Minor NFL Transactions: 4/27/20
We’ll keep track of today’s minor moves here:
Chicago Bears
- Released: TE Dax Raymond
Denver Broncos
- Released: S Tyvis Powell, TE Bug Howard, DL Deyon Sizer, DL Jay-Tee Tiuli
Detroit Lions
- Released: RB Tra Carson, LS James Fisher, G Casey Tucker, P Matt Wile
Green Bay Packers
- Released: QB Manny Wilkins
Indianapolis Colts
- Released: TE Billy Brown, WR Steve Ishmael
Kansas City Chiefs
- Released: QB Kyle Shurmur
Las Vegas Raiders
- Released: RB Mark Thompson
Los Angeles Rams
- Signed: C Coleman Shelton (Exclusive Rights Free Agent)
- Released: LB Jeff Holland
San Francisco 49ers
- Released: S Jacob Thieneman
Browns To Exercise Options On Myles Garrett, David Njoku
The Browns will exercise their fifth-year options on defensive end Myles Garrett and tight end David Njoku, according to Mary Kay Cabot of The Plain Dealer (on Twitter). With that, both players will remain under club control through the 2021 season. 
The Browns have opted to stay the course with Garrett – the former No. 1 overall pick – despite his role in last year’s brawl against the Steelers. Now reinstated, Garrett will look to build off of the progress he made pre-suspension.The Texas A&M product managed ten sacks in just ten games last season. Had he played a full season, he likely would have shattered his previous watermark of 13.5 sacks from 2018. All in all, he’s got 30.5 sacks, the highest total of any Browns player within the first three years of their career.
Njoku’s decision was actually a tricker one for the Browns since they’ve added Austin Hooper in free agency. Njoku missed the bulk of the 2019 season thanks to a wrist injury and the fifth-year option is guaranteed for injury only (next year, that will change, thanks to the new CBA). Before that, the tight end enjoyed a breakout 2018 campaign as he recorded 56 catches for 539 yards and four touchdowns. For comparison: Hooper is a two-time Pro Bowler coming off of his best season ever.
Patriots To Release Obi Melifonwu
The Patriots are cutting safety Obi Melifonwu, as Field Yates of ESPN.com tweets. The former second-round pick of the Raiders will try to get his career back on track with another team in 2020.
[RELATED: Patriots Pass On Draft QBs, Sign UDFA Brian Lewerke]
Melifonwu didn’t see much playing time in his first year with Oakland due to injury. He finished out his rookie year with seven tackles in five games and two separate IR stints. After his release and injury settlement, he worked out for the Cowboys, Chiefs, Saints, and other clubs before hooking on with the Pats. Now that the Patriots are putting him back on the curb, those other clubs could revisit the safety as a low-cost and low-risk addition to the 90-man roster.
Melifonwu spent time on the Patriots’ taxi squad last year and re-upped with the team on a futures deal in January. After the Pats used a second-round pick to select Kyle Dugger out of D-II Lenoir-Rhyne University, they didn’t have a place for the 26-year-old.
Seahawks To Release Justin Britt
The Seahawks continue to overhaul their offensive line. Just a couple hours after we heard that the team was releasing guard D.J. Fluker, they’ll also be cutting center Justin Britt, Bob Condotta of the Seattle Times confirmed (Twitter link).
Aaron Fentress of The Athletic was the first to report the news on Twitter. Britt spent the past six seasons in Seattle, and was a full-time starter for all of them. Originally a tackle and then a guard his first two years in the league, he made the switch to center in 2016. Britt was heading into the final year of his contract and the team will save $8.5MM in cap space by cutting him, although they will incur a $2.9MM dead cap hit, Condotta notes in the Times.
The release of Fluker saved about $3.7MM, so the Seahawks cleared a significant amount of space today. They’ve been making moves on the offensive line all offseason, and the unit is going to look considerably different in 2020. Joey Hunt, who started the second half of last season, former second-round pick Ethan Pocic, and B.J. Finney are all candidates to start at center. Finney was signed to a two-year, $8MM pact this offseason.
Britt started the first eight games of last season before tearing an ACL in an October game against the Falcons. Britt will turn 29 in May, and we haven’t heard much about his recovery, although Sirius XM NFL insider Adam Caplan did tweet that he hasn’t had any setbacks. Coming off the devastating injury he’ll likely have to settle for a prove-it deal despite playing at a high level in the past.
It’s possible the Seahawks are attempting to clear space for a bigger move like re-signing the still-available Jadeveon Clowney, but that’s far from definite.
Lions Sign UDFA TE Hunter Bryant
Hunter Bryant was one of the biggest surprise undrafted players, but he’s got a home now. The tight end has signed a free agent contract with the Lions, a source told Tom Pelissero of NFL Network (Twitter link).
Bryant got $60K in guaranteed cash from Detroit which includes a $20K signing bonus, Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle tweets. Bryant was seen as one of the better tight ends in the class by many, and was universally expected to get drafted. He went toward the top of the fourth-round in Matt Miller of Bleacher Report’s final mock draft.
Apparently medical concerns caused Bryant to slip, and given his knee-injury history that’s not too surprising. He was limited to nine games as a freshman and only five as a sophomore. In his junior season in 2019 he exploded and racked up 825 yards, the third-most of any tight end in the country.
Detroit currently has 2019 first-round pick T.J. Hockenson and veteran Jesse James at the position, but Bryant should have a good chance at becoming the team’s third tight end.
Seahawks To Sign QB Anthony Gordon
The Seahawks exited the draft with one quarterback on their roster. Over the past few years, they have not poured much in the way of resources into the spot. But they now have two QBs, as of Sunday afternoon.
Washington State product Anthony Gordon will sign with the Seahawks as a UDFA, Tom Pelissero of NFL.com tweets.
A one-year starter with the Cougars, Gordon took over for Gardner Minshew after he became a sixth-round Jaguars pick in 2019. In Mike Leach’s final Washington State offense, Gordon put up monster numbers and surpassed Minshew statistically. Among Division I-FBS passers, only Joe Burrow bettered Gordon’s 5,579 yards and 48 touchdown passes — accomplished in 13 games compared to Burrow’s 15. Gordon completed 72% of his throws last season and played in the Senior Bowl.
Wilson and Gordon are the Seahawks’ only QBs for the time being. Wilson has never missed a start in his eight-season run as Seattle’s quarterback. Geno Smith spent 2019 as Wilson’s backup, but he remains in free agency. While it’s likely the team will add a third quarterback before training camp, another two-QB setup in Seattle will be likely for the 2020 regular season.
Seahawks Release D.J. Fluker
The Seahawks are making a big change on their offensive line. Seattle released guard D.J. Fluker Sunday, the lineman announced himself on Twitter.
Fluker has been with the Seahawks the past two years, starting all 14 games that he appeared in last season. Fluker had been set to enter the final season of the two-year, $6MM pact he signed with the Seahawks last offseason. As Brady Henderson of ESPN.com pointed out in a tweet, the Seahawks’ recent drafting of guard Damien Lewis out of LSU in the third-round might’ve been the nail in the coffin for Fluker.
Fluker entered the league as the 11th overall pick of the Chargers back in 2013. He started at least 12 games in all four years with San Diego, but never quite lived up to his draft status. A tackle in college and his first couple of pro seasons, Fluker moved to guard in 2015 and has stayed there ever since.
After a pit stop with the Giants in 2017, he landed in Seattle. The Seahawks have Mike Iupati at left guard, and Lewis can now be considered the likely favorite to start on the right side if everything goes according to plan. Still only 29, Fluker should resurface somewhere before too long.
Patriots Sign Brian Lewerke
The Patriots surprisingly opted not to draft a quarterback this weekend, but they’ve now signed a pair of passers who went undrafted. New England has inked former Michigan State quarterback Brian Lewerke to a free agent deal, his agent Mike McCartney tweeted.
The Patriots agreed to terms with former Louisiana Tech signal-caller J’Mar Smith last night. Lewerke had a bumpy career in the Big Ten, to say the least. He showed flashes of brilliance as a sophomore and was buzzed about as a potential future early draft pick, leading to a lot of excitement heading into 2018. A shoulder injury derailed that campaign, and his stats were awful when he was on the field as he threw 11 interceptions and only eight touchdowns while completing just 54.3 percent of his passes.
He bounced back a bit this past season but still wasn’t great, finishing with 17 touchdowns and 13 interceptions. He finished with a career 57.7 percent completion percentage, and never had a year above 59.6. He’s pretty mobile however, as he finished last year with 363 rushing yards and another three scores.
Another thing working in Lewerke’s favor is that he at least had the largest hands of any quarterback at the combine, clocking in at 10 5/8 inches. The Pats have very little certainty at the position, with Jarrett Stidham, Brian Hoyer, Smith, and now Lewerke on the roster. If they don’t add an established veteran like Andy Dalton or Cam Newton soon, it’s going to be a free for all whenever training camp gets underway.
Chiefs Sign 18 UDFAs
The Chiefs became the latest team to announce their undrafted free agent class:
- Andre Baccellia, WR (Washington)
- Maurice Ffrench, WR (Pittsburgh)
- Aleva Hifo, WR (BYU)
- Kalija Lipscomb, WR (Vanderbilt)
- Justice Shelton‐Mosley, WR (Vanderbilt)
- Cody White, WR (Michigan State)
- Yasir Durant, T (Missouri)
- Jovahn Fair, G (Temple)
- Darryl Williams, C (Miss St.)
- Tershawn Wharton, DT (Missouri S&T)
- Omari Cobb, LB (Marshall)
- Bryan Wright, LB (Cincinnati)
- Rodney Clemons, S (SMU)
- Jalen Julius, S (Ole Miss)
- Hakeem Bailey, CB (West Virginia)
- Javaris Davis, CB (Auburn)
- Lavert Hill, CB (Michigan)
- Tommy Townsend, P (Florida)
The Chiefs had to spend relatively big to get a couple of these guys. Lipscomb got $110K guaranteed and a $10K signing bonus, while Williams got $107K guaranteed and a $7K signing bonus (Twitter links via Tom Pelissero of NFL Network). This was regarded as an epic receiver class with plenty of draftable players going un-selected due to the surplus, so it’s not surprising guys like Lipscomb are landing big bonuses.
As a junior at Vandy he had 916 yards and nine touchdowns, although he took a step back last season. Williams was a three-year starter at MSU who can play guard and center.
All told, the Chiefs inked a whopping six undrafted receivers. White declared early after racking up 922 yards and six touchdowns as a senior at Michigan State. Davis was widely expected to get drafted, with NFL.com’s Lance Zierlein projecting him as a fifth-rounder and Bleacher Report’s Matt Miller having him go at the top of the sixth, so he’s a nice get as well.
Broncos Add Seven UDFAs
The Broncos made 10 draft picks and will, for now, go with a smaller UDFA group. Denver announced seven UDFA signings on Sunday; here is the full list:
- LeVante Bellamy, RB (Western Michigan)
- Essang Bassey, DB (Wake Forest)
- Douglas Coleman III, S (Texas Tech)
- Kendall Hinton, WR (Wake Forest)
- Zimari Manning, WR (Tarleton State)
- Riley Neal, QB (Vanderbilt)
- Hunter Watts, T (Central Arkansas)
Denver has a modern history of coaxing immense success from UDFAs, having identified All-Pros Chris Harris and Pro Bowlers Phillip Lindsay, C.J. Anderson and Shaquil Barrett since 2011. This year’s group interestingly includes two wide receivers after a three-wideout draft. Hinton started his college career at quarterback, while the 6-foot-2, 200-pound Manning dominated at the Division II level. He caught 68 passes for 1,462 yards and 22 touchdowns last season.
Neal started at Ball State before transferring to Vanderbilt for his senior season. Coleman’s eight interceptions ranked third in Division I-FBS last season. Watts stands 6-foot-8 and joins a team that has an uncertain left tackle situation, with Garett Bolles and Elijah Wilkinson set to vie for a spot that has lacked stability since Ryan Clady‘s 2016 departure. The Broncos did not draft a tackle.
The Broncos gave Bellamy a $25K signing bonus, per Mike Klis of 9News (on Twitter). Manning received $12.5K to sign, with Hinton receiving a $10K signing bonus.