49ers Cut Joshua Garnett, Reach Max
The 49ers got down to the 53-man roster maximum by releasing 24 players in total on Saturday, including former first-round pick Joshua Garnett.
The Niners used the No. 28 pick to select Garnett in 2016, but they never saw much from him at the pro level. The Stanford product started in eleven of his 15 games as a rookie, but even then, his performance was underwhelming – Garnett racked up penalties and didn’t excel in run blocking or pass blocking. Garnett then missed all of 2017 after undergoing knee surgery and only saw action as a reserve in seven games last year. At a rate of $10.35MM, it made little sense to keep Garnett for 2020, especially since the option would have been guaranteed for injury.
This year, Garnett is said to be healthy, but that ensured little in terms of performance, so he’s out. The Niners will save $1.7MM against $1.2MM in dead money.
Jordan Matthews was said to have had a strong camp, but the 27-year-old wide receiver wasn’t able to stick in SF. He inked a one-year, $1.8MM deal with the Niners in March, but he’ll exit with just his $300K signing bonus in hand.
Aside from Garnett and Matthews, here’s the rest of the Niners’ cuts:
Released
DB Antone Exum Jr.
DL Kevin Givens
TE Daniel Helm
WR Malik Henry
LB Elijah Lee
LB David Mayo
OL Najee Toran
RB Jeff Wilson Jr.
Waived/Injured
OL Andrew Lauderdale
Raiders Get Down To 53 Players
The Raiders have made their slew of cuts. They placed defensive tackle Justin Ellis on injured reserve, meaning he’ll miss the entire season. After starting 14 games in 2017, Oakland signed Ellis to a three-year, $15MM extension. Injuries limited him to just six games last season, so he’ll have barely played through the first two years of that extension.
Former Rams defensive lineman Ethan Westbrooks also got the boot. He started nine games for Los Angeles in 2017 and racked up four sacks. Last year he had a smaller role, although he did appear in all 16 games for the Rams. ‘Hard Knocks’ star Keelan Doss unfortunately failed to make the roster. He’s an undrafted rookie receiver from UC Davis. Additionally Keith Smith, who served as the team’s fullback last season, was released.
Waived:
WR Marcell Ateman
DE Quinton Bell
RB James Butler
LB Jason Cabinda
LB Te’von Coney
G Lester Cotton Sr.
WR Keelan Doss
LB Koa Farmer
WR Rico Gafford
WR Keon Hatcher
G/T Denver Kirkland
CB Dylan Mabin
T Justin Murray
CB Nick Nelson
WR De’Mornay Pierson-El
T Tyler Roemer
DT Anthony Rush
Released:
FB Keith Smith
DE Ethan Westbrooks
LB Kyle Wilber
Waived/injured:
TE Paul Butler
Placed on season-ending injured reserve:
DT Justin Ellis
Cardinals Reach 53-Man Max
Arizona has officially announced their cuts. Notably, the Cardinals trimmed their roster all the way down to 51 players, which they said was in preparation for waiver claims on Sunday. Arizona has first priority in the waiver order, so they’ll almost certainly be claiming some players.
The biggest name on this list is probably tight end Ricky Seals-Jones. He showed a lot of promise as an undrafted rookie in 2017, and was a favorite of Bruce Arians. He fell out of favor when Arians retired, and the new staff didn’t take as kindly to him. Seals-Jones has flashed serious potential, so he should land on his feet soon. Pharoh Cooper was a 2017 All-Pro selection for his return prowess, and the Cardinals claimed him off waivers from the Rams late last season. Three other teams also put in claims for Cooper at the time, so maybe one of them will scoop him up now. Receiver Chad Williams was the team’s third-round pick in 2017, but he barely got on the field during his two seasons in the desert.
