Here are Monday’s notable workouts:
Arizona Cardinals
Baltimore Ravens
Buffalo Bills
Las Vegas Raiders
Minnesota Vikings
New England Patriots
Pittsburgh Steelers
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
The Buccaneers are looking into one of Bruce Arians‘ former players for offensive line depth. They are hosting longtime Cardinals center A.Q. Shipley on a visit, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets. The team has moved fast, having agreed to terms with the veteran center, Adam Schefter of ESPN.com tweets.
Shipley played for three of the Cards’ Arians-led teams, landing in Arizona in 2015 and remaining on the team during Steve Wilks‘ season and Kliff Kingsbury‘s first at the helm. This marks the first piece of offseason news regarding the veteran lineman.
This will be Shipley’s age-34 season. While the former seventh-round pick made his regular-season debut in 2012, he entered the NFL as a 2009 draftee. He has started 70 career games, including 16 last season.
Shipley’s best seasons came under Arians, with Pro Football Focus grading him as one of the game’s top centers during the Cards’ 13-3 season in 2015. Last season, however, PFF assigned him the 29th overall grade among snappers. The former Steelers draftee was, however, coming off an ACL tear — one that sidelined him throughout the 2018 campaign. Arians was with Pittsburgh when the franchise drafted Shipley 11 years ago.
Still, Tampa Bay did not previously possess much in the way of interior-line depth, featuring a host of UDFAs behind its starters. Ryan Jensen is set to enter his third season as the Bucs’ starting center.
Today’s minor moves:
Arizona Cardinals
Buffalo Bills
Cleveland Browns
Denver Broncos
Indianapolis Colts
Las Vegas Raiders
Miami Dolphins
New Orleans Saints
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Tennessee Titans
T.J. Logan just can’t catch a break. Per Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times, Logan sustained a patellar tendon injury in yesterday’s practice and is likely to miss the season (Twitter link).
A fifth-round pick of the Cardinals in the 2017 draft, Logan missed his entire rookie campaign due to an injured wrist. He got some work as a kick returner in 2018, but Arizona waived him before the start of the 2019 campaign.
The Bucs claimed him off waivers, and he became Tampa’s primary return specialist, handling 13 punts and 13 kickoffs. Unfortunately, a thumb injury suffered last December cut his season a bit short, and now he will have to wait until 2021 to get back on the field.
A running back by trade, Logan had a good chance to reprise his role as the Bucs’ kick returner in 2020, and he may have had the opportunity to see some time as a change-of-pace option in the backfield. He has nine receptions and five rushing attempts in his career.
Making matters worse is the fact that the injury came from friendly fire. Per Patrik Walker of CBS Sports, linebacker Quinton Bell tackled Logan from behind during a non-tackling period of practice, drawing the ire of his teammates and head coach Bruce Arians.
As James Palmer of the NFL Network tweets, Arians has indicated that rookie RB Ke’Shawn Vaughn could get a shot at return duties. In addition to Vaughn, a third-round choice, and seventh-rounder Raymond Calais, the Buccaneers signed veteran LeSean McCoy to buttress their rushing attack, fronted by the inconsistent Ronald Jones.
The Buccaneers have agreed to sign veteran DT Kyle Love, as Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times reports. Love, 33, has spent the last six years as part of the defensive front for the division-rival Panthers.
Love entered the league as an undrafted free agent out of Mississippi State in 2010. He spent three seasons with the Patriots, appearing in 41 total games before he was waived with a non-football illness designation due to a diabetes diagnosis. Love appeared in only three contests from 2013-14 while playing for the Chiefs, Jaguars, and Panthers, but he’s since reestablished his career with Carolina.
In the past three seasons, Love has appeared in at least 37% of the Panthers’ defensive snaps. For what it’s worth, however, Pro Football Focus’ advanced metrics ranked him near the bottom of the league’s interior defenders.
Still, Tampa Bay does not have a ton of defensive line depth behind its starting trio of Vita Vea, Ndamukong Suh, and William Gholston, so Love will add some valuable experience to the rotation. He has 15 sacks and four forced fumbles in his career.
We’ll keep track of the latest minor moves here:
Baltimore Ravens
Carolina Panthers
Cleveland Browns
Dallas Cowboys
Green Bay Packers
Indianapolis Colts
Jacksonville Jaguars
Miami Dolphins
Philadelphia Eagles
Seattle Seahawks
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
We’ll keep track of this weekend’s minor moves here:
Cleveland Browns
Detroit Lions
Miami Dolphins
New York Giants
Having battled three different types of cancer and being set to turn 68 in October, Buccaneers head coach Bruce Arians falls into the higher-risk category for potential coronavirus complications. But Arians will coach this season, and he is not planning to do so from the press box. The second-year Bucs HC will coach from the sideline while wearing a mask and a face shield, he said recently.
A total of 67 NFL players opted out of the 2020 season, leaving teams with major roster holes and newly-found cap space. Here’s the rundown of every team’s official cap figure, via ESPN.com’s Field Yates (on Twitter):
The Buccaneers are parting ways with a recent high draft choice. Tampa Bay is waiving cornerback M.J. Stewart, whom the club selected with the 53rd overall pick in the 2018 draft, per Jenna Laine of ESPN.com (Twitter link).
Stewart was named second-team All-ACC during his final season at North Carolina, and he was expected to be a valuable long-term contributor to a Tampa Bay secondary that desperately needed reinforcements. But injuries continually kept Stewart off the field — a foot problem cost him six games during his rookie campaign, and he missed five more games in 2019 while dealing with a knee issue.
Still, Stewart is still only 25 years old and has played 614 snaps over the past two seasons. Thanks to his second-round pedigree and his rookie contract, it’s entirely possible Stewart could be claimed off waivers, or if not, at least find a new club in the near future.