James McCourt

NFL Practice Squad Updates: 10/31/23

Here are Tuesday’s practice squad transactions in the NFL:

Arizona Cardinals

Buffalo Bills

Chicago Bears

Cleveland Browns

Dallas Cowboys

Houston Texans

Indianapolis Colts

Kansas City Chiefs

Las Vegas Raiders

New York Giants

New York Jets

Pittsburgh Steelers

San Francisco 49ers

Seattle Seahawks

Tennessee Titans

Washington Commanders

Minor NFL Transactions: 10/30/23

Today’s minor moves:

Arizona Cardinals

Denver Broncos

Detroit Lions

  • Signed to active roster: RB Devine Ozigbo
  • Promoted: OL Michael Niese

Las Vegas Raiders

New York Giants

Tennessee Titans

After getting cut by the Steelers earlier this month, Gunner Olszewski quickly caught on with New York’s practice squad. They Giants signed the receiver/returner to the active roster ahead of yesterday’s game against the Jets, and their decision to release him today was merely procedural. As NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero points out, all vested vets who are released following tomorrow’s trade deadline are subject to waivers. The Giants are apparently getting ahead of that deadline with this roster machination. Per Pelissero, Olszewski is expected to re-sign with the Giants and will play in Week 9.

NFL Practice Squad Updates: 10/24/23

Here are Tuesday’s practice squad moves:

Arizona Cardinals

  • Released: CB Quavian White

Carolina Panthers

Cleveland Browns

Dallas Cowboys

Detroit Lions

Indianapolis Colts

Jacksonville Jaguars

Kansas City Chiefs

Las Vegas Raiders

Los Angeles Chargers

New Orleans Saints

New York Jets

New York Giants

Philadelphia Eagles

Pittsburgh Steelers

San Francisco 49ers

Seattle Seahawks

Tennessee Titans

Jaguars Trim Roster To 53

Teams have until 3pm CT to trim their rosters to the 53-man limit. The Jaguars are getting an early start. Here are the players the Jags cut Tuesday:

Released:

Waived:

Waived/injured:

Placed on IR:

Placed on reserve/suspended list:

Placed on exempt list:

  • CB Chris Claybrooks

Several of these players will be back, in all likelihood, via practice squad deals. Waiver claims process at 11am CT on Wednesday. Free agents can make plans to join P-squads early, but teams will not have the full picture of who is available until the waiver claims process.

Conner and Ollison being off the roster leaves third-round rookie Tank Bigsby, D’Ernest Johnson and Jamycal Hasty in place behind starter Travis Etienne. The Jaguars chose Conner in the 2022 fifth round, and while they traded James Robinson before last year’s deadline, Conner did not receive much work. He totaled 12 carries for 42 yards as a rookie.

Wells returned to Jacksonville earlier this month, but this IR placement will halt a journey back to regular-season work with his initial NFL team. Wells, 32, started nine games for the Jags from 2014-18. He then worked as a key Buccaneers backup over the past several years. Players placed on IR before the season are not eligible for in-season activations, though an injury settlement could allow Wells to play this season.

NFL Reserve/Futures Deals: 2/13/23

Today’s reserve/futures contracts:

Jacksonville Jaguars

WR Kevin Austin Jr.OL Coy CronkJames McCourt, WR Jaylon MooreOL James Murray, S Ayo Oyelola, QB E.J. PerryTE Gerrit PrinceRB Mekhi Sargent, S Deionte ThompsonDL Nick ThurmanOL Darryl WilliamsWR Seth Williams

NFL Reserve/Futures Deals: 1/23/23

Today’s reserve/futures deals, mostly featuring teams recently eliminated from the postseason:

Buffalo Bills

Dallas Cowboys

Jacksonville Jaguars

New York Giants

Pittsburgh Steelers

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Tennessee Titans

NFL Practice Squad Updates: 9/1/22

Today’s practice squad moves:

Arizona Cardinals

Atlanta Falcons

  • Signed: TE Anthony Firkser, TE Tucker Fisk, CB Ka’Dar Hollman

Buffalo Bills

Carolina Panthers

Chicago Bears

Dallas Cowboys

Denver Broncos

Detroit Lions

Green Bay Packers

Indianapolis Colts

Jacksonville Jaguars

Kansas City Chiefs

Las Vegas Raiders

Miami Dolphins

Minnesota Vikings

New England Patriots

  • Signed: WR Lynn Bowden Jr.

New Orleans Saints

New York Giants

New York Jets

Philadelphia Eagles

  • Signed: LB Davion Taylor

Pittsburgh Steelers

Seattle Seahawks

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Tennessee Titans

Jaguars Claim K Riley Patterson, RB JaMycal Hasty

The Jaguars were one of the busiest teams to start the post-training camp waiver period, making four claims Wednesday. One of the moves will lead to another kicker switch.

Jacksonville, which has been rather active at this position this offseason, claimed Riley Patterson off waivers from the Lions. The team also added former 49ers running back JaMycal Hasty via waivers. The Jags’ other Wednesday claims: safety Tyree Gillespie, wide receiver Kendric Pryor (Bengals) and linebacker Ty Summers (Packers).

Patterson’s arrival will lead two kickers off Jacksonville’s roster. The team waived James McCourt and waived Jake Verity with an injury designation. This positions Patterson to be the Jags’ kicker, but given the events at this particular job this offseason, that cannot be considered a lock just yet.

The Jags waived 2021 kicker Matthew Wright and went with Ryan Santoso and UDFA Andrew Mevis for a stretch. Some Mevis practice struggles led him off the team, prompting the Jags to sign Elliott Fry to join Santoso. McCourt came later, with each of the transactions transpiring during camp. Fry, Santoso and McCourt are off the roster.

Patterson, 22, is the only kicker on the Jags’ 53-man team right now. Memphis’ kicker from 2017-20, Patterson kicked in seven Lions games as a rookie. The former UDFA made 13 of 14 field goal tries and was 16-for-16 on PATs.

Hasty played sparingly for the 49ers during his two years in San Francisco, being summoned from the practice squad due to the team’s injury troubles at the position in each year. The 49ers used him primarily as a pass-catching back last season, after they added Elijah Mitchell as their starter. This marks the second summer relocation for Gillespie, whom the Raiders traded to the Titans during camp. Summers spent three years with the Packers, working mostly as a backup. He played 17% of Green Bay’s defensive snaps in 2020, however. Pryor impressed at Bengals training camp but could not make their roster. The rookie UDFA spent five seasons at Wisconsin.

The Jags made room for these additions by cutting veteran offensive lineman Will Richardson, who signed a $2MM deal with the team this offseason. A 2018 fourth-round Jaguars pick, Richardson started five games for the team during his rookie contract. Jacksonville also waived outside linebacker Jamir Jones and safety Josh Thompson.

Jaguars To Waive K Ryan Santoso, Claim K James McCourt

10:11am: The Jags will use the waiver wire to make their latest kicker transaction. Doug Pederson said Tuesday the team submitted a claim for kicker James McCourt, whom the Chargers waived Monday. Although claims are not official until this afternoon, the Jaguars hold the No. 1 waiver priority due to their 2021 record.

A rookie UDFA, McCourt worked as the University of Illinois’ kicker for the past three seasons. He made 18 of 23 field goal tries in 2021 — a career-best mark — but could not beat out Chargers incumbent Dustin Hopkins.

9:12am: The Jaguars are waiving Ryan Santoso, Michael DiRocco of ESPN.com tweets. As a result, the team does not have a kicker on its roster. The team also waived quarterback Jake Luton.

While Jacksonville will obviously not go long without a kicker — the team plans to replace Santoso later Tuesday, per DiRocco — this is a somewhat strange development. The Jags had already waived Matthew Wright, their primary 2021 kicker, earlier this offseason.

The team waived rookie UDFA Andrew Mevis late last month, after an eventfully bad training camp workout, and released his replacement (Elliott Fry) from IR via injury settlement soon after. Santoso had caught on with the Jaguars in March, and the team cut Wright a few weeks later.

Santoso, 27 later this week, kicked for the Lions and Panthers last season and made a Titans cameo in 2019 — his first NFL action. The University of Minnesota alum has only kicked in seven career games. He began the 2021 season shortly after being traded from the Giants to the Panthers and bounced on and off the Rams’ practice squad during the team’s leadup to Super Bowl LVI.

Minor NFL Transactions: 8/22/22

Teams have until 3pm CT Tuesday to cut their rosters from 85 to 80 players. Many franchises have started doing that early. Here are Monday’s minor moves:

Arizona Cardinals

Baltimore Ravens

Carolina Panthers

Cincinnati Bengals

Cleveland Browns

Denver Broncos

Green Bay Packers

Indianapolis Colts

Jacksonville Jaguars

Kansas City Chiefs

Las Vegas Raiders

Los Angeles Chargers

New Orleans Saints

  • Released from IR via injury settlement: CB Jordan Brown

Philadelphia Eagles

Pittsburgh Steelers

San Francisco 49ers

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Tennessee Titans