tight end Tim Wright, says Glazer.Logan Mankins

After recently parting ways with another former Pro Bowler, Carl Nicks, the Buccaneers had been on the lookout for an upgrade at guard, where Oniel Cousins and Patrick Omameh were viewed as the team’s probable starters. Inserting Mankins into the starting lineup will immediately upgrade a Buccaneers line that also added Anthony Collins and Evan Dietrich-Smith in free agency this offseason. The move also likely means that the Bucs will no longer be in play for other notable free agents and trade candidates on the market, such as Richie Incognito and Alex Boone.

Additionally, although Wright was a pleasant surprise a year ago for Tampa Bay, the team fortified the tight end spot significantly this offseason, first signing Brandon Myers as a free agent, then selecting Austin Seferian-Jenkins with the 38th overall pick in the draft. So the team still has plenty of depth at the position.

While the move makes sense from the Bucs’ perspective, it’s somewhat surprising that New England would give up Mankins – who has earned spots in five straight Pro Bowls and six overall – less than two weeks before the regular season gets underway. Still, Bill Belichick and the Pats have shown in the past that they’re not afraid to move on from veteran players in the right deal, and at the right time.

We’ll have to wait and see what sort of pick New England lands in the trade, but in Wright, the Pats will add a talented young tight end who hauled in 54 passes for 571 yards and five touchdowns during his rookie season in 2013. With Rob Gronkowski‘s health once again not a certainty, it makes sense that the Pats would be interested in adding another promising pass-catcher at tight end.

With the 32-year-old Mankins no longer in the mix, the Pats figure to turn to a younger player like Marcus Cannon or Josh Kline as their starter at left guard. It’s also possible that the team will peruse the free agent market or the waiver wire for other options.

From a cap perspective, the Bucs will absorb Mankins’ $6.25MM base salary into their available space, while the Pats will carry $4MM in dead money in 2014 and $4MM in 2015, since the guard still had plenty of prorated bonus money left on his contract. As an undrafted free agent, Wright is on a minimum-salary deal with prorated bonus figures of about $3.3K per year, so his contract will hardly have an effect on either team’s books.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Load More Posts