Texans Sign DE Kerry Hyder
Another former DeMeco Ryans 49ers charge is heading to Houston. The Texans picked up Kerry Hyder, whom the 49ers dropped last week, on Tuesday.
Hyder, who will join the Texans on a practice squad deal, played for the 49ers during the second of Ryans’ two seasons as their defensive coordinator. The well-traveled defensive end was also with San Francisco in 2020, when Ryans was in place as a position coach. He will follow Jimmie Ward and Hassan Ridgeway in signing with Houston. The Texans also released tackle Geron Christian and wide receiver Lance McCutcheon from their P-squad.
The 49ers released Hyder on roster-cutdown day in August but did so with the understanding he would be brought back soon after. The team followed through on that pledge, re-signing Hyder after making other moves to free up roster spots. But San Francisco’s decision to acquire Randy Gregory from Denver differentiated the latest Hyder cut. A spot did not appear to be available for the former UDFA any longer, but with two former 49ers DCs now in leadership roles elsewhere, Hyder had some important references on which to rely.
While Hyder also played for Robert Saleh during the current Jets head coach’s final season as the 49ers’ DC, the Texans have been busy adding former 49ers. Ward signed a two-year deal this offseason, while Ridgeway followed Ryans on a one-year agreement. It is unclear if the 49ers offered Hyder, 32, a spot on their practice squad.
During a 2020 season in which the 49ers lost Nick Bosa and Solomon Thomas in Week 2, Hyder helped out Saleh’s unit with 8.5 sacks. The ninth-year veteran has two eight-plus-sack seasons on his resume, notching eight with the Lions in 2016. This will mark Hyder’s first trip to the AFC. In addition to four Lions seasons, the Texas Tech alum has also spent a season apiece with the Cowboys (2019) and Seahawks (2021). Seattle bailed on Hyder’s two-year, $6.8MM contract after one season, but the 49ers offered him his old job back. Working as a rotational rusher for Ryans’ No. 1-ranked 49ers defense last season, Hyder played 36% of the team’s defensive snaps. Although Hyder’s 2022 stat line was light on production (one sack), he batted down a career-high three passes.
The 49ers have bid adieu to several veteran DEs this year, letting Charles Omenihu, Arden Key and Jordan Willis walk in free agency. While the team re-signed Hyder to a league-minimum deal in April, Gregory now takes his roster spot. Bosa, Gregory, Drake Jackson and Clelin Ferrell are in place as the 49ers’ D-ends.
Rams Shopping WR Van Jefferson
A key auxiliary target for Matthew Stafford during the Rams’ Super Bowl LVI-winning season, Van Jefferson has seen younger wideouts vault past him in the current team’s aerial pecking order. The second-generation NFL wide receiver may not be in Los Angeles much longer.
The Rams are shopping the contract-year wideout, ESPN.com’s Jeremy Fowler notes. A former second-round pick, Jefferson is now behind Puka Nacua and Tutu Atwell. With Cooper Kupp back, the Rams have a fairly established top three at the position. Nacua and Atwell becoming promising Kupp sidekicks is a welcome development for the Rams, who saw both Kupp and Jefferson battle injuries last season.
Jefferson sustained a knee injury early during the Rams’ 2022 training camp, undergoing surgery to repair the issue. The Rams had held out hope the operation would allow Jefferson to return at some point last September, but the team delayed the Florida alum’s return by placing him on IR after multiple weeks went by. Although Jefferson came back and played in 11 games during his third season, he only caught 24 passes for 369 yards. While one of those was a touchdown to complete a stunning Baker Mayfield-piloted 98-yard drive to cap a comeback over the Raiders, Jefferson’s stock has dipped since he served as the team’s No. 3 option behind Kupp and Odell Beckham Jr. two seasons ago.
After teetering on bust status, Atwell has belatedly emerged in the Rams’ WR3 role. The undersized pass catcher — a 2021 second-round pick — has caught 24 passes for 279 yards. Kupp’s injury did not end up accelerating a Jefferson contract-year breakthrough; the former No. 50 overall selection has eight receptions for 108 yards and no touchdowns. This comes as Nacua continued his historic start in Week 5. Despite Kupp’s return, Nacua’s first-month surge persisted; the fifth-round rookie now has an NFL-high 46 catches for 572 yards.
