Brewer, who has been the Cardinals’ long snapper for the past seven seasons, suffered a pectoral injury. Brewer’s contract expires after this season. The Cardinals initially signed Jackson this offseason but waived him weeks later. The Steelers carried Jackson on their practice squad for much of this season. The former second-round pick played in four games with the team.
Following the Saturday slate of games, we still have four more games this week. Here are the minor moves leading up to the three Sunday games on Christmas Day:
Murphy has missed the last five games for the Cardinals while dealing with a back issue, so while it’s not necessarily a further setback for Arizona, the transaction indicates that Murphy will miss the rest of the season before going into free agency. With Murphy absent, the Cardinals have started veteran Antonio Hamilton across from Marco Wilson.
Here are the roster moves for today, leading into gameday tomorrow. Reminder that gameday elevations will revert to the practice squad after this weekend’s games:
A former Washington starter and the primary Atlanta cornerback opposite A.J. Terrelllast season, Moreau has experience playing both the slot and outside. The former third-round pick signed with the Texans earlier this offseason but did not make their 53-man roster.
The Lions attempted to keepDavid Blough by offering the Hard Knocks cast member a spot on their practice squad, but the three-year Detroit backup opted to head to Minnesota. He is currently on the Vikings’ 16-man taxi squad. A previous Aaron Rodgers backup, Boyle signed with the Lions last year.
Despite being a former second-round pick, Blair did not make the Seahawks’ 53-man roster this year. Knee injuries have sidelined him for most of the past two seasons. Seattle had stopped using Blair as a nickel, his primary role when on the field with the team that drafted him, during training camp.
Included as part of a 2019 trade that sent Marcus Peters to Baltimore, Young was also traded from the Rams to the Broncos last year. He started all 13 games he played in 2021 — seven as a Ram, six as a Bronco — and helped Denver fill the void created by Alexander Johnson and Josey Jewell‘s season-ending injuries. Young spent most of this offseason with the Raiders but did not make their roster.
Two safeties the Steelers signed this offseason have landed on IR. The team waited until after setting its 53-man roster to move Damontae Kazee, as opposed to its shuttling of Karl Joseph to IR prior to that date. But the position became thinner this summer.
Pittsburgh is expected to address that soon. Andrew Adams is expected to sign with the team Monday, ProFootballNetwork.com’s Aaron Wilson tweets. It is a practice squad deal, according to ESPN.com’s Brooke Pryor (on Twitter).
The Giants had Adams in training camp this year but cut him ahead of their move down to 53. Adams, 29, is a six-year veteran who has played for the Giants (from 2016-17) and Buccaneers (2018-21).
The UConn alum worked as a backup for the Super Bowl-winning Bucs squad two years ago and made three starts for last year’s team. A former UDFA, Adams was a regular Bucs starter in 2019. He has seven career interceptions; four of those came with the 2018 Bucs.
Former second-round pick Josh Jackson is also signing with Pittsburgh’s practice squad, per Pryor. The Packers draftee has bounced around the league since a 2021 trade moved him out of Green Bay. Jackson’s most recent stop came with the Cardinals, who cut him on their way down to the 53-man max. The Steelers also added linebacker Delontae Scott to their taxi squad.
Josh Jackson‘s mid-offseason Cardinals signing will not lead to him being part of the team’s 53-man roster. To start the process of moving down to the 53-man limit, the Cards cut the veteran cornerback Monday.
While the Cardinals do not presently view Jackson as worthy of a regular-season roster spot, Darren Urban of AZCardinals.com writes this transaction will likely precede the team making another addition — via trade or signing — at corner. It could be needed, with Arizona not doing much at the position since Jeff Gladney‘s tragic death in May.
Kliff Kingsbury said the Cardinals were likely to bring in corners, but their veteran search ended with Jackson. A former second-round Packers pick, Jackson has bounced around. Post-Green Bay, Jackson spent time with the Giants and Chiefs in 2021. He started 10 Packers games as a rookie but has only made five starts in the three seasons since. Jackson played in just two games last season.
Veteran outside corners Joe Haden, Jackrabbit Jenkins, Xavier Rhodes, A.J. Bouye and ex-Jackson Green Bay teammate Kevin King are available. Former Cardinal Robert Alford, who met with the team about another deal this offseason, also is unsigned. The Cardinals have Byron Murphy in place as their top corner but feature extensive questions beyond him.
