Donald Payne

USFL Notes: Standouts, Rosters, Locations

The inaugural season of the 2022 iteration of the United States Football League is set to conclude Sunday night, as the Birmingham Stallions and Philadelphia Stars compete for the league’s first championship. NBC Sports’ Paul Burmeister provided a breakdown of the league’s first season of existence this week touching on several points with a few being relevant to the NFL. 

Burmeister made a point to mention a number of standout players for the USFL’s opening year:

  • LB Frank Ginda, Michigan Panthers. Ginda spent time on practice squads for the Cardinals, Dolphins, and Saints, taking time in between to participate in the short-lived Alliance of American Football and XFL 2.0. Ginda finished second in the USFL in tackles and came to the league to improve his abilities in pass coverage with playing experience.
  • RB Reggie Corbin, Michigan Panthers. Corbin’s head coach, Jeff Fisher, said himself that Corbin should be in the NFL. After four years at Illinois, Corbin got a workout for the Seahawks after college but tested positive for COVID-19 upon arrival and was sent home before he could work out. He helped the Panthers lead the league in rushing yards per game this year.
  • LB Donald Payne, Houston Gamblers. Payne spent four years in the NFL, mainly as a core special-teamer in Jacksonville. The one player in the league with more tackles than Ginda, and the only player in the league with over 100 tackles, Payne made it clear that he isn’t aiming just to get another NFL opportunity, he’s aiming to make another NFL 53-man roster.
  • WR KaVontae Turpin, New Jersey Generals. Despite being on a team that ran the ball more than any other team in the USFL, Turpin led the league in receiving yards. He’s agile and tough with great top-end speed. His ability to shed tackles helped him excel as a return man this season. Turpin could easily find his way to the NFL with his receiving prowess and return abilities.
  • DE Chris Odom, Houston Gamblers. Odom spent time in the NFL playing for Atlanta, Green Bay, and Washington. Known more for stopping the run with his hand in the dirt, Odom took after ex-teammates Clay Matthews and Nick Perry and led the USFL in sacks and forced fumbles. He has NFL experience and proved that he can dominate the lower levels of professional football.

Here are a few other points that Burmeister touched on in his season breakdown:

  • When asked what comes next for the league, Burmeister brought up roster sizes. The initial roster rules allowed teams to have a total roster of 45 players with 38 active on gameday. Concerns over issues with in-game and practice injuries led the league to expand rosters to 50 total players with 40 allowed to be active on gamedays. That initial increase is likely just the beginning. With many teams hesitant to go full-contact in practices, in fear that they could suffer injuries that would diminish their already minuscule roster, more players would allow for more extensive practice sessions that could lead to an overall increase in quality of play.
  • Another factor Burmeister mentioned for what could be in store for the USFL’s future was locale. The league played all their games at one team’s home stadium in Birmingham, Ala. While Birmingham provided a great home-field advantage for the Stallions, attendance at games that didn’t include the hometown team was severely lacking. Noticing the drastic improvement of gameday action for Stallions’ games, the league has made plans to share the love. While not yet ready to give each team a home stadium and organize the travel necessary for such a scenario, the league has entertained the idea of providing one of the teams in their North Division the same advantage that Birmingham enjoyed. The four teams in the North Division that could potentially play host next season are the Michigan Panthers, the New Jersey Generals, the Philadelphia Stars, and the Pittsburgh Maulers.

Minor NFL Transactions: 8/16/21

We’ll keep track of today’s minor moves here:

Arizona Cardinals

Atlanta Falcons

  • Waived: OL Bryce Hargrove, LB George Obinna
  • Reverted to IR: WR J’Mon Moore

Baltimore Ravens

Chicago Bears

  • Waived: OL Gage Cervenka, DB Dionte Ruffin, WR Jester Weah

Cincinnati Bengals

  • Waived: WR Reece Horn, WR Riley Lees

Cleveland Browns

Green Bay Packers

Houston Texans

Los Angeles Chargers

Los Angeles Rams

  • Waived: K Austin MacGinnis, LB Derrick Moncrief, T Ryan Pope, OLB Max Roberts, DL George Silvanic
  • Released from IR: DB Dayan Lake

Miami Dolphins

Minnesota Vikings

  • Waived/injured: K Riley Patterson, WR Blake Proehl

New York Giants

  • Signed: QB Brian Lewerke
  • Waived/injured: QB Clayton Thorson
  • Placed on IR: LB TJ Brunson, OL Kyle Murphy, S Joshua Kalu

New York Jets

San Francisco 49ers

Seattle Seahawks

49ers Cut Kevin White, Sign Donald Payne

The 49ers have released wide receiver Kevin White, per a club announcement. In a corresponding move, they’ve added linebacker Donald Payne to their offseason roster.

[RELATED: 49ers Working Out Clinton-Dix, McDougald]

White, a former No. 7 overall pick by the Bears, came out of West Virginia in 2015 with tons of hype. Unfortunately, injuries have limited him to just 17 games since then. Even though the Niners were decimated by injuries last year, White was jockeyed on and off the roster last year. He appeared in three games for SF in 2020 without recording an official statistic. For his career, White has 25 catches for 285 yards and zero touchdowns.

