Chase Tenpenny

NFL Workout Updates: 11/13/17

Today’s workout updates, with all links going to veteran Howard Balzer’s Twitter account (unless noted):

Cleveland Browns

Jacksonville Jaguars

Los Angeles Rams

Pittsburgh Steelers

San Francisco 49ers

  • P Chase Tenpenny (link)

NFC South Notes: Panthers, Davis, Saints

Jameis Winston worked with the second-team offense Tuesday on the opening day of the Buccaneers‘ minicamp, but coach Lovie Smith says it has no bearing on who will be the team’s starting QB, Pat Yasinskas of ESPN.com writes. For his part, the No. 1 overall pick says that he doesn’t feel entitled to anything. “I haven’t earned [the starting job] until I get it,” Winston said. Here’s more from the NFC South..

  • Panthers coach Ron Rivera can’t see outside linebacker Thomas Davis retiring after his contract extension ends in 2017, as David Newton of ESPN.com writes. “I really can’t,” Rivera said. “Knowing him, it’ll be, ‘We’ll see how I am every year?’ … I know we talked about he’s going to retire a Panther. Maybe in three, four or five years, knowing him. As long as he stays healthy he’s got a great chance to extend his career.” The 14th overall pick out of Georgia back in 2005, Davis has been a key piece of the Panthers’ defense since entering the league, appearing in 117 games (99 starts) for the team over the last decade. For his career, he has racked up nearly 750 tackles to go along with 17.5 sacks, six interceptions, and 13 forced fumbles.
  • It took Kevin Williams a while to sign with a new team this summer, but he wasted little time getting acclimated to the Saints, Mike Triplett of ESPN.com writes. Still, he’s already gotten plenty of reminders about his age. “Man, you’d be surprised the stories I’ve gotten. They made me feel old, like, ‘We used to play with you on Madden,’ and all these things,” Williams said. “So I really didn’t have to do much introducing. The guys already knew who I was.” Williams hooked on with New Orleans last week.
  • In addition to working out wide receiver Matt James today, as was previously reported, the Saints also took a look at punter Chase Tenpenny and long snapper Chris Highland, writes Evan Woodbery of the New Orleans Times-Picayune.

Minor Moves: Thursday

Here are today’s minor transactions from around the NFL. As always, any additional moves will be added to the top:

  • Seahawks cornerback DeShawn Shead signed his exclusive-rights tender, per Wilson (via Twitter). The two-year veteran appeared in all 16 of Seattle’s games last season and made 14 tackles.
  • Interior offensive lineman Mike Golic Jr. signed with the Saints, notes NOLA.com’s Evan Woodberry on Twitter. The son of the former Eagles defensive lineman was in camp with the Saints briefly last summer but last played in the Arena League.
  • The Chiefs cut long snapper Brandon Hartson, reports Aaron Wilson of the Baltimore Sun on Twitter. The 25-year-old’s only official roster time came with the Bears in 2013.
  • The Buccaneers waived punter Chase Tenpenny, according to Scott Smith of Buccaneers.com on Twitter. Tampa Bay’s roster still houses two punters: veteran Michael Koenen, who’s punted for the Bucs for the past four seasons, and Andrew Wilder.

Minor Moves: Monday

We’ll keep tabs on Monday’s minor transactions from around the NFL in this space, with the latest moves added to the top of the list throughout the day:

  • The Rams have signed to two players to reserve/futures deal, adding tight end Brad Smelley and punter Michael Palardy, per Jim Thomas of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch (Twitter link).
  • The Giants have added a veteran to their offseason roster by singing linebacker Victor Butler to a reserve/futures deal, according to Field Yates of ESPN.com (via Twitter). Butler, 27, played for the Cowboys from 2009-12, but has bounced around in recent years, spending time with the Saints, Cardinals, and Colts in the past two seasons.

Earlier updates:

  • In addition to formally announcing the signing of DeMarcus Van Dyke (noted below), the Vikings also tweeted out word of their signings of defensive end Leon Mackey and defensive tackle Chigbo Anunoby.
  • The Jaguars announced three signings today, two of which had been previously reported. The new one is kicker Derek Dimke, who inked a reserve/futures contract with the team, per John Oehser of Jaguars.com (via Twitter).
  • Washington also confirmed a handful of signings that had already been reported, and added one more to the list. According to the club (via Twitter), former Abilene Christian wideout Braylon Bell has signed a futures deal.
  • Tight end Dorin Dickerson has signed a reserve/futures contract with the Titans, tweets Jim Wyatt of the Tennessean. The team removed Dickerson from their IR list back in August with a settlement, but worked him out again in November.
  • The Vikings have signed cornerback DeMarcus Van Dyke to a one-year futures contract, a league source tells Rand Getlin of Yahoo! Sports (Twitter link). Van Dyke was placed on injured reserve by the Chiefs at the end of the 2014 preseason, and was later released with an injury settlement.
  • The Buccaneers have added three players to their list of reserve/futures signings for 2015, according to Scott Smith of Buccaneers.com (Twitter link). The most notable player in the trio is safety M.D. Jennings, who spent his first three seasons with the Packers before being signed and cut by the Bears in 2014. Tampa Bay also signed tight end Taylor Sloat and punter Chase Tenpenny, whose agreement was previously reported.
  • Having previously signed nine of their 10 practice squad players to reserve/futures contracts for the 2015 season, the Eagles made it a clean sweep today, announcing that linebacker Brandon Hepburn had inked a deal of his own (Twitter link).

