Senquez Golson

Raiders Waive CB Senquez Golson

Senquez Golson‘s time in Oakland is already through. The Raiders waived the cornerback on Wednesday, according to ESPN.com’s Field Yates (on Twitter). 

The Raiders signed Golson just seven weeks ago to what was likely a one-year deal with little or no guaranteed money. The former second-round pick of the Steelers apparently didn’t show much in camp, leading to a quick release.

Steelers had high hopes for Golson when selecting him in 2015, but he never played a down for them and spent the first two years of his career on injured reserve. Golson suffered another injury in the 2017 preseason and was subsequently waived. He was signed to the Buccaneers’ practice squad last year, but was cut shortly after and has yet to appear in a regular season NFL game.

The Raiders have overhauled their secondary this offseason by signing cornerbacks Rashaan Melvin, Leon Hall, Shareece Wright, and Daryl Worley as well as safety Marcus Gilchrist. With fourth-round pick Nick Nelson now also in the mix, things are even more crowded at cornerback.

Per league rules, Golson will now be subject to the waiver wire. If no teams claims him by the end of business on Thursday, he will be free to sign with any club of his choosing.

Raiders Sign CB Senquez Golson

The Raiders continued to add to their secondary this offseason by signing free-agent cornerback Senquez Golson, per a team release. The terms of the deal have yet to be reported.

The Steelers made Golson a second-round pick in 2015 but he never played a down in his career with them. He spent the first two years of his career on injured reserve. He suffered another injury in the 2017 preseason and was waived by the Steelers. He was signed to the Buccaneers’ practice squad but was released shortly after and has yet to appear in a regular-season game.

The Raiders have been busy adding pieces to their secondary this offseason. They signed cornerback Rashaan Melvin to a one-year, $5.5MM deal, safety Marcus Gilchrist to a one-year, $4MM deal, cornerback Leon Hall to a one-year, $1.01MM deal, cornerback Shareece Wright to a one-year, $1.01MM deal and re-signed Reggie Nelson to a one-year deal.

Melvin and Gareon Conley are projected to start at cornerback, with Reggie Nelson and Karl Joseph projected to start at safety. The team parted ways with cornerbacks David Amerson and Sean Smith earlier this offseason.

NFL Workout Updates: 12/5/17

Today’s workout updates, with all links going to veteran NFL reporter Howard Balzer’s Twitter account unless otherwise noted:

Buffalo Bills

Denver Broncos

Detroit Lions

Green Bay Packers

Indianapolis Colts

Jacksonville Jaguars

New Orleans Saints

  • LB Davis Tull (link via Nick Underhill of the Advocate)

Washington Redskins

NFL Workout Updates: 11/30/17

Here are the latest workout and visit updates, courtesy of veteran NFL reporter Howard Balzer unless otherwise noted.

Atlanta Falcons

Baltimore Ravens

Green Bay Packers

Kansas City Chiefs

Miami Dolphins

New Orleans Saints

Oakland Raiders

San Francisco 49ers

NFL Practice Squad Updates: 11/21/17

Here are today’s practice squad moves.

Buffalo Bills

Denver Broncos

Houston Texans

New Orleans Saints

Oakland Raiders

  • Signed: LB Brady Sheldon

Seattle Seahawks

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

  • Cut: CB Senquez Golson
  • Cut: T Justin Murray

Bucs Sign Senquez Golson To P-Squad

The Buccaneers announced that they signed former Steelers second-round draft pick Senquez Golson to the practice squad. Senquez Golson (vertical)

Despite entering the league in 2015, Golson has yet to see live action in the NFL. As a rookie, he suffered a season-ending shoulder injury. The following year, a Lisfrancc injury knocked him out of action. This past summer, he suffered a hamstring injury, leading the Steelers to release him before the 53-man deadline in early September. Golson has had some bad luck, but the good news is that he has not been held back by one particularly injury. If he can stay healthy, he could prove to be a valuable addition to the Bucs’ main roster at some point this year.

Martino, 26, has been cycled through the Buccaneers’ roster for the past two years. After spending most of his first two seasons with the Falcons and Eagles practice squads, Martino found his way to the Buccaneers in May of 2016. Buccaneers head coach Dirk Koetter was Martino’s offensive coordinator in Atlanta, so the connection helped him find work. Last year, he appeared in 13 games for the Bucs and had eight catches for 142 yards and one touchdown.

Buccaneers Work Out Senquez Golson

Tampa Bay worked out 2015 second-round cornerback Senquez Golson and 2016 seventh-round defensive end Alex McCalister, according to Sirius XM Radio’s Adam Caplan (Twitter link). Senquez Golson (vertical)

Golson, who has yet to step on the field in his first three seasons, was released from the Steelers before the start of the 2017 season. He suffered a hamstring injury on the first day of practice in pads at training camp and had to be carted off the field. In an unfortunate trend, the cornerback also was injured and had to be carted off the field on the first day of padded practice in 2016 with a Lisfranc injury. That came on the heels of missing his rookie campaign with a shoulder injury.

After registering 10 interceptions in 2014 and 16 during his three-year stay at Ole Miss, Golson entered the NFL Draft with significant upside and impressed Steelers defensive backs coach Carnell Lake. “What I measure defensive backs on is how tough they are. They have to check that box for me. I suspect he’ll do that,”  Lake said after the pick.

