HEADLINES

Don Barclay

Sunday NFL Transactions: NFC North

September 3rd, 2017 at 4:03pm CST by Dallas Robinson

Listed below are the Sunday roster moves for the four NFC North teams. Following the 53-man roster cutdown deadline yesterday, many teams will make slight tweaks to their rosters, claiming players off waivers or signing guys who clear waivers. Those transactions for the Bears, Lions, Packers, and Vikings are noted below.

Additionally, as of 12:00pm CT today, teams can begin constructing their 10-man practice squads. You can check out our glossary entry on practice squads to brush up on those changes, as well as all the other guidelines that govern the 10-man units, whose players practice with the team but aren’t eligible to suit up on Sundays.

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

Chicago Bears

Detroit Lions

Green Bay Packers

Minnesota Vikings

Packers Re-Sign Don Barclay

March 9th, 2017 at 8:43pm CST by Ben Levine

The Packers have re-signed offensive lineman Don Barclay, reports Michael Cohen of the Journal Sentinel (via Twitter). It’s a one-year deal worth $1.3MM.

The 2012 undrafted free agent will be entering his sixth season with the organization. Besides his lost 2014 campaign, the lineman has only missed two regular season games. He started only one game for the Packers this past season, but he did appear in every contest. Pro Football Focus metrics rated Barclay as a better run blocker than pass blocker.

With J.C. Tretter set to join the Browns, Barclay is now slotted in as the backup center to Corey Linsley. The 27-year-old could also compete to backup guards Lane Taylor and Jason Spriggs.

Contract Details: Norman, Chester, Zuerlein

April 27th, 2016 at 12:51pm CST by Luke Adams

All eyes in the NFL world this week are on Thursday’s draft, but a handful of free agents recently signed contracts with teams, and we’ve got some specific details on those deals, courtesy of Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle. Let’s dive in…

  • Josh Norman, CB (Washington): Five years, $75MM. $15MM signing bonus. Salaries of $5MM (2016), $16.5MM (2017), $13.5MM (2018), $11MM (2019), and $12MM (2020). 2016 and 2017 salaries fully guaranteed. 2018 salary guaranteed for injury only (fully guaranteed if on roster fifth day of 2018 league year). $500K annually in workout bonuses from 2017 to 2020. Annual $200K workout base de-escalator (Twitter links).
  • Chris Chester, G (Falcons): One year, $2.35MM. $1.1MM base salary. $250K signing bonus. $1MM in total roster bonuses (Twitter link).
  • Greg Zuerlein, K (Rams): One year, $1.25MM. $850K base salary ($250K guaranted). $400K signing bonus. Up to $2.05MM in incentives for field goal percentage, 50-yard field goals (Twitter link).
  • Don Barclay, T (Packers): One year, $700K. $675K base salary. $25K workout bonus (Twitter link).

Packers Re-Sign Don Barclay

April 18th, 2016 at 4:31pm CST by Sam Robinson

MONDAY, 4:31pm: The Packers have made their deal with Barclay official, tweets Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle.

SUNDAY, 6:13pm: Don Barclay returned to Green Bay as the Packers are preparing to convene for the start of their offseason program and did so with the intent to re-sign with the team, a source tells Tom Silverstein of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

The fifth-year lineman served as a backup for most of his tenure with the Packers and is an unrestricted free agent. A former undrafted free agent, Barclay has started 23 games in his career. Barclay will begin working with the Packers again Monday, when they start their offseason voluntary workouts.

The league’s most conservative franchise in terms of signing outside free agents, the Packers have brought back James Starks and Nick Perry.

Barclay started five for the injured Bryan Bulaga last season, doing so to mediocre reviews. Pro Football Focus tabbed the West Virginia product as its second-worst full-time guard, ranking Barclay 76th out of 77 guards who played enough snaps to qualify. Barclay played just 32.6% of the Packers’ snaps, per Silverstein, last season yet surrendered nine sacks — the most on the team.

Barclay, though, started 18 games during his first two seasons prior to missing 2014 with a torn ACL, and the team is hoping he can recapture that form as he moves further away from the severe knee injury, per Silverstein.

Green Bay still has Bulaga and David Bakhtiari as its starting tackles, with the latter entering a contract year. Guards Josh Sitton and T.J. Lang are also entering their contract campaigns.

Minor Moves: Thursday

April 9th, 2015 at 3:39pm CST by Luke Adams

Here are today’s minor moves from around the NFL, with any additional minor transactions added to the top of the list throughout the day:

  • The Texans have re-signed reserve guard Cody White, tweets Mark Berman of FOX 26 Houston. White spent the 2014 season on injured reserve after tearing his Achilles.
  • Packers offensive lineman Don Barclay has formally signed his restricted free agent contract tender to remain with the team, tweets Adam Caplan of ESPN.com. Barclay, who missed the entire 2014 campaign after tearing his ACL, received the low-end tender from the team, so he’ll make $1.542MM in 2015.

