Bills To Re-Sign S Kurt Coleman
One Bills cutdown day casualty is about to find himself back with the team. Buffalo is going to re-sign safety Kurt Coleman, according to Joe Buscaglia of The Athletic (Twitter link).
To make room on the roster, the team will place tight end Jason Croom on inured reserve. The Bills signed Coleman back on July 19th in the wake of fellow safety Rafael Bush’s retirement. Coleman was one of the bigger names that got cut by the Bills yesterday, but his release was apparently only for roster maneuvering purposes. As a vested veteran Coleman wasn’t subjected to waivers, so the Bills could easily add him right back.
The deal Coleman originally signed was for one-year and a little over $1MM but could be worth up to $2MM, and it’s unclear if he’ll get those same terms now. Coleman spent a couple years playing under Bills head coach Sean McDermott when both of them were with the Panthers, so there’s familiarity here. He’ll likely serve as the team’s third safety behind Micah Hyde and Jordan Poyer. In his nine-year career, Coleman has made 132 appearances and 83 starts.
Croom signed with the Bills as an undrafted free agent in 2017. He didn’t make any appearances as a rookie, but played a real role last year. In 15 games and three starts, he finished with 22 catches for 259 yards and a touchdown.
Chargers To Place Derwin James On IR
Derwin James underwent foot surgery on Thursday, and the second-year Chargers safety will soon have a clearer timeline. The Chargers will place the All-Pro talent on IR before Week 1, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com reports (on Twitter).
The Bolts made the move to place James on IR Sunday. They are planning to replace him on the roster with defensive back Jaylen Watkins, Daniel Popper of The Athletic tweets.
Los Angeles will carry James through to their 53-man roster, making him eligible for one of its two IR-return slots. Were the Chargers to place James on IR before finalizing their 53-man unit, he would be out for the season. With James on IR after roster cutdown day, the Bolts will have to play at least two months without him.
That lines up with James’ timetable. He is expected to need at least three months to recover from the stress fracture in the fifth metatarsal of his right foot, making an IR stay logical. He will not be eligible to return from IR until Week 9, and if this recovery timeline is accurate, it may be further into the season before the Chargers have their back-line chess piece available again.
While the Chargers will obviously miss their do-it-all defender, they re-signed All-Pro special-teamer/hybrid linebacker Adrian Phillips in March and drafted Nasir Adderley in the second round a month later.
Seahawks Re-Sign Geno Smith
Remember that time the Seahawks were without Geno Smith on their roster? After 24 long hours, the quarterback is back in Seattle, Josina Anderson of ESPN.com tweets.
The Seahawks surprised many in the football world when they released Smith on Saturday en route to a 53-man roster. Releasing Smith, in and of itself, wouldn’t have been a big deal, but the transaction left Russell Wilson as the club’s only QB following Paxton Lynch‘s release.
As it turns out, it was all part of some clever roster maneuvering by Seattle. The Seahawks – perhaps with a wink/nod deal – were willing to risk losing Smith to another team before bringing him back on.
Panthers Release Torrey Smith
The paycut that Torrey Smith accepted back in May wasn’t enough to save his job in Carolina. Per Adam Schefter of ESPN.com, the Panthers have released the veteran wideout (Twitter link).
Smith missed five games due to a knee injury in 2018 — his first and only season in Charlotte — and he appeared in 11 games in total (six starts). He was targeted just 31 times on the year, hauling in 17 of those targets for 190 yards and two touchdowns. Smith has never been a volume receiver, but he hasn’t posted more than 40 catches since 2014.
The former home run hitter, now 30, has lost a step or two over the past couple of years, and given that he never had great hands or route-running ability, losing top-end speed is especially problematic. He was squeezed out of the Panthers’ plans, but he should get another chance as a depth WR and occasional deep threat elsewhere.
He does have two Super Bowl rings, one from his 2012 season in Baltimore and another from his 2017 campaign in Philadelphia.
Jets Claim Kicker Kaare Vedvik
This has been quite the weekend for the Jets. On Sunday, they piled up even more transactions by claiming four players off waivers:
- K Kaare Vedvik (Vikings)
- WR Braxton Berrios (Patriots)
- DE John Franklin, (Bears)
- DB Bennett Jackson (Ravens)
The Vikings traded a fifth-round pick to acquire kicker/punter Kaare Vedvik just a few weeks ago, but dumped him on Saturday. The Jets, meanwhile, have been looking hard for kicking solutions and they appear to have found their guy with days to go before the season opener. To make room, they cut kicker Taylor Bertolet.
