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Minor NFL Transactions: 7/29/20

July 29th, 2020 at 4:24pm CST by Sam Robinson

Teams continue to make moves as players report to training camps, with many opting to pare their rosters from 90 to 80 players well before the mid-August deadline. Here are Wednesday’s minor moves:

Baltimore Ravens

Chicago Bears

  • Waived/injured: CB Tre Roberson

Cincinnati Bengals

Cleveland Browns

Jacksonville Jaguars

Kansas City Chiefs

Miami Dolphins

New York Jets

Bills’ Star Lotulelei Opts Out

July 28th, 2020 at 10:56am CST by Zachary Links

The hits just keep on coming. Bills defensive tackle Star Lotulelei will opt out of the 2020 season, according to Mike Garafolo of NFL.com (on Twitter). 

Lotulelei has been in the Bills’ starting lineup for each of the past two seasons. Pro Football Focus hasn’t been high on the veteran, but he was set to return as a first-stringer in 2020. In 2019, Lotulelei was on the field for 516 snaps and recorded two sacks from the interior.

The former Panthers first-round pick may be swapped out for another ex-Panther. Vernon Butler, who joined the club earlier this year, could be the next man up. There’s also former Seahawks lineman Quinton Jefferson on hand – one of those two players may wind up as Ed Oliver‘s partner in the middle.

Upwards of 20 NFL players have opted out of the 2020 season, as of this writing. The Patriots have arguably been hit the hardest, with six opt outs including linebacker Dont’a Hightower, offensive tackle Marcus Cannon, and safety Patrick Chung.

Minor NFL Transactions: 7/27/20

July 27th, 2020 at 9:06am CST by Zachary Links

Teams are trimming players earlier than usual this year, thanks to the NFL’s recommendation for an 80-man roster max. We’ll keep track of the latest minor moves here:

Arizona Cardinals

Baltimore Ravens

  • Waived: G Evan Adams, G Daishawn Dixon, T R.J. Prince, K Nick Vogel

Buffalo Bills

Cincinnati Bengals

  • Waived: CB Isiah Swann

Denver Broncos

Houston Texans

Kansas City Chiefs

Miami Dolphins

Philadelphia Eagles

Tennessee Titans

AFC East Notes: Oliver, Dolphins, Thuney

July 22nd, 2020 at 3:19pm CST by Sam Robinson

Montgomery County (Texas) authorities are dropping charges against tackle Ed Oliver, Mark Berman of Fox 26 reports (on Twitter). The Bills defensive tackle was arrested on charges of DWI and unlawfully carrying a weapon in May. Attorney Gary Patterson said, via Berman, a lack of evidence prompted the charges to be dropped. Oliver may still face NFL punishment, but the 2020 CBA limited Roger Goodell‘s disciplinary powers on personal conduct issues. It is now certainly possible Oliver will be available for the Bills in Week 1.

Here is the latest from the AFC East:

  • The NFL gave teams the option of having rookies report to training camp Tuesday, but Dolphins first-year players are set to arrive at the team’s facility Thursday, Barry Jackson and Adam Beasley of the Miami Herald note. Florida has become a global hot spot for the coronavirus, and the NFLPA had expressed concerns about teams opening up camp in certain areas. South Florida, Houston, Phoenix and Los Angeles were the locales the union mentioned, per Jackson, and it called for an emergency meeting of team doctors whose franchises reside in the most-affected areas. But the medical experts did not indicate camps in those places needed to be moved.
  • Minutes before the legal tampering period began in March, the Patriots surprisingly used their franchise tag to keep Joe Thuney off the market. The Patriots joining 11 other teams in opting not to sign a franchise-tagged player to an extension last week could point to Thuney being on the trade market. But the post-Tom Brady Pats are only carrying a $4.4MM combined cap charge at quarterback — a league-low figure, and Mike Reiss of ESPN.com writes this will allow for more flexibility to carry Thuney’s $14.78MM tag number this season. While some major changes occurred in New England, the Pats are set to return five starting offensive linemen.
  • While Bills, Giants and Jets players will not have to quarantine for 14 days upon returning to the tri-state area, Patriots players who have spent their offseasons outside the New England region will need to do so upon arrival in the state where they work.

Latest On Bills' Training Camp

July 12th, 2020 at 4:38pm CST by Sam Robinson

The three AFC East teams located in the northeast will have different protocols for returning to training camp. Bills and Jets players will not have to quarantine for 14 days upon returning to their respective states for camp, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets. New York is working with New Jersey and Connecticut on a COVID-19 travel policy that mandates 14-day quarantines for people who travel to these states from states with high coronavirus test rates. An exemption for NFL camps means the Bills, Jets and Giants will return to work under the same guidelines, despite the latter two franchises being headquartered in New Jersey. The teams’ players will need to be given COVID-19 tests upon arrival, and they will be restricted from working until the results arrive.

  • The Bills hired two business-side executives recently, naming Jason Sinnarajah as their VP of business administration and Mike McFarlane as VP of finance and administration. Co-owner Kim Pegula‘s official statement stressed the duo’s ties to Buffalo and commitment to Western New York. The Bills’ future in Buffalo is a tad murky, after Roger Goodell‘s comments about the franchise’s stadium situation, so Pegula mentioning new hires’ Buffalo ties is somewhat notable.

AFC East Notes: Newton, Tua, Fins, Bills

June 29th, 2020 at 3:03pm CST by Rory Parks

The Patriots made a big splash last night when they signed former league MVP Cam Newton to a one-year contract. The assumption is that Newton will be the team’s starting signal-caller, but Mike Garafolo of the NFL Network says the Pats made no promises in that regard. Still, while there is technically an open competition between Newton and second-year pro Jarrett Stidham, it would be stunning if Newton did not win the job (video link). Garafolo also points out that Newton still has to pass a physical, but the Patriots are confident he will do so.

Garafolo also passes along a fun fact (via Twitter): New England is the third team in NFL history to lose one MVP and sign another in the same offseason. The 2000 Dolphins parted ways with Dan Marino and brought in Thurman Thomas, and the 2005 Cardinals bid farewell to Emmitt Smith and signed Kurt Warner.

Now for more from the AFC East:

  • The Dolphins drafted Tua Tagovailoa with the belief that he will be the franchise signal-caller the team has been seeking for the past 20 years. He may not start right away, but Albert Breer of SI.com believes the southpaw will be put into the starting lineup at some point this season. While the 2020 Dolphins should be an improved squad over last year’s iteration, Miami is still probably at least a year away from playoff contention, so the team will have no reason to keep Tagovailoa on the sidelines for the entire campaign.
  • Miami is set at the LG and C spots with Ereck Flowers and Ted Karras, respectively. Beyond that, Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald says the Dolphins are still undecided as to whether second-round rookie Robert Hunt would be a better fit at RG or RT in 2020. If Hunt gets a shot at RT and performs well, that could bump 2019 starter Jesse Davis back to the interior or to the bench. Meanwhile, Michael Deiter will compete for the starting RG and backup C slots.
  • In the same piece linked above, Jackson notes that the Dolphins are working out WR Gary Jennings in the slot — where he thrived in college — and on the outside. Jennings was a fourth-round pick of the Seahawks in 2019, but Seattle waived him in November and Miami scooped him up. He played in just one game for the ‘Fins before getting hurt, but his draft pedigree and upside will give him a good chance to make the club as the fifth or sixth WR.
  • In a minor trade last summer, the Bills acquired OL Ryan Bates from the Eagles in exchange for DE Eli Harold. Philadelphia subsequently cut Harold, but Buffalo hung on to Bates, who was active for nine games. Per Adam Caplan of InsideTheBirds.com, the Bills view Bates, a 2019 UDFA, as a viable right tackle, guard, and center, so they expect him to be a key backup in 2020 who may take on a bigger role down the road.
  • Joe Buscaglia of The Athletic, meanwhile, views Bates as a potential trade candidate. Buscaglia also looks at a few other players that the Bills could put on the trade market, a list headed by WR Robert Foster and TE Jason Croom.

Bills To Stick With Matt Barkley As QB2?

June 20th, 2020 at 2:00pm CST by Zachary Links

Since debuting in 2013, Matt Barkley has just seven starts to his credit. Although he’s largely unproven, Bills head coach Sean McDermott says he’s “very confident” in the quarterback “for a lot of reasons,” as Sal Maiorana of the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle writes.

[RELATED: Owner Says There’s No “Financial Pressure” On Bills]

Some have wondered whether Barkley is a reliable safety net for Josh Allen, in the event that the Buffalo starter gets injured or contracts COVID-19. Injuries and illnesses aside, there are plenty of question marks about Allen as well. The former first-rounder won ten games for the Bills last year and took them to the playoffs, but his career 56.3% completion rate leaves a lot to be desired.

Barkley, meanwhile, has gone 2-5 in his starts. For his career, he has a 58.8% success rate on throws with ten touchdowns against 21 interceptions. His last start came in 2018, a solid showing and victory over the Jets. Last year, he popped in for two games and lobbed three INTs with zero TDs.

In addition to Barkley, the Bills also have Jake Fromm on hand. The fifth-round pick out of Georgia was once viewed as a high-caliber prospect, but his performance slipped over time and tanked his stock. Fromm completed just 60.8% of his passes in 2019, which doesn’t inspire much confidence either. Davis Webb, the former Giants third-rounder who has never appeared in a game, is also on the offseason roster.

Terry Pegula: No “Financial Pressure” On Bills

June 17th, 2020 at 9:28am CST by Rory Parks

Yesterday, Bills owners Terry and Kim Pegula fired the GM of their other sports franchise, the NHL’s Buffalo Sabres. In so doing, Terry Pegula cited his need to make the Sabres “leaner,” which naturally led to some concern from Bills fans that the financial situation of their owners would have an impact on the fortunes of the football club.

But as Matthew Fairburn of The Athletic writes, Terry Pegula downplayed any such fears. “First off, there is no financial situation,” he said. “I don’t know where that rumor started. … [W]e don’t have any debt on our oil and gas business. We need to do better moving forward in the sports business like every team is going to do have to do. … Talking about the Bills right now, there is no financial pressure that’s negative on the franchise.”

