Darius Victor

Saints To Work Out USFL RB Darius Victor

The Saints have met with some well-known running backs this offseason, but neither Sony Michel nor David Johnson ended up on New Orleans’ 90-man offseason roster. One of the USFL’s top players might, however.

USFL Offensive MVP Darius Victor will audition for the Saints, Mike Triplett of ESPN.com tweets. As a member of the New Jersey Generals, Victor led the latest spring-league upstart with nine rushing touchdowns. While his 577 rushing yards did not lead the league, placing third, Victor earned MVP acclaim.

Like many in the USFL, Victor has an NFL past. Part of it came with the Saints, who signed the Division I-FCS product in August 2017. Victor’s New Orleans stay did not last beyond the 2017 training camp, and after he landed on the Cardinals’ practice squad later that year, the 5-foot-8 back was out of the NFL following Arizona’s 2018 camp.

Victor, 28, did not play in a regular-season game during his first go-round. The Towson alum saw CFL and XFL action over the next two years, however, and made his strongest impression this year. It would certainly an interesting re-emergence for Victor, given his short Saints stay five years ago, but the team does have questions in its backfield. The running backs coach in place during Victor’s 2017 Saints stint, Joel Thomas, also remains on staff under Dennis Allen.

Alvin Kamara‘s participation in a Las Vegas brawl during Pro Bowl weekend opens the door to a six-game suspension taking place this year. The Saints are thin behind their perennial Pro Bowl back. Mark Ingram is going into a rare age-33 running back season, and the team has Tony Jones, longtime special-teamer Dwayne Washington and ex-Jaguar Devine Ozigbo behind the well-known pair. Victor would face an uphill battle, USFL accolades notwithstanding, but the Saints are in need ahead of camp.

Cardinals Cut Brice Butler, Others

The Cardinals have moved their roster to 53 players by making the following transactions:

Cut:

Placed on injured reserve:

Waived from injured reserve:

Additionally, the Cardinals activated both tight end Jermaine Gresham and linebacker Marcus Golden off the physically unable to perform list.

Minor NFL Transactions: 8/28/18

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

Arizona Cardinals

  • Signed: RB Darius Victor

Buffalo Bills

Cincinnati Bengals

Dallas Cowboys

Houston Texans

Jacksonville Jaguars

Los Angeles Chargers

Los Angeles Rams

  • Signed: RB Larry Rose

Philadelphia Eagles

San Francisco 49ers

Tennessee Titans

West Notes: Rams, Donald, Raiders, Mack

Another day, another report of progress between the Rams and Aaron Donald. The latest positive word comes from Mike Florio of PFT, who hears from a league source that chatter of a deal happening soon is increasing.

Last week, both GM Les Snead and head coach Sean McVay indicated the club is moving in the right direction with the star defensive tackle. If the deal does come together, it’s likely that Donald will become the league’s highest-paid defensive player with a contract that tops Von Miller‘s six-year, $114.6MM contract.

Here’s more from the West divisions:

  • Despite common speculation, the Raiders do not appear to be waiting on the Rams to sign Donald before they lock up Khalil Mack, Florio opines. That theory would make some sense if the Raiders and Mack were actively negotiating, but they haven’t talked since February, so it seems unlikely that they would wait on Donald before starting from square one late in the offseason. The notion of waiting on Donald seems especially unlikely, Florio adds, when considering that Donald waited until the last minute before reporting to the team last season.
  • Seahawks rookie linebacker Shaquem Griffin has shown that having just one arm is not an obstacle for him on the field and he appears on course to make the final cut, Brady Henderson of ESPN.com writes.
  • The Chiefs worked out running back Darius Victor on Monday, Terez Paylor of Yahoo Sports tweets. Victor appears to have lost out to fellow RB Ray Lawry, who was signed shortly after the audition.

Minor NFL Transactions: 5/1/18

Todays minor moves:

Arizona Cardinals 

Baltimore Ravens

  • Claimed off waivers: DB Kai Nacua (from Browns)

Carolina Panthers

  • Signed: OT Korren Kirven
  • Waived: TE Kent Taylor

Houston Texans

  • Waived : OL Jake Rodgers

Kansas City Chiefs

Oakland Raiders

Tennessee Titans

NFL Reserve/Futures Contracts: 1/2/18

Here are the latest reserve/futures contract signings from around the NFL. These deals will go into effect on the first day of the 2018 league year, with players joining their respective clubs’ offseason 90-man rosters:

Arizona Cardinals

Baltimore Ravens

Chicago Bears

Cincinnati Bengals

Dallas Cowboys

Detroit Lions

Green Bay Packers

  • WR Jake Kumerow
  • WR Colby Pearson
  • TE Robert Tonyan
  • LS Zach Triner
  • WR DeAngelo Yancey

Read more

NFL Practice Squad Updates: 11/29/17

Today’s practice squad updates:

Arizona Cardinals

  • Signed: RB Darius Victor

Baltimore Ravens

Dallas Cowboys

Denver Broncos

Detroit Lions

Green Bay Packers

Houston Texans

Read more

NFC Notes: Rams, Donald, Falcons

No surprise here, but Rams defensive tackle Aaron Donald is expected to miss Sunday’s season opener against Indianapolis as he continues his holdout, Adam Schefter of ESPN.com tweets. Donald is presently at home with his family on the east coast and the two sides are not close to an agreement.

Holdouts typically do not drag into the regular season, but Donald has less to lose by staying home than other players fighting for a better contract. Le’Veon Bell, in theory, could have tried to drum up leverage by taking his holdout into mid-September, but that would have meant forfeiting game checks on a $12.12MM salary. Donald, meanwhile, is slated to earn only a fraction of that – $3.225MM – in 2017.

While we wait to see how things shake out between Donald and the Rams, let’s take a look at more news from the NFC:

  • The Falcons converted $1MM of center Alex Mack‘s $6.75MM base salary into a signing bonus, Field Yates of ESPN.com tweets. The move creates $750K of cap space for the current season. The Falcons are near the bottom of the league in terms of cap space this year, so every bit of flexibility will help them.
  • Cardinals punter Andy Lee‘s new contract calls for base salaries of $1MM per year in 2017 and 2018, Mike Jurecki of 98.7 FM tweets. Arizona is hoping that Lee, 35, will help to turn around one of the league’s poorest punting units from 2016.
  • The Bears auditioned eight players on Wednesday, reports Brad Biggs of the Chicago Tribune: wide receivers Mario Alford, Montay Crockett, Frankie Hammond, and Darreus Rogers were joined by defensive backs Dante Blackmon, Alex Carter, Brian Dixon, and Damian Swann. While Hammond and Dixon have played in the most NFL games, Carter might the most notable name on the list. A third-round pick of Detroit only two years ago, Carter has been limited by injuries and poor play and has only appeared in one pro contest.
  • The Cardinals worked out running back Darius Victor on Wednesday, according to Herbie Teope of the Times-Picayune (Twitter link), who reports Victor has another audition on Monday for an unidentified team. Victor, an undrafted rookie free agent out of Towson, spent a month on New Orleans’ roster earlier this summer but was waived during final cutdowns. He’s likely a candidate for Arizona’s practice squad.

Sam Robinson contributed to this post.

Saints Reach 53-Man Roster Limit

Every team had to get under the 53-man limit by Saturday’s deadline, but the Saints were the last to publicly announce their cuts. Here’s the full rundown of their moves:

Waived:

Released:

IR:

The Saints re-signed Cadet this offseason only to put him on the trade block in June. They didn’t find any takers then and they apparently couldn’t find any now. The Jets, who pursued him in free agency, could have interest in signing him.

Minor NFL Transactions: 8/1/17

Today’s minor moves:

  • The Jaguars announced that they’ve signed cornerback Charles Gaines and waived/injured fellow cornerback Taurean Nixon. A sixth-round draft choice in 2015, Gaines appeared in six games for the Browns during his rookie campaign, starting four contests while playing on a quarter of Cleveland’s defensive snaps. Despite seeing that level of playing time in his first NFL season, Gaines was subsequently waived, and spent time with the Bills’ practice squad in 2016. Nixon, meanwhile, came to Jacksonville via waivers last month.
  • The Texans have signed wide receiver DeAndrew White and waived/injured wideout Deante’ Gray, the cub announced today. White, 25, signed with the 49ers in 2015 after going undrafted out of Alabama. He spent his rookie season solely as a return man, appearing in four games while returning six kickoffs and one punt. White spent the majority of the 2016 campaign on New England’s practice squad, but was waived by the Patriots in June. Gray, meanwhile, suffered a torn ACL last week and will miss the 2017 season.
  • The Saints are signing running back Darius Victor, per his representatives at Players First Sports Agency (Twitter link). Victor, a Towson product, left the collegiate ranks early in order to enter the NFL draft but ultimately wasn’t selected. Although he played in only four games in 2016, Victor had topped 200 carries in the each the prior two years, averaging five yards per carry from 2014-15. In order to create a roster spot, New Orleans waived/injured linebacker Sae Tautu, who has a sprained MCL, per Nick Underhill of the Advocate (Twitter link).
  • The Cardinals have signed defensive tackle David Moala, tweets Adam Schefter of ESPN.com. Moala, 24, signed with Denver in 2016 as an undrafted free agent out of Utah State. After being cut last August, Moala — the brother of former NFL defender Fili Moala — spent the season on the workout circuit but failed to land a contract. Arizona also signed defensive tackle Peli Anau and waived cornerback Elie Bouka, the club announced.
  • The Bengals have waived wide receiver Monty Madaris off the physically unable to perform list with an injury settlement, according to Paul Dehner Jr. of the Cincinnati Enquirer (Twitter link). Madaris, an undrafted rookie out of Michigan State, signed with Cincinnati in May but had been on PUP for the duration of his stint in the Queen City.