Dean Marlowe

Bills To Acquire Dean Marlowe From Falcons

The Bills’ Nyheim Hines trade was not their only buzzer-beating move ahead of Tuesday’s deadline. Prior to the since-passed endpoint for NFL 2022 trading, the Bills acquired a familiar name to bolster their safety position.

They are trading for Falcons safety Dean Marlowe, according to ESPN.com’s Adam Schefter (on Twitter). The Bills are sending the Falcons a seventh-round pick for Marlowe, a New York native who spent three seasons with the Bills.

Marlowe, 30, played in Buffalo from 2018-20 but has been with the Lions and Falcons over the past two seasons. With Micah Hyde out for the season and Jordan Poyer suffering an injury in Week 8, the Bills will reunite with a player that should not have much trouble moving back into Sean McDermott‘s scheme.

Previously serving as a reserve behind Buffalo’s top-tier Hyde-Poyer tandem, Marlowe played in 26 games with McDermott’s team and started seven. Marlowe, who caught on with the Bills via a practice squad agreement in December 2017, returns to Buffalo as a higher-profile player capable of fortifying the team’s uncertain safety spot. He has 17 career starts during his NFL career, which began when he spent his rookie season as a Panthers reserve on their Super Bowl-bound 2015 squad.

It is not known how much time, if any, Poyer will miss. The veteran safety said he felt a pop in his elbow during the Bills’ win over the Packers on Sunday night. Poyer went through an MRI on Monday. If the Bills were forced to play without Poyer and Hyde, it would represent new territory for a team that has extracted considerable value since pairing the veterans in 2017. The Bills have used 2021 sixth-rounder Damar Hamlin as Hyde’s primary replacement, with fourth-year man Jaquan Johnson mixing in. Marlowe and Johnson represent the team’s top insurance options against a Poyer absence.

In the minutes before the deadline, the Falcons both received and sent out seventh-round picks. They traded a seventh for Chiefs cornerback Rashad Fenton, having seen injuries alter their corner situation, and recouped that value via Marlowe minutes later. Young talent Richie Grant and Jaylinn Hawkins are Atlanta’s starting safeties; Marlowe and Erik Harris served as depth pieces for the NFC South-leading team.

Minor NFL Transactions: 9/1/22

Teams continue to tinker with their rosters after hundreds of players were cut earlier this week. We’ve tracked all of today’s minor moves below:

Arizona Cardinals

Atlanta Falcons

Baltimore Ravens

Chicago Bears

Cincinnati Bengals

Dallas Cowboys

Denver Broncos

Green Bay Packers

Indianapolis Colts

Jacksonville Jaguars

Los Angeles Rams

Miami Dolphins

New England Patriots

New Orleans Saints

New York Giants

New York Jets

Pittsburgh Steelers

San Francisco 49ers

Seattle Seahawks

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Tennessee Titans

Wednesday NFL Transactions: NFC South

Following the 53-man roster cutdown deadline Tuesday, many teams will make slight tweaks to their rosters. In addition to waiver claims, teams can begin constructing their 16-man practice squads today. These BuccaneersFalcons, Panthers and Saints moves are noted below.

Here are Wednesday’s NFC South transactions, which will continue to be updated throughout the day.

Atlanta Falcons

Claimed:

Released:

Signed to practice squad:

Carolina Panthers

Signed to practice squad:

New Orleans Saints

Claimed:

  • T Tanner Owen (from Bills)

Released:

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Signed to practice squad:

Falcons Sign S Dean Marlowe

The Falcons have added another veteran to their secondary. The team announced on Thursday that they have signed safety Dean Marlowe on a one-year deal. 

The 29-year-old has spent six seasons in the NFL to date. He was in Carolina for two years after joining the team as a UDFA. It was after he followed many other ex-Panthers to Buffalo, however, that he took on a significant defensive role. His most productive campaign in Western New York came in 2020, where he totalled 22 tackles, 1.5 sacks and his only two career interceptions.

That led to a one-year pact in Detroit last offseason. In his lone season in the Motor City, Marlowe made a career-high nine starts and 16 total appearances. 2021 marked the only time he played over half of a team’s defensive snaps, staying on the field for 70% of Detroit’s plays. He made 67 tackles and registered two pass deflections.

In Atlanta, Marlowe will join a secondary which has already added Casey Hayward. The team’s pass defense was the strongest element of that unit, ranking 18th in the league last season. The James Madison alum will join a safety group already featuring Erik Harris, but also recent draftees Jaylinn Hawkins and Richie Grant. His special teams experience should at least make him a third phase contributor, though he has shown an ability to be a role player on defense as well.

Lions Re-Sign TE Darren Fells, Place QB Tim Boyle On IR

As expected, the Lions will begin their season without backup quarterback Tim Boyle. A thumb injury will sideline him into October, with the team placing the former Packers reserve on IR Thursday.

The team also stashed defensive lineman Da’Shawn Hand on IR. Players placed on IR after roster cutdown day are eligible to return after three games. This is Hand’s fourth IR stay in four seasons.

Detroit also brought back one of its offseason additions, re-signing tight end Darren Fells a day after releasing him. Fells made it through to the Lions’ 53-man roster after cut day but was dropped on Wednesday. The former college hoops standout-turned-red zone target signed with the Lions in May.

Fells joins T.J. Hockenson as the only tight ends on Detroit’s active roster. This will be Fells’ age-35 season and second with Detroit. He was on the 2017 Lions before relocating to Cleveland and then Houston. With the Texans, Fells caught 11 touchdown passes over the past two years.

Boyle’s injury leaves David Blough as the only QB behind Jared Goff on the Lions’ active roster. This marks Blough’s third year with the team.

