Kevin Brock

Minor NFL Transactions: 8/19/15

Here are Wednesday minor NFL signings, cuts, and other moves from around the NFL:

  • When word broke earlier today that the Texans had signed safety Quintin Demps and defensive lineman Fili Moala, I noted that two corresponding roster moves would be required. Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle has the details on those moves, reporting (via Twitter) that the team has waived defensive end Jasper Coleman and waived/injured tight end Mike McFarland. McFarland will land on the Texans’ injured reserve list if he clears waivers.
  • After releasing him earlier this week, the Saints have re-signed veteran tight end Alex Smith, placing tight end Kevin Brock on injured reserve, writes Nick Underhill of The Advocate. Brock had to be carted off the field after going down with an injury during Tuesday’s practice.
  • Former Georgia wide receiver Michael Bennett – not to be confused with the Michael Bennetts who played on the defensive line at Texas A&M or Ohio State, respectively – signed a contract with the Bengals today, according to the team (Twitter link). Cincinnati cut tight end Jake Murphy to create roster space for the addition.
  • The Steelers have claimed linebacker L.J. Fort off waivers from the Patriots, waiving linebacker Jordan Zumwalt, a 2014 sixth-round pick, with an injury designation, the team announced today (via Twitter).
  • The Chargers have also claimed a former Patriot, nabbing tight end Logan Stokes off waivers, according to a team release. Tight end Eric Frohnapfel was cut to create a spot for Stokes.
  • Washington has reached an injury settlement with outside linebacker Trevardo Williams, who landed on the team’s IR with a hamstring strain, tweets Zac Boyer of the Washington Times. Williams is now a free agent, able to sign with any team.

Saints Release Junior Galette

MONDAY, 3:52pm: After passing a physical earlier today, Galette has officially been released by the Saints, who also signed tight end Kevin Brock and guard Cole Manhart, waiving center Mike Brewster with an injury designation (Twitter link via Evan Woodbery of the New Orleans Times-Picayune).

According to Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk, the team waited as long as possible to cut Galette in the hopes that the NFL would take action that would allow the Saints to potentially recoup some of the signing bonus money they owed him.

FRIDAY, 1:50pm: Galette must take – and pass – a physical with the Saints before he’s officially released, tweets Adam Schefter of ESPN.com, adding that the physical will likely happen this weekend.

1:24pm: In a surprising roster move, the Saints are releasing pass rusher Junior Galette before their training camp gets underway, reports Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (via Twitter)."Oct

While Galette has provided plenty of value to the Saints on the field over the last two years, recording back-to-back seasons of double-digit sacks, his off-field behavior cost him his job. The former undrafted free agent was arrested on a domestic charge in January, and a report last month indicated that a video has surfaced of a man who appeared to be Galette using force against a woman in a beach brawl.

With Galette making the wrong sort of headlines, and New Orleans’ roster undergoing a significant offseason overhaul, it came as no surprise when winter reports suggested head coach Sean Payton and the Saints wouldn’t have been opposed to moving on from the pass rusher if they could find a taker. However, given the off-field red flags, and the significant chunk of guaranteed money still owed to him, it was equally unsurprising that the Saints were ultimately forced to bite the bullet and simply cut him.

Galette, who turned 27 in March, just signed a lucrative four-year extension with the Saints last September, and has already received more than $17MM in salary and bonus money from the team since then. Having converted Galette’s $12.5MM roster bonus to a signing bonus earlier this year, New Orleans will now have to eat a tremendous amount of dead money to make the 27-year-old go away.

Based on contract information provided by Over the Cap, Galette’s $5.45MM cap hit for 2015 figures to remain unchanged, with the remainder of his prorated bonus money accelerating to the 2016 league year — based on my math, Galette will count for $12.1MM against New Orleans’ ’16 cap.

While Galette will hit the free agent market, that won’t stop the NFL from looking into his off-field behavior and potentially handing out a suspension, which will adversely affect his chances of landing with a new team. Depending on the language of Galette’s contract, I’d also expect the Saints to make an effort to get back some of the bonus money they’ve paid him over the last 12 months.

Galette’s odds of signing with a new team figure to be negatively impacted by his health as well — he’s said to be recovering from a pectoral injury, and won’t go under the knife to repair the damage.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Bengals Sign Terrelle Pryor, Four Others

Following his release from the Chiefs last week, former Ohio State standout Terrelle Pryor has landed with the Bengals, who also announced the signing of four more players:

  • Mario Alford, WR
  • Erick Dargan, DB
  • John Peters, TE
  • Kalafitoni Pole, DT

The 25-year-old Pryor is obviously the biggest name in the group, and now he’ll compete to be Cincinnati’s backup quarterback behind starter Andy Dalton. Pryor, who tried out for the Bengals on Friday during the club’s rookie minicamp, hasn’t appeared in a NFL game since 2013, when he started nine games for the Raiders. Jason Campbell, the Bengals’ No. 2 QB last season, remains unsigned, so Pryor will compete with 2014 draft pick A.J. McCarron for the backup position.

While three of the players listed above are undrafted free agents, Alford was selected by the Bengals in the seventh round of last week’s draft. The West Virginia product, who will compete to act as a reserve receiver while also angling for time on special teams, should be in line for a four-year deal worth about $2.34MM, according to Over the Cap’s rookie pool estimates.

In addition to today’s signings, Cincinnati also released tight end Kevin Brock, who appeared in 14 games for the club last season.

Dallas Robinson contributed to this post.

