Minor NFL Transactions: 8/3/23
Thursday’s minor moves:
Denver Broncos
- Signed: LB Austin Ajiake
Houston Texans
- Activated from PUP list: DE Chase Winovich
Las Vegas Raiders
- Placed on IR: RB Austin Walter
Miami Dolphins
- Signed: CB Mark Gilbert
Minnesota Vikings
- Signed: OL Jarrid Williams
- Released: OL Bobby Evans
New England Patriots
- Waived (injury designation): LB Terez Hall
New Orleans Saints
- Reverted to IR: T Scott Lashley
Pittsburgh Steelers
- Placed on IR: RB Alfonzo Graham
Washington Commanders
- Signed: DL Curtis Brooks
- Placed on IR: DT David Bada
Minor NFL Transactions: 8/2/23
Here are today’s minor transactions from around the league:
Carolina Panthers
- Placed on PUP: DL John Penisini
Denver Broncos
- Placed on IR: WR Tim Patrick (story)
Detroit Lions
- Signed: TE Darrell Daniels, TE Daniel Helm
- Placed on PUP: CB Emmanuel Moseley
- Waived: TE Derrick Deese
Green Bay Packers
- Claimed off waivers (from Panthers): LB Arron Mosby
- Waived: OLB LaDarius Hamilton
Houston Texans
- Released: DE Demone Harris
Kansas City Chiefs
- Activated from PUP: DL Tershawn Wharton
Las Vegas Raiders
- Waived: LB Kana’i Mauga
Miami Dolphins
- Waived/injured: S Bennett Williams
- Waived: P Michael Turk
Minnesota Vikings
- Signed: T Christian DiLauro
- Waived/injured: OL Sam Schlueter
New England Patriots
- Waived: WR Ed Lee
New Orleans Saints
- Signed: G Tommy Kraemer
- Claimed off waivers (from Packers): G Chuck Filiaga
- Placed on IR: LB Andrew Dowell
- Waived/injured: T Scott Lashley
Pittsburgh Steelers
- Signed: CB Isaiah Dunn, S Trenton Thompson
- Placed on IR: CB Cory Trice
- Waived/injured: RB Alfonzo Graham
Tennessee Titans
- Signed: C Jimmy Murray
- Waived: WR Jacob Copeland
Moseley reportedly had a small clean-up procedure on his knee the other day as he continues to come back from last year’s ACL tear. According to Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press, it doesn’t appear to be a major setback, and head coach Dan Campbell expects Moseley back on Monday.
The news on Harris’s retirement comes from KPRC 2’s Aaron Wilson, who reports that the two sides “are parting ways as (Harris) plans to retire.” If this is truly the end of the road for Harris, then the transaction puts a cap on a five-year career that saw Harris rack up 11 total tackles, two tackles for loss, and three quarterback hits in the NFL.
Turk was urgently brought on as an undrafted rookie out of Oklahoma to compete with free agent addition Jake Bailey, formerly with the Patriots. The punter competition may be over quickly as Bailey is the only punter on the roster now.
Trice, the Steelers’ first of two seventh-round picks this year, suffered a non-contact injury at camp yesterday. His placement on injured reserve indicates that his rookie season has unfortunately come to an end before it had the chance to begin.
TE Jimmy Graham Addresses Saints Reunion
Jimmy Graham‘s career appeared to be over when he sat out the 2022 campaign, but he began the comeback process last week when he signed a deal with the Saints. That reunion allowed the All-Pro tight end to return to where his career began, something he said was necessary for him to avoid retirement. 
Graham signed for $1.3MM (just over the veteran minimum) to compete for a spot on New Orleans’ 53-man roster out of training gamp. That deal marked the culmination of a lengthy courtship process on the team’s part. The Saints discussed a reunion with Graham multiple times, including last year, as noted by ESPN’s Katherine Terrell. Their most recent efforts will allow the 36-year-old the opportunity to put off retirement for the time being.
“I had a couple of teams that were reaching out, all teams that made the playoffs,” Graham said, via Terrell. “I just couldn’t see myself wearing another jersey again. I just wanted, hopefully, if there was ever another opportunity to come back home, to make it happen. It did, and I’m here now… I talked to [agent] Jimmy Sexton and just made it clear if I don’t retire as a Saint, then I wasn’t going to play again.”
Graham spent his first five years in New Orleans, a stretch which included his two most productive campaigns (2011 and 2013). He earned three Pro Bowl nods and his lone first-team All-Pro acclaim with the Saints, before being traded to the Seahawks in 2015. The former third-rounder spent three years in Seattle before playing two years each with the Packers and Bears.
The end of his stint in Chicago appeared to mark the conclusion of Graham’s playing career, but mutual interest with the Saints obviously remained through his idle 2022 season. The team has a number of other options at the position (including Juwan Johnson, Foster Moreau and Taysom Hill), so Graham will need to demonstrate a continued ability to produce in the red zone in particular to turn his hopes of a Saints reunion into a reality. A strong season could help the team return to the playoffs, while allowing him to finish his career where it started.
Minor NFL Transactions: 7/31/23
Today’s minor moves:
Atlanta Falcons
- Released: K Matthew Trickett
Baltimore Ravens
- Activated from PUP: DB Damarion Williams
Carolina Panthers
- Signed: DT Nick Thurman
Chicago Bears
- Signed: TE Jared Pinkney
- Waived: WR Thyrick Pitts
Cleveland Browns
- Signed: CB Lorenzo Burns
Denver Broncos
- Signed: G Yasir Durant
- Waived: OT Christian DiLauro
Detroit Lions
- Activated from NFI: WR Marvin Jones
Houston Texans
- Signed: TE Dalton Keene
Indianapolis Colts
- Activated from PUP: TE Will Mallory
Kansas City Chiefs
- Signed: CB Anthony Witherstone
- Placed on IR: LB Isaiah Moore
Las Vegas Raiders
- Signed: LB Darius Harris
Los Angeles Rams
- Activated from PUP: OT Warren McClendon
New Orleans Saints
- Placed on IR: G Trai Turner (story)
Seattle Seahawks
- Signed: OT Liam Ryan, RB SaRodorick Thompson
- Waived: LB Cam Bright, S Morrell Osling
Washington Commanders
- Signed: RB Derrick Gore
Derrick Gore is probably the most intriguing signee on the list, with the running back having seen time in 11 games for the Chiefs in 2021. He finished that season with 361 yards from scrimmage and a pair of touchdowns, but he didn’t have a chance for a followup performance in Kansas City. After landing on IR in late August last year, he was ultimately released by the Chiefs. Gore caught on with the Saints and spent the majority of the 2022 season on their practice squad.
Yasir Durant is another Chiefs product, with the lineman getting into 11 games for Kansas City in 2020. He appeared in seven games for the Patriots in 2021 before spending most of last season on the Saints practice squad. He’ll be taking the roster spot previously held by Christian DiLauro, who got into five games for the Titans and Broncos over the past two years.
Darius Harris will be joining the Raiders following a career year in Kansas City. After being limited to only 11 games through his first two seasons in the NFL, Harris got into all 17 games for the Chiefs last year, including four starts. The former UDFA finished the year with 43 tackles and 1.5 sacks, and he added another five tackles in three playoff games. One of Harris’s strongest performances of the 2022 season came against the Raiders when he had 10 tackles and a sack.
Saints To Sign DE Kyle Phillips
After spending the past season out of the NFL, Kyle Phillips has found a new home. The defensive end has agreed to a deal with the Saints, as noted (on Twitter) by Nick Underhill of NewOrleans.Football. 
[RELATED: Saints DE Zuniga Retires]
Phillips joined the Jets as a UFDA in 2019, and he carved out a considerable role for himself as a rookie. He started four of 15 games played, logging a snap share of 53%. The Tennessee alum was credited with four sacks and 17 pressures by PFF that year, earning him an overall grade of 66. His follow-up campaigns were not as productive, however.
In both 2020 and 2021, Philips was limited to just seven games played. An ankle injury suffered in the former campaign shut him down for the remainder of the season, one in which his playing time dropped considerably. The 26-year-old’s snap share rose again in 2021, checking in at 47%, but he managed only one sack, along with 13 pressures and the same number of tackles for loss between his final two seasons in New York.
The Jets have invested heavily on the edge in recent years, signing Carl Lawson to a $45MM deal in 2021 and using first-round picks on pass rushers (Jermaine Johnson and Will McDonald) in each of the past two drafts. It thus comes as little surprise that Phillips’ return to the league will see him head elsewhere. In New Orleans, he will look to again earn a rotational role.
The Saints’ edge room is led by Cameron Jordan, who recently indicated he is not eyeing retirement any time soon. New Orleans lost former first-rounder Marcus Davenport in free agency, but the team still has another ex-Day 1 pick (Payton Turner) in the fold. Carl Granderson, Tanoh Kpassagnon and second-round rookie Isaiah Foskey represent the other pass-rushers Phillips will compete with in training camp. A return to the form of his rookie season could not only earn the latter a 53-man roster spot but also provide the Saints with an effective depth contributor.
Saints DE Jabari Zuniga Retires
After three short seasons, Saints pass rusher Jabari Zuniga has chosen to hang up his cleats, according to Nick Underhill of NewOrleans.Football. It’s unclear for now as to why Zuniga is retiring, but after spending a good portion of his rookie year on injured reserve, health might have factored into the decision. 
Zuniga came into the league with big expectations. After redshirting his true freshman year at Florida, Zuniga burst onto the scene, leading the Gators in sacks as a redshirt freshman. He never reached an elite level of play as a pass rusher, but over three and a half seasons in Gainesville, Zuniga racked up 18.5 sacks and 33.0 tackles for loss.
He entered his redshirt senior season as an All-SEC preseason pick and started the season on a strong note, but three games into the year, he suffered a high ankle sprain that would cause him to miss time throughout the rest of the season. The recurring ankle injury hurt his draft stock a bit, but the promise shown during a strong junior season helped him to still get drafted in the third round of the 2020 Draft by the Jets.
He started his rookie year on IR for New York as he dealt with a quadriceps injury. He finally made his NFL debut after seven weeks on IR, playing sparingly against the Chiefs. That minimal usage would continue throughout the rest of the season as he never logged more than 23 percent of the team’s defensive snaps in a game as a rookie.
In his sophomore season, he failed to make the 53-man roster and spent the year on the practice squad for New York, getting called up for three games. In two of those games, he got a bit more run, even earning his first (and what would end up being his only) career sack. He once again failed to make the 53-man roster last year but would sign with the Seahawks‘ practice squad instead. Seattle would release him about a month later, and he would sign with the Saints‘ practice squad and would make one appearance on the team.
The Saints liked enough of what they saw to sign Zuniga to a reserve/futures contract, keeping him on the roster for 2023. Instead, Zuniga made the decision to walk away from the game. It could be that the injuries he suffered lingered throughout the following seasons enough to keep him from ever reaching 100 percent. Regardless, he’s made his decision, and for now, his time in the league is over.
With the roster spot opened up by Zuniga’s departure, the Saints have signed offensive guard Koda Martin, according to Katherine Terrell of ESPN. Martin was waived earlier this week but will make his way back to camp to fill the vacancy formed by Zuniga’s retirement.
Saints RB Alvin Kamara Plans To Meet With Roger Goodell
Saints running back Alvin Kamara recently resolved his criminal and civil cases stemming from his involvement in the assault of a man in a Las Vegas nightclub in February 2022. As PFR’s Sam Robinson observed when the resolution was reported, it is now much likelier that the league will hit Kamara with a suspension before the 2023 campaign gets underway. Before that happens, however, Kamara plans to have an in-person meeting with league commissioner Roger Goodell to tell his side of the story, as Jeff Duncan of NOLA.com reports.
Per Duncan, the Saints encouraged Kamara to set up the meeting in an attempt to reduce the size of his suspension, which could be up to six games. It is unclear when the meeting will take place, but it seems that Kamara and Goodell will get together in the next couple of days. Kamara has told reporters that he plans to meet with the media on Wednesday, August 2, saying, “I’ll talk to you all on August 2 after I talk to [Goodell].”
The Las Vegas incident represents the first off-field transgression in Kamara’s seven-year career, as Duncan observes. Nonetheless, it is a serious one, and GM Mickey Loomis has said that the league has not provided any timeline for its decision.
Kamara’s legal matter encountered frequent delays, leaving him free to play throughout the 2022 season. The Saints were less prepared for a Kamara ban last year, but the team has made preparations this offseason. New Orleans agreed to terms on a three-year, $12MM deal with former Packer and Lion Jamaal Williams — last season’s rushing touchdowns leader — and used a third-round pick on TCU back Kendre Miller.
Nonetheless, Kamara should remain the Saints’ top back whenever he is eligible to play, and he will continue to be a focal point of the club’s offense. He is coming off something of a down year, having scored just four total TDs in 2022, but he still posted nearly 1,400 all-purpose yards on 280 touches. While he is techincially under club control through 2025 on his $15MM/year contract, it seems unlikely he will make it to that season without being released or having his contract restructured (his base salary balloons to over $22MM in 2025). If Kamara should turn in a disappointing year in 2023, New Orleans could save some cap space by designating him a post-June 1 cut next year, though the team would also be saddled with a fair amount of dead money in that scenario.
The NFL has declined to comment on the Kamara-Goodell summit.
Saints DE Cameron Jordan Wants To Play For 3-4 More Years
Saints defensive end Cameron Jordan is entering a contract year, and player and team have been discussing an extension for several months. When those conversations were first reported, we heard that Doug Hendrickson, Jordan’s agent, was hoping to get a deal finalized before training camp. If that did not happen, Hendrickson suggested that negotiations would be tabled until after the season.
On the day veterans reported to camp, Josina Anderson of CBS Sports reported (via Twitter) that talks were ongoing, with no suggestion that they would be tabled. Hendrickson noted in May that he was hoping to secure his client a deal of at least two years in length, while Anderson says that Jordan wants to play for three or four more years.
Jordan, who is entering his age-34 season, has had a remarkably productive and durable career. A first-round pick of the Saints in 2011, the Cal product has spent 12 years in New Orleans and has missed just two games during that time. He has compiled 115.5 sacks, eight Pro Bowl bids, and one First Team All-Pro nomination. He has received Pro Bowl acclaim in each of the past six seasons.
Clearly, Jordan remains an effective player, and Saints GM Mickey Loomis has unequivocally stated that Jordan will not suit up for any other franchise. Still, the fact that a new deal is not yet in place despite motivation on both sides indicates that there is nonetheless a gap to be bridged. Per Anderson, Jordan is seeking “respectable” terms, though it is unclear exactly what that means and how far apart the two sides are.
In addition to Jordan’s age and mileage, his performance did take a bit of a dip in 2022. He recorded 8.5 sacks, down from 12.5 the year prior, and his QB hits dropped from 22 to 13. He has generally been an advanced metrics darling, and while he still earned a strong 74.5 overall grade from Pro Football Focus in 2022, his pass rush grade was a below-average 53.2. That is easily the lowest mark of his career, and combined with the diminished surface-level stats, it is fair to wonder if a more precipitous decline could be forthcoming.
On the other hand, Jordan posted just 7.5 sacks and 16 quarterback hits in 2020 before bouncing back with a more typical performance in 2021, so while Loomis may be concerned about a decline, Jordan’s camp can just as easily argue that 2022 was merely a blip and that the player’s overall body of work is more relevant to contract dicussions. In any event, in light of Anderson’s report, it seems that an agreement may still be struck at some point in the near future.
Saints Extend LS Zach Wood
The Saints’ long snapper for the past six seasons, Zach Wood now has another contract in place with the team. This agreement will make the veteran one of the league’s highest-paid long snappers.
While that certainly does not mean big dollars (by NFL standards), as teams barely clear the veteran minimum for this specialty job, Nick Underhill of NewOrleans.football notes Wood will secure $2.3MM guaranteed on a four-year deal that will through the 2027 season (Twitter link). The Saints have since announced the deal.
Thomas Hennessy (Jets) and Joe Cardona (Patriots) are the only snappers tied to guarantees higher than what the Saints are authorizing for Wood, 30. (Both players received $2.6MM guaranteed on their respective deals.) Venturing deeper into the long-snapping weeds, Underhill tweets Wood will see his $1.17MM 2023 salary fully guaranteed and a partial guarantee ($130K) of his 2024 payout. Wood’s previous Saints deal, agreed to in 2020, ran through the 2023 season; no guarantees remained on that pact.
An SMU alum who caught on with the Cowboys as a UDFA back in 2016, Wood initially signed with the Saints in September 2017. He has worked as New Orleans’ long snapper since the start of that season. One of the longest-tenured Saints, Wood has never missed a game during his six-season run.
Saints G Trai Turner Out For Season
Not long after the ink dried on Trai Turner‘s Saints contract, said deal will not end up leading to a cameo with the NFC South team. Turner suffered a torn quadriceps during practice, Adam Schefter of ESPN.com tweets.
The Saints took a few fliers this week, including a Jimmy Graham reunion. They added two guards, Turner and Max Garcia, in that process. Garcia’s chances of making New Orleans’ roster look to have improved as a result of Turner’s quick setback, which will sideline him for the season.
A former Panthers regular who has since bounced to the Chargers, Steelers and Commanders over the past three years, Turner signed league-minimum Saints deal on Tuesday. While Turner is a nine-year veteran, he is only going into his age-30 season. This certainly represents a blow toward the former third-round pick continuing his career. While Turner had spent his pro career elsewhere, he is a New Orleans native who played at LSU.
Not viewed as the same player he was while in Carolina, Turner has nevertheless been a regular starter with his past three teams. He started 12 games for the Commanders last season, stepping in for ex-Panthers coach Ron Rivera. The Commanders have since made changes at both guard spots, letting Turner walk in free agency and cutting Andrew Norwell. It took Turner until training camp to find another deal, and this injury figures to delay a potential 2024 signing for a while as well.
The Saints return both their guard starters from the past three years — Andrus Peat and Cesar Ruiz — and also traded up for fourth-rounder Nick Saldiveri in April. Garcia joins swingman James Hurst, the team’s primary left tackle last year due to Trevor Penning‘s injury, and Calvin Throckmorton (20 starts from 2021-22) as depth pieces.