NFL Workout Updates: 9/9/19
A handful of workout notes from around the NFL:
Chicago Bears
- OL Dino Boyd, OL Parker Ehinger, OL Brandon Hitner, OL Jaryd Jones-Smith (via Chicago Tribune’s Brad Biggs on Twitter)
Green Bay Packers
- LB Joey Alfieri, WR Trinity Benson, LB Gary Johnson, TE Scott Orndoff, LB Gimel President, G Malcolm Pridgeon, DT Cory Thomas, RB Johnathan Thomas, NT Jay-Tee Tiuli, QB Phillip Walker (via ESPN’s Rob Demovsky)
NFL Cap Space By Team For 2019
With hours to go before the start of the 2019 NFL season, here’s a rundown of how much cap room each NFL team has (via ESPN.com’s Field Yates, on Twitter):
- Indianapolis Colts – $42.1MM
- Cleveland Browns – $32.7MM
- Miami Dolphins – $31.9MM
- Houston Texans – $29.5MM
- Buffalo Bills – $24.8MM
- Tennessee Titans – $24.1MM
- Dallas Cowboys – $22.3MM
- Detroit Lions – $19.2MM
- San Francisco 49ers – $18.7MM
- Chicago Bears – $17.3MM
- Carolina Panthers – $16.6MM
- Washington Redskins – $15.9MM
- Philadelphia Eagles – $14.8MM
- Cincinnati Bengals – $13.3MM
- Kansas City Chiefs – $12.4MM
- Oakland Raiders – $12MM
- Denver Broncos – $11.2MM
- Green Bay Packers – $10.8MM
- Los Angeles Chargers – $10.2MM
- Jacksonville Jaguars – $9.5MM
- New York Jets – $9.3MM
- Seattle Seahawks – $8.6MM
- Baltimore Ravens – $8.2MM
- Pittsburgh Steelers – $6.3MM
- New England Patriots – $4.9MM
- Arizona Cardinals – $2.7MM
- Tampa Bay Buccaneers – $1.2MM
- Minnesota Vikings – $1.2MM
- Los Angeles Rams – $852K
- New Orleans Saints – $604K
- Atlanta Falcons – $493K
- New York Giants – $457K
Sunday NFL Transactions: NFC North
Listed below are the Sunday roster moves for the four NFC North teams. Following the 53-man roster cutdown deadline yesterday, many teams will make slight tweaks to their rosters, claiming players off waivers or signing guys who clear waivers. Those transactions for the Bears, Lions, Packers and Vikings are noted below.
Additionally, teams can begin constructing their 10-man practice squads today. You can check out our glossary entry on practice squads to brush up on those changes, as well as all the other guidelines that govern the 10-man units, whose players practice with the team but aren’t eligible to suit up on Sundays.
Here are Sunday’s NFC North transactions, which will continue to be updated throughout the day.
Chicago Bears
- Signed to practice squad:
- OL Alex Bars
- QB Tyler Bray
- DB Stephen Denmark
- LB Jonathan Harris
- TE Jesper Horsted
- WR Thomas Ives
- DB Michael Joseph
- OL Sam Mustipher
- RB Ryan Nall
- LB James Vaughters
Detroit Lions
- Signed to practice squad:
- DT John Atkins
- WR Jonathan Duhart
- WR Tom Kennedy
- LB Steve Longa
- TE Isaac Nauta
- T Matt Nelson
- LB Anthony Pittman
- RB Mark Thompson
- TE Austin Traylor
- DE Jonathan Wynn
Green Bay Packers
- Signed to practice squad:
- TE Evan Baylis
- RB Tra Carson
- CB Kabion Ento
- WR Allen Lazard
- DL James Looney
- T Yosh Nijman
- LB Randy Ramsey
- LB Brady Sheldon
- WR Malik Taylor
- QB Manny Wilkins
Minnesota Vikings
- Signed to practice squad:
- FB Khari Blasingame
- QB Jake Browning
- T Aviante Collins
- LB Devante Downs
- DE Stacy Keely
- CB Nate Meadors
- WR Dillon Mitchell
- K Chase McLaughlin
- LB Cameron Smith
Bears Going With Eddy Pineiro At Kicker
The Bears have made a decision on their Week 1 kicker. The team is officially rolling with Eddy Pineiro, according to Ian Rapoport of NFL Network (Twitter link). “He deserves it,” head coach Matt Nagy said.
The Bears traded a 2021 seventh-round pick to the Raiders back in May for Pineiro, and now he’s won their competition. The Bears have cycled through kickers this offseason, leaving no stone unturned in their search to replace Cody Parkey. Parkey, of course, missed a last-second field goal in the Bears’ playoff loss to the Eagles last year that would’ve sent them on to the next round.
Pineiro beat out former AAF kicker Elliott Fry, among others, in the months-long battle. When Fry was waived a couple of weeks ago, it was reported that the Bears were still in the market for another kicker and it looked like they preferred an outside option to Pineiro, but they ultimately opted not to add anybody off the street or on waivers. Pineiro showed well in the preseason, nailing a 58-yarder, which clearly helped his cause. The Florida product signed with Oakland as an undrafted free agent last year, and spent his entire rookie season on injured reserve. He may have made the roster for now, but he’ll be on a short leash considering the intense scrutiny that any Bears kicker will be under.
Jets Claim Kicker Kaare Vedvik
This has been quite the weekend for the Jets. On Sunday, they piled up even more transactions by claiming four players off waivers:
- K Kaare Vedvik (Vikings)
- WR Braxton Berrios (Patriots)
- DE John Franklin, (Bears)
- DB Bennett Jackson (Ravens)
The Vikings traded a fifth-round pick to acquire kicker/punter Kaare Vedvik just a few weeks ago, but dumped him on Saturday. The Jets, meanwhile, have been looking hard for kicking solutions and they appear to have found their guy with days to go before the season opener. To make room, they cut kicker Taylor Bertolet.
The Jets, naturally, will have to release more players to conform with the 53-man maximum.
Bears Sign G Cody Whitehair To Extension
The Bears have signed guard Cody Whitehair to a massive extension, sources tell Adam Schefter of ESPN.com (Twitter link). It will be a five-year, $52.5MM pact that features $27.5MM in guaranteed money, the second-highest guaranteed sum for a guard extension in league history.
Whitehair has been a key factor in the Bears’ offensive line success over the past three seasons, but despite earning a Pro Bowl nod in 2018, he was asked to change positions this year. Chicago is inserting 2018 second-round pick James Daniels at center, meaning Whitehair has been shifted to left guard.
Whitehair has experience moving between positions. At Kansas State, the now-27-year-old spent his first two seasons at guard before moving to tackle for his junior and senior campaigns. In the NFL, Whitehair has mostly stuck at center, although he did line up at both guard positions for a bit in 2018. The results have mostly been spectacular, as Whitehair graded as a top-10 center last season while ranking top-six in pressures allowed (min. 50% playtime), per Pro Football Focus.
Though the guarantee is nice, the average annual value of the deal ($10.5MM) shows that Chicago is paying Whitehair more like a top center than like a top guard. The AAV places Whitehair ninth among all guard contracts but third among all center contracts. But Whitehair, who would have been eligible for free agency in 2020, opted for the financial security of the extension rather than bet on himself for a marginally larger payday next year.
Bears Cut 34, Reach Max
The Bears reached the NFL’s mandatory 53-man limit by dropping 34 players and placing two players on IR.
Here’s the full breakdown:
Waived:
RB Josh Caldwell
RB Ryan Nall
WR Tanner Gentry
WR Taquan Mizzell Sr.
WR Marvin Hall
WR Thomas Ives
WR Joe Walker
WR Jordan Williams-Lambert
TE Ellis Richardson
TE Jesper Horsted
TE Ian Bunting
OL Jordan McCray
OL Alex Bars
OL Sam Mustipher
OL Marquez Tucker
OL Joe Lowery
OL Tommy Doles
DE Jonathan Bullard
DL Jonathan Harris
DL Jalen Dalton
DL Daryle Banfield
LB Jameer Thurman
OLB Chuck Harris
OLB Matt Betts
CB Michael Joseph
CB John Franklin III
CB Clifton Duck
S Jonathon Mincy Sr.
S Doyin Jibowu
LS John Wirtel
OLB Kylie Fitts
OLB James Vaughters
CB Stephen Denmark
Released:
QB Tyler Bray
Placed on IR:
TE Dax Raymond
G Blake Blackmar
Colts, Texans, Browns Lead NFL In Cap Space
On Tuesday morning, the NFL released a report of every team’s cap space. The total number accounts for the top-51 cap numbers on every team’s roster. Therefore, these numbers will naturally change before next week as teams set their 53-man rosters (although the 52nd- and 53rd-ranked cap numbers (and beyond) for each team will hardly change anything).
It’s also worth noting that there have been a handful of extensions, trades, signings, and cuts since this report was released. However, there weren’t any significant moves that would drastically alter these rankings.
Why are these numbers important at this time of year? Well, rosters will be trimmed on Saturday, meaning an influx of players will hit the open market. While we can’t imagine any roster casualties earning a lucrative contract from a new team, these numbers can help illustrate the monetary advantage one organization has over another. These numbers are also useful in regards to any potential trades or extensions.
With help from TheMMQB.com’s Albert Breer on Twitter, we’ve listed the league’s cap space totals (as of Tuesday morning) below:
- Indianapolis Colts: $56.6MM
- Houston Texans: $37.0MM
- Cleveland Browns: $34.6MM
- Dallas Cowboys: $26.1MM
- Tennessee Titans: $26.0MM
- San Francisco 49ers: $25.5MM
- Buffalo Bills: $23.3MM
- Miami Dolphins: $22.1MM
- Chicago Bears: $22.1MM
- Washington Redskins: $21.7MM
- Detroit Lions: $21.5MM
- Kansas City Chiefs: $21MM
- Cincinnati Bengals: $19.7MM
- Seattle Seahawks: $19.5MM
- Philadelphia Eagles: $18.6MM
- Jacksonville Jaguars: $18.2MM
- Oakland Raiders: $17.3MM
- Los Angeles Chargers: $16.4MM
- Green Bay Packers: $15.2MM
- New York Jets: $14.9MM
- New England Patriots: $14.1MM
- Baltimore Ravens: $13.4MM
- New Orleans Saints $7.5MM
- Carolina Panthers $5.9MM
- Los Angeles Rams $5.6MM
- New York Giants $5.5MM
- Pittsburgh Steelers $4.9MM
- Minnesota Vikings $4.7MM
- Arizona Cardinals $4.7MM
- Denver Broncos $4.4MM
- Tampa Bay Buccaneers $4.3MM
- Atlanta Falcons $3.4MM
Minor NFL Transactions: 8/28/19
We’ll keep track of today’s roster shuffling here as teams gear up for major cuts at the end of the week:
Buffalo Bills
- Placed on IR: DE Mike Love
- Waived: P Corey Carter
- Waived from IR: OL De’Ondre Wesley
Carolina Panthers
- Signed: LS Andrew DePaola
- Placed on IR: DT Destiny Vaeao
Chicago Bears
- Claimed off waivers: OL Tommy Doles
Detroit Lions
- Signed: RB James Williams
Green Bay Packers
- Signed: CB Jackson Porter
- Waived (failed physical): LB Nicholas Grigsby
Houston Texans
- Waived: DB Deante Burton, DB Derrick Jones
Jacksonville Jaguars
- Waived from injured reserve: RB Roc Thomas
New England Patriots
- Waived from injured reserve: WR Maurice Harris
Philadelphia Eagles
- Signed: OT Riley Mayfield
- Placed on IR: WR Charles Johnson
Tennessee Titans
- Waived: TE Cole Wick
- Waive/injured: OLB Josh Smith
Seattle Seahawks
- Signed: T Will Holden, DE Logan Tago
- Waived: DT Jay-Tee Tiuli
Bears OL T.J. Clemmings Out For Season
The Bears’ offensive line depth took a hit today, as the team placed T.J. Clemmings on IR with a quad injury, per Jeff Dickerson of ESPN.com (via Twitter). Chicago signed Clemmings back in May with the idea that he could serve as a solid swing tackle, but now the club will have to turn to someone else to fill that role.
The Bears liked Clemmings coming out of college in 2015, though he was ultimately drafted by the division-rival Vikings. He spent the first two years of his career in Minnesota, starting 30 of his 31 games. He was waived prior to the 2017 season and caught on with the Redskins, ultimately appearing in six games (two starts) for Washington. The Redskins waived Clemmings prior to last season, but he was quickly claimed by the Raiders. The 27-year-old appeared in four games for Oakland in 2018 before succumbing to a season-ending knee injury.
Now, a quad ailment to his other leg has ended his 2019 campaign before it could start. Cam Ellis of NBC Sports Chicago says the Pittsburgh product suffered the injury during the Bears’ preseason game against the Colts on Saturday.
The Bears may now turn to UDFA Alex Bars to serve as their primary backup at offensive tackle.