Minor Moves: Friday

Here are Friday’s minor transactions from around the NFL, including a new deal for a would-be exclusive right free agent, a few reserve/futures signings, and a practice squad change….

  • Washington has signed fullback Jordan Campbell to a reserve/futures contract, tweets Tarik El-Bashir of CSNWashington.com. Campbell spent some time on the Chiefs’ practice squad earlier in the season and worked out for Washington last month.

Earlier updates:

  • The Bengals have re-signed tight end Kevin Brock to a new contract, the team announced today (via Twitter). Brock, who joined the team in September after injuries to Tyler Eifert and Alex Smith, had been on track to become an exclusive rights free agent.
  • Since being eliminated from the postseason, the Steelers have been adding to their offseason roster, inking seven players to reserve/futures contracts on Monday and signing a couple more yesterday. Pittsburgh continued to bring players aboard today, per PR man Burt Lauten, who tweets that the team has signed linebacker Terence Garvin, wide receiver Brelan Chancellor, defensive end Matt Conrath, safety Alden Darby, tight end Michael Egnew, and linebacker Roosevelt Nix.
  • The 49ers are re-signing linebacker Shayne Skov, who finished the season on the team’s practice squad, to a reserve/futures deal, a source tells Matt Barrows of the Sacramento Bee (Twitter link). The team has now locked up everyone who finished the season on the taxi squad.
  • The Lions signed defensive tackle Jermelle Cudjo to a futures contract today, tweets Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press. When it appeared last week that Detroit might be without Ndamukong Suh for Sunday’s playoff game, the team brought Cudjo in for a workout.
  • The Seahawks made a small change to their taxi squad today, re-signing defensive tackle Jimmy Staten and releasing linebacker Mike Zimmer, per Bob Condotta of the Seattle Times (via Twitter). As Condotta points out in a second tweet, Seattle had signed Zimmer and cut Staten just yesterday, so the club is frequently shuffling the two players on and off the unit at this point.

Minor Moves: Tuesday

We’ve devoted one Tuesday post to the practice squad shuffling being done by teams today, but many clubs around the league are also tweaking their 53-man rosters. We’ll round up a handful of those transactions right here, with new moves added to the top of the list throughout the day:

Earlier updates:

  • In addition to the moves noted below, the Bears have also promoted defensive back Isaiah Frey to their active roster from their practice squad, and cut running back Shaun Draughn, as well as tight end Matthew Mulligan (Twitter link). The series of transactions leaves the club with 52 players on its roster.
  • Former Vikings linebacker and special-teamer Larry Dean has signed with the Bills, the team announced today in a press release. To make room for Dean, Buffalo placed safety Jonathan Meeks on injured reserve with a neck injury.
  • A week after placing tight end Tyler Eifert on IR with the designation to return, the Bengals have placed another tight end on injured reserve, and Alex Smith won’t be eligible to return the season (Twitter link). The team also announced that tight end Kevin Brock has been signed to take Smith’s roster spot.
  • The Bears have promoted practice-squad wideout Rashad Ross to the 53-man roster, cutting receiver and returner Chris Williams to clear room, per Brad Biggs of the Chicago Tribune (via Twitter).
  • Linebacker Dan Fox is set to be called up to the Giants‘ active roster from their practice squad, tweets Ebenezer Samuel of the New York Daily News, suggesting that placing Jon Beason on injured reserve may end up being the corresponding move.
  • The Colts announced in a press release that they’ve signed defensive tackle Kelcy Quarles off the Patriots‘ practice squad, waiving running back Dion Lewis to create roster space.

NFC Notes: Redskins, Lions, 49ers, Boykin

Following Jordan Reed‘s injury on Sunday, the Redskins auditioned a few tight ends today, including Michael Higgins, Kevin Brock, and Tony Scheffler, tweets Zac Boyer of the Washington Times. Scheffler is the most interesting name in the group — the last we heard from him, he was announcing his retirement after sustaining three concussions in the last four years. Apparently he hasn’t decided to move entirely away from the NFL quite yet though.

  • The Lions were already on the lookout for secondary help, having worked out Champ Bailey and other veteran defensive backs last week. Now, as Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press writes, the team will have to deal with a season-ending ACL injury for cornerback Bill Bentley, meaning some sort of roster addition appears likely.
  • Having recently rejoined the 49ers, special-teams ace Kassim Osgood tells Eric Branch of the San Francisco Chronicle (Twitter link) that he hopes to play in the NFL at least another three years — that would give him 15 total seasons in the league, at age 37.
  • 49ers CEO Jed York reiterated today that he and head coach Jim Harbaugh will sit down and discuss Harbaugh’s contract, which runs through next year, at the end of the 2014 season, tweets Matt Barrows of the Sacramento Bee.
  • In a look at Brandon Boykin, who is playing the nickel role in Philadelphia, Tim McManus of PhillyMag.com examines the cornerback’s contract situation. Boykin is eligible for a new deal at year’s end, and McManus points out that it will be interesting to see if the 24-year-old is content with re-signing in the same role with the Eagles or wants the opportunity to be a starting outside corner elsewhere.
  • Michael Rand of the Star Tribune thinks it makes sense for the Rams to work out a trade with the Vikings for Christian Ponder.

Bengals Waive Six Players, Down To 75

The Bengals have taken six players off their active roster, reducing their player count to 75 in advance of this afternoon’s roster cutdown deadline. Per Paul Dehner Jr. of the Cincinnati Enquirer (Twitter links), here are the six players cut today by the Bengals: