Minor NFL Transactions: 8/7/18
Today’s minor moves:
Carolina Panthers
- Signed: DE Sterling Bailey
- Waived: DT Ashaad Mabry
Green Bay Packers
- Signed: RB Akeem Judd
- Placed on injured reserve: LB C.J. Johnson
- Waived: G Ethan Cooper
Kansas City Chiefs
- Claimed off waivers: G Ethan Cooper
- Waived with left squad designation: C Jack Allen
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
- Signed: T Jarron Jones
- Waived: K Trevor Moore
Tennessee Titans
- Signed: LB Brandon Chubb, TE Jerome Cunningham
- Placed on injured reserve: LB Nate Palmer
- Waived: TE Phillip Supernaw
Washington Redskins
- Signed: LB Cassanova McKinzy, DL Dante Sawyer
- Waived/injured: DL Tavaris Barnes, LB Alex McCalister
Patriots Work Out Bashaud Breeland
The Patriots are still considering additions to their secondary. With that in mind, they worked out free agent cornerback Bashaud Breeland on Tuesday (Twitter link via Ian Rapoport of NFL.com). 
Breeland stands as one of the top defenders still on the market, and he’s garnered previous interest from the Jets, Raiders, Chiefs, Ravens, Browns and Colts. He thought he had a deal with the Panthers back in March, but his three-year deal was voided after he failed his physical. Now that he’s healthy, interest is picking up once again, though it seems unlikely that he’ll match the length of that would-be Carolina contract or the average annual value of $8MM.
To date, Breeland has spent his four-year career with the Redskins, missing only four regular season games during his tenure. The former fourth-rounder had another productive season in 2017, finishing with 50 tackles, 19 passes defended, and one pick-six. Last season, Pro Football Focus ranked Breeland as the No. 50 cornerback among 121 qualifiers, but teams appeared to view him as a borderline CB1 when free agency began.
The Patriots don’t necessarily need Breeland, but they would surely be happy to add him to the fold at the right price. For now, the Pats plan to draw from a cornerback group that includes Stephon Gilmore, Eric Rowe, Jason McCourty, second-round pick Duke Dawson, Jonathan Jones, and seventh-round pick Keion Crossen.
Cardinals Lose A.Q. Shipley For Season
Cardinals center A.Q. Shipley has a torn ACL, head coach Steve Wilks told reporters on Monday. The Cardinals placed Shipley on season-ending IR on Tuesday, allowing them to add another player in his stead. 
Shipley, 32, has been with the Cardinals since 2015 and has started in every game for them over the past two seasons. The injury may lead the team to push rookie interior lineman Mason Cole into the starting job, or consider roster hopefuls Evan Boehm or Josh Allen. Alternatively, they may explore the open market, but there aren’t a ton of established centers left out there.
Shipley re-signed with Arizona on a two-year, $3.5MM deal in March of last year, meaning that he will be a free agent in the spring of 2019. Advanced metrics are a bit tricky when it comes to centers, but for what it’s worth, he graded as the league’s No. 14 center in 2016 and placed 28th last year.
Ravens TE Darren Waller Reinstated
Ravens tight end Darren Waller has been reinstated after serving a yearlong suspension for violating the league’s substance abuse policy. In order to bring him back on the roster, the Ravens have waived/injured wide receiver Jaelon Acklin. 
Waller, 26 in September, served a four-game substance abuse ban in 2016, so his second violation of the substance abuse policy last year resulted in a one year suspension. The tight end was forced to sit out the entire year and lost out on $615K in salary.
In 2016, Waller had ten catches for 85 yards and two touchdowns. His offensive output was minimal, but he appeared on nearly half of Baltimore’s special teams snaps.
This year, he faced an uphill battle to make the roster. The Ravens drafted two tight ends in Hayden Hurst and Mark Andrews, meaning that Nick Boyle, Maxx Williams, and Vince Mayle are competing for one or maybe two spots. For what it’s worth, it appears that the Ravens will at least give Waller an opportunity to play catchup and make the final cut.
Seahawks’ Dion Jordan To Miss Time?
The Seahawks could be without defensive end Dion Jordan for the start of the season, head coach Pete Carroll told reporters on Tuesday (Twitter link via ESPN.com’s Brady Henderson). On the plus side, Carroll said that wide receiver Doug Baldwin likely will be ready to go for the season opener against the Broncos in Denver. 
Jordan, who is projected to start opposite of Frank Clark on the defensive line, has been on the PUP list with a stress issue in his leg. The team is hoping to get the former No. 3 overall pick out on the field for Week 1, but it’s far from a certainty at this point.
“Doug for sure [will be playing in the season opener],” Carroll told reporters. “Dion, we won’t know until we get him back out. We know exactly what’s going on with Doug. He’s going to be able to make it back barring setbacks of some kind.”
Baldwin is expected to miss most or all of the preseason as he heals up from his knee injury, but that appears to be more of a precautionary move than anything. If he does miss regular season games for some reason, the Seahawks will have to lean more heavily on Tyler Lockett. A Baldwin absence could also improve the odds of veteran Brandon Marshall making the team. Other Seahawks pass-catchers include free agent acquisition Jaron Brown, 2017 third-round pick Amara Darboh, and Marcus Johnson.
An assortment of issues prevented Jordan from doing much with the Dolphins, but the Seahawks liked what they saw out of him in a small five-game sample last year. After he tallied four sacks in 2017, the Seahawks retained him on a one-year, $1.9MM deal this offseason.
Vikings Deny Interest In Richie Incognito
In a recent appearance on TMZ Sports, free agent offensive lineman Richie Incognito said that he has received interest from the Vikings and Seahawks. However, Vikings coach Mike Zimmer says his team has “no interest” in signing Incognito and any report indicating that the Vikings have reached out to him is “totally false,” (Twitter link via Chris Tomasson of the Pioneer Press). 
“I’m mulling all options right now,” Incognito told TMZ (video link). “I’ve had calls from Minnesota, Seattle, I really just don’t want to go to training camp, so we’ll see.”
It’s easy to believe Zimmer’s side of the story given Incognito’s bizarre offseason. Earlier this year, Florida police placed Incognito in a mental hospital after he hurled weights at a gym and told officers that the government is spying on him.
On the field, Incognito has been nothing short of stellar in recent years. The veteran has earned three consecutive Pro Bowl trips and, from a talent perspective, profiles as the best interior lineman on the open market today. But, between his antics in May and the Dolphins bullying scandal of 2013, it’s not clear whether he’ll be given another opportunity in the NFL.
Incognito, 35, appears interested in continuing his career, but also indicated to TMZ that he could pursue a career in politics.
NFC East Notes: Redskins, Eagles, OBJ
Redskins running back Samaje Perine could be a trade candidate, as ESPN.com’s John Keim writes. The Redskins have a surplus of running backs, with Derrius Guice and Chris Thompson as their lead rushers. Rob Kelley was once thought to be on the bubble, but coaches say that he looks quicker this summer than he has in previous years. The Redskins also seem to be eyeing Byron Marshall or Kapri Bibbs as their third-down back, which could leave Perine as the odd man out.
The Oklahoma product drew a great deal of attention in the 2017 draft, so other teams could be interested in giving him a shot. The Redskins, meanwhile, could net a future draft choice for him if they are comfortable enough with the rest of the group.
Here’s more from the NFC East:
- Within the aforementioned piece, ESPN.com’s Tim McManus suggests that Eagles cornerback Rasul Douglas could wind up on the block. There hasn’t been a ton of talk about Douglas being traded, but the Eagles have plenty of cornerback options and could afford to part with Douglas for the right offer. The former third-round choice out of West Virginia offers good size with his 6’2″, 209-pound frame and could hold some appeal for other clubs. McManus notes that the Eagles also could deal from their surplus receivers and offensive linemen.
- On Monday, we heard conflicting reports regarding the negotiations between Odell Beckham Jr. and the Giants. One report indicated that the Giants are offering OBJ less than Sammy Watkins‘ average annual value of $16MM/year. Later, we heard that the Giants are willing to make OBJ the highest-paid wide receiver in the NFL. The discrepancy likely comes from different interpretations of the same offer, as Mike Florio of PFT writes. In an unusual role reversal, it seems that the team is evaluating the offer based on the new money average, while the player’s agent is going off of the cumulative average, which includes Beckham’s 2018 salary of $8.49MM. In theory, the Giants’ offer to Beckham could be a five-year, $85.5MM deal, which would give him a league-leading $17.1MM new money average. However, if the 2018 salary is included, that would give him an average of $15.659MM. Reading between the lines, it sounds as though OBJ’s team could be looking to top Antonio Brown‘s AAV including the current year, which would be a very lofty goal.
Sean Smith To Be Released From Jail
Former Raiders cornerback Sean Smith is slated to be released from jail in September, according to TMZ. Smith has served less than half of his year-long sentence, but he is on track to be let go next month due to good behavior and overcrowding in the facility. 
Smith was sentenced to one year in jail plus five years probation after pleading guilty to felony assault. The incident took place last summer, when a dispute between the cornerback and his sister’s boyfriend turned violent. The victim suffered several major injuries in the attack, and Smith was subsequently released by the Raiders.
Smith lost out on the money he was owed on his four-year, $40MM deal, and it stands to reason that he may attempt an NFL return in order to make up for the lost cash. If that’s the case, he’ll almost certainly have to serve a suspension first, and it could be lengthy given the nature of his situation.
The veteran graded out as just the No. 73 cornerback among 121 qualifiers last year, per Pro Football Focus. He’s picked off two passes in each of the last three seasons, but had a career-low four pass defenses last year while appearing in 14 games, starting eight.
Minor NFL Transactions: 8/6/18
Today’s minor moves:
Los Angeles Rams
- Signed: DE Marcus Martin
New York Jets
- Signed: OL Alex Balducci
- Waived: OL Austin Golson
Oakland Raiders
- Waived/Injured: DB Shaquille Richardson
- Signed: CB Raysean Pringle
Seattle Seahawks
- Signed: TE Je’Ron Hamm, DT Joey Ivie
- Waived: DT Lord Hyeamang
- Waived/Injured: FB Khalid Hill
Falcons, S Ricardo Allen Agree To Extension
The Falcons have agreed to a three-year extension with safety Ricardo Allen, a source tells Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (on Twitter). The pact, worth $19.5MM, will keep Allen in place through the 2021 season. 
The Falcons retained Allen this offseason by assigning the $2.914MM restricted free agent tender to him. He took his time before signing the deal, waiting until June to ink the contract. Allen took a small gamble by waiting to sign his tender, but the Falcons were unlikely to pull it the given his past performance.
In four seasons with the team, Allen has played in 46 games, including 45 starts. All in all, he has made six interceptions, ten deflected passes, one fumble recovery, and 158 tackles. Allen made it clear that he wanted to play in Atlanta beyond the 2018 season and the interest was mutual, so it was only a matter of time before a deal came together.
The $6.5MM average annual value on the deal puts Allen in the top 20 amongst all NFL safeties. Currently, four other safeties – Glover Quin (Lions), Barry Church (Jaguars), Jaquiski Tartt (49ers), and Eric Weddle (Ravens) – make the same per year on average.
Still, it’s a reasonably priced deal that should give the Falcons enough room to work out an extension with defensive tackle Grady Jarrett. Meanwhile, Allen has obtained financial security that will spare him from testing a weak market for free agent safeties.