The 49ers will move ahead with Brandon Aiyuk and Deebo Samuel as their leading receivers, plus support from Trent Sherfield, Mohamed Sanu, Jauan Jennings, and others vying for the final WR spots on the depth chart. White was near the bottom of the team’s ~12 WR hopefuls in camp, so his release doesn’t come as a huge surprise.

Payne, meanwhile, has not seen live action since he was with the Jaguars in 2019. That year, he recorded 61 total tackles with one sack, one pass defensed, and one fumble recovery.

NFL Practice Squad Updates: 10/27/20

We’ll keep track of the practice squad moves from the past day here:

Arizona Cardinals

Baltimore Ravens

Carolina Panthers

Chicago Bears

Cincinnati Bengals

Cleveland Browns

Dallas Cowboys

Jacksonville Jaguars

  • Released: T Jared Hilbers

Kansas City Chiefs

Las Vegas Raiders

Los Angeles Rams

  • Signed: K Austin MacGinnis

Minnesota Vikings

New England Patriots

New York Giants

Pittsburgh Steelers

San Francisco 49ers

Tennessee Titans

Washington Football Team

Washington Signs CB Aaron Colvin To Practice Squad

Aaron Colvin opted against lingering in free agency ahead of the 2020 season. The veteran slot cornerback — a Washington cut Saturday — agreed to stay in the nation’s capital, joining Washington’s practice squad.

A four-year Jaguars cog, Colvin signed a lucrative deal to join the Texans in 2018. He spent a season as Houston’s slot cornerback, but after the Texans’ final-seconds loss to the Saints in Week 1 of 2019, the team made Colvin a scapegoat and accepted a dead-money hit to cut him.

Washington claimed Colvin on waivers and used him in six games. This season’s Washington squad, however, did not include the 28-year-old cornerback. He will work as an emergency player and as one of the team’s veteran P-squad staffers.

Former 49ers first-round guard Joshua Garnett, a late-offseason Washington addition, also opted to avoid another long-term free agency stay. He signed with the Washington practice squad. Given the injury trouble Washington has experienced on its offensive line in recent years, Garnett may end up seeing game action for the first time since 2018.

Here is Washington’s practice squad, as of Sunday afternoon:

Washington Cuts CB Aaron Colvin, Moves Down To 53

Here is how Washington trimmed its camp roster down to the 53-man regular-season limit. Some notable veterans did not make the squad.

Waived:

Released:

Placed on IR:

Washington added Colvin last year, doing so after the Texans cut him early in the season. The veteran has played six seasons, seeing action with the Jaguars, Texans and Washington. He will head back to free agency. As with Rodgers, who was the most notable tight end on Washington’s roster entering camp. Following the exits of Jordan Reed and Vernon Davis — and Thaddeus Moss‘ IR trip — Washington does not feature much of note at the position.

Mr. Irrelevant in 2018, Quinn latched on with Washington for two seasons. He operated as Washington’s slot receiver for a time, but with a new regime running the show now, Quinn will head to the waiver wire. However, he would certainly profile as a player who could be added to Washington’s 16-man practice squad. Garnett would as well.

The team added Garnett during training camp, but the former first-round pick has never managed to carve out a consistent role as a pro.

Minor NFL Transactions: 7/28/20

Here are Tuesday’s minor moves, with the list being updated throughout the afternoon. With teams having until August 16 to cut their rosters from 90 to 80 players, many are doing so before on-field camp work begins.

Carolina Panthers

  • Claimed off waivers (from Patriots): LB Kyahva Tezino
  • Waived: OL Juwann Bushell-Beatty

Dallas Cowboys

Denver Broncos

  • Waived/NFI: WR Zimari Manning

Houston Texans

Indianapolis Colts

Las Vegas Raiders

New York Giants

San Francisco 49ers

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Washington Football Team

Minor NFL Transactions: 10/22/19

Here are Tuesday’s minor moves:

Arizona Cardinals

Carolina Panthers

Chicago Bears

Cleveland Browns

  • Signed off Jaguars’ practice squad: DT Eli Ankou

Houston Texans

Jacksonville Jaguars

Minnesota Vikings 

New England Patriots

New Orleans Saints

New York Giants

Oakland Raiders

San Francisco 49ers

NFL Workout Updates: 10/22/19

Here is Tuesday’s summary from the workout circuit:

Atlanta Falcons

Chicago Bears

Houston Texans

Jacksonville Jaguars

Los Angeles Chargers

New England Patriots

New York Giants

Philadelphia Eagles

Seattle Seahawks

NFL Practice Squad Updates: 9/10/19

Today’s practice squad moves will be posted here:

Baltimore Ravens

Los Angeles Chargers

Miami Dolphins

New York Jets

Pittsburgh Steelers

Washington Redskins