Parry Nickerson

Eagles Release QB Will Grier, Three Others

The Eagles kicked off their first round of roster cuts by releasing four players today:

Will Grier was competing with Tanner McKee to be the Eagles QB3 behind Jalen Hurts and Kenny Pickett, but the former third-round pick will now look to resume his career elsewhere. Grier threw four interceptions in a pair of starts as a rookie, and he’s bounced around the NFL since getting cut by the Panthers ahead of the 2021 campaign. Since then, the QB has had stints with the Cowboys, Bengals, Patriots, and Chargers. The Eagles represented his sixth NFL team, and unless he lands on Philly’s practice squad, he’ll be searching for job No. 7.

Max Scharping was a former second-round pick by the Texans, with the lineman starting 33 of his 48 appearances with the organization. He appeared in 31 games with the Bengals between 2022 and 2023, with the majority of his snaps coming on special teams.

Minor NFL Transactions: 6/7/24

Today’s minor moves as we head into the weekend:

Cleveland Browns

Jacksonville Jaguars

Philadelphia Eagles

After getting drafted in the third round out of Ohio State, Davis has yet to make a start in his first three seasons. Despite competing for a starting job in the offseason before his sophomore campaign in Minnesota, Davis was waived as part of the team’s final roster cuts. Since then, he’s bounced around from the Giants to the Saints, Cardinals, and back to New York. He’ll now add some depth in Cleveland.

Anderson finds his away to Jacksonville shortly after getting waived by the division-rival Colts yesterday. The Texas Tech-product saw his biggest contribution in 12 games with two starts in 2022 for the Giants.

Like Davis and Anderson, Nickerson has bounced between several teams since entering the NFL. After being drafted by the Jets in the sixth round of the 2018 NFL Draft, Nickerson has spent a year apiece with New York, the Jaguars, the Packers, the Vikings, and most recently, the Dolphins, also spending part of 2019 with the Seahawks. He joins his seventh team in six years with Philadelphia.

NFL Workouts: Giants, Bears, Titans, Grant

With NFL rookie minicamps coming to a close, we can take a look at some of the notable names that were invited for veteran tryouts during the rookies’ introduction to the NFL. The Giants were one of the teams with multiple veteran free agents in attendance, as noted by Pat Leonard of NY Daily News.

Two outside linebackers were auditioned this week in New York. Myjai Sanders worked out with the team after playing sparingly in seven games for the Texans last year. A former third-round pick for the Cardinals, Sanders had three sacks as a rookie but, after falling down the depth chart, found himself being auctioned off as a trade candidate before ultimately getting waived.

The other was Shaka Toney, a former seventh-round pick for the Commanders who was waived just before the draft. He’s only played major snaps in one game over his two years, his lone start out of 26 games played, but totes 1.5 sacks on his record.

The third veteran in attendance was wide receiver Jared Bernhardt.

Here are a few other notable minicamp auditions that took place around the league:

  • The Bears also hosted three veterans, even eventually signing tight end Tommy Sweeney. Kevin Fishbain of The Athletic reports that cornerback Parry Nickerson and wide receiver Freddie Swain were the other two veterans in attendance this week. Nickerson entered the league as a sixth-round draft pick in 2018 for the Jets. Since then, he’s bounced around with one season each at in Jacksonville, Green Bay, Minnesota, and, most recently, Miami. Swain had a decent start to his career after two seasons in Seattle but didn’t play in 2023 after appearing in only four games in 2022 between time in Miami and Denver.
  • The Titans were another team to host multiple notable veteran names, namely cornerback William Jackson III and pass rusher Shane Ray, per Aaron Wilson of KPRC 2 and Turron Davenport of ESPN. After playing out a rookie contract in Cincinnati, Jackson earned a three-year, $40.5MM contract with the Commanders but requested a trade that landed him with the Steelers a year in a half into the deal, though he never got to play for them. He hasn’t appeared in a game since Week 5 of 2022. Ray’s absence from the NFL has been even longer. A first-round pick for the Broncos in 2015, Ray hasn’t played in the league since 2018. He joined the Bills last offseason, reuniting with his former Denver teammate Von Miller, but he was cut before the regular season.
  • After attending the Eagles’ rookie minicamp, wide receiver and return specialist Jakeem Grant also worked out for the Saints at their rookie minicamp, per Mike Triplett of NewOrleans.Football. Grant hasn’t appeared in an NFL game since the 2021 season as he’s rehabilitated a torn Achilles and a ruptured patella tendon, but the last time he played, he earned Pro Bowl and second-team All-Pro honors.
  • Lastly, the Dolphins hosted pass rusher Aaron Lynch for a tryout, according to Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald. Lynch showed promise after tallying 12.5 sacks in his first two seasons with the 49ers but never managed more than three in a season over the next five years. He hasn’t appeared in an NFL game since 2020.

NFL Practice Squad Updates: 10/30/23

Today’s practice squad transactions:

Atlanta Falcons

  • Signed: LB Donavan Mutin
  • Released: P Pat O’Donnell

Chicago Bears

Indianapolis Colts

Miami Dolphins

New York Giants

  • Signed: CB Stantley Thomas-Oliver

Pittsburgh Steelers

Seattle Seahawks

  • Signed: C Joey Hunt
  • Released: OL Greg Eiland

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

  • Signed: CB Derrek Pitts
  • Released: LB Brandon Bouyer-Randle

Mykal Walker has found a new home after getting cut by the Raiders last week. The former fourth-round pick spent the first three seasons of his career with the Falcons, including a 2022 campaign where he collected a career-high 107 tackles in 16 games (12 starts). However, since that breakout season, the linebacker has struggled to hold a job. He was waived by Atlanta back in August and was claimed by the Bears, but Chicago ended up cutting him at the end of the preseason. Walker later joined the Raiders practice squad and spent about a month in Las Vegas.

