Minor NFL Transactions: 12/17/19
Today’s minor moves:
Atlanta Falcons
- Signed: DE Austin Larkin
Cincinnati Bengals
- Promoted from practice squad: LB Brady Sheldon
- Waived: DE Anthony Zettel
Denver Broncos
- Promoted from practice squad: DB Aljiah Holder
Miami Dolphins
- Signed: LB Calvin Munson
- Placed on IR: LB Raekwon McMillan
New York Jets
- Placed on IR: OL Chuma Edoga, WR Jeff Smith
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
- Placed on IR: WR Scott Miller
Tennessee Titans
- Waived: K Ryan Santoso
Titans To Sign K Greg Joseph Off Panthers’ Practice Squad
Plagued by kicking woes this season, the Titans will add another reinforcement to this embattled position group. They are signing Greg Joseph off the Panthers’ practice squad, according to Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk (on Twitter).
Tennessee waived kickoff man Ryan Santoso earlier Tuesday but still has veteran Ryan Succop rostered. Succop is just 1-for-6 on field goals this season. As a team, the Titans are a woeful 8-for-18 on three-point tries, having used Succop, Cairo Santos and Cody Parkey in 14 games.
Joseph last kicked for the 2018 Browns, signing early in the season after Zane Gonzalez‘s rough day in New Orleans. He latched on with Carolina’s practice squad earlier this season. Joseph made 17 of 20 field goal tries last season.
This is Succop’s sixth Titans season. He began the campaign on IR. Since returning, he’s made 24 of 25 extra points but has made just one field goal in six games.
The Titans are on pace to miss more field goals than they’ve made and, per PFT, would become the first team to do so since the 1987 Vikings. Said Vikings team went 14-for-29 during a strike-shortened season that featured unsatisfactory work from both their regular kicker and three-game scab specialist.
Terrell Suggs Only To Play For Ravens?
DEC. 15: At least one team other than the Ravens is poised to claim Suggs, as Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets. Rapoport confirms that Suggs is not certain to report if he is claimed by a club other than Baltimore, but again, teams may simply want to keep the future Hall-of-Famer from reuniting with the 12-2 Ravens. Rapoport speculates that the Titans, who employ Suggs’ former Baltimore defensive coordinator, Dean Pees, could be the interested team. Jason La Canfora of CBS sports says Tennessee is, in fact, interested in Suggs, along with the 49ers (Twitter link).
DEC. 14: An interesting showdown is setting up between pass-rusher Terrell Suggs and NFL teams. Suggs, released earlier this week, only wants to play for the Ravens and will “strongly consider” not reporting to other teams who claim him, sources told Adam Schefter of ESPN.com.
Suggs started his career with the team, and wants to return to Baltimore to finish it out. The only problem is that since the Ravens have the league’s best record they have the lowest priority waiver claim, so all 31 other teams will have to pass on him for him to get his wish. Suggs “has told some people that he is unlikely to report anywhere other than Baltimore,” Schefter writes. Suggs can be claimed at 4pm ET on Monday, so we’ll know his next destination in the next couple of days.
Even if a team knows that Suggs will retire rather than play for them, they might still be inclined to claim him just to block the Ravens from adding some help right before the playoffs. It would certainly make sense for a fellow contender to want to spoil Baltimore’s plans, and Suggs is only owed $350K for the rest of the season.
The longtime veteran was drafted tenth overall by the Ravens all the way back in 2003. He spent the next 16 seasons with the team and became a franchise icon, winning Super Bowl XLVII with them and making the Pro Bowl seven times. He remained reasonably productive with seven sacks last year, but the Ravens let him walk to Arizona. He inked a one-year, $7MM deal with the Cardinals, and ended up finishing with 5.5 sacks and four forced fumbles in 13 games with them.
Minor NFL Transactions: 12/14/19
Here are Saturday’s minor moves:
Cincinnati Bengals
- Promoted from practice squad: DE Freedom Akinmoladun
- Placed on IR: DT Renell Wren
Denver Broncos
- Promoted from practice squad: DL Deyon Sizer
- Signed off Colts’ practice squad: NT Kyle Peko
- Waived: LB Ahmad Gooden
Indianapolis Colts
- Promoted from practice squad: G Jake Eldrenkamp
Tennessee Titans
- Promoted from practice squad: DL Joey Ivie
- Waived: CB Kareem Orr
Ryan Tannehill Open To Long-Term Deal With Titans?
Ryan Tannehill had done a lot to rehabilitate his value this season, and we learned earlier this week that his performance could lead to a long-term contract offer from the Titans. Well, it sounds like the veteran is receptive to sticking around Tennessee, as agent Pat Dye Jr. said the organization will have every chance to re-sign his client.
“They will have every opportunity to work it out if they determine he’s their long-term answer,” Dye Jr. told ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler (Twitter link).
As Fowler details in another tweet, the Titans were interested in signing Tannehill to a two-year deal following their trade with the Dolphins. However, the quarterback opted for a one-year, $7MM deal (with up to $12MM in incentives) instead. This decision provided the veteran with some flexibility in case Marcus Mariota retained the starting gig. That didn’t end up being the case, as the Titans seem set to move on from the former second-overall pick.
Tannehill took over as the Titans starting quarterback in Week 7, and he’s led his team to a 6-1 record since that time. In total, the 31-year-old has appeared in nine games (seven starts) this season, completing 73.4-percent of his passes for 1,993 yards, 15 touchdowns, and five interceptions. The veteran leads the NFL in both passer rating (118.5) and yards per pass attempt (9.8).
Despite rumors that Tennessee could put the franchise tag on Tannehill, we recently heard that the Titans were considering a deal that would make Tannehill their starting QB for the foreseeable future. That is quite a development for a player who rarely lived up to his billing as a first-round pick with the Dolphins. Given his history, contract negotiations could be complicated, but at this point, it would not be surprising to see Tannhill land something akin to the four-year, $88MM pact (with over $50MM guaranteed) that Nick Foles received from the Jaguars this year.
Titans Work Out K Brett Maher
Cut late in his second Cowboys season, Brett Maher has surfaced on the workout circuit. The Titans brought in the young kicker for a Thursday audition, according to Field Yates of ESPN.com (on Twitter).
Maher made just 20 of 30 field goals this season, but two of those makes came from beyond 60 yards. The Titans have kicker Ryan Succop finishing out his sixth season with the franchise.
If signed, Maher could be a practice squad developmental project or an insurance option. However, Tennessee’s roster already houses both Succop and Ryan Santoso, who handles kickoffs for the team. Succop missed the first half of the Titans’ season due to injury and has made just 1 of 5 field goals upon returning. Maher’s leg strength is certainly not in question, so he would eliminated the need to have two kickers on the active roster.
A UDFA out of Nebraska, Maher also connected on a 60-plus-yard field goal as a rookie. Despite first kicking in an NFL game last season, the 30-year-old spent time on NFL rosters as far back as 2013 but did his pre-Cowboys in-game work with multiple CFL franchises.
Cameron Wake Wants To Return To Titans
Things didn’t go Cameron Wake’s way this year, but the 37-year-old isn’t thinking about retirement. This week, the linebacker said that he intends to play in 2020 and hopes to do so with the Titans. 
“I don’t have any plans of giving it up,” Wake said (via Jim Wyatt of the team website). “As long as there is a mutual desire from myself and the organization obviously as well, I’d look forward (to playing here again). It is not even a ‘like’ it here – I love it here. In the past I knew of guys who had passed through this organization, and now having come here myself, it’s an understatement to say how much I enjoy it. I’ve kind of had the appetizer version of what it is.”
“This place checks all the boxes for me,” Wake continued. “I am blessed to have been given the opportunity and I appreciate every minute of it. And I look forward to whatever the future brings.”
Wake’s season ended in late November when a back injury landed him on IR. Even though he only got to notch 2.5 sacks across nine games, he wants to come back for more and add to his career total of 100.5.
“Obviously being injured sucks,” Wake said. “It is tough because you want to be out there. Obviously, injuries are a factor in every single game you watch, and you are rolling the dice every time you do out there. I kind of got the short end of the stick this time unfortunately. Fortunately, I didn’t get injured in a way where I need to go have surgery or crutches or a cast, things that make you less able to do the normal things. So I want to help the other guys any way I can, and the type of injury I had allows for that. And I want to help any way I can.”
Wake, who made his NFL debut in 2009 after several years on the fringes of pro football, will turn 38 in January.
NFL Practice Squad Updates: 12/10/19
Today’s practice squad moves:
Arizona Cardinals
- Signed: DL Javier Edwards
Minnesota Vikings
- Released: FB Johnny Stanton
San Francisco 49ers
- Signed: OL Kofi Amichia
Tennessee Titans
- Signed: LB Josh Smith
2020 NFL Draft Order As Of Week 15
With 14 full weeks of the NFL season in the books, the 2020 draft order is beginning to take shape. Here’s the rundown of where things would stand if the 2019 season ended today:
1. Bengals: 1-12
2. Giants: 2-11
3. Redskins: 3-10
4. Dolphins: 3-10
5. Lions: 3-9-1
6. Cardinals: 3-9-1
7. Jaguars: 4-9
8. Falcons: 4-9
9. Jets: 5-8
10. Chargers: 5-8
11. Broncos 5-8
12. Panthers 5-8
13. Eagles 6-7
14. Raiders 6-7
15. Colts 6-7
16. Buccaneers 6-7
17. Browns 6-7
18. Raiders (via Bears) 6-7
19. Titans 8-5
20. Jaguars (via Rams) 8-5
21. Cowboys 6-7
22. Dolphins (via Steelers) 8-5
23. Dolphins (via Texans) 8-5
24. Vikings 9-4
25. Bills 9-4
26. Chiefs 9-4
27. Packers 10-3
28. Seahawks 10-3
29. Patriots 10-3
30. Saints 10-3
31. Ravens 11-2
32. 49ers 11-2
Titans Discussing Long-Term Contract For Ryan Tannehill
Ryan Tannhill‘s surprising resurgence continues, and Dianna Russini of ESPN.com reports that the Titans are internally discussing a new contract for the 31-year-old signal-caller (Twitter link).
We heard several weeks ago that Tennessee would make an effort to retain Tannehill this offseason if he continued to perform well down the stretch, but Russini’s report suggests that the Titans are now sold on the man who has led them to a 5-1 record since taking over for the disappointing Marcus Mariota.
Indeed, despite rumors that Tennessee could put the franchise tag on Tannehill, Russini suggests that the Titans are not considering the tag but are thinking about the type of contract that would definitively make Tannehill their starting QB for the foreseeable future. That is quite a development for a player who rarely lived up to his billing as a first-round pick with the Dolphins and who was only acquired by Tennessee in an effort to push Mariota.
But Tannehill has the 7-5 Titans in the thick of the AFC playoff race, and outside scouts have been just of fond of his play as Tennessee. Plus, he has been much more than a game manager, as he leads the league with 9.1 yards-per-attempt and a 113.9 QB rating. Given his history, contract negotiations could be complicated, but at this point, it would not be surprising to see Tannhill land something akin to the four-year, $88MM pact (with over $50MM guaranteed) that Nick Foles received from the Jaguars this year.
Interestingly, Adam Schefter of ESPN.com says the Titans have not discussed an extension for running back Derrick Henry, who is also eligible for unrestricted free agency this offseason. While Tannehill has been great, Henry is the motor that makes the Titans’ offense run, and the team has finally committed to giving him a bell cow workload in 2019. With four games left to play, he has already set career-highs in rushing yards (1,140), receiving yards (200), and total TDs (13).
Of course, teams have been hesitant to pay top-dollar for running backs in recent years, and some of those who have taken the plunge have been burned. But given his fairly light usage over his first two years in the league and his ability to dominate a game, Henry would seem to be a good bet for a second contract. The Titans have a policy of not negotiating extensions in-season, but the fact that they have not internally discussed a Henry re-up is surprising.