Cody Davis

Minor NFL Transactions: 3/18/23

Today’s minor moves around the league:

Atlanta Falcons

Detroit Lions

Jacksonville Jaguars

Las Vegas Raiders

New England Patriots

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Armstrong saw by far the largest workload of his career in 2022, his first season with the Falcons. Starting four of the nine games he appeared in, he logged a 57% snap share on defense. The 27-year-old had offers from other teams, per his agent (on Twitter), but he will instead remain in Atlanta on a one-year contract (Twitter link via Aaron Wilson of KPRC2).

Moore is one of several core special teamers earning new deals in recent days. His new Lions pact is two years in length, and has a base value of $4.5MM, per Ian Rapoport of NFL Network (Twitter link). Moore will earn $3MM guaranteed, and could add a further $1.25MM in incentives.

AFC East Notes: Hyde, Wilson, Patriots

Bills safety Micah Hyde was expected to miss the rest of the season while he continued to recover from his neck injury. As Joe Buscaglia of The Athletic writes, there could be a glimmer of hope that Hyde is back on the field during the 2022 season.

Hyde’s recent neck surgery helped eliminate the lingering pain that the veteran had been dealing with, and the safety has been active with the Bills for the past month. This includes work (alongside other inactive players) with the strength and conditioning staff, with Buscaglia writing that the safety was spotted running drills with injured members of the 53-man roster. Hyde later told the reporter that he’s taking his rehab one day at a time, but he left the door open for a return this season.

“I would love to. I would love to. We’ll see,” Hyde said. “It’s not really up to me. It’s kind of up to the doctors. Historically, no. But I’m not dealing with… those are other people, other situations. So, we’ll see what happens.”

At the very least, it’s encouraging that Hyde didn’t definitively reject the idea of a 2022 return. Now in his sixth season in Buffalo, it wouldn’t be shocking if the veteran makes a push to play as the Bills pursue a Super Bowl ring.

Some more notes out of the AFC East…

  • Despite Zach Wilson‘s disastrous Week 11 performance (and, later, his inability to take responsibility for the loss to the Patriots), the Jets continue to support the now-benched quarterback, with Robert Saleh previously indicating that this isn’t the end of the former first-round pick’s career in New York. Following the fallout from Wilson’s post-game presser, the QB still needed to win back his locker room. According to ESPN’s Rich Cimini, Wilson apologized to teammates for his post-game remarks, and while he supported fill-in Mike White, the quarterback also made it clear that he’ll be back under center before long. “It was the only thing I could think of the last couple of days,” Wilson said (via Cimini). “I wanted the opportunity to talk to those guys and really make it from the heart.”
  • Speaking of Wilson’s Jets teammates, NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport tweets that Jets players have been concerned about their starting QB’s performance for some time. Whether Wilson’s struggles were mental or fundamental, Rapoport notes that the organization hope Wilson’s mental break will help the QB both for this season and beyond.
  • Some good news on the injury front for the Patriots. Center David Andrews suffered what was thought to be a serious thigh injury during New England’s win over the Jets in Week 11, but Rapoport tweets that the lineman escaped a serious injury and could return for the end of the season or the playoffs. Jeff Howe of The Athletic adds (on Twitter) that while there’s no clear timeline on Andrews’ return, the veteran will do everything in his power to get back on the field.
  • The Patriots saved a chunk of money recently. According to ESPN’s Mike Reiss (on Twitter), the Patriots reworked safety Cody Davis‘ contract. The move saved the organization about $250K against the cap. The veteran inked a two-year, $4.5MM deal with the Patriots prior to the 2021 season and is set to hit free agency following the 2022 campaign.

AFC East Rumors: Jets WRs, Davis, Collins, Jones

Second-year wide receiver Elijah Moore made headlines yesterday when he became the second Jets pass catcher to request a trade in the past two months. The frustration leading to the request had been building for weeks, according to ESPN’s Rich Cimini, as Moore hasn’t quite found the success and production he saw in his rookie season. The team sent him home from practice for a “personal day” yesterday and are not considering trading the 22-year-old.

The other receiver who requested a trade was New York’s second-round draft pick from the year before the Jets selected Moore in the second round: Denzel Mims. Mims has been a healthy scratch for the team’s first six games of the season and, according to him, a trade is “still on the table.”

