South Notes: Panthers, Williams, Bucs, Jaguars
The Panthers have added several role players to one-year deals recently, and David Newton of ESPN.com provides the contract details. Linebacker Jason Trusnik will earn $950K ($80K guaranteed), running back Jordan Todman will get $765K ($20K guaranteed), and receiver Jarrett Boykin will receive $700K ($20K guaranteed). All three will earn slightly more than the minimum required for their respective years of service time.
Here’s more from the NFL’s two South divisions…
- Receiver/return man Chris Williams has worked out for the Colts, Buccaneers, and Bengals, league sources tell Aaron Wilson of the National Football Post. The 27-year-old Williams spent the 2014 season with the Bears, appearing in six games, and returned one kickoff for a touchdown.
- In his latest draft diary entry for the Baltimore Sun, Penn State safety Adrian Amos reveals that he worked out for Buccaneers safeties coach Mikal Smith, and also notes that he worked out for an AFC team, though that club asked Amos not to mention them by name in the piece.
- The Buccaneers picked up the $4MM guaranteed in Dashon Goldson‘s 2015 base salary when they traded him to Washington on Friday, and the Jaguars could employ a similar tactic if they want to deal tight end Marcedes Lewis, suggests Ryan O’Halloran of the Florida Times-Union. If Jacksonville converts some of Lewis’ 2015 base salary into a signing bonus, O’Halloran writes, the market for the tight end could grow. We heard last month that the 30-year-old was drawing trade interest.
Bears Sign Jay Feely, Waive Chris Williams
In advance of tomorrow night’s game against the Cowboys, the Bears have tweaked their special teams unit, signing free agent kicker Jay Feely and waiving wide receiver and kick returner Chris Williams with an injured designation, the team announced today (Twitter link).
Feely, 38, was the Cardinals’ regular kicker from 2010 to 2013, but has remained on the open market this season, despite working out for several teams. Most recently, Feely had an impressive audition for the Broncos, making 14 of his 15 field goal tries, including a 60-yarder. However, Denver opted to sign the younger Connor Barth instead. By signing with the Bears, Feely will have an opportunity to assume kicking duties tomorrow if Robbie Gould, who is suffering from a sore quad, is unable to play.
Williams, meanwhile, returned kicks for the Bears for a good chunk of the season, but has been slowed by a hamstring injury as of late, and has been replaced by Marc Mariani in the return game.
Minor Moves: Tuesday
In addition to making changes to their practice squads, teams around the NFL are also tweaking the backs of their 53-man rosters today. We’ll round up the day’s minor transactions involving active rosters right here:
- To make room for Winn, the Lions have placed running back Montell Owens on injured reserve, tweets Tim Twentyman of DetroitLions.com. Owens’ contract expires after this season.
- After he tore ruptured Achilles last week, running back Joe McKnight has been placed on the Chiefs’ injured reserve list, according to Adam Teicher of ESPN.com (via Twitter). Offensive lineman Donald Stephenson‘s four-game suspension is up, so he takes McKnight’s roster spot, per Howard Balzer (Twitter link).
- The Bears have waived linebacker Terrell Manning, reports Brian McIntyre (Twitter link). Chicago had promoted Manning from its practice squad just over a week ago.
- Patriots Brandon Browner and Brian Tyms four-game bans are over, and both have received a roster exemption that lasts until October 6, says Balzer (on Twitter).
- Cornerback Deion Belue was waived from the Jaguars’ injured reserve with a failure to disclose physical condition designation, tweets Aaron Wilson of the Baltimore Sun.
Earlier updates:
- The Lions are promoting running back George Winn from their practice squad to their 53-man roster, according to Mike Garafolo of FOX Sports (Twitter link). As Garafolo notes, the move could suggest that the team expects Joique Bell to miss this weekend’s game, but Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press points out that Bell isn’t Detroit’s only ailing running back, tweeting that Montell Owens is expected to miss several weeks due to his latest hamstring injury.
- Linebacker Victor Butler has been dropped by the Cardinals, says Darren Urban of AZCardinals.com (via Twitter). Butler had been added to the roster when John Abraham was sidelined, but didn’t play a snap for the team.
- The Bears‘ practice squad/53-man roster shuffle continues this week, with the team promoting wideout Chris Williams to take the place of fellow receiver Rashad Ross (Twitter link). Two weeks ago, it was Ross being promoted and Williams being cut.
- The Steelers have terminated the contract of punter Adam Podlesh, who had been on the team’s reserve/did not report list, tweets Adam Caplan of ESPN.com.
