Raiders Sign OL Jordan Simmons
The Raiders will sign offensive lineman Jordan Simmons off of the Seahawks’ practice squad (Twitter link via NFL.com’s Tom Pelissero). The deal should become official later today, once Simmons clears his physical.
Simmons started his career with the Raiders in 2017 as a UDFA. The USC product spent the entire year on the practice squad before being waived the following August. The Seahawks picked him up in 2018 and deployed him in six games (three starts). He missed all of ’19 due to injury, but bounced back last year for 14 games, including six starts.
Simmons will help fill in for guard Denzelle Good, who will spend the remainder of the year on IR. He’ll join John Simpson as a supporting guard, though one of the two could start if Richie Incognito‘s calf doesn’t help up in time for Week 2. Simpson might have the edge in that case, since he got the call in Week 1.
“He’s gotten a lot of experience and reps because of Richie’s injury,” offensive coordinator Greg Olson said before Monday’s contest (via ESPN.com). “So, we feel comfortable there. And again, we talked about the depth that we have in the inside and he provided us with great depth and now he provides us with a starter.”
NFL Practice Squad Updates: 9/15/21
We’ll keep track of today’s taxi squad moves here:
Baltimore Ravens
- Signed: CB Kevon Seymour, OT Andre Smith
Chicago Bears
- Signed: OL Alex Taylor
Cincinnati Bengals
- Signed: S Sean Davis (story)
Houston Texans
- Signed: DB Grayland Arnold
- Released: DB Antonio Phillips
Indianapolis Colts
- Signed: CB Chris Wilcox
Los Angeles Chargers
- Signed: WR Maurice Ffrench
- Placed on IR: WR Joe Reed
Las Vegas Raiders
- Released: CB Madre Harper
New Orleans Saints
- Signed: DB Jordan Miller, C Austin Reiter
Seattle Seahawks
- Signed: WR De’Quan Hampton, TE Michael Jacobson, WR Connor Wedington
Raiders’ Gerald McCoy Done For Year
Raiders defensive tackle Gerald McCoy suffered a season-ending injury on Monday night (Twitter link via NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport). This was the expected news after the veteran was carted off the field on Monday night. 
The Raiders haven’t formally announced McCoy’s injury, but they did say it was a knee injury during the Monday Night Football telecast. It’s yet another season cut short for the former multiple-time Pro Bowler. Last year, a torn quad prevented him from taking the field for the Cowboys.
Before all of that that, McCoy earned six Pro Bowl nods with the Buccaneers and performed as one of the NFL’s best defensive lineman in the 2010s. He spent 2019 with the Panthers, appeared in all 16 games, and registered five sacks, giving him 59.5 for his career.
McCoy was set to serve as a rotational defensive tackle behind Johnathan Hankins. To keep the run defense in tact, the team will call on Solomon Thomas, Darius Philon, and new addition Damion Square.
Minor NFL Transactions: 9/14/21
Here are Tuesday’s minor moves:
Cincinnati Bengals
- Released from IR via injury settlement: CB Donnie Lewis
Detroit Lions
- Waived: G Tommy Kraemer
Las Vegas Raiders
- Signed off Bears practice squad: DT Damion Square
New Orleans Saints
- Placed on reserve/COVID-19 list: WR Michael Thomas; Thomas tested positive for COVID-19
- Signed: DL Montravius Adams, S Jeff Heath
- Waived: FB Adam Prentice
New York Jets
- Placed on IR: LB Blake Cashman, DB Lamarcus Joyner (story), P Braden Mann
- Signed: OL Isaiah Williams, S Jarrod Wilson
Philadelphia Eagles
- Released from IR via injury settlement: S Obi Melifonwu
San Francisco 49ers
- Promoted: CB Dontae Johnson
Seattle Seahawks
- Signed: LB Jon Rhattigan
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
- Released from IR via injury settlement: OL Earl Watford
Washington Football Team
- Promoted: LB Jared Norris
Raiders G Denzelle Good Tears ACL
The Raiders came out of their nationally televised opener 1-0 but are down at least one key player for the season. Denzelle Good suffered a torn ACL, according to ESPN.com’s Jeremy Fowler (on Twitter).
