AFC East Notes: Williams, Bills, Sauce, Jets
Mentioned as dangling Preston Williams in trades earlier this month, the Dolphins have not ruled out adding an asset for the young wide receiver. Williams is generating some trade interest, Aaron Wilson of ProFootballNetwork.com tweets, but this looks like a situation that will either produce a deal for a late-round pick or Williams being waived before rosters are finalized Tuesday. Teams have until 3pm CT tomorrow to cut to 53. The Dolphins made some adjustments at receiver this offseason, trading for Tyreek Hill and adding Cedrick Wilson Jr. The team already cut Mohamed Sanu on Monday, however, potentially keeping the door open for Williams to stick as a backup. Williams emerged as a key target for the skeleton-crew 2019 Dolphins edition, but his rookie-year ACL tear threw his career off course. He has just 359 receiving yards over the past two seasons.
Here is the latest from the AFC East:
- In the wake of the Bills jettisoning embattled punter Matt Araiza, they have gotten to work on finding his replacement. Michael Palardy, Ty Long, Tyler Newsome and Joseph Charlton worked out for the team, Mike Garafolo of NFL.com tweets. None have been signed. Two of these punters, as it often goes with the Bills, have Panthers histories. Though, Palardy — a Carolina punter from 2016-19 — is the only one with ties to Buffalo’s Brandon Beane–Sean McDermott duo. Charlton was Carolina’s punter in 2020, long after the Bills had hired Beane and McDermott. These workouts also came before two veteran punters — Brett Kern and Sam Martin — were informed of their respective releases by the Titans and Broncos. The Colts signed the punter the Bills recently waived (Matt Haack) last week.
- Bills left tackle Dion Dawkins created some cap space for his team recently, restructuring his contract. Dawkins’ reworking created more than $5.6MM in space for the Bills, Tom Pelissero of NFL.com tweets. The Bills moved Dawkins’ 2022 base salary down to $1MM and added two void years to spread out his cap hits, per OverTheCap. Dawkins remains signed through 2024; the Bills hold just more than $11MM in cap space.
- The Jets will not spend any regular-season time developing Sauce Gardner as a backup. The No. 4 overall pick will be a Week 1 starter, Robert Saleh said. Gardner’s expected ascent will move Bryce Hall to a backup role, with the Jets also having signed D.J. Reed in free agency.
- Isaiah Wynn looks to remain available in trades for a Patriots team that has moved him to right tackle. Additionally, when Trent Brown re-signed with New England, he was not made aware the organization was planning to move him back to the left side.
Minor NFL Transactions: 8/17/21
Tuesday afternoon marked the deadline for teams to cut down from 90 to 85 players. We’ll keep track of those cuts and the day’s other minor moves here:
Arizona Cardinals
- Claimed (from Packers): P Ryan Winslow
- Waived: P Tyler Newsome
Atlanta Falcons
- Released from IR via injury settlement: WR Jeff Badet
Baltimore Ravens
- Waived: P Johnny Townsend
Carolina Panthers
- Waived/injured: LB Nate Hall, C Mike Panasiuk
- Placed on IR: CB Troy Pride Jr.; Pride suffered a torn ACL
Chicago Bears
- Released: WR Justin Hardy
- Waived: DB Michael Joseph, LB Ledarius Mack
Dallas Cowboys
- Placed on IR: LB Anthony Hines, FB Sewo Olonilua, CB Reggie Robinson
- Waived: CB Kyron Brown, WR Brennan Eagles
Denver Broncos
- Signed: RB Adrian Killins
- Waived: DB Rojesterman Farris, LB Peter Kalambayi, DT Lorenzo Neal Jr.
