HEADLINES

Month: September 2019

Sunday NFL Transactions: AFC South

September 1st, 2019 at 4:17pm CST by Sam Robinson

Listed below are the Sunday roster moves for the four AFC 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 Colts, Jaguars, Texans and Titans are noted below.

Additionally, teams can begin constructing their 10-man practice squads today. 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 AFC South transactions, which will continue to be updated throughout the day.

Houston Texans

Indianapolis Colts

Jacksonville Jaguars

Tennessee Titans

Colts Host QB David Fales, Debating Options

September 1st, 2019 at 4:16pm CST by Andrew Ortenberg

The Colts are continuing their search for an additional quarterback. The team is bringing in former Bears, Dolphins, and Lions passer David Fales for a visit, according to Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle (Twitter link).

In the wake of Andrew Luck‘s retirement and the waiving of Phillip Walker, the Colts have only Chad Kelly behind Jacoby Brissett. Kelly is suspended for the first two games of the season, meaning right now Brissett is the only available quarterback for Week 1. Speaking to the media today, Colts GM Chris Ballard said the team is still debating a couple of options, per Joel A. Erickson of the Indianapolis Star (Twitter link). Ballard said Indy is still considering whether to sign a more established veteran who will be the team’s backup for all 16 weeks, or just signing a stopgap who will get them to Week 3 when Kelly can take over holding Brissett’s clipboard.

We heard earlier this afternoon that the Colts were interested in Brian Hoyer, and he’d likely be a 16-week option. The same could be said for the other guys they’ve shown interest in who have real regular season experience, like Brock Osweiler, Matt Cassel, and Brandon Weeden. If they’re just going with a two-week stopgap, someone like Fales would make sense. Fales was a sixth-round pick of the Bears back in 2014, and he’s never started a regular season game. His only significant live action came in Week 17 of the 2017 season with the Dolphins. A longtime pet-project of Adam Gase, Fales was cut by the Lions last week.

Vikings To Sign Britton Colquitt, Cut Matt Wile

September 1st, 2019 at 4:15pm CST by Sam Robinson

More Vikings special teams maneuvering. They are signing veteran punter Britton Colquitt and cutting incumbent Matt Wile, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets.

Wile and Dan Bailey survived Minnesota’s initial cuts, despite dual-threat punter Kaare Vedvik‘s arrival, but Wile will lose his roster spot to the more experienced Colquitt. Colquitt had been with the Browns, but he lost out to undrafted rookie Jamie Gillan, aka “The Scottish Hammer.” Minnesota traded a fifth-round pick for Vedvik a couple weeks ago, but ended up cutting him after he struggled in the preseason.

A Michigan product, Wile entered the league as an undrafted free agent back in 2015. Four games split between the Cardinals and Falcons in 2016 had been his only regular season action, until he won the Vikings’ job last year. He punted in all 16 games for Minnesota in 2018, but clearly didn’t make that strong of an impression. Colquitt has plenty of experience, having served as the Broncos’ punter for six years and winning Super Bowl 50 with them. He’s spent each of the past three years with Cleveland.

Dolphins Host WR Eli Rogers

September 1st, 2019 at 4:02pm CST by Andrew Ortenberg

One of the biggest names the Steelers cut as they trimmed their roster down to 53 yesterday was receiver Eli Rogers. Rogers entered the league as an undrafted free agent in 2015, and had been with Pittsburgh ever since.

It looks like the Louisville product might land on his feet pretty quickly, as he already had a visit with the Dolphins earlier today, a source told Ian Rapoport of NFL Network (Twitter link). After spending his entire rookie season on injured reserve, Rogers had a breakout 2016 campaign. He earned Ben Roethlisberger’s trust and ended up starting eight games, catching 48 passes for 594 yards and three touchdowns.

