Patriots Sign QB Will Grier To Active Roster
The Patriots QB3 saga has taken another turn. New England is signing quarterback Will Grier to the active roster, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter.
[RELATED: Patriots Not Adding Matt Corral To Practice Squad]
The Patriots reshuffled their QB depth chart following roster deadline day. Bailey Zappe was cut from the active roster and eventually landed on the practice squad, and the team appeared to fill the QB2 spot with 2022 third-round pick Matt Corral, who was claimed off waivers from the Panthers. Zappe eventually rejoined the active roster, and Corral was later placed on the exempt/left squad list after he no-showed practice, walkthrough, and team meetings.
Corral was eventually released by the team, but subsequent reports indicated that he was going to join New England’s practice squad. That move didn’t end up coming to fruition, leaving Corral’s future with the organization in doubt.
Corral’s status with the Patriots is now even more in doubt following today’s sudden move. Grier was also a former Panthers draft pick, with the West Virginia product being selected in the third round of the 2019 draft. He was winless in his two starts as a rookie and was demoted to QB3 during his sophomore season. He was later waived and claimed by the Cowboys, and he proceeded to spend the next two years serving as one of Dak Prescott‘s backups.
Following the Cowboys’ acquisition of Trey Lance, Grier was cut loose, but not before he accounted for four total touchdowns during Dallas’ preseason finale. Grier later joined the Bengals practice squad before getting snatched by New England today.
It’s notable that the Patriots are suddenly comfortable rostering three QBs in Mac Jones, Zappe, and now Grier. There’s a chance the former Cowboys backup ends up following a similar path as Corral and ultimately lands on New England’s practice squad. In a potential noncoincidence, the Patriots are set to face off against the Cowboys in Week 4.
Minor NFL Transactions: 9/21/23
Here are Thursday’s minor moves:
Chicago Bears
- Re-signed: QB Nathan Peterman
Houston Texans
- Signed to active roster: DE Derek Rivers
Minnesota Vikings
- Placed on IR: WR Jalen Nailor
New Orleans Saints
- Signed to active roster: LB Ty Summers
New York Giants
- Promoted from practice squad: OL Jaylon Thomas, OLB Oshane Ximines
San Francisco 49ers
- Released: CB Anthony Brown
- Promoted from practice squad: WR Chris Conley, CB Shemar Jean-Charles
The Bears released Peterman on Wednesday, but Patrick Finley of the Chicago Sun-Times notes the team was planning to use the roster spot to poach a player off a another team’s practice squad. Chicago’s effort did not produce a signing, however, leaving Peterman’s spot vacant. When a team makes an effort to sign a player off another club’s P-squad, the team can promote the player to its 53-man roster to keep him from being poached. The seventh-year QB, who is in his second season with the Bears, again give the team three active-roster QBs — along with Justin Fields and rookie Tyson Bagent.
Rams Trade RB Cam Akers To Vikings
SEPTEMBER 21: For the conditions to be met, Akers must combine for 500 yards from scrimmage with the Vikings, NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport tweets. In Akers’ two healthy seasons, he has hit 748 and 903 scrimmage yards, respectively.
SEPTEMBER 20: The off-and-on Rams-Cam Akers drama will come to an end Wednesday. The Rams found a taker for Akers, per NFL.com’s Tom Pelissero, who reports the Vikings will acquire the fourth-year running back.
Minnesota and Los Angeles will swap late-round 2026 draft choices, Pelissero adds. Given Akers’ inconsistent history, it was always unlikely the Rams would obtain much for him. But the Vikings will take a flier on the former second-round pick.
The Vikings will send Los Angeles a conditional sixth-round pick in 2026. In exchange, the Rams will send Minnesota Akers and a 2026 conditional seventh-rounder, ESPN’s Adam Schefter tweets. Terms on the conditions of each pick have not yet been released, but with nearly three full seasons in between now and then, there are a vast number of possibilities for what might alter these picks.
For an in-season trade, this presents the opportunity for a smooth Akers transition. Kevin O’Connell served as the Rams’ offensive coordinator during Akers’ first two NFL seasons, and Vikings OC Wes Phillips was also in L.A. during that span. Akers will join a Vikings backfield transitioning from Dalvin Cook‘s six-year tenure, leaving the Rams with their now-Kyren Williams-fronted setup behind Matthew Stafford.
The tumultuous Rams-Akers relationship reached the point of no return Sunday, when the team deactivated the former starter for its Week 2 game. Akers, 24, expressed confusion at the move, but he and Sean McVay had not seen eye to eye for periods over the past year. McVay indicated a trade was likely.
