River Cracraft

Dolphins Move Down To 53

A few hours ahead of the 3pm CT deadline, the Dolphins slashed their roster to 53 players. Here are the roster moves Miami made to comply with the NFL’s 53-man maximum:

Waived:

Placed on IR:

The team also waived wideouts Preston Williams and Lynn Bowden and moved Byron Jones to the reserve/PUP list, after making a handful of roster moves Monday. Sony Michel is also off the team’s roster.

Miami’s batch of Tuesday moves leave both Myles Gaskin and Salvon Ahmed on the team’s 53-man roster. Both were viewed as cut candidates after the additions of Michel, Chase Edmonds and Raheem Mostert. But Mostert has been one of the NFL’s most injury-prone players over the past two seasons. It makes sense the Dolphins’ staff is carrying four backs.

Kindley’s exit is also notable. The Dolphins used the 2020 fourth-round pick as a 13-game starter during his rookie season. Last year, however, the team kept the Georgia product mostly on the bench. Kindley made two starts in 2021. Since Kindley’s arrival, the Dolphins have used a second-round pick on Liam Eichenberg and signed Connor Williams. Robert Hunt remains in place as the team’s right guard. Still, with O-linemen in demand at this time of year, it will be interesting to see if a team claims him. Two years remain on Kindley’s rookie contract.

Minor NFL Transactions: 1/29/22

Today’s minor moves before Championship Sunday:

Cincinnati Bengals

Kansas City Chiefs

Los Angeles Rams

San Francisco 49ers

Minor NFL Transactions: 12/11/21

Here is how teams finalized their Week 14 rosters:

Atlanta Falcons

Baltimore Ravens

Buffalo Bills

Carolina Panthers

Chicago Bears

Cincinnati Bengals

Cleveland Browns

Dallas Cowboys

Denver Broncos

Detroit Lions

Houston Texans

Kansas City Chiefs

Los Angeles Chargers

Miami Dolphins

New Orleans Saints

New York Giants

New York Jets

San Francisco 49ers

Seattle Seahawks

Tennessee Titans

Washington Football Team

Minor NFL Transactions: 12/4/21

Today’s minor moves:

Arizona Cardinals

Atlanta Falcons

Baltimore Ravens

Carolina Panthers

Cincinnati Bengals

Denver Broncos

Detroit Lions

Houston Texans

Jacksonville Jaguars

Las Vegas Raiders

Los Angeles Rams

Minnesota Vikings

New York Giants

New York Jets

Philadelphia Eagles

Pittsburgh Steelers

San Francisco 49ers

Seattle Seahawks

Tennessee Titans

Wednesday NFL Transactions: NFC West

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 CardinalsRamsSeahawks and 49ers moves are noted below.

Here are Wednesday’s NFC West transactions, which will continue to be updated throughout the day.

Arizona Cardinals

Signed to practice squad:

Los Angeles Rams

Signed to practice squad:

San Francisco 49ers

Signed:

Placed on IR: 

Signed to practice squad:

Seattle Seahawks

Claimed:

Signed:

Released/Waived:

Signed to practice squad:

49ers Get Roster Down To 53

The 49ers made a long list of transactions today to get down to 53 players. Several of these moves have previously been reported, but for posterity’s sake, we’ve listed them all below.

Placed on reserve/PUP list

Placed on IR

Released

Waived

Placed on Reserved/Suspended List

49ers Waive WR Richie James

SATURDAY: The 49ers will drop James from their roster for the time being. San Francisco waived the wide receiver with an injury designation and re-signed wideout River Cracraft to take James’ roster spot.

FRIDAY: As the preseason winds down, the 49ers have suffered a significant injury. Receiver Richie James has a knee issue that requires surgery, head coach Kyle Shanahan announced Friday.

Shanahan said the injury will keep James sidelined for at least six weeks. A hamstring injury limited James to 11 games last season, but he still managed to play a pretty big role on offense. After serving mostly as a return man during his first two years in the pros, James was thrust into a more prominent position due to San Francisco’s health issues at receiver.

He ended up finishing with 23 catches for 394 yards and a touchdown in those 11 games. Often used as a deep threat, he averaged a robust 17.1 yards per reception. His true breakout came during a Thursday Night Football game you may recall, when he had 184 yards against the Packers.

After returning 33 in 2019, James only returned six punts last year as he focused on his receiving work. The timeline presented by Shanahan means he’ll miss at least the first handful of regular season games. He’ll presumably go on IR after the cutdown to 53 so that he’ll be able to play again this season.

It’s a tough break for the Middle Tennessee product as he enters the final year of his rookie deal. He was a seventh-round pick back in 2018. James was expected to be the punt returner again in 2021, a role which now will likely fall to veteran Travis Benjamin.

49ers Move LB Mychal Kendricks To IR

Mychal Kendricks‘ 49ers stay looks set to be brief. The team placed the veteran linebacker on IR Tuesday. Kendricks will no longer be eligible to suit up with San Francisco this season. The team also released cornerback B.W. Webb.

The recently signed linebacker is battling turf toe, an injury he sustained while playing in the 49ers’ second preseason game. The 49ers signed the veteran defender just last week, after he impressed during a workout. This marks another health setback for Kendricks, who suffered an ACL tear late in the 2019 season and saw his 2018 season end due to a broken leg.

Kendricks could play this season, but the 49ers would need to cut him from their IR list — which appears likely — via an injury settlement. However, the nine-year veteran’s run of bad injury breaks will limit his appeal. The 49ers had reached a unique arrangement, signing Kendricks to play for former teammate DeMeco Ryans, who is now the team’s defensive coordinator. This would be Kendricks’ age-31 season. He has played with Philadelphia, Seattle and Washington.

Webb caught on with San Francisco earlier this month as well but did not impress enough to make it past Tuesday’s second cutdown deadline. The 31-year-old veteran has not played since the 2019 season and has never played for the same team in back-to-back years. The 49ers were his 10th NFL stop.

Webb last played for the Bengals in 2019, when he started 12 games. The slot corner also worked as a primary starter in 2018, lining up as a Giants first-stringer in 13 contests.

Additionally, the 49ers released veteran edge defender Shilique Calhoun and waived wide receiver River Cracraft and offensive lineman Corbin Kaufusi.

Minor NFL Transactions: 2/22/21

We’ve got a few minor moves to pass along from today:

Carolina Panthers

Houston Texans

San Francisco 49ers

Hilliard, Zylstra, and Kirkwood were all set to be restricted free agents before getting these one-year extensions, and they now won’t need to be tendered offers. Cracraft was an exclusive rights free agent so there wasn’t much of a question about his future. Hilliard did pretty well for himself to get $1.25MM with $200K guaranteed, considering he only appeared in two games for Houston without receiving a carry or reception.