Josh Adams

Minor NFL Transactions: 3/17/21

Today’s “minor” moves:

Chicago Bears

Cincinnati Bengals

Houston Texans

Indianapolis Colts

Jacksonville Jaguars

Miami Dolphins

New England Patriots

New York Jets

Philadelphia Eagles

San Francisco 49ers

Tennessee Titans

Minor NFL Transactions: 11/24/20

We’ll keep track of today’s minor moves here:

Arizona Cardinals

Baltimore Ravens

Buffalo Bills

Chicago Bears

Cleveland Browns

Denver Broncos

Jacksonville Jaguars

Kansas City Chiefs

Los Angeles Rams

New Orleans Saints

New York Jets

Pittsburgh Steelers

  • Activated from reserve/COVID-19 list: TE Vance McDonald
  • Promoted: TE Kevin Rader

Tennessee Titans

The Jets’ addition of Adams makes a lot of sense after rookie running back La’Mical Perine suffered a high ankle sprain that is expected to sideline him for at least a couple games. A 2018 UDFA out of Notre Dame, Adams played a significant role with the Eagles as a rookie, when he started five of 14 games and carries the ball 120 times for 511 yards and three touchdowns. Despite the reasonably productive first season, he was waived at final cuts last year.

Jets Promote Alec Ogletree To Active Roster

One of several high-profile veterans to agree to join a practice squad in this unusual NFL season, Alec Ogletree will be in a more familiar position Sunday.

The Jets are promoting the veteran linebacker to their active roster. Ogletree was a free agent for several months before agreeing to stay in New York on a Jets practice squad deal.

Ogletree started for two seasons with the Giants, with that tenure coming after a five-year Rams run. Although advanced metrics were not especially high on the veteran defender during his Giants stay, he intercepted five passes and returned two for scores in a productive 2018 season. The Giants, however, made Ogletree a cap casualty earlier this year and then devoted much of those funds to paying Blake Martinez.

Avery Williamson is questionable to play against the 49ers on Sunday, and the Jets are without C.J. Mosley because of his opt-out decision. Ogletree, still just 28, has made 93 starts. Should he not start for the Jets on Sunday, it will mark his first time as a game-day backup since going in the 2013 first round. Ogletree played for current Jets DC Gregg Williams during the latter’s final three Rams seasons (2014-16).

The Jets also promoted running back Josh Adams and wide receiver Josh Malone to their active roster, using the 2020 practice squad elevation option for the two skill-position players. Gang Green has run into extensive injury trouble at wideout and placed Le’Veon Bell on IR this week.

Minor NFL Transactions: 9/12/20

Here are Saturday’s minor moves. Many of these roster decisions involve practice squad promotions. Under the new CBA, teams are permitted to promote two P-squad players without corresponding roster moves per week. Teams can carry 55 players on their rosters for game days and can have up to 48 active.

Arizona Cardinals

Baltimore Ravens

Chicago Bears

Cincinnati Bengals

Cleveland Browns

Detroit Lions

Green Bay Packers

Jacksonville Jaguars

  • Promoted: RB Nathan Cottrell, TE Ben Ellefson

Los Angeles Chargers

Miami Dolphins

  • Released from IR via injury settlement: DB Nate Brooks

Minnesota Vikings

New England Patriots

New Orleans Saints

New York Jets

Philadelphia Eagles

San Francisco 49ers

Seattle Seahawks

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Washington Football Team

Jets To Promote RB Josh Adams, Sign LB Paul Worrilow

The Jets are promoting running back Josh Adams from the practice squad to the active roster, as Manish Mehta of the New York Daily News reports. Adams was the Eagles’ leading rusher in 2018 — his rookie season — having compiled 511 rushing yards on a 4.3 yards-per-carry average and three TDs. However, after adding Jordan Howard and Miles Sanders this offseason, Philadelphia waived Adams during final cutdowns in August.

Jets GM Joe Douglas, who is reportedly high on Adams, was quick to scoop him up after he cleared waivers. In fact, the club was paying Adams $25K per week while he was on the practice squad, which is a nice income for a p-squad player.

Adams’ promotion naturally led some to wonder about Le’Veon Bell‘s health, as Bell reportedly sustained a knee injury during the team’s loss on Sunday. However, Mike Garafolo of the NFL Network tweets that another team was interested in signing Adams to its own active roster, and the Jets’ decision to call him up was triggered by that outside interest and not by Bell’s health. Indeed, both Mehta and Adam Schefter of ESPN.com say that Bell’s injury is not believed to be significant (Twitter links).

Mehta adds that Gang Green will get more clarity on Bell’s status later this week, and in the meantime, the 1-7 club might as well see what it has in Adams, a former UDFA from Notre Dame. That is especially true since the other team that was interested in Adams may have been the division-rival Dolphins, who recently lost Mark Walton to a four-game ban.

Garafolo also reports that the Jets have signed linebacker Paul Worrilow (Twitter link). Worrilow, a former UDFA himself, was a starter for the Falcons from 2013-15 and also started eight games for the Lions in 2017. However, he lost the entire 2018 season to injury, and the Eagles cut him in August due to health concerns.

Worrilow quickly caught on with the Ravens after the Eagles released him, but he announced his retirement shortly thereafter. He obviously changed his mind, though, as he worked out for the Eagles twice since the season started, and he worked out for the Jets on Friday. New York obviously was impressed enough to give him a shot, and it’s worth noting that Douglas was in Philadelphia during Worrilow’s tenure with the Eagles.

