Minor NFL Transactions: 8/12/19
Here are Monday’s minor moves:
Arizona Cardinals
- Claimed off waivers from Broncos: LB Jeff Holland
Green Bay Packers
- Signed: FB Tommy Bohanon
Kansas City Chiefs
- Signed: TE Manasseh Garner
- Waived: RB Josh Caldwell
Los Angeles Chargers
- Signed: DE Thomas Costigan
- Waived/injured: TE Andrew Vollert
New England Patriots
- Signed: OL Cole Croston
- Waived/injured: CB D’Angelo Ross
New Orleans Saints
- Signed: FB Shane Smith
Minor NFL Transactions: 8/8/19
Today’s minor moves:
Chicago Bears
- Signed: WR Joe Walker
- Waived/injured: DB Josh Simmons
Cincinnati Bengals
- Placed on injured reserve: DT Niles Scott
Dallas Cowboys
- Signed: TE Marcus Lucas
- Waived/injured: T Derrick Puni
Green Bay Packers
- Signed: DB Ibraheim Campbell
- Waived/injured: LB Kendall Donnerson
- Released: RB Corey Grant
Kansas City Chiefs
- Signed: DE Hunter Dimick
- Placed on injured reserve: CB Keith Reaser
Minnesota Vikings
- Waived: CB Terrence Alexander
New Orleans Saints
- Signed: RB Kerwynn Williams
- Waived: RB Matthew Dayes
New York Giants
- Placed on injured reserve: LB Mark McLaurin
Pittsburgh Steelers
- Signed: CB Trevon Mathis
- Waived/injured: RB Ralph Webb
San Francisco 49ers
- Signed: Jeremiah Valoaga
- Waived: WR Chris Thompson
Seattle Seahawks
- Signed: RB Xavier Turner
- Waived/injured: CB Davante Davis
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
- Signed: OL Salesi Uhatafe
- Placed on injured reserve: S D’Cota Dixon
Chiefs To Sign CB Morris Clairborne
The Chiefs have agreed to sign free agent cornerback Morris Claiborne, according to Terez A. Paylor of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link).
Claiborne will receive a one-year deal worth $1.5MM, per Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (Twitter link). The pact contains playtime incentives, tweets Tom Pelissero of NFL.com, and Paylor indicates (via Twitter) those incentives could be worth up $1.5MM. In total, Claiborne’s deal will have a maximum value around $3MM.
Kansas City is bringing in Claiborne with the knowledge that he’ll be unavailable for the first quarter of the regular season. Claiborne was hit with a four-game suspension earlier this month after violating the NFL’s substance abuse policy.
Claiborne, 29, has a concerning injury history, as he played in only 47 of a possible 80 games during the first five years of his career. But he managed to stay healthy during his past two years on the Jets roster, appearing in 30 games and playing nearly 2,000 defensive snaps since 2017. Last season, Claiborne posted two interceptions and ranked as a top-25 corner in Football Outsiders’ success rate.
The Chiefs lost more than 1,900 cornerback snaps during the offseason via the departure of free agents Steven Nelson and Orlando Scandrick. When he returns from suspension, Clairborne should become an immediate starter alongside Kendall Fuller and Bashaud Breeland.
Despite his recent track record, Claiborne drew limited over the offseason, perhaps because teams were aware of his impending suspension. Claiborne met with the Cardinals in April, and worked out for the Vikings near the end of July.
Claiborne averaged $6MM annually on his two consecutive one-year pacts with the Jets, so he’ll be taking a step pay cut to join the Chiefs. PFR ranked Claiborne as the fourth-best available defensive free agent in mid-May, and three players listed above him — Ndamukong Suh, Tre Boston, and Shane Ray — have all since found new homes.
Carlos Hyde Capitalizing On RB1 Reps
- A hamstring injury has shelved Chiefs RB1 Damien Williams throughout the team’s training camp, and it has created some uncertainty about who will primarily line up behind Patrick Mahomes. “I can’t tell you exactly when,” Andy Reid said, via the Kansas City Star’s Blair Kerkhoff, of Williams’ potential return. “He’s missed quite a bit, missed a lot of plays but it’s been great for the other guys. Carlos has done a nice job. He’s getting a lot of reps and he’s taking advantage of them.” The Chiefs signed Hyde to a one-year, $2.6MM deal this offseason. Williams is attached to a two-year, $5.1MM contract.
Chiefs Moving Tremon Smith To RB
- The Chiefs are moving cornerback Tremon Smith to running back, as B.J. Kissel of the team’s official website tweets. Smith only played 82 defensive snaps as a rookie, serving primarily as a kick returner. The 2018 sixth-round pick joins Damien Williams, Carlos Hyde, 2018 UDFA Darrel Williams and 2019 sixth-rounder Darwin Thompson. Given Smith’s work as a return man, he seems a fairly safe bet to make his way back to Kansas City’s 53-man roster.
Chiefs Notes: Hill, Reaser
Just a few months ago, it looked like Tyreek Hill‘s time with the Chiefs was coming to an end. Since then the situation has changed completely, and Hill didn’t even get suspended by the league. The team reportedly always felt like Hill was being honest with them, and they stood by their star receiver despite taking a lot of heat. Kansas City apparently never considered disciplining Hill on their own outside of the league’s investigation, according to Albert Breer of SI.com.
In Breer’s piece, he also notes that Chiefs owner Clark Hunt spoke recently on his first conversation with Hill since this saga started. “So I had a good visit with him earlier in this week. I’m not going to get into the details of that conversation, but it was a very frank conversation, talking to him about responsibility as he comes back to be a Kansas City Chief,” Hunt said. Now that Hill has been cleared by the league, he’s reportedly likely to get an extension soon.
- Speaking of the Chiefs, it sounds like they may have gotten some tough injury news. Chiefs coach Andy Reid said it looks like cornerback Keith Reaser may have an Achilles tendon tear, according to Brooke Pryor of the Kansas City Star (Twitter link). Teams usually know right away but have to wait for MRI confirmation, so it’s almost certainly an Achilles tear for Reaser if Reid would say that publicly. Assuming that’s the case, he’ll miss the entire season. Reaser spent parts of the last two seasons with the Chiefs, and also played for the Orlando Apollos in the AAF. Kansas City’s already thin cornerback group just got a little less deep.
Tyreek Hill Speaks To Reporters On Sunday
Following practice on Sunday, Chiefs receiver Tyreek Hill spoke to reporters and addressed his offseason allegations of domestic and child abuse. 
Hill touched on a conversation with Chiefs team owner Clark Hunt, calling the talk “a very frank conversation” and followed that up by saying “I have to work on my life skills.” Hill also said he unaware of the recording with his girlfriend Crystal Espinal existed until it went public earlier this offseason. For the language he used in addressing Espinal, Hill said he was “very disrespectful” and wouldn’t want his sister, daughter or mother to be talked to in the same way [Pro Football Talk].
The Pro Bowl receiver also said “never again,” referencing his actions that led to this point, and added that he is growing as a person. He also said him talking about punching his son in the chest was in reference to teaching the 3-year-old how to box.
This marked the first time Hill had spoken to reporters since arriving at camp and he appeared ready to put the incident behind him. Hill didn’t go into much detail through the eight-minute ordeal, preferring to keep answers vague.
Earlier this month, it was revealed the NFL would not suspend the star wideout following its investigation into the incident. In a statement, the NFL said its investigation spanned four months and based on the evidence presently available, could not conclude Hill violated the Personal Conduct Policy.
Chiefs’ Chris Jones Reports To Camp
The negotiations between the Chiefs and defensive lineman Chris Jones may be on the right track. Jones, who previously skipped team activities, reported for the start of training camp on Friday. 
“He knows his value and if he has to play out his deal in order to reach free agency, then that’s what he will do. For now, he’s focused on winning a Super Bowl for Kansas City,” his agents told Adam Schefter of ESPN.com (on Twitter).
Jones wants a deal similar to the one that Frank Clark received after he was traded to Kansas City from Seattle (five years, $104MM, $63.5MM in guarantees). The Chiefs, meanwhile, want to keep the AAV lower than $20MM per season and want to keep the guarantees in the $45-50MM ballpark. However, the Chiefs may prefer to pay out a significant chunk of those guarantees upfront in the form of a signing bonus, and given that only ~$44MM of Clark’s guaranteed money was fully-guaranteed at signing, the two sides might not be far apart.
The Chiefs, though, have every reason to slow play this situation. Even if they don’t reach a long-term deal with Jones this year, they can get another season out of him for next to nothing and hit him with the franchise tag in 2020.
AFC West Notes: Chargers, Gates, Chiefs, Hill
The Chargers have had private talks with Antonio Gates about his status, GM Tom Telesco tells reporters (Twitter link via Eric D. Williams of ESPN.com). Williams’ read on the comments is that Gates will not be back, which makes sense since we have not heard much about the 39-year-old in recent months.
The Chargers brought Gates back for a 16th season after losing Hunter Henry to a season-ending injury, but they no longer have a dire need for tight end help. Barring something unforeseen, it sounds like they’ll finally move on from the eight-time Pro Bowler.
Here’s more from the AFC West:
- There are ways the Chiefs could protect themselves in a potential new Tyreek Hill deal, Joel Corry of CBSSports.com writes. The Chiefs usually favor deals with substantial signing bonuses, but in this case, they could follow the 49ers’ team-friendly blueprint of bonuses that are metered out at specific dates. For example, they could advance the dates for injury guarantees, pack much of the compensation into annual per-game active roster bonuses, and broad language to shield against future incidents.
- Raiders fullback Keith Smith suffered a knee injury while training and will be out a few weeks to begin training camp, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets. It’s possible they’ll sign another fullback as he recovers and Michael Gehlken of the Review-Journal (on Twitter) suggests that rookie Alec Ingold may push for a 53-man roster spot in his absence. Smith is due a $1.4MM salary in 2019 while Ingold is slated for just $495K.
- The Broncos ended their kicking competition this week while opening up a punting battle.
Minor NFL Transactions: 7/24/19
Here are today’s minor moves, which feature a few recognizable names:
Carolina Panthers
- Signed: WR/RS Jaydon Mickens, G Norman Price, DL Bijhon Jackson
- Waived: RB Elijah Hood, G Ian Silberman, DT Elijah Qualls
Dallas Cowboys
- Signed: QB Taryn Christion
Indianapolis Colts
- Signed: C Daniel Munyer, RB Aca’Cedric Ware
- Waived: DE Dadi Nicolas, G Nico Siragusa
Kansas City Chiefs
- Released: TE Neal Sterling
Los Angeles Chargers
- Signed: RB Derrick Gore
Miami Dolphins
- Waived: LB Jayrone Elliott
New York Giants
- Claimed: WR Da’Mari Scott
- Released: CB Tony Lippett
- Signed: TE Isaiah Searight
- Waived: TE Eric Dungey
New York Jets
- Signed: TE Temuchin Hodges (formerly known as Bucky Hodges)
San Francisco 49ers
- Signed: DL Damontre Moore
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
- Signed: TE Troy Niklas
- Waived: WR Xavier Ubosi