Bucs Sign Seven Players To Futures Deals

The Buccaneers have officially signed seven players to reserve/futures contracts for the 2015 season, according to Greg Auman of the Tampa Bay Times. Three of those agreements had been previously reported, while five of the seven players come from off Tampa Bay’s practice squad. Here’s the full list:

Of the players that finished the season on the team’s practice squad, defensive back Varmah Sonie, quarterback Mike Kafka, linebacker Denicos Allen, and linebacker Ka’Lial Glaud have not been signed to new deals. Meanwhile, Auman says that the club still intends to sign former Nevada punter Chase Tenpenny to a futures contract, as had been reported last month.

Minor Moves: Browns, Buccaneers

Today’s minor moves..

  • Browns defensive tackle John Hughes will be activated from the IR-DTR list, according to Jeff Schudel of The News-Herald (via Twitter). Hughes suffered an MCL injury in late October and has been sidelined ever since. He returned to practice about two weeks ago but remained on the short-term IR list.
  • The Buccaneers will sign punter Chase Tenpenny to a reserve-future deal, according to Aaron Wilson of the National Football Post (via Twitter).

Extra Points: Rice, Smith, Manziel, Panthers

No one worked out former Ravens running back Ray Rice today, according to Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk (via Twitter). There are a handful of teams with running back needs at the moment, but it would appear that there is little to no interest in the embattled running back. Lions coach Jim Caldwell recently said that the team hasn’t considered Rice while the Cardinals reportedly aren’t interested, despite the hip pointer injury suffered by starter Andre Ellington.

  • In an interview on SiriusXM, Cardinals coach Bruce Arians said that Arizona called the 49ers to try and acquire quarterback Alex Smith after he was hired in 2013, according to Alex Marvez of FOX Sports (via Twitter). The talks of a potential intra-divisional trade went nowhere, however.
  • Peter King of TheMMQB.com lays out why the Browns ought to start Johnny Manziel over Brian Hoyer this weekend against the Colts, making the case that it’s about not just this season, but about 2015 and beyond.
  • The Panthers did little to improve their roster during the offseason and look nothing like the team that made a tremendous run last season, writes Terrance Harris of The Times-Picayune. Among the changes was overhauling their receiving core and bidding farewell to Steve Smith over the offseason.
  • The Broncos, in addition to recently working out punter Chase Tenpenny, brought in several defensive players today for auditions, including FXFL linebacker Quandon Christian and former Monmouth cornerback Tevrin Brandon, per Aaron Wilson of the Baltimore Sun (all Twitter links). Wilson adds (via Twitter) that the team has an eye toward end-of-season reserve/futures contracts.
  • Ultimately signing Garrison Smith to their practice squad, the Saints also recently tried out several other defensive tackles, according to Aaron Wilson of the Baltimore Sun, who tweets that the club took a look at Michael Brooks, Jermelle Cudjo, and Kyle Love.

Audition Notes: Thursday

The latest workouts from around the National Football League..

  • The Buccaneers worked out a trio of punters (via Aaron Wilson on Twitter): Chase Tenpenny, Jacob Schum and Tom Hornsey.

Earlier updates:

  • The Patriots auditioned running back Dion Lewis, according to Aaron Wilson of the National Football Post (on Twitter). Lewis worked out for the Giants late last month during their bye week.
  • Before signing D.J. Smith to the taxi squad, the Browns also worked out linebacker Dan Fox, according to Wilson (on Twitter).

Workout Notes: Webster, Colts, Patriots

The Broncos had former Purdue punter Cody Webster this week, reports Jeff Legwold of ESPN (via Twitter). The team also worked out Chase Tenpenny last month. Legwold credits the reports to Field Yates of ESPN.

Brian McIntyre of NFL.com notes that this is the second time they have worked out a left-footed punter this season, both times doing so before playing one (via Twitter). Tenpenny was brought in before playing Dustin Colquitt and the Chiefs, and the team will face lefty Dave Zastudil of the Cardinals this weekend.

Here are some other workout notes from around the NFL:

  • The Colts worked out a number of players this week, notably two safeties in Winston Guy and Ray Ventrone, reports Yates (via Twitter). The team also brought in linebacker Victor Butler.
  • The Patriots also had a number of players in for their late week workout. Outside linebackers Lawrence Sidbury and Jamaal Westerman, defensive end Gerald Rivers, and quarterback Brad Sorensen came in to workout for the team, according to Yates (via Twitter).
  • The Bills already made a change at quarterback, and they brought in some tall receivers to see if they could find a diamond in the rough. L’Damian Washington and Ryan Spadola worked out for the team, reports Mike Rodak (via Twitter). He also credited the report to Yates.

West Notes: Sherman, Miller, Harvin, 49ers

The Packers didn’t throw the ball in Richard Sherman‘s direction last night and, after the game, the Seahawks star cornerback had a few quick words with Aaron Rodgers, writes Jason McIntyre of The Big Lead. “You avoided me, didn’t you?” Sherman appeared to ask. Pausing for a second, Rodgers responded, “Yup.” Here’s more out of the AFC and NFC West..

  • After Broncos linebacker Von Miller commented that J.J. Watt is still underpaid in his new deal with the Texans, former agent Joel Corry (on Twitter) believes that Miller will target more than $18MM per year when his contract talks begin. Watt netted a six-year extension worth $100MM with $51.876MM in guaranteed money but its hard to say what Denver will be willing to give Miller when considering his off-field trouble.
  • The Seahawks expected big things from Percy Harvin after acquiring him from the Vikings for a first-round pick and signing him to a six-year, $67MM extension. However, his hip problem limited him to playing in just two games before last year’s Super Bowl. Now, between that Super Bowl performance and last night’s romp over the Packers, Seattle is starting to get what they paid for, writes Alex Marvez of FOXSports.com.
  • The 49ers tried out punter Chase Tenpenny, tweets Aaron Wilson of the Baltimore Sun. Tenpenny was waived by the Chargers in late August.