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AFC East Rumors: Lazard, Carter, Jackson, Montgomery

November 24th, 2023 at 8:30pm CST by Ely Allen

The Jets lost to the Dolphins today in Tim Boyle‘s first start since 2021, and while Boyle failed to provide the offensive spark the team has been searching so desperately for, his arsenal of weapons hardly set him up for success. Part of that was the absence of veteran wide receiver Allen Lazard, who, according to Mike Florio of NBC Sports, was a healthy scratch from today’s game.

Florio relays that Lazard reportedly believes that it is “a one-game thing,” but after only being target once last week, Florio isn’t quite as sure. The report claims that, despite his existing history with injured quarterback Aaron Rodgers and offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett, “the internal assessment of Lazard is far from flattering.”

Still, without him, Garrett Wilson saw 10 targets. Jason Brownlee and Xavier Gipson were the only other wide receivers to see targets, while the rest of Boyle’s attempts targeted tight ends and running backs. With Randall Cobb already out for the past four games, New York can hardly afford more missed time from Lazard, as well.

Here are a few other rumors from the AFC East, with another coming from Gang Green:

  • New York waived a former starter in running back Michael Carter a couple weeks ago. The young rusher had been benched after getting penalized for a chop block and had been buried on the depth chart behind Breece Hall and Dalvin Cook. The hope was that rookie fifth-round pick Israel Abanikanda would be able to step into the third-down role and provide a spark with his speed, per ESPN’s Rich Cimini, but in today’s loss, Abanikanda didn’t register a touch. Hall instead took over the passing downs role, registering nine targets as the Jets were in catch-up mode for most of the contest.
  • A new update on the drama with Patriots cornerback J.C. Jackson comes straight from Jackson himself, through Mark Daniels of Mass Live. After reports that Jackson failed to show up to the team hotel the night before their game with the Commanders and then subsequently was kept home during the team’s trip to Germany, Jackson explained the situation. Jackson tole Daniels that he had “missed multiple ‘bed checks'” on the night before the Washington game. He was told to stay home from Germany as a punishment, which he claims to have accepted, learned from, and apologized for. In fact, Jackson claims to now be even more appreciative of head coach Bill Belichick, as a result.
  • We saw New England pick up running back JaMycal Hasty off waivers a couple weeks ago, and with that addition, Mike Reiss of ESPN thinks veteran dual-threat back Ty Montgomery‘s job could be in danger. Hasty has a very similar skill set to Montgomery’s and is three years his junior. Montgomery, on the other hand, spent nearly all of last year on the team’s injured reserve and has seen his offensive contributions dwindle in 2023. Reiss could be right in thinking that Hasty has been brought in to replace Montgomery in the Patriots’ running backs room.

Patriots Place CB Jack Jones On IR, QB Matt Corral On Exempt/Left Squad

September 10th, 2023 at 1:33pm CST by Ely Allen

SEPTEMBER 10: Howe reports that Corral was absent from the Patriots’ facility on Friday and Saturday, meaning he missed out on practice, walkthrough and team meetings in advance of today’s contest. He adds New England is still determining Corral’s future with the organization. Given the left squad designation, the team will have time to sort out its next move. Kyed adds, meanwhile, that the Patriots never seemed to be contemplating waiving Corral, despite the report from earlier on Saturday that they were doing so. This situation will remain worth watching until further clarity emerges.

SEPTEMBER 9: Patriots second-year cornerback Jack Jones suffered a hamstring injury on Wednesday at practice that immediately put his game status in doubt for tomorrow’s season opener, according to Jeff Howe of The Athletic. After confirming that Jones wouldn’t be available in Week 1, Howe speculated that a multi-week absence could be in the cards for the young defender. Well, Mike Reiss of ESPN was able to confirm today that Jones has been placed on injured reserve, guaranteeing he will miss at least the first four games of the 2023 season.

The loss of Jones certainly hurts the quality of the team’s cornerback depth, but overall, the Patriots still look strong at the position. With rookie first-round pick Christian Gonzalez joining veteran Jonathan Jones in the starting lineup, New England should be set up well for Week 1. The team also has Marcus Jones and Jalen Mills providing depth behind the starters.

The Patriots’ transaction announcement also disclosed that they are placing quarterback Matt Corral on the exempt/left squad list. According to Doug Kyed of the Boston Herald, Corral reportedly left the team without notice. This makes Corral’s “not injury related” appearance on the practice injury report this week make a bit more sense. Tom Pelissero of NFL Network explained that going this route immediately clears a roster spot for New England without the need to place Corral on waivers.

The Patriots filled one of the open two roster spots by signing practice squad quarterback Bailey Zappe to the active roster. Last year’s fourth-round pick out of Western Kentucky will now be the primary backup behind starting quarterback Mac Jones despite being released during final roster cuts back in August.

To fill the other roster spot, the team signed practice squad running back Ty Montgomery to the active roster, as well. Montgomery will provide depth and variety off the bench behind Rhamondre Stevenson and Ezekiel Elliott. While both Stevenson and Elliott have shown an ability to receive out of the backfield at some point in their careers, Montgomery clearly has an edge at that ability after converting from wide receiver after his rookie year.

Finally, the team will reportedly only be using one of their two allowed practice squad promotions for tomorrow. Veteran linebacker/special teamer Calvin Munson will get the call up for the season opener against the Eagles.

Wednesday NFL Transactions: AFC East

August 30th, 2023 at 6:50pm CST by Sam Robinson

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:

Patriots Reduce Roster To 53 Players

August 29th, 2023 at 6:29pm CST by Ben Levine

The Patriots made headlines earlier today when they moved on from both of their backup QBs, leaving Mac Jones as the lone quarterback on the active roster. The organization has continued making moves, reducing their roster to 53 players:

Released:

Waived:

Placed on reserve/PUP:

Placed on IR:

James Ferentz is one of the few holdovers from the Tom Brady in New England, with the lineman having been with the Patriots since the 2018 campaign. Over the past five seasons, the veteran has appeared in 39 games (nine starts) for the organization. The Patriots made some additions to their offensive line via trade, perhaps costing Ferentz his roster spot.

Veteran Ty Montgomery got into only a single game for the Patriots last season before suffering a season-ending injury. The wideout/running back hasn’t topped 200 yards from scrimmage since the 2018 season. Meanwhile, Kevin Harris was a sixth-round pick by the organization just last year, with the RB getting 18 touches as a rook.

Trey Flowers rejoined the Patriots this offseason after spending the past few years in Detroit and Miami. The defensive lineman had 21 sacks for New England between 2016 and 2018, but he’s only collected 10.5 sacks in the four seasons since. He won’t be eligible to join the active roster until at least Week 5.

Pats Notes: Mapu, RB, Ryland, Cunningham

June 18th, 2023 at 9:44pm CST by Ely Allen

We’ve already written a bit about Patriots third-round pick Marte Mapu out of Sacramento State and his dual ability to play both linebacker and safety, a role he played in college. We had a feeling that the Patriots would see that ability and likely play him in the same role, and it looks like that may be exactly what they’re planning to do. They have him officially listed as a linebacker on their roster, but according to Doug Kyed of A to Z Sports, they have been utilizing him lately to fill the void left by former safety Devin McCourty, who retired back in March.

The Patriots are no strangers to experimenting with young players and moving them around the field. Mapu gives them a perfect opportunity to do just that. At only 216 pounds, Mapu is a bit too light to be a perfect fit at linebacker. In Sacramento, he played mostly an in-between role in the slot before lining up at linebacker in the Senior Bowl. At his first OTA practice in New England, he played linebacker; in the two practices after that, McCourty’s old safety role.

Not only does he feel comfortable playing both roles, but his teammates are also under the impression that the adjustment from FCS to NFL is coming easy to Mapu, according to ESPN’s Mike Reiss. His flexibility and progression have combined to earn him first-team snaps extremely early in his career, as reported by Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated.

Here are a few more rumors coming out of Foxborough:

  • After releasing James Robinson earlier this week, the Patriots may be looking to add another body to the position room, according to Karen Guregian of MassLive. The team will run with Rhamondre Stevenson as their No. 1 next year, no question, but the names behind him don’t inspire much confidence. Pierre Strong, Kevin Harris, and Ty Montgomery combined for 150 rushing yards last year. Strong and Montgomery are reportedly in the running to compete for a third down back role with Harris potentially slotting in as RB2, but one has to imagine the Patriots are considering their options. Obviously, Dalvin Cook is available, but if they’d like to pursue someone more used to working with another rusher, Kareem Hunt, Ezekiel Elliott, Leonard Fournette, and Kenyan Drake are interesting names to look out for.
  • New England spent two draft picks on specialists this year, drafting Maryland kicker Chad Ryland in the fourth round and Michigan State punter Bryce Baringer in the sixth. Despite demonstrating the commitment to spend draft capital on the two, Guregian asserts that neither is a lock to replace the incumbent specialists, Nick Folk and Corliss Waitman. Guregian expects a heavy competition for both kicking jobs but doesn’t rule out the possibility of the losers of those battles landing on the team’s practice squad.
  • Former Louisville quarterback Malik Cunningham was highly sought after when he went undrafted this year. The Patriots landed his talents thanks to a deal that included $200K in guaranteed money. The money might not have been the only factor in Cunningham choosing New England as his professional destination, though. According to Ben Volin of the Boston Globe, Cunningham told the media that “the Patriots were the only team before the draft to work him out at (wide receiver).” He’s listed as a quarterback on the team’s roster, but perhaps working him out at receiver gave Cunningham the impression that he would have more playing opportunities or a higher chance to make the 53-man roster.

