Minor NFL Transactions: 9/15/22
Today’s minor NFL transactions:
Detroit Lions
- Placed on IR: G Tommy Kraemer
Green Bay Packers
- Released from IR: WR Malik Taylor
Kansas City Chiefs
- Promoted: K Matt Ammendola, CB Dicaprio Bootle
Los Angeles Chargers
- Promoted: R Jason Moore, TE Richard Rodgers
Seahawks’ Jamal Adams To Undergo Season-Ending Surgery
The quadriceps injury Jamal Adams suffered early in Week 1 will end his season. The veteran safety plans to undergo surgery to repair a torn quad tendon, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com reports (on Twitter).
Adams sought additional opinions from doctors this week, but the conclusion will bring a quick end to the former All-Pro defender’s sixth NFL season. The Seahawks will move Adams to IR, and Rapoport adds they are signing cornerback Teez Tabor off the Falcons’ practice squad (Twitter link).
This deals the Seahawks’ defense a major blow, and it continues a string of Adams unavailability since he was traded to Seattle in 2020. Adams, however, only missed four and five games, respectively, during the 2020 and ’21 seasons. This will be new territory. He played 15 snaps against the Broncos. Adams only missed two games during his three-season Jets tenure.
With Jets contract negotiations not progressing, the Seahawks stepped in with a monster trade offer to acquire the former top-10 pick. The Seahawks sent two first-round choices, a third-rounder and veteran safety Bradley McDougald to the Jets for Adams. After playing a fourth season on his rookie contract, Adams cashed in last year. The Seahawks’ decision to trade for the acclaimed blitzer and give him a then-market-topping extension has backfired to this point.
Adams’ $17.5MM extension last summer topped the safety market by more than $2MM (AAV-wise). Although Minkah Fitzpatrick and Derwin James have since surpassed that deal, Adams is the highest-paid defender on Seattle’s defense and — post-Russell Wilson and Bobby Wagner — the second-highest-paid player on the team. Seattle re-signed Quandre Diggs this offseason, giving the franchise two of the league’s top-10 highest-paid safeties. Diggs will have to go it alone for the season’s remainder.
While Adams is not regarded as a high-quality cover man, the Seahawks put him to work as a hybrid player over his first two seasons. After a 6.5-sack 2019 season with the Jets — an All-Pro campaign — Adams set a safety record with 9.5 sacks in his first Seahawks season, helping the team to the playoffs. Adams did not record a sack in 2021. Injuries have dogged him for much of his Pacific Northwest stay, however. Two shoulder surgeries have occurred since Adams arrived in Seattle, and he underwent multiple finger operations this offseason. The LSU alum’s finger issues have left him no longer able to make a fist with his left hand, and Adams said his shoulder trouble had him playing “with one arm for damn near two years.”
The Adams contract runs through 2025. He is due an $11MM base salary in 2023 and is in line to count $18.1MM on Seattle’s cap next year. Adams, 26, counts just $9.1MM this year. His 2024 and ’25 cap numbers come in at $23.6MM and $24.6MM, respectively.
Steelers To Place T.J. Watt On IR
The Steelers received good news earlier this week on the T.J. Watt front. The reigning Defensive Player of the Year avoided season-ending pectoral surgery. Watt’s chest injury will still keep him out for a while, however.
Although this has not become official yet, ESPN.com’s Field Yates notes Watt will be placed on IR (Twitter link). Pittsburgh is also signing outside linebacker David Anenih off Tennessee’s practice squad. These moves are now official.
An IR placement ahead of Week 2 means Watt’s return window would open in Week 6. It is not yet certain the accomplished pass rusher can hit that mark, the Watt family’s success at rehabbing injuries notwithstanding. But the sixth-year veteran could make it back in as early as five weeks. While the Steelers could be cautious with their top player, Watt returning before the midseason point represents a vast status improvement compared to where this situation appeared headed after he left the team’s opener.
Anenih will be the latest Steelers outside linebacker hire for a Steelers team that has turned this group over in recent weeks. Alex Highsmith now becomes the team’s top healthy edge, but his supporting cast looks vastly different compared to its August complexion.
Three-year Broncos fill-in starter Malik Reed will take on that role for the Steelers, being acquired for just a 2023 seventh-round pick. The Steelers also claimed Jamir Jones off waivers from the Jaguars earlier this month. Former second-round Washington pick Ryan Anderson — who was not with a team last season — is now on Pittsburgh’s practice squad. Third-year outside ‘backer Delontae Scott joins Anderson on Pittsburgh’s P-squad, but the team has otherwise overhauled its set of backup edge defenders.
