Devaroe Lawrence

Browns Make Minor Trade With Saints

The Browns have reached the 53-man roster maximum by making a whole lot of cuts and acquiring one player just before the bell.

On Saturday, the Browns announced that they acquired defensive lineman Devaroe Lawrence from the Saints in exchange for a 2019 seventh-round pick. Lawrence, 26 in October, overcame legal trouble as a youngster to achieve his dream of making it to the NFL. Injuries have held him back in the pros, but the Saints stuck by him even after ACL surgery in December of 2016.

We felt he was athletic, explosive and we felt like he could recover,” said Saints coach Sean Payton (via Luke Johnson of The Times-Picayune). “In other words, he was battling an injury and we saw traits that are hard to find sometimes for defensive tackles, and it’s hard to find that position, especially after the draft.”

So, with Lawrence in the fold, the Browns waived the following 19 players to get down to the limit:

Saints Sign Jason Jones, John Hughes

The Saints have busy this morning, adding several names to their roster. According to Nick Underhill of The Advocate (via Twitter), the team has signed defensive end Jason Jones, tight end Braedon Bowman, and defensive tackle John Hughes. In a following tweet, Underhill reports that the Saints have signed defensive back Malik Foreman, while ESPN’s Mike Triplett tweets that the team also added wideout Xavier Rush. Finally, the organization placed defensive tackle Devaroe Lawrence on the injured reserve (via Underhill on Twitter).

Jason Jones (Vertical)Jones, 31, is the most experienced member of that grouping, as the 31-year-old has 109 career games (70 starts) under his belt. After spending the first four seasons of his career with the Titans, the former second-rounder has bounced around a bit, playing for the Seahawks, Lions, and Dolphins. He appeared in 14 games last season with Miami, compiling 22 tackles and 3.5 sacks.

Hughes, a former third-rounder, also has more than 50 career NFL games to his name, although he only appeared in six games last season between the Browns and Buccaneers. His best season came during his rookie campaign in 2012, when he collected 34 tackles and three sacks.

Bowman, a former standout at South Alabama, had brief stints with both the Jaguars and Jets last season. Rush, a former receiver out of Tulane, spent some times with the Eagles last year. Finally, Foreman, a former Tennessee product, recorded three interceptions and 14 passes defended during his four-year college career. The defensive back had reportedly signed with the Texans earlier this offseason, but a neck injury caused both sides to pause.

The Saints added Lawrence back in May, but the undrafted rookie was subsequently placed on the NFI list. The former Auburn player missed the end of his college career after undergoing knee surgery.

Minor NFL Transactions: 7/20/17

The latest minor transactions from around the NFL:

  • The Ravens made a few moves on Thursday, per the Baltimore Sun’s Jeff Zrebiec, who reports that the club waived/injured defensive back Daniel Henry, placed offensive lineman Jermaine Eluemunor on the non-football injury list, and put wide receiver Aaron Bailey and defensive end Patrick Ricard on the physically unable to perform list (Twitter links). With the exception of the English-born Eluemunor, a fifth-round pick, all of those players joined the Ravens this year as undrafted free agents.
  • The Patriots cut offensive lineman Chase Farris, opening up a spot on their 90-man roster, tweets Doug Kyed of NESN. Farris went undrafted out of Ohio State last year and then signed with the Lions, who cut him prior to Week 1. He has been in and out of the New England organization on multiple occasions since then.
  • The Saints placed Travin Dural and Devaroe Lawrence on the non-football injury list. Dural’s condition is “nothing serious,” Nick Underhill of The Advocate (on Twitter) hears.
  • The Jaguars sent fullback Marquez Williams to the PUP list, according to Ryan O’Halloran of the Florida Times-Union (Twitter link). Williams, out of Miami (Ohio), went to Jacksonville in the seventh round of this year’s draft.

Zach Links contributed to this post.

Saints, 12 UDFAs Reach Deals

The Saints have agreed to deals with 12 undrafted free agents, all of whom are listed below.