Good spent most of last season as a starting guard for the Raiders, and the team used the veteran blocker as a starter Monday. Good was set to start opposite Richie Incognito, having won Las Vegas’ right guard gig. Incognito missed Monday’s game due to injury, thrusting second-year guard John Simpson into the starting lineup opposite Good. It would appear Simpson will stick in that role.
Good, 30, went down on the Raiders’ first drive. They moved recent addition Jermaine Eluemunor into the lineup opposite Simpson. The Raiders re-signed Good this offseason, giving him a two-year commitment at $4.18MM on average.
A former Colts draftee, Good hovered as a depth option between the 2016 and ’20 seasons. After spending the ’16 season as a primary Indianapolis starter, Good served as a backup in Indy and Oakland. However, the Raiders kept blocker around since claiming him off waivers late in the 2018 season. They were forced to use him as a regular following Incognito’s September 2020 injury. They will now hope Incognito can return from his latest injury soon.
Jon Gruden expressed concern Good, Yannick Ngakoue, Marcus Mariota and Gerald McCoy suffered serious injuries. It is not known if that is the case for the latter trio, though Good’s prognosis provides an ominous sign here. McCoy was carted off the field Monday night.
Raiders Sign S Ha Ha Clinton-Dix To Practice Squad
Ha Ha Clinton-Dix has found his next gig. After getting cut by the 49ers earlier this month, the veteran safety has signed with the Raiders practice squad.
Clinton-Dix found himself without much of a market during the 2020 offseason, but he ultimately got a one-year, $3.75MM deal from the Cowboys. He didn’t even make it to the regular season with his new club, and he remained unsigned for the entire campaign. The veteran had a handful of workouts this offseason before signing with San Francisco, but the 49ers sent him packing at the end of the preseason.
Still only 28, Clinton-Dix has more starting experience than most players on the market. The safety started 16 games as recently as 2019 with the Bears, when he finished with 78 tackles and a pair of interceptions. Clinton-Dix spent most of his career with the Packers, including a 2016 season where he collected 80 tackles and five interceptions en route to a Pro Bowl appearance.
The veteran will now sit on the Raiders practice squad, but he could find himself on the active roster if one of the team’s current options suffer an injury.
Minor NFL Transactions: 9/13/21
Today’s minor moves:
Carolina Panthers
- Signed to active roster: WR Alex Erickson
- Placed on IR: S Myles Hartsfield
Dallas Cowboys
- Placed on IR: WR Michael Gallup (story)
- Activated from Reserve/COVID list: OT Brandon Knight, G Zack Martin
- Placed on Reserve/COVID list: DE Randy Gregory
Las Vegas Raiders
- Promoted: RB Trey Ragas
New Orleans Saints
- Re-signed: DL Montravius Adams
- Waived: DB Jordan Miller
- Activated: DB CB Bradley Roby
Philadelphia Eagles
- Released: DT T.Y. McGill
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
- Placed on IR: DB Sean Murphy-Bunting (story), LS Zach Triner
- Promoted: S Andrew Adams
Tennessee Titans
- Promoted: DB Bradley McDougald, TE MyCole Pruitt
- Waived: K Michael Badgley, TE Tommy Hudson
Raiders Notes: Ruggs, Key, Joyner
The Raiders will kick off their regular season on Monday Night Football against the Ravens tomorrow. In the meantime, let’s round up a few recent items on the Silver-and-Black:
- The 2020 wide receiver draft class was absolutely loaded, and plenty of pundits believed Jerry Jeudy was the cream of the crop. Although no WR had been selected by the time the Raiders were on the board with the No. 12 overall pick, Las Vegas ultimately chose Henry Ruggs over Jeudy and CeeDee Lamb. As Vic Tafur of The Athletic writes, there were Jeudy supporters in the Raiders’ war room, but head coach Jon Gruden wanted his own version of Tyreek Hill, and he saw Ruggs as a player who fit that bill.
