Here are Friday’s practice squad moves heading into the first weekend of the NFL season:
Las Vegas Raiders
- Signed: WR Phillip Dorsett
Philadelphia Eagles
- Signed: WR Javon Baker
- Released: OLB Antwaun Powell-Ryland
Here are Friday’s practice squad moves heading into the first weekend of the NFL season:
Las Vegas Raiders
Philadelphia Eagles
As expected, Javon Baker found himself on the wrong side of the Patriots’ roster bubble earlier this week. The second-year wideout has not needed to wait long to find his next opportunity, though.
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Baker plans to sign with the Eagles on their practice squad, ESPN’s Mike Reiss reports. The 2024 fourth-rounder considered multiple options, per Reiss. One of those was a return to the Patriots on their taxi squad. Instead, a change of scenery will take place.
Leading up to this week’s round of roster cuts, it was clear Baker and fellow 2024 draftee Ja’Lynn Polk were in danger of being waived. Polk has since landed on season-ending injured reserve, preventing a decision on keeping him or letting him go from needing to be made. After making New England’s initial 53-man, meanwhile, Baker was waived on Wednesday.
The 23-year-old made 11 appearances with the Patriots as a rookie, but in that time he made just one scoreless catch. Baker joins veteran Kendrick Bourne as a receiver New England – now led by head coach Mike Vrabel – has parted ways with in advance of the season. As the team moves forward with an altered WR group, Philadelphia will take a flier on Baker.
The Alabama and UCF product will join a receiving corps led once again by A.J. Brown, DeVonta Smith and Jahan Dotson. Philadelphia lost Johnny Wilson last week to season-ending surgery, hindering the team’s depth. Trade acquisition John Metchie is in position to operate as a backup, but Baker will give the Eagles another option on the practice squad. It will be interesting to see if he receives a gameday elevation early in the campaign.
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 Bills, Dolphins, Jets and Patriots moves are noted below.
Signed to practice squad:
Released from IR via injury settlement:
Waived:
Signed to practice squad:
Claimed:
Waived:
Signed to practice squad:
Claimed:
Released:
Signed to practice squad:
2024 draftees Ja’Lynn Polk and Javon Baker failed to make much of an impact in their first professional season. The Patriots’ second-year wideouts are now working under a brand new coaching staff, and they could be facing an uphill battle to make the club’s 53-man roster (indeed, it was reported back in June that Polk could be on the bubble).
ESPN’s Mike Reiss expects New England to carry six wideouts on the opening day roster, and after the first few days of training camp, Reiss noted that Stefon Diggs, Kayshon Boutte, and DeMario Douglas were running with the starters. Meanwhile, Kyle Williams, Kendrick Bourne – himself a potential cut candidate – and UDFA rookie Efton Chism III were taking second-team reps. Polk and Baker, on the other hand, were “not on the current radar” and had essentially “faded from view.”
At the time, free agent addition Mack Hollins was still on the active/PUP list. Since then, the Pats have activated Hollins, and in an updated look at the club’s WR situation, Reiss describes Diggs, Boutte, Douglas, and Hollins as the top four players on the depth chart, with Williams – who has flashed in recent days after something of a “dry spell” – slotting in behind them.
Williams is a third-round rookie, so his place on the team is almost certainly secure despite natural growing pains. Diggs, New England’s marquee free agent acquisition, was always expected to lead the way, and 2023 draftees Douglas and Boutte have shown promise as complementary options. Hollins offers a big-bodied target for QB Drake Maye, and his two-year, $8.4MM contract indicated his roster spot was never in doubt either.
It is telling that, prior to Hollins’ return, an undrafted rookie was seeing more reps than Polk and Baker. Per Doug Kyed of the Boston Herald, Chism’s spring momentum has not carried over into training camp, and Reiss made note of a Chism drop in a recent practice. Still, given the sheer volume of players in the wide receiver room, it may take an injury and/or the release of a player like Bourne for Polk and Baker to remain in Foxborough.
Further complicating the issue for Polk was a hamstring injury that caused him to miss practice time. He is back on the field, and head coach Mike Vrabel said the second-year pro is “a player that worked extremely hard to get back and ready to go … there’s been some positive things that he’s done since he’s been back” (via Mike Kadlick of CLNS Media). Vrabel went on to say that Polk has not made any mental errors despite his absence.
