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Minor Moves: Wednesday

August 6th, 2014 at 9:00pm CST by Luke Adams

We’ll round up Wednesday’s minor transactions from around the NFL in this space, with the latest moves added to the top of the list throughout the day:

  • The Raiders announced that they have signed journeyman safety Larry Asante and waived/injured fellow safety Shelton Johnson. Asante joins the Raiders following stops with the Browns, Buccaneers, and Colts. For his career, the 6’0″, 210-pounder has played in 17 games and totaled 12 tackles (nine solo), one interception, one pass defensed, and one forced fumble. He played in five games last season for the Colts, seeing time primarily on special teams.
  • Saints defensive tackle Tyrone Ezell and linebacker Marcus Thompson have cleared waivers, tweets Larry Holder of The Times-Picayune.
  • Former BYU linebacker Spencer Hadley has signed with the Raiders, according to Vic Tafur of the San Francisco Chronicle, who tweets that the club has waived-injured linebacker Marshall McFadden to make room on the roster.
  • Aaron Wilson of the Baltimore Sun (Twitter link) passes along a couple new roster updates, reporting that the Cowboys have waived undrafted rookies Dashaun Phillips and Joe Windsor to make room for their defensive back signings (noted below). According to Wilson, the Lions also cut Cody Wilson from their IR with an injury settlement.

Earlier updates:

  • The Vikings have cut undrafted tight end A.C. Leonard, who left practice last week with a headache, according to Chris Tomasson of the St. Paul Pioneer Press.
  • Just a day after signing him, the Seahawks have waived defensive back Trey Wolfe, replacing him with DB Michael Dobson, according to Bob Condotta of the Seattle Times (via Twitter). Dobson participated in the club’s rookie minicamp in the spring.
  • In order to make room for new signee James Shaw, whose deal was reported yesterday, the Steelers have waived-injured wide receiver Danny Coale, tweets Mark Kaboly of the Pittsburgh Tribune Review.
  • Another signing reported yesterday, the Titans‘ addition of defensive lineman Lanier Coleman, was finalized today, with Tennessee also agreeing to terms with tight end Chase Coffman, per Jim Wyatt of the Tennessean. To clear two spots on the roster for the new players, the Titans waived-injured tight end Dorin Dickerson and cut quarterback Tyler Wilson (Twitter links). Wilson was selected in the fourth round of the 2013 draft by the Raiders, and was signed by the Titans off Oakland’s practice squad last season.
  • The Cowboys have added a pair of defensive backs to their roster to bolster a secondary that has been hit hard by injuries in training camp, signing Korey Lindsey and Johnny Thomas, tweets Charean Williams of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Clarence Hill of the Star-Telegram had indicated yesterday that Dallas was eyeing those two free agents. The club will need to cut two players to make room for Lindsey and Thomas.

Lions Waive Jonathan Baldwin

August 6th, 2014 at 4:24pm CST by Luke Adams

WEDNESDAY, 4:24pm: Baldwin’s time as a Lion was short-lived — the team has waived the wide receiver with a failed physical designation, tweets Brian McIntyre.

TUESDAY, 6:21pm: The Lions’ claim of Baldwin is not yet official as the team still needs to evaluate his “medical situation,” coach Jim Caldwell told reporters, including Michael Rothstein of ESPN.com.

MONDAY, 3:37pm: The Lions have claimed wide receiver Jonathan Baldwin off waivers from the 49ers, according to Michael Schottey of Bleacher Report (via Twitter). Baldwin was cut by San Francisco over the weekend, but had to pass through waivers before becoming a free agent because of his limited service time.

Baldwin, who turns 25 next week, became the third wideout selected in the 2011 draft after A.J. Green and Julio Jones when the Chiefs picked him 26th overall. He ultimately went ahead of fellow wide receivers Torrey Smith, Randall Cobb and Cecil Shorts, but his numbers haven’t come close to matching the production of those players.

