Tanner Conner

NFL Reserve/Futures Contracts: 1/15/24

With a handful of teams getting eliminated from the playoffs this weekend, those front offices are starting to prepare for the offseason. Here are today’s reserve/futures deals, with the majority coming from recently eliminated squads:

Cleveland Browns

Dallas Cowboys

Los Angeles Rams

Miami Dolphins

Minnesota Vikings

Minor NFL Transactions: 12/2/23

Today’s gameday callups and minor moves heading into Sunday:

Arizona Cardinals

Atlanta Falcons

Cleveland Browns

Denver Broncos

Detroit Lions

Houston Texans

Indianapolis Colts

Kansas City Chiefs

Los Angeles Chargers

Miami Dolphins

New England Patriots

New Orleans Saints

New York Jets

Pittsburgh Steelers

San Francisco 49ers

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Tennessee Titans

Washington Commanders

The Chiefs have ruled out running back Jerick McKinnon for tomorrow’s game against the Packers, necessitating some extra depth at the position. The team will turn to Prince, an undrafted free agent who has spent the entire season on Kansas City’s practice squad. Prince had a breakout season at Tulsa in 2022, finishing with 813 yards from scrimmage and six touchdowns.

Winfrey, a 2022 fourth-round pick, was cut by the Browns last July after being investigated for pulling a gun on a woman. He joined the Jets practice squad in early November and will finally earn his first promotion of the season. Winfrey got into 13 games for Cleveland last year, collecting 22 tackles and 0.5 sacks.

At age 36, Irvin will be making his debut for a sixth NFL team. The veteran pass rusher signed with Detroit midway through November and will finally have a chance to extend his streak of regular season appearances to 12 straight years. The only absence on the Lions’ front-seven will be linebacker Alex Anzalone, so Detroit may be looking to stand Irvin up to help the team’s depth at linebacker.

 

Minor NFL Transactions: 10/21/23

Here are the minor moves made around the league in advance of the Week 7 slate of Sunday games:

Arizona Cardinals

Atlanta Falcons

Baltimore Ravens

Buffalo Bills

Chicago Bears

Cleveland Browns

Denver Broncos 

Detroit Lions

Green Bay Packers

Jacksonville Jaguars

Kansas City Chiefs

  • Restored to active roster (from suspension exemption): DE Charles Omenihu

Las Vegas Raiders

Los Angeles Chargers

Miami Dolphins

New England Patriots

New York Giants 

Seattle Seahawks

Washington Commanders

Dulcich already had one IR stint this season due to an aggravation of last year’s hamstring injury. The 2022 third-rounder has appeared in only two contests so far this season, and in the most recent one he suffered yet another setback. As a result, he will once again be shut down for at least four weeks.

The Giants’ decision to again promote DeVito points to starter Daniel Jones missing another game. Indeed, ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler reports Jones is considered a “longshot” to play tomorrow against the Commanders. It will in all likelihood be Tyrod Taylor under center for New York in Week 7 while Jones continues to recover from his neck injury.

Minor NFL Transactions: 10/14/23

Here are today’s minor transactions heading into the Week 6 weekend:

Arizona Cardinals

Atlanta Falcons

Baltimore Ravens

Buffalo Bills

Chicago Bears

Detroit Lions

Houston Texans

Las Vegas Raiders

Los Angeles Rams

Miami Dolphins

New Orleans Saints

New York Giants

Philadelphia Eagles

San Francisco 49ers

Seattle Seahawks

Dean took the starting role the Eagles had in store for him in Week 1, but a foot injury interrupted his second NFL campaign. The 22-year-old was poised to return ahead of Sunday’s game by returning to practice earlier this week, though, and a first-team role is expected to await him upon suiting up. Dean taking on a heavy workload will relegate Nicholas Morrow (who was promoted from the practice squad) to backup duty despite the latter’s strong performances so far.

Seattle has seen fellow corners Devon Witherspoon and Riq Woolen enjoy considerable success, but the team’s secondary will be shorthanded without Bryant. The latter will miss at least the next four weeks as a result of the IR move as he recovers from a toe injury. The 2022 fourth-rounder, who has seen his defensive snap share jump from 65% to 77% this year, has not played since Week 2.

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 Bills, Dolphins, Jets 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: 8/22/23

Today’s minor moves:

Arizona Cardinals

Buffalo Bills

Denver Broncos

Green Bay Packers

  • Signed: CB Elijah Hamilton
  • Waived/injured: OL Jake Hanson

Houston Texans

Jacksonville Jaguars

Los Angeles Chargers

  • Signed: LB Tae Crowder
  • Waived/injured: OT Andrew Trainer

Miami Dolphins

New England Patriots

  • Claimed off waivers (from Panthers): DL Marquan McCall
  • Released: WR Tre Nixon

San Francisco 49ers

Seattle Seahawks

  • Signed: WR Malik Flowers
  • Waived: CB Montrae Braswell

Tae Crowder has found his next gig after getting cut by the Steelers in May. The former Mr. Irrelevant spent the first three seasons of his career with the Giants, including a 2021 season where he compiled 130 tackles and a pair of interceptions. He started only eight of his 13 appearances last season before getting cut, but he quickly caught on with Pittsburgh’s practice squad. Entering his age-26 season, Crowder is a low-risk option for the Chargers, but he could provide big returns if he can show his form from 2021.

Marquan McCall was a surprise cut by the Panthers earlier this week. The former UDFA ended up getting into 16 games for the Panthers last season, finishing with 15 tackles, two TFLs, and one QB hit. He’ll now look to catch on in New England. He’ll be taking a roster spot from wideout Tre Nixon. The former seventh-round pick has spent the past few seasons on New England’s practice squad but never got into a regular season game.

