Chase McLaughlin

Jets Cut WR Josh Doctson

The Jets are doing some spring cleaning. On Friday, the Jets released six players from their offseason roster, including wide receiver Josh Doctson. Meanwhile, they also welcomed 12 new undrafted free agents. Here’s the full rundown:

Released:

Signed:

Doctson, a former first-round pick of the WFT, joined the Jets in February as a street free agent. In August, he exercised his right to opt out, tolling his one-year pact to 2021. While Doctson did not deliver on Washington’s investment, he did post multiple 500-plus-yard seasons from 2017-18 and profiled as a somewhat interesting candidate to factor into the Jets’ wideout mix last season. Now, he’ll seek employment elsewhere.

Jets Claim K Chase McLaughlin, DL Trevon Coley

The Jets have made a pair of waiver claims. Brian Costello of the New York Post reports (via Twitter) that the team has claimed kicker Chase McLaughlin off waivers from the Jaguars and defensive lineman Trevon Coley off waivers from the Cardinals.

The McLaughlin move probably means incumbent kicker Sergio Castillo has lost his job…which isn’t overly surprising considering he missed three field goals during the Jets’ loss to the Seahawks yesterday. Plus, starting kicker Sam Ficken is set to return to practice this week after missing several weeks due to a groin injury.

McLaughlin will replace Castillo as Ficken’s temporary replacement. This will be the eighth team for McLaughlin since he went undrafted during the 2019 draft. The 24-year-old has appeared in 14 career games, connecting on 22 of his 28 field goals and 29 of his 30 extra point tries. He appeared in three games for Jacksonville this season, making four of his five field goal attempts.

Coley, 26, was waived by the Cardinals last week. The defensive lineman saw time in six games (two starts) for Arizona this season, collecting 14 tackles and one sack. Coley appeared in 31 games for the Browns during his first two seasons in the league, compiling 80 tackles and 2.5 sacks.

Minor NFL Transactions: 12/12/20

Here is Saturday’s usual barrage of minor moves:

Buffalo Bills

Carolina Panthers

Cincinnati Bengals

Dallas Cowboys

Denver Broncos

Detroit Lions

Green Bay Packers

Houston Texans

Indianapolis Colts

Jacksonville Jaguars

Kansas City Chiefs

Las Vegas Raiders

Los Angeles Chargers

Los Angeles Rams

  • Placed on reserve/COVID-19 list: LB Jachai Polite; Polite tested positive for the coronavirus, according to ESPN.com’s Field Yates (via Twitter)

Minnesota Vikings

New Orleans Saints

New York Giants

New York Jets

Philadelphia Eagles

San Francisco 49ers

Seattle Seahawks

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Tennessee Titans

Washington Football Team

Minor NFL Transactions: 11/24/20

We’ll keep track of today’s minor moves here:

Arizona Cardinals

Baltimore Ravens

Buffalo Bills

Chicago Bears

Cleveland Browns

Denver Broncos

Jacksonville Jaguars

Kansas City Chiefs

Los Angeles Rams

New Orleans Saints

New York Jets

Pittsburgh Steelers

  • Activated from reserve/COVID-19 list: TE Vance McDonald
  • Promoted: TE Kevin Rader

Tennessee Titans

The Jets’ addition of Adams makes a lot of sense after rookie running back La’Mical Perine suffered a high ankle sprain that is expected to sideline him for at least a couple games. A 2018 UDFA out of Notre Dame, Adams played a significant role with the Eagles as a rookie, when he started five of 14 games and carries the ball 120 times for 511 yards and three touchdowns. Despite the reasonably productive first season, he was waived at final cuts last year.

Jaguars Sign K Chase McLaughlin

The Jaguars have signed kicker Chase McLaughlin off the Vikings’ practice squad, per a club announcement. McLaughlin will take over for Josh Lambo, who is likely done for the year after aggravating a muscle injury.

[RELATED: Josh Lambo Likely Done For Year]

McLaughlin has the distinction of serving as the Jags’ sixth kicker of the season, following Lambo, Stephen Hauschka, Jon Brown, Brandon Wright, and Aldrick Rosas. The Jaguars didn’t see much of Lambo this year, though he did drill a franchise-record 59-yard field goal this past weekend. Meanwhile, the other four kickers combined to go just 5-9 on field goal tries.

Last year, Lambo led the NFL with a 97.1% field goal conversion rate. He also has two full seasons left on his four-year, $15MM deal, so McLaughlin is little more than a rental for the Jaguars. Still, McLaughlin is undoubtedly thrilled about the opportunity, since he hasn’t seen live action all year.

In 2019, McLaughlin connected on 18 of 23 field goal attempts across eleven games for the Colts, Chargers, and 49ers. He was 100% accurate on his nine of his attempts from inside the 40, he went 3-3 on FGs of 50+ yards, and he made all 26 of his XPs. Meanwhile, he struggled from 40-49 yards out (5 for 10).

Vikings Place Danielle Hunter On IR

The Vikings have placed defensive end Danielle Hunter on injured reserve, per a club announcement. To take his place on the roster, they’ve promoted kicker Chase McLaughlin from the practice squad. 

Thanks to the league’s modified IR rules for 2020, Hunter will only be required to sit out for three weeks before returning. It’s not clear if he’ll be ready to go by mid-October, however. All we know for now is that he’ll be out for Sunday’s opener against the Packers, plus the next two games against the Colts and Titans.

Hunter has been limited and out of practice with a rumored neck injury since August 16th. Fortunately, new addition Yannick Ngakoue is there to help keep the pressure on. He’ll be paired with Ifeadi Odenigbo, who will fill-in as the other starting bookend in Hunter’s absence.

The Vikings have four more years of club-friendly control over Hunter, thanks to the five-year, $72MM deal extension he inked in 2018. Now entering his age-26 season, Hunter has 54.5 career sacks to his credit.

Vikings Sign K Chase McLaughlin To Practice Squad

The Vikings signed kicker Chase McLaughlin, kicker Chase McLaughlin, linebacker Hardy Nickerson, and defensive tackle Albert Huggins to the practice squad on Tuesday. With that, the Vikes have filled out their 16-man unit:

McLaughlin bounced around last year, appearing in games for the Colts, Chargers, and 49ers. He started off the 2019 season with the Vikings’ practice squad, and they’re bringing him back in 2020 to serve as extra insurance for Dan Bailey. Earlier this summer, he lost out on the Colts’ kicking job when Chris Ballard & Co. chose rookie Rodrigo Blankenship.

Colts Place DE Kemoko Turay On PUP List, Cut Roster To 53

Here are the players the Colts cut to slash their roster down to 53 players Saturday:

Waived:

Released:

Placed on reserve/PUP list:

Turay’s PUP placement will shelve him for at least the season’s first six games. It is a concerning sign for the former second-round pick, who suffered a broken ankle last October. The Colts were counting on him to play a key edge-rushing role, potentially as the counterpart to starter Justin Houston. The team has not been connected to Jadeveon Clowney since March and also avoided investments in other available pass rushers this offseason.

Kelly spent time on Indianapolis’ practice squad last year and could well end up there again. The Colts recently signed Hunt, a former Seahawks backup/spot starter, and added Grimble this offseason. Both Grimble and his ex-Steelers teammate, Roosevelt Nix, failed to make the Colts’ roster. However, despite the players’ extensive experience, each could be placed on Indianapolis’ 16-man practice squad this year. Teams are permitted to carry six practice squad players with unlimited experience.

Colts Waive K Chase McLaughlin

It looks like Rodrigo Blankenship will be the Colts starting kicker in 2020. NFL.com’s Tom Pelissero reports (via Twitter) that Indianapolis has waived kicker Chase McLaughlin.

Indy has been hunting for their first kicker in the post-Adam Vinatieri era, and there was some hope that it could end up being the 24-year-old McLaughlin. The 2019 undrafted free agent out of Illinois ended up seeing time with five different teams (Bills, Vikings, Chargers, 49ers, and Colts) as a rookie, and he saw playing time for those latter three teams.

In total, McLaughlin appeared in 11 games last season, connecting on 18 of his 23 field goal attempts. In fact, he was perfect in all nine of his attempts from inside the 40, and he also connected on his three field goals of 50+ yards, but he struggled from 40-49 yards out (5 for 10). McLaughlin also converted all 26 of his extra point tries.

Back in April, “Hot Rod” Blankenship joined the Colts as an undrafted free agent out of Georgia. The kicker earned a number of honors during his collegiate career, including a First-Team All-SEC nod in 2019.

Reserve/Futures Contracts: 12/30/19

With the regular season behind us, teams can start signing players to reserve/futures contract. This ties the player to the team’s 90-man offseason roster.

Several teams have already started completing these deals, which we’ve compiled below:

Arizona Cardinals

Carolina Panthers

Denver Broncos

Indianapolis Colts

New York Giants

New York Jets

Pittsburgh Steelers

Tampa Bay Buccaneers