Baldwin only caught 41 passes for 579 yards and a pair of touchdowns in his two seasons in Kansas City. The Chiefs traded him to the 49ers last August for another first-round pick, A.J. Jenkins. Baldwin didn’t see the field much with San Francisco, as he had three receptions in seven games during the 2013 season.

In Detroit, Baldwin will be given the opportunity to earn a spot on the Lions’ receiving corps, where there should be at least a couple openings up for grabs in the preseason.

NFC North Notes: Vikings, Packers, Lions

August 6th, 2014 at 1:20pm CST by Luke Adams

After starting 35 games for the Vikings over the last three seasons, Christian Ponder heads into the 2014 preseason as the No. 3 quarterback on the team’s depth chart, behind Matt Cassel and Teddy Bridgewater. However, he’s trying not to let his precarious situation in Minnesota bother him — according to Chris Tomasson of the St. Paul Pioneer Press, Ponder recognizes that he has to “be prepared” despite not getting as many reps this summer as Cassel and Bridgewater, and adds that he doesn’t expect to be traded before the regular season gets underway.

Here’s more from around the NFC North:

  • Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN Twin Cities (Twitter link) has heard there’s been a little dialogue between the Vikings and Brandon Fusco‘s camp about a contract extension for the offensive lineman. However, according to Fusco himself, nothing is imminent at this point. Minnesota’s starting right guard is heading into the final year of his rookie deal.
  • With swing tackle Don Barclay expected to be placed on injured reserve, Packers GM Ted Thompson doesn’t expect his club to be in the market for a veteran offensive lineman, says Tyler Dunne of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
  • As we heard last night, the Lions‘ waiver claim of former 49ers wideout Jonathan Baldwin has yet to be finalized, while the team evaluates his medical situation. According to Carlos Monarrez and Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press, Baldwin took his physical on Tuesday, but there are some concerns about his knee. “I’m not sure exactly the timetable on when we have to (make a decision),” head coach Jim Caldwell said. “(GM) Martin (Mayhew) and those guys stay on top of those kind of stuff, but we’re evaluating him right now.”
  • One of the Lions‘ offseason coaching changes involved bringing in a new defensive coordinator, and as Josh Katzenstein of the Detroit News writes, newcomer Teryl Austin likes what he has seen from the unit so far.

Minor Moves: Monday

August 4th, 2014 at 8:29pm CST by Luke Adams

We’ll track the day’s minor transactions right here, with the latest moves added to the top of the page throughout the day:

  • The Dolphins have waived receiver Stephen Williams, replacing him on the roster with tight end Brett Brackett (Twitter link).
  • The 49ers have officially waived-injured running back Kendall Hunter, tweets ESPN.com’s Adam Caplan. Other teams will have the opportunity to claim Hunter, but the back is in the final year of his contract and will be sidelined for the season, so he figures to go on San Francisco’s IR. The Niners are expected to add a running back to replace him, notes Matt Barrows of the Sacramento Bee (via Twitter).
  • Safety Brandon Hardin has been removed from the Jets‘ injured reserve list with a settlement, per Rich Cimini of ESPN New York (Twitter link).
  • The Browns have re-signed defensive back Royce Adams, who was waived by the club last month, tweets Brian McIntyre. Since the Browns cut four players today, Adams’ signing leaves the roster at 87 players.
  • Wide receiver Reese Wiggins was the roster casualty for the Lions as the club made room for new waiver claim Jonathan Baldwin, according to Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press (via Twitter).

Earlier updates:

  • The Buccaneers have swapped an offensive player for a defender, announcing today (via Twitter) that they’ve signed safety Mark Joyce, having waived-injured wideout David Gettis to make room on the roster.
  • The Colts have signed linebacker Shawn Loiseau, the team announced today in a press release. Loiseau, who has previously spent time on the Colts’ practice squad and offseason roster, last played for the Arena Football League’s L.A. Kiss. Because Indianapolis had an opening on its 90-man roster, no corresponding move is necessary to clear room for the new addition.
  • The Cowboys have signed guard Wayne Tribue and waived-injured guard Brian Clarke, a source tells Todd Archer of ESPNDallas.com. Tribue has never appeared in an NFL regular-season game, though he has spent time with the Broncos, 49ers, and Saints. As for Clarke, he was one of the two dozen UDFAs signed by the Cowboys following the draft, receiving a $1.5K signing bonus from the team.

Lions Notes: Bush, Fluellen, Suh

August 4th, 2014 at 8:52am CST by Luke Adams

The big news story out of Lions training camp so far has been the team’s decision to table extension talks with star defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh until after the season. Still, Suh isn’t the only Detroit player worth watching this summer. Here’s the latest on a few of his teammates:

  • Back in January, Reggie Bush indicated that he hopes to play in the NFL “at least another five years,” but his latest comments suggest that his goal is actually to stick around longer than that. According to Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press, the veteran running back would love to play 15 total seasons, which would mean playing for another seven years. “I don’t want to put a timetable on it because I don’t know,” Bush said. “I don’t know if it’s five (years), four, three, six. I’m not sure. But I know if I get to 15 that’ll be a blessing.”
  • Since entering the league as a third-round pick in 2008, Andre Fluellen has played defensive tackle, but as Birkett writes in a separate Free Press article, the 29-year-old has shifted to defensive end this year in the hopes of extending his career.
  • Kyle Meinke of MLive.com fields readers’ questions in his latest mailbag, addressing Suh’s contract situation, discussing the secondary, and identifying the club’s standout rookies so far.

Big Cats Notes: Newton, Suh, Dalton

August 3rd, 2014 at 8:45am CST by Rory Parks

As Joseph Person of the Charlotte Observer writes, “the seal was broken” on extensions for 2011 first-round draft picks–the inaugural group of first-rounders under the new CBA–when Patrick Peterson and Tyson Smith recently signed new long-term, big-money deals. Given the extensions for those high-profile franchise cornerstones, Person wonders when the Panthers will look to extend quarterback Cam Newton.

Of course, Carolina picked up Newton’s option for 2015 back in April, so they have time to get a deal done. The team might also be wise to wait and see how Newton’s surgically-repaired left ankle responds this year. However, if Newton enjoys the same type of success in 2014 that he did in 2013, he will really drive up his price tag, especially since Newton’s supporting cast appears weaker this season.

Former NFL agent Joel Corry does not believe the new deals for Smith and Peterson will “open the floodgates” for their fellow 2011 first-rounders, and he expects the Panthers and Newton to strike an agreement on an extension after the end of the 2014 campaign but before training camp opens in 2015. It remains to be seen what that extension will look like, but an average annual value of $20MM seems to be the new starting point for signal-callers of Newton’s caliber.

Now for some more links from the league’s Big Cat franchises:

  • Former agent Joel Corry believes that the Lions‘ decision to table contract talks with Ndamukong Suh indicates that Suh’s contract demands are “sky-high” and that he was probably asking to be the highest-paid defensive player in the league, writes Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press. Corry believes that if Suh’s camp was not asking for that type of contract, the two sides probably would have struck a deal.
  • Jaguars‘ running back Toby Gerhart was held out of Saturday’s scrimmage, but Gerhart said he was merely experiencing leg tightness and the decision to not participate in the scrimmage was precautionary, writes Ryan O’Halloran of the Florida-Times Union.
  • In the same piece, O’Halloran provides a little more detail on the roster moves that the Jaguars made yesterday.
  • Coley Harvey of ESPN.com writes that Bengals‘ quarterback Andy Dalton, who is entering the final year of his rookie contract, has been “sensational” in training camp thus far.

