Lions Sign UDFA TE Hunter Bryant
Hunter Bryant was one of the biggest surprise undrafted players, but he’s got a home now. The tight end has signed a free agent contract with the Lions, a source told Tom Pelissero of NFL Network (Twitter link).
Bryant got $60K in guaranteed cash from Detroit which includes a $20K signing bonus, Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle tweets. Bryant was seen as one of the better tight ends in the class by many, and was universally expected to get drafted. He went toward the top of the fourth-round in Matt Miller of Bleacher Report’s final mock draft.
Apparently medical concerns caused Bryant to slip, and given his knee-injury history that’s not too surprising. He was limited to nine games as a freshman and only five as a sophomore. In his junior season in 2019 he exploded and racked up 825 yards, the third-most of any tight end in the country.
Detroit currently has 2019 first-round pick T.J. Hockenson and veteran Jesse James at the position, but Bryant should have a good chance at becoming the team’s third tight end.
Seahawks Release D.J. Fluker
The Seahawks are making a big change on their offensive line. Seattle released guard D.J. Fluker Sunday, the lineman announced himself on Twitter.
Fluker has been with the Seahawks the past two years, starting all 14 games that he appeared in last season. Fluker had been set to enter the final season of the two-year, $6MM pact he signed with the Seahawks last offseason. As Brady Henderson of ESPN.com pointed out in a tweet, the Seahawks’ recent drafting of guard Damien Lewis out of LSU in the third-round might’ve been the nail in the coffin for Fluker.
Fluker entered the league as the 11th overall pick of the Chargers back in 2013. He started at least 12 games in all four years with San Diego, but never quite lived up to his draft status. A tackle in college and his first couple of pro seasons, Fluker moved to guard in 2015 and has stayed there ever since.
After a pit stop with the Giants in 2017, he landed in Seattle. The Seahawks have Mike Iupati at left guard, and Lewis can now be considered the likely favorite to start on the right side if everything goes according to plan. Still only 29, Fluker should resurface somewhere before too long.
Patriots Sign Brian Lewerke
The Patriots surprisingly opted not to draft a quarterback this weekend, but they’ve now signed a pair of passers who went undrafted. New England has inked former Michigan State quarterback Brian Lewerke to a free agent deal, his agent Mike McCartney tweeted.
The Patriots agreed to terms with former Louisiana Tech signal-caller J’Mar Smith last night. Lewerke had a bumpy career in the Big Ten, to say the least. He showed flashes of brilliance as a sophomore and was buzzed about as a potential future early draft pick, leading to a lot of excitement heading into 2018. A shoulder injury derailed that campaign, and his stats were awful when he was on the field as he threw 11 interceptions and only eight touchdowns while completing just 54.3 percent of his passes.
He bounced back a bit this past season but still wasn’t great, finishing with 17 touchdowns and 13 interceptions. He finished with a career 57.7 percent completion percentage, and never had a year above 59.6. He’s pretty mobile however, as he finished last year with 363 rushing yards and another three scores.
Another thing working in Lewerke’s favor is that he at least had the largest hands of any quarterback at the combine, clocking in at 10 5/8 inches. The Pats have very little certainty at the position, with Jarrett Stidham, Brian Hoyer, Smith, and now Lewerke on the roster. If they don’t add an established veteran like Andy Dalton or Cam Newton soon, it’s going to be a free for all whenever training camp gets underway.
Chiefs Sign 18 UDFAs
The Chiefs became the latest team to announce their undrafted free agent class:
- Andre Baccellia, WR (Washington)
- Maurice Ffrench, WR (Pittsburgh)
- Aleva Hifo, WR (BYU)
- Kalija Lipscomb, WR (Vanderbilt)
- Justice Shelton‐Mosley, WR (Vanderbilt)
- Cody White, WR (Michigan State)
- Yasir Durant, T (Missouri)
- Jovahn Fair, G (Temple)
- Darryl Williams, C (Miss St.)
- Tershawn Wharton, DT (Missouri S&T)
- Omari Cobb, LB (Marshall)
- Bryan Wright, LB (Cincinnati)
- Rodney Clemons, S (SMU)
- Jalen Julius, S (Ole Miss)
- Hakeem Bailey, CB (West Virginia)
- Javaris Davis, CB (Auburn)
- Lavert Hill, CB (Michigan)
- Tommy Townsend, P (Florida)
The Chiefs had to spend relatively big to get a couple of these guys. Lipscomb got $110K guaranteed and a $10K signing bonus, while Williams got $107K guaranteed and a $7K signing bonus (Twitter links via Tom Pelissero of NFL Network). This was regarded as an epic receiver class with plenty of draftable players going un-selected due to the surplus, so it’s not surprising guys like Lipscomb are landing big bonuses.
As a junior at Vandy he had 916 yards and nine touchdowns, although he took a step back last season. Williams was a three-year starter at MSU who can play guard and center.
All told, the Chiefs inked a whopping six undrafted receivers. White declared early after racking up 922 yards and six touchdowns as a senior at Michigan State. Davis was widely expected to get drafted, with NFL.com’s Lance Zierlein projecting him as a fifth-rounder and Bleacher Report’s Matt Miller having him go at the top of the sixth, so he’s a nice get as well.
Rams Sign 20 UDFAs
The Rams announced their undrafted free agent class Saturday night, and it’s a big one.
- DL Eric Banks (UT San Antonio)
- OL Cohl Cabral (Arizona State)
- WR Earnest Edwards (Maine)
- RB James Gilbert (Kansas State)
- DL Mike Hoecht (Brown)
- DB JuJu Hughes (Fresno State)
- WR Trishton Jackson (Syracuse)
- RB Xavier Jones (SMU)
- WR JJ Koski (Cal Poly)
- CB Dayan Lake (BYU)
- QB Josh Love (San Jose State)
- CB Tyrique McGhee (Georgia)
- QB Bryce Perkins (Virginia)
- WR Brandon Polk (James Madison)
- LB Greg Reaves (South Florida)
- DL Sam Renner (Minnesota)
- LB Christian Rozeboom (South Dakota)
- CB Levonta Taylor (Florida State)
- DL Jonah Williams (Weber State)
- WR Easop Winston (Washington State)
The biggest name on the list is Perkins the former Virginia quarterback, and we wrote about his signing in more detail here. The Rams previously only had John Wolford on the roster behind Jared Goff, so it makes sense they signed Perkins as well as Love the former San Jose State passer.
Los Angeles signed five receivers, with three of them coming from the FCS level. After previously having a career-high of 143 yards Jackson exploded out of nowhere to put up 1,023 yards and 11 touchdowns with Syracuse last year. NFL.com’s Lance Zierlein had him pegged as a fifth-rounder and most analysts had him getting drafted, so this could be a nice pickup for Sean McVay.
Steelers Sign 10 UDFAs
The same night the draft ended, the Steelers officially announced their initial 10-man undrafted free agent class:
- FB Spencer Nigh (Auburn)
- OG Christian Montano (Tulane)
- DB Trajan Bandy (Miami (Fla.))
- DB James Pierre (Florida Atlantic)
- LB James Lockhart (Baylor)
- LB Leo Lewis (Mississippi State)
- LB John Houston (Southern California)
- DE Josiah Coatney (Mississippi)
- DE Calvin Taylor (Kentucky)
- P Corliss Waitman (South Alabama/Mississippi State)
Pittsburgh went very heavy on defense. None of these guys are huge name, although a few are notable. Lewis was a four-year starter in the SEC which is always impressive, and Houston was a team captain at USC.
Rams Were In On Trent Williams; Latest On Williams’ Contract
Earlier today the Trent Williams saga finally came to an end, when the Redskins traded the left tackle to the 49ers. Right at the end we heard the Rams could emerge as a suitor, and apparently Los Angeles did in fact kick the tires.
The Rams, who currently have 38-year-old Andrew Whitworth at left tackle and Rob Havenstein at right tackle, were in the race, and head coach Sean McVay “dabbled” with reuniting with Williams as a guard, Mike Garafolo of NFL Network tweets. McVay previously coached Williams when he was Washington’s offensive coordinator. McVay didn’t sound too happy about losing out to his division rival, saying, “thanks for reminding me. I need to go drink a couple of more beers,” when asked about the deal, via Andrew Siciliano of NFL Network (Twitter link).
A proposed trade to the Vikings apparently would’ve come with an extension, but Williams torpedoed that deal earlier this morning. Now, it doesn’t sound like he’s getting an extension anytime soon. 49ers GM John Lynch said the team will let 2020 play out “and see what happens after the season,” per Matt Maiocco of NBC Sports (Twitter link). Indeed, head coach Kyle Shanahan said that Williams himself made it clear that he wanted to wait on an extension and to earn a new, lucrative pact.
