- Any team that signs Brown will guarantee 25% of his 2019 salary, per OverTheCap’s Jason Fitzgerald (on Twitter), because of termination pay rules. However, if one of the other three teams playing on Monday night — the Texans, Saints or Broncos — sign Brown before their respective games (extremely unlikely), Brown’s salary would be fully guaranteed.
- Count the Saints out, however, with Sean Payton quickly indicating (via NOLA.com’s Herbie Teope, on Twitter) his team will not pursue the volatile All-Pro. This figures to be a theme, but there will certainly be teams that investigate this situation for a possible free agent signing.
Here are Thursday’s minor moves:
Arizona Cardinals
- Released from IR via injury settlement: OT Rees Odhiambo
Denver Broncos
- Released from IR via injury settlement: LB Joe Dineen
Los Angeles Rams
- Released from IR via injury settlement: WR Alex Bachman
New Orleans Saints
- Released from IR via injury settlement: LB Will Compton
New York Giants
- Released from IR via injury settlement: S Kenny Ladler, CB Henre’ Toliver, CB Ronald Zamort
Washington Redskins
- Released from IR via injury settlement: TE Matt Flanagan
With hours to go before the start of the 2019 NFL season, here’s a rundown of how much cap room each NFL team has (via ESPN.com’s Field Yates, on Twitter):
- Indianapolis Colts – $42.1MM
- Cleveland Browns – $32.7MM
- Miami Dolphins – $31.9MM
- Houston Texans – $29.5MM
- Buffalo Bills – $24.8MM
- Tennessee Titans – $24.1MM
- Dallas Cowboys – $22.3MM
- Detroit Lions – $19.2MM
- San Francisco 49ers – $18.7MM
- Chicago Bears – $17.3MM
- Carolina Panthers – $16.6MM
- Washington Redskins – $15.9MM
- Philadelphia Eagles – $14.8MM
- Cincinnati Bengals – $13.3MM
- Kansas City Chiefs – $12.4MM
- Oakland Raiders – $12MM
- Denver Broncos – $11.2MM
- Green Bay Packers – $10.8MM
- Los Angeles Chargers – $10.2MM
- Jacksonville Jaguars – $9.5MM
- New York Jets – $9.3MM
- Seattle Seahawks – $8.6MM
- Baltimore Ravens – $8.2MM
- Pittsburgh Steelers – $6.3MM
- New England Patriots – $4.9MM
- Arizona Cardinals – $2.7MM
- Tampa Bay Buccaneers – $1.2MM
- Minnesota Vikings – $1.2MM
- Los Angeles Rams – $852K
- New Orleans Saints – $604K
- Atlanta Falcons – $493K
- New York Giants – $457K
Here are today’s workout updates, all courtesy of Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle (via Twitter) unless otherwise noted. The Saints had several recognizable players in for workouts.
Arizona Cardinals (Twitter link via veteran NFL reporter Howard Balzer)
- RB Justin Davis, RB Devontae Jackson
Carolina Panthers (Twitter link via Balzer)
Cincinnati Bengals
- LB Malik Carney, C Ryan Groy, LB LaRoy Reynolds, LB Sutton Smith, LB Connor Strachan, OT Josh Wells, OT T Bryan Witzmann
Detroit Lions
- WR Victor Bolden Jr., RB Nick Brossette, WR Terry Godwin, DL Geneo Grissom, WR Marvin Hall, QB Taylor Heinicke, RB Darius Jackson, DE Anthony Johnson, QB Chad Kanoff, RB David Williams
New Orleans Saints
- RB Cameron Artis-Payne, LB James Burgess, LB Tre Crawford, RB Darius Jackson, TE Ben Koyack, RB Marcus Murphy, TE Brian Parker, LB Tegray Scales, LB Tre’ Watson, TE Luke Willson, RB Zach Zenner
New York Jets
- G Brandon Hitner
Philadelphia Eagles
Washington Redskins (Twitter link via Balzer)
- LB Ray-Ray Armstrong, OLB Davin Bellamy, LB Reshard Cliett, LB Te’von Coney
The Saints signed defensive end Carl Granderson as a UDFA in May and gave him a hefty guarantee despite the fact that he had a pending trial for sexual assault charges in July. His attorney and prosecutors reached a plea deal whereby Granderson would have served one year of probation, but a Wyoming judge went against the plea deal and ordered that Granderson immediately begin serving a six-month jail sentence. The Saints subsequently placed Granderson on the Did Not Report list.
Granderson’s attorney moved the court for a reconsideration of the sentence, and as Herbie Teope of NOLA.com reports, a different judge granted the motion. Granderson has been released and will need to serve one year of probation, but he is allowed to join the Saints. Teope — who says the team did a great deal of due diligence on the matter before signing Granderson — also notes that Granderson was reinstated with an Exempt/Commissioner Permission designation. He will not count against the team’s roster for now, and New Orleans will have two weeks to decide what to do with him.
It seems likely that the club will find a place for him on the 53-man roster given the financial commitment to him and given his talent. He almost certainly would have been drafted if not for his legal situation, and he could become a useful part of the Saints’ front seven this year.
As Teope observes, Granderson is not subject to league discipline as the incident that gave rise to the assault charges occurred before Granderson was in the league.
In the wake of all the cuts that have taken place over the past few days, there are a ton of players looking for new homes. Many teams are bringing guys in for tryouts, and we’ll keep track of all of today’s here, all courtesy of veteran NFL reporter Howard Balzer (on Twitter).
There were a few notable names, including former-first round pick offensive guard Joshua Garnett, who worked out for the Seahawks. The 49ers drafted Garnett 28th overall in 2016, and he started 11 games as a rookie. He then missed the entire 2017 season with an injury, and didn’t make any starts last year. The 49ers were able to save $1.7MM by cutting him, and they jumped at the opportunity. Perhaps he’ll be able to revive his career with an NFC West rival.
The Dolphins are hosting offensive tackle J’Marcus Webb, who has plenty of starting experience. After trading away Laremy Tunsil, the Dolphins are understandably looking for tackle help. Webb started 16 games for the Raiders as recently as 2015, and one for the Colts last season before being placed on IR. He’s been around since 2010, and spent his first three seasons as a starter with the Bears. As Armando Salguero of the Miami Herald quipped in a tweet, it’s “not optimal” that the Dolphins are potentially looking for a starting tackle six days before the opener.
The Bills appear to be looking for a punter, as they worked out a group of them today.
Here’s the full list:
Buffalo Bills
Carolina Panthers
- OT Chidi Okeke
Kansas City Chiefs
- WRs Reggie Davis, J’Mon Moore, QB Tanner Lee
Miami Dolphins
- OT J’Marcus Webb
New Orleans Saints
Seattle Seahawks
The Dolphins planned to release linebacker Kiko Alonso until the Saints agreed to a swap sending fellow ‘backer Vince Biegel to South Beach. Before the deal was finalized, Alonso agreed to an adjusted contract to facilitate the trade, Tom Pelissero of NFL.com (on Twitter) hears. 
The revised contract will give Alonso a fully-guaranteed $5MM – with no offsets – by next week. The Saints will pay $4MM of that sum while the Dolphins will kick in $1MM. Meanwhile, the last year of his contract remains untouched – Alonso is set to earn $6.4MM in base salary with an $8.2MM cap figure in 2020, though the Saints could escape that year with little financial consequence. Cutting Alonso before the start of the year would save $6.4MM against the cap with just $1.76MM in dead money.
Traditional metrics portray Alonso as a solid linebacker who can defend against the pass. But, despite his five interceptions over the last three years, he gets little love from the advanced metrics for his coverage ability.
Algorithms, schmalgorithms, is what the Saints say. Alonso’s help will be greatly appreciated in New Orleans while Alex Anzalone and Craig Robertson continue to heal up from injury.
Listed below are the Sunday roster moves for the four NFC South teams. Following the 53-man roster cutdown deadline yesterday, many teams will make slight tweaks to their rosters, claiming players off waivers or signing guys who clear waivers. Those transactions for the Buccaneers, Falcons, Panthers and Saints are noted below.
Additionally, teams can begin constructing their 10-man practice squads today. You can check out our glossary entry on practice squads to brush up on those changes, as well as all the other guidelines that govern the 10-man units, whose players practice with the team but aren’t eligible to suit up on Sundays.
Here are Sunday’s NFC South transactions, which will continue to be updated throughout the day.
Atlanta Falcons
- Signed to practice squad:
- WR Christian Blake
- S Chris Cooper
- QB Danny Etling
- OL Sean Harlow
- DE Austin Larkin
- DT Jacob Tuioti-Mariner
- DT Justin Zimmer
Carolina Panthers
- Claimed:
- Waived:
- Signed to practice squad:
- S Quin Blanding
- G Rishard Cook
- DE Bryan Cox
- TE Temarrick Hemingway
- DT Bijhon Jackson
- DB Cole Luke
- LB Sione Teuhema
- WR DeAndrew White
New Orleans Saints
- Released from IR via injury settlement:
- Signed to practice squad:
- TE Dan Arnold
- WR Emmanuel Butler
- CB T.J. Green
- WR Lil’Jordan Humphrey
- OL Derrick Kelly
- OL John Leglue
- DL Mitchell Loewen
- TE Alize Mack
- WR Taquan Mizzell
- DB Terrell Williams Jr.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
- Signed to practice squad:
- RB Bruce Anderson
- S John Battle
- DL Terry Beckner
- QB Nick Fitzgerald
- WR Emanuel Hall
- C Nate Trewyn
- CB Mazzi Wilkins
The Dolphins aren’t cutting linebacker Kiko Alonso after all. We heard yesterday that Miami was releasing Alonso, which suggested the club’s efforts to trade him had been fruitless. However, Tom Pelissero of the NFL Network reports that the Fins are trading Alonso to the Saints (Twitter link), and Nick Underhill of The Athletic tweets that New Orleans is sending back LB Vince Biegel.
For Alonso, this is good news from a competitive and financial standpoint. Since he was traded rather than released, he remains tied to his $6.48MM salary for 2019, for which the Saints are now on the hook. Plus, New Orleans is a legitimate Super Bowl contender, while Miami is in the middle of a complete teardown.
Alonso has started every game in which he has appeared for the Dolphins since joining the team in 2016, compiling 354 tackles and five interceptions over that time. However, despite the nice interception total, he generally struggles in coverage and is not especially well-regarded by advanced metrics.
He can be effective when deployed properly, and he will join a Saints defense that also includes A.J. Klein, Alex Anzalone, and Demario Davis. He will provide solid depth if nothing else, but given the salary the team is taking on, it seems that New Orleans plans to give him a significant role. Plus, Anzalone and Craig Robertson haven’t practiced in some time, and Klein missed practice all of last week, so the Saints needed a plug-and-play LB.
Biegel, who has just 14 career tackles to his name, was used as an edge rusher and as a linebacker in the preseason, as Mike Triplett of ESPN.com tweets. The Dolphins may have been intrigued by his versatility, but it’s not as though they had a ton of leverage to ask for a more established player or for draft picks. Biegel appeared primarily on special teams for the Saints in 2018, but he will have the opportunity to earn a larger role with the Fins.
Good news for Saints fans, and fans of lists in general. The Saints have reached the 53-man max – here’s the full rundown.
Released:
- Chris Banjo, S
- Michael Burton, FB
- Michael Ola, OT
Waived:
- Dan Arnold, TE
- Emmanuel Butler, WR
- T.J. Green, DB
- Porter Gustin, LB
- Marcus Henry, C
- Lil’Jordan Humphrey, WR
- Derrick Kelly, OL
- Alize Mack, TE
- Devine Ozigbo, DL
- Terrell Williams Jr., DB
Placed on IR:
- Marshall Newhouse, OL
- Marcus Sherels, CB
- Cameron Tom, C/G