Anenih is a rookie UDFA out of Houston who was one of many current NFL rookies — Kenny Pickett among them — to enter the league after using the fifth year of eligibility the NCAA allowed after the COVID-19 pandemic hit. Anenih totaled a career-best 10 tackles for loss to go along with five sacks. During his five-year Cougars career, Anenih tallied 20.5 sacks. The Titans allowed Anenih to leave, rather than promote him to their active roster. That is a somewhat interesting move considering the team recently lost top edge rusher Harold Landry for the season.
The Steelers will face the Patriots, Browns, Jets and Bills without Watt. Three more games — against the Buccaneers, Dolphins and Eagles — come before the team’s Week 9 bye. Watt’s new timetable would point to that stretch being his activation window.
NFL Practice Squad Updates: 9/14/22
Today’s practice squad moves:
Arizona Cardinals
- Signed: WR Jeff Cotton Jr., OL Koda Martin, WR JaVonta Payton
- Placed on IR: WR Victor Bolden Jr., OL Rashaad Coward
Buffalo Bills
- Signed: DL Prince Emili
- Released: WR Tanner Gentry
Detroit Lions
- Signed: OT Darrin Paulo
Green Bay Packers
- Signed: S Mike Brown
Indianapolis Colts
- Released (non-football illness): G Arlington Hambright
Minnesota Vikings
- Signed: LB Chris Garrett
New York Jets
- Signed: P Ty Long, CB Jimmy Moreland
- Released: WR Diontae Spencer
San Francisco 49ers
- Signed: WR Willie Snead, CB Kary Vincent Jr.
Seattle Seahawks
- Signed: LB Christian Jones, S Scott Nelson
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
- Signed: TE David Wells
- Released: TE JJ Howland
Ravens Add CB T.J. Carrie To Practice Squad
The Ravens have added a veteran defensive back to their taxi squad. According to ESPN’s Jamison Hensley (on Twitter), the Ravens have signed cornerback T.J. Carrie to their practice squad.
Baltimore is already down a cornerback with Kyle Fuller having suffered a torn ACL, ending his season after only one game. Carrie obviously can’t replace the Pro Bowl cornerback, but he’ll provide the organization with some experienced depth.
A seventh-round pick in 2014, Carrie has managed to stick around the NFL for eight-plus seasons. He spent the 2020 and 2021 seasons with the Colts, starting two of his 26 appearances. Following a 2020 campaign where he was graded as a starting-caliber cornerback by Pro Football Focus, his grades took a significant step back in 2021. Carrie ultimately finished his Indy career having collected 55 tackles and a pair of interceptions.
Besides Marcus Peters, Marlon Humphrey, and nickelback Brandon Stephens, the only other healthy CBs on Baltimore’s active roster are rookie fourth-round picks (Damarion Williams and Jalyn Armour-Davis). The Ravens also have Daryl Worley and Kevon Seymour stashed on the practice squad.
Minor NFL Transactions: 9/14/22
Here are Wednesday’s minor moves:
Baltimore Ravens
- Promoted: OLB Steven Means
Denver Broncos
- Promoted: CB Essang Bassey
Detroit Lions
- Signed off Eagles’ practice squad: OL Kayode Awosika
- Promoted: RB Justin Jackson
Las Vegas Raiders
- Promoted: WR Keelan Cole
- Placed on IR: WR DJ Turner
New York Jets
- Promoted: S Will Parks
Seattle Seahawks
- Placed on IR: LS Tyler Ott
- Promoted: LB Tanner Muse, LS Carson Tinker
Raiders Work Out Kelechi Osemele, Oday Aboushi, Billy Price
SEPTEMBER 14: The Raiders signed Price to their practice squad Wednesday. This comes as Aboushi landed on the Rams’ taxi squad. A former No. 21 overall pick, Price lost his Bengals starting center gig in his second NFL slate (2019). But the 27-year-old blocker is coming off a full season of starter work with the Giants.
SEPTEMBER 13: Kelechi Osemele did not play in the NFL in 2021, but retirement is not yet in the cards. Two teams have now worked out the former All-Pro guard over the past several days.