Practice Squad Updates: Wednesday
In addition to today’s transactions involving 53-man rosters, several teams are also shuffling players on and off their practice squads. Here’s the latest news:
- The Bears have filled the three openings on their practice squad by signing tight end Blake Annen, cornerback Jordan Sullen, and wide receiver Chris Williams, the team announced today (via Twitter).
Earlier updates:
- Having been cut by the Raiders earlier this week, linebacker Bojay Filimoeatu has cleared waivers and rejoined the club’s practice squad, according to Vic Tafur of the San Francisco Chronicle (via Twitter). With the re-addition of Filimoeatu, the team is now back up to a full 10-man squad.
- After clearing waivers, defensive tackle Matt Conrath has made the move from the Rams‘ 53-man roster back to their practice squad, says Jim Thomas of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch (via Twitter).
- The Dolphins have signed cornerback Rod Sweeting to their practice squad, releasing linebacker Terrell Manning from the unit to clear a spot for the new addition, tweets Chris Perkins of the South Florida Sun Sentinel.
Minor Moves: Tuesday
We’ve devoted one Tuesday post to the practice squad shuffling being done by teams today, but many clubs around the league are also tweaking their 53-man rosters. We’ll round up a handful of those transactions right here, with new moves added to the top of the list throughout the day:
- The Cardinals have cut linebacker Marcus Benard, a source tells Rand Getlin of Yahoo! Sports (via Twitter). Benard was added to the roster last week when John Abraham left the team, so Abraham will assume his old roster spot now that he’s returning to the club.
- The Cardinals have also signed outside linebacker Victor Butler and cut punter Drew Butler, per Darren Urban of AZCardinals.com (via Twitter).
- Linebacker Ricky Sapp has replaced fellow linebacker Jason Ankrah on the Texans‘ 53-man roster, according to Mark Berman of FOX 26 Houston (Twitter link).
Earlier updates:
- In addition to the moves noted below, the Bears have also promoted defensive back Isaiah Frey to their active roster from their practice squad, and cut running back Shaun Draughn, as well as tight end Matthew Mulligan (Twitter link). The series of transactions leaves the club with 52 players on its roster.
- Former Vikings linebacker and special-teamer Larry Dean has signed with the Bills, the team announced today in a press release. To make room for Dean, Buffalo placed safety Jonathan Meeks on injured reserve with a neck injury.
- A week after placing tight end Tyler Eifert on IR with the designation to return, the Bengals have placed another tight end on injured reserve, and Alex Smith won’t be eligible to return the season (Twitter link). The team also announced that tight end Kevin Brock has been signed to take Smith’s roster spot.
- The Bears have promoted practice-squad wideout Rashad Ross to the 53-man roster, cutting receiver and returner Chris Williams to clear room, per Brad Biggs of the Chicago Tribune (via Twitter).
- Linebacker Dan Fox is set to be called up to the Giants‘ active roster from their practice squad, tweets Ebenezer Samuel of the New York Daily News, suggesting that placing Jon Beason on injured reserve may end up being the corresponding move.
- The Colts announced in a press release that they’ve signed defensive tackle Kelcy Quarles off the Patriots‘ practice squad, waiving running back Dion Lewis to create roster space.
Practice Squad Updates: Thursday
We’ll round up Thursday’s news related to teams adding and removing players from their practice squads in this post, with the latest moves added to the top of the page throughout the day….
- With Chris Long having been placed on the injured reserve list with the designation to return, the Rams filled his 53-man roster spot by promoting defensive tackle Matt Conrath from their practice squad, according to his agency Eastern Athletics (Twitter link). Defensive end Kourtnei Brown has been added to the team’s practice squad in Conrath’s place, per agency ARN Sports and Entertainment (Twitter link).
- After cutting him from their active roster, the Broncos have re-added wideout Nathan Palmer to their practice squad, the club announced today (Twitter link).
- The Bears have signed wide receiver and kick returner Chris Williams to their practice squad, tweets Jeff Dickerson of ESPNChicago.com. Williams, the fourth receiver on Chicago’s practice squad, will take the place of linebacker DeDe Lattimore, who has been cut.
- Defensive lineman Kona Schwenke has been removed from the Chiefs‘ practice squad to make room for newly-added safety Daniel Sorensen, tweets Terez A. Paylor of the Kansas City Star. Sorensen has cut from the club’s 53-man roster earlier in the week.