- Waived/injured: WR DeVontres Dukes, RB LeVante Bellamy, DL Deyon Sizer
Detroit Lions
- Placed on IR: LB Shaun Dion Hamilton
- Signed: QB Jordan Ta’amu
- Waived: DT Michael Barnett
- Released from IR via injury settlement: WR Chad Hansen
Green Bay Packers
- Re-signed: QB Jake Dolegala
- Placed on IR: TE Isaac Nauta, WR DeAndre Thompkins
- Waived: OL Zack Johnson
Houston Texans
- Reverted to reserve/NFI: RB Dontrell Hilliard
Las Vegas Raiders
- Signed: LB Te’von Coney
Los Angeles Chargers
- Signed: LB David Bellamy
- Waived: QB K.J. Costello, TE Matt Seybert
Minnesota Vikings
- Waived: CB Amari Henderson
- Reverted to IR: K Riley Patterson, WR Blake Proehl
New England Patriots
- Waived/injured: TE Troy Fumagalli
New York Jets
- Placed on IR: OL Cameron Clark
- Waived: DL Michael Dwumfour, S Bennett Jackson, RB Austin Walter
Pittsburgh Steelers
- Waived: DL Abdullah Anderson, DB Stephen Denmark, WR Isaiah McKoy, K Sam Sloman, OT Brandon Walton
San Francisco 49ers
- Claimed (from Ravens): CB Davontae Harris
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
- Signed: OL Jake Benzinger
- Placed on IR: G Sadarius Hutcherson
- Waived/failed physical: WR John Franklin III
- Waived/injured: G Donell Stanley
Tennessee Titans
- Signed: S Jamal Carter
- Placed on IR: DL Trevon Coley, S Tedric Thompson
Washington Football Team
- Waived: TE Nick Guggemos, CB Greg Stroman
Minor NFL Transactions: 6/1/21
We’ll keep track of today’s minor moves here:
Arizona Cardinals
- Signed: P Tyler Newsome
New York Jets
- Waived: DL Sharif Finch
San Francisco 49ers
- Waived/Injured: TE Daniel Helm
Minor NFL Transactions: 7/29/20
Teams continue to make moves as players report to training camps, with many opting to pare their rosters from 90 to 80 players well before the mid-August deadline. Here are Wednesday’s minor moves:
Baltimore Ravens
- Re-signed: G Parker Ehinger
Chicago Bears
- Waived/injured: CB Tre Roberson
Cincinnati Bengals
- Waived/injured: DT Ryan Glasgow
Cleveland Browns
- Waived/injured: DE Trevon Young
Jacksonville Jaguars
- Claimed off waivers (from Bills) OL Garrett McGhin
Kansas City Chiefs
- Waived: OL Jovahn Fair, DT Braxton Hoyett, DB Jalen Julius, FB/TE John Lovett, P Tyler Newsome, LB Bryan Wright
Miami Dolphins
- Claimed off waivers (from 49ers): DT Ray Smith
- Waived: CB Ryan Lewis
New York Jets
- Placed on reserve/retired list: RB Jalin Moore
Chiefs Release P Dustin Colquitt
The longest-tenured Chiefs player is moving on. NFL.com’s Tom Pelissero reports (via Twitter) that Kansas City is releasing punter Dustin Colquitt. The move saves the Chiefs around $2MM against the cap.
“I have enjoyed my time in Chiefs Kingdom, all things come to an end, sometimes sooner than you hoped, prayed & pleaded for them to,” Colquitt wrote on Instagram. “I’ll miss walking into the building & smelling the coffee, talking to everyone…it took me forever to weave through some of the most loving people you’d ever hope to work with. I was a young kid when I first walked into Arrowhead…hell, the indoor facility used to be 70 yards. Holding this post for 15 years has been an honor that I never took for granted. Thank you KC.”
The 37-year-old had spent the entirety of his 16-year career in Kansas City, earning a pair of Pro Bowl nods and a Super Bowl championship. Back in 2017, he passed Jerrel Wilson for the most punts and punting yards in franchise history, and he signed a three-year contract extension in 2018.
While Colquitt’s 44.3 yards per punt in 2019 was his lowest average since his sophomore season, his net average of 40.3 yards was on-par with his career marks. The veteran also placed 21 punts inside the 20.
