Marcus Willoughby

Saints Place CB Brian Poole On IR

Veteran cornerbacks continue to cycle off the Saints’ roster. They placed Brian Poole on injured reserve Tuesday, Aaron Wilson of Sports Talk 790 tweets. Poole is now ineligible to play for New Orleans this season.

The Saints signed Poole just before training camp started. While the former Falcons and Jets slot corner could play for a non-Saints team in 2021, he would need an injury settlement to do so. Either way, more cornerback issues have surfaced for the Saints, who are looking at outside options.

[RELATED: Saints Likely To Add CB Help]

While the Saints gave Poole barely veteran-minimum money and guaranteed him just $137K on a one-year deal, this strips another proven corner from their roster. Poole, 28, was one of the league’s top slot defenders over the last two years, representing one of the Jets’ few bright spots in that span. Pro Football Focus graded the former Falcons UDFA as a top-12 corner in 2019 and ’20.

New Orleans made Janoris Jenkins a cap casualty before free agency and has since seen Marshon Lattimore venture onto the suspension radar — for a March arrest — and prospective starter Patrick Robinson retire. The Saints also cut Prince Amukamara recently. They still have the likes of P.J. Williams, Ken Crawley and third-round rookie Paulson Adebo on the roster. But an outside addition should be expected soon.

Additionally, the Saints placed defensive tackle Jalen Dalton and offensive lineman Ethan Greenidge on IR, per Wilson. They also waived punter Nolan Cooney and waived defensive end Marcus Willoughby with an injury designation.

NFL Reserve/Futures Contracts: 1/21/21

Today’s reserve/futures deals:

Arizona Cardinals

New Orleans Saints

Tennessee Titans

  • WR Mason Kinsey

NFL Practice Squad Updates: 9/9/20

We’ll keep track of today’s practice squad updates here:

Arizona Cardinals

Atlanta Falcons

Buffalo Bills

Cincinnati Bengals

Cleveland Browns

  • Signed: T Greg Senat

Dallas Cowboys

Detroit Lions

Green Bay Packers

Indianapolis Colts

Las Vegas Raiders

  • Signed: OT Jaryd Jones-Smith

New England Patriots

  • Signed: G Corey Levin
  • Released: FB Paul Quessenberry

New Orleans Saints

  • Signed: DE Marcus Willoughby

Philadelphia Eagles

Seattle Seahawks

Tennessee Titans

Ravens Cut Roster To 53

The Ravens became the latest team to get down to 53, cutting a slew of players on Saturday via a team announcement. With the moves, Baltimore ended a 16-year streak of keeping at least one undrafted rookie on the roster, another sign of the impact COVID-19 and the reduced offseason had on roster decisions.

Here are the 23 guys who were let go:

Barner played a somewhat prominent role on a couple of Eagles teams and won Super Bowl LII with the team. Since leaving Philly he’s bounced between New England, Carolina, and Atlanta. Ehinger started a game at guard for Baltimore last year, but couldn’t crack the roster this time around.

Richards was a full-time starter with the Falcons in 2018, and appeared in nine games with Baltimore last year, scoring a touchdown on a fumble recovery. Townsend was the Raiders’ punter in 2018, and just signed with the Ravens a couple of weeks ago. He probably never had too good a chance of beating out Sam Koch, who has been with the Ravens since 2006. Huntley had a very solid college career at Utah, but wasn’t viewed by too many as a legitimate pro passer.

Ravens Sign 20 UDFAs

The Ravens’ class of undrafted rookies keeps getting bigger and bigger. This week, the Ravens announced the signings of six more UDFAs, bringing their official grand total to eleven, though they’ve actually agreed to take on 19 in total. Here’s the full rundown:

Huntley, a 6’1″ quarterback out of Utah, played against Lamar Jackson as a high schooler in Florida. With the Utes, Huntley started 33 games in total and finished 2019 with a 19/4 TD/INT ratio.

Rechsteiner, a hard-nosed fullback, is a natural bruiser – he’s the son of former WCW/WWF wrestler Rick Steiner and the nephew of Scott Steiner, a.k.a. Big Poppa Pump. At Division III Kennesaw State, he averaged 8.1 yards per carry. With the Ravens, he’ll face an uphill battle in making the roster with Patrick Ricard already occupying the position.

There are also a few notable guarantees in this UDFA class, including Wolf, who received $65K between his $50K base salary and $15K signing bonus (Twitter link via Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle).