Corey Bojorquez

Minor NFL Transactions: 3/13/24

Today’s minor moves:

Chicago Bears

Cleveland Browns

Houston Texans

Jacksonville Jaguars

Miami Dolphins

New Orleans Saints

San Francisco 49ers

Seattle Seahawks

Tennessee Titans

Washington Commanders

Browns To Sign P Matt Haack

In their upcoming Thursday night matchup, the Browns could have new faces at both the kicker and punter positions. Cleveland has agreed to a deal with Matt Haack, NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo reports.

Incumbent punter Corey Bojorquez suffered a quad injury during the Browns’ win over the Texans, Garafolo notes. As a result, he joins kicker Dustin Hopkins (who left the game with a hamstring injury) as a Browns specialist in danger of missing the game against the Jets. Cleveland signed kicker Riley Patterson on Sunday to provide insurance against Hopkins being unable to play.

Like the Patterson deal, this Haack agreement is a practice squad signing. The latter has not played this season, having briefly spent the summer with the Cardinals. Arizona released Haack in August, leaving him on the open market until today’s move. The 29-year-old is an experienced mid-season addition, as he has 98 NFL games under his belt.

Haack began his career with the Dolphins, and his play in Miami earned him a three-year deal with the Bills when he reached free agency. He spent only one year in Buffalo, however, after he was released last summer. That quickly led to an agreement with the Colts, and he remained in Indianapolis throughout the season. Haack recorded a personal-best 44.8 yards per punt average in 2022, and his net average (39.6) was an improvement from the previous season’s performance.

Bojorquez has had a strong second season in Cleveland. Having punted a career-high 80 times this campaign, the 27-year-old has posted a 49.5 yard gross average and a 42.0 net average; both figures are the second highest of his career. Missing Bojorquez for any stretch could thus deal a blow to Cleveland’s special teams, but in case he is unable to suit up on Thursday, an experienced option is now in place.

Browns Sign P Corey Bojorquez

The Browns have made an addition to their special teams. Cleveland announced on Monday that they have signed punter Corey Bojorquez.

Nate Ulrich of the Akron Beacon Journal adds that the deal is for two years. Bojorquez originally came into the league with the Patriots as a UDFA in 2018, but it was with the Bills that he began his career that same year. The 25-year-old was in Buffalo for three seasons, including the 2020 campaign where he led the league in yards per punt with 50.8.

Bojorquez was then in a training camp battle with the Rams, which he ultimately lost to incumbent Johnny HekkerAs a result, Los Angeles traded him to the Packers. In 17 games with Green Bay, he once again held the distinction of owning the longest punt in the league at 82 yards. Overall, he averaged 46.5 yards on 53 punts.

While Green Bay’s overall special teams performance was among the worst in the league last year, many saw the individual play of Bojorquez himself (especially early in the season) as one of the unit’s bright spots. In Cleveland, he will replace Dustin Colquitt, making this the third straight year the Brows have a new punter. As Ulrich notes, the team still has work to do in the third phase, as they declined to tender RFA kicker Chase McLaughlin, leaving them with a vacancy at that position.

NFL COVID-19 List Updates: 1/1/22

Here are the New Year’s Day activations from and placements on the reserve/COVID-19 lists:

Atlanta Falcons

Baltimore Ravens

Carolina Panthers

Cincinnati Bengals

Dallas Cowboys

Denver Broncos

Detroit Lions

Green Bay Packers

Indianapolis Colts

Jacksonville Jaguars

Las Vegas Raiders

Los Angeles Chargers

Miami Dolphins

Minnesota Vikings

  • Activated from reserve/COVID-19 list: G Oli Udoh

New England Patriots

New Orleans Saints

New York Giants

New York Jets

  • Activated from reserve/COVID-19 list: CB Bryce Hall

Philadelphia Eagles

Pittsburgh Steelers

San Francisco 49ers

Seattle Seahawks

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Tennessee Titans

Rams To Trade P Corey Bojorquez To Packers

The Rams have made their decision at punter, and it appears All-Pro Johnny Hekker will keep his job. The team found a taker for its other punter as well.

The Packers will acquire Corey Bojorquez from the Rams, Tom Pelissero of NFL.com tweets. With the Bills over the past three years, Bojorquez will catch on with another contender this season.

Bojorquez landed in Los Angeles and pushed Hekker, whose roster spot was in jeopardy because of his near-$5MM cap hold. But the four-time first-team All-Pro will go into his 10th season as the Rams’ punter.

This trade stands to install Bojorquez atop Green Bay’s punting hierarchy, shoving aside incumbent J.K. Scott. The former UDFA has been the Packers’ punter for the past three years. Bojorquez’s 50.8 yards per punt, however, led the NFL last season and was more than five yards better than Scott’s average boot.

Rams Sign P Corey Bojorquez

With the Bills moving in a different direction at punter, Corey Bojorquez will head elsewhere. The Rams agreed to terms with the young specialist Tuesday.

Buffalo’s punter since 2018, Bojorquez will join a team that employs arguably the NFL’s premier punter. Four-time All-Pro Johnny Hekker has been the Rams’ punter since 2012 and is signed through 2023. Still, the Rams are adding Bojorquez, who is from the Los Angeles area.

The Rams may well only have room for Hekker on their final roster, but Bojorquez did lead the NFL with 50.8 yards per punt last season. The Bills signed former Dolphins punter Matt Haack early in free agency.

The Patriots added Bojorquez as a UDFA, but he did not kick in a game for them. The New Mexico alum found his way to Buffalo midway through the 2018 season and kicked in 16 games in each of the past two years. Hekker, 31, is due to count $4.94MM against Los Angeles’ cap this year.

Bills Sign QB Matt Barkley

The Bills signed quarterback Matt Barkley and Colton Schmidt to one-year deals, according to a team announcement. In related moves, punter Corey Bojorquez shoulder and RB Taiwan Jones neck were placed on injured reserve. 

With Josh Allen still sidelined by an elbow injury and Derek Anderson in concussion protocol, the Bills are expected to turn to embattled QB Nathan Peterman as their starter against the Bears. Barkley joins the club as Peterman’s likely backup for Sunday.

Barkley, 28, was most recently with the Bengals. He signed a two-year contract with the club back in March, but landed on IR after suffering a knee injury in the preseason. He was released by the Bengals on Sept. 12th with an injury settlement. The five-year pro has appeared in 11 games in his NFL career and made a season-high six starts in 2016 for the Bears, but he hasn’t done much of note on the field.

Colin Kaepernick remains available, and would represent a more accomplished alternative to Peterman or Barkley, but the Bills apparently did not want to go down that road.

Patriots Notes: Gronk, McDaniels, Guerrero

Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (video link) passes along a couple of interesting items this morning regarding several key faces in the Patriots’ locker room. While we knew that New England had indeed attempted to trade star tight end Rob Gronkowski this offseason, Rapoport says that those trade talks were “intense” and that the Pats were actually close to dealing Gronk at one point. However, Rapoport reports that Gronkowski then stepped in and adamantly informed the front office that he would either retire or remain with the Patriots, but that he would not go anywhere else. At that point, Rapoport says, trade talks were scrapped and, as we know, the team sweetened Gronk’s contract late last month.

Let’s take a look at a few more notes out of Foxborough as the Pats get set to kick off the 2018 campaign:

  • In response to Rapoport’s discussion about Gronkowski this morning, Tom E. Curran of NBC Sports Boston revisited a report of his own (video link) in which he indicated that the Patriots did talk with several clubs about a Gronkowski trade. However, Curran says interest in Gronk was more tepid than one might think — in contrast to Rapoport’s report that the Pats almost had a deal in place — and that Tom Brady informed the team that he would not play if his top tight end was dealt.
  • In the same report linked above, Rapoport says that one reason OC Josh McDaniels left the Colts at the altar this offseason is because the Patriots gave him a five-year contract — which is largely unheard of for a coordinator — and that the contract pays McDaniels like a first-time head coach. In fact, Rapoport says that McDaniels is by far the highest-paid coordinator in the league, and his contract will eventually pay him over $4MM per year.
  • The role of Brady’s personal trainer, Alex Guerrero, has been one of the sources of conflict between Brady and head coach Bill Belichick, as we explained earlier this year. However, Rapoport reports that a compromise on Guerrero’s role has been reached. Under the terms of the compromise, Brady and Gronkowski may use Guerrero’s services when they so choose, and Guerrero has “solid” access to Gillette Stadium. Guerrero may also travel with the team, though Rapoport says he is unlikely to travel as much as he did in the past. The most important thing for all sides is that they do not publicly discuss the Guerrero issue in the future, and Rapoport no longer expects the trainer’s role to be a major storyline.
  • The Bills claimed punter Corey Bojorquez  off waivers from the Patriots last week even though Bojorquez never punted in a preseason game. Bojorquez’s lack of game usage was somewhat surprising given that he was seen as a legitimate threat to unseat incumbent punter Ryan Allen, but Mike Reiss of ESPN.com says the team may have been trying to “hide” Bojorquez so that he could clear waivers and return to the Pats’ practice squad, which Bojorquez himself appeared to confirm.
  • Reiss also passes along a couple of notes on the Patriots’ two newest practice squad players, WR Jace Billingsley and T Eric Smith. Reiss says that the team had interest in signing Billingsley to the practice squad last year — he ultimately chose to remain in Detroit on the Lions’ taxi squad — and that the Pats are paying Smith $20K per week (instead of the standard $7,600) because they coveted tackle depth and needed to give him a compelling reason to come to Foxborough.

 

Sunday NFL Transactions: AFC East

Listed below are the Sunday roster moves for the four AFC East 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 Bills, Dolphins, Patriots, and Jets are noted below.

Additionally, as of 12:00pm CT today, teams can begin constructing their 10-man practice squads. 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 AFC East transactions, which will continue to be updated throughout the day:

Buffalo Bills

Claimed:

Cut:

Practice squad:

Miami Dolphins

Claimed:

Placed on injured reserve:

Cut:

Practice squad:

New England Patriots

Claimed:

Placed on injured reserve:

Practice squad:

New York Jets

Practice squad:

Patriots Make Roster Cuts

The Patriots are the latest team to move to 53 players by making the following transactions:

Placed on injured reserve:

Cut:

New England kept only three true wide receivers on its initial roster, meaning the club will almost surely be searching for more options on the waiver wire.