South Notes: Titans, Watt, Jags, Bucs
Let’s round up a few Wednesday items from out of the NFL’s two South divisions….
- The Titans appear to be eyeing secondary help. In addition to hosting Crezdon Butler for a tryout, as we heard yesterday, the team also auditioned veteran defensive backs Dominique Franks, Julian Posey, R.J. Stanford, and Terrell Thomas, per Aaron Wilson of the Baltimore Sun (via Twitter). In a separate tweet, Wilson adds that Tennessee had interest in signing cornerback Derek Cox before he returned to the Ravens.
- Paul Kuharsky of ESPN.com (Twitter link) provides the details on the contract that kicker Ryan Succop signed with the Titans. According to Kuharsky, it’s a minimum-salary pact with a $15K roster bonus.
- Jason Fitzgerald of Over The Cap provides a full year-by-year breakdown of what J.J. Watt‘s new contract extension with the Texans should look like, based on a report from John McClain of the Houston Chronicle.
- After auditioning for the Dolphins yesterday, tight end David Paulson has a tryout scheduled with the Jaguars for next Tuesday, tweets Wilson.
- Wide receivers Joe Anderson and Chris Williams, along with defensive backs Jordan Mabin and C.J. Wilson, worked out for the Buccaneers, according to Wilson (via Twitter).
Bears Cut Eben Britton, Others
4:41pm: The Bears have officially announced all their cuts, so we can add the following names to the list of players no longer on the team’s active roster:
- Josh Bellamy (WR)
- Brandon Dunn (DT)
- Kelvin Hayden (DB)
- M.D. Jennings (S) (waived with injury settlement)
- Al Louis-Jean (CB)
- Austen Lane (DE)
- Tracy Robertson (DT)
1:35pm: The Bears have also cut a duo of young defenders:
- C.J. Wilson (CB) (via Biggs on Twitter)
- Jerry Franklin (LB) (via Biggs on Twitter)
11:12am: The Bears cut down on their offensive line depth this morning, as Brad Biggs of The Chicago Tribune reports that Eben Britton will be released. The 26-year-old started four games for Chicago in 2013, seeing action on 235 snaps.
As Biggs notes, the only Bears backup lineman with any NFL experience is Brian De La Puente. The team appears ready to roll with rookies Charles Leno Jr. and Michael Ola.
The rest of the Bears moves are listed below:
- Taylor Boggs (C) (via Brad Biggs on Twitter)
- Marcus Trice (DB) (via Biggs on Twitter)
- Ryan Groy (OL) (via Biggs on Twitter)
- Eben Britton (OL) (via Biggs on Twitter)
- Dale Moss (WR) (via Biggs on Twitter)
- Chris Williams (WR) (via Biggs on Twitter)
- DeDe Lattimore (LB) (via Biggs on Twitter)
- Lee Pegues (DT) (via Biggs on Twitter)
Bears Notes: Clausen, Safeties, Scott
The Bears played another flag-filled preseason game last night, and the Chicago Tribune’s Brad Biggs provided his post-game thoughts:
- The Bears have ongoing competition for backup quarterback — Jimmy Clausen and Jordan Palmer are both playing well — and running back, where Shaun Draughn and fourth-rounder Ka’Deem Carey are vying for carries behind Matt Forte.
- The safety position remains a jumble, though Chris Conte is expected to be cleared for action in next week’s third preseason game, and the best estimation for the starting combination come opening day might be Conte and veteran Ryan Mundy.
- In keeping with the question mark theme, the job of kick returner is also up for grabs because Chris Williams is hurt, and Eric Weems has done nothing to take ownership. “The Bears have gone from Devin Hester to who-knows-what entering the third preseason game,” says Biggs.
- A week after starring in the first preseason game, tight end Zach Miller went down with a left foot injury. The team will get details on the injury today.
- Defensive end Trevor Scott is emerging as the fourth defensive end, says Biggs: “[Scott] looked good again. He’s got legit speed and is being used with the first unit on special teams by Joe DeCamillis.”
- Sixth-rounder Pat O’Donnell has all but locked up the punting job.
- With Marquess Wilson injured, veteran Josh Morgan could position himself as the third receiver.
- Shea McClellin, who is being scrutinized in Chicago, struggled again last night in his second game as a linebacker, says ESPN’s Michael C. Wright: “The Bears want to remain patient with Shea McClellin as he transitions to linebacker, but his play against the Jaguars seemed just about on par with his shoddy showing last week. McClellin did stuff the run once early on but continues to struggle at shedding blocks and making tackles in space.”