Jaleel Scott

Falcons Host 5 For Tryouts

The Falcons are starting mandatory minicamp this week, and they’ll host five new tryout players, a couple of whom have some real NFL experience, the team announced Tuesday.

Atlanta is bringing in defensive tackle Miles Brown, linebackers Sharif Finch and Jeff Holland, offensive lineman Wyatt Miller, and wide receiver Jaleel Scott. Brown is a 2019 UDFA from Wofford, who played nine games for the Cardinals as a rookie in a rotational role as a nose tackle. He spent much of last season on the Titans’ practice squad.

Finsh is a 2018 UDFA from Temple who played a real role with the Titans initially. He appeared in 15 games for Tennessee as a rookie, finishing with 27 tackles, 1.5 sacks, and two forced fumbles. He played in eight the following year, making three starts, and adding another two sacks. Waived toward the end of the year, he’s since had short stints with the Bengals, Raiders, Bears and Jets. He appeared in three games for New York last year, and was just cut by them last week.

Holland is a 2018 UDFA from Auburn who played in three games for the Broncos as a rookie and has bounced around offseason rosters and practice squads since. He was out of the league in 2020. Miller is a tackle from UCF who has never appeared in a regular season NFL game. He was on the Seahawks’ practice squad for a bit last year.

Finally, Scott is perhaps the biggest name on this list. The Ravens drafted him in the fourth-round out of New Mexico State back in 2018, but he didn’t pan out. He missed his entire rookie year due to injury, then played sparingly in 2019. He was cut and scooped up by the Jets last season, spending most of the year on the practice squad. He did appear in one game for them, and actually started it, catching one pass for 16 yards. With Julio Jones getting traded, perhaps Scott will be able to stick as the team takes flyers on new receivers.

Jets Cut WR Josh Doctson

The Jets are doing some spring cleaning. On Friday, the Jets released six players from their offseason roster, including wide receiver Josh Doctson. Meanwhile, they also welcomed 12 new undrafted free agents. Here’s the full rundown:

Released:

Signed:

Doctson, a former first-round pick of the WFT, joined the Jets in February as a street free agent. In August, he exercised his right to opt out, tolling his one-year pact to 2021. While Doctson did not deliver on Washington’s investment, he did post multiple 500-plus-yard seasons from 2017-18 and profiled as a somewhat interesting candidate to factor into the Jets’ wideout mix last season. Now, he’ll seek employment elsewhere.

NFL Reserve/Futures Contracts: 1/5/21

We’ll keep track of the latest reserve/futures deals here:

Carolina Panthers 

Dallas Cowboys

Denver Broncos

Houston Texans

Minnesota Vikings

New England Patriots

New York Giants

New York Jets

Philadelphia Eagles

San Francisco 49ers

Minor NFL Transactions: 12/12/20

Here is Saturday’s usual barrage of minor moves:

Buffalo Bills

Carolina Panthers

Cincinnati Bengals

Dallas Cowboys

Denver Broncos

Detroit Lions

Green Bay Packers

Houston Texans

Indianapolis Colts

Jacksonville Jaguars

Kansas City Chiefs

Las Vegas Raiders

Los Angeles Chargers

Los Angeles Rams

  • Placed on reserve/COVID-19 list: LB Jachai Polite; Polite tested positive for the coronavirus, according to ESPN.com’s Field Yates (via Twitter)

Minnesota Vikings

New Orleans Saints

New York Giants

New York Jets

Philadelphia Eagles

San Francisco 49ers

Seattle Seahawks

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Tennessee Titans

Washington Football Team

Minor NFL Transactions: 10/31/20

Here is the league’s avalanche of Halloween minor moves:

Arizona Cardinals

Atlanta Falcons

Baltimore Ravens

Buffalo Bills

Chicago Bears

Cincinnati Bengals

Cleveland Browns

Denver Broncos

Detroit Lions

Green Bay Packers

Jacksonville Jaguars

Las Vegas Raiders

Los Angeles Chargers

Los Angeles Rams

Miami Dolphins

Minnesota Vikings

New England Patriots

New Orleans Saints

New York Jets

Philadelphia Eagles

Pittsburgh Steelers

San Francisco 49ers

Seattle Seahawks

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Tennessee Titans

Jets Sign Alec Ogletree To Practice Squad

The Jets have signed former Giants linebacker Alec Ogletree to the practice squad, per a club announcement. He’ll be joined by wide receiver Jaleel Scott, a former fourth-round pick of the Ravens.

[RELATED: Le’Veon Bell Addresses Rumored Issues With Adam Gase]

The Giants dropped Ogletree in February to save roughly $8MM against the cap. Just a couple of years ago, GM Dave Gettleman acquired him and the remainder of his four-year, $42MM extension from the Rams. The traditional stats have portrayed Ogletree as a consistently productive player – he has several 100+ tackle seasons to his credit, plus 12 interceptions and four pick-sixes for his career. The advanced metrics haven’t lined up, however, and Ogletree didn’t produce for the G-Men. Instead, they shed his salary and replaced him with newcomer Blake Martinez.

Now with the other tenants of the Meadowlands, Ogletree will be at the ready as an emergency call-up. The Jets project to start the year with Neville Hewitt and Avery Williamson as their starting inside linebackers with support from Harvey Langi and Blake Cashman.

Ravens Cut Roster To 53

The Ravens became the latest team to get down to 53, cutting a slew of players on Saturday via a team announcement. With the moves, Baltimore ended a 16-year streak of keeping at least one undrafted rookie on the roster, another sign of the impact COVID-19 and the reduced offseason had on roster decisions.

Here are the 23 guys who were let go:

Barner played a somewhat prominent role on a couple of Eagles teams and won Super Bowl LII with the team. Since leaving Philly he’s bounced between New England, Carolina, and Atlanta. Ehinger started a game at guard for Baltimore last year, but couldn’t crack the roster this time around.

Richards was a full-time starter with the Falcons in 2018, and appeared in nine games with Baltimore last year, scoring a touchdown on a fumble recovery. Townsend was the Raiders’ punter in 2018, and just signed with the Ravens a couple of weeks ago. He probably never had too good a chance of beating out Sam Koch, who has been with the Ravens since 2006. Huntley had a very solid college career at Utah, but wasn’t viewed by too many as a legitimate pro passer.

Ravens Place Jaleel Scott On IR

The Ravens placed fourth-round wide receiver Jaleel Scott on injured reserve, according to a team announcement. To take his place on the roster, they brought back Robertson Daniel, a cornerback who has spent parts of the last two seasons on the practice squad.

As Jeff Zrebiec of The Athletic notes (on Twitter), the Ravens have never cut a rookie fourth-round pick before the season opener, but that was a possibility for Scott after he struggled mightily this offseason. However, the undisclosed injury rendered that issue moot.

Scott, a product of New Mexico State, hauled in 76 catches for 1,079 yards and nine touchdowns last season. Despite his athleticism and strong hands, he was unable to get the hang of things in practice. He’ll now focus on his recovery before trying again in 2019.

With Scott fully out of the picture, Jordan Lasley, Tim White, Janarion Grant, and Breshad Perriman will compete for the final wide receiver spot(s) on the roster. The top four WR jobs have been secured by Michael Crabtree, John Brown, Willie Snead, and Chris Moore.

AFC Notes: Colts, Steelers, Perriman

An Anthony Castonzo stay on the PUP list due to a midsummer hamstring tweak was among the Colts‘ late-offseason concerns, but that won’t end up taking place. The Colts did not end up placing their top left tackle on the PUP list, per Mike Chappell of CBS 4 (Twitter link). However, Chappell notes (via Twitter) Indianapolis did follow through with placing safeties Malik Hooker and Clayton Geathers on the PUP. Both were expected to land there, with Hooker (torn ACL, MCL in October) being a bit further away from a return.

Here’s the latest from the AFC on the final offseason Sunday for most teams.

  • August extensions have been one of the Steelers‘ traditions over the years, and an unlikely candidate for a significant pay bump’s emerged. Chris Boswell joined the Steelers midway through the 2015 season, but his production last year (35-for-38 on field goals, four game-winning makes en route to the Pro Bowl) and contract-year status make him a prime preseason-extension candidate, Joe Rutter of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review writes. The Steelers applied a second-round RFA tender (2.9MM) to Boswell this year, and Rutter believes it will take a guarantee in the $9MM-plus range to keep Boswell in Pittsburgh. Only two kickers — Stephen Gostkowski and Justin Tucker — received eight-figure guarantees, with the Bears’ Cody Parkey guarantee sitting in third.
  • Despite a light investment at linebacker to replace Ryan Shazier, don’t automatically look for the Steelers to deploy Terrell Edmunds as a hybrid safety just yet, Mark Kaboly of The Athletic writes (subscription required). Kaboly expects the first-round pick to play in the William Gay role as a dime contributor as a rookie, with UFA linebacker add Jon Bostic or second-year man Tyler Matakevich replacing Shazier.
  • In what is Breshad Perriman‘s last chance to make an impact with the Ravens, he may be on the outside looking in to make the team, Jeff Zreibec of The Athletic notes. In addition to being behind new additions Michael Crabtree, Willie Snead and John Brown, Zreibec notes the 2015 first-round pick is “certainly” trailing Chris Moore and Tim White as well. (Moore is a career backup, and White is a former UDFA who has yet to play in an NFL game.) Considering rookies Jaleel Scott (Round 4) and Jordan Lasley (Round 5) also may be ahead of Perriman, this is a bind for the one-time highly regarded prospect. Ravens officials, however, wonder how much different the Central Florida product’s career would be had he been able to be on the field during the team’s past training camps rather than missing most of those sessions due to injuries, per Zreibec. Perriman looked on the verge of a promising season after shining in the 2017 offseason program, but a hamstring tear put the kibosh on those hopes. Baltimore picked up an option bonus of $649K earlier this week, but that will merely buy the fourth-year pass-catcher this preseason to try and make one final impression.
  • Phillip Lindsay now serves as a wild card in the Broncos‘ running back room. The Colorado product who blazed to a 4.39-second 40-yard dash clocking at his pro day received interest from several other teams before opting to stay in Denver, Mike Klis of 9News notes. The Denver native’s $15K signing bonus marked the third-highest in John Elway‘s eight-year tenure at the helm. Klis writes Vance Joseph plans to evaluate the 5-foot-7 speedster for a Darren Sproles-type role as a third-down back and return man. The Broncos have struggled on returns since parting ways with Trindon Holliday after the 2013 season. Primary 2017 return man Isaiah McKenzie fumbled six times as a rookie. The Broncos added two rookies — third-rounder Royce Freeman and seventh-rounder David Williams — to a backfield mix that includes veterans Devontae Booker and De’Angelo Henderson.

Ravens Sign 8 Draft Picks

Of the 12 draft choices the Ravens made this year, eight are now under contract. The Ravens signed the final eight of their 2018 draft picks on Saturday. Here’s the full rundown:

Baltimore’s unsigned contingent consists of Hayden Hurst, Lamar Jackson, Orlando Brown and Mark Andrews.

Scott and Lasley made it a four-pass-catcher draft for the Ravens, who used first- and third-round picks on tight ends. The Ravens have overhauled their receiving corps this offseason, cutting Jeremy Maclin, letting Mike Wallace depart in free agency and signing John Brown, Michael Crabtree and Willie Snead.

Averett and Elliott will attempt to carve out positions in Baltimore’s secondary, while Sieler becomes the third Division II front-seven piece on the Ravens’ roster, joining Brandon Williams and Matt Judon.