Anthony Firkser - Pro Football Rumors

Minor NFL Transactions: 9/10/22

September 10th, 2022 at 7:20pm CST by Adam La Rose

Today’s minor moves around the league, as teams prepare for the first Sunday slate of regular season games:

Arizona Cardinals

Signed to 53-man roster: WR Andre Baccellia
Signed to 53-man roster (from Giants’ practice squad): OL Max Garcia
Promoted from practice squad: LB Devon Kennard, CB Jace Whittaker
Placed on IR: OL Cody Ford
Released: CB Javelin Guidry

Atlanta Falcons

Promoted from practice squad: TE Anthony Firkser
Released: DL Abdullah Anderson

Baltimore Ravens

Promoted from practice squad: OLB Steven Means

Carolina Panthers

Promoted from practice squad: LB Arron Mosby

Chicago Bears

Promoted from practice squad: DL Mike Pennel, OL Dieter Eiselen

Cleveland Browns

Promoted from practice squad: LB Jordan Kunaszyk, DE Isaac Rochell

Dallas Cowboys

Promoted from practice squad: QB Cooper Rush, K Brett Maher

Detroit Lions

Promoted from practice squad: RB Justin Jackson, LB Anthony Pittman

Green Bay Packers

Promoted from practice squad: S Micah Abernathy, WR Juwann Winfree

Houston Texans

Signed to 53-man roster: DL Demone Harris, LB Kevin Pierre-Louis
Promoted from practice squad: WR Chris Conley, QB Jeff Driskel
Placed on IR: DE Mario Addison

Indianapolis Colts

Promoted from practice squad: CB Tony Brown

Kansas City Chiefs

Promoted from practice squad: WR Daurice Fountain, LB Elijah Lee

Las Vegas Raiders

Promoted from practice squad: S Matthias Farley

Los Angeles Chargers

Promoted from practice squad: CB Kemon Hall, TE Richard Rodgers

Miami Dolphins

Promoted from practice squad: WR River Cracraft, S Verone McKinley III

Minnesota Vikings

Promoted from practice squad: S Myles Dorn

New England Patriots

Promoted from practice squad: WR Lil’Jordan Humphrey, LB Harvey Langi

New Orleans Saints

Promoted from practice squad: DT Christian Ringo
Released: C Nick Martin

New York Giants

Promoted from practice squad: S Tony Jefferson, OLB Quincy Roche

New York Jets

Promoted from practice squad: T Grant Hermanns

Philadelphia Eagles

Promoted from practice squad: WR Britain Covey, TE Noah Togiai

San Francisco 49ers

Promoted from practice squad: S Tashaun Gipson, WR Malik Turner

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Promoted from practice squad: LB Genard Avery

Tennessee Titans

Promoted from practice squad: LB Joe Jones, RB Trenton Cannon

The Cardinals’ moves come as a reaction to yesterday’s injury news. Baccellia’s roster spot was opened up in the short-term by the injury to Rondale Moore, but he won’t simply be a stop-gap. Arizona signed the 25-year-old to a two-year deal to remain on the main roster, per Aaron Wilson of Pro Football Network (Twitter link). A UDFA out of Washington, Baccellia has yet to make a regular season NFL appearance.

Likewise, the fact that Ford will miss at least the first four weeks of the season makes the re-acquisition of Garcia a logical one. The former fourth-rounder has plenty of guard experience, including his three seasons spent in Arizona. It was only in 2021 that he logged any starts, but he could provide veteran depth behind Justin Pugh at least until Ford is able to return.

Addison, 35, was one of several veteran signings the Texans made this offseason to add depth to their front seven. He had a productive season with the Bills last season, notching seven sacks despite not starting any games. In his absence, Harris and Pierre-Louis will provide depth in the edge rush department on Sunday, and likely the short-term future as well.

Quick reminder that standard game day practice squad promotions are a recent development from the new CBA and COVID-19 seasons. Essentially, each team is able to promote two players from the practice squad to the active roster for game days. The players will automatically revert back to the practice squad after the game, not needing to clear waivers before rejoining the developmental roster. A player can only be promoted three times per season. If a team would like to promote a player for a fourth game, they’ll need to go through the normal method of creating space on the 53-man roster to promote them and have them clear waivers before placing them back on the practice squad. That is the difference between “Signed to 53-man roster” from the practice squad and “Promoted from practice squad.”

NFL Practice Squad Updates: 9/1/22

September 1st, 2022 at 6:49pm CST by Ben Levine

Today’s practice squad moves:

Arizona Cardinals

Signed: LB Devon Kennard, S Steven Parker, S Josh Thomas, OL Badara Traore

Atlanta Falcons

Signed: TE Anthony Firkser, TE Tucker Fisk, CB Ka’Dar Hollman

Buffalo Bills

Signed: QB Zach Davidson, DB Kyler McMichael, OL Ryan Van Demark

Carolina Panthers

Signed: QB Jacob Eason, WR C.J. Sanders
Released: S Kenny Robinson

Chicago Bears

Signed: OL Kellen Diesch, LB Joe Thomas

Dallas Cowboys

Signed: RB Qadree Ollison, C Dakoda Shepley

Denver Broncos

Signed: OL Will Sherman

Detroit Lions

Signed: K Aldrick Rosas

Green Bay Packers

Signed: TE Shaun Beyer, CB Benjie Franklin, WR Juwann Winfree

Indianapolis Colts

Signed: G Arlington Hambright, LB Segun Olubi

Jacksonville Jaguars

Signed: K James McCourt

Kansas City Chiefs

Signed: LB Cole Christiansen

Las Vegas Raiders

Signed: OL Vitaliy Gurman, DB J.R. Reed
Released: OT Bamidele Olaseni

Miami Dolphins

Signed: CB Kalon Barnes, OT Larnel Coleman, WR River Cracraft, OL James Empey, LB Cameron Goode, LB Porter Gustin, S Verone McKinley III, WR Braylon Sanders, DT Niles Scott, DT Ben Stille, WR Freddie Swain, RB ZaQuandre White

Minnesota Vikings

Signed: QB David Blough, CB Tay Gowan, WR Travis Toivonen

New England Patriots

Signed: WR Lynn Bowden Jr.

New Orleans Saints

Signed: TE JP Holtz, LB Drew Desjarlais, DL Christian Ringo

New York Giants

Signed: OL Wyatt Davis, OL Max Garcia, DB Tony Jefferson, DE Henry Mondeaux, WR Kalil Pimpleton, LB Charles Wiley
Released: DB Darren Evans, OT Roy Mbaeteka, OT Garrett McGhin, DB Nate Meadors

New York Jets

Signed: CB Craig James, LB Chazz Surratt

Philadelphia Eagles

Signed: LB Davion Taylor

Pittsburgh Steelers

Signed: CB Mark Gilbert

Seattle Seahawks

Signed: CB Xavier Crawford, OL Jalen McKenzie, QB Sean Mannion

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Signed: CB Anthony Chesley

Tennessee Titans

Signed: TE Kevin Rader
Released: WR Reggie Roberson, TE David Wells

Falcons Reduce Roster To 53

August 30th, 2022 at 3:16pm CST by Sam Robinson

With the deadline for teams to cut their rosters down to 53 players minutes away, the Falcons are the latest team to announce how they got there. Here are the moves Atlanta made to set its roster:

Released:

Waived:

DL Abdullah Anderson
DB Corey Ballentine
WR Stanley Berryhill
S Henry Black
OLB Jordan Brailford
DL Darrion Daniels
WR Frank Darby
TE Tucker Fisk
OL Colby Gossett
DB Matt Hankins
RB Caleb Huntley
WR KeeSean Johnson
OL Ryan Nuezil
RB Qadree Ollison
OL Justin Shaffer
S Teez Tabor
DL Derrick Tangelo
DL Nick Thurman
OL Tyler Vrabel
OL Leroy Watson

Waived/injured:

ILB Dorian Etheridge
FB John Raine

A few of Atlanta’s offseason additions are no longer with the team. Former Arthur Smith Titans charges Firkser and Pruitt — each of whom being with Tennessee during the current Atlanta HC’s run as Titans tight ends coach — leave a young tight end group. It would not surprise if one of the two — if not both — were back, via a belated active-roster return or practice squad stash. The Falcons currently have Kyle Pitts, 2021 UDFA Parker Hesse and sixth-round rookie John FitzPatrick at tight end.

The team also signed Kwiatkoski this offseason, bringing him in along with a few ILB investments. But the former Bears and Raiders starter/depth piece is back in free agency. The Falcons still have Deion Jones rostered, despite trade rumors, and have former first-round Titans pick Rashaan Evans in place as well. The team also drafted Troy Andersen in Round 2 this year.

Falcons Sign TE Anthony Firkser

April 12th, 2022 at 2:33pm CST by Sam Robinson

Arthur Smith will bring another of his former Titans charges to Atlanta. The Falcons agreed to a one-year deal with Anthony Firkser on Tuesday.

This comes not long after the Titans added ex-Falcon tight end Austin Hooper. Not as accomplished as the former Atlanta and Cleveland pass catcher, Firkser waited a bit longer to find a home in free agency. But he will see some familiar faces with the Falcons.

Smith coached Firkser for the first three seasons of his career, the first as his position coach and the next two as Titans offensive coordinator. Firkser, 27, will rejoin Marcus Mariota on a Falcons team that has also added ex-Titans linebacker Rashaan Evans this offseason. Firkser should be expected to fill the No. 2 tight end role behind Kyle Pitts, one vacated after Hayden Hurst signed with the Bengals last month.

The Titans not using their franchise tag on Jonnu Smith led the previous starter to the Patriots, though this defection did not exactly lead to a Firkser production increase. After a 39-catch 2020 season, the Harvard alum snared 34 passes for just 291 yards last season. Those numbers still led Titans tight ends. On a Falcons team currently without much at wide receiver, Firkser could see similar opportunities.

Broken Ankle For Titans’ MyCole Pruitt

January 2nd, 2022 at 4:01pm CST by Zachary Links

Titans tight end MyCole Pruitt suffered a fractured and dislocated ankle during today’s game against against the Dolphins (Twitter link via NFL.com’s Tom Pelissero). Now set for surgery, Pruitt will surely be out for the rest of the season, including the playoffs.

Pruitt, 29, had 14 catches for 145 yards and three touchdowns heading into today’s game. The Titans went on to win 34-3, but they’ve lost an essential run blocker heading into the postseason.

The Titans will still have veteran Geoff Swaim and Anthony Firkser on the roster and they have Austin Fort on the practice squad. Tennessee uses multiple tight end sets pretty frequently to leverage their rushing attack and they’ve utilized all three of their tight ends pretty equally with all three getting their fair share of snaps. Through Week 16, Swaim led the group playing 58.6% of the offensive snaps, Pruitt followed with 44.4%, and Firkser was on the field for 33.4%. None are really receiving threats, so the two remaining tight ends will continue to fill their role and Tennessee will hope a player like Fort can step up in heavy packages or when called upon to give his teammates a breather.

As for Pruitt, the hope is that the severity of the injury is low and the recovery from the surgery is quick as he heads into the offseason as a free agent. On a lucky note, Swaim and Firkser are also in contract years, so if the Titans like their trio of tight ends, it may be an easy decision to extend any combination of the three.

Minor NFL Transactions: 3/17/21

March 17th, 2021 at 4:55pm CST by Zachary Links

Today’s “minor” moves:

Chicago Bears

Re-signed: S Deon Bush

Cincinnati Bengals

Re-signed: CB Tony Brown

Houston Texans

Signed: LB Tae Davis

Indianapolis Colts

Claimed off waivers (from Texans): DT Andrew Brown

Jacksonville Jaguars

Released: DT Gabe Wright

Miami Dolphins

Re-signed: OL Adam Pankey
Signed: WR Robert Foster

New England Patriots

Re-signed: DL Cody Davis

New York Jets

Re-signed: RB Josh Adams

Philadelphia Eagles

Re-signed: RB Adrian Killins

San Francisco 49ers

Re-signed: CB Briean Boddy-Calhoun, TE Daniel Helm

Tennessee Titans

Re-signed: TE Anthony Firkser

Titans Re-Sign TE Anthony Firkser

February 13th, 2020 at 12:51pm CST by Rory Parks

The Titans have re-signed TE Anthony Firkser, the team announced. He was an exclusive rights free agent, but given the promise he showed in 2019, it was an easy call for Tennessee to tender him.

Firkser, a Harvard product, signed with the Jets as a UDFA in 2017, but he was waived by New York prior to the start of the 2017 regular season. He caught on with the Chiefs’ practice squad several months later and was retained by KC via a reserve/futures deal, but the Chiefs cut him in April 2018.

After a minicamp tryout with the Titans shortly thereafter, Firkser signed with Tennessee and enjoyed a productive preseason. He ended the 2018 campaign with 19 catches for 225 yards and a score, and he had a similar statistical output in 2019, catching 14 passes for 204 yards and a TD. But he came up with a couple of big catches during the club’s surprising postseason run at the end of the 2019 season, and the Titans obviously want to see more of him in 2020.

The Titans currently have Delanie Walker and Jonnu Smith ahead of Firkser on the TE depth chart, but Walker will be 36 before the regular season begins and has had his last two seasons marred by injury. As such, the team could part ways with him, which would save about $6.5MM of cap room and which could create more playing time for Firkser.