Minor NFL Transactions: 10/12/15
Today’s minor signings, cuts, and other moves from around the NFL..
- The Seahawks will sign cornerback Crezdon Butler on Tuesday, a source tells Rand Getlin of NFL.com (on Twitter). Butler will add depth to Seattle’s banged up secondary.
- The Rams released running back Trey Watts, just one week after he returned from a four-game suspension, as Jim Thomas of the Post-Dispatch tweets. Watts, who joined the Rams in 2014 as an undrafted free agent out of Tulsa, earned a spot on the club’s regular season roster last season. He didn’t see the field much, but the 24-year-old received a handful of offensive snaps, rushing seven times for 30 yards and catching three passes for 18 yards. Watts also contributed on special teams, recording seven tackles in kick and punt coverage.
- The Jets waived tight end Wes Saxton to clear a roster spot for Sheldon Richardson, as Brian Costello of the New York Post tweets.
- Cardinals linebacker Kenny Demens suffered an ACL and will be put on IR, coach Bruce Arians told reporters, including Josh Weinfuss of ESPN.com (on Twitter). Demens originally signed with Arizona as a UDFA in 2013.
- The Chargers waived safety Adrian Phillips to make room for the returning Antonio Gates, according to U-T San Diego’s Michael Gehlken. Phillips provided the Chargers depth and special-teams help after starting strong safety Jahleel Addae suffered a Week 1 ankle injury.
NFL Notes: L.A., St. Louis, Preseason, Arrests
Here are a few other stories of note from around the NFL this Friday night:
- While no decisions have been made about the Los Angeles market, Jason Cole of Bleacher Report says that he has spoken to five NFL owners, and the preferred situation would be for the Rams and Chargers to join forces there. The Raiders could still get back into the conversation, but Cole says that owner Mark Davis would make it easier for himself if he sold part of the team to relieve financial constraints, which would make the other owners more comfortable with the move.
- While the Rams are pushing to move to Los Angeles, the city of St. Louis is making its efforts to keep the team in town, but City Comptroller Darlene Green questions the financing the most recent stadium proposal, writes David Hunn of St. Louis Today. “Taxes will increase,” Green said. “And that’s not what was promised to our citizens.”
- At the recent meetings, NFL owners discussed the idea of reducing the preseason from four games to three, as Cole tweets. The owners also discussed expanding the regular season beyond 16 games, but those two ideas are not tied together.
- Arrests among NFL players is down 35% since the league expanded its policies and programs from last year, and future NFL chief disciplinary officer Todd Jones is encouraged by the early results, according to Tom Pelissero of USA Today. He adds that the NFLPA is protesting Jones’ appointment as a direct violation of the collective bargaining agreement.
Zach Link contributed to this post.
Latest On Los Angeles
Sources have suggested to Vincent Bonsignore of the Los Angeles Daily News that Rams owner Stan Kroenke might simply go back to the Edward Jones Dome on one-year leases and turn attention to Toronto or London. Alternatively, if the Chargers and Raiders move to Los Angeles, the Bay Area and San Diego could be markets he considers as a new home for the Rams. It’s not immediately clear if an international move or relocation to Oakland or San Diego is a consideration for Kroenke. I’m personally skeptical of the probability of those ideas, they are interesting to note as the race to Los Angeles continues.
Here’s more on L.A..
- Commissioner Roger Goodell told reporters, including Jason La Canfora of CBSSports.com (on Twitter) that he’s encouraged by the fact that there are two possibilities for how to enter the L.A. market at this time. Right now, those two plans are ostensibly the Rams‘ proposed project in Inglewood and the joint Chargers/Raiders plan for Carson, Calif.
- While those are the two competing plans at this time, a source tells Bonsignore (Twitter link) that there seems to be a lot of pressure to put the Rams and Chargers in a room together. Due to financial constraints, many have wondered if the Raiders could wind up getting squeezed out.
- The NFL’s return to Los Angeles seems both inevitable and hugely complicated, James Bell of USA Today writes.
Latest On Los Angeles
Raiders owner Mark Davis could be on the verge of selling a piece of the team to a Los Angeles investor, a source tells Jason Cole of Bleacher Report (on Twitter). The sale of a minority stake would be done in hopes of facilitating a move of the team from Oakland to the Los Angeles area. The Raiders might need a shot in the arm as there has been speculation that a deal can be brokered between the Rams and Chargers, busting up the current partnership between Oakland and the Bolts.
Meanwhile, after the conclusion of the owners meetings, Steelers owner Art Rooney told Jason La Canfora of CBSSports.com (Twitter links) he expects a vote on a potential move in January. Interested teams will submit their applications after season, he added. The league has not expedited the relocation process or changed any of the deadlines, however, and it’s possible that no move will take place for the 2016 season.
Latest On Rams, Chargers, Raiders, L.A.
The NFL’s team owners are meeting this week, and while those meetings are taking place in New York, it’s another major U.S. city that’s dominating discussions: Los Angeles. With the league considering possible relocation, Peter King of TheMMQB.com writes that a franchise may not move to L.A. until 2017, and it could be end up being either one or two teams.
According to King, owners aren’t expected to make a decision until January, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t plenty of notable updates to keep an eye on this week. Let’s dive in….
- Team owners are somewhat at odds over the best path back to Los Angeles, as Sam Farmer of the Los Angeles Times details. While Cowboys owner Jerry Jones is among the proponents of Stan Kroneke‘s plan for the Rams, Panthers owner Jerry Richardson and Texans owner Bob McNair are believed to prefer the Carson project, since they reportedly feel that Chargers owner Dean Spanos has done more to exhaust stadium possibilities in his own market.
- Speaking of Kroenke, the Rams owner ticked off one check-box today for a potential move to L.A., as his fellow owners approved his cross-ownership proposal. Kroenke will retain ownership of the Rams, transferring ownership of the NBA’s Denver Nuggets and the NHL’s Colorado Avalanche to his wife, writes Farmer.
- While the Chargers and Raiders are ostensibly partners in the Carson plan, there has been speculation that perhaps a deal can be brokered between the Rams and Chargers, writes Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune. If Kroenke and Spanos were to reach an agreement that would allow their two franchises to share the Rams’ proposed Hollywood Park location, it would leave the Raiders on the outside, but owner Mark Davis says he believes “everything is going to work out” for his club.
- There are no formal presentations from team owners on Los Angeles scheduled for today, but Kroenke, Spanos, and Davis will have an opportunity to address their fellow owners, should they choose to, tweets Judy Battista of the NFL Network.
- According to Jim Trotter of ESPN (via Twitter), he’s getting the vibe at the owners’ meetings that it will take a successful Hail Mary to keep the Chargers in San Diego long-term.
- Count Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie among the owners who believes there will be a team in Los Angeles in 2016, tweets Daniel Kaplan of SportsBusiness Journal.
- With St. Louis vying to keep the Rams, their stadium project got good news and bad news this week. The stadium secured a $158MM naming rights deal with National Car Rental, as David Hunn of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch details. However, Ray Hartmann of St. Louis Magazine reports that the St. Louis stadium plan calls for $215MM more in taxpayers’ money than what was initially anticipated.
Latest On Los Angeles
Colts owner Jim Irsay says there’s a “high likelihood” that there will be one or two NFL teams playing in Los Angeles by the 2016 season, Sam Farmer of the Los Angeles Times tweets. Meanwhile, it was previously reported that if the NFL were to put only one team in L.A. for 2016, that they would not be following up with a second club later on. When asked if that’s the case, however, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones (link) said, “No. Emphatically, no.”
Of course, there are also some secondary matters for the league to address when it comes to Los Angeles. Jaguars owner Shahid Khan told Tom Pelissero of USA Today Sports (on Twitter) that while there’s been a lot of discussion, there is still no resolution on the matter of L.A. relocation fees or temporary venues for a team (or teams) to play in while a permanent stadium is built. On the whole, Khan feels that the NFL in L.A. will happen in 2016, but added (link), “The best solution might be something that’s not even presented. There might be Plan C.”
The Chargers have been heavily linked to L.A., of course, but San Diego will not give them up without a fight. The mayor of San Diego has been personally contacting NFL owners about his city’s latest stadium funding plan, sources tell Dan Graziano of ESPN.com (via Facebook) and while the league is impressed with the plan, there are serious roadblocks. The mayor likely can’t bring it up for a vote before January at the earliest and the NFL believes it will have made a decision on which team(s) will relocate to Los Angeles by then. Also, the Chargers are working to make their Carson project happen and likely aren’t in a position to throw real support behind San Diego’s plan.
Recently, we learned that Rams owner Stan Kroenke is reportedly more willing to share his proposed Inglewood stadium with another club than originally thought. However, it remains unclear whether that other club would be Kroenke’s “tenant” or if it would have more of an “equity” stake in the stadium. Kroenke, of course, prefers the former option, but he is open to a more equitable arrangement as well, which would require a significant financial investment from the second team. Some owners are against the idea of the Rams going to L.A. since it appears that they have a viable stadium offer on the table in St. Louis, but Kroenke appears determined to head west.
Minor NFL Transactions: 10/6/15
Today’s minor signings, cuts, and other moves..
- The Panthers signed defensive end Wes Horton just days after cutting him, as Joe Person of the Charlotte Observer tweets. To make room, offensive tackle offensive tackle David Foucault has been waived. If Foucault clears waivers, he will be signed to the practice squad, Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle tweets.
- The Rams have re-signed linebacker Jo-Lonn Dunbar to the roster, Jim Thomas of the Post-Dispatch tweets.
- The Bears have promoted tackle Nick Becton from the taxi squad to the 53-man roster, as Evan Woodbery of The Times-Picayune tweets.
- The Buccaneers announced that they have promoted defensive end Howard Jones to the active roster from the practice squad.
- Also, Buccaneers defensive end T.J. Fatinikun has been placed on IR after suffering a knee injury in the second half of Sunday’s game against Carolina. He had just returned from a shoulder injury to appear in the Bucs’ last two games, recording one tackle and two stops on special teams. Last year, his first in the NFL, Fatinikun played in ten Buccaneer games and had eight tackles and a half-sack.
- The Saints signed veteran tackle Tony Hills, as Mike Triplett of ESPN.com (on Twitter).
NFC Notes: White, Forte, Ogletree, Kam
While Roddy White is happy with the Falcons‘ 4-0 start, and is focused on his No. 1 goal of obtaining a championship ring, the veteran wideout tells Vaughn McClure of ESPN.com that he’s frustrated about not contributing more to those victories.
“For me, at the end of the day, I want to catch passes,” White said. “I’m not out here just f—ing around just to sit around to just block f—ing people all day. It’s not what I want to do. … I’ve contributed to offenses for this franchise for the last nine, 10 years. It always bothers me when I go out and don’t catch any balls in a game because it hasn’t happened in so long.”
Jason La Canfora of CBSSports.com (Twitter links) speculates that White wouldn’t be averse to a trade, and adds that there are teams that would have interest in determining the receiver’s trade value. That’s not how I interpreted White’s comments though, and I’d be pretty shocked if Atlanta seriously considered that option — I think it could just be a matter of getting the longtime Falcon a few more looks going forward.
For what it’s worth, White told D. Orlando Ledbetter of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that he’s not “disgruntled” — he simply wouldn’t mind a bigger role on offense.
Here are some more Tuesday odds and ends from around the NFC:
- Appearing this morning on The Dan Patrick Show, Bears running back Matt Forte was asked about the trade rumors swirling around him, and said he’s not worried, adding that “a lot of it is media speculation.” Josh Alper of Pro Football Talk has the details, along with the quotes from Forte.
- We heard on Sunday that Rams linebacker Alec Ogletree‘s 2015 season could be in jeopardy due to a right ankle injury. Josina Anderson of ESPN.com reports (via Twitter) that Ogletree underwent surgery and it went well, but St. Louis has yet to announce a potential timeline for his return — don’t expect him back anytime soon though, says Anderson.
- Following Kam Chancellor‘s crucial forced fumble in Monday night’s win over the Lions, Seahawks defensive end Michael Bennett interrupted Chancellor’s post-game interview to implore team owner Paul Allen – the “17th-richest man in the world,” according to Bennett – to give the star safety a new contract (Twitter link via Matt Miller of Bleacher Report). Chancellor appears unlikely to negotiate a new deal until after the season, but I’m sure he appreciates the support from his teammate.
- Cardinals running back Chris Johnson admitted that he seriously contemplated retirement earlier this year after getting shot in the shoulder, as Josh Weinfuss of ESPN.com details.
- In the wake of the Dolphins’ decision to fire Joe Philbin, Panthers head coach Ron Rivera told reporters that owner Jerry Richardson has assured him he wouldn’t fire him in the middle of a season, as Joseph Person of the Charlotte Observer writes. Of course, with the Panthers riding a four-game winning streak, it doesn’t look like that’s something Rivera would have to had worry about in 2015 anyway.
NFC Notes: Norman, Reed, Bears, Bucs
Panthers GM Dave Gettleman doesn’t negotiate contracts during the regular season, but David Newton of ESPN.com wonders if the bye week might be an exception. If it is, perhaps Carolina could explore getting something done with cornerback Josh Norman this week, but as Newton acknowledges, that seems unlikely. Norman reportedly turned down a contract offer worth about $7MM annually prior to the regular season and a new pact would likely require an offer of $10MM+ per year.
Here’s more out of the NFC..
- Washington may be in the market for a tight end once again, as Jordan Reed is dealing with an MCL sprain, an ankle sprain, and a concussion, per John Keim of ESPN.com. Head coach Jay Gruden said he’s concerned about Reed’s status, though he’s not sure yet about the magnitude of the injuries.
- Former Giants wide receiver Julian Talley has a workout scheduled with the Bears on Tuesday, a source tells Jordan Raanan of NJ.com (Twitter link). Talley was cut from the Giants’ roster at the end of the preseason, then released off the team’s practice squad last week.
- With the Buccaneers searching for a new kicker to replace Kyle Brindza, head coach Lovie Smith said today that accuracy will be the team’s top priority — a big leg for kickoffs and longer field goal attempts would be a bonus (Twitter link via Scott Smith of Buccaneers.com).
- After Zach Hocker missed a late 30-year field goal against the Cowboys on Sunday, the Saints are planning kicker tryouts this week, Alex Marvez of FOX Sports tweets.
- The Rams are expected to re-sign linebacker Jo-Lonn Dunbar to fill the roster spot of injured linebacker Alec Ogletree, Jim Thomas of the Post-Dispatch tweets. However, they have not decided whether or not to sign him just yet (link).
Luke Adams contributed to this post.
NFL Practice Squad Updates: 10/5/15
Here are Monday’s practice squad signings and cuts from around the NFL:
Cleveland Browns
- Signed: OL Ronald Patrick (Twitter link via Nate Ulrich of the Akron Beacon-Journal)
- Cut: OL Andrew McDonald
Indianapolis Colts
- Signed: DE Earl Okine (press release)
New York Jets
- Signed: WR Kenbrell Thompkins (Twitter link via Brian Costello of the New York Post)
- Cut: WR Walter Powell
St. Louis Rams
- Signed: DT Doug Worthington (Twitter link via Jim Thomas of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch)
Washington:
- Signed: WR Issac Blakeney, LB Lynden Trail (press release)
- Cut: LB Sage Harold