Steelers’ Roster Now At 53

The Steelers have reduced their roster to 53 players by making the following transactions:

Cut:

Waived/injured:

AFC Notes: Ravens, Steelers, Jets, Bills

Free agent running back Ryan Mathews may be a fit for the Ravens, but signing him would require the club to overlook his ball security issues, observes Jamison Hensley of ESPN.com. Mathews has fumbled a league-high 20 times since 2010, notes Hensley, who adds that Ravens head coach John Harbaugh cut the playing time of Ray Rice, Lorenzo Taliaferro and Javorius Allen in recent years after each had problems in that department. “You play the best players, and at running back, the best players don’t fumble,” Harbaugh said in 2015. While Mathews has his flaws, including injury concerns, he has nonetheless averaged a lofty 4.4 yards per carry on nearly 1,200 career attempts. A Ravens team that tied for 20th in YPC last year (4.0) and won’t have the injured Kenneth Dixon in 2017 could use the type of per-carry production Matthews’ brings to the table.

More from the AFC:

  • The Steelers invested a second-round pick in Senquez Golson in 2015, but the cornerback’s lack of availability could bring an end to his time with the team, according to defensive coordinator Keith Butler (via Ray Fittipaldo of the Pittsburgh-Post Gazette). “If he can’t stay on the field we can’t keep him,” said Butler. “That’s just the fact of the matter. That’s not threat or anything like that. That’s just the fact of the matter. It’s just the way it is for all of them.” Injuries prevented Golson from playing a down in either of his first two seasons, and a hamstring issue has kept him out for almost all of training camp this year.
  • Jets wide receiver/return man Lucky Whitehead will undergo surgery on his broken foot, head coach Todd Bowles told reporters Wednesday (via Dennis Waszak Jr. of the Associated Press). While it’s unclear exactly how much time Whitehead will miss, he’ll be on the shelf for a while. Bowles said that Whitehead “could potentially” play this year, per Waszak. The late-July waiver claim from the Cowboys had been in line to begin the season as Gang Green’s top returner. With would-be replacement Jalin Marshall out the first quarter of the season because of a suspension, the Jets could turn to one of Frankie Hammond, Romar Morris, Chris Harper or Marcus Murphy, Waszak suggests.
  • Fifth-round rookie Nathan Peterman has passed T.J. Yates on the Bills’ depth chart at quarterback, leading Mike Rodak of ESPN.com to argue that the team should release the veteran. The Bills would only have the untested Peterman behind starter Tyrod Taylor at that point, but as Rodak writes, the loss of Taylor for an extended period would kill their already slim hopes of contending anyhow. Further, cutting Yates would allow Buffalo to keep another player at a position of need, and it’s possible the team would be able to re-sign him at a later date if an emergency were to arise under center. Yates nearly went without an employer last season until the Dolphins signed him in mid-December, after all, though he did suffer an ACL tear late in the previous year.

North Notes: Golson, Browns, Lions

In the past few drafts, the Steelers have made a concerted effort to bolster their defensive backfield, an area that has been something of a weakness in the second half of the Ben Roethlisberger era. The team selected a cornerback on the first or second day of the last three drafts (Cam Sutton in 2017, Artie Burns in 2016, and Senquez Golson in 2015), and safety Sean Davis was selected in the second round of the 2016 draft. Pittsburgh’s secondary was improved last season, but after it was gashed by the Patriots in the AFC Championship Game, the Steelers’ coaching staff plans to implement more man coverage in 2017, as Gerry Dulac of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette writes. Dulac says the team is confident that Sutton and Burns can handle those concepts, but the staff is openly pessimistic about Golson, who has not played in a preseason or regular-season game in his two years in the league due to injuries. Golson, who is at least healthy enough to practice at the moment, seems to be on the verge of losing his roster spot altogether, and he may need to prove his worth on special teams just to make the club.

Now for more from the North:

  • Kenny Britt and Corey Coleman sit squarely atop the Browns‘ wide receiver depth chart, but the No. 3 job is wide open, and there are a number of second-years players who could fill that role. However, Dan Labbe of Cleveland.com says the team hopes Ricardo Louis, last year’s fourth-round selection, can be the guy. Though Louis appeared in all 16 games for the club last season, he caught just 18 passes for 205 yards, but given the big-play potential he flashed at Auburn, Cleveland will give him every opportunity to earn a key role this summer.
  • Speaking of Coleman, Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com says he will be eased into the grind of training camp, and he may not be a full-go from the first day of camp. The same is true of 2017 No. 1 overall selection Myles Garrett, who suffered a left lateral foot sprain in minicamp.
  • Lions safety Miles Killebrew, a fourth-round selection in 2016, was a fixture in the team’s dime package last season, but as Kyle Meinke of MLive.com writes, Killebrew could be in for a much bigger role in 2017. The Southern Utah product is currently listed as the third safety on the depth chart behind Glover Quin and Tavon Wilson, but Meinke believes Killebrew could push Wilson for the starting strong safety job with a solid training camp. As we learned yesterday, the Lions and Quin are discussing a new contract.
  • Jake Rudock lost the Lions‘ backup quarterback competition to Dan Orlovsky last season because of Orlovsky’s experience and knowledge of the team’s offense, but now Rudock himself is the player with the experience advantage. As Tim Twentyman of DetroitLions.com writes, Rudock’s grasp of OC Jim Bob Cooter’s scheme is miles ahead of rookie Brad Kaaya‘s, thereby making Rudock almost a lock for the backup job.