Arizona also released veteran linebacker/special-teamer Joe Walker and offensive lineman Koda Martin on Monday. A former Eagles draftee, Walker started 11 games with the Cards in 2019 and has been with the team for two stints. After signing with the 49ers in 2020, Walker found his way back to Arizona last season and re-signed via reserve/futures deal this year as well. The 29-year-old defender played just 7% of the team’s defensive snaps in 2021 but logged 80% of its special teams plays.
A slight alternative to the starting scenarios was proposed earlier this week by Cam Inman of The San Jose Mercury News. He agrees that Dennard and Womack seem to be going head-to-head for the nickel-back role, but posits that, should neither cornerback seize the starting opportunity, San Francisco could formulate a rotation that would see Moseley shift inside and Thomas come in to cover the outside.
If Dennard and Womack can’t convince the coaches that they’re more valuable to have on the field than Thomas, the above situation could unfold. It makes sense that the 49ers would want the best three defenders on the field and could utilize other cornerback combinations to take advantage of specific matchups.
Here are a couple of other rumors from out of the NFC West, starting with a note out of Glendale:
A little over two weeks ago, the Cardinals signed two former Chiefs’ defenders in cornerback Josh Jackson and linebacker Ben Niemann. The two have had diametrically contradicting career paths with the former second-round pick, Jackson, slowly falling into obscurity while the former undrafted free agent, Niemann has earned more and more responsibility each year he’s been in the league. Both of their contracts, though, will be worth the league minimum, according to Sports Illustrated’s Howard Balzer. While that’s a hard pill to swallow for Jackson after the high expectations that came with his draft position, Niemann is likely grateful to be heading into his fifth year of NFL football for the second team to give him an opportunity after initially going undrafted.
Seahawks wide receiver D.K. Metcalfhas been pushing the organization for a new contract lately. The 24-year-old is set to head into the last year of his rookie contract and, while he does want to get paid, he’s also providing the Seahawks a head start on the rest of the league on what would be his eventual free agency. While Metcalf is looking at recent deals like that of his former college teammate, A.J. Brown, the absolute floor of Metcalf’s hypothetical extension was set this week when the Commanders extended star receiver Terry McLaurin, Doug Kyed of Pro Football Focus writes. Kyed justifies the opinion, saying that, while PFF grades Metcalf slightly lower than McLaurin, Metcalf is over two years younger and has produced at a slightly higher level than McLaurin over their first three years in the league. Whether or not Metcalf undoubtedly deserves more than McLaurin, McLaurin’s new deal sets an intriguing bar as extension talks continue in Seattle.
After working out with the Cardinals during their minicamp this week, cornerback Josh Jackson and linebacker Ben Niemann landed spots on the team’s 90-man offseason roster. The team announced the signings Thursday afternoon.
Kliff Kingsbury indicated earlier this month the Cardinals would pursue veteran corners. That comment came not long after the news offseason addition Jeff Gladney died in a car accident May 30.
The Cardinals will be Jackson’s fourth team. The former second-round Packers draftee spent last year with the Giants, who acquired him from the Packers via trade, and the Chiefs, who gave Jackson a practice squad spot after the Giants waived him midseason. The Chiefs used Jackson in two regular-season games as well. The Iowa product’s NFL stock has dropped considerably, but he will have an opportunity to catch on with a Cards team light at corner.
Jackson, 26, started 10 games with Green Bay as a rookie in 2018 but has lined up as a first-stringer in only five contests since. He allowed a whopping 86% of the passes thrown his way to be completed in 2019, with that figure only dropping to 74% in 2020. The Packers, who drafted Eric Stokes in the 2021 first round, moved on via the trade — a straight-up swap for corner Isaac Yiadom. Jackson did not see any regular-season time with the Giants.
Niemann joined Jackson on the 2021 Chiefs and played for Kansas City throughout his rookie contract. The Chiefs used Niemann as a five-game starter in each of the past two seasons. While he did not start any of Kansas City’s playoff contests during his four-year Missouri run, the former UDFA played in each postseason game. Niemann, 27 in July, and Jackson were Hawkeyes teammates.
Arizona, which waived safety Javon Hagan on Thursday as well, has questions at corner beyond top cover man Byron Murphy. It would not surprise if the Cards signed a starter-caliber corner ahead of training camp. The team has first-rounders Isaiah Simmons and Zaven Collins stationed at linebacker, with the latter ticketed to start after the team’s Jordan Hicks release. The Cards did not draft an off-ball linebacker this year but have Tanner Vallejo, Joe Walker and seventh-year vet Nick Vigil rostered.