Minor NFL Transactions: 9/13/22

September 13th, 2022 at 9:01pm CST by Sam Robinson

Here are Tuesday’s minor moves:

Atlanta Falcons

Baltimore Ravens

Carolina Panthers

Cleveland Browns

Indianapolis Colts

Kansas City Chiefs

Los Angeles Chargers

Los Angeles Rams

New England Patriots

Philadelphia Eagles

San Francisco 49ers

Tennessee Titans

Hand suffered a torn quad in the Titans’ opener, according to Tom Pelissero of NFL.com (on Twitter). He is undergoing surgery and is expected to miss the rest of the season. A former fourth-round Lions draftee back in 2018, Hand has been with the Titans since last year. He played two defensive snaps Sunday.

Montgomery had battled a knee injury during the run-up to the regular season, but the veteran passing-down back played in the Patriots’ Week 1 contest. Montgomery caught three passes for 15 yards in New England’s loss. The Pats signed Humphrey, a former Saints wideout, midway through the offseason.

Patriots Notes: Wynn, RBs, Thornton

August 28th, 2022 at 9:52am CST by Rory Parks

The Patriots are reportedly open to trading OT Isaiah Wynn, who has been moved from left tackle to right tackle this year after lining up exclusively on the blindside over his first few seasons in the NFL (aside from a 2020 cameo at LG and some training camp work at RT as a rookie). As expected, however, outside interest in the former first-rounder is limited at this point, as Jeff Howe of The Athletic tweets.

Although Wynn did play in 16 regular season contests in 2021, he comes with an extensive injury history. He is also tethered to a $10.4MM salary for 2022 since New England exercised the fifth-year option on his rookie deal, and at least some teams consider him a tackle-guard “tweener.” All of that suggests that the Pats — who must also consider the injury history of LT Trent Brown and the underwhelming training camp performances of backups Justin Herron and Yodny Cajuste — may not fetch a high enough return to pull the trigger.

Now for more out of Foxborough:

  • Per Mike Giardi of the NFL Network, Brown was not told he would be lining up at left tackle when he re-signed with the Patriots this offseason (Twitter link). The 29-year-old has taken all of his snaps on the right side of the line since 2019, and one wonders if he would have signed the contract, which pays him $6.5MM per year over the next two years, if he had known he would be playing a premium position. Giardi also tweets that Wynn — perhaps as a result of a position switch in his platform year — is not a “happy camper,” so there is plenty of intrigue surrounding the team’s OL bookends in 2022.
  • As Mike Reiss of ESPN.com writes, Patriots running backs Rhamondre Stevenson and Damien Harris will be part of a timeshare this year, but as opposed to 2021, they are more likely to remain on the field on third downs. In light of James White‘s retirement, New England is unlikely to have a defined “passing down back,” and that is especially true in the wake of the ankle injury that Ty Montgomery suffered during the team’s preseason finale on Friday. Reiss notes in a separate piece that Montgomery seemed like a roster lock as a third option behind Stevenson and Harris, and the Pats are still awaiting word on the severity of his injury.
  • On Monday, rookie receiver Tyquan Thornton underwent surgery to repair his fractured clavicle, as Jeremy Fowler of ESPN.com tweets. It was previously reported that Thornton is expected to return to the field sometime in October, and the six-to-eight-week recovery timeline that Fowler provides jibes with that report.
  • The injury that landed rookie OL Andrew Stueber on the reserve/NFI list is a torn hamstring, as Aaron Wilson of Pro Football Network reports (via Twitter). Stueber sustained the injury while training after the draft, and it could sideline him for his entire rookie season.

Contract Details: Seals-Jones, Williams, Tomlinson, Jones, Montgomery, Gardeck, Singleton, Carter

March 27th, 2022 at 6:27pm CST by Ely Allen

Here are the latest details from contracts recently agreed to across the league:

  • Ricky Seals-Jones, TE (Giants): One-year, $1.19MM. The deal, tweeted out by Aaron Wilson of Pro Football Network, has a $352,500 amount guaranteed at signing. The guaranteed amount includes a signing bonus of $152,500 and $200,000 of his salary worth $1.04MM.
  • Maxx Williams, TE (Cardinals): One-year, $1.27MM. The deal has a salary of $1.12MM, according to Wilson. Regardless of whether or not he is active, he’ll receive a $15,000 bonus for any game for which he is on the roster. If he is active for any game, he’ll receive an additional $52,500 roster bonus. He’ll also receive a per game active bonus of $5,000 for a potential season total of $85,000.
  • Eric Tomlinson, TE (Broncos): One-year, $1.44MM. The deal has an amount of $1MM guaranteed at signing, according to Wilson. The guaranteed amount includes a $400,000 signing bonus and $600,000 of his salary worth $1.04MM.
  • DaQuan Jones, DT (Bills): Two-year, $14MM. The deal has an amount of $10.63MM guaranteed at signing, according to Wilson. The guaranteed amount consists of a $5.5MM signing bonus, the full first-year salary of $1.75MM, and $3.38MM of the second-year salary, which is set at $6.75MM. The contract includes a voidable year for 2024 that voids automatically 23 days before the 2024 league year begins.
  • Ty Montgomery, RB (Patriots): Two-year, $3.6MM. The deal has an average annual salary of $1.8MM with an amount of $300,000 guaranteed consisting entirely of the dual-position player’s signing bonus, according to Wilson. Included in that AAV of $1.8MM are a first-year salary of $1.16MM, a second-year salary of $1.36MM, roster bonuses of $280,000 in year one and $340,000 in year two, and workout bonuses of $50,000 in each year. The former wide receiver will earn a per game active bonus of $20,000 for a potential season total of $340,000. The deal holds an annual playtime incentive of up to $300,000. The deal also holds a potential out after the 2022 NFL season that would leave a dead cap number of $150,000.
  • Dennis Gardeck, LB (Cardinals): Three-year, $10MM. The deal has a guaranteed amount of $3.75MM, according to Wilson. $3.25MM of that amount is guaranteed at signing with a $2MM signing bonus and the first-year salary of $1.25MM being fully guaranteed. $500,000 of the second-year salary, worth $3.27MM, guarantees on the fifth league day of the 2023 season (injury guaranteed at signing). The third-year salary is worth $2.46MM. Gardeck will also receive a per game active bonus of $20,000 for a potential season total of $340,000. The deal includes an annual playtime incentive of $250,000 and an escalator based on sack total that can be worth up to $625,000. A potential out after the 2022 season would leave a dead cap number of $1.33MM.
  • Alex Singleton, LB (Broncos): One-year, $1.12MM. The deal has a salary of $965,000 with a guaranteed amount of $150,000 fully consisting of Singleton’s signing bonus, according to Mike Klis of 9News. Singleton will have a playtime incentive based on snap-percentage. At the end of the year, if he has played 65% of the team’s defensive snaps, he’ll receive $250,000, $500,000 if he plays 70%, and $750,000 if he plays 75%.
  • Lorenzo Carter, OLB (Falcons): One-year, $3.5MM. The deal has a salary of $1.5MM with a guaranteed amount of $2MM fully consisting of Carter’s signing bonus, according to Michael Rothstein of ESPN. The deal includes a 2023 dummy year that will be voided 23 days before the 2023 league year. It will leave the Falcons with a dead cap number of $1M for Carter.

Patriots To Sign Ty Montgomery

March 17th, 2022 at 1:36pm CST by Zachary Links

The Patriots have reached agreement with Ty Montgomery (Twitter link via Josina Anderson of CBSSports.com). The running back’s two-year deal could pay up to$4MM, according to a source who spoke with Anderson. 

[RELATED: Patriots To Sign T. Mitchell]

Montgomery, 29, spent the first three-plus seasons of his career in Green Bay, moving from wide receiver to running back. His best work came in 2016, when he collected 805 yards from scrimmage and three touchdowns. He was traded to the Ravens midway through the 2018 campaign, and he served as Le’Veon Bell‘s backup with the Jets in 2019.

Montgomery signed with the Saints in 2020 and spent last year at both positions. He finished out with 15 carries for 44 yards, plus 16 catches for 95 yards. The Patriots may look to reprise that role for the former third-round pick, using him as a receiver, a James White-type running back, and a special teamer. The Pats could use a player like Montgomery, especially after backup RB Brandon Bolden left to join the Raiders.

Meanwhile, the Pats still have some work to do up front after trading standout guard Shaq Mason to the Buccaneers.

Minor NFL Transactions:  12/15/21

December 15th, 2021 at 9:54am CST by Zachary Links

Today’s minor moves:

Arizona Cardinals

Buffalo Bills

  • Activated from reserve/COVID-19 list: LB A.J. Klein

Cleveland Browns

Dallas Cowboys

Green Bay Packers

Indianapolis Colts

Miami Dolphins

New England Patriots

New Orleans Saints

Philadelphia Eagles

Pittsburgh Steelers

Seattle Seahawks

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