The Bears were able to send the underperforming Chase Claypool to the Dolphins, but the 2020 second-rounder only brought a pick-swap trade with the Dolphins. Although Jefferson caught six touchdown passes during his promising second season — a 50-catch, 802-yard year in which he helped the Rams cover for Robert Woods‘ ACL tear — his performance since will likely not inspire a team to give up more than a late-round pick.
Sean McVay’s team has some recent history dealing wideouts as well. Since April 2020, they have dealt three starters at the position, revamping Kupp’s supporting cast. The third team to trade Brandin Cooks, the Rams collected a second-rounder in a deal in which they sent the Texans Cooks and a fourth. The other two Rams receiver trades are probably more relevant here. The team sent Woods to the Titans for a 2024 seventh-round pick and paid part of Allen Robinson‘s salary to move up 17 spots in this year’s seventh round. Jefferson can probably fetch L.A. a bit more than the Woods and Robinson swaps did, as he is on a $1.37MM base salary to close out a rookie contract.
Commanders Place S Darrick Forrest, S Jeremy Reaves On IR
OCTOBER 10: While Forrest may be able to return later this year, the same does not appear to be the case for Reaves. The latter suffered a partially torn ACL, Mike Garafolo of NFL Network reports. He is likely out for the season as a result, though Reaves is seeking further opinions before making a decision with respect to his recovery plan. Going the rest of the campaign without the 27-year-old will deal a notable blow to Washington’s special teams.
The Commanders have confirmed the IR moves for Forrest and Reaves while also announcing other roster tweaks. In addition to Burgess, linebacker De’Jon Harris has been signed from the practice squad to the active roster. The former UDFA made five appearances in each of the past two seasons in the nation’s capital, playing primarily on special teams. To fill the vacancy on the taxi squad, veteran safety Sean Chandler has been signed. The 27-year-old played all 17 games with the Panthers last season but he was suspended for two games in 2023 due to a substance-abuse policy violation.
OCTOBER 9: Days after a rough performance against the previously winless Bears, the Commanders received bad news on one of their starting safeties. Darrick Forrest is believed to have suffered a shoulder fracture, according to the Washington Post’s Nicki Jhabvala.
A second-year starter in Washington, Forrest broke into the lineup on a full-time basis down the stretch last season. The Commanders have used Forrest as a first-stringer throughout his third NFL season; the former fifth-round pick played 95% of the team’s defensive snaps against the Bears before going down late with the injury. The Commanders hope Forrest will be able to come back after his four-week absence, Jhabvala adds.
The Commanders released Bobby McCain in March, ending a two-season partnership. Forrest, who commandeered the Commanders’ back-line job alongside Kamren Curl in Week 10 of last season, is signed through the 2024 season. The Commanders are planning to use second-year cog Percy Butler and second-round rookie Jartavius Martin at Forrest’s spot, Ron Rivera said.
Butler has seen more time than Martin this season. The latter sustained a concussion in Week 1 and has not logged any defensive snaps thus far in his second NFL slate. A hybrid player, Martin was the Commanders’ second DB choice to start the draft, being ticketed for Washington a round after the team chose Emmanuel Forbes. Butler has seen steady work in Year 2, playing 154 defensive snaps already. Through five games, Pro Football Focus ranks Forrest 59th and Butler 69th, respectively, among safeties.
Additionally, the Commanders will place backup safety Jeremy Reaves on IR; the sixth-year veteran suffered a knee injury against the Bears. Reaves has operated strictly on special teams this season but has been a spot starter in the past. Last season, Reaves earned first-team All-Pro acclaim for his special teams work, dealing Washington a blow in that department.
