Bengals Claim DE Takk McKinley

The Bengals used their high waiver priority to bring in a former first-round defensive lineman. Recently cut Falcons edge rusher Takk McKinley will head to Cincinnati after the Bengals claimed him Wednesday.

McKinley will join a Bengals team that has been without defensive ends Sam Hubbard and Carlos Dunlap; the former is on IR and the latter is now a Seahawk. With the Falcons not exercising the 2017 first-rounder’s fifth-year option, McKinley’s rookie contract expires after the 2020 season.

The Falcons dropped McKinley after not finding a taker for him in a trade. The team fined the defensive end for comments he made regarding his trade status. McKinley has 17.5 career sacks; just one of those has come during the 2020 season. The UCLA product registered 13 sacks over his first two seasons but has just 4.5 since the 2019 campaign.

Atlanta sought a fourth-round pick for McKinley but held onto him at the deadline, despite McKinley tweeting the team received offers involving fifth- and/or sixth-round picks. The Falcons tried to unload Vic Beasley in similar fashion ahead of last year’s trade deadline but retained him, and Beasley produced down the stretch. The team has now dismantled its longtime pass-rushing duo, and McKinley will have a shot to rebound ahead of a possible free agency run in 2021.

Just one Bengal — fourth-year defensive end Carl Lawson — has registered more than one sack this season. Like McKinley, Lawson is in a contract year. Hubbard has also returned to practice this week and could be activated ahead of Cincinnati’s Week 10 game. The Bengals minimized Dunlap’s role and saw him become quite vocal about the demotion, leading to a trade. They will now take a flier on another player who went public about his standing with an organization.

NFL Practice Squad Updates: 11/11/20

We’ll keep track of today’s practice squad moves here:

Cincinnati Bengals

Detroit Lions

Los Angeles Rams

New England Patriots

New York Jets

Pittsburgh Steelers

Seattle Seahawks

Minor NFL Transactions: 11/10/20

We’ve got a long list of all the minor transactions from the last day or so:

Arizona Cardinals

Atlanta Falcons

Chicago Bears

Cincinnati Bengals

Denver Broncos

Detroit Lions

Green Bay Packers

Houston Texans

Indianapolis Colts

  • Waived: DL Ron’Dell Carter
  • Promoted: WR DeMichael Harris

Kansas City Chiefs

Los Angeles Rams

Minnesota Vikings

New England Patriots

New York Giants

New York Jets

San Francisco 49ers

Washington Football Team

2020 NFL Cap Space, By Team

The trade deadline is in the rear view mirror, but teams are still keeping a watchful eye on their salary cap figures. For contenders, the available dollars can be used for late-season signings. For all clubs, a portion of the unspent dollars can be rolled over into future seasons, giving them a larger budget to work with in the first wave of free agency.

Here are the most recent figures for each team, via Over The Cap:

  1. Cleveland Browns – $31MM
  2. New York Jets – $30.4MM
  3. Dallas Cowboys — $28MM
  4. Jacksonville Jaguars– $26.3MM
  5. Philadelphia Eagles– $23.9MM
  6. Washington Football Team – $23.3MM
  7. New England Patriots – $21.8MM
  8. Denver Broncos – $19.8MM
  9. Miami Dolphins – $15.6MM
  10. Detroit Lions – $14.2MM
  11. Cincinnati Bengals– $12.3MM
  12. Indianapolis Colts – $10.7MM
  13. Los Angeles Chargers — $8.4MM
  14. New York Giants – $8MM
  15. Chicago Bears – $7.6MM
  16. Houston Texans – $7.5MM
  17. Los Angeles Rams – $6.9MM
  18. Pittsburgh Steelers – $6.9MM
  19. Green Bay Packers – $6.7MM
  20. Arizona Cardinals– $6.2MM
  21. New Orleans Saints – $6MM
  22. Las Vegas Raiders – $6MM
  23. Kansas City Chiefs – $5.7MM
  24. Carolina Panthers – $5.5MM
  25. Tampa Bay Buccaneers – $5.3MM
  26. Tennessee Titans – $4.6MM
  27. Minnesota Vikings – $3.8K
  28. San Francisco 49ers – $3.7MM
  29. Seattle Seahawks – $3.3MM
  30. Baltimore Ravens – $3.3MM
  31. Buffalo Bills – $3MM
  32. Atlanta Falcons – $1.8MM

Minor NFL Transactions: 11/6/20

Here are Friday’s minor moves:

Chicago Bears

Cincinnati Bengals

Kansas City Chiefs

Miami Dolphins

Minnesota Vikings

New Orleans Saints

New York Giants

San Francisco 49ers

NFL Practice Squad Updates: 11/3/20

Today’s practice squad moves:

Arizona Cardinals

Cincinnati Bengals

Green Bay Packers

Las Vegas Raiders

Los Angeles Rams

Miami Dolphins

New York Jets

Philadelphia Eagles

Seattle Seahawks

Trade Rumors: Thomas, Njoku, Watt, Jets

Saints head coach Sean Payton has said his team has no interest in trading star receiver Michael Thomas, though Thomas’ camp was recently said to be looking for potential deals. There has been no movement towards a Thomas trade, and whether that’s because New Orleans has no interest in dealing him or because the club has not received an offer it likes, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com says Thomas will stay put.

With the trade deadline two days away, let’s round up a few more rumors on players who could be on the move:

  • The Browns don’t want to trade tight end David Njoku, but Njoku has renewed his request to be dealt, and Rapoport says Cleveland has been fielding calls on the former first-rounder. It may take at least a fourth-round pick to get a deal done, but with Austin Hooper set to return and with the emergence of rookie Harrison Bryant, the Browns may elect to move Njoku.
  • Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports writes that the Texans are at the center of the trade market, with one executive saying Houston could move as many as five players if it wants to. Rapoport expects the Packersinterest in Will Fuller — which dates back to the summer — to ramp up, but it will likely take a high pick to convince the Texans to move Fuller. Fellow WR Kenny Stills has also drawn some interest, though rival clubs see the contracts for Stills and Randall Cobb as prohibitive. DE J.J. Watt may be receptive to a trade, but considering his contract and age, other teams probably don’t value him like the Texans do.
  • The Jets have received calls on LB Avery Williamson, OTs George Fant and Chuma Edoga, and CB Quincy Wilson, per Albert Breer of SI.com. Rich Cimini of ESPN.com says the Steelers — who recently lost Devin Bush for the season — could be in the market for Williamson, and Edoga also seems like a good bet to be dealt since he does not look like a fit with the current regime.
  • La Canfora says teams have also called the Jets about WR Breshad Perriman and TE Chris Herndon, though Breer notes that safety Marcus Maye has not drawn much interest.
  • Rapoport names Dolphins RB Jordan Howard and Seahawks TE Jacob Hollister as two other players who could be moved. And though the Bengals are shopping disgruntled wideout John Ross, Jeremy Fowler of ESPN.com says there hasn’t been interest in Ross (Twitter link).

Minor NFL Transactions: 10/31/20

Here is the league’s avalanche of Halloween minor moves:

Arizona Cardinals

Atlanta Falcons

Baltimore Ravens

Buffalo Bills

Chicago Bears

Cincinnati Bengals

Cleveland Browns

Denver Broncos

Detroit Lions

Green Bay Packers

Jacksonville Jaguars

Las Vegas Raiders

Los Angeles Chargers

Los Angeles Rams

Miami Dolphins

Minnesota Vikings

New England Patriots

New Orleans Saints

New York Jets

Philadelphia Eagles

Pittsburgh Steelers

San Francisco 49ers

Seattle Seahawks

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Tennessee Titans

Bengals Promote G Quinton Spain

The Bengals signed free agent guard Quinton Spain to the practice squad on Friday and are promoting him to their active roster. 

[RELATED: Bengals Not Planning To Trade Atkins]

The signing was anticipated, and Spain is in line to make his Bengals debut. He will beat fellow offensive line newcomer B.J. Finney to that punch, with the latter still in the COVID-19 protocol after changing cities.

Spain started every game for the Bills last season, helping their run game transform from one of the NFL’s worst in 2018 to a top-10 attack. The Bills re-signed him to a three-year, $15MM deal in the offseason, only to cut him in October after he was leapfrogged by other guards. All in all, Spain has started 66 career games, working as a first-stringer for the Titans and Bills since 2015.

The Bengals could be making some more moves between now and Tuesday’s deadline, but they reportedly aren’t planning on trading Geno Atkins. Of course, that possibility can’t be ruled out after they traded all-time sack leader Carlos Dunlap.

To make room on the reserve unit, the Bengals cut defensive end Kendall Futrell. However, with Spain being elevated, the young defensive end may have a path back to Cincinnati’s taxi squad.

Bengals Shopping WR John Ross

John Ross reiterated his request to be traded Friday, and the Bengals may be attempting to accommodate the disgruntled deep threat.

The Bengals, who have made Ross a healthy scratch at times this season, have made calls on the fourth-year wide receiver, Tyler Dragon of the Cincinnati Enquirer tweets.

He of a Combine-record 4.22-second 40-yard dash, Ross is listed as questionable with an illness for Sunday’s Bengals-Titans game. Ross disputed this designation, indicating (via Twitter) he is healthy and dissatisfied with his role. Ross has just two catches for 17 yards this season.

Cincinnati has already unloaded Carlos Dunlap after his weeks-long dissatisfaction spree, and the team is covered at wide receiver. The Bengals have used A.J. Green, Tyler Boyd and second-round pick Tee Higgins as their top three wideouts. Auden Tate, who came up in trade rumors after being a healthy scratch earlier this season, also still resides on the Bengals’ roster. Tate is controlled beyond 2020; Ross is not.

Despite the Dunlap deal, however, the Bengals are not known for aggressiveness in trades. The rebuilding team is not willing to deal 11th-year defensive tackle Geno Atkins, and Sirius XM Radio’s Adam Caplan threw cold water on the prospect of a trade. The Bengals would rather let Ross walk in March than deal him now, per Caplan (on Twitter). Teams are interested in Ross, per Caplan, which would make an anti-trade stance rather confusing.

Ross’ injury troubles led the Bengals to pass on his fifth-year option. The ex-Washington Husky, however, has shown intermittent promise. He caught seven touchdown passes in 2018 and surpassed 500 receiving yards in eight games last season. This and his elite speed would make Ross an interesting trade chip ahead of Tuesday’s deadline.

Show all