“Trent has been out of football for a year and a half, and Trent made it clear to everyone he wants to come back and didn’t want to do a deal right away,” Shanahan said (via Nick Wagoner of ESPN.com). “He wanted to play and try to get back into it and see where he was at with the rest of the league and pick up where he left off.”
Of course, that’s quite a contrast from earlier reports suggesting that Williams not only wanted out of Washington, he also wanted a brand new contract that puts him at the top of the LT market. But perhaps the opportunity to leave the Redskins and to get a fresh start with the defending NFC champs mitigated his financial demands for the time being.
Williams sat out all of last season due to his dispute with the Redskins, but before that he was one of the league’s best tackles. He’ll slide in as an excellent replacement for Joe Staley, who elected to hang up his cleats earlier today.
Rams Sign Virginia QB Bryce Perkins As UDFA
We’ll be bringing you most of the undrafted free agent signings in batches when they’re officially announced, but for now we’re covering a few of the biggest names. Another one familiar to college football fans is Virginia quarterback Bryce Perkins, who just agreed to sign with the Rams, via Tom Pelissero of NFL Network (Twitter link).
Perkins started his college career at Arizona State in 2015, before transferring to Virginia. He started for the Cavaliers the past two seasons, and was electric at times. As a junior in 2018 he passed for 2,680 yards, 25 touchdowns and nine interceptions. An elite dual-threat, he added another 923 yards and nine touchdowns rushing.
After that campaign he was the subject of a lot of offseason hype, and there was even some darkhorse Heisman buzz going around. He wasn’t able to fully deliver on that hype unfortunately, and was less efficient in 2019. Still his mobility is well-suited for today’s NFL, and the Rams have virtually nothing at quarterback behind Jared Goff.
Los Angeles hasn’t yet re-signed Blake Bortles, Goff’s 2019 backup, and the only other passer on the roster is 2018 UDFA John Wolford. If the Rams don’t add a veteran, Perkins should have a good chance at the backup job.
Patriots Sign Louisiana Tech QB J’Mar Smith
The Patriots finally added a quarterback. After surprisingly opting not to pick a passer during the draft, New England has signed former Louisiana Tech quarterback J’Mar Smith as an undrafted free agent, per Tom Pelissero of NFL Network (Twitter link).
It was widely reported that the Patriots would be drafting a quarterback at some point, but that never materialized. It’s still unclear what exactly Bill Belichick is planning on doing to replace Tom Brady, and Smith certainly isn’t going to be the solution. As a redshirt senior and three-year starter at Louisiana Tech, he’ll at least bring plenty of experience. Smith had his best statistical campaign this past season, when he passed for 2,977 yards with 18 touchdowns and five interceptions.
A pretty mobile quarterback, he added 264 yards and another four scores on the ground. Smith is now only the third signal-caller on the Pats’ offseason roster behind Jarrett Stidham and Brian Hoyer. If they don’t add another veteran, he should have a decent chance of making the team or practice squad. The real question now is whether Belichick will go after a high-profile free agent vet like Cam Newton, trade for one like Andy Dalton, or stick with the in-house options.
Redskins Sign Thaddeus Moss As UDFA
One of the biggest-name players to go undrafted is off the market. The Redskins have signed former LSU tight end Thaddeus Moss, according to Adam Schefter of ESPN.com (Twitter link).
Moss, of course, is the son of Hall of Famer Randy Moss. The younger Moss declared early for the draft back in January, and for a while it looked like he had a chance to be a middle-round pick. He apparently was dealing with an unfortunate medical situation, as Tom Pelissero of NFL Network tweets that a Jones fracture in his right foot was discovered at the combine.
That fracture required surgery, and since Moss wasn’t able to visit with teams due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, there were lingering questions about his health that caused him to fall out of the draft. Assuming everything is alright with his foot, this could prove to be a nice no-risk flyer for the Redskins.
Moss has some physical tools and showed plenty of flashes in his one year with LSU, catching 47 passes for 570 yards and four touchdowns. Washington hasn’t had anything consistent at the position since Jordan Reed was last healthy years ago, and their tight end depth chart is pretty thin. Jeremy Sprinkle, Logan Thomas, and Richard Rodgers aren’t the most inspiring options, so Moss should have the chance to compete for playing time right away if he makes the team.