Here are Tuesday’s practice squad decisions:
Arizona Cardinals
Baltimore Ravens
Denver Broncos
New York Giants
Minnesota Vikings
San Francisco 49ers
Here’s the latest from the workout circuit, all links going to veteran NFL reporter Howard Balzer, unless otherwise specified.
Arizona Cardinals
Baltimore Ravens
Buffalo Bills
Carolina Panthers
Green Bay Packers
Houston Texans
Indianapolis Colts
Oakland Raiders
San Francisco 49ers
Today’s practice squad updates:
Arizona Cardinals
Chicago Bears
Detroit Lions
Green Bay Packers
Indianapolis Colts
New York Giants
Oakland Raiders
San Francisco 49ers
Washington Redskins
Today’s minor moves:
Arizona Cardinals
Dallas Cowboys
New York Giants
Oakland Raiders
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
The Cardinals made a host of moves Monday afternoon. Another of Patrick Peterson‘s top sidekicks is now out of the picture, with Arizona making the decision to waive cornerback Bene Benwikere.
Additionally, the Cards are cutting veteran tackle Andre Smith. They also placed Phil Dawson and linebacker Josh Bynes on IR and are elevating kicker Zane Gonzalez from the practice squad. The team announced the moves.
Smith’s inconsistency will end his Arizona tenure, per Steve Wilks (via ESPN.com’s Josh Weinfuss, on Twitter). He started eight games at right tackle for the Cardinals, including Sunday’s 45-10 loss to the Chargers, but has not played to the level he displayed during his earlier Bengals days. The 31-year-old edge blocker will head to the waiver wire, joining the less experienced Benwikere.
The Cards already parted ways with Jamar Taylor, acquired in hopes he could fill the Peterson-sidekick role the team has long had issues with, after Benwikere beat him out for that job. The young journeyman started eight Arizona games this season, intercepting one pass and making 51 tackles. Benwikere’s eight starts represent a career high in his five-season NFL run.
Dawson’s been dealing with a hip injury this season. It forced the 43-year-old kicker to miss a game earlier this month. The Cardinals’ kicker over the past two seasons, the 20-year veteran is a free agent after this season. He’s attempted a career-low eight field goals, making five. This will end Dawson’s least accurate season.
Previously going with rookie Matthew McCrane to fill in for Dawson, the Cardinals will now turn to Gonzalez. The Browns waived Gonzalez after a rough Week 2. The 2017 seventh-round pick has not kicked in a game since.
Despite being retained on a low-level deal, Bynes was playing ahead of both Deone Bucannon and Haason Reddick this season. He made 75 tackles, registered two sacks and returned a fumble for a touchdown in a standout season. Bynes is signed through the 2020 season.
It’s been a rough year for the Cardinals and first year head coach Steve Wilks. The Cardinals have won just two games this season, and both of those wins came against the 49ers. They’ve been blown out on several occasions, and already had to fire offensive coordinator Mike McCoy in the middle of the season. That wasn’t the only drama, as star cornerback Patrick Peterson was also briefly demanding a trade. All the chaos and dysfunction have led many to speculate that Wilks and GM Steve Keim could both be in danger of losing their jobs.
While Wilks is in very real danger of being a one-and-done as head coach, his “job status is more tenuous than Keim’s” is, according to Kent Somers of the Arizona Republic. While he acknowledges Keim could be in some trouble too if the Cardinals continue to rack up losses, Somers thinks Keim will have a longer leash than Wilks because he has a past history of winning. That being said, the Cardinals haven’t been good in a few years now and it’s possible team president Michael Bidwill decides to clean house. Either way, it’s looking unlikely that Wilks is back in the desert for a second season.
The Cardinals made an interesting move today, promoting quarterback Chad Kanoff from the practice squad to the active roster, according to Darren Urban of AZCardinals.com.
To make room for Kanoff on the roster, the team waived wide receiver Jalen Tolliver. It’s a curious decision considering the Cardinals already have Josh Rosen and Mike Glennon firmly established on the roster. Neither Rosen nor Glennon were listed on the injury report this week, so it’s not a health-related matter. It’s possible another team was planning on signing Kanoff off their practice squad and the Cardinals made the move preemptively to block it.
Kanoff, an undrafted free agent rookie from Princeton, went 15 for 36 for 178 yards and one touchdown this preseason. The Cardinals apparently liked him enough to keep him around as the fourth quarterback, behind Rosen, Glennon, and Sam Bradford. The team released Bradford a couple of weeks ago, giving Kanoff an opening. Kanoff broke many Princeton and Ivy League records during his college career, and was a popular sleeper pick among some in the draft community. It’s possible he could develop into Rosen’s backup of the future.
Tolliver, also an undrafted rookie out of tiny Division II school Arkansas-Monticello, had just been promoted from the practice squad earlier this week. It’s likely he winds up back on the practice squad, taking the opening created by Kanoff.
Thanksgiving practice squad updates will be posted below:
Arizona Cardinals
Zane Gonzalez has found a new gig. The Cardinals announced that they’ve signed the free agent kicker to their practice squad.
The 2017 seventh-round pick out of Arizona State hasn’t had the strongest start to his career. He appeared in 16 games as a rookie with the Browns, connecting on 15 of his 20 field goal attempts and 25 of his 26 extra point tries. The 23-year-old struggled in his two games this season, and the Browns released him following a dreadful Week 2 where he missed a pair of field goals and two extra points.
Later reports indicated that the kicker was dealing with a slightly torn groin, and Gonzalez ended up earning a $35K injury settlement from Cleveland. The injury had a recovery timeline of three weeks, so Gonzalez is presumably good to go.
Of course, he’ll have a tough time cracking the Cardinals roster. With Phil Dawson expected to return from injury this week, the team moved on from Matt McCrane yesterday. The 43-year-old Dawson hasn’t done anything to lose his job this season, but Arizona could be eyeing Gonzalez for 2019 should the veteran decided to hang up his cleats.
Today’s minor moves:
Arizona Cardinals
Indianapolis Colts
Tampa Bay Buccaneers