QB Charles Kanoff
RB Wes Hills (injury settlement)
OL Rees Odhiambo (waived/injured)
OL Coleman Shelton
OL William Sweet (waived/injured)
OL Patrick Lawrence
OL Jacob Ohnesorge
S Jonathan Owens
S Tyler Sigler
Seahawks Get Down To 53 Players
The Seahawks have made their roster cuts. Perhaps most notably, they cut quarterback Geno Smith. Since they already waived Paxton Lynch last night and also waived J.T. Barrett, they currently have no passers on the roster behind Russell Wilson. It’s possible the team is just maneuvering the roster and planning on re-signing Smith. If not, they’ll be adding a veteran in the coming days.
The Seahawks had a crowded running backs room, and J.D. McKissic and Bo Scarbrough ended up as the odd-men out. A lot of people were expecting Jaron Brown to start the year as the team’s number two receiver while D.K. Metcalf recovers from his knee injury, but he didn’t even end up making the initial 53. Brown was set to make $2.75MM, so maybe he’ll be brought back after the regular season starts when his contract won’t be guaranteed.
Released:
FB Nick Bellore
WR Jaron Brown
DT Jamie Meder
QB Geno Smith
CB Jamar Taylor
Waived:
QB J.T. Barrett
WR Kahlil Lewis
TE Wes Saxton
RB Bo Scarbrough
DE Logan Tago
CB Simeon Thomas
RB Xavier Turner
WR Terry Wright
LB Juwon Young
Waived/injured:
PUP:
Injured reserve:
Lions Trim Roster To 53
The Lions are the latest team to officially trim their roster all the way down to 53. After stockpiling quarterbacks, they’ve now cut two of them. Former AAF passer Luis Perez and Tom Savage were both let go. That means that legendary journeyman Josh Johnson has made the team as Matthew Stafford‘s backup, and recently acquired rookie David Blough has made the squad as the third-stringer. Detroit also waived Isaac Nauta, a rookiie tight end out of Georgia who they drafted in the seventh-round.
DT John Atkins
LB Malik Carney
DT P.J. Johnson
DT Fredrick Jones
WR Tom Kennedy
C Leo Koloamatangi
LB Steven Longa
TE Isaac Nauta
QB Luis Perez
LB Anthony Pittman
QB Tom Savage
DT Ray Smith
WAIVED/INJURED:
WR Andy Jones
Four Teams Interested In LeSean McCoy
The Chiefs are going to face some competition if they plan on pursuing LeSean McCoy. McCoy was cut by the Bills earlier this morning, and we heard soon after that Kansas City had some interest.
The Chargers, Eagles, and Patriots are also showing strong early interest in McCoy, sources told Ian Rapoport of NFL Network (Twitter link). As Rapoport points out, the Chargers are interested because of the ongoing Melvin Gordon holdout. Just a few hours ago, it was reported that the Chargers had given Gordon permission to seek a trade. As of right now, Los Angeles is slated to roll with youngsters Austin Ekeler and Justin Jackson if Gordon doesn’t report for the regular season.
The Eagles traded for Jordan Howard earlier this offseason and drafted Miles Sanders in the second-round back in April, but they apparently aren’t satisfied completely with their running back group. The position was a weakness all of last year for them, so it makes sense why they’d want to bolster it as much as possible. McCoy, of course, started his career with the Eagles and spent his first six years in Philly, so there’s some familiarity there.
The Patriots have Sony Michel topping the depth chart, James White as their pass-catching specialist, and they also drafted Damien Harris in the third-round. All of these suitors are projected playoff teams, so it looks like McCoy will have his pick of contenders when he chooses where to play in 2019.
A.J. Green Not Going On Injured Reserve
Some moderately good news for Bengals fans. Star receiver A.J. Green will not start the season on injured reserve, per Geoff Hobson of the team’s official site (Twitter link).
New Cincinnati head coach Zac Taylor apparently said he “feels like he’ll be back before eight weeks.” While it’s good to know Green isn’t going on IR, that doesn’t exactly sound like a ringing endorsement of his health. Last we heard a month ago, the feeling was that he would miss a few regular season games with his ankle injury. If he had started the year on injured reserve, he would’ve had to have missed at least the first eight.