Here are a few other rumors out of the AFC East, starting with some injury details up in Massachusetts:

  • Patriots safety and core special teamer Cody Davis was placed on injured reserve earlier this week. According to the Ian Rapoport of NFL Network, the move is a result of season-ending surgery Davis must undergo to repair a knee injury. It’s a tough loss for the Patriots, who have always valued special teams experts, and a return to the NFL next season will pose a difficult test for Davis, who will turn 34 before he can return.
  • Veteran linebacker Jamie Collins has been serving time with his first career stint on an NFL practice squad during his tenth year in the league. Patriots head coach Bill Belichick seemed to indicate that Collins’ offseason surgery is the reason he’s not on the active roster, according to Mike Reiss of ESPN. Belichick insinuated that there’s a conditioning process that Collins will have to go through in order to earn a promotion to the active roster.
  • Although Dolphins cornerback Byron Jones is eligible to return from the team’s physically unable to perform list, the veteran starter is still not ready to play, according to Charean Williams of NBC Sports. Jones is still recovering from a March surgery on his ankle/Achilles area, even though head coach Mike McDaniel claimed multiple times that the team expected Jones back in time for the regular season. Instead, Jones remains on PUP and there is, reportedly, no timeline for his return.

Minor NFL Transactions: 10/18/22

Here are Tuesday’s minor moves:

Atlanta Falcons

Baltimore Ravens

Carolina Panthers

Chicago Bears

Cleveland Browns

Minnesota Vikings

New England Patriots

New Orleans Saints

Washington Commanders

Minor NFL Transactions: 3/17/21

Today’s “minor” moves:

Chicago Bears

Cincinnati Bengals

Houston Texans

Indianapolis Colts

Jacksonville Jaguars

Miami Dolphins

New England Patriots

New York Jets

Philadelphia Eagles

San Francisco 49ers

Tennessee Titans

Minor NFL Transactions: 10/31/20

Here is the league’s avalanche of Halloween minor moves:

Arizona Cardinals

Atlanta Falcons

Baltimore Ravens

Buffalo Bills

Chicago Bears

Cincinnati Bengals

Cleveland Browns

Denver Broncos

Detroit Lions

Green Bay Packers

Jacksonville Jaguars

Las Vegas Raiders

Los Angeles Chargers

Los Angeles Rams

Miami Dolphins

Minnesota Vikings

New England Patriots

New Orleans Saints

New York Jets

Philadelphia Eagles

Pittsburgh Steelers

San Francisco 49ers

Seattle Seahawks

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Tennessee Titans

Patriots Place Sony Michel On IR, Activate Damien Harris

The Patriots are doing some major shuffling with their backfield. New England is placing running back Sony Michel on injured reserve and activating fellow running back Damien Harris off IR, according to Ian Rapoport of NFL Network (Twitter link). The team also activated receiver Gunner Olszewski and placed safety Cody Davis on injured reserve.

With the new rules this year, Michel will have to miss at least three games before returning. It’s a bummer for Michel since he was coming off by far his best game of the season, when he rushed for 117 yards on only nine carries against the Raiders. He had been a disappointment through the first couple of weeks, and will now be hitting the shelf. Fortunately, Rapoport noted in a follow-up tweet that he was told Michel could be activated relatively quickly and it’s not a season-ending injury.

A third-round pick last year, Harris barely played as a rookie and was a healthy scratch most weeks. He reportedly had a strong summer though, and was looking like he might be the Patriots’ starter to open the year before a hand injury sent him to IR. Now he’s back and figures to be in the mix tonight against Kansas City, although with James White and Rex Burkhead also present it’s unclear how much run he’ll get.

That being said, with Michel hitting injured reserve there’s a clear lane for Harris to shine if he can make the most of the opportunity. With Cam Newton out due to COVID-19 and Brian Hoyer getting the start at quarterback, the Pats figure to be running the ball frequently on Monday night. A first-round pick in 2018, Michel impressed as a rookie before taking a step back last year. This quad injury he picked up against Las Vegas certainly isn’t what he needed to get back on track.

Olszewski, a 2019 UDFA, served as New England’s punt returner for half of last season. Davis is a core special teamer who has yet to play a defensive snap this season.

Jarrett Stidham To Start For Patriots?

We heard earlier today that the Patriots may be gearing up for a starting quarterback competition between Brian Hoyer and Jarrett Stidham, but Tom E. Curran of NBC Sports Boston says that as of now, the job is Stidham’s to lose.

There is plenty of logic to that. The Patriots selected Stidham in the fourth round of the 2019 draft and are said to be high on him, and most believe that New England will spend 2020 cleaning up its salary cap situation and preparing for a return to contention in 2021. That means that the club will not pursue a potentially pricey QB like the recently-released Cam Newton, and it means that Stidham will have a chance to prove that he can be the rightful heir to Tom Brady.

Curran does say that if the COVID-19 pandemic puts a damper on Stidham’s development — which it seems almost certain to do — then Hoyer could get the nod to open the 2020 season. Stidham, though, would probably step in at some point thereafter. The Auburn product threw just four passes in his rookie campaign but put together a strong two years against SEC defenses in 2017-18.

While we’re on the subject of the Patriots, let’s round up a few more notes out of Foxborough:

  • The release of longtime kicker Stephen Gostkowski did not create $3.5MM of cap space, as originally reported. Because $2MM of Gostkowski’s 2020 salary was fully-guaranteed, the move actually frees up less than $1MM of space. So as Ben Volin of the Boston Globe tweets, Gostkowski’s release wasn’t financially motivated; the team just wanted a new kicker.
  • Hoyer’s contract calls for a $1.05MM salary with $2MM in playing time incentives, per Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle (via Twitter). Because his deal with the Colts contained offsets, Hoyer will earn at least $2MM in 2020.
  • The Patriots agreed to sign veteran defensive back Cody Davis yesterday, and ESPN’s Field Yates reports that Davis will take home a $1.1MM base salary and landed a $100K signing bonus (Twitter link). He will carry a cap charge of $1.5MM.
  • Fullback Dan Vitale‘s new contract is a one-year pact worth $1.3MM, as Mike Reiss of ESPN.com tweets. He received a $100K signing bonus and can earn another $200K in playing time incentives.

Patriots To Sign DB Cody Davis

Veteran defensive back Cody Davis will sign with the Patriots, according to his agent (Twitter link). He will land with a franchise that has frequently displayed a commitment to rostering high-end special-teamers.

Davis spent the past two seasons with the Jaguars, playing at least 85% of their special teams snaps in those years. He spent the first five seasons of his career with the Rams. While Davis made five starts with Los Angeles, the former UDFA has primarily operated as a special-teamer in the NFL.

The 30-year-old specialist will join recently re-signed Matthew Slater, a perennial special teams Pro Bowler, and three-time Pro Bowl special-teamer Justin Bethel — whom the Patriots added last year. Davis does not have a Pro Bowl on his resume, but he will add to New England’s array of talent at these spots while helping the Pats fill the void Nate Ebner created when he signed with the Giants.

Jaguars Decline ASJ’s Option

Nearly a month after Austin Seferian-Jenkins bid farewell to the Jaguars, the team announced the tight end’s Jacksonville stay will indeed be limited to one year.

The Jaguars declined the $4MM 2019 option on Seferian-Jenkins’ contract. He will become a free agent when the new league year opens March 13. This move will save the Jags $4.3MM. The Jags had until 11pm Monday to make these decisions.

One of Jacksonville’s high-priced defensive linemen will be staying, however. The Jags picked up Calais Campbell‘s $3MM 2019 option. Campbell is on the Jags’ books at $14.5MM this coming season.

ASJ signed a two-year, $10MM deal with the Jaguars in 2018. He did not contribute much on a woeful offense, heading to IR after five games. After somewhat of a bounce-back season with the Jets, Seferian-Jenkins posted just 90 receiving yards last season. He will head to free agency without much momentum. The former second-round pick is still just 26, however, and should receive another opportunity on a light tight end market.

While Campbell will be part of the 2019 Jaguars, it is not certain two of his defensive line mates — Malik Jackson and Marcell Dareus — will join him. His playing time having diminished last season, Jackson said he expects to be released. A Dareus cut would save the Jags nearly $11MM, while jettisoning Jackson would bring exactly $11MM in savings for a Jags team that, even after the ASJ move, remains over the projected salary cap.

Jacksonville also exercised $750K options for defensive end Lerentee McCray and safety Cody Davis.