Aaron Brewer

Minor NFL Transactions: 9/4/23

Here are Monday’s minor moves:

Arizona Cardinals

Denver Broncos

  • Released from IR via injury settlement: OLB Christopher Allen

Jacksonville Jaguars

Las Vegas Raiders

Los Angeles Rams

  • Released from IR: S Rashad Torrence

Seattle Seahawks

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Tennessee Titans

The injury settlements will sever ties between these players and their respective teams. While IR designations ahead of roster-cutdown day make these players ineligible for in-season activations, these settlements open the door to the players playing elsewhere this season. Young heading to IR in-season means he will be sidelined for at least four games. The Seahawks can use one of their eight allotted activations to bring the 2022 seventh-round pick off IR this season.

Brewer has been the Cardinals’ long snapper since 2016. He re-signed with the team in June. The Cardinals placed another long snapper, Matt Hembrough, on IR before cutdown day. Although Brewer was left off Arizona’s 53-man roster, teams often make this move with marginal vested veterans, who do not have to pass through waivers. This allows clubs to protect younger players from the waiver wire. Only left tackle D.J. Humphries has been with the team longer than Brewer, who is going into his age-33 season.

Cardinals Get Down To 53 Players

The source of some strange, unpredicted preseason trades in the past few weeks, the Cardinals have been busy trying to figure out the 53-man roster they’ll open the season with. While some of their biggest cuts came in the days leading up to the deadline and the team is likely to continue making adjustments leading up to opening day, here are the cuts made to officially set team’s initial 53-man roster:

Waived:

Released:

Placed on IR:

Waived/injured:

Veteran running back Clement and former Ravens standout Williams both fell victim to a resurgent Keaontay Ingram, who surpassed them both on the depth chart after getting healthy. That means a roster spot for undrafted rookie Emari Demercado, who will get to reap the unfortunate benefit of Marlon Mack‘s season-ending injury. He’s joined by undrafted wide receiver Daniel Arias and tight end Blake Whiteheart.

The release of the long-time Cardinals long snapper, Brewer, comes as a bit of a surprise as the only other long snapper on the roster, undrafted rookie Matt Hembrough, is currently on injured reserve. They’ll likely target a free agent who is left available after cut day.

Quarterback Kyler Murray was not moved from the physically unable to perform list, nor was cornerback Garrett Williams moved from the non-football injury list. Both will attempt to make returns shortly after the start of the season. Rookie backup center Gaines’ first NFL season is unfortunately over before it could begin after sustaining a knee injury in the team’s preseason finale.

Contract Details: Johnson, Avery, Brewer

Here are some details on recently signed contracts around the NFL:

  • Tyron Johnson, WR (Cowboys): Two years, $2.04MM. According to Aaron Wilson of KPRC 2, Johnson will have a base salary of $1.01MM in 2023 and $1.03MM in 2024. His cap hits will match his base salaries in each year.
  • Genard Avery, OLB (Colts): One year, $1.08MM. According to Wilson, Avery will have a base salary of $1.08MM in 2023. He will hold a cap hit of $940K.
  • Aaron Brewer, LS (Cardinals): One year, $1.17MM. According to Howard Balzer of PHNX, Arizona’s long snapper will have a base salary of $1.17MM. His cap hit will be $940K in 2023.

Cardinals Re-Sign LS Aaron Brewer

Despite an offseason regime change, the Cardinals look to have firm plans of Aaron Brewer coming back for an eighth season as their long snapper.

The veteran specialist re-signed with Arizona on Tuesday. In a corresponding move, the Cardinals waived long snapper Joe Fortunato. Brewer, an 11-year veteran who has been with the Cards since 2016, will still be expected to compete with rookie UDFA Matt Hembrough. But he is on track to continue his run with the NFC West franchise.

A pectoral injury ended Brewer’s 2022 season early, leading to an IR placement ahead of Arizona’s Week 17 game. Brewer has recovered from that ailment, Darren Urban of AZCardinals.com notes. He will join Matt Prater among Cardinals specialists coming back under the Monti OssenfortJonathan Gannon regime. Prater re-signed with the team in March.

This is Brewer’s fourth contract with the Cardinals. After being the long snapper for a Super Bowl-winning Broncos team in 2015, he signed a two-year Cardinals deal. Arizona later gave him a four-year pact. In 2022, Brewer signed a one-year deal. It should not be expected Brewer will see much more money on this agreement, as long snappers’ earnings are capped near the league minimum, but the Cardinals are offering the veteran snapper a chance to continue his career.

Only 2015 first-rounder D.J. Humphries has been with the Cardinals longer than Brewer, who joined the team in September 2016. The former Denver UDFA has snapped in 98 games with Arizona. Fortunato, who has one regular-season game (with the 2021 Packers) on his resume, signed a reserve/futures contract with the Cardinals in January. The team added Hembrough in May.

Titans OL Aaron Brewer Signs RFA Tender

Aaron Brewer is back in the fold for the Titans. Given a second-round restricted free agent tender in March, the 2022 Tennessee guard starter signed it Tuesday, Field Yates of ESPN.com tweets. The Titans had given Brewer and defensive tackle Teair Tart second-round tenders.

The veteran blocker had until April 21 to sign an offer sheet with another team or sign his tender; the Titans could have retained Brewer for 120% of his 2022 salary had he not done so. Tart, in turn, should be expected to follow suit soon.

While RFA offer sheets are not too common, the Bears gave Ryan Bates one last year. The Bills matched it. However, the Titans tendered Brewer at the second-round level likely squashed any offer-sheet momentum. Not only does the Round 2 tender lock him into $4.3MM this season, an unmatched offer sheet would have required the signing team to send the Titans its second-round pick.

That would be a steep price for a guard who has one season of full-time starter experience. But the Titans, as they retool up front, look set to turn to Brewer once again. Signing the tender locks Brewer into his biggest payday yet. He played for the league minimum from 2020-22, coming into the NFL as a UDFA.

Brewer, 25, has experience at both guard and center. The Titans used him as their full-time left guard in 2022, making Rodger Saffold a cap casualty. Brewer started 17 games, which stood out on a Titans O-line flooded with backups by season’s end. Tennessee has since lost four-year right guard starter Nate Davis. Brewer and right tackle Nicholas Petit-Frere will be positioned as the only two starting O-linemen returning for the team.

The Titans have added tackle Andre Dillard and guard Daniel Brunskill in free agency, and with Brewer having center experience as well, he could be an option there as well. Prior to letting Davis join the Bears in free agency, the Titans cut longtime center Ben Jones and left tackle Taylor Lewan. While Dillard is ticketed to replace Lewan, the Titans have not signed a veteran center. The team will likely look to address its interior O-line in the draft at some point, but Brewer and Brunskill’s positional flexibility give the team options.

Titans Place Second-Round Tenders On OL Aaron Brewer, DT Teair Tart

The Titans made a handful of decisions on impending restricted free agents today. NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero reports (via Twitter) that the Titans are placing a second-round tender on restricted free agent offensive lineman Aaron Brewer, while Jonathan Jones of CBS Sports reports (via Twitter) that the Titans are placing a second-round tender on restricted FA defensive tackle Teair Tart.

Brewer joined the Titans as a 2020 undrafted free agent out of Texas State. and he started six games through his first two seasons in the NFL. He started all 17 games this past season and, assuming he doesn’t get an offer in RFA, will be sticking around the Titans starting lineup in 2023, either at the same position or as a fill-in at center for Ben Jones.

Tart also joined the Titans as an undrafted FA in 2020. He started 10 of his 11 games during the 2021 season and started all 16 of his appearances in 2021, finishing with 34 tackles and 1.5 sacks.

Another team could sign either player to an offer sheet but would be required to send a second-round pick to Tennessee if the Titans don’t match. If the players don’t receive an offer sheet, they’ll earn $4.3MM in 2023.

Meanwhile, two impending Titans RFAs who won’t receive tenders are wide receiver Nick Westbrook-Ikhine (per Terry McCormick of Titans Insider) and tight end Cody Hollister (per McCormick on Twitter). Westbrook-Ikhine started 20 of his 33 appearances over the past two years, hauling in 63 receptions for 873 yards and seven touchdowns. Hollister has had a minor role on offense over the past four years, collecting 10 receptions for 112 yards.

Minor NFL Transactions: 12/26/22

Here are Monday’s minor moves:

Arizona Cardinals

Indianapolis Colts

  • Promoted: LB Segun Olubi

Los Angeles Chargers

Seattle Seahawks

Brewer, who has been the Cardinals’ long snapper for the past seven seasons, suffered a pectoral injury. Brewer’s contract expires after this season. The Cardinals initially signed Jackson this offseason but waived him weeks later. The Steelers carried Jackson on their practice squad for much of this season. The former second-round pick played in four games with the team.

Minor NFL Transactions: 9/1/22

Teams continue to tinker with their rosters after hundreds of players were cut earlier this week. We’ve tracked all of today’s minor moves below:

Arizona Cardinals

Atlanta Falcons

Baltimore Ravens

Chicago Bears

Cincinnati Bengals

Dallas Cowboys

Denver Broncos

Green Bay Packers

Indianapolis Colts

Jacksonville Jaguars

Los Angeles Rams

Miami Dolphins

New England Patriots

New Orleans Saints

New York Giants

New York Jets

Pittsburgh Steelers

San Francisco 49ers

Seattle Seahawks

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Tennessee Titans

Cardinals Trim Roster To 53 Players

The Cardinals have set their 53-man roster, and the team naturally had to make some tough decisions as they cut down their roster:

Released:

Waived:

Waived/injured:

Placed on IR:

Placed on reserve/suspended:

It sounded like Trace McSorley had an opportunity to stick on the roster as a third QB behind Kyler Murray and Colt McCoy, but the Cardinals decided to carry only a pair of quarterbacks through their first wave of cuts. There’s a chance that McSorley resurfaces on the practice squad. The former sixth-round pick has seen time in three career games, completing three of his 10 pass attempts for 90 yards and one touchdown.

Aaron Brewer is a bit of a surprise cut after serving as the Cardinals full-time long snapper for the past six years. However, there’s a good chance the 32-year-old lands back on the active roster once the Cardinals place players on their respective reserve lists. The same could also probably be said of tight end Stephen Anderson, who caught 24 passes across 33 games with the Chargers over the past two seasons.

Marquis Hayes was a seventh-round pick by the Cardinals in this year’s draft. The Oklahoma product will sit out his rookie campaign while sitting on injured reserve.

AFC South Notes: Titans, Texans, Jaguars

The Titans were the No. 1 seed in the AFC last year, but they have seen a number of significant changes on offense. this offseason. With A.J. Brown and Julio Jones gone, wide receiver will be one of the most intriguing position groups to watch as training camp unfolds.

The team has former Ram Robert Woods set to start alongside first-rounder Treylon Burks. Both have significant question marks surrounding them, however, as Woods is coming off of a torn ACL and Burks missed nearly all of the team’s spring programs. That leaves the door open for other players to stand out and earn significant playing time during at least the early portion of the season.

One candidate is Nick Westbrook-Ikhine. The former UDFA will open up training camp as a starter, per Terry McCormick of TitansInsider.com. The 25-year-old put up notable numbers in 2021, averaging 12.5 yards per catch on 38 receptions and scoring four touchdowns. His third season could very well be his best, especially if he gets an extended look with the first team during the campaign.

Here are some other notes from the AFC South, including another positional battle in Tennessee:

  • In that same piece, McCormick details the competition facing the Titans at left guard. Assuming 2021 second-rounder Dillon Randuz starts at right tackle, where he has been practicing this offseason, LG should be the only spot on the line up for grabs. That competition would then be decided by free agent signing Jamarco Jones, who played in a rotational capacity in Seattle for the past three years, and Aaron Brewer, who likewise has backed up along different positions on the interior in Tennessee since 2020.
  • The Texans made a number of front office moves, as detailed by Aaron Wilson of Pro Football NetworkJames Liipfert has been promoted to assistant director of player personnel and college scouting director. He had previously served elsewhere in Houston’s scouting department, joining Nick Caserio‘sstaff after a lengthy tenure in New England. The Texans also promoted Ronnie McGill, another Patriots veteran, to pro scouting director one year after his arrival in Houston. He will be joined by D.J. Debick as an assistant, as the team also hired him from New England. The final personnel hires Wilson notes are those of R.J. Goodwin and Nate Leopold, both as assistants.
  • The Jaguars are once again losing a key analytics staffer. Eugene Shen, who had been the team’s VP of football analytics, is leaving to take a position outside of sports, per ESPN’s Seth Walder (Twitter link). Last year, Jacksonville parted ways with Karim Kassam, who was also a VP-level staffer within the analytics department.