Earlier updates:

  • The Buccaneers have officially signed linebacker and special-teamer Larry Dean, the team announced today in a press release. Dean’s contributions come almost exclusively on special teams — over the last two seasons, he has compiled more special teams tackles (23) than defensive snaps (20).
  • Backup offensive guard Jah Reid has officially signed a new one-year contract with the Ravens today, as first reported Aaron Wilson of the Baltimore Sun. According to Wilson, Reid spoke to a few other NFL teams before deciding to return to Baltimore. His new deal has a minimum base salary, but includes some playing-time incentives (Twitter link).

Tender Updates: Tuesday

March 10th, 2015 at 4:46pm CST by Zachary Links

Today’s tender decisions:

  • The Buccaneers have signed running back Bobby Rainey to a one-year tender worth $1.54MM, according to Greg Auman of the Tampa Bay Times. The Bucs will now have right of first refusal if another club offers Rainey a deal.
  • The Falcons chose not to tender an offer to restricted free agent Drew Davis, Vaughn McClure of ESPN.com reported. The wide receiver will now become an unrestricted free agent.
  • The Packers elected not to tender new contracts to wide receiver Jarrett Boykin or running back DuJuan Harris, according to Rob Demovsky of ESPN (via Twitter).
  • Aaron Wilson of the Baltimore Sun reports that the Ravens didn’t tender an offer to cornerback Anthony Levine, who already has other teams interested in his services. He still might end up back in Baltimore, per Wilson.
  • Ben Volin of the Boston Globe tweets that the Patriots declined to make a qualifying offer to receiver Brian Tyms. He’s now a free agent. Further, according to Mike Reiss of ESPN.com, the Pats also didn’t make an offer to Tyms’ fellow wideout Greg Orton.
  • In other Pats news, Volin reports that the team made qualifying offers to fullback James Develin, defensive tackle Sealver Siliga and linebacker James Morris. All three will return to New England.
  • The Texans tendered a contract to quarterback Case Keenum, according to the Houston Chronicle’s John McClain.
  • The Vikings have opted to let go a pair of exclusive rights free agents, linebacker Dom DeCicco and offensive lineman Josh Samuda, per Matt Vensel of the Minneapolis Star Tribune.
  • Safety Michael Thomas will return to the Dolphins after signing his ERFA tender, tweets James Walker of ESPN.com.
  • Green Bay issued an exclusive rights free agent tender to safety Chris Banjo, his agent tells Tom Silverstein of the Journal Sentinel (on Twitter).
  • The Packers have issued an exclusive rights free agent tender to safety Chris Banjo, his agent tells Tom Silverstein of the Journal Sentinel (on Twitter).
  • James Develin is returning to the Patriots after signing his exclusive rights tender, a source tells Jeff Howe of the Boston Herald tweets.
  • The Colts announced that exclusive rights free agent outside linebacker Cam Johnson has signed his tender. Johnson was first acquired by the Colts in a trade with the 49ers in September of 2013.
  • The Packers tendered RFA offensive lineman Don Barclay at the lowest level ($1.542MM), per agent Joe Linta (Twitter link via Rob Demovsky of ESPN.com).
  • The Vikings tendered a contract offer to restricted free agent offensive tackle Mike Harris, but their other RFA-eligible player, linebacker Dom DeCicco, didn’t get a tender, tweets Mark Craig of the Star Tribune.

Earlier updates:

  • The Jaguars re-signed exclusive rights free agent tackle Austin Pasztor, tendering him a contract, tweets John Oehser of Jaguars.com.
  • The Dolphins tendered defensive end Derrick Shelby with the second-round tender of $2.35MM, Armando Salguero of the Miami Herald tweets. Shelby, 26, appeared in 15 games last season, recording 26 tackles and 3.0 sacks.
  • The Bengals (on Twitter) extended a tender offer to cornerback Chris Lewis-Harris. Lewis-Harris, an ERFA, has appeared in 12 games for Cincy over the last three years.
  • The Bengals will not extend a tender offer to defensive tackle Devon Still, Paul Dehner Jr. of The Cincinnati Enquirer tweets. However, the Bengals have offered Still a one-year deal and he’s mulling that over while also taking matters involving his family into account, Coley Harvey of ESPN.com tweets.
  • The Packers have tendered safety Sean Richardson at the ROFR (right of first refusal rate) of one-year, $1.542MM, according to Tom Silverstein of the Journal Sentinel (on Twitter). That’s a sizable committment to Richardson, he adds.

NFC North Rumors: McCourty, Green, Packers

March 9th, 2015 at 9:51pm CST by Dallas Robinson

Though Devin McCourty ultimately re-signed with the Patriots, two NFC North clubs were hot on his trail. The Bears were involved until the bidding got above $9MM per year, says Brad Biggs of the Chicago Tribune (Twitter link), while the Vikings also had interest, according to Ben Goessling of ESPN.com (via Twitter).

Here’s more from the NFC North:

  • Free agent tight end Virgil Green will have a strong market, tweets Jason La Canfora of CBSSports.com, and he’ll probably decide between the Bears and Broncos, though other teams are interested.
  • Restricted free agent offensive lineman Don Barclay hasn’t heard if the Packers will tender him, according to Rob Demovsky of ESPN.com (Twitter link). If Bryan Bulaga isn’t re-signed, Barclay would likely become Green Bay’s starting right tackle, so Demovsky believes that GB will ultimately offer him a contract.
  • Lest we forget long snappers are people too, Biggs reports (via Twitter) that the Bears are interested in long snapper Tanner Purdum, who spent 2014 with the Jets.

Packers Place Six Players On IR

August 26th, 2014 at 5:02pm CST by Zachary Links

Losing B.J. Raji is certainly unfortunate for the Packers, but as we learned late last week, they’re not panicking. Rather than pick through the scraps on the open market, the Packers are prepared to work with a number of in-house replacements, including Josh Boyd, Letroy Guion and undrafted rookie Mike Pennel. Here’s the latest out of Green Bay..

  • According to an NFL source, the Packers will place guard Andrew Tiller on the waived-injured list, tweets Justin Felder of FOX 11 in Green Bay. Tiller injured his calf against the Raiders in preseason action. The Syracuse product has previously spent time with the Saints and Chargers and was on Green Bay’s practice squad last season.
  • As expected, the Packers will place Raji on injured reserve today, a league source tells Rob Demovsky of ESPN.com (on Twitter). The 28-year-old defensive lineman suffered a biceps tear last week.
  • Vinnie Porter, the agent to former Oregon tight end Colt Lyerla, tells Demovsky (link) that the Packers gave his client an eight-week regular season injury settlement. Lyerla tore his MCL and PCL and, as expected, was waived-injured by the team. Adam Schefter of ESPN.com (on Twitter) confirmed the move earlier today.
  • In total, the Packers announced that they have placed six players on injured reserve to get down to a 75-man roster, tweets Jason Wilde of ESPNWisconsin.com. The six headed to IR are: Raji, Tiller, wide receiver Jared Abbrederis, offensive lineman Don Barclay, running back Rajion Neal, and linebacker Joe Thomas.

Packers Release Seven Players

August 24th, 2014 at 12:46pm CST by Rory Parks

The Packers have cut the following seven players, tweets Rob Demovsky of ESPN.com:

Meanwhile, Tyler Dunne of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel tweets that B.J. Raji, Jared Abbrederis, and Don Barclay are headed to the IR. The Packers’ currently have 81 players on their roster.

NFC Notes: Romo, Falcons, Packers, Patton

August 5th, 2014 at 10:07pm CST by Zachary Links

Bad news for the Cowboys: quarterback Tony Romo‘s recent back surgery is affecting his deep ball, writes Clarence E. Hill Jr. of the Star-Telegram. “It’s been OK. I think the deeper the ball goes down the field, it’s a little bit more inconsistent,” quarterbacks coach Wade Wilson said. “He’s thrown all the intermediates — the fours and the seven routes and the deep outs – have been fine. It’s just the nine routes and the deep posts. Those things have been a little inconsistent. I think that’s all due to his back.” More from the NFC East..

  • Tyrell Johnson‘s deal with the Falcons is a one-year, $730K deal with a cap hit of just $570K, tweets Aaron Wilson of the Baltimore Sun. Johnson, 29, was a second-round draft choice by the Vikings in 2008, and started 27 games with the team. The concussion suffered by Dwight Lowery on Friday created a need in the secondary for Atlanta.
  • There was some speculation about former NFL tight end Randy McMichael and the Falcons since he was at their facility today, but he confirmed via Twitter that he was just visiting there with his little league team. McMichael, 35, last appeared with the Chargers in 2012 where he made ten starts but hauled in just nine receptions.
  • Packers swing tackle Don Barclay could be out for the season after suffering a torn ACL during this afternoon’s practice, a league source tells Weston Hodkiewicz of Press-Gazette Media. Barclay was carted off the practice field after falling awkwardly on his right knee. After starting all 14 games at right tackle for the Packers last season in place of an injured Bryan Bulaga, he was positioned to be the primary backup at both guard spots and right tackle.
  • Quinton Patton is working to fight through the 49ers‘ logjam at wide receiver, writes Ron Kroichick of the San Francisco Chronicle. Patton had some bad luck in his rookie season, suffering a broken finger in training camp and a broken foot during the season that sidelined him for ten games. He’ll be duking it out with Brandon Lloyd, rookie Bruce Ellington, and others for his place.
  • LeSean McCoy‘s praise of Eagles rookie wide receiver Jordan Matthews continues, as Tim McManus of Philadelphia Magazine writes. “That rookie we got, Matthews, is looking real good. There’s been a lot of talk about this draft class being deep at wide receivers, but I’m real confident in this one being the best of the class,” McCoy said. “It’s still early, you got to go through the season and see how he does, but he looks amazing.”