Lions Set Initial Practice Squad
The Lions have announced their initial practice squad in a release, with Detroit adding 16 players to the unit:
- G Beau Benzschawel
- QB David Blough
- WR Victor Bolden
- S Jalen Elliott
- DT Frank Herron
- WR Tom Kennedy
- TE Isaac Nauta
- LB Anthony Pittman
- S Bobby Price
- P Arryn Siposs
- DT Kevin Strong
- CB Dee Virgin
- G Kenny Wiggins
- RB Jonathan Williams
- LS Steve Wirtel
- DE Jonathan Wynn
Blough was an undrafted rookie from Purdue last year who ended up starting five games after injuries to Matthew Stafford and Jeff Driskel. The offseason addition of Chase Daniel made Blough expendable, but he’ll serve as the third quarterback.
Wiggins has been in the league since 2012, and he has extensive starting experience. He’s started 13 games for Detroit over the past two years, and will probably be the first guy getting called up if there are offensive line injuries. Williams carried the ball 49 times for Indy last year, but he’ll have a tough time getting any snaps now that the Lions have also added Adrian Peterson.
Bears Announce 16-Man Practice Squad
Teams are starting to announce their full expanded practice squads, and we’ll be bringing you recaps all day. Just in is the Chicago Bears, who announced a full slate of 16 players:
- QB Tyler Bray
- RB Artavis Pierce
- WR Reggie Davis
- S Stephen Denmark
- WR Thomas Ives
- WR Rodney Adams
- TE Jesper Horsted
- OL Sam Mustipher
- OL Jamon Brown
- OL Lachavious Simmons
- OL Badara Traore
- DT Abdullah Anderson
- DE LaCale London
- LB Rashad Smith
- S Xavier Crawford
- K Cairo Santos
Bray has bounced between the practice squad and active roster the past couple of years now, and will serve as the third quarterback behind Mitchell Trubisky and Nick Foles. Santos is a veteran kicker with a good amount of experience. Right after he was cut we heard the Bears might be planning on him kicking Week 1 against the Lions if Eddy Pineiro still isn’t ready to come back from his groin injury.
Everybody on this list was with the Bears for camp except Brown, who was cut by the Falcons last month. He signed a three-year $18.75MM deal last March, and started nine games for Atlanta last season.
Giants Cut WR Corey Coleman
Another former first-round pick is getting cut loose. The Giants gave receiver Corey Coleman the axe today to make room for some of their waiver claims, the team announced.
Coleman has had a tough time in the pros since the Browns drafted him 15th overall in 2016. Injuries and clashes with the coaching staff caused Coleman to fall out of favor in Cleveland, and he was dealt to Buffalo after just two seasons. The Bills quickly cut him, and after spending some time on New England’s practice squad he found a home in New York.
He spent the back half of 2018 as the Giants’ kick returner, and was looking to compete for a real receiving role in camp last year. Unfortunately he went down with a torn ACL and missed the entire 2019 campaign. He made the initial 53 this time around but that lasted only about a day.
Giants beat reporters were pretty surprised by this move, as Coleman had been expected to be the kick returner yet again. Still only 26 Coleman figures to be a prime candidate for the practice squad, but his draft status no longer carries too much weight and he’s running out of chances.
Cardinals Sign DE Angelo Blackson
The Cardinals are bolstering their defensive line. Arizona has added recently cut former Texans defensive end Angelo Blackson to its 53-man roster, Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle tweets.
Blackson signed a three-year $12MM extension with Houston in March of 2019, but couldn’t make it through that pact. Blackson started 15 games last year and played around 40 percent of the defensive snaps, but he wasn’t too productive as he finished with only 20 tackles and no sacks.
A fourth-round pick back in 2015, Blackson was originally drafted by the Titans and spent his first two years in Tennessee. He was then cut and spent time on the Patriots’ practice squad before finding a home in Houston. He took a pay cut a few weeks ago which dropped his salary from $4MM to $2.5MM, but even that wasn’t enough to save his roster spot.
Eagles Cut CB Cre’Von LeBlanc
The Eagles are making a bit of a surprise move. Philadelphia is releasing cornerback Cre’Von LeBlanc, the team announced on Twitter.
The cut leaves Philly with only four cornerbacks on the roster, including a banged up Avonte Maddox, so another move is coming. Eagles beat writer Eliot Shorr-Parks tweeted that he thinks the team is hoping to be able to re-siign LeBlanc after they place somebody else on injured reserve. The team claimed LeBlanc off waivers midway through the 2018 season, and he ended up starting four games for them that year.
He signed a one-year extension in September of last year, but ended up missing most of 2019 with a foot injury. Still the team thought highly enough of him to use one of their IR/designated for return spots on him, and he appeared in four games with one start.
The Eagles have been cleaning house in their secondary this week, already waiving former second-round pick Sidney Jones and former third-round pick Rasul Douglas. It looks like LeBlanc may be brought back, and we’ll keep you posted if he is.
Cowboys Claim WR Malik Turner
The Cowboys have added another pass-catcher, as Dallas claimed former Seahawks and Packers receiver Malik Turner off waivers Sunday morning.
A 2018 UDFA from Illinois, Turner spent most of his rookie season on Seattle’s practice squad. He played a decent-sized role on offense for them last year though, appearing in 15 games and making three starts. Overall he played around 22 percent of the offensive snaps while also playing a big role on special teams. He finished the year with 15 receptions for 245 yards and a touchdown, averaging a robust 16.3 yards per catch.
Seattle originally tendered him as an exclusive rights free agent, then pulled that tender. He waited until August to sign with the Packers, then was cut yesterday. The Cowboys have a great receiving trio of Amari Cooper, Michael Gallup, and CeeDee Lamb, but they don’t have much after that so it makes sense to pick up someone like Turner and see if he can develop behind them.
Panthers Claim CB Rasul Douglas, OT Trenton Scott, DE Shareef Miller
The Panthers were busy on Sunday morning, making three waiver claims, which tied them for the most of any team. Carolina added cornerback Rasul Douglas, offensive tackle Trenton Scott, and defensive end Shareef Miller. 
Douglas and Miller came from the Eagles, while Scott had been with the Chargers. As Joe Person of The Athletic pointed out in a tweet, the new regime in Carolina has connections to all three of them, which makes a lot of sense as teams are looking for familiarity above all else right now. New Panthers player personnel director Pat Stewart was with Philly the past couple of years, while new offensive line coach Pat Meyer was with the Chargers.
Douglas was drafted by the Eagles in the third-round back in 2017, and he started at least five games in each of the past three seasons. He was a cutdown victim yesterday as Philadelphia chose to purge and start completely fresh in their secondary. He’s had at least ten passes defended in two of three seasons, and had three interceptions in 2018.
Philly drafted Miller in the fourth-round out of Penn State last year, but he was a disappointment and only appeared in one game. Now he’ll get another crack on a rebuilding defense. Scott is a 2018 UDFA from Grambling State who was suddenly thrust into a prominent role with Los Angeles last year after Russell Okung went down with blood clots.
Scott ended up starting nine games protecting Philip Rivers‘ blindside, and played 78 percent of their offensive snaps overall. Now he’ll be reuniting with Meyer as well as Okung, who was dealt to Carolina earlier this offseason. He struggled mightily at times protecting Rivers, but is still only 26 and now has some nice starting experience.
Dolphins Sign WR Antonio Callaway
The Dolphins recently brought Antonio Callaway in for a workout, and they apparently liked what they saw. As Callaway himself posted on social media, he is now a member of the Dolphins (via Mark Wheeler of InsideTheGators.com on Twitter).
According to Cameron Wolfe of ESPN.com, Callaway will start the season on Miami’s practice squad (Twitter link). He still needs to serve the remaining three games of the 10-game suspension that he was handed last season for his second violation of the league’s substance abuse policy, but he will be permitted to attend meetings and continue to rehab the knee injury he sustained as a member of the XFL’s Tampa Bay Vipers earlier this year.
The Browns selected Callaway in the fourth round of the 2018 draft after a productive career at the University of Florida. He entered the league with plenty of red flags, and he was largely unable to overcome them in the pros, as evidenced by the two suspensions. But he also displayed plenty of promise in his first season with Cleveland, playing in 16 games (11 starts) and recording 43 catches for 586 yards and five TDs.
The Dolphins’ WR corps is fronted by Preston Williams and DeVante Parker, but once Callaway returns from suspension, he will have a good chance to compete for snaps on a rebuilding outfit that’s looking for low-risk, high-reward candidates.
Steelers Sign S Sean Davis, Claim QB Josh Dobbs, Cut QB Devlin Hodges
The Steelers are bringing back a couple of familiar faces. Pittsburgh is signing safety Sean Davis and they’ve claimed quarterback Josh Dobbs off waivers from the Jaguars, Adam Schefter of ESPN.com reports (Twitter links).
In order to make room for Dobbs, the team has cut fellow quarterback Devlin Hodges. The Steelers drafted Davis in the second round in 2016, and he spent his first four years in Pittsburgh. He started 31 games between 2017-18, but missed almost all of last season due to injury. He signed a one-year deal worth $5MM with Washington this offseason, but couldn’t make it out of camp.
During these uncertain times, teams are clearly placing an emphasis on familiarity and system knowledge. Davis played closer to the line of scrimmage his first couple of pro seasons, but moved to free safety in 2018. The Steelers drafted Dobbs in the fourth-round in 2017, but he became expendable when they drafted Mason Rudolph the following year and they ended up trading him to Jacksonville.
Dobbs lost the battle in Jacksonville to be Gardner Minshew‘s backup, which is how he ended up on waivers. Ben Roethlisberger is coming off a season-ending elbow injury, and Pittsburgh apparently wants all the insurance they can get behind him.
Hodges was an incredible story last year, as the unheralded UDFA from Samford was promoted from the practice squad after Big Ben went down and ended up starting games. Hodges ended up starting six games, becoming a fan favorite in the process. He declined sharply as more tape on him became available, but he’ll still probably end up on Pittsburgh’s or someone else’s practice squad.
Bengals Waive G Alex Redmond
The Bengals have waived guard Alex Redmond, per Tom Pelissero of the NFL Network (via Twitter). In a corresponding move, the team has claimed Shaq Calhoun off waivers from the Dolphins, as Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets.
Signed as an undrafted free agent in 2016, Redmond worked his way onto the Bengals’ roster and eventually earned a starting spot along the team’s offensive front. In 2018, Redmond started 15 games for Cincinnati, though he was not particularly effective. He was suspended for the first four games of the 2019 season for violating the league’s PED policy, and he ultimately appeared in just three games (two starts) last season due to the suspension and injury.
In Calhoun, the Bengals are getting a slightly younger player to provide O-line depth. The Mississippi State product signed with Miami as a UDFA last year and ultimately played in 10 games (seven starts). According to Pro Football Focus’ advanced metrics, Calhourn struggled in both pass-blocking and run-blocking, but clearly Cincinnati — which has top waiver priority — saw something it liked.