Polk, a second-round selection last year, may be more likely than Baker, a fourth-rounder, to make the team based on upside alone. According to Kyed, Polk may also have an in as a slot receiver, since the Pats’ depth in the slot is thinner than it is outside the numbers.
It’s been a rough season for the Patriots in Year 1 of the Jerod Mayo-era. At 3-12, New England is staring a 3-14 season squarely in the face with remaining games against the Bills and Chargers. The struggles have come at every level of the game: the offense ranks 30th in points and 29th in yards; the defense hasn’t fared much better, ranking 24th in points allowed and 21st in yards allowed; and New England has turned in pedestrian numbers on special teams, as well.
When all phases of the game are points of weakness, and player development is becoming an issue, the finger tends to get pointed at the coaching staff. Mayo seemed to admit as much in a recent interview on WEEI’s “The Greg Hill Show,” on which he talked about a lot of “checklists…to go through” including “what players you want to keep around” and “what coaches you want to keep around.”
The obvious considerations that will need to be made are concerning offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt and defensive coordinator DeMarcus Covington. According to Doug Kyed of the Boston Herald, team owner Robert Kraft and his son, team president Jonathan Kraft, were seen in Week 15 seemingly criticizing the play-calling on offense. On defense, the Patriots have had few answers since losing linebacker Ja’Whaun Bentley to a season-ending injury early in the year.
Another coach with obvious question marks is the son of the former head coach in New England, safeties coach Brian Belichick. Belichick’s father, Bill, has accepted the head coaching job at the University of North Carolina, and his brother, Steve, is planning to join him from the University of Washington. If Brian also leaves to join his father, that will open up one hole on the coaching staff.
Here are a few other rumors coming out of New England:
Diontae Johnson is viewed as the most likely receiver domino to fall between now and the November 5 trade deadline, but Christian Kirk continues to be a name to monitor. The Jaguars wideout was mentioned as a player drawing interest earlier this month, and ESPN’s Adam Schefter notes that has continued, naming the seventh-year veteran alongside Johnson in terms of the receivers who have generated the most trade buzz following the Davante Adams, Amari Cooper and DeAndre Hopkins swaps.
Kirk brings an element Johnson does not, as he is signed through 2025. Playing on the four-year, $72MM pact that received scrutiny at the time, the Jags slot receiver now merely sits 25th in receiver AAV. Kirk’s 2022 free agency deal helped ignite the WR market that year, and another boom took place this offseason to render the Jacksonville deal an upper-middle-class pact. Kirk is 27 and attached to a $14.5MM base salary, which will be an issue for teams, as more than $7.5MM will remain for an acquiring team post-Week 8.
Although Kirk’s per-year number has dropped considerably on an exploding market, the Jags do have both Evan Engram and Gabe Davis signed to eight-figure AAVs. They also used a first-round pick on Brian Thomas Jr. this year. Kirk served as Trevor Lawrence‘s most trusted target in 2022 and ’23; as Thomas has shown considerable promise, Kirk has caught 25 passes for 320 yards and a touchdown this season.
Here is the latest from the WR ranks:
Friday’s only mid- to late-round draft pick signing:
New England Patriots
Baker transferred to Orlando after two unproductive years of minimal use at Alabama. Immediately upon arrival, Baker became a major weapon for the Knights. In 2022, he led the team in receiving yards with 56 catches for 796 yards and five touchdowns. This past season, he improved on two of those numbers, leading the Knights in receptions (52) and receiving yards (1,139) while also nabbing seven touchdowns.
In New England, Baker and second-round rookie Ja’Lynn Polk out of Washington, join a Patriots receiving corps that lost DeVante Parker to retirement but returns leading receivers Demario Douglas, Kendrick Bourne, and tight end Hunter Henry. While Polk will likely get an opportunity to start with Douglas and Bourne, Polk will try to make an impact as a rotation receiver with veterans JuJu Smith-Schuster and K.J. Osborn. He’ll attempt to avoid falling into the blackhole of young receivers who have failed to live up to their draft potential like Tyquan Thornton and Jalen Reagor.