The Raiders brought in their former interior starter for an audition, according to ProFootballNetwork.com’s Aaron Wilson (on Twitter). Osemele, whom the Raiders traded to the Jets during the 2019 offseason, has not played since a Chiefs-Raiders game in October 2020. In addition to Osemele, the Raiders brought in O-linemen Oday Aboushi, Billy Price and cornerback Vernon Hargreaves for early-season workouts.
[RELATED: Raiders Sign CB Nickell Robey-Coleman]
Osemele, 33, suffered tendon tears in both knees. A similar injury development halted longtime Texans right tackle Derek Newton years ago. Newton went down in October 2016, missed all of 2017 and played in just one more game (in 2018) before hanging up his cleats. Newton was also younger than Osemele was at the time of those tendon tears. But both the Bears and Raiders have kicked the tires on Osemele, whose two career Pro Bowl nods came during his time with the Raiders.
A big-ticket Raiders free agent signing in 2016, Osemele earned Pro Bowl invites in 2016 and ’17. The ex-Ravens second-rounder started three seasons for the Raiders, but months after the team parted ways with ex-GM Reggie McKenzie, its Jon Gruden-led power structure traded Osemele to the Jets. A shoulder injury hijacked the veteran guard’s Jets season (2019) as well, and a memorable dispute with the team ensued on his way out. Osemele played in five Chiefs games, working as a starter for the eventual AFC champions early in the 2020 campaign.
Aboushi is also attempting to come back after an injury; an October ACL tear ended his Chargers run. By lining up as a Bolts starter last year, Aboushi became a rare player who has been a starter for six teams (Jets, Texans, Seahawks, Cardinals, Lions, Chargers). The 31-year-old blocker started five games with the Bolts, who have since moved on via their first-round Zion Johnson pick.
A 2018 first-round Bengals selection, Price spent last season with the Giants. Traded straight up for then-Giants defensive tackle B.J. Hill before last season, Price returned to a full-time starter role after being benched in Cincinnati. The Ohio State product started 15 games for a battered Giants offensive line. Hargreaves, a 2016 Buccaneers first-round pick, played in 12 games for the Bengals and Texans last season.
Despite fielding a below-average offensive line last season, the Raiders did not make any big additions to that unit. In Week 1, they used a few different combinations up front. Josh McDaniels‘ team kept left tackle Kolton Miller, left guard John Simpson and center Andre James on the field throughout but made in-game changes on the right side. The Silver and Black started Jermaine Eluemunor at right tackle and third-round rookie Dylan Parham at right guard.
49ers To Promote Kemoko Turay, Place Jordan Willis On IR
Kemoko Turay did not make the 49ers’ 53-man roster, but he is receiving a call-up ahead of Week 2. Defensive end Jordan Willis will undergo surgery and head to IR, clearing a spot for Turay.
Willis will miss at least four games because of a cleanup-type operation, Eric Branch of the San Francisco Chronicle tweets. It is a knee procedure, per The Athletic’s Matt Barrows, who notes Willis voiced an issue about his knee — one that has given him trouble in the past — to the 49ers’ medical staff Monday (Twitter link). It sounds like the sixth-year defensive end will be out longer than the four-week minimum.
While Willis was inactive for the 49ers’ Week 1 game, he has contributed as a rotational rusher in the past. In 10 games last season, Willis played 25% of San Francisco’s defensive snaps. The Kansas State product has 5.5 sacks during a 49er tenure that began in 2020, when the team acquired the former third-round pick via trade from the Jets. Willis, 27, was active for all three 49ers playoff games last season.
A 2018 Colts second-round choice, Turay has spent much of his career battling injuries. Last season, however, the former Rutgers prospect showed flashes of the talent that prompted the Colts to draft him 52nd overall. Turay, 27, registered 5.5 sacks during his final Colts season. The 49ers signed Turay to a one-year, $1.7MM deal ($1MM guaranteed) in April.
The 49ers have a deep group of edge rushers. Samson Ebukam, the recently reacquired Kerry Hyder, 2021 trade acquisition Charles Omenihu and second-round pick Drake Jackson reside in the Nick Bosa-fronted position group. Turay, who missed more than a year after suffering a broken ankle early during his second season, will attempt to mix in for his new team going forward.
Broncos To Sign Anthony Harris, Planning Justin Simmons IR Stint
After Anthony Harris sought a release from the Eagles’ practice squad to pursue another opportunity, the veteran safety found one. The Broncos are signing Harris, Ryan O’Halloran of the Denver Post tweets.