The Jets, naturally, will have to release more players to conform with the 53-man maximum.
Broncos Claim QB Brandon Allen
The Broncos have claimed quarterback Brandon Allen off waivers, according to ESPN.com’s Adam Schefter (Twitter link). Allen was dropped by the Rams on Saturday, making him available to the league’s 31 other teams.
Allen is now set to serve as Joe Flacco‘s primary backup. Drew Lock was supposed to be the top clipboard holder, but a hand injury will keep him sidelined for a while. Kevin Hogan, an internal candidate to fill that void, was dropped over the weekend.
In addition to Allen, the Broncos have also been awarded the following players off waivers:
- TE Andrew Beck (Patriots)
- C Corey Levin (Titans)
- WR Diontae Spencer (Steelers)
Raiders Claim QB DeShone Kizer
The Raiders claimed quarterback DeShone Kizer off waivers from the Packers, according to Field Yates of ESPN.com (on Twitter).The move gives Oakland four quarterbacks as of this writing, though one of their signal callers will almost certainly be displaced to make room for the Notre Dame product.
A second-round selection in 2017, Kizer was pegged as a green talent that had high upside. Unfortunately for him, he was taken by the Browns, who proceeded to lose every game that season. At year’s end, he was shipped to Green Bay. Now, at the age of 23, he’s moving on to his third career NFL team.
The Raiders seemed set at quarterback with Derek Carr, Mike Glennon, and Nathan Peterman. Now, it looks like Peterman will be squeezed out to make room for Kizer. The Raiders would probably like to stash Peterman on the practice squad, but he’d have to clear waivers first.
Cardinals To Sign Cassius Marsh
The Seahawks signed DE Cassius Marsh in April with the idea that he could bolster the team’s pass rush, but he became expendable after Seattle traded for Jadeveon Clowney. Now, Marsh will join the third NFC West team of his career, as Adam Schefter of ESPN.com reports that Marsh is set to sign with the Cardinals (Twitter link).
Marsh, 27, had 5.5 sacks and 14 QB hits for the 49ers last year. The former fourth-round pick of the Seahawks will join a pass rushing rotation that also includes Terrell Suggs and Chandler Jones.
The Cardinals didn’t do much right last year, but they did compile 49 sacks, and Marsh will serve as a worthwhile complement to the front seven.
Broncos To Sign Corey Nelson
Corey Nelson will sign with the Broncos, according to Greg Auman of The Athletic (on Twitter). It’s a homecoming for the linebacker, who played in Denver from 2014-2017.
Nelson, 27, was released by the Bucs this week as they trimmed their roster to meet the 53-man maximum. He did his finest work with the Broncos, including the 2016 season in which he tallied 61 total tackles across 16 games (six starts). And, following the 2015 season, Nelson helped the Broncos capture a Super Bowl ring.
This might not be the Broncos’ only reunion of the week – they’re also interested in signing wide receiver Demaryius Thomas.
Bears Sign G Cody Whitehair To Extension
The Bears have signed guard Cody Whitehair to a massive extension, sources tell Adam Schefter of ESPN.com (Twitter link). It will be a five-year, $52.5MM pact that features $27.5MM in guaranteed money, the second-highest guaranteed sum for a guard extension in league history.
Whitehair has been a key factor in the Bears’ offensive line success over the past three seasons, but despite earning a Pro Bowl nod in 2018, he was asked to change positions this year. Chicago is inserting 2018 second-round pick James Daniels at center, meaning Whitehair has been shifted to left guard.
Whitehair has experience moving between positions. At Kansas State, the now-27-year-old spent his first two seasons at guard before moving to tackle for his junior and senior campaigns. In the NFL, Whitehair has mostly stuck at center, although he did line up at both guard positions for a bit in 2018. The results have mostly been spectacular, as Whitehair graded as a top-10 center last season while ranking top-six in pressures allowed (min. 50% playtime), per Pro Football Focus.
Though the guarantee is nice, the average annual value of the deal ($10.5MM) shows that Chicago is paying Whitehair more like a top center than like a top guard. The AAV places Whitehair ninth among all guard contracts but third among all center contracts. But Whitehair, who would have been eligible for free agency in 2020, opted for the financial security of the extension rather than bet on himself for a marginally larger payday next year.