David Fales

NFL Practice Squad Updates: 10/28/20

Here are Wednesday’s practice squad decisions:

Arizona Cardinals

Buffalo Bills

Green Bay Packers

Kansas City Chiefs

Los Angeles Chargers

Los Angeles Rams

Minnesota Vikings

New England Patriots

New York Jets

San Francisco 49ers

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Washington Football Team

Contract Details: Tunsil, Texans, Fales, Jets

Details on a couple of recent NFL deals:

  • Laremy Tunsil‘s three-year, $66MM extension with the Texans has been officially processed, as Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle tweets. The add-on starts in 2021 and takes him through the 2024 season. All together, it comes out to a $76.35MM arrangement with $40MM fully guaranteed and $50MM effectively guaranteed. The deal also calls for an escalation in cap hits, giving Houston more short-term flexibility – Tunsil is set to count for cap hits of $14.1MM, $19.4MM, $21.1MM, and $21.75MM in each of the next four seasons.
  • The Jets‘ one-year deal with quarterback David Fales is worth $910K – the veteran’s minimum – with just $100K guaranteed (Twitter link via Connor Hughes of The Athletic). It’s a low-cost deal that will allow the Jets to keep Fales on the 53-man roster if they wish, or drop him this summer without much of a cap penalty. For now, he’ll fight for a spot behind Sam Darnold, alongside fourth-round pick James Morgan.

Jets To Re-Sign QB David Fales

David Fales is back with the Jets. The well-traveled backup/No. 3 quarterback reached an agreement to return to the Jets on Tuesday, Adam Schefter of ESPN.com tweets. It’s a one-year deal.

Despite having zero career starts, the former sixth-round pick is entering his seventh year as an NFLer. He has previously worked with Adam Gase and Jets OC Dowell Loggains with two other franchises — the Bears and Dolphins — and will reprise his role as one of Sam Darnold‘s backups.

Following Trevor Siemian‘s season-ending injury, the Jets added Fales last September. Siemian played out his one-year deal and is a free agent. The Jets also turned to Luke Falk over Fales to replace Darnold last season but waived the struggling passer and kept the latter on board as Darnold’s QB2 when he returned from his mono bout. Darnold, Fales and former Cowboys UDFA Mike White are the three quarterbacks tethered to the Jets presently.

Fales, 29, played under Gase during the 2015 season — when Gase was the Bears’ OC — and in 2017-18 with the Dolphins. His knowledge of the second-year Jets coach’s system figures to be critical in an offseason that likely will not feature any on-field work until at least training camp.

Minor NFL Transactions: 10/4/19

Here are Friday’s minor moves, with the list being updated throughout the day.

Cleveland Browns

New York Jets

Philadelphia Eagles

Minor NFL Transactions: 9/23/19

Here are today’s minor transactions:

Atlanta Falcons

Carolina Panthers

Chicago Bears

New York Jets

Oakland Raiders

San Francisco 49ers

Jets To Sign QB David Fales

The Jets have agreed to sign quarterback David Fales in advance of this week’s game against the Patriots, according to Manish Mehta of the Daily News. Fales will serve as the No. 2 QB behind Luke Falk, who has been thrust into the starting role. 

To put it mildly, the Jets’ current quarterback situation is a tire fire. Starter Sam Darnold is out with mono and can only hope to return in time to face the Eagles in Week 5. His absence pushed Trevor Siemian into the starting job, but his season ended midway through his first start when his ankle was contorted, resulting in serious ligament tears. Falk, the club’s No. 3 QB, is now set to make his first Jets start against the league’s greatest dynasty of all-time.

Fales has familiarity with Adam Gase‘s system thanks to their time together in Chicago in 2015 and Miami in 2016-2017. In two games for the Dolphins, Fales completed 29 of 43 throws.

Colts Host QB David Fales, Debating Options

The Colts are continuing their search for an additional quarterback. The team is bringing in former Bears, Dolphins, and Lions passer David Fales for a visit, according to Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle (Twitter link).