He wasn’t nearly as productive in 2017 although he still had a role, but he tore his ACL in the playoffs that year. He struggled to make his way back from the injury, and ended up appearing in only three games last year. In those three games he caught 12 passes for 79 yards. The Steelers re-signed him to a two-year deal in March, but he was unable to crack Pittsburgh’s deep receiving corp. The Dolphins are entering a full-blown rebuild and just traded away Kenny Stills, so perhaps Rogers will find a new home in Miami.

Raiders To Release DL Josh Mauro

September 1st, 2019 at 3:57pm CST by Sam Robinson

The Raiders’ corresponding roster move for their DeShone Kizer waiver claim will not be a quarterback cut. Instead, Oakland will part ways with defensive lineman Josh Mauro, Vic Tafur of The Athletic tweets.

Both of Derek Carr‘s featured-on-Hard Knocks backups, Mike Glennon and Nathan Peterman, remain on the Raiders’ roster. Mauro joined the Raiders earlier this year as a free agent and may well be back.

The team plans to re-sign the veteran defender, per Greg Auman of The Athletic (on Twitter). Teams often make pre-Week 1 cuts of lower-profile vested veterans for contract guarantee purposes, and moving Mauro off the roster will enable the Raiders to avoid having to expose a non-vested vet to the waiver process.

Mauro spent the 2018 season with the Giants, going to New York after four years with Arizona. Known mostly for his run-stopping acumen, Mauro came into the NFL as a UDFA. He played 270 snaps with the Giants in 2018.

Texans Release OT Matt Kalil

September 1st, 2019 at 3:43pm CST by Andrew Ortenberg

The Texans are cutting a big-name veteran. Houston is releasing offensive tackle Matt Kalil, a source told Field Yates of ESPN.com (Twitter link).

The Texans acquired Laremy Tunsil in a blockbuster trade yesterday, and Kalil was deemed expendable in the wake of it. Just a couple of weeks ago Texans head coach Bill O’Brien said unequivocally that Kalil would be the team’s starting left tackle in 2019, but obviously things have changed since then. Kalil would’ve been a backup with Tunsil now in the fold, and the Texans didn’t want to pay him his large salary to ride the bench.

Former Browns fifth-round pick Roderick Johnson is now set to begin the year as the top backup tackle, and he comes at a much cheaper price. Kalil signed a one-year deal back in March that would’ve been worth $7.5MM had he stayed on the active roster the whole season. He received a $2.25MM signing bonus which the Texans will have to eat, but they’ll save the other $5.25MM by cutting him now.

The fourth overall pick of the 2012 draft, Kalil signed a massive five-year, $55MM contract with the Panthers before the 2017 season. He started all 16 games for Carolina that year, but missed the entire 2018 season with a knee injury. Now on the wrong side of 30 and coming off a major injury, it might be tough for him to find a starting job. That being said, he’ll likely resurface soon with a team in need of tackle help.

Browns To Release Greg Robinson

September 1st, 2019 at 3:42pm CST by Sam Robinson

Projected to be the Browns’ Week 1 left tackle, Greg Robinson is now off Cleveland’s 53-man roster. The Browns are releasing the former No. 2 overall pick, Field Yates of ESPN.com tweets. However, this is not expected to be much more than a procedural move.

The Browns intend to re-sign Robinson, Tom Pelissero of NFL.com adds (via Twitter). This move is almost certainly related to the vested-veteran loophole regarding guaranteed money. Robinson is still expected to be Cleveland’s left tackle starter, per Pelissero. This move will allow the Browns to reshuffle their roster without sending a non-vested veteran to the waiver wire.

Robinson re-signed with Cleveland for one year and $7MM earlier this year. He did not beat out rookie UDFA Desmond Harrison to be the team’s initial post-Joe Thomas left tackle starter but did take over that role midseason. Barring a trade, Robinson will be back with the Browns’ first-string line on Sunday.

Bills To Re-Sign S Kurt Coleman

September 1st, 2019 at 3:35pm CST by Andrew Ortenberg

One Bills cutdown day casualty is about to find himself back with the team. Buffalo is going to re-sign safety Kurt Coleman, according to Joe Buscaglia of The Athletic (Twitter link).