This is a practice squad agreement as well, but the Broncos’ current safety situation may prompt a Harris call-up soon. Nathaniel Hackett said Wednesday that top safety Justin Simmons will miss time due to a thigh injury. The team still has Kareem Jackson as a veteran back-line presence, but Simmons is one of the NFL’s premier safeties.
Hackett did not specify how much time Simmons would miss, though 9News’ Mike Klis tweets an IR stint is on tap. A four-game Simmons-less stretch would certainly deal a blow to a Broncos team that has sustained other injuries already. Denver lost Tim Patrick to an ACL tear early in training camp and played without starting linebacker Josey Jewell on Monday night. Right guard Quinn Meinerz sustained a hamstring injury against the Seahawks and is set to miss multiple games. Meinerz remains on Denver’s active roster.
Injury trouble on defense plagued the Broncos throughout Vic Fangio‘s tenure. From 2019-21, the team played only a handful of games with Von Miller and Bradley Chubb in the lineup together. Last season, the Broncos also played without starting linebackers Jewell and Alexander Johnson most of the way. Perhaps the best Broncos investment between the Peyton Manning and Russell Wilson periods, Simmons has been a constant for the team. Monday night marked his 66th straight appearance.
Simmons, 29, has not missed a game since December 2017, when he spent the final three weeks on IR. In the time since, the former third-round pick has ascended to the Pro Bowl level. In 2021, the Boston College alum’s second franchise tag led to a then-safety-record contract. Pro Football Focus rated Simmons as a top-10 safety from 2019-20 and placed him 15th last season. Simmons has intercepted five passes in each of the past two years. The team will turn to second-year safety Caden Sterns alongside Jackson. A fifth-round pick, Sterns saw sub-package work as a rookie and made two starts. He intercepted two passes last season.
Harris, 30, did not make the Eagles’ 53-man roster; the team’s C.J. Gardner-Johnson trade effectively bumped the veteran defender off the team. The Eagles signed Harris to one-year deals in both 2021 and 2022. While Harris spent last season as a Philadelphia starter, he is best known for his Minnesota run. Harris joined Simmons as a 2020 franchise tag recipient. The Vikings tagged the then-Harrison Smith sidekick after he intercepted a league-leading six passes in 2019. Second-year Broncos GM George Paton was in Minnesota throughout Harris’ Vikings stay.
Dolphins To Sign T Brandon Shell
Shortly after veteran starter Oday Aboushi found a practice squad gig, Brandon Shell has landed one as well. The Dolphins are adding the veteran right tackle to their 16-man P-squad, Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald reports.
Shell, 30, spent the past two years with the Seahawks. While the two-year Seattle right tackle starter visited Denver about a Russell Wilson reunion earlier this year, nothing materialized. The Dolphins will bring him aboard as insurance.
Several teams expressed interest in Shell, according to Jackson. He comes to the Dolphins with 61 career starts on his resume, one that began in the AFC East. The Jets drafted Shell in the 2016 fifth round and used him as their primary right tackle from 2017-19.
Shell signed a two-year, $9MM Seahawks deal in 2020 but could not generate similar interest during his second crack at free agency. Pro Football Focus graded Shell fairly well during each of his two Seahawks seasons, viewing his 2020 work slightly better than his 2021 performance.
Neither of the Dolphins’ starting tackles — Terron Armstead and Austin Jackson — are locks to play in Week 2. Jackson is dealing with an ankle injury, one Jackson classifies as a sprain. Armstead is battling an unspecified (for now) malady. Armstead clarity will soon emerge via the Dolphins’ injury report. Neither practiced Wednesday. Armstead signed a big-ticket free agency deal with the Dolphins and played 97% of the team’s offensive snaps in Week 1. But the former Saints Pro Bowler has an extensive injury past. He missed nine games last season and missed a combined 21 contests from 2016-18.
While Shell would profile as veteran insurance, Jackson adds the Dolphins are planning a ramp-up period — similar to the Cowboys’ plan with Jason Peters — for the experienced blocker. Greg Little replaced Jackson against the Patriots; the right-side starter left during the second quarter. The Dolphins also have the option of kicking one of their guards out to tackle. Both Robert Hunt and Liam Eichenberg have experience at tackle, though it is unknown if such emergency switches will be needed.