2017 - Pro Football Rumors

Titans To Acquire David King From Chiefs

By Connor J. Byrne | at September 1, 2017 6:56 pm

The Titans are acquiring defensive end David King from the Chiefs, Adam Caplan of ESPN tweets. Kansas City will receive a conditional 2018 seventh-round pick, Tennessee announced.

Tennessee will be the fifth organization for the 27-year-old King, who entered the NFL as a seventh-round pick of the Eagles in 2013. King never saw any regular-season action in Philadelphia or Cincinnati, where he had a stint from 2013-14. He debuted in 2014 as a member of the Seahawks, with whom he appeared in seven games over two seasons. The rest of his on-field experience (three games) came in Kansas City over the previous two years. Thus far, King has picked up four tackles and 1.5 sacks in 10 games.

With his new club, King will join a Titans defensive end contingent that includes DaQuan Jones, Austin Johnson and Angelo Blackson, among others. At best, he’ll serve as depth behind those three.

0 comments Kansas City Chiefs Tennessee Titans Transactions David King

Raiders Had Interest In CB Joe Haden

By Dallas Robinson | at September 1, 2017 6:04 pm

The Raiders expressed interest in cornerback Joe Haden before he signed with the Steelers on Thursday, according to Gerry Dulac of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (Twitter link).

Haden, of course, signed with the Steelers just minutes after being officially released by the Browns, but he managed to generate an extremely fruitful market during his brief period as a free agent. A number of clubs, including the Dolphins, Eagles, Saints, Chiefs, Cowboys, and 49ers were all mentioned as potential suitors for Haden, who ultimately leveraged that interest into a three-year, $27MM deal with Pittsburgh.

Oakland ranked just 25th in DVOA against the pass a season ago, and the team is already experiencing turnover at its cornerback position. Sean Smith, who inked a hefty free agent contract in 2016, has been demoted from the Raiders’ starting lineup, meaning T.J. Carrie is now playing opposite David Amerson. First-round rookie Gareon Conley is available, as well, but he was only activated off the PUP list on Tuesday.

3 comments Las Vegas Raiders Joe Haden

Bears Shopping LBs Sam Acho, Dan Skuta

By Dallas Robinson | at September 1, 2017 5:52 pm

The Bears have made linebackers Sam Acho and Dan Skuta available for trade, according to Brad Biggs of the Chicago Tribune (Twitter link).

Chicago has a slight surplus at outside linebacker, as Leonard Floyd and Willie Young are the club’s projected starters while veteran Pernell McPhee recovers from a knee injury. Lamarr Houston is also around, and given his and McPhee’s lengthy injury history, it’s surprising the Bears don’t want to keep Acho and/or Skuta as insurance.

It’s not as if the Bears can hope to reap much in the way of draft compensation for either player — both Acho and Houston were freely available on the open market earlier this year, and both landed only minimum salary benefit contracts with Chicago. Both will be at least 29 years old by next, and neither has been a full-time starter in some time.

Given that the Bears are shopping Acho and Skuta, both figure to be in severe danger of being released by Saturday if Chicago can’t drum up a trade market.

0 comments Chicago Bears Dan Skuta Sam Acho

Vikings To Acquire Tramaine Brock

By Connor J. Byrne | at September 1, 2017 5:48 pm

The Vikings are set to acquire cornerback Tramaine Brock from the Seahawks, according to Mike Garafolo of NFL.com. Minnesota will send a seventh-round pick to Seattle, tweets Ian Rapoport of NFL.com, and it’ll be a conditional selection in 2018, per Shawn Zobel of Zobel Sports Consulting (Twitter link via Adam Schefter of ESPN) and Chris Tomasson of the Pioneer Press.

This continues an action-packed 2017 for Brock, who will join his third team of the year when the trade goes through. The 49ers released Brock in April on the heels of a domestic violence arrest, one that led to a felony charge, but the case was dismissed Aug. 9. As many as 12 teams – including the Vikings – then courted Brock, who joined the Seahawks on a $980K deal on Aug. 16. Seattle acquired fellow cornerback Justin Coleman from the Patriots on Friday, helping to make Brock expendable in the team’s eyes.

While Brock’s off-field incident damaged his stock, he has been a superb on-field performer at times during his seven-year career. As such, this looks like a worthwhile move for the Vikings, who were in need of a quality complement to No. 1 corner Xavier Rhodes. Brock will serve as one if he continues to post production along the lines of his recent output. The 29-year-old started in all 31 appearances from 2015-16, including each of the the 49ers’ 16 games last season, and has combined for nine interceptions since 2013. He picked off one pass in 2016, finished second among 49ers defenders in snaps (1,102) and graded a respectable 21st in performance among Pro Football Focus’ 110 qualified corners (Rhodes was 29th).

2 comments Minnesota Vikings Newsstand Seattle Seahawks Transactions Tramaine Brock

Lions Release RB Matt Asiata

By Dallas Robinson | at September 1, 2017 5:39 pm

The Lions have released veteran running back Matt Asiata, the club announced today.

Detroit signed Asiata away from the division rival Vikings in May, inking the 30-year-old to a minimum benefit contract. Always something of a plodder (3.5 yards per carry average for his career), Asiata had a chance to serve as the Lions’ power back if he performed well during the summer. However, Detroit will instead roll with Theo Riddick, Zach Zenner, and Dwayne Washington behind starter Ameer Abdullah.

The Lions also announced the following transactions:

Waived:

G Connor Bozick
DE Giorgio Newberry

Waived/injured:

WR Dez Stewart
CB Tramain Jacobs

0 comments Detroit Lions Transactions Connor Bozick Dez Stewart Giorgio Newberry Matt Asiata Tramain Jacobs

Panthers’ Roster Down To 77

By Connor J. Byrne | at September 1, 2017 5:34 pm

The Panthers made a series of moves on Friday to bring their roster to 77 players, still 24 above the 53-man limit (courtesy of Bryan Strickland of the team’s website):

Waived: