Today’s tryouts:
Buffalo Bills
Cincinnati Bengals
Chicago Bears
Green Bay Packers
Houston Texans
New York Jets
Philadelphia Eagles
Here’s the latest from the NFL workout circuit on a busy Tuesday. All links to NFL reporter Howard Balzer’s Twitter account unless otherwise noted.
Arizona Cardinals
Atlanta Falcons
Buffalo Bills
Carolina Panthers
Cleveland Browns
Dallas Cowboys
Detroit Lions
Houston Texans
Jacksonville Jaguars
Kansas City Chiefs
Los Angeles Chargers
Los Angeles Rams
New England Patriots
New Orleans Saints
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Tennessee Titans
Washington Redskins
Today’s workout updates, with all links going to veteran NFL reporter Howard Balzer’s Twitter account unless otherwise noted:
Buffalo Bills
Carolina Panthers
Cleveland Browns
Green Bay Packers
Houston Texans
Jacksonville Jaguars
Los Angeles Rams
Miami Dolphins
New York Jets
Seattle Seahawks
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Washington Redskins
The Patriots hosted wide receiver Kendall Wright and a host of other free agents for workouts on Wednesday, reports Mike Reiss of ESPN.com (Twitter link).
New England currently only has four wide receivers on its roster (excluding special-teamer Matthew Slater), and the club is counting on Chris Hogan, Phillip Dorsett, Cordarrelle Patterson, and the recently-claimed Chad Hansen to shoulder the load until Julian Edelman returns from suspension in Week 5. In addition to Hansen, the Patriots claimed former Seahawks pass-catcher Amara Darboh off waivers on Sunday, but waived him with an injury designation on Tuesday.
Wright inked a one-year, $1MM deal with the Vikings this spring that contained $400K guaranteed, but he was cut loose on Sunday. Scheduled to be Minnesota’s slot receiver between Adam Thielen and Stefon Diggs, Wright was beaten out by former first-round pick Laquon Treadwell for a starting spot. Given his lack of special teams prowess, Wright didn’t hold much appeal as a reserve for Minnesota.
That Wright doesn’t play special teams (he has only four career ST snaps) could present a problem for his chances to earn a Patriots roster spot, as well, but New England’s dire need for receiving weapons could trump Wright’s weakness on teams. A former first-round pick, Wright spent five years with the Titans before landing with the Bears in 2017. The lone bright spot in an otherwise dismal passing attack, Wright posted a team-leading 59 receptions and 614 yards in his only season with Chicago.
Here’s the full list of free agents that were on hand for New England today, per Reiss:
The Bills have moved their roster to 53 players but cutting the following:
Buffalo will take on dead money by releasing Coleman, whom it acquired from Cleveland earlier this year. Ryan lost out in the punting battle to Colton Schmidt.
Last offseason, Patriots third-round offensive lineman Antonio Garcia was expected to play a role for the 2017 squad. A year later, the Troy product is rostered by one of New England’s division rivals, the Jets.
Garcia ended up missing his entire rookie campaign after blood clots were found in his lungs. The Patriots ultimately cut the lineman earlier this offseason, and he quickly caught on with the New York, where he’s been taking backup left tackle snaps during OTAs. The 24-year-old denied reports claiming he had lost nearly 40 pounds, and he didn’t sound particularly surprised by the Patriots’ decision to let him go.
“I just wasn’t cleared medically in New England. So, it is what it is,” Garcia told Manish Mehta of The New York Daily News. “I think they knew I was a good player.”
After learning of his diagnosis shortly before training camp was set to begin, Garcia admitted that the entire ordeal caught him off guard.
“It was definitely unexpected,” Garcia said. “It’s never happened ever in my life. How did I react to it? I was caught off-guard. But I had no choice but to accept it and try to improve every day.”
Let’s take a look at other notes out of the AFC East…
The Bills are shutting down two of their starters for the rest of their seasons. Wide receiver Jordan Matthews and defensive end Shaq Lawson have been placed on injured reserve. 
To fill their spots, the Bills have promoted defensive end Cap Capi and wide receiver Brandon Reilly to the active roster.
Matthews was the Eagles’ leading receiver in 2016, but Philly spent much of the offseason looking to unload him. In August, they found a taker in the Bills, who shipped Sammy Watkins to the Rams on the same day. Buffalo gave up cornerback Ronald Darby to receive Matthews and a 2018 third-round pick.
Unfortunately, injuries have held Matthews back all year long. Matthews recovered from a broken thumb and fractured sternum, but he has been dealing with a knee issue in recent weeks.
In ten games, the wide receiver had just 25 catches for 282 yards and one touchdown. That pales in comparison to the 73 catches for 804 yards and three touchdowns he had in 2016 and the career-high numbers (85 grabs, 997 yards, eight touchdowns) he put up in the previous year. Matthews is scheduled for free agency in March and he was hoping for a much better platform when he arrived in Buffalo.
Lawson, meanwhile, sprained his ankle last Sunday and had to be carted off of the field. The No. 19 overall pick in the 2016 draft has appeared in just 21 games in his first two NFL seasons.
Listed below are the Sunday roster moves for the four AFC East 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 Bills, Dolphins, Patriots, and Jets are noted below.
Additionally, as of 12:00pm CT today, teams can begin constructing their 10-man practice squads. 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 AFC East transactions, which will continue to be updated throughout the day:
The Bills have reached the 53-man max in advance of the deadline. Here’s the full rundown of their moves, courtesy of the team.
Released:
Released with injury settlement:
Waived/Injured:
Placed on IR:
Reserve/Suspended:
The Bills have signed 13 undrafted free agents. Here’s the full list:
The signing of Johnson, a Buffalo product and graduate of nearby Sweet Home High school, should make fans happy. He could perhaps find inspiration in fellow UB running back Branden Oliver who went undrafted out of college but went on to make an impact in the NFL.
The Bills’ roster now stands at 92, so we should see at least a couple of cuts go down shortly.