To help out at the position, the Commanders made multiple moves Monday. They are promoting safety Terrell Burgess to the active roster and adding Joshua Kalu to the practice squad. A former Rams third-round pick, Burgess split time with the Rams and Giants last season. Burgess was in camp with the Commanders but landed on the team’s practice squad after a late-August cut. Kalu started five games for the Titans last season.
Latest On Jonathan Taylor’s Colts Extension
After a dreary several months that included an NFL grievance against the NFLPA, the state of the running back position perked up over the weekend. Jonathan Taylor secured a surprising extension agreement, ending his standoff with the Colts and giving a depressed market a vital update as the year winds down.
Taylor’s $14MM AAV checks in third among running backs, behind only the extensions Christian McCaffrey ($16MM per year) and Alvin Kamara ($15MM) signed in 2020. With Kamara needing an inflated $22MM salary in the contract’s final season to prop up the per-year number, McCaffrey’s deal has stood alone since the Cowboys released Ezekiel Elliott. Taylor’s three-year, $42MM pact contains no dummy contract year, making this a true $14MM-AAV agreement.
[RELATED: Colts Did Not Engage In Serious Taylor Trade Talks]
The fine print for the former rushing champion is in, per OverTheCap, which indicates Taylor signed for $19.35MM fully guaranteed. The $26.5MM reported guarantee covers some additional injury guarantees, which pertain to the 2025 season. In terms of fully guaranteed money, Taylor’s deal sits behind McCaffrey ($30.1MM), Derrick Henry ($25.5MM) and Bijan Robinson‘s rookie deal ($21.96MM). Taylor became the first back since Nick Chubb in July 2021 to sign an eight-figure-per-year contract, and the Colts agreement resembles the one the Browns authorized two summers ago.
Like Chubb, Taylor signed a three-year extension. The rest of the active big-ticket RB contracts covered four (McCaffrey, Henry, Joe Mixon) or five (Kamara). CMC’s deal tied him to the Panthers for six years since he signed it with two years left on his rookie contract. Jones re-signed with the Packers in 2021, serving the same purpose as the Chubb and Taylor three-year re-ups due to those being contract-year extensions.
This timeline would allow Taylor to potentially cash in again, albeit ahead of his age-28 season. Although Taylor’s deal is not as friendly as McCaffrey’s, the Colts deviating from their stance against extending him provided a nice reward for his rookie-contract production.
Taylor received a $10.25MM signing bonus and will see his 2023 and ’24 base salaries ($1.74MM, $7.8MM) fully guaranteed. Taylor’s new agent did well to secure a year-out guarantee structure for his 2025 salary as well. The contract calls for an $11.98MM base salary in 2025; $7.15MM of that total is guaranteed for injury at signing, Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk notes. That sum becomes fully guaranteed on Day 5 of the 2024 league year. This stands to give Taylor three years’ worth of security, seeing as the Colts would need to cut or trade him before that March 2024 date to avoid that $7.15MM 2025 guarantee vesting. Taylor’s 2026 base salary ($11.98MM) is nonguaranteed.
The Colts give pay Taylor’s signing bonus in two installments, per Florio, with a $2.56MM payment coming Oct. 20 and a $7.69MM guarantee coming March 29, 2024. The 2020 second-round pick was tied to a $4.3MM base salary this season; Saturday’s agreement obviously generated a better outcome. This contract gives Taylor some security for his age-25 and age-26 seasons and removes a big name from the 2024 free agent market. Although the threat of an Indianapolis 2024 franchise tag helped drive the wedge between Taylor and the team, the Colts bending in ways the Giants and Raiders did not helped produce a resolution. (The Giants, Raiders and Cowboys also have veteran quarterbacks under contract for 2024; the Colts pivoting away from that years-long strategy, via Anthony Richardson, helped Taylor’s cause.)
Henry, Saquon Barkley, Josh Jacobs, Tony Pollard, Austin Ekeler and Taylor fill-in Zack Moss are among the backs on track to hit free agency. Taylor’s deal likely will not lead to that lot of high-profile backs matching him, as an even snazzier buyer’s market could form in 2024. But it does provide a positive development after an offseason filled with releases, pay cuts and trade requests going nowhere.