Despite opening each of the past two Rams seasons as the starting running back, Akers found himself a healthy scratch each year. Los Angeles scratched Akers for Week 6 last season, as trade rumors swirled. While the team held onto Akers after negotiating with teams ahead of last year’s trade deadline, the Vikings are now responsible for the last year of his rookie deal.
It does not appear the Rams would have settled for his level of trade compensation last year, when they rejected trade offers, but the minimal return points to the Rams being prepared to accept just about anything to end this relationship. The Browns, Buccaneers, Raiders and Ravens were mentioned as interested parties. The Browns took themselves out of the running Wednesday morning, when they reunited with Kareem Hunt. Although McVay disciples are in HC posts elsewhere — Matt LaFleur, Brandon Staley, Zac Taylor — the Vikings make the most sense from a familiarity standpoint due to O’Connell having coached Akers as OC.
While 2026 late-round draft choices effectively indicate how little trade value Akers brought, he has produced promising stretches during an inconsistent career. The Rams turned to the Florida State product late in the 2020 season, and the then-rookie ripped off a 171-yard showing against the Patriots. Akers then amassed 131 rushing yards to help the Rams upset the Seahawks in the 2020 wild-card round. After last year’s spate of hiccups, Akers regrouped to close the season with three straight 100-yard performances. While seldom used as a receiver, Akers has enjoyed productive periods as a ball-carrier.
Of course, Akers also suffered an Achilles tear in July 2021. This prompted the Rams to trade for Sony Michel. While Akers made a surprising return in time for Week 18 and suited up for the Rams in the playoffs, he did not regain his previous form. As the Rams’ O-line deteriorated last season, Akers struggled, leading to the disagreement with McVay. He opened this year with a wildly ineffective 22-carry, 29-yard showing in Seattle, ceding the key backfield touches to Williams, a 2022 fifth-round pick who has seized command for the retooling Rams.
The Vikings turned to longtime Cook backup Alexander Mattison this offseason, opting not to bring in another veteran to supplement the career-long RB2. Mattison, 25, is off to a slow start. The fifth-year back is averaging 3.3 yards per carry; in Week 2, he lost a fumble in what turned out to be a one-score loss to the Eagles. Overall, Minnesota has gained an NFL-low 69 rushing yards. Mattison should still be expected to lead the way in Minnesota, but Akers represents competition. The Vikes roster 2022 fifth-rounder Ty Chandler and late-summer pickup Myles Gaskin behind Mattison.
Jets Bring Back T Cedric Ogbuehi
For the second time this year and the third time since September 2022, the Jets reached an agreement with Cedric Ogbuehi. The veteran tackle is back with the team on a practice squad deal.
A former first-round pick who settled into a reserve role years ago, Ogbeuhi re-signed with the Jets in April but found himself cut less than a month after the contract came to pass. The Jets dropped Ogbuehi in May, shortly after signing Billy Turner. Four months later, the journeyman blocker is back in New York. To make room on their 16-man practice squad, the Jets released offensive lineman Ryan Swoboda.
The Jets initially signed Ogbuehi off the Texans’ practice squad nearly a year ago. With Duane Brown beginning last season on IR and then-starter George Fant suffering a knee injury — events that followed Mekhi Becton‘s second major knee injury — the Jets were busy adding veteran O-linemen. Mike Remmers and Laurent Duvernay-Tardif joined the team, which later lost Max Mitchell for the season. Brown, Becton and Mitchell are back in the mix, with Turner residing as a backup. Ogbuehi will be positioned behind this quartet upon coming back to the Big Apple.
Brown and Becton remain on the Jets’ injury report, with the blockers’ maladies that required extensive offseason rehab time — Becton’s knee, Brown’s shoulder — part of this week’s injury equation. Both have started each of the team’s first two games, however. Fourth-round rookie tackle Carter Warren is also on short-term IR. The Jets worked out a host of tackles last week; Ogbuehi, 31, was not among them.
Ogbuehi, who spent most of this offseason with the Dolphins before failing to make their 53-man roster, started five games for the injury-riddled Jets front last season. That marked the ex-Bengal first-rounder’s most starts in a season since 2017, his last year as a regular first-stringer.
G Laurent Duvernay-Tardif Retires
After pausing his football career at multiple junctures, Laurent Duvernay-Tardif is stepping away from the gridiron permanently. The former Chiefs and Jets guard announced his retirement (via Instagram) Thursday morning.