Dolphins Activate CB Jalen Ramsey

As expected, Jalen Ramsey is on track to make his Dolphins debut tomorrow. The All-Pro corner was officially activated from injured reserve on Saturday.

Ramsey has been out through the start of the 2023 season, his first in Miami. He was originally not expected to recover from his meniscus repair until next month, but optimism for a quicker timeline has since been put in place. A report from earlier this week pointed to Week 8 as the point at which Ramsey could be activated, and the team has now taken the expected step of activating him in time for Sunday’s game.

The Dolphins traded for the six-time Pro Bowler in March, leading to expectations for a dramatic improvement in their secondary. Under new defensive coordinator Vic Fangio, Miami has put up middling performances against the pass so far while recording just three interceptions. Ramsey will be a welcomed addition to a CB room which just saw Nik Needham activated from the PUP list.

Ramsey, 29, has recovered well ahead of schedule with recent indications suggesting an earlier-than-expected return to the field. Plenty of attention will no doubt be on him with respect to his mobility coming off a major knee injury, but also his ability to live up to expectations with the Dolphins, who guaranteed his 2024 salary as part of the trade agreement with the Rams (which saw a third-round pick and tight end Hunter Long sent Los Angeles’ way). The Florida State alum’s pact runs through 2025, so his performance will be a key talking point given his new team’s commitment to him.

The Dolphins have Xavien Howard and Kader Kohou in place as starters, and Ramsey will take his place opposite the former on the perimeter when he suits up. Eli Apple has managed to carve out a rotational role so far, but Ramsey’s activation should relegate him to a lesser workload moving forward (as has been the case to date for second-round rookie Cam Smith). It will be interesting to see how the team’s CB arrangement with respect to Needham and Kohou in particular shakes out with Ramsey back in the fold.

Clearing the latter to suit up will leave Miami with five IR activations for the rest of the season. To make room for Ramsey on the active roster, depth corner Parry Nickerson was released.

Wednesday NFL Transactions: AFC East

Following the 53-man roster cutdown deadline Tuesday, many teams will make slight tweaks to their rosters. In addition to waiver claims, teams can begin constructing their 16-man practice squads today. These BillsDolphinsJets and Patriots moves are noted below.

Buffalo Bills

Signed:

Claimed:

Waived:

Signed to practice squad:

Placed on IR:

Miami Dolphins

Signed:

Claimed:

Waived:

Signed to practice squad:

New England Patriots

Claimed:

Waived:

Signed to practice squad:

New York Jets

Signed: 

Claimed:

Waived:

Signed to practice squad:

Placed on IR:

Dolphins Reduce Roster To 53 Players

The Dolphins began trimming their roster yesterday, cutting 14 players. That made today’s daunting task a bit more bearable, but the team still had to cut a number of players to get to the 53-player roster limit:

Released:

Waived:

Waived/injured:

Placed on reserve/PUP:

Placed on IR:

Nik Needham, a 2019 UDFA out of UTEP, has spent his entire career with the Dolphins, appearing in 51 games (27 starts). He started five of his six appearances in 2022 before landing on IT in October with a torn Achilles tendon. His placement on PUP means he can’t make his season debut until at least Week 5.

Tight end Tyler Kroft signed with the Dolphins back in May, but the veteran was unable to beat our younger options for a roster spot. Kroft has seen time in 92 career games (52 starts), hauling in 105 catches for 1,081 yards and 13 touchdowns. He spent the 2022 campaign with the 49ers, collecting four receptions in 11 games (four starts).

Minor NFL Transactions: 8/6/23

Here are today’s minor moves as the weekend comes to a close:

Buffalo Bills

Chicago Bears

Denver Broncos

Green Bay Packers

Houston Texans

Las Vegas Raiders

Miami Dolphins

Minnesota Vikings

New Orleans Saints

New York Jets

Philadelphia Eagles

Seattle Seahawks

Washington Commanders

Andrews joins Philadelphia as a potentially strong depth piece on the offensive line. The seven-year veteran has played 48 games over the years with five different teams, so rejoining the Eagles, even with a new staff from when he left, shouldn’t be too big of an issue. Last year, he started five of the six games he played with the Saints.

Woolen underwent arthroscopic knee surgery back in May and was given a four-to-six-week recovery timeline. He was forced to start camp on the physically unable to perform list, but it’s time for him to make his way back to the field. Last year’s other starter at cornerback, Michael Jackson, has had a great camp and rookie Devon Witherspoon is pushing for a starting role, so Woolen will be glad to get back and reestablish his role in the secondary.

Minor NFL Transactions: 12/16/22

Here are today’s minor moves heading into the Saturday slate of games:

Baltimore Ravens

Cleveland Browns

Houston Texans

Indianapolis Colts

Minnesota Vikings

NFL Practice Squad Updates: 11/15/22

Today’s practice squad transactions:

Arizona Cardinals

Atlanta Falcons

  • Signed: DB Devon Key

Carolina Panthers

Cleveland Browns

Dallas Cowboys

Denver Broncos

Detroit Lions

Green Bay Packers

Houston Texans

Indianapolis Colts

Los Angeles Rams

Minnesota Vikings

New England Patriots

New Orleans Saints

New York Giants

Philadelphia Eagles

Pittsburgh Steelers

San Francisco 49ers

Seattle Seahawks

  • Released: WR Kevin Kassis

Tennessee Titans