Devin Smith (WR)

Panthers Add WRs Willie Snead, Devin Smith To Practice Squad

The Panthers added a pair of wideouts to their practice squad today. Carolina signed Devin Smith (per NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport on Twitter) and Willie Snead (per ESPN’s Adam Schefter on Twitter).

Smith, a second-round pick by the Jets in 2015, proved to be a disappointment during his time in New York, as he collected only 10 receptions for 135 yards and one touchdown in 14 games (three starts) through two years with the team. To be fair, a torn ACL derailed his rookie campaign, and another ACL tear in 2017 forced him to miss the entire season. The receiver was ultimately waived by the team in 2018 and ended up sitting out that entire season, as well.

He got another chance in 2019 with the Cowboys, finishing with five receptions for 113 yards and one touchdown in four games (two starts). He was released by Dallas prior to last season, and he spent most of the 2020 campaign on the Texans and Patriots practice squad. New England held on to him for much of the 2021 offseason, and he later caught on with the Jaguars before getting released earlier this month.

Snead logged only 8% of the Raiders offensive snaps through seven games, and he asked for and was granted his release yesterday. The 29-year-old was still a usable player as recently as 2020, when he finished with 432 yards from scrimmage and three touchdowns in 13 games (eight starts) with the Ravens. Prior to this three-year stint in Baltimore, Snead spent the first three seasons of his career with the Saints, including 2015 and 2016 campaigns where he averaged 939.5 receiving yards per season.

There’s a good chance we see at least one of these players in uniform on Sunday, as Panthers wideouts Alex Erickson (concussion), Terrace Marshall Jr. (concussion), and Brandon Zylstra (hamstring) are all dealing with their own ailments.

Per Aaron Wilson (on Twitter), the Panthers also added defensive end Austin Larkin to their practice squad. The former undrafted free agent spent much of the 2020 season and 2021 preseason with Carolina.

Jaguars Sign WR Devin Smith

Devin Smith has earned himself another NFL gig. The veteran wide receiver signed with the Jaguars today, per ESPN’s Michael DiRocco (via Twitter). The team also signed offensive lineman Jermaine Eluemunor.

Smith was a standout playing for current Jaguars head coach Urban Meyer while the two were at Ohio State, and that performance made Smith a second-round pick by the Jets in 2015. The wideout proved to be a disappointment, as he collected only 10 receptions for 135 yards and one touchdown in 14 games (three starts) through two years with the team. To be fair, a torn ACL derailed his rookie campaign, and another ACL tear in 2017 forced him to miss the entire season. The receiver was ultimately waived by the team in 2018 and ended up sitting out that entire season, as well.

He got another chance in 2019 with the Cowboys, finishing with five receptions for 113 yards and one touchdown in four games (two starts). He was released by Dallas prior to last season, and he spent most of the 2020 campaign on the Texans and Patriots practice squad. New England held on to him for much of the 2021 offseason before ultimately cutting him last month.

In Jacksonville, Smith will have an uphill battle to make the roster. The Jaguars have DJ Chark, Laviska Shenault Jr., and Marvin Jones leading their depth chart, with notable names like Phillip Dorsett, Jamal Agnew, Laquon Treadwell, and Pharoh Cooper listed as backups.

Eluemunor, a 2017 fifth-round pick out of Texas A&M, spent two seasons with the Ravens before getting traded to the Patriots in 2019. The lineman spent two seasons in New England, appearing in 22 games with eight starts. He signed with the Dolphins earlier this offseason but was cut by the team earlier this week.

Patriots Cut WR Devin Smith

Bill Belichick has had some previous success with former-Jets reclamation projects, but Devin Smith apparently won’t be one of them. The Patriots announced today that they’ve released the wide receiver.

Smith joined the NFL as a second-round pick (No. 37) in 2015, but he didn’t show much during his first two seasons in the NFL. In two years with the Jets, the wideout collected only 10 receptions for 135 yards and one touchdown in 14 games (three starts). To be fair, a torn ACL derailed his rookie campaign, and another ACL tear in 2017 forced him to miss the entire season. The receiver was ultimately waived by the team in 2018 and ended up sitting out that entire season, as well.

He got another chance in 2019 with the Cowboys, finishing with five receptions for 113 yards and one touchdown in four games (two starts). He was released by Dallas prior to last season, and he spent most of the 2020 campaign on the Texans and Patriots practice squad.

New England held on to him for the entire offseason but ultimately decided to move on. Smith would have been an interesting piece for the Patriots, but the organization already has plenty of their own projects behind Jakobi Meyers and free agent additions Kendrick Bourne and Nelson Agholor.

NFL Practice Squad Updates: 9/21/20

Today’s practice squad moves:

Arizona Cardinals

Carolina Panthers

Chicago Bears

Houston Texans

Minnesota Vikings

New England Patriots

Tennessee Titans

Cowboys To Cut WR Devin Smith

Devin Smith played a minor role for the Cowboys last season, starting two games despite not playing in any during the 2017 and ’18 campaigns. But Dallas will not carry the wideout over to its 53-man roster this year.

The Cowboys are cutting Smith, Jon Machota of The Athletic tweets. They also waived offensive lineman Adam Redmond on Wednesday.

A former second-round Jets pick, Smith signed with the Cowboys via reserve/futures contract in January of 2019. This followed an injury-plagued New York stay, but the Ohio State product could not carve out much of a role with Dallas either. He caught five passes last season, and while one of them went for a long touchdown, Smith only played in four games.

Dallas drafted CeeDee Lamb in Round 1 and has other capable holdovers behind starters Amari Cooper and Michael Gallup. Originally a Colts UDFA out of Harvard, Redmond played in 10 games for the Cowboys in 2018 but did not see action last season. He landed on IR in November.

NFC East Notes: McCown, Treadwell, Cowboys

The Eagles made a surprising decision to sign Josh McCown out of retirement on Saturday, and the fact that they gave McCown a $2MM guarantee suggests that he is a lock to make the roster. Indeed, Eliot Shorr-Parks of 94 WIP reports that Philadelphia was trying to sign McCown even before presumptive QB2 Nate Sudfeld was sidelined with a wrist injury (Twitter link). Shorr-Parks notes in a separate tweet that HC Doug Pederson declined to say whether Sudfeld will remain the primary backup. Pederson said he will figure that out when Sudfeld heals.

Let’s round up a few more NFC East items:

  • Former first-round pick Laquon Treadwell is on the trade block, and Matt Lombardo of NJ.com believes the Giants could make a play for him. Treadwell played under New York head coach Pat Shurmur when the latter served as the Vikings’ offensive coordinator, and Shurmur held the Ole Miss product in high regard not that long ago. Given the current state of the Giants’ WR depth chart, Lombardo suggests it would be reasonable for Big Blue to send a sixth- or seventh-round pick to Minnesota to see if a change of scenery can unlock some of Treadwell’s potential.
  • Cowboys owner Jerry Jones may not want to meet QB Dak Prescott‘s asking price — said to be at least $35MM per year — but he confirmed that Prescott’s eventual contract will put him in the top tier of quarterbacks. Jones said, “[a] lot of people question whether Dak is one of those guys that need to be in the top tier. I’ve never questioned that. I don’t think there’s any doubt that he’s in the top level of paid quarterbacks…Now, how do we make this all fit and what can we do to have the best team around him? That’s what we’re trying to work on” (Twitter link via Jon Machota of The Athletic).
  • Tony Pollard‘s performance in training camp and the preseason may be giving the Cowboys a little leverage in their contract talks with Ezekiel Elliott, and Jones said “Zeke who?” when asked if Pollard is becoming the team’s best negotiator with Elliott (Twitter link via Machota). Jones made it clear he was joking and said he believes Pollard will be an excellent complement to, and not a replacement for, Elliott (in case you missed it, we heard this morning that Elliott will not face criminal charges for the altercation between him and a security guard in May).
  • Despite spending the entire 2018 season out of football, Cowboys WR Devin Smith has a legitimate chance of cracking the team’s roster, as Machota tweets. Smith caught a TD pass in Dallas’ preseason contest on Saturday, and his play has been very strong over the past week. The former Jets second-rounder signed a reserve/futures deal with the Cowboys in January.

Cowboys Sign WR Devin Smith

Devin Smith is back in the league. The former Jets second round pick signed a reserve/futures deal with the Cowboys today, according to his agent Jason Bernstein (Twitter link).

The 37th overall pick of the 2015 draft, Smith spent the entire 2018 season out of football after the Jets waived him back in July. Smith was always high on talent coming out of Ohio State, but was plagued by injuries once he reached the pros. He played in ten games his rookie season but managed just four in 2016 before missing the entire 2017 season with his second ACL tear.

In his Jets career, he caught just ten passes for 135 yards and one touchdown. The Cowboys have been doing whatever they can to upgrade their receiving corp ever since releasing Dez Bryant, first by drafting Michael Gallup, then by signing Allen Hurns and trading for Amari Cooper, and now by taking a flyer on Smith. Smith was always known as a speed demon, and drew comparisons to DeSean Jackson coming out of college.

Still only 26, it’s still possible he could develop into a legit deep threat for a team one day if he can stay healthy and prove he still has the burst he used to have. With the reserve/futures deal, he’ll be added to Dallas’ offseason 90-man roster and be with the team for OTA’s and training camp with the chance to compete for a roster spot.

Packers Audition WR Devin Smith

After being unceremoniously cut by the Jets back in July, wideout Devin Smith seems to be targeting a return to the NFL. ESPN’s Rob Demovsky reports that the former second-rounder auditioned for the Packers yesterday.

The 2015 second-round pick out of Ohio State spent the first three seasons of his career with the Jets, but the six-foot-one receiver struggled with injuries during his tenure in New York. Smith tore his ACL during his rookie season, and he suffered the same injury in 2017. He landed on the Jets’ injured reserve after being waived/injured in May, and he was officially cut by the team in July. The 26-year-old ultimately appeared in 14 total games with the Jets, hauling in 10 receptions for 135 yards and one touchdown.

Smith went unclaimed on waivers, and he was only able to garner a pair of workouts throughout the regular season. The receiver auditioned for the Texans back in late November, and he worked out for the Eagles earlier this week.

Of course, with the Packers set to play in their season finale tomorrow, the team is clearly eyeing Smith for a potential role in 2019. If Green Bay were to sign the wideout, they’d presumably ink him to a futures contract. The Packers could use some reinforcement at receiver, especially with Randall Cobb set to hit unrestricted free agent and Geronimo Allison facing restricted free agency.

NFL Workout Updates: 12/24/18

Today’s workouts, all courtesy of veteran NFL reporter Howard Balzer (on Twitter):

Cincinnati Bengals:

  • K’s Ty Long (BC CFL), Tristan Vizcaino

Detroit Lions:

Indianapolis Colts:

Kansas City Chiefs:

New York Giants:

  • DEs Tobi Antigha (SASK), Jake Ceresna (EDM); QB Bo Levi Mitchell (CALG); WRs Bryant Mitchell (EDM), Jordan Williams-Lambert (SASK); RB Terry Williams

Philadelphia Eagles:

  • WRs Carlton Agudosi, Marken Michel (CALG), Devin Smith; DB Mercy Maston (EDM); LBs Alex Singleton (CALG), Jameer Thurman (CALG)

Pittsburgh Steelers:

  • QB Max Browne; LB Sam Eguavoen (SASK); DE Avery Ellis (OTT); WR Dominique Rhymes (OTT

Tennessee Titans:

Washington Redskins:

This time of year, a lot of teams are auditioning guys for potential reserve/futures deals to be a part of their 90-man rosters for 2019. It’s also common to see a lot of CFL guys getting looks this time of year, because players participating in the 2018 CFL season aren’t eligible to sign NFL contracts until after the regular season is over.

NFL Workout Updates: 11/27/18

Here’s the latest from the workout circuit, all links going to veteran NFL reporter Howard Balzer, unless otherwise specified.

Arizona Cardinals

Baltimore Ravens

Buffalo Bills

Carolina Panthers

Green Bay Packers

Houston Texans

Indianapolis Colts

Oakland Raiders

San Francisco 49ers