Famous for his blocker/doctor duality, Duvernay-Tardif played eight NFL seasons. Although the Chiefs drafted the Canadian guard in the 2014 sixth round, he did not play as a rookie. Duvernay-Tardif, 32, also passed on playing in 2020, becoming the first player to opt out during the COVID-19 pandemic. But the unique O-line presence returned to the game in 2021, finishing his career with two Jets seasons.
The McGill University alum secured a Chiefs extension back in 2017 and played a starting role on their Super Bowl LIV-winning squad two years later. Duvernay-Tardif returned from a fractured fibula during the 2018 season, being activated ahead of the Chiefs’ playoff run that year. But he did not suit up for the team in one of its postseason contests. He was back in his starting right guard role in 2019, starting 14 regular-season games and all three Kansas City playoff contests.
Duvernay-Tardif’s extension — a five-year, $42.4MM accord — came a year after the Chiefs had extended Eric Fisher and signed Mitchell Schwartz. This trio became the team’s O-line foundation for Patrick Mahomes, who made his starter debut in Duvernay-Tardif’s fifth season. Duvernay-Tardif spent more seasons blocking for Alex Smith (three) than Mahomes (two), but the Chiefs’ O-line unraveled at the end of the medical professional’s opt-out campaign. When the Chiefs surveyed the damage from Super Bowl LV, they moved on from Fisher, Schwartz and Duvernay-Tardif — none of whom were available during the Buccaneers’ blowout win — and remade their O-line in 2021.
Cutting Fisher and Schwartz in March 2021, the Chiefs held onto Duvernay-Tardif until training camp. The team, which had signed Joe Thuney and drafted promising guard Trey Smith in Round 6 in 2021, traded Duvernay-Tardif to the Jets midway through camp. The St. Hilaire, Quebec, native started eight games as a Jet, re-signing with the team during the 2022 season as injuries mounted. He played in five Jets games last season, closing out his higher-profile career.
Duvernay-Tardif will likely be best remembered for managing two careers and pausing his more glamourous craft to venture back to Canada during the initial months of the pandemic. Last year, he enrolled in a residency program at a hospital near Montreal. Duvernay-Tardif closes his NFL career with 65 career starts and more than $25MM in earnings.
Bills LB Christian Kirksey To Retire
Just before the season, Christian Kirksey ventured to Buffalo on a practice squad agreement. The veteran linebacker prioritized signing with a contender, upon not making the Texans’ 53-man roster. But he does not plan to stay on with the Bills.
Instead, the 10th-year vet has informed the team he plans to retire, NFL.com’s Mike Garafolo reports. Kirksey, 31, spent time with the Browns, Packers and Texans before coming to Buffalo. Prior to this season, the former third-round pick had been a regular starter in each of his previous nine seasons. The Bills have since announced Kirksey’s retirement plan.
To fill Kirksey’s spot on the practice squad, Garafolo adds the Bills are planning to bring back A.J. Klein. The off-and-on Bills regular was with the team during training camp. Klein re-signed with the Bills in April but was among the vested veterans not to make the team’s 53-man roster in August. The 11th-year veteran has remained in free agency since that cut.
Chosen by the Browns during what became an infamous draft for the team, Kirksey ended up a long-term starter for the downtrodden franchise. After selecting first-round busts Justin Gilbert and Johnny Manziel, the Browns did very well on Day 2 of the 2014 draft. They added Joel Bitonio in Round 2 and Kirksey in Round 3, taking the Iowa linebacker at No. 71 overall. Bitonio has become one of the Browns’ best players since the 1999 reboot, while Kirksey became a six-year starter for the team.
Kirksey’s post-Cleveland tenure provided a bounce-back effort after injuries sidetracked him as the 2010s wound down. After the Browns released him in 2020, Kirksey wound up with the Packers and started for a team that reached the NFC championship game. The Packers also released Kirksey, however, leading him to the Texans as one of the many veterans to stop through Houston on short-term accords during Nick Caserio‘s GM tenure. Kirksey spent the past two years in Houston, starting 29 games with the rebuilding team. After signing an extension to stay with the Texans in 2022, he started all 17 games and posted a 124-tackle, three-sack, two-interception season.
Excepting his 2020 Green Bay cameo, Kirksey did his best work for struggling teams. The off-ball ‘backer notched a career-high 148 tackles (11 for loss) during the Browns’ 1-15 season in 2016, earning a four-year, $38MM extension during the 2017 offseason. Cleveland then completed the NFL’s second 0-16 season, doing so despite rostering the likes of Bitonio, Kirksey, Joe Thomas and well-paid ILB Jamie Collins. The Browns cut bait on Kirksey’s deal with two years remaining, and he never came especially close to securing that kind of cash again. Still, Kirksey will leave the game having made more than $37MM.
Offering intermittent sack production despite his place on teams’ defensive second levels, Kirksey finishes his career with 16.5 sacks and 45 tackles for loss. He produced three 100-plus-tackle seasons.
Raiders Place OLB Chandler Jones On Reserve/NFI List
The strange Chandler Jones saga may not cool down anytime soon. The Raiders are moving the veteran pass rusher to their reserve/non-football illness list, according to NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport.
At odds with the team since just before Week 1, Jones has made a number of statements blasting the Raiders and their top staffers. The team had deactivated Jones for its first two games; this designation will sideline him for the next four. Jones is dealing with a personal issue, and Rapoport adds the Raiders have not ruled out a return “if his situation improves.” The former All-Pro’s second year with the Raiders has devolved into quite the mess, however.
Irate at being locked out of the Raiders’ facility days before Week 1, Jones went on social media and blasted Josh McDaniels and GM Dave Ziegler. He since shared a text exchange with owner Mark Davis. The Raiders shelved Jones for their Week 1 game against the Broncos. Jones had also indicated on social media that the Raiders sent a crisis team to his house, posting a series of since-deleted Instagram stories explaining the events and questioning why he was not allowed to play in Denver. Jones also shared that the NFLPA has attempted to contact him.
Recently, Jones kept adding to this bizarre dust-up by saying Davis is “holding a huge secret.” The Raiders deactivated Jones again for their Week 2 Bills tilt. Raider players and others around the league have expressed concern for Jones’ health, The Athletic’s Dianna Russini tweets. Jones has not practiced with the Raiders since the locked-door incident.
“I wish mark Davis told the ppl why I really can’t play,” Jones said (sic). “I think I know why, but I want y’all to ask him. I’ll let him say it to the public not me lmao. I wish I could play with my brothers, but marky mark is holding a huge secret that only I know! That’s why I was asking for my protection sorry if I sound scared because I’m not lol, when I found out I was lol.”
The Raiders gave Jones a three-year, $51MM deal in 2022. While the former Patriots and Cardinals standout disappointed last season, he was still expected to start opposite Maxx Crosby this year. The Raiders used the No. 7 overall pick on Tyree Wilson, signaling Jones’ tenure would likely be capped at two seasons. It is obviously not a lock Jones plays for the Raiders again, and the team can opt to not pay the 12th-year veteran while he is on the NFI list. It is not yet known if the Raiders will go that route. Considering how this odd storyline has unfolded, Jones may well let the public know if the Raiders have decided not to pay him. If the Raiders choose not to pay Jones during his NFI stay, the damage would be minimal thanks to an offseason restructure that reduced his 2023 base salary to $1.2MM.
A two-time All-Pro while with the Cardinals, Jones had angled for a trade ahead of his final Arizona season. He ended up playing out his five-year Cards contract in 2021, bouncing back from a biceps injury that ended his 2020 season, and rejoining McDaniels in free agency. McDaniels was in place as New England’s offensive coordinator during Jones’ first four years. Jones’ Patriots stay wrapped not long after an unusual episode that featured the team’s top pass rusher showing up shirtless at a Foxborough police station after a reaction to synthetic marijuana. Contract matters led to the Patriots trading him to the Cardinals during the ’16 offseason, leading to a run of strong seasons.
This Raiders issue will undoubtedly impact Jones’ ability to catch on elsewhere when that time comes. Las Vegas has kept Wilson as a rotational rusher to start the season.
NFL Practice Squad Updates: 9/20/23
Wednesday’s practice squad transactions:
Arizona Cardinals
- Signed: WR Jeff Smith
Atlanta Falcons
- Signed: RB Carlos Washington Jr.
Carolina Panthers
- Signed: CB Robert Rochell
- Released: CB Mark Milton
Chicago Bears
- Signed: T Austen Pleasants
Detroit Lions
- Signed: OLB Mitchell Agude, RB Devine Ozigbo, CB Darius Phillips, T Dan Skipper
- Released: DE Chris Smith
New Orleans Saints
- Signed: CB Cameron Dantzler
New York Jets
- Signed: WR Irvin Charles
- Released: DT Tanzel Smart
Philadelphia Eagles
- Signed: LB Kyron Johnson, RB Bryant Koback
Pittsburgh Steelers
- Signed: WR Duece Watts
Seattle Seahawks
- Signed: DT Carl Davis, WR Tyjon Lindsey, CB Teez Tabor
- Released: WR Matt Landers, CB Robert Rochell
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
- Signed: DT Deadrin Senat
Tennessee Titans
- Signed: DT Jaleel Johnson
Patriots Not Adding Matt Corral To Practice Squad; Team Adjusts Trent Brown’s Contract
6:47pm: Some may notice Corral’s presence on the wire today designating that he was taking a visit with his now former team in New England. According to Kyed, this is solely a formality. Kyed informs that “teams are required to report if a free agent is in the building” and Corral was at the facility this morning. His visit, though, had no bearing on his status with the team. Kyed reports that Corral’s relationship with the team is currently unchanged.
11:27am: After Matt Corral cleared waivers Tuesday, the Patriots were believed to have added the young quarterback to their practice squad. While this would mark yet another roster designation for the 2022 third-round pick, it has not come to fruition.
Corral has not returned to the Pats on a practice squad deal, Doug Kyed of the Boston Herald notes. While the Ole Miss product was on track to come back on a P-squad pact, Kyed adds he is no longer expected to do so.
The Pats claimed Corral off waivers from the Panthers shortly after roster cutdown day, and while the raw QB prospect practiced with the team for more than a week, he left the team without providing notice and ended up on the exempt/left squad list. The Patriots removed Corral from that list Monday, and no team claimed him. As of now, the Matt Rhule-era Panthers pickup’s career is in limbo.
Mac Jones and Bailey Zappe reside as the quarterbacks on New England’s active roster, while rookie UDFA Malik Cunningham is on the team’s P-squad. Teams rarely keep two passers on practice squads, but the Pats had intended to develop Corral, who spent all of last season on the Panthers’ IR due to a Lisfranc injury. While Carolina was interested in bringing Corral back on a P-squad deal, he is unattached as of Wednesday.
The Patriots briefly demoted Zappe, waiving the 2022 fourth-round pick before extending a P-squad opportunity. Zappe quickly moved back to the active roster, returning after the Corral partnership began to fizzle. Upon returning to the active roster, the Western Kentucky product remains signed through 2025, Mike Reiss of ESPN.com tweets. Zappe’s rookie contract ran through 2025, as all drafted players’ initial NFL deals span four years. Despite Zappe spending a short time on the practice squad after struggling in Bill O’Brien‘s system this summer, he is back on track.
Additionally, the Patriots added $2MM in incentives to Trent Brown‘s contract, ESPN.com’s Adam Schefter notes. Brown is attached to a two-year, $13MM deal he signed during the 2022 offseason. It is unclear what benchmarks Brown must hit to cash in, but the Patriots have dangled incentives for the veteran tackle previously. The team put weight-related clauses in Brown’s Raiders-constructed, Pats-adjusted deal in 2021 and included more in his current pact. Barring an extension, the team’s left tackle starter remains on track to hit free agency again in 2024.
Minor NFL Transactions: 9/20/23
Here are Wednesday’s minor moves:
Chicago Bears
- Released: QB Nathan Peterman
Detroit Lions
- Signed to active roster: RB Bam Knight
New Orleans Saints
- Signed to active roster: RB Tony Jones Jr.
Philadelphia Eagles
- Signed to active roster: WR Britain Covey
- Placed on IR: CB Avonte Maddox (story)
Pittsburgh Steelers
- Signed off Falcons’ practice squad: RB Godwin Igwebuike
- Signed to active roster: DT Breiden Fehoko
San Francisco
- Signed to active roster: CB Tre Swilling
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
- Placed on IR: RB Chase Edmonds (story)
- Signed to active roster: OL Pat O’Connor
The Steelers placing Anthony McFarland on IR left them with two active-roster running backs. Igwebuike will step in as Pittsburgh’s third-stringer behind Najee Harris and Jaylen Warren. Because the Steelers signed Igwebuike off another team’s practice squad, they must keep him on their active roster for at least three weeks.
Coming back to the Saints after spending the offseason and training camp with the Broncos, Jones scored two touchdowns in New Orleans’ Monday-night win over Carolina. But the Saints had used a gameday elevation transaction to bump the veteran backup to the active roster. Wednesday’s move makes Jones an official part of the Saints’ 53-man unit.
Knight caught on with the Lions’ practice squad shortly after the Jets waived him. With David Montgomery likely to miss time, Knight will join Jahmyr Gibbs and Craig Reynolds as the backs on Detroit’s 53-man roster. A 2022 UDFA, Knight saw time following Breece Hall‘s ACL tear last season but could not stick on the Jets’ roster after the AFC East team’s Dalvin Cook addition.