Minor NFL Transactions: 10/24/20
Here is another spree of Saturday minor moves:
Arizona Cardinals
- Promoted: DL Trevon Coley
Atlanta Falcons
- Promoted: DE Austin Edwards, LB Edmond Robinson
Buffalo Bills
- Placed on IR: LB Tyrel Dodson
Carolina Panthers
- Promoted: G Mike Horton, WR Marken Michel
Chicago Bears
- Moved from IR to reserve/COVID-19 list: CB Michael Joseph
Cincinnati Bengals
- Activated from IR: DT Mike Daniels
- Promoted: CB Winston Rose
- Waived: DT Kahlil McKenzie
Dallas Cowboys
- Activated from IR: OL Cameron Erving
- Promoted: T Jordan Mills, C Adam Redmond
- Placed on IR: T Brandon Knight
Green Bay Packers
- Activated from IR: LB Kamal Martin
- Promoted: S Henry Black, G Ben Braden, RB Dexter Williams, DL Billy Winn
Jacksonville Jaguars
- Activated from IR: RB Devine Ozigbo
- Promoted: S Doug Middleton, TE Eric Saubert
- Placed on reserve/COVID-19 list: RB Chris Thompson
Kansas City Chiefs
- Promoted: OL Danny Isidora, WR Marcus Kemp
- Placed on IR: DL Khalen Saunders
Las Vegas Raiders
- Promoted: CB Dylan Mabin
New England Patriots
- Promoted: LB Tashawn Bower, DT Nick Thurman
New Orleans Saints
- Promoted: WR Austin Carr, OL Will Clapp, WR Juwan Johnson
New York Jets
- Activated from IR: OL Cameron Clark
- Promoted: K/P Sergio Castillo, LB Bryce Hager
Pittsburgh Steelers
- Promoted: FB Trey Edmunds, LB Jayrone Elliott
San Francisco 49ers
- Promoted: S Johnathan Cyprien, S Jared Mayden
Seattle Seahawks
- Promoted: LB Ray-Ray Armstrong
Tennessee Titans
- Activated from IR: S Dane Cruikshank
- Promoted: LB Darren Bates, OL David Quessenberry
Washington Football Team
- Promoted: WR Jeff Badet, WR Tony Brown, DT Devaroe Lawrence
- Placed on IR: OL Saahdiq Charles, WR Antonio Gandy-Golden
Ryan Pace's Job Not In Danger?
- The Bears may not need to make it back to the playoffs for their current power brokers to stay in place. Both Matt Nagy and GM Ryan Pace are believed to be on track to stick around for 2021, per Fowler and Graziano. Chicago’s 5-1 start has come with just a plus-12 point differential, and the team benched Pace’s handpicked quarterback early in the season. Despite Mitchell Trubisky‘s struggles and current backup status, Pace is currently believed to be safe to receive a seventh year as GM.
Bears Sign Manti Te’o To Practice Squad
Manti Te’o is back. The Bears are signing the veteran linebacker to their practice squad, the team announced on Tuesday. Thanks to the NFL’s new COVID-19 rules, veterans are allowed on practice squads for the first time.
Te’o, an extremely accomplished college player who was a Heisman finalist at Notre Dame, was originally drafted by the Chargers in the second-round back in 2013. He was mostly a starter during his time with the team, but also struggled with numerous injuries. After his rookie contract expired, he signed a two-year deal with New Orleans.
He appeared in all 16 games with the Saints in 2017 and started ten, but took on a much smaller role in 2018, when he only started twice and was a healthy scratch at times down the stretch. He sat out most of last season before suddenly reemerging and signing with the Saints in December of last year. He played in the final few games, starting two.
We didn’t hear anything of him this offseason until the Bears decided to work him out last week. Clearly they liked what they saw. Still only 29 he should have something left in the tank physically, and it’ll be interesting to see if he gets called up to the active roster soon.
2020 NFL Cap Space, By Team
As shown by Le’Veon Bell‘s recent deal with the Chiefs, big name free agents can come available at any point throughout the season. His contract wasn’t particularly pricey, but teams like to keep cash on hand during the year, especially when mulling potential trades before the deadline. Excess cap room can also be rolled over from year-to-year and give clubs the opportunity to lock up their most valuable players with extensions.
Here are the most recent figures for each team, via Over The Cap:
- Cleveland Browns – $33.1MM
- New York Jets – $27.9MM
- Dallas Cowboys — $23.9MM
- Washington Football Team – $23.6MM
- Jacksonville Jaguars– $22.9MM
- New England Patriots – $22.9MM
- Denver Broncos – $19.7MM
- Detroit Lions – $17MM
- Philadelphia Eagles– $18MM
- Miami Dolphins – $15.8MM
- Indianapolis Colts – $10.4MM
- Pittsburgh Steelers – $9.6MM
- Cincinnati Bengals– $9MM
- Baltimore Ravens – $9MM
- Arizona Cardinals– $8.9MM
- Chicago Bears – $8.4MM
- Tennessee Titans – $8.3MM
- Houston Texans – $8.1MM
- Los Angeles Chargers — $8MM
- New Orleans Saints – $8MM
- Green Bay Packers – $7.7MM
- New York Giants – $7.2MM
- Los Angeles Rams – $7MM
- Las Vegas Raiders – $6.3MM
- Carolina Panthers – $6.2MM
- Kansas City Chiefs – $5.8MM
- Buffalo Bills – $5MM
- San Francisco 49ers – $4MM
- Seattle Seahawks – $4MM
- Atlanta Falcons – $2MM
- Tampa Bay Buccaneers – $1.4MM
- Minnesota Vikings – $158K
Bears O-Line Coach Self Isolates
- The Bears improved to 5-1 with their win over the Panthers on Sunday, and they did it without one of their position coaches. Offensive line coach Juan Castillo is away from the team as he self isolates due to a close exposure to someone who is COVID-19 positive, Brad Briggs of the Chicago Tribune tweets. Castillo is apparently considered high risk, and the positive he was in contact with was someone away from the team and not a player.
NFL Practice Squad Updates: 10/16/20
Here are Friday’s practice squad decisions:
Chicago Bears
- Signed: DL Daniel McCullers
Washington Football Team
- Signed: DE Gerri Green
Minor NFL Transactions: 10/16/20
Here are Friday’s minor moves:
Carolina Panthers
- Placed on reserve/COVID-19 list: OL Tyler Larsen
- Placed on IR: DE Yetur Gross-Matos
Chicago Bears
- Activated from IR: DL John Jenkins
- Released: DL Daniel McCullers
Detroit Lions
- Placed on IR: TE Hunter Bryant
New York Giants
- Activated from IR: LB David Mayo
Philadelphia Eagles
- Placed on reserve/COVID-19 list: OL Matt Pryor; Pryor did not test positive for the coronavirus, Jeff McLane of the Philadelphia Inquirer tweets
Minor NFL Transactions: 10/14/20
Here are Wednesday’s minor moves:
Chicago Bears
- Promoted: OL Sam Mustipher
- Placed on IR: G James Daniels
Cleveland Browns
- Promoted: CB Robert Jackson
New England Patriots
- Signed off Jaguars’ practice squad: DL Carl Davis
Tennessee Titans
- Activated from reserve/COVID-19 list: WR Cameron Batson, WR Adam Humphries
Washington Football Team
- Claimed (from Eagles): DE Casey Toohill
Bears Work Out LBs Manti Te’o, Deone Bucannon
The Bears have some veteran linebackers on their radar. They brought in Manti Te’o and Deone Bucannon for workouts on Wednesday, with second-year defender Justin Phillips taking part in the audition as well, per the Houston Chronicle’s Aaron Wilson (on Twitter).
While Bucannon has been involved in the 2020 season’s unusual fall workout circuit, this marks Te’o’s first known workout since last season.
Te’o, 29, caught on with the Saints again in 2019, signing in December. He spent parts of three seasons in New Orleans, starting 10 games for the 2017 Saints and playing eight games over the past two seasons. The former Heisman finalist and second-round Chargers pick has made 48 career starts.
A former first-round Cardinals pick, Bucannon played 14 games with the Buccaneers and Giants last season. The former college defensive back made 25 tackles in 2019. The Falcons released him from their practice squad late last month. A 2019 UDFA, Phillips spent last season with the Raiders.
2021 NFL Draft Order
With most of Week 5 in the books, we bring you a way-too-early look at the current order for the 2021 NFL draft. For non-playoff teams, the draft order will be determined by the inverted 2020 standings, plus a series of tiebreakers, starting with strength of schedule. After that, the same goes for the six clubs eliminated from each round of the postseason, with the final two picks determined by the outcome of the Super Bowl.
Here’s where things stand in the race to the bottom:
- New York Giants (0-5)
- Atlanta Falcons (0-5)
- New York Jets (0-5)
- Washington Football Team (1-4)
- Minnesota Vikings (1-4)
- Jacksonville Jaguars (1-4)
- Miami Dolphins (via Houston Texans, 1-4)
- Los Angeles Chargers (1-3)
- Detroit Lions (1-3)
- Denver Broncos (1-3)
- Philadelphia Eagles (1-3-1)
- Cincinnati Bengals (1-3-1)
- Miami Dolphins (2-3)
- San Francisco 49ers (2-3)
- New Orleans Saints (2-2)
- New England Patriots (2-2)
- Arizona Cardinals (3-2)
- Indianapolis Colts (3-2)
- Dallas Cowboys (2-3)
- Carolina Panthers (3-2)
- Tampa Bay Buccaneers (3-2)
- Las Vegas Raiders (3-2)
- Kansas City Chiefs (4-1)
- Cleveland Browns (4-1)
- Chicago Bears (4-1)
- Baltimore Ravens (4-1)
- Jacksonville Jaguars (via Los Angeles Rams, 4-1)
- Tennessee Titans (3-0)
- Green Bay Packers (4-0)
- Pittsburgh Steelers (4-0)
- Buffalo Bills (4-0)
- New York Jets (via Seattle Seahawks, 4-0)