The Chiefs must be content moving forward with their pair of punter additions: Tyler Newsome and Tommy Townsend. Newsome was a 2019 undrafted free agent out of Notre Dame, while Townsend is a 2020 undrafted free agent out of Florida. As Pelissero notes (on Twitter), the Chiefs gave Townsend a lofty $82.5K guaranteed.
Minor NFL Transactions: 4/8/20
We’ll keep track of today’s minor moves here:
Baltimore Ravens
- Released: DE Ufomba Kamalu
Kansas City Chiefs
- Signed: P Tyler Newsome
New Orleans Saints
- Re-signed: OL Cameron Tom
New York Giants
- Released: LB Nate Harvey (failed physical)
Chargers Slash Roster To 53
In addition to the Chargers’ Russell Okung announcement, they finalized their 53-man roster.
Cardale Jones did not make the team, with Los Angeles going with Tyrod Taylor and rookie Easton Stick behind Philip Rivers. The XFL has openly mentioned Jones on multiple occasions, so the former Bills and Ohio State passer could be a high-profile candidate for the upstart league.
Here are the Bolts’ Saturday cuts:
- Patrick Afriyie, DE
- Larry Allen, G
- Chris Brown, G
- Blake Camper, T
- Thomas Costigan, DE
- Jeremy Cox, RB
- Spencer Drango, G
- Malachi Dupre, WR
- Derrick Gore, RB
- Kemon Hall, CB
- Reggie Howard, DT
- Ben Johnson, TE
- Cardale Jones , QB
- Anthony Lanier, DE
- Bradford Lemmons, CB
- Justice Liggins, WR
- Dee Liner, DT
- Vince Mayle, TE
- T.Y. McGill, DT
- Jamar McGloster, T
- Jason Moore, WR
- Detrez Newsome, RB
- Tyler Newsome, P
- Andre Patton, WR
- Adarius Pickett, S
- Rodney Randle, CB
- Jeff Richards, CB
- Artavis Scott, WR
- Jordan Smallwood, WR
- Matt Sokol, TE
- Arrion Springs, CB
- Tanner Volson, C
- Jaylen Watkins, S
- Brant Weiss, T
- Kyle Wilson, LB
- Elijah Zeise, LB
Chargers Sign 19 UDFAs
As teams officially announce their undrafted free agent classes, we’ll be posting them. The Chargers are the second team to announce, following the Steelers. Los Angeles inked a massive group, bringing in 19 players:
- Chris Brown, G (USC)
- Eurndraus Bryant, DT (N.C. State)
- Blake Camper, OT (South Carolina)
- Josh Corcoran, LB (Northern Illinois)
- Jeremy Cox, RB (Old Dominion)
- Kemon Hall, CB (North Texas)
- Daniel Helm, TE (Duke)
- Reggie Howard, DT (Toledo)
- Bradford Lemmons, CB (Furman)
- Koda Martin, G (Syracuse)
- Jason Moore, WR (Findlay)
- Tyler Newsome, P (Notre Dame)
- Chris Peace, DE (Virginia)
- Rodney Randle, DB (Lamar)
- Matt Sokol, TE (Michigan State)
- Roderic Teamer, S (Tulane)
- Trevion Thompson, WR (Clemson)
- Tanner Volson, C (North Dakota State)
- Elijah Zeise, LB (Pittsburgh)
As the Chargers pointed out in their release, they’re annually one of the best teams at unearthing solid undrafted free agents. They’ve had an undrafted rookie make the team for 22 consecutive seasons, which is the longest streak in the NFL. In each of the last four seasons, they’ve had at least three undrafted rookies make the team.
One of their best undrafted finds in recent years, Tyrell Williams, just inked a huge four-year, $44MM deal with the Raiders. With their huge class this year, they opted for a lot of small school and FCS prospects. Tyler Newsome is an interesting signing since the Chargers had a terrible punting situation all of last year. They ended up releasing Drew Kaser in the middle of the year, and Newsome should have a good chance to make the team. Volson was the center for Easton Stick, who the Chargers just drafted in the fifth round, during their time at North Dakota State.