While the Giants haven’t activated Tyrod Taylor, the veteran QB is expected to be back on the active roster next Monday. In preparation, the team has moved on from Matt Barkley, who has been serving as the backup to Tommy DeVito since Daniel Jones went down with an injury. Barkley hasn’t seen the field for a regular season game since 2020, when he got into five games with the Bills.
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.
Pederson, of course, is the son of Jaguars head coach DougPederson. The Louisiana–Monroe product has bounced around the NFL a bit since going undrafted in 2021, spending time with the 49ers, Saints and Chiefs. The tight end most recently spent time in the USFL with the Houston Gamblers, hauling in 25 catches for 325 yards.
Taylor joined the Jaguars as an undrafted free agent out of Cincinnati. If he clears through waivers, he’ll land back on the Jaguars injured reserve.
Despite his first-round pedigree, Shane Ray has not played in a regular-season game since his Broncos rookie contract expired after the 2018 season. The Chiefs are checking on the former Broncos edge rusher, however.
Ray worked out for the Chiefs on Friday, Field Yates of ESPN.com tweets. The former University of Missouri pass rusher is a Kansas City native. The Chiefs also met with former Buccaneers wide receiver Justin Watson and tight end Josh Pederson, the son of new Jaguars HC Doug Pederson. Watson has since signed with the Chiefs, Adam Schefter of ESPN.com tweets.
The Toronto Argonauts signed Ray last year, and he played five games with the CFL team. Ray, 28, worked as a starter opposite Von Miller in 15 games from 2016-17. Both Ray and Shaquil Barrett were rotational backups on Denver’s dominant Super Bowl-winning defense in 2015, but the duo’s paths diverged in the years that followed. Beyond Ray’s eight-sack 2016, he could not come especially close to justifying Denver’s 2015 first-round investment.
A fifth-round Bucs pick in 2018, Watson caught two touchdown passes during the 2019 season but did not see the field much during the franchise’s Tom Brady seasons. He suited up for 11 games during the 2020 season, playing in the NFC championship game that Antonio Brown missed, but only played in one this season.
The Saints’ most recent run without a healthy kicker will come to an end. They are signing Aldrick Rosas, according to Tom Pelissero of NFL.com (via Twitter).
Rosas’ workout went well, per NewOrleans.football’s Nick Underhill (on Twitter), and the former Pro Bowler edged out fellow prospective Wil Lutz replacements Alex Kessmanand Dominik Eberle. Neither Kessman nor Eberle had kicked in an NFL game previously. Rosas has four years’ experience, though he has not had a regular gig in two years.
Lutz is expected to be out for months, and the Saints’ Brett Maher partnership ended after he suffered an injury during the team’s preseason opener. The team waived Maher with an injury designation. New Orleans will now pivot to Rosas, who made the Pro Bowl in 2018 but is coming off a season abbreviated by a suspension.
The Giants’ kicker from 2017-19, Rosas saw a hit-and-run arrest lead to his New York exit. The NFL suspended Rosas four games to start last season, and although he landed with the Jaguars and kicked in six games with the struggling team, he did not make it to camp under the new Urban Meyer regime.
Rosas received his Pro Bowl nod after making 32 of 33 field goals in his second season, but he has not quite approached that success in any of his other three slates. The 26-year-old specialist made 12 of 17 field goals in 2019 and went 8-for-11 in six Jags games last year. The opportunity to kick for a dome team could move Rosas back on track, however, while giving the Saints some stability. Lutz has kicked in every Saints regular-season game for the past five years. He is signed through the 2023 season.
To make room on their roster, the Saints waived tight endJosh Pederson. The aspiring NFL pass catcher is the son of former Eagles HC Doug Pederson.