Additionally, the Lions also re-signed safety Dean Marlowe on Thursday. A Bills contributor from 2018-20, Marlowe joined Fells in being dropped from the roster for procedural purposes Wednesday.

Wednesday NFL Transactions: NFC North

Following the 53-man roster cutdown deadline Tuesday, many teams will make slight tweaks to their rosters. In addition to waiver claims, teams can begin constructing their 16-man practice squads today. These BearsLionsPackers and Vikings moves are noted below.

Here are Wednesday’s NFC North transactions, which will continue to be updated throughout the day.

Chicago Bears

Claimed:

Signed:

Waived:

Placed on IR:

Signed to practice squad:

Detroit Lions

Released/Waived:

Signed to practice squad:

Green Bay Packers

Signed to practice squad:

Minnesota Vikings

Signed:

Claimed:

Placed on IR:

Signed to practice squad:

Lions Sign S Dean Marlowe

Dean Marlowe‘s Wednesday Lions visit will produce an agreement. The Lions signed the veteran safety Thursday, bringing him over from the Bills.

One of the numerous Panthers to trek to Buffalo during the current Bills regime’s time, Marlowe spent the past three seasons in western New York. He will now join a rebuilding Lions team.

Marlowe, 28, spent his first two NFL seasons in Carolina. But the James Madison product only played five games with the Panthers. He did not crack a game-day roster more than five times until the 2019 season. Last year, however, Marlowe suited up for 15 Bills regular-season games and made four starts. Despite limited experience on defense, Marlowe intercepted two passes — both in the Bills’ Week 17 rout of the Dolphins — and broke up three more last season.

The Lions hosted veteran backup safety Will Parks on a visit earlier this week but for now will go with Marlowe at the position. He will join a team in need at safety, with the Lions having traded Quandre Diggs in 2019 and having seen Duron Harmon‘s contract expire after last season. Detroit still rosters young safeties Will Harris and Tracy Walker; Pro Football Focus graded each near the bottom at the position in 2020.

Minor NFL Transactions: 11/19/20

Here are the most recent NFL minor moves:

Buffalo Bills

Chicago Bears

Cleveland Browns

Jacksonville Jaguars

  • Placed on IR: CB C.J. Henderson

Kansas City Chiefs

Minnesota Vikings

  • Placed on reserve/COVID-19 list: FB C.J. Ham

San Francisco 49ers

Seattle Seahawks

Tennessee Titans

Josh Norman Tests Positive For COVID-19

Nov. 15: Luckily for Norman, he is asymptomatic, as Ed Werder of ESPN.com reports (via Twitter). Norman understands that he cannot play today due to league protocols, but he says he feels well enough to do so. The team hopes to have him back shortly.

Nov. 14: The Bills have run into a COVID-19 issue ahead of their trip to Arizona. Josh Norman tested positive for the coronavirus, according to the team, and this will result in at least four Bills not traveling for their Week 10 game.

Norman, cornerback Levi Wallace, safety Dean Marlowe and tight end Tyler Kroft landed on Buffalo’s reserve/COVID-19 list. The latter three players — deemed as high-risk close contacts — must isolate for five days.

As of now, Sunday’s Bills-Cardinals game remains on as scheduled. The team is set to travel to Arizona later this afternoon. Defensive assistant Leonard Johnson will join the aforementioned quartet of players in not making the trip to the desert.

This is not the first time Saturday news of a Bills positive test emerged to weaken one of their position groups. Dawson Knox tested positive for COVID-19 late last month, and the Bills placed two other tight ends on their COVID list that day. The NFL did not adjust the game time of the Bills’ rematch with the Jets. The league has not changed a game time because of COVID-19 since Week 7. With virus numbers skyrocketing around the country, similar challenges to the one that prompted the NFL to move a Bills-Titans game to a Tuesday night appear on the horizon.

Norman signed a one-year, $6MM deal with the Bills — one of several ex-Panthers to rejoin Sean McDermott and Brandon Beane in Buffalo this offseason — but began the season on IR. He returned for three games but has missed the past three due to a hamstring injury. He had practiced all week and was expected to return against Arizona, however. The Bills also recalled Wallace from IR earlier this season.

They will face the Cardinals’ No. 1-ranked offense with a depleted secondary. The team will promote some reinforcements, however. The Bills elevated Daryl Worley, Darron Lee, cornerback Dane Jackson, wide receiver Jake Kumerow and safety Josh Thomas from their practice squad.

Bills Re-Sign WR Andre Roberts

Andre Roberts wasn’t out of work for long. On Monday morning, the Bills re-signed the veteran wide receiver, along with safety Dean Marlowe. In related moves, the Bills have placed guard Jon Feliciano and wide receiver Isaiah Hodgins on injured reserve.

[RELATED: Bills, Tre’Davious White Agree To $70MM Deal]

Roberts averaged 8.0 yards per punt return and 26.6 yards per kickoff return for the Bills last year. His release came as a surprise, especially since he was coming off of his second career Pro Bowl nod. As it turns out, the Bills weren’t actually discarding the capable and experienced return man/receiver.

Instead, the Bills appear to have made a wink-and-nod arrangement with Roberts to take advantage of the league’s modified IR rules. By waiting until today to place Feliciano and Hodgins on IR, the Bills will leave the door open to bringing them back after just three weeks. Had they made the move over the weekend, both players would have been subject to the usual eight weeks of non-activity before being eligible to return.

Roberts, 30, hasn’t been a significant offensive contributor to any team since 2014, but his return skills are unquestioned. In 2018, his last season with the Jets, Roberts led the NFL in yards per return on punts and total yardage on kickoffs, scoring a touchdown in each capacity.