- The Raiders selected DE Arden Key, who was once believed to be a first-round talent, in the third round of the 2018 draft. But the LSU product posted just three sacks in three seasons, and Vegas deemed him surplus to requirements in April. He was quickly scooped up by the 49ers, and he did not mince words when asked about his time with the Raiders. “To be honest, I wanted to get out of there,” Key said (via Jacob Hutchinson of KNBR.com). “I been wanting to get out of there. I wasn’t surprised. I was more happy than surprised. I wish it happened a little earlier but, hey, I got what I wanted and I’m good.” Key went on to say that the Raiders’ defensive scheme was a poor fit for him, and while he did not explicitly say so, it seems he is happy to be away from Gruden.
- Count Lamarcus Joyner as another ex-Raider who is happy to be away from the club. The Raiders deployed Joyner — who primarily played safety with the Rams before signing a big-money free agent contract with Vegas — as a nickelback over the past several seasons, and he struggled in that role. The Raiders released him in March, and he signed with the Jets 10 days later. Gang Green will deploy him as single-high safety, and he is pleased with how things turned out. “I’m pretty sure the whole world knows that (I’m happy to be away from the Raiders),” he said. “I made that known. I’m so happy it’s over and I’m here with coach [Robert] Saleh right now” (via Rich Cimini of ESPN.com). Joyner was clear that he didn’t have an issue with Gruden personally.
Raiders Host RB Kerryon Johnson
The Raiders are apparently serious about looking for veteran running back help. We heard yesterday that Las Vegas brought in free agent rusher D’Onta Foreman, and he apparently wasn’t the only one.
The Raiders also hosted Kerryon Johnson yesterday, Tom Pelissero of NFL Network tweets. It’s the first we’ve heard of Johnson since he was cut by the Eagles with an injury settlement back on August 26th. The 43rd overall pick of the 2018 draft by the Lions, Johnson’s stock has dropped sharply the past couple years. He shined as a rookie, carrying the ball 118 times for 641 yards (5.4 YPC) in 10 games while adding 32 catches.
He was Detroit’s starter in 2019, but missed eight games due to injury. After undergoing knee surgery he quickly fell out of favor with the team, and was buried behind D’Andre Swift on the depth chart. He played in all 16 games in 2020, but got only 52 carries. Waived back in May, he was promptly claimed off waivers by Philly.
He then got hurt in camp with the Eagles, and found himself cut once again. Johnson only turned 24 in June, so he shouldn’t be out of chances by now. The Raiders are a bit thin in their backfield with Jalen Richard on injured reserve, which explains their interest.
Contract Restructures: Graham, Nassib, Ryan
With the start of Week 1 quickly approaching, NFL front offices are still finding ways to open some cap space. A handful of players restructured their contracts today, and we’ve compiled some of the notable transactions below:
- TE Jimmy Graham, Bears: Converted $5.825MM of salary into signing bonus, opening $4.66MM in cap space while also adding four voidable years to contract (via ESPN’s Field Yates on Twitter). The veteran inked a two-year, $16MM deal with the Bears prior to last season, and he finished his first season in Chicago with 50 receptions for 456 yards and eight touchdowns.
- DE Carl Nassib, Raiders: Converted $2.51MM of salary into a signing bonus, opening $2.008MM in cap space (via ESPN’s Field Yates on Twitter). Nassib inked a three-year, $25MM deal (including $16.75MM guaranteed) with the Raiders last offseason. The 28-year-old got into 14 games (five starts) during his first season in Las Vegas, finishing with 28 tackles, 2.5 sacks, and nine QB hits.
- DB Logan Ryan, Giants: Converted “most of the base salary” into signing bonus (per NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport on Twitter). The veteran was set to earn around $5.5MM this upcoming season. After inking a one-year deal with the Giants last offseason, Ryan signed a three-year, $31MM extension (with $20MM guaranteed) in December. After switching from cornerback to safety, Ryan finished his first season in New York with 94 tackles, three forced fumbles, nine passes defended, and one interception.
- OT Duane Brown, Seahawks: Converted $7MM of base salary into signing bonus, saving the team $3.5MM in cap space. After skipping training camp in pursuit of an extension, we learned earlier today that the veteran lineman got an extra year tacked onto his contract. Indeed, as veteran reporter John Clayton points out, Brown got an extra year “with an injury protection benefit for 2022.”