To make room on the roster, the team will place tight end Jason Croom on inured reserve. The Bills signed Coleman back on July 19th in the wake of fellow safety Rafael Bush’s retirement. Coleman was one of the bigger names that got cut by the Bills yesterday, but his release was apparently only for roster maneuvering purposes. As a vested veteran Coleman wasn’t subjected to waivers, so the Bills could easily add him right back.

The deal Coleman originally signed was for one-year and a little over $1MM but could be worth up to $2MM, and it’s unclear if he’ll get those same terms now. Coleman spent a couple years playing under Bills head coach Sean McDermott when both of them were with the Panthers, so there’s familiarity here. He’ll likely serve as the team’s third safety behind Micah Hyde and Jordan Poyer. In his nine-year career, Coleman has made 132 appearances and 83 starts.

Croom signed with the Bills as an undrafted free agent in 2017. He didn’t make any appearances as a rookie, but played a real role last year. In 15 games and three starts, he finished with 22 catches for 259 yards and a touchdown.

Chargers To Place Derwin James On IR

September 1st, 2019 at 2:28pm CST by Sam Robinson

Derwin James underwent foot surgery on Thursday, and the second-year Chargers safety will soon have a clearer timeline. The Chargers will place the All-Pro talent on IR before Week 1, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com reports (on Twitter).

The Bolts made the move to place James on IR Sunday. They are planning to replace him on the roster with defensive back Jaylen Watkins, Daniel Popper of The Athletic tweets.

Los Angeles will carry James through to their 53-man roster, making him eligible for one of its two IR-return slots. Were the Chargers to place James on IR before finalizing their 53-man unit, he would be out for the season. With James on IR after roster cutdown day, the Bolts will have to play at least two months without him.

That lines up with James’ timetable. He is expected to need at least three months to recover from the stress fracture in the fifth metatarsal of his right foot, making an IR stay logical. He will not be eligible to return from IR until Week 9, and if this recovery timeline is accurate, it may be further into the season before the Chargers have their back-line chess piece available again.

While the Chargers will obviously miss their do-it-all defender, they re-signed All-Pro special-teamer/hybrid linebacker Adrian Phillips in March and drafted Nasir Adderley in the second round a month later.

Chargers Will Not Extend Melvin Gordon In 2019

September 1st, 2019 at 2:14pm CST by Andrew Ortenberg

It’s unclear what will happen next with Melvin Gordon, but we now know one thing. The Chargers’ running back won’t be getting the extension he wants from Los Angeles this season.

Chargers GM Tom Telesco announced Sunday the team is postponing extension talks until after the season, according to Gilbert Manzano of the OC Register (Twitter link). The Chargers have been negotiating with Gordon this summer, although obviously they didn’t offer anything Gordon and his representatives were willing to accept. We heard back in July that the two sides were about $2-3MM apart in talks.

Those talks will now be tabled until the end of the season, if they’re ever brought back again at all. “When or if Melvin reports, he’ll play this season under his current contract, and we’ll just revisit it after the season,” Telesco said, via Eric D. Williams of ESPN.com (Twitter link). Telesco is playing hardball, and clearly isn’t going to budge. Just yesterday, word leaked that the Chargers had given the Wisconsin product permission to seek a trade.

That same report also indicated that Gordon hadn’t ruled out returning and playing out the final year of his rookie deal. He’s currently set to make $5.605MM under the fifth-year option. Of course even if Gordon is able to find a team willing to trade for him, they’d have to offer compensation that the Chargers want. He doesn’t have too much leverage at the moment, since if he doesn’t play this season his contract would simply toll to 2020.

Gordon had by far the best year of his career in 2018, and now he’s trying to cash in. The Chargers have remained firm in their stance and haven’t backed down, and appear content to enter the season with Austin Ekeler and second-year player Justin Jackson atop the depth chart. It’ll be interesting to see what Gordon does next, and how much time he’s willing to miss.

Load More Posts