Green is important enough to the Bengals’ offense that it’s obviously worth it to save his roster spot for a few weeks rather than making him miss two months. Green is still one of the league’s better receivers when healthy, but he’s 31 now and dealing with a significant injury for the second straight season. In 2018, foot issues limited the Georgia product to just nine games. The Bengals will be leaning heavily on Tyler Boyd, who they extended this offseason, in his absence.
Buccaneers Reach 53-Man Max
The Bucs are in the books with their 53-man roster. To get there, they’ve (naturally) dropped a boatload of players.
Among those released is running back Andre Ellington, who was out of football in 2018 but was thought to have a good shot at the roster thanks to his history with Bruce Arians in Arizona. UDFA tailback Bruce Anderson is also out, despite his pass-catching prowess.
Kicker Cairo Santos has also been shown the door after re-signing with the team in March. With that, Matt Gay has won the job.
The rest of the breakdown is below.
WAIVED:
· S John Battle
· DL Terry Beckner
· T Cole Boozer
· S Kentrell Brice
· WR Emanuel Hall
· S Isaiah Johnson
· TE Jordan Leggett
· OLB Noah Spence
· C Nate Trewyn
· CB Mazzi Wilkins
WAIVED/INJURED:
· DL Jeremiah Ledbetter
WAIVED/NON-FOOTBALL INJURY:
· QB Nick Fitzgerald
RELEASED:
· K Cairo Santos
Packers Reach 53-Man Max
The Packers have released the following players to reach the 53-man limit:
G Dejon Allen
TE Evan Baylis
FB Tommy Bohanon
RB Tra Carson
G Anthony Coyle
T Gerhard de Beer
CB Kabion Ento
K Sam Ficken
LB James Folston
RB Keith Ford
S Natrell Jamerson
LB Markus Jones
CB Jocquez Kalili
WR Allen Lazard
DL James Looney
S Tray Matthews
TE Pharoah McKever
WR J’Mon Moore
T Yosh Nijman
G/T Adam Pankey
CB Jackson Porter
LB Randy Ramsey
WR Teo Redding
CB Nydair Rouse
DL Olive Sagapolu
LB Brady Sheldon
DL Deon Simon
WR Malik Taylor
QB Manny Wilkins
The Packers’ previously announced release of DeShone Kizer leaves the club with just two quarterbacks – Aaron Rodgers and Tim Boyle – on the roster. Meanwhile, they’ll carry six wide receivers on the initial 53: Davante Adams, Marquez Valdes-Scantling, Geronimo Allison, Trevor Davis, Jake Kumerow, and Darrius Shepherd.
Equanimeous St. Brown, meanwhile, is not on that WR list. He was initially thought to have suffered a mild ankle sprain, but now, he’ll be out for the season.
Vikings Announce Cuts To Make 53
The Vikings have trimmed their roster down to 53 players. Notably, the team waived kicker/punter Kaare Vedvik, who they just traded a fifth-round pick for a few weeks ago. They also sent packing quarterback Kyle Sloter, who has starred in the preseason the past couple of years and earned a lot of fans. Finally, the team cut their losses with first-round bust Laquon Treadwell. Minnesota drafted the former Ole Miss receiver 23rd overall back in 2016, and he never topped 200 yards with the team.
Here’s the full list of moves:
Waived:
DE Ade Aruna (Injured)
WR Jeff Badet
LB Reshard Cliett
WR Davion Davis
RB De’Angelo Henderson
CB Craig James
DE Stacy Keely
C John Keenoy
CB Nate Meadors
DE Karter Schult
QB Kyle Sloter
CB Duke Thomas
P/K Kaare Vedvik
S Isaiah Wharton (Injured)
Placed on Reserve/PUP:
TE David Morgan
Placed on Reserve/NFI: