Ravens Re-Sign Eric Tomlinson
The Ravens have agreed to a new deal with Eric Tomlinson, as ESPN.com’s Field Yates tweets. The tight end will return on a one-year, $1.015MM deal with $125K guaranteed.
Tomlinson saw time in six games this season, plus two playoff games. He stepped up to help the Ravens replace Nick Boyle‘s blocking post-knee injury, though he couldn’t match the offensive production — he was targeted just once and did not record a reception.
“We’ll look at personnel, we’ll look at free agency, we’ll look at the draft, and certainly we’re very much a tight end-centric offense,” GM Eric DeCosta said recently (via the team website). “So, if there is a tight end there available in the draft, if somebody else happens to fall to us in free agency, we would certainly look at that as a possibility. We know that Greg can take those tight ends and really go to the lab and find some ways to use these guys to make us more productive on offense.”
Tomlinson, 29 in April, is with the seventh team of his NFL career. Now, he has some assurance that he’ll be able to stay in the same place for 2021.
Minor NFL Transactions: 2/9/21
Today’s minor moves:
Cleveland Browns
- Waived: G Malcolm Pridgeon
Las Vegas Raiders
- Signed: G Lester Cotton Sr.
San Francisco 49ers
- Re-signed: RB Austin Walter
Giants QB Alex Tanney To Retire
Despite agreeing to a reserve/futures contract with the Giants last month, Alex Tanney will step away from the game. The veteran reserve quarterback announced his retirement Tuesday.
Although Tanney, 33, did not end up seeing much game work during his career, he hung around for nine NFL seasons. The Division III product’s run included time with the Chiefs, Cowboys, Browns, Buccaneers, Titans, Bills, Colts and Giants.
Originally a 2012 UDFA with the Chiefs, after compiling a trick-shot highlight reel as a prospect, Tanney spent the past three seasons with the Giants. Initially signing with New York in May 2018, Tanney spent time with the team during the Pat Shurmur and Joe Judge regimes.
The Giants exercised his option in March of 2020 but ended up cutting him ahead of the regular season. However, the Monmouth (Ill.) alum made his way back to the team in early December, when Daniel Jones battled injuries, and stuck around until season’s end.
Tanney did not take many game snaps in his career but did complete 11 of the 15 passes he threw. Fourteen of those throws came in a Week 17 game with the 2015 Titans, with whom he threw his only career touchdown pass — a 5-yarder to Dorial Green-Beckham.
Vikings Sign K Greg Joseph
The kicking game was an issue for the Vikings this season, and they’re getting out ahead of the matter by bringing in a veteran early. Minnesota is signing kicker Greg Joseph, his agent Brent Tessler announced on Twitter.
Since Joseph finished the season on the Buccaneers’ practice squad and not active roster, he doesn’t have to wait until March to sign like everybody else. Undrafted out of Florida Atlantic in 2018, he originally signed with the Dolphins. After getting cut by Miami he signed with the Browns, and spent the last 14 weeks of the 2018 season as Cleveland’s kicker. In those 14 games he went 17 of 20 on field goal attempts and 25 of 29 on extra points.
He lost the job the following training camp, spent some time on the Panthers’ practice squad, and then was signed by the Titans late in the year. He was their kicker for the final couple of regular season games as well as their playoff run to the AFC Championship Game.
He didn’t appear in a game for Tampa this year, but earned a Super Bowl ring nonetheless. The Vikings had Dan Bailey as their kicker this past season, and he was a disaster at times. He had a few meltdown games, including one against none other than the Bucs where he missed four kicks. Minnesota opted not to cut him during the season, but it was a foregone conclusion that he’d face some competition in 2021.
The Vikings guaranteed a portion of Joseph’s salary, while Bailey has $1.8MM that becomes fully guaranteed on March 19th, Ian Rapoport of NFL Network tweets. As such, it wouldn’t be surprising if Bailey doesn’t even make it to camp and gets cut loose in the next couple of weeks here.
Seahawks Cut OL Chance Warmack
As the season wraps up the Seahawks are doing some housecleaning, and one veteran whose name will ring some bells is getting the boot from the offseason roster. Seattle has released offensive lineman Chance Warmack, Field Yates of ESPN.com tweets.
Warmack is a notable name as the tenth overall pick of the 2013 draft. He was a full-time starter his first few years in the league at right guard with the Titans, but never lived up to his draft status and flamed out quickly in Tennessee. His fifth-year option was declined, and he missed most of the 2016 season with an injury. He was with the Eagles from 2017-18 mostly as a reserve, but started a few games.
He spent 2019 out of football before signing with the Seahawks in a comeback bid back in March. Then he became one of the first players in the league to opt-out due to COVID-19 back in July, and now he’s been cut before his contract had a chance to toll to 2021. Still only 29, he won’t generate a ton of interest on the open market.
That being said he isn’t necessarily done in Seattle, as Brady Henderson of ESPN.com is told Warmack does want to play next season and a source told him the Seahawks want to bring him in for a workout to see how he looks physically after all the time away (Twitter link).
Minor NFL Transactions: 2/6/21
Here are the latest NFL minor moves:
Houston Texans
- Signed to reserve/futures contract: OL Jordan Steckler
Kansas City Chiefs
- Placed on IR: T Eric Fisher (story), LB Willie Gay
- Promoted: WR Marcus Kemp, LB Chris Lammons, QB Matt Moore
- Activated from IR: TE Deon Yelder
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
- Promoted: G Ted Larsen, QB Drew Stanton
Ravens Re-Sign Davontae Harris
The Ravens got a jump start on their spring cleaning by releasing a host of players in January, including defensive back Davontae Harris. This week, they re-signed Harris to a brand new deal, per the league’s transactions wire. 
It was an unusual flurry of transactions by the Ravens, who were effectively cutting veterans as a professional courtesy. After Harris, fellow DB Tramon Williams, running back Mark Ingram, quarterback RG3, and wide receiver De’Anthony Harris were released, they were eligible to join playoff teams. Or, at minimum, engage in talks for 2021 contracts elsewhere.
The Ravens plucked Harris off waivers from the Broncos towards the end of the year. He went on to suit up in four games and register ten tackles before suffering an ankle injury. After previous stints with the Bengals and Broncos, he’ll try to stick with the Ravens for next season.
49ers, LS Taybor Pepper Agree On Extension
Bigger business resides on the 49ers’ contract docket, but the team took care of a lower-profile player Thursday. The 49ers signed long snapper Taybor Pepper to a two-year extension.
Pepper’s agreement includes $300K guaranteed, per Tom Pelissero of NFL.com. The four-year veteran snapper was due to be a free agent in March; he is now signed with San Francisco through 2022.
While long snappers can remain in place with teams for many years, often in anonymity, this marks a change of pace for Pepper. He began his career with the Packers in 2017 but only played in four games. He did not play in 2018, but the Dolphins used him as their full-time deep snapper in 2019. They did not bring him back.
Pepper caught on with the 49ers in late September of last year and snapped in the team’s final 12 games. No salary specifics have emerged, but with non-rookie-contract snappers confined to a narrow salary range between $1MM and $1.2MM, Pepper will probably be the latest member of this group.
Raiders Extend QB Nathan Peterman
While the annual questions exist around Derek Carr‘s status with the Raiders, the franchise now has two of his backups under contract for 2021.
The Raiders announced Thursday they have agreed to terms with Nathan Peterman on a one-year deal. The deal could pay Peterman up to $2.775MM, Tom Pelissero of NFL.com notes.
Peterman being back on Las Vegas’ 53-man roster in 2021 would mark a fourth season in silver and black for the former Bills draftee. The Raiders initially added Peterman to their practice squad late in the 2018 season. Being a 2017 draftee, Peterman was eligible for unrestricted free agency in March.
Despite Peterman’s Bills performances prompting constant criticism, he has found a home with the Raiders. The team reworked his rookie deal last summer and now will have him entering the 2021 offseason on the roster behind Carr and Marcus Mariota. The latter is signed through the ’21 season.
A former fifth-round pick, Peterman has played in one game as a Raider. He completed 3 of 5 passes in the Raiders’ blowout loss to the Falcons in November. Overall, Peterman’s numbers are ghastly. He has thrown three touchdown passes and 12 interceptions — five of those picks coming in a disastrous start against the Chargers as a rookie — and has averaged just 4.2 yards per attempt. But while the Raiders have employed Mike Glennon and DeShone Kizer since acquiring Peterman, Jon Gruden kept Peterman around over those former starters. This relationship is now set for a fourth season.
Cardinals To Sign Cole McDonald
The Cardinals are signing quarterback Cole McDonald (Twitter link via NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport). McDonald will provide offseason depth for Arizona as he begins his push to make the fall cut.
The former University of Hawaii standout has yet to see live action in the NFL. The Titans snagged him in the seventh-round of last year’s draft, but dropped him in August to make room for Trevor Siemian. While with the Rainbow Warriors, McDonald finished third in the nation in passing yards. Most evaluators chalked that up to Hawaii’s highly-aggressive offense, but McDonald is out to prove that he deserves a good chunk of that credit.
There’s a path for McDonald to stick on the depth chart. Backup Chris Streveler stumbled in the season finale as he filled in for Kyler Murray. Meanwhile, Brett Hundley is out-of-contract. The Cardinals didn’t sign McDonald immediately after his December audition, but it seems that he made a strong enough impression on Kliff Kingsbury & Co.