In the wake of Andrew Luck‘s retirement and the waiving of Phillip Walker, the Colts have only Chad Kelly behind Jacoby Brissett. Kelly is suspended for the first two games of the season, meaning right now Brissett is the only available quarterback for Week 1. Speaking to the media today, Colts GM Chris Ballard said the team is still debating a couple of options, per Joel A. Erickson of the Indianapolis Star (Twitter link). Ballard said Indy is still considering whether to sign a more established veteran who will be the team’s backup for all 16 weeks, or just signing a stopgap who will get them to Week 3 when Kelly can take over holding Brissett’s clipboard.

We heard earlier this afternoon that the Colts were interested in Brian Hoyer, and he’d likely be a 16-week option. The same could be said for the other guys they’ve shown interest in who have real regular season experience, like Brock Osweiler, Matt Cassel, and Brandon Weeden. If they’re just going with a two-week stopgap, someone like Fales would make sense. Fales was a sixth-round pick of the Bears back in 2014, and he’s never started a regular season game. His only significant live action came in Week 17 of the 2017 season with the Dolphins. A longtime pet-project of Adam Gase, Fales was cut by the Lions last week.

Minor NFL Transactions: 8/27/19

It was a busy day in the NFL as teams made early cuts in advance of the 53-man deadline. We’ll keep track of today’s minor moves here:

Atlanta Falcons

Arizona Cardinals

  • Signed: OL Jacob Ohnesorge

Baltimore Ravens

Detroit Lions

Kansas City Chiefs

New England Patriots

Philadelphia Eagles

Pittsburgh Steelers

San Francisco 49ers

Seattle Seahawks

NFC Notes: Cowboys, Compton, Fales

When announcing the new extension for linebacker Jaylon Smith at a press conference today, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones sent a clear message to a few other high-profile players who are eligible for extensions. Jones said, via Jon Machota of The Athletic, “[t]he team takes precedent at a point over the opinion or the demand of the individual. The team takes precedent. This was a team move we are talking about today. The team takes precedent. And I’ve got the backbone to keep it that way” (Twitter link).

Obviously, that statement suggests that Jones is going to hold firm on the offers that have been extended to Ezekiel ElliottDak Prescott, and Amari Cooper, and as we detailed earlier today, Smith’s extension looks relatively team-friendly. Jones did say that there is “enough pie left” to get deals done with all of them, though he did not have an update on negotiations with the trio.

Let’s check out more from the NFC:

  • Free agent linebacker Will Compton will work out for the Saints, as John Keim of ESPN.com tweets. Compton, who played for the Redskins from 2013-17, was a full-time starter as recently as 2016. However, his 2017 campaign was marred by injury, and he played only 79 defensive snaps for the Titans last year in his first and only season in Tennessee. He would provide experienced LB depth in New Orleans, and he could also contribute on special teams.
  • Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press examines the Lions‘ backup QB situation, noting that presumptive QB2 Tom Savage missed his seventh straight practice on Tuesday (Savage is in the concussion protocol). That has meant more reps for David Fales and Josh Johnson, but Birkett says the Lions are unlikely to carry three QBs. So if Savage cannot be medically cleared by next Saturday, he could be cut. Fales looked sharp in the team’s last preseason game while Johnson struggled, so Fales may have a leg up if Savage can’t get healthy.
  • The 49ers fear that rookie wide receiver Shawn Poindexter suffered a torn ACL in Monday’s preseason win, as Matt Maiocco of NBC Sports Bay Area writes. Poindexter, a UDFA from Arizona, appeared to be a prime practice squad candidate, and the club has already signed WR/KR Chris Thompson to take Poindexter’s place on the 90-man roster.

Lions Waive QB Connor Cook

The Lions’ search for a backup quarterback continues. On Monday, the club released former Michigan State QB and NFL journeyman Connor Cook, according to a team announcement. He was replaced by QB David Fales, who has also had multiple stops throughout the NFL. 

Cook, 26, entered the league as a fourth-round pick of the Raiders in 2016. he saw time in just one game as a rookie and has not taken a regular season snap since. He has, however, had practice squad/futures stints with the Panthers, Bengals, and Lions. His next deal could bring him to his fifth team in four years.

Cook was thought to have a chance at the No. 2 QB role behind starter Matthew Stafford, but his release leaves Tom Savage as the favorite. Meanwhile, Fales will look to make his case.

In related moves, the club also signed offensive lineman Luke Bowanko and released safety David Jones.