Minor NFL Transactions: 8/18/20
Here are Tuesday’s minor moves, with the list being updated throughout the afternoon.
Cleveland Browns
- Waived/injured: DE George Obinna
Dallas Cowboys
- Signed: T Pace Murphy
Las Vegas Raiders
- Waived: CB Ken Crawley
- Activated from reserve/COVID-19 list: RB Rod Smith
Minnesota Vikings
- Signed: LB Hardy Nickerson
- Waived: CB Marcus Sayles
Seattle Seahawks
- Claimed (from Falcons): QB Danny Etling
- Signed: DT P.J. Johnson
Cowboys Release Gerald McCoy
It does not appear Gerald McCoy‘s three-year Cowboys contract will make it into Year 1. Following the veteran defensive tackle’s quadriceps injury, the Cowboys are releasing him, Adam Schefter of ESPN.com tweets.
An injury waiver exists within McCoy’s deal, and Schefter adds the Cowboys are using this mechanism to release McCoy (Twitter link). While a standard release would have cost Dallas $7MM, the franchise will move off this contract and pay out just $3MM.
The former top-five pick was due $9MM in guarantees on the three-year, $18MM pact he signed in March. The Cowboys, however, are off the hook for McCoy’s $2.5MM 2020 base salary and $750K roster bonus, Michael Gehlken of the Dallas Morning News tweets. The team inserted this waiver into McCoy’s contract after determining he had a pre-existing quadriceps condition, Gehlken adds (via Twitter).
McCoy is not expected to play this season. He suffered a torn quad earlier this week. The Cowboys have been busy on their defensive line this offseason, adding Dontari Poe, Aldon Smith and Everson Griffen. But McCoy was slated to be a key player for the Cowboys this season. The team has already moved on, with the release showing up on the league’s transaction wire.
The Buccaneers released McCoy last summer, and the six-time Pro Bowler found his way to the Panthers. McCoy played in 16 games last season, registering five sacks to give him 59.5 for his career. His best hope of adding to this total will be a return to health in advance of his age-33 season in 2021.
Vander Esch, Smith Swap Spots
- Leighton Vander Esch has been playing a new position at Cowboys camp. The third-year linebacker has swapped spots with Jaylon Smith, with Vander Esch now playing middle linebacker and Smith shifting to the weak side, Clarence Hill of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram notes. Both players are set to reprise their roles as Dallas’ three-down ‘backers. The Cowboys changed defensive coordinators this offseason, moving from Rod Marinelli to Mike Nolan. Vander Esch is returning from offseason neck surgery.
- The Cowboys will have a new voice in their quarterbacks room, at least for training camp. Seneca Wallace is working with Dallas’ QBs as a training camp staffer, Jon Machota of The Athletic tweets. Wallace joins fellow recent NFL passers Kellen Moore and Scott Tolzien on the Cowboys’ staff. Like Tolzien, Wallace spent time in Green Bay during Mike McCarthy‘s run.
Cowboys’ Gerald McCoy Done For Year
A torn quadriceps muscle will rule out Cowboys defensive tackle Gerald McCoy for the year, per an announcement from the team. The injury was initially feared to be an ACL tear, but the end result is the same.
[RELATED: Prescott Expects To Remain With Cowboys Long-Term]
The Cowboys inked McCoy to a three-year, ~$20MM deal in March. Even though it was a lot less than McCoy’s massive Bucs deal, it was still a significant layout for Dallas. For the 32-year-old, it was an opportunity to win in the twilight of his career.
McCoy hooked on with the Panthers last year after spending his previous nine pro seasons with the Buccaneers. He started in every game for Carolina and was still effective on the interior – he finished out with five sacks, bringing his career total to 59.5.
McCoy was set to join forces with DeMarcus Lawrence and Tyrone Crawford on Dallas’ D-Line, helping to fill the void left by the departures of Robert Quinn and Maliek Collins. Now, he’ll have to wait until next year to make his Dallas debut.
Minor NFL Transactions: 8/16/20
Here are today’s minor moves. We will update this list as necessary throughout the day:
Buffalo Bills
- Signed: DL Tanzel Smart, DT Justin Zimmer
- Waived: WR Nick Easley
- Waived/injured: DT Niles Scott
Carolina Panthers
- Signed: WR Tommylee Lewis, WR Marken Michel, TE Andrew Vollert
- Waived: TE Cam Sutton, LB Kyahva Tezino, WR DeAndrew White
- Waived off IR: LB Jason Ferris
Cleveland Browns
- Signed: C Casey Dunn
- Waived: G Jovahn Fair
Dallas Cowboys
- Waived: DE Jalen Jelks
Kansas City Chiefs
- Signed: WR Aleva Hifo
New York Giants
- Waived: WR Cody White
New York Jets
- Signed: TE Connor Davis
- Waived: S Anthony Cioffi
Seattle Seahawks
- Waived: Marcus Webb
Dak Prescott Expects To Remain With Cowboys Long-Term
After more than a year of rumors regarding an extension for Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott, the two sides were ultimately unable to come to terms prior to the July 15 deadline for franchise-tagged players. So Prescott will play out the 2020 season on the tag, and the rumor mill will start churning again in 2021.