Terry Pegula implied that the lack of fans in the stands is much more harmful to an NHL club than an NFL team, which is true and which could be why he says he does not have any financial worries about the Bills. However, Fairburn cites an April report from Tim Graham of The Athletic in which Bills head coach Sean McDermott, among others, were said to be worried that the issues with workplace culture the Sabres and Pegula Sports and Entertainment were facing could impact the Bills’ own culture.

Similarly, if there is any belt-tightening on the Bills’ side of the Pegulas’ operation, it could impact McDermott and GM Brandon Beane first. Both men have two years remaining on their current contracts, and extension talks for McDermott were supposed to be on the table this offseason. COVID-19 has delayed the start of those negotiations, but with the HC market trending upwards, it remains to be seen whether the Pegulas will be able to make a competitive proposal when the time comes.

Of course, underlying this entire discussion is the looming issue of the Bills’ future in Buffalo. Last June, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell made it very clear that the Pegulas will need to address the club’s stadium situation at some point in the near future to keep the Bills where they are, and he reiterated those sentiments earlier this year. Though the Pegulas may not be feeling any negative financial pressure with respect to the Bills right now, it’s hard to say if that will change when — or if — they decide to build a new stadium.

Bills Sign RB Zack Moss

June 15th, 2020 at 2:21pm CST by Zachary Links

The Bills have officially signed third-round running back Zack Moss, according to Field Yates of ESPN.com (on Twitter). Per the terms of his slot, Moss will earn $4.6MM over the course of his four-year deal.

Moss could have gone much higher 2019 draft, if not for season-ending knee surgery. Before he went under the knife, he racked up 1,096 rushing yards off of 179 carries, good for an average of 6.1 yards per attempt. When he came back last year, he went off for 1,400 yards with a 6.0 ypc average.

Moss’ knee checked out well in a pre-draft exam and the Bills believe that Moss is ready to be a difference-maker at the pro level. In Buffalo, Moss will team with Devin Singletary to form a 1-2 backfield combo.

With Moss officially in the fold, the Bills have now wrapped their entire 2020 draft class. Here’s the full rundown, via PFR’s tracker:

2-54: AJ Epenesa, DE (Iowa): Signed
3-86: Zack Moss, RB (Utah): Signed
4-128: Gabriel Davis, WR (UCF): Signed
5-167: Jake Fromm, QB (Georgia): Signed
6-188: Tyler Bass, K (Georgia Southern): Signed
6-207: Isaiah Hodgins, WR (Oregon State): Signed
7-239: Dane Jackson, CB (Pittsburgh): Signed

Zimmer: Plan Was Not To Trade Stefon Diggs

June 1st, 2020 at 5:27pm CST by Sam Robinson

The Vikings’ starting lineup will look considerably different this season. After the team kept signing its core members to extensions over the past few offseasons, it dismantled some of that nucleus this year. While the exits of Xavier Rhodes, Linval Joseph and Trae Waynes were noticeable, none of Minnesota’s moves registered like the Stefon Diggs deal.

Diggs is Buffalo-bound after the Vikings traded him for a package of picks headlined by this year’s No. 22 overall selection, which became LSU wideout Justin Jefferson. Despite entering another offseason near the salary cap, and with Diggs having created some distractions during his Twin Cities stay, Mike Zimmer said the team was not intent on trading its talented wideout.

“Honestly, Diggs did not have to go,” Zimmer said during an appearance on The Rich Eisen Show (via NFL.com). “We really didn’t have any intention of trading him. Quite honestly, he put out a couple tweets, and there were some things going on there. But Stefon worked extremely hard. He practices like crazy. He wants the ball — like all receivers do.

“Really, what happened was, Buffalo came in and gave us all those picks. And we were up against it in the salary cap. So we just felt like we could save some money, get a bunch of picks, maybe get a young receiver like (Jefferson) that we got. So, I wish him well. He’s a good kid. He worked hard for me.”

The Bills sent the Vikings 2020 first-, fifth- and sixth-round picks and a 2021 fourth-rounder for Diggs, who is signed to a $14.4MM-per-year deal through 2023. This haul ended up being similar to the one the Seahawks sent the Vikings for Percy Harvin seven years ago. Seattle dealt first-, third- and seventh-rounders for Harvin in 2013, and the Vikings used the top pick to draft Rhodes. This time, Minnesota used the top acquired asset to fill the void created by the receiver trade, and Jefferson will be tasked with filling Diggs’ spot alongside Adam Thielen.

Buffalo discussed Diggs with Minnesota before last year’s trade deadline, and the Vikings were believed to have softened their asking price when the teams talked again in March. Diggs missed practices last season and was believed to be dissatisfied with his role, leading to trade rumors. This and Diggs’ pre-trade tweets suggesting he was not long for Minnesota notwithstanding, Zimmer did not characterize the five-year Viking as a major problem.

“Really, if you said somebody was a pain in the butt, you probably wouldn’t say him,” Zimmer said. “I’ve been around way worse guys than him. I hope he has a great career and finishes up strong.”

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