Notable NFL Practice Squad Salaries

Playing on an NFL practice squad isn’t a bad gig. You work with a club’s 53-man roster every week, have a good chance to get called up if/when injuries strike, and collect a solid paycheck ($8K per week minimum). And for some practice squaders, the pay can get even better.

While all practice squad salaries count towards the salary cap, there’s no restriction on how much a team can pay a practice squad player. When a club desperately wants to retain a player but can’t fit him on its 53, they’ll often bump up his salary in an effort to keep him around. Here’s a look at several players who are earning much more than the NFL’s $8K per week standard, via Tom Pelissero of NFL.com (Twitter link):

The 49ers clearly have no problem with spending a little extra on practice squad players, as both Lee and Harris are earning at least $22K more than the league PS minimum. Lee’s been with San Francisco since 2017 and started five games for the club last season, but the 49ers’ front seven depth is keeping him on the taxi squad for now. Harris, too, was a part-time starter for San Francisco in 2018.

The quarterbacks on the list are also interesting. Rypien has been deemed Broncos’ offensive coordinator Rich Scangarello‘s “project” and could be called up to the active roster at some point given that Denver is only carrying two quarterbacks in Joe Flacco and Brandon Allen (rookie second-rounder Drew Lock is on injured reserve). And the rebuilding Dolphins seem intent on hanging onto Rudock, who spent the first three seasons of his career with the Lions.

NFL Practice Squad Updates: 9/2/19

We’ll keep track of Monday’s practice squad moves here:

Atlanta Falcons

Arizona Cardinals

Buffalo Bills

Cincinnati Bengals

Dallas Cowboys

Detroit Lions

Indianapolis Colts

Jacksonville Jaguars

Kansas City Chiefs

Miami Dolphins

Minnesota Vikings

  • Signed: WR Davion Davis

New England Patriots

New York Giants

New York Jets

Oakland Raiders

Philadelphia Eagles

Pittsburgh Steelers

San Francisco 49ers 

Seattle Seahawks

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Washington Redskins

Eagles Reach 53-Man Limit

The Eagles have gotten down to 53, making some notable cuts to get there. The team released guard/center Stefen Wisniewski, who they re-signed to a $1.5MM deal back in May. He had gotten $150K guaranteed, so Philly will eat that. Wisniewski had started at least six games in each of the past three seasons for the Eagles.

To help thin out their crowded running backs room, they got rid of a few well-known names. They waived Josh Adams, who rushed for 511 yards for them last year, as well as 2017 fourth-round pick Donnel Pumphrey, who has battled injuries ever since entering the league. They also cut Wendell Smallwood, who had 364 yards rushing and three touchdowns and another 230 yards and two touchdowns through the air last year.

Offensive tackle Brett Toth also failed to make the team. Toth only recently got permission from the Army to join the NFL, and he signed with the Eagles only a couple weeks ago. He seems like a prime candidate for a practice squad spot.

Aside from that, and other announced moves, the Eagles made the following roster moves over the weekend to reach the 53-player limit:

Waived:

T Riley Mayfield

G Sua Opeta

TE Joshua Perkins

RB Boston Scott

DT Aziz Shittu (injured)

QB Clayton Thorson

WR Greg Ward

Released the following players:

Reserve/PUP

CB Jalen Mills

NFC East Notes: Eagles, Kelce, Giants

Here’s a look at the NFC East:

  • Eagles center Jason Kelce says he played through a grade two MCL sprain, a broken foot, a “torn elbow” and other nagging injuries in 2018 (Twitter link via Jeff McLane of the Philadelphia Inquirer). Kelce, who recently re-upped with the team on an extension to take him through the 2021 season, says he’s not quite 100%, noting that he’s “as healed as I’m going to get.” Following the Eagles’ Divisional Round loss to the Saints, Kelce hinted that he may end up retiring, so it’s unlikely that Kelce will actually play through ’21. Instead, his new deal simply signals that he’s committed to play this season.
  • Eagles running back Josh Adams is expected to miss the start of the team’s offseason conditioning program as he recovers from shoulder surgery, Mike Kaye of NJ.com hears. The good news is that Adams’ six-month timetable from January labrum surgery should put him in line to participate in July’s training camp. Adams put himself on the map last year with a team-leading 511 rushing yards plus three touchdowns. His usage dropped after five consecutive starts, but he’ll have an opportunity to build on that progress in 2019.
  • Sterling Shepard‘s contract extension talks with the Giants appeared to have picked up after the Odell Beckham trade, Ryan Dunleavy of NJ.com tweets. Shepard’s new deal – a four-year, $41MM pact – was larger than expected, though the going rate for wide receivers shot up dramatically this offseason. Had the Giants not extended Shepard, teams such as the Patriots would have been ready to pounce on him in free agency next year.

Minor NFL Transactions: 9/18/18

Today’s minor moves:

Atlanta Falcons

Arizona Cardinals

Buffalo Bills

Dallas Cowboys

Detroit Lions

Los Angeles Rams

Minnesota Vikings

Oakland Raiders

Philadelphia Eagles

  • Signed from practice squad: RB Josh Adams
  • Waived: WR DeAndre Carter

Tennessee Titans