However, both player and team have no doubt that Prescott will remain Dallas’ starting signal-caller for the foreseeable future. As Prescott said yesterday, he always dreamed of playing for the Cowboys and continues to expect that he will retire as a member of the team (video link via Jon Machota of The Athletic). “I believe something will get done,” he said (Twitter link via Calvin Watkins of the Dallas Morning News).
Likewise, team VP Stephen Jones said he is “more convinced than ever” that a long-term deal will come together (Twitter link via Michael Gehlken of the Dallas Morning News). Jones noted that the financial uncertainty created by the pandemic played a part in the failure to hammer out an extension, as did the length of the contract.
That last part is noteworthy. While we had heard for some time that the Cowboys were pushing for a five-year pact and Prescott was angling for a four-year term, a report surfaced immediately after the July 15 deadline suggesting that Prescott wanted to accept Dallas’ final offer, a five-year proposal featuring $110MM in guarantees and $70MM in cash flow over the first two seasons. But that report, from Jane Slater of NFL.com, was refuted by Charles Robinson of Yahoo Sports, who said the two sides were never closer to an agreement than they were in September 2019.
Assuming the Cowboys and Prescott do get a deal done next year, Dallas brass may regret not finalizing matters last September. A deal then would not have cost Dallas more than $35MM in terms of AAV — and possibly a little less — but Prescott’s projected franchise tag number in 2021 sits at ~$38MM, so that will likely be the starting point for negotiations next year. Plus, while Prescott cannot make a case to land a deal like the one Patrick Mahomes just got from the Chiefs — which seems like an outlier in terms of structure anyway — a Deshaun Watson re-up with the Texans could push Prescott’s asking price even higher.
And with the salary cap likely to decrease in 2021, the Cowboys may have some tough choices to make with respect to the rest of their roster in order to keep Prescott in the fold.
Cowboys Sign Everson Griffen
Not long after the NFL lifted its ban on free agent tryouts, the Cowboys landed one of the biggest names left on the market. As the NFL.com crew of Ian Rapoport, Tom Pelissero, and Jane Slater were first to report (via Twitter), Dallas is signing longtime Vikings edge defender Everson Griffen.
It will be a one-year deal for Griffen worth up to $6MM. According to Kimberly A. Martin of ESPN.com (via Twitter), $3MM will come in the form of a base salary, and the remaining $3MM is comprised of roster bonuses. There are no performance-based incentives, but if Griffen suits up for all 16 games, he will pocket $6MM.
The Cowboys have loaded up on defensive firepower this offseason, adding Gerald McCoy, Dontari Poe, and Aldon Smith to the front seven. The team did see Robert Quinn defect to the Bears via free agency, but Griffen will replace Quinn for a fraction of the $70MM that the latter will receive over a five-year term with Chicago. Griffen makes an excellent bookend to fellow DE DeMarcus Lawrence, and his presence will allow Dallas to be less reliant on Smith — who hasn’t played since 2015 — and Randy Gregory, who is still seeking reinstatement. The Cowboys seem likely to remain in a 4-3 scheme, with Lawrence and Griffen sandwiching Poe and McCoy as part of a stout, veteran-laden front.
Though we heard back in March that the Cowboys were unlikely to sign Griffen, that was not long after free agency opened, and it could be that Griffen’s price has come down considerably since then. Indeed, Todd Archer of ESPN.com says Dallas has had Griffen on the radar most of the offseason, and Jason Fitzgerald of OverTheCap.com thinks the salary cap space created by Dallas’ COVID-19 opt-outs may have made the team more willing to pull the trigger (Twitter link).
Griffen, 32, boasts 74.5 sacks over his ten seasons with the Vikings, to go along with four Pro Bowl bids. He earned one of those Pro Bowl trips last season in an eight-sack campaign that proved he still has plenty left in the tank.
Minnesota did not do much to bolster its pass rush this offseason, and it was beginning to look like the team would ultimately reunite with Griffen, whose market was seemingly slow to develop. Indeed, Rapoport tweets that the Vikings and the Seahawks were vying for Griffen’s services, but both lost out to Dallas, whose interest had not been publicly reported at all.
Ben Goessling of the Star Tribune confirms that Minnesota was making a push to re-sign Griffen in recent days, with head coach Mike Zimmer spearheading the sales pitch (Twitter link). The Vikings hoped that Griffen’s familiarity with the only pro team he has ever known, as well as the fact that his permanent home is in Minnesota, would tip the scales in their favor. Though he doesn’t have exact numbers, Darren Wolfson of KSTP says (via Twitter) the Vikes made a competitive offer, but Griffen has elected to start the next chapter of his career in Jerry World.
