Minor NFL Transactions: 8/23/20
Here are today’s minor moves:
Atlanta Falcons
- Signed: OT Ka’John Armstrong
Carolina Panthers
- Waived: RB Jordan Scarlett
Cincinnati Bengals
- Activated: WR John Ross
- Placed on IR: DT Renell Wren
Detroit Lions
- Signed: DE Will Clarke
- Released: OL Caleb Benenoch
Houston Texans
- Signed: LB Daren Bates, LS Anthony Kukwa
Indianapolis Colts
- Signed: CB Andre Chachere, C Joey Hunt
- Placed on IR: Andrew Donnal
- Waived/injured: TE Ian Bunting
Jacksonville Jaguars
- Signed: TE Matt Flanagan
- Waived/injured: TE Charles Jones
Kansas City Chiefs
- Waived: CB Hakeem Bailey
Las Vegas Raiders
- Waived: RB William Stanback
New England Patriots
- Signed: TE Paul Quessenberry, DT Xavier Williams
- Released: TE Alex Ellis, DT Darius Kilgo
Philadelphia Eagles
- Activated: WR Travis Fulgham
- Waived: OL Casey Tucker
Pittsburgh Steelers
- Signed: TE Kyle Markway
Patriots Notes: QBs, Dugger, Jackson
The Patriots did not guarantee Cam Newton the starting quarterback job after they signed him in late June, but assuming Newton is healthy, it would be shocking to see anyone else under center come Week 1. And the 2015 MVP was a “full go” when practices started earlier this month, so all signs are pointing towards Newton serving as New England’s signal-caller when the season opens in a few weeks.
Jeff Howe of The Athletic details how the “competition” has unfolded over the first few practices. Newton has taken the majority of first-team reps, and while he has not been perfect, his accuracy has been impressive. Jarrett Stidham, the second-year pro who was in line to replace Tom Brady before the Newton acquisition, has been dealing with a hip injury, and he has also struggled with interceptions. The team is not concerned about Stidham’s health, but the turnovers aren’t helping his cause.
Brian Hoyer, meanwhile, has had an up-and-down camp thus far, but considering his experience and familiarity with the Patriots’ offense, Howe says the 34-year-old remains an option to start during the early stages of the season.
Now for more notes out of Foxborough:
- The Patriots’ top draft choice in 2020, safety Kyle Dugger, may struggle to see early playing time on defense because of how much the condensed offseason is impacting rookies’ abilities to learn the pro game. But as Mike Reiss of ESPN.com writes, the team is eyeing Dugger as its top return specialist. The Lenoir-Rhyne product returned 67 punts for 929 yards and six TDs during his collegiate career.
- In the same piece linked above, Reiss says Jermaine Eluemunor is in the mix to replace Marcus Cannon — who opted out of the 2020 season — at right tackle. Though Yodny Cajuste appeared to be the favorite for the job, Reiss writes in a separate post that Cajuste, a 2019 third-rounder, appears to be buried on the depth chart.
- Reiss adds that J.C. Jackson‘s agent, Drew Rosenhaus, has touched base with the Patriots about an extension for his client. As a former UDFA, Jackson is now extension-eligible despite having just two years of service time. He has become a key piece of New England’s secondary and has recorded eight interceptions over his first two professional seasons.
- Lamar Miller‘s one-year deal with the Pats will feature a $1.05MM base salary with $200K guaranteed, as Field Yates of ESPN.com tweets. Miller can earn up to $1.5MM more in achievable incentives.
Patriots Meet With Nick Folk
The Patriots met with Nick Folk this weekend, according to Jeff Howe of The Athletic (on Twitter). Folk could be considered as an alternative to rookie Justin Rohrwasser, who has reportedly been a bit shaky in camp. 
[RELATED: Browns Work Out Folk, Parkey]
Folk, 35, briefly put a stop to the Patriots’ revolving door of kickers last year before taking a break of his own for an appendectomy. All in all, he appeared in seven games for the Pats while connecting on all 14 of his 17 field goal tries. The Browns also met with Folk recently, plus a host of other kickers including Kai Forbath, Cody Parkey and Matthew McCrane. The Browns have a young kicker of their own in Austin Seibert, but the former Oklahoma Sooner missed five extra point tries in 2019.
In other Pats news, the club has given a slight salary bump to durable defensive lineman Lawrence Guy. They’re also exploring additional depth for that unit, including a recent workout with former Chiefs and Cardinals DL Xavier Williams.
Patriots’ Lawrence Guy Gets Pay Bump
The Patriots have revised Lawrence Guy‘s contract, as Field Yates of ESPN.com tweets. The Patriots increased Guy’s salary by $200K while pushing his per-game roster bonuses by $700K. Meanwhile, two of his play-time incentives totaling $900K were removed. It all works out to an even swap in terms of totals, but it gives the defensive lineman some added security. 
[RELATED: Patriots Try Out DT Xavier Williams]
Guy, 30, joined the Pats in 2017 a four-year, $19MM deal. Since then, he’s been a staple on New England’s D-Line. Guy hasn’t missed a game in each of the last three seasons, and he’s starting in all but two of those games. Last year, he set a new career high with 61 total tackles, including three sacks. Before he joined the Patriots, Guy was a featured regular in the Ravens’ defensive end rotation. And, before that, he was something of a journeyman.
The Pats have taken care of the hard-nose lineman in the past. In each of the last two years, they’ve paid out more than $750K in signing bonuses to make up for the playing time incentives that he narrowly missed.
Patriots Try Out DT Xavier Williams
Former Chiefs and Cardinals defensive tackle Xavier Williams headed east for a workout. The Patriots brought in the veteran lineman for a mid-camp audition, Mike Reiss of ESPN.com tweets.
The Patriots are currently down Beau Allen, an offseason acquisition who has missed each of the team’s practices this week. Williams would add to a Pats line that lost Danny Shelton this offseason.
A Northern Iowa product, Williams spent the past two seasons with the Chiefs. The 28-year-old defender collected a Super Bowl ring last season, returning from IR late in the season to play in two of the Chiefs’ playoff games. A high ankle sprain sidelined Williams for much of 2019.
The former UDFA caught on with the Cardinals in 2015. He signed a restricted free agent offer sheet with the Chiefs in 2018, which the Cards refused to match, and played 36% of Kansas City’s defensive snaps that season.
Minor NFL Transactions: 8/17/20
Today’s minor moves:
Atlanta Falcons
- Released: QB Danny Etling
Buffalo Bills
- Placed on IR: DT Niles Scott
Carolina Panthers
- Claimed off waivers (from Dallas): DE Jalen Jelks
Cincinnati Bengals
- Waived/Injured: RB Rodney Anderson
Houston Texans
- Activated off NFI: WR Kenny Stills (Sunday)
- Activated off PUP: LB Dylan Cole (Sunday)
Jacksonville Jaguars
- Placed on IR: TE Josh Oliver
- Released from IR: DT Brian Price
Kansas City Chiefs
- Claimed: TE Daniel Helm (from 49ers)
Miami Dolphins
- Waived: OT Nick Kaltmayer (Sunday)
Minnesota Vikings
- Cut (injury designation): LB Quentin Poling
New England Patriots
- Signed: OL Ben Braden, TE Paul Butler, TE Alex Ellis
New York Jets
- Signed: TE Connor Davis
- Waived: S Anthony Cioffi
New York Giants
- Signed: DT Daylon Mack
Tennessee Titans
- Signed: LB/DE Jamal Davis II (Sunday)
Minor NFL Transactions: 8/15/20
Today’s minor moves:
Cincinnati Bengals
- Signed: DE Amani Bledsoe
Green Bay Packers
- Claimed: WR Travis Fulgham (from Lions)
- Released: CB Marc-Antoine Dequoy, TE James Looney, WR Darrell Stewart
Jacksonville Jaguars
- Signed: FB Bruce Miller
- Released: FB Connor Slomka
Miami Dolphins
- Claimed: DB Jeremiah Dinson (from Lions)
Minnesota Vikings
- Signed: RB Tony Brooks-James
- Waived: OT Brady Aiello
New England Patriots
- Waived/Injured: WR Quincy Adeboyejo
Cam Newton At Full Strength
- Shoulder and foot injuries helped lead Cam Newton out of Charlotte after nine seasons. But the former MVP quarterback said he is “full go” as he begins practices with the Patriots, Phil Perry of NBC Sports Boston notes. Newton, 31, sounded more cautiously optimistic about staying fully healthy, Perry writes, after being injured for much of the past three seasons. But going into the padded portion of New England’s training camp, Tom Brady‘s likely successor said he feels “amazing.”
- Since Dolphins players reported to camp, Xavien Howard has landed on both the active/PUP list and the reserve/COVID-19 list. Howard underwent knee surgery in December. While Howard was running at the team’s facility this summer, per ESPN.com’s Cameron Wolfe, he does not figure to see much practice time before Week 1. This makes the standout corner’s availability for the Dolphins’ opener against the Patriots uncertain.
Minor NFL Transactions: 8/13/20
Today’s minor moves:
Atlanta Falcons
- Waived: S C.J. Reavis
Houston Texans
- Waived: T David Steinmetz
Miami Dolphins
- Signed: CB Deatrick Nichols
- Waived: S Steven Parker, TE Bryce Sterk
Minnesota Vikings
- Waived: LB DeMarquis Gates
New England Patriots
- Placed on reserve/retired list: C Dustin Woodward
- Waived: DE Nick Coe
New York Giants
- Claimed off waivers (from Jaguars): WR C.J. Board
San Francisco 49ers
- Waived: DL Alex Barrett
Tennessee Titans
- Signed: DE Wyatt Ray
COVID-19 Latest: Testing, Lynn, Draft, Fans
The NFL will extend its daily COVID-19 testing period through Sept. 5, the NFLPA announced. This comes after the league declared the positive test rate of Tier 1 and Tier 2 individuals to be lower than 1%. The league and the union’s original daily testing agreement ran through August 19. When the parties agreed on that time window, the agreement was they would move to every-other-day testing if the positive rate ended up below 5% in that period. But the sides made a preemptive move to err on the side of caution.
New protocols will also include players who test positive undergoing an EKG, blood tests for heart function and an echocardiogram, Mark Maske of the Washington Post reports (on Twitter). Heart complications are now being associated with COVID-19. Red Sox pitcher Eduardo Rodriguez encountered a heart issue after he contracted the virus, and part of the reasoning behind the Big Ten postponing its season stemmed from at least 10 conference players battling myocarditis — a rare condition featuring inflammation of the heart muscle — according to The Athletic’s Nicole Auerbach (subscription required).
Here is the latest on the league’s battle with the coronavirus:
- Chargers head coach Anthony Lynn revealed during the first episode of Hard Knocks he contracted COVID-19 earlier in the offseason. The fourth-year Bolts HC experienced symptoms. He is the third head coach known to have contracted the virus, following Sean Payton and Doug Pederson.
- The Big Ten and Pac-12 attempting to play spring football may now prompt the NFL to change its mind regarding the draft. The NFL “would have to” consider moving off its late-April draft date if colleges play their seasons in the spring, Maske tweets. Last month, the NFL’s stance was firm on keeping the draft in April. But with conferences taking last-resort measures of postponing seasons indefinitely, the league appears to be understandably changing its tune. No NFL draft has occurred before a college season’s conclusion since the 1960s.
- Add Washington to the list of teams who will play home games without fans this season. The franchise announced the decision Wednesday. Washington, however, added that this policy would be subject to change if the conditions surrounding the pandemic improve over the course of the season. Washington joins the Giants, Jets and Raiders as teams to announce their home games will not involve spectators.
- Other teams have not given up on having fans at games. The Chiefs, Cowboys and Patriots are among teams working on a pod system, which has gained the most traction among potential solutions, Charles Robinson of Yahoo.com tweets. The goal of this unusual setup would be to place clusters of masked fans together at different sections of stadiums, Robinson adds (on Twitter). Considering the social distancing component in COVID-19 safety recommendations, this would be an interesting setup. But a month away from the season, most teams’ attendance plans still appear fluid.