Extra Points: Lions, Saints, Panthers, Redskins

August 2nd, 2014 at 10:29pm CST by Ben Levine

Let’s take a look at some leftover notes on this Saturday evening…

  • Even though the Lions re-signed Brandon Pettigrew and drafted Eric Ebron, incumbent tight end Joseph Fauria is confident there will be enough targets and snaps to go around. “We’re all going to complement each other,” Fauria said (via Justin Rogers of MLive.com). “There’s a bunch of pieces to the pie. Maybe one week one guy will have a big game with a lot of catches, and the next weekend, it will be a different guy. It’s an interesting situation in this offense and it will be awesome to see how it plays out.”
  • 56 of the 90 players on the Saints roster are between 23 and 27-years-old, and Jeff Duncan of NOLA.com writes that the team is full of breakout candidates.
  • Joe Person of The Charlotte Observer suggests that the Panthers pursue a free-agent wide receiver instead of sticking with Tiquan Underwood or Marvin McNutt.
  • Redskins president Bruce Allen noted some differences under new coach Jay Gruden. “It’s a different style,” Allen said (via John Keim of ESPN.com). “Each coach and each team takes on the personality of its coach and Jay has been very involved with the guys. His evening meetings really set the tone for the next day’s work.”

NFC Notes: Eagles, Lions, McCarthy, Wilson

August 1st, 2014 at 4:33pm CST by Zachary Links

Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie sees head coach Chip Kelly being with the team for a long time, writes NFL.com’s Albert Breer. “I got the feeling he was capable of that,” Lurie said. “People will learn about themselves. Coaches will learn. Do they want to stay in the same place? Do they want to move around? You can’t control that. But he has the ability to develop a program that was already successful, and make it even better. They were successful (at Oregon). We had all that success (with Andy Reid). But we want to be better than we were, not stay the same.” More from the NFC..

  • Rashean Mathis says that the Lions don’t need an upgrade to their secondary, writes Kyle Meinke of MLive.com. Detroit didn’t make any significant upgrades at cornerback this offseason, despite ranking 23rd against the pass last year. In 2013, Mathis was the only Lions corner to rank among the top 90 by Pro Football Focus’ metrics.
  • There has been a lot of talk that after extending GM Ted Thompson, coach Mike McCarthy is next up on the Packers‘ agenda. However, the coach says that he’s not thinking about a new deal, writes Tyler Dunne of the Journal-Sentinel. “To me,” McCarthy said, “everybody that works here has a business part of their place here. That’s just part of it. I’m focused on training camp; there’s a process in place that will take its course. I’ve never sweated it. I love it here. I’m not worried about it.”
  • In an interview on ESPN Radio, Giants owner John Mara explained that while the team is disappointed to see David Wilson suffer a neck burner in his first week back, the club was prepared for a season without him, writes Conor Orr of the Star-Ledger. “I think given what he went through, the surgery he went through, it would have been foolish not to be (prepared),” Mara said. “We signed Rashad Jennings, we drafted Andre Williams, we signed Peyton Hillis again, so we do have some depth there. We have Michael Cox there, so someone is going to have to step up and do it now.”
  • Eagles running back LeSean McCoy is feeding the hype behind rookie receiver Jordan Matthews, writes Zach Berman of The Inquirer. The Eagles sure hope that McCoy is right about Matthews after an offseason in which they released DeSean Jackson.

Minor Moves: Thursday

July 31st, 2014 at 7:41pm CST by Luke Adams

Thursday’s minor transactions from around the NFL will be rounded up below, with any moves reported or announced this afternoon or evening added to the top of the list throughout the day:

  • The Bears signed offensive tackle Dennis Roland and waived fellow tackle Cody Booth, tweets Adam Jahns of the Chicago Sun-Times. Adam Caplan of ESPN.com recently wrote that Roland was one of the best right tackles remaining on the open market.
  • The Chiefs waived rookie linebacker Ben Johnson to clear roster room for the signing of former Patriots safety Steve Gregory, tweets Adam Teicher of ESPN.com. The Chiefs signed Johnson as a UDFA out of Tennessee-Martin and he participated in training camp practices despite missing time during OTAs with a hamstring injury.
  • The Dolphins have swapped one tight end for another, signing Raymond Webber and placing the recently-signed Brett Brackett on waivers, tweets Brian McIntyre.
  • Per Aaron Wilson (Twitter links), the Bills have removed defensive back Brandon Smith from their injured reserve list, while the Seahawks did the same with offensive lineman Jared Smith. The Seahawks reached an injury settlement with their Smith, though it’s not clear if Buffalo did the same.
  • Tim Twentyman of DetroitLions.com has the corresponding move for the Lions‘ signing of Redding (noted below), tweeting that the club has cut receiver Cody Wilson.

Earlier updates:

  • Tight end Anthony McCoy has been moved to injured reserve by the Seahawks, who replaced him on the roster with former USC wide receiver Ronald Johnson, tweets Bob Condotta of the Seattle Times.
  • According to his agent Joel E. Turner (Twitter link), rookie defensive end Kris Redding has signed with the Lions. Detroit currently has a full 90-man roster, so a corresponding move will be necessary when the team officially announces the signing of the Wake Forest product.
  • After missing most of last season with a torn quadriceps, Colts guard Donald Thomas suffered the same injury in practice this week, according to Darin Gantt of Pro Football Talk. It’s disappointing news for Thomas and for the Colts, who signed the offensive lineman to a four-year, $14MM prior to the 2013 season and have only gotten two regular-season games out of him so far. With second-round pick Jack Mewhort seemingly poised to take over a starting role, Indianapolis has placed Thomas on IR, signing offensive lineman Eric Pike to fill his roster spot, tweets Stephen Holder of the Indianapolis Star.
  • The Bears swapped a couple players near the back-end of their roster today, signing offensive lineman Graham Pocic and waived wide receiver Terrence Toliver with an injury settlement, the team announced (via Twitter).

NFC Notes: Lee, McCoy, Suh, Tanner

July 29th, 2014 at 9:59pm CST by Zachary Links

Cowboys linebacker Sean Lee is in the early stages of rehabilitation from a torn left ACL, but he’s already thinking about his future, writes Todd Archer of ESPN.com. “I think I’ll come back completely healthy,” Lee said. “Now, the question is, can I stay out there? That’s something that obviously I’m hopeful for and I’m going to do everything I can do to do that and control everything I can. But at the end of the day, there’s situations that you might not be able to avoid. I’m not going to stress too much about that end. I’m just going to do what I can do.” More from the NFC:

  • Bad news for Seahawks tight end Anthony McCoy as Ian Rapoport of NFL Network (on Twitter) hears from a source that he has torn his left Achilles. Last season, McCoy suffered a torn right Achilles and missed the entire season. In 2012, the 26-year-old’s last season on the field, he hauled in 18 receptions for 291 yards and three touchdowns while also spending time on special teams.
  • The Lions are postponing talks with Ndamukong Suh because they want him to be informed and sign a deal he’s happy with, tweets Ian Rapoport of NFL Network. It was reported yesterday that Detroit will table talks with the star defensive tackle until after the season.
  • Running back Phillip Tanner visited with the 49ers yesterday before ultimately signing with the Colts, tweets Calvin Watkins of ESPNDallas.com. The 49ers have a new running back of their own in 27-year-old Alfonso Smith, who joined the club yesterday. San Francisco’s once-loaded RB stable is looking pretty banged up at the moment. backup Kendall Hunter tore his ACL, LaMichael James has a dislocated elbow, and Marcus Lattimore has multiple nagging injuries.
  • New Giants offensive coordinator Ben McAdoo is keeping the Big Blue’s defense on their toes in practice, writes Paul Schwartz of the New York Post. “Reps against the no-huddle does help going against the guys in Philly — their offense is very, very fast — and I think the Redskins, they do the same thing too,’’ cornerback Prince Amukamara said. “That’s only preparing us for the season.’’
  • Earlier tonight we recapped the Buccaneers‘ offseason.
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