Minor NFL Transactions: 7/25/23

With a number of teams preparing for the start of training camp, a long list of players were placed on inactive lists today. We’ve compiled all of those and today’s other minor moves below:

Atlanta Falcons

Baltimore Ravens

Buffalo Bills

Chicago Bears

Cincinnati Bengals

Dallas Cowboys

Denver Broncos

Green Bay Packers

Houston Texans

Indianapolis Colts

Las Vegas Raiders

Miami Dolphins

Minnesota Vikings

New England Patriots

New Orleans Saints

New York Giants

Philadelphia Eagles

San Francisco 49ers

Seattle Seahawks

Washington Commanders

Free Agents

Isaiah Wilson hasn’t had an NFL gig since he was released by the Giants in January of 2022. NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero tweets that the free agent lineman was slapped with a three-game suspension, but it’s uncertain what led to the temporary ban. Wilson was a first-round pick by the Titans in 2020 but got into only one game with Tennessee before getting shipped off to Miami. He was waived by Miami after showing up late to his team physical, and his practice squad stint with New York only lasted one season.

Max Garcia is an experienced addition to the Saints OL room, with the veteran having most recently started seven of his 12 appearances with the Cardinals in 2022. The 31-year-old has 59 games of starting experience, although Pro Football Focus was iffy on his production last year (63rd among 77 qualifying offensive guards).

Following a three-year stint in Cleveland, Terrance Mitchell has spent the past two seasons bouncing around the NFL. He got into 14 games (13 starts) for the Texans in 2021, finishing with 60 tackles and 10 passes defended. He spent the 2022 season with the Titans, finishing with 39 tackles in 11 games (five starts). 49ers fifth-round pick Darrell Luter Jr. is set to miss some time with a knee injury, providing Mitchell with an opportunity during training camp.

Dolphins Rumors: TEs, Elliott, Punter Competition

The Dolphins didn’t use their tight ends much in the receiving game last year and only really used two tight ends a majority of the time. With half of that duo, Mike Gesicki, departing in free agency this offseason, many were curious how Miami would address the sudden hole on their roster.

The Dolphins return Durham Smythe, who was mainly used as a blocker in their scheme last year, recording only 15 receptions for 129 yards and a touchdown. Smythe has had more productive seasons in the prior two years, but he still is more feared as a blocker than a receiver. The team also added two veteran free agents in Tyler Kroft and Eric Saubert in the last few months.

None of the three will threaten to provide Miami with a top receiving tight end in the NFL, but with the team’s embarrassment of riches at wide receiver, that’s hardly necessary. The veteran trio should do plenty to perform the duties asked of tight ends in the Dolphins’ offense, while Miami will look to two rookies to perhaps provide some receiving ability to the position room.

The Dolphins used one of their few draft picks on Stanford wide receiver Elijah Higgins in the sixth round. Higgins, according to Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald, will be making the switch to tight end at the NFL level. Higgins told Jackson that 28 of 32 NFL teams saw him as a tight end at the next level, despite his never having played the position before. At 6-foot-3, 238 pounds, Higgins has decent size, needing to gain a few pounds, but had strong production with 1,204 receiving yards and six touchdowns for the Cardinal in the last two years.

Undrafted rookie Julian Hill out of Campbell had a strong final year of production, as well. He ended up with 659 yards and five touchdowns in his fifth year with the Camels. The Dolphins had considered looking into the tight end position in the early rounds of the draft, according to ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler, but they ultimately decided to utilize the free agent market and lower-graded rookies.

They also have the option to re-sign veteran Adam Shaheen who spent his contract year on injured reserve last year. Coming off of knee surgery, Shaheen told Jackson that he “would love to remain with the Dolphins.” For now, though, it seems Miami is content moving forwards with Smythe, Kroft, Saubert, Higgins, Hill, and developmental project Tanner Conner.

Here are a few other rumors coming out of South Beach:

  • The Dolphins made a strong offseason addition in former Ravens and Lions safety DeShon Elliott back in March. The former sixth-round pick developed into a starter in Baltimore but struggled with injuries. His injury struggles continued in Detroit when he missed two late-season games with a shoulder injury before toughing it out in the season finale to eliminate the Packers from postseason contention. Elliott may not return for mandatory minicamp, but according to Jackson, he is expected to be ready for the regular season.
  • After allowing their one-year rental punter, Thomas Morstead, to walk in free agency, Miami signed former division rival Jake Bailey. Bailey missed some time last year due to injury and some team-enforced discipline, so it’s not much of a surprise that the Dolphins brought in some competition for the young specialist. We speculated that undrafted Oklahoma rookie Michael Turk would provide some camp competition for Bailey, and Jackson confirmed as much in a recent report. The Dolphins were eager to bring Turk in, signing the former Sooner soon after the draft ended despite Turk enticing six other NFL offers.

Dolphins Announce 14-Man UDFA Class

After only adding four rookies through the 2022 Draft, the Dolphins signed a 14-man undrafted free agent class:

Miami was able to add some potential gems for their offensive line, bringing in two four-year starters from the Big Ten and SEC in Andries and Clary. They also made sure to bring in Diesch, a two-year starter for the Sun Devils after transferring from Texas A&M, signing him with a guaranteed amount of $140,000, according the Doug Kyed of Pro Football Focus.

The Dolphins also think they’ve uncovered a diamond in the rough out of northeast Texas. They signed Kohou out of Texas A&M-Commerce with a guaranteed amount of $130,000, according to Kyed.

Miami will also keep some prospects close to home. Johnson transferred from Tennessee to spend his last year of college close to home with the Hurricanes. Heatherly isn’t a Florida native, but he spent the last three years of college in Miami at Florida International.