COVID-19 Latest: Testing, Lynn, Draft, Fans
The NFL will extend its daily COVID-19 testing period through Sept. 5, the NFLPA announced. This comes after the league declared the positive test rate of Tier 1 and Tier 2 individuals to be lower than 1%. The league and the union’s original daily testing agreement ran through August 19. When the parties agreed on that time window, the agreement was they would move to every-other-day testing if the positive rate ended up below 5% in that period. But the sides made a preemptive move to err on the side of caution.
New protocols will also include players who test positive undergoing an EKG, blood tests for heart function and an echocardiogram, Mark Maske of the Washington Post reports (on Twitter). Heart complications are now being associated with COVID-19. Red Sox pitcher Eduardo Rodriguez encountered a heart issue after he contracted the virus, and part of the reasoning behind the Big Ten postponing its season stemmed from at least 10 conference players battling myocarditis — a rare condition featuring inflammation of the heart muscle — according to The Athletic’s Nicole Auerbach (subscription required).
Here is the latest on the league’s battle with the coronavirus:
- Chargers head coach Anthony Lynn revealed during the first episode of Hard Knocks he contracted COVID-19 earlier in the offseason. The fourth-year Bolts HC experienced symptoms. He is the third head coach known to have contracted the virus, following Sean Payton and Doug Pederson.
- The Big Ten and Pac-12 attempting to play spring football may now prompt the NFL to change its mind regarding the draft. The NFL “would have to” consider moving off its late-April draft date if colleges play their seasons in the spring, Maske tweets. Last month, the NFL’s stance was firm on keeping the draft in April. But with conferences taking last-resort measures of postponing seasons indefinitely, the league appears to be understandably changing its tune. No NFL draft has occurred before a college season’s conclusion since the 1960s.
- Add Washington to the list of teams who will play home games without fans this season. The franchise announced the decision Wednesday. Washington, however, added that this policy would be subject to change if the conditions surrounding the pandemic improve over the course of the season. Washington joins the Giants, Jets and Raiders as teams to announce their home games will not involve spectators.
- Other teams have not given up on having fans at games. The Chiefs, Cowboys and Patriots are among teams working on a pod system, which has gained the most traction among potential solutions, Charles Robinson of Yahoo.com tweets. The goal of this unusual setup would be to place clusters of masked fans together at different sections of stadiums, Robinson adds (on Twitter). Considering the social distancing component in COVID-19 safety recommendations, this would be an interesting setup. But a month away from the season, most teams’ attendance plans still appear fluid.
Minor NFL Transactions: 8/10/20
We’ll keep track of the latest minor moves here:
Baltimore Ravens
- Waived: FB Bronson Rechsteiner
Carolina Panthers
- Claimed: DT Bruce Hector (from Eagles)
Cleveland Browns
- Signed: G Michael Dunn, G Jovahn Fair
- Released: TE Nate Wieting
Dallas Cowboys
- Released: WR Kendrick Rogers
Green Bay Packers
- Claimed off waivers (from Detroit): WR Travis Fulgham
- Waived: DE/LB Jamal Davis
Indianapolis Colts
- Signed: DT Taylor Stallworth
Jacksonville Jaguars
- Signed: DL Carl Davis, DL Caraun Reid
- Released: CB Kobe Williams
Miami Dolphins
- Claimed off waivers (from Cleveland): TE Nate Wieting
Philadelphia Eagles
- Retired: LB Jatavis Brown
Seattle Seahawks
- Waived: CB Brian Allen, RB Anthony Jones
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
- Waived/Injured: WR Travis Jonsen
2020 NFL Cap Space, By Team
A total of 67 NFL players opted out of the 2020 season, leaving teams with major roster holes and newly-found cap space. Here’s the rundown of every team’s official cap figure, via ESPN.com’s Field Yates (on Twitter):
- Cleveland Browns – $40.5MM
- New England Patriots – $33.4MM
- Washington Football Team – $30.6MM
- Denver Broncos – $29.5MM
- New York Jets – $29.3MM
- Tennessee Titans – $25.2MM
- Miami Dolphins – $24.7MM
- Buffalo Bills – $24.2MM
- Philadelphia Eagles – $23.7MM
- Detroit Lions – $22.9MM
- Indianapolis Colts – $22.3MM
- New York Giants – $21.4MM
- Houston Texans – $21.1MM
- Cincinnati Bengals – $18.6MM
- Chicago Bears – $17.2MM
- Jacksonville Jaguars – $17MM
- Seattle Seahawks – $14.5MM
- Los Angeles Chargers – $13.7MM
- Green Bay Packers – $12.3MM
- Carolina Panthers – $13.2MM
- Kansas City Chiefs – $13MM
- San Francisco 49ers – $12.5MM
- Minnesota Vikings – $12.4MM
- Dallas Cowboys – $9.9MM
- New Orleans Saints – $7.8MM
- Atlanta Falcons – $7.4MM
- Baltimore Ravens – $7MM
- Arizona Cardinals – $5.6MM
- Pittsburgh Steelers – $4.5MM
- Los Angeles Rams – $3.9MM
- Las Vegas Raiders – $3.3MM
- Tampa Bay Buccaneers – $1.4MM