While Taylor previously had the Indy backfield to himself, it should be expected Moss will retain a role after his early-season production. The 2022 trade-deadline acquisition amassed 195 scrimmage yards in Indy’s win over Tennessee on Sunday. That showing does help to illustrate why teams have shied away from big payments to RBs, but Taylor’s ramp-up period will undoubtedly end with him back in the starter role.
NFL Practice Squad Updates: 10/9/23
Here are Monday’s practice squad moves:
Los Angeles Chargers
- Signed: S Mark Webb, OL Cameron Tom
New Orleans Saints
- Placed on practice squad injured list: WR Shaquan Davis
- Released: CB Anthony Johnson
Pittsburgh Steelers
- Signed: RB Jack Colletto, LB Kyron Johnson
- Released: RB Zander Horvath, P Brad Wing
Tennessee Titans
- Signed: CB Tay Gowan, DT Taylor Stallworth
- Released: CB Armani Marsh, DT Jayden Peevy
Washington Commanders
- Signed: CB Joshua Kalu
- Released: DB Keidron Smith
Minor NFL Transactions: 10/9/23
Here are Monday’s minor moves:
Arizona Cardinals
- Claimed off waivers (from Saints): RB Tony Jones Jr.
Atlanta Falcons
- Released from IR via injury settlement: WR Penny Hart
Green Bay Packers
- Promoted: RB Patrick Taylor
- Released: OLB Justin Hollins
- Elevated: CB Corey Ballentine
Las Vegas Raiders
- Elevated: CB Tyler Hall, CB Troy Pride Jr.
Los Angeles Chargers
- Signed: DL Christopher Hinton
New Orleans Saints
- Waived: G Tommy Kraemer
Jones will be headed to his third team since the preseason concluded. With James Conner going down with a knee injury, the Cardinals are better equipping themselves in the backfield. Jones, who went to camp with the Broncos and had returned to the Saints, will head to the desert. Jones scored two touchdowns in the Saints’ Week 2 win over the Panthers and played in three other Saints games this season. But the team waived him Saturday. Jones will join Keaontay Ingram and rookie UDFA Emari Demercado on Arizona’s active roster; Damien Williams resides on the Cardinals’ practice squad. Ingram has missed time with a neck injury recently.
Because the Packers have used up their practice squad elevations with Taylor, they are signing him to their 53-man roster. Taylor will come up to replace Aaron Jones, whom the Pack declared inactive. Despite Jones having returned for Week 4, the standout starter is out again with a hamstring injury.
Rams To Place DL Bobby Brown On IR
Sporting a retooled defense around Aaron Donald this season, the Rams will need to look deeper into their young nucleus. Bobby Brown‘s season will hit pause soon.
The Rams are expected to place Brown on IR, Sean McVay said Monday (via The Athletic’s Jourdan Rodrigue). The third-year defensive lineman suffered a grade 3 MCL sprain. This actually represents one of the best possible scenarios for Brown, who will be a candidate to come off IR when eligible.
Last season, the Rams used IR to the point they ran out of activations late in the season. Of course, the season was lost by that point. McVay’s latest Rams team has authored an interesting first quarter this season, going 2-3 and submitting quality efforts against the unbeaten 49ers and Eagles.
After seeing the Rams let multiyear starters Greg Gaines and A’Shawn Robinson walk in free agency (to the Buccaneers and Giants, respectively), Brown moved into a regular starting role for the first time as a pro. The former fourth-round pick has lined up alongside Donald as a first-stringer in all five Los Angeles games, coming after he started one contest over his first two seasons. Brown has already topped his season-high tackles number, registering 13 in five games, and Pro Football Focus rates him as a top-35 interior D-lineman.
Brown is one of several rookie-contract players making his debut as a Rams starter this year. In addition to Puka Nacua on offense, L.A.’s defense is rookie-deal-laden to the point it only trots out only two vested veterans — Donald and Ahkello Witherspoon — as starters. The team has third-round rookie Kobie Turner looming as a backup D-lineman. Former Titans draftee Larrell Murchison and 2021 Rams fifth-rounder Earnest Brown are also in place as D-line reserves.
The Rams have already used two of their eight allotted activations, bringing Cooper Kupp and rookie outside linebacker Ochaun Mathis off IR on Saturday. Brown will be eligible to return in Week 11, as the Rams’ bye arrives in Week 10.
Bills To Bring Back CB Josh Norman
Two months shy of his 36th birthday, Josh Norman looks to have secured another gig. The Bills are reuniting with their former starting defender, according to NFL.com’s Tom Pelissero. This is a practice squad agreement.
The three-time reigning AFC East champions have seen multiple CB injuries transpire over the past two weeks. Tre’Davious White is lost for the season, and slot corner Taron Johnson left Sunday’s Jaguars matchup with a knee injury. Johnson walked off the field and is not among the Bills’ growing number of defenders lost for the year, but he did not leave the team’s concerning London trip unscathed. Christian Benford is also dealing with an injury, though Sean McDermott labeled the second-year starter day-to-day with a shoulder issue.
Norman, who played for McDermott in Carolina and then Buffalo, was last with the Bills in 2020. He played nine games for McDermott’s team that season. The well-traveled veteran spent last season back with the Panthers.
Buffalo used a first-round pick on a cornerback in 2022, but Kaiir Elam has not seized a starting job. Elam was a healthy scratch over the Bills’ first four games. Even after White’s exit, the team has experience in place, rostering the likes of Dane Jackson, Siran Neal and Cameron Lewis. Elam, however, started against the Jaguars and played 80 defensive snaps in the narrow loss.
Norman saw action in two Panthers games last season. He is best known for his original stint in Charlotte and subsequent run in Washington. Norman parlayed a contract-year breakout — one that occurred during Carolina’s 15-1 season that ended in Super Bowl 50 — into a record-setting deal with Washington. The then-Bruce Allen-run team authorized a five-year, $75MM extension for Norman shortly after the then-Dave Gettleman-led Panthers rescinded his franchise tag. Norman, though, did not live up to his Washington pact and ended up a 2020 cap casualty.
The Bills gave Norman a one-year, $6MM deal in 2020, hoping he could lock down their other boundary post opposite White. Norman failed to do so, going down with a hamstring injury early in his tenure and only starting three Bills contests that year. Norman spent the 2021 season with the 49ers, a year that included one of the most unusual stat lines in recent NFL history. Norman is credited with forcing seven fumbles during his 2021 San Francisco one-off, which did include 14 starts. Not much free agency interest followed, however, leading him back to Carolina as a late-season pickup.
Bills DT DaQuan Jones Suffers Torn Pec
The Bills’ loss in London ended with significant defensive setbacks. After losing Tre’Davious White to a torn Achilles, the Bills will likely be down Matt Milano and DaQuan Jones for the season as well.
Jones will see his second Bills season stall because of a torn pectoral muscle, NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport reports. The veteran defensive tackle will need surgery, per Sean McDermott, and this development is expected to lead to a rehab timetable that extends into the 2024 offseason. This will be new territory for Jones, who played in at least 16 games in seven of the past eight seasons.
In the second season of a two-year, $14MM deal, Jones had operated as a Bills starter throughout his tenure. The 10th-year D-lineman had been enjoying a quality start; Pro Football Focus ranks Jones third overall among interior defenders. Coupled with the White injury, the Bills are set to lose key starters on all three levels in the span of two weeks.
Milano, who sustained a serious knee injury Sunday, signed a second Bills extension this offseason. Unfortunately for Jones, he is in a contract year. A seven-year Titans mainstay, Jones has been one of the more unheralded parts of the Bills’ stout defense over the past two seasons. After a one-year stopover in Carolina, Jones has excelled in Buffalo. PFF slotted Jones as a top-20 interior D-lineman last season, when he finished with a career-high 11 quarterback hits.
Veterans flood the Bills’ D-tackle group, but Jones has started every game he has played in with the team. The Bills will need to lean on their other experienced players inside going forward. Buffalo handed Ed Oliver a $17MM-per-year extension this offseason and still rosters 2022 free agency pickup Tim Settle. Jordan Phillips, who is in his second stint with the franchise, looms as a key depth piece as well.
Settle and Phillips have seen roughly equal workloads this season. Settle has logged 105 defensive snaps, while Phillips has been on the field for 113. The team also signed Poona Ford this offseason, but the ex-Seahawk has only been out there on 23 defensive plays. In light of the Jones injury, that number figures to go up. The Bills are interestingly well-positioned to handle a DT injury, seeing as four vested veterans are part of this mix even without Jones. But this will be a blow to a team also set to be without White and Milano.
Texans Designate Tytus Howard For Return, Place Kendrick Green On IR; Howard To Play Left Guard
OCTOBER 8: The Texans will indeed have Howard and Tunsil back in the lineup for today’s game against the Falcons, per Rapoport. However, as Wilson reports, Howard will be returning to the interior of the line and will slot in at left guard. Earlier in the week, Wilson published a full-length article discussing the possbility of that alignment and noted that the presence of George Fant, who has played well at right tackle in Howard’s absence, could allow Fant to stay right where he is.
It is unclear if Howard at LG and Fant at RT will be a permanent arrangement, but if they perform at a high level today, it will be difficult for head coach DeMeco Ryans to make a change in that regard.
OCTOBER 5: Kendrick Green will not join Howard and Scruggs in the IR-return picture. The recent trade acquisition underwent meniscus surgery that is expected to sideline him for the rest of the season, NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport notes. While Green did not suffer any ligament tears and is in line to be ready for Houston’s offseason program, he will head into a contract year coming having played in just four games over the past two seasons.
OCTOBER 4: The Texans have seen C.J. Stroud show considerable promise early in his rookie season, and the No. 2 overall pick has done so behind a backup-laden offensive line. That group is beginning to move toward full strength.
As expected, the Texans designated Tytus Howard to return from IR on Wednesday. Today marks the start of most teams’ pre-Week 5 practices. With this week doubling as the first for players on IR, NFI and PUP lists to be designated for return, Howard is one of several recovering performers to see his 21-day activation clock started.
Howard broke his hand in two places early in training camp and underwent surgery. He joined center Juice Scruggs and guard Kenyon Green in being placed on IR. Scruggs remains on Houston’s injured list, but a potential Week 6 return is in play for the second-round rookie. Green is out for the season, being placed on IR before teams finalized their initial 53-man rosters. While the 2022 first-round pick was part of the Texans’ O-line plans, he will need months to recover. Howard and Scruggs, however, are on the road back to action.
Houston gave Howard a three-year, $56MM extension this offseason. That deal followed pacts for Laremy Tunsil and trade acquisition Shaq Mason. The latter has been the only healthy Houston first-stringer up front. Howard, a five-year starter who has settled in at right tackle after being tried at guard and on the blind side, may well be back in uniform by Week 5. Tunsil has a decent chance of coming back as well. The eighth-year left tackle has missed the past three games, but Tunsil returned to practice Wednesday. Optimism exists the high-priced edge protector will be back in place Sunday, KPRC2’s Aaron Wilson notes.
While starters are preparing to return, the Texans did sustain another blow up front. Kendrick Green is now on IR, the team announced. The late-summer trade acquisition suffered a torn meniscus in his right knee in Week 4, per Wilson, who adds surgery is likely. Green avoided ligament tears, but he must now miss at least four games.
The former Steelers third-round pick had been pressed into duty, starting the past three games. Those not only marked Green’s first starts since his rookie year but also his first appearances since that 2021 season. Adding multiple new interior O-line starters in 2022, Pittsburgh benched the interior O-lineman and unloaded him a year later. Pro Football Focus ranks Green 38th at guard thus far, showing a glimpse at improvement after a rough rookie year.
Teams are allotted eight IR activations per season. Howard will join punter Cameron Johnston, whom the team also designated for return, as two activations. Scruggs is set to take up a third slot for the Texans, who have started 2-2 behind strong early-season play from Stroud.