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Colts To Sign P Matt Haack

By | at August 24, 2022 1:28 pm

Days after losing the Bills’ punting competition, Matt Haack has secured another opportunity. The Colts are signing the sixth-year veteran, Aaron Wilson of ProFootballNetwork.com tweets.

Haack served as the Bills’ punter last season but played out a four-year Dolphins rookie contract before his Buffalo commitment. The Colts are in need at the position; they confirmed Rigoberto Sanchez‘s Achilles tear Wednesday. The Colts held a punter workout today, leading to the Haack addition.

Fourth-round pick Matt Araiza beat out Haack for Buffalo’s punting job during camp. The Bills had signed Haack, 28, to a three-year, $5.48MM deal in 2021. The former UDFA will be in line to enjoy a friendlier punting environment, Indianapolis’ Lucas Oil Stadium, this season.

Sanchez has been the Colts’ punter since his 2017 rookie season. Like Haack, he entered the offseason signed for multiple years. But the Achilles tear Sanchez sustained while running gassers at the end of the Colts’ Tuesday practice has changed Indy’s plans at this position, one that has enjoyed continuity for a lengthy stretch — from Pat McAfee (2009-16) to Sanchez.

Haack’s one season in Buffalo featured a career-low 42.9 yards per punt. The Arizona State alum’s per-boot numbers were better in Miami, where he averaged between 44.5 and 45.0 yards from 2017-20. Sanchez, however, has also served as the Colts’ kickoff specialist throughout his career. Haack has not done so, at least not primarily. He has recorded only four kickoffs during his career. Indianapolis’ kicker, Rodrigo Blankenship, seems likely to handle this responsibility, having made 24 kickoffs over his two-year run. Twenty of those came in 2020, a season that featured Sanchez miss time after having a cancerous tumor surgically removed.

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Giants WR Sterling Shepard To Return To Practice

By | at August 24, 2022 11:16 am

The Giants did not move Sterling Shepard to the reserve/PUP list Tuesday, despite sending multiple other offensive contributors (Nick Gates, Matt Peart) to the list early. That inaction will precede a return to practice for the longest-tenured Giant.

Shepard, who is coming off an Achilles tear sustained in December, will return to practice Wednesday, Brian Daboll said. This will mark a key checkpoint for Shepard, who can no longer be stashed on the team’s PUP list to start the season. It is not a lock Shepard returns for Week 1, but a re-emergence during the team’s September slate looks likely.

This Giants team features a glut of receivers, though it is unknown if each of their four notable veterans — Shepard, Darius Slayton, Kenny Golladay and Kadarius Toney — will be on the 53-man roster alongside second-round pick Wan’Dale Robinson. Slayton has long looked like the odd man out. As for Shepard, the team reached a restructure agreement — what amounted to a pay cut — to keep him around this year. This will be Shepard’s seventh Giants season.

The only remaining holdover from the Jerry Reese GM regime, the former second-round pick signed a four-year, $41MM extension during Dave Gettleman‘s GM run. The 2019 deal has preceded modest results, with injuries — a steady theme during the talented wideout’s career — interfering regularly.

Still, having Shepard back stands to help Daniel Jones in his contract year. Shepard missed time for multiple ailments in 2021, playing only seven games for a dreadful Giants offense — one that did not have Jones for a chunk of the season. In 12 2020 games, Shepard caught 66 passes for 656 yards and three touchdowns.

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LB Shaquem Griffin Announces Retirement

By | at August 24, 2022 9:49 am

Shaquem Griffin defied considerable odds by becoming a Central Florida standout and NFL regular, forging a football path despite losing his left hand at the age of 4. The 2018 fifth-round pick played three seasons with the Seahawks and spent time on the Dolphins’ practice squad.

The inspirational linebacker, however, announced Wednesday (via The Players’ Tribune) he will retire rather than pursue a fifth NFL season. The twin brother of Jaguars cornerback Shaquill Griffin, Shaquem said he aimed to catch on with the Jags last year — one featuring a few opportunities elsewhere — but after that did not materialize, he began moving toward leaving the game.

“All this traveling around, working out for teams, trying to catch on somewhere, trying to hang on — it wasn’t what I wanted. Football had already given me so much, and the only thing I still really wanted from the game was to play with my brother again,” Griffin said. “So I told my agent, Buddy Baker, thank you for grinding and bringing me these opportunities. But unless it’s Jacksonville, I’m good.”

Griffin spent the early part of last season on Miami’s taxi squad and worked out for the Cardinals, Titans and Jets. The Bills, Cowboys and Falcons also expressed interest, Griffin said, and he participated in the Broncos’ 2021 minicamp. But after the Dolphins released him from their practice squad in October, the St. Petersburg, Fla., native passed on offers that did not come from the Jags. Jacksonville signed Shaquill Griffin in March 2021, separating the twin brothers after they had played three seasons in Seattle.

For his career, Shaquem Griffin played mostly on special teams. He made 25 tackles with the Seahawks, who drafted him ahead of Shaquill’s second season. Shaquem notched 18.5 sacks over his final two college seasons and helped Central Florida finish the 2017 campaign at 13-0. He tallied one NFL sack, doing so after working his way back onto Seattle’s active roster following a September cut. Shaquem, who played with his brother for four seasons at Central Florida and three with the Seahawks, added a sack on Aaron Rodgers in Seattle’s 2019 divisional-round game.

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Jaguars To Acquire OL Cole Van Lanen From Packers, Waive G Wes Martin

By | at August 23, 2022 8:10 pm

8:10pm: The Packers acquired a 2023 seventh-round pick, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter (on Twitter).

11:46am: A year into his career, Cole Van Lanen is being traded. The Packers are sending the 2021 sixth-round pick to the Jaguars, Rob Demovsky of ESPN.com tweets.

Jacksonville will create a roster spot by cutting guard Wes Martin, Jeremy Fowler of ESPN.com notes (on Twitter). Not yet a vested vet, Martin generated waiver interest earlier this year and will head back to the wire.

The Packers will receive an undisclosed draft pick for Van Lanen, a Green Bay native. A Wisconsin alum, Van Lanen played in one game with the Packers, despite a flood of injuries along their offensive line in 2021. The Jaguars will take a flier here.

Wisconsin’s primary left tackle from 2019-20, Van Lanen earned second-team All-Big Ten acclaim in ’19 and first-team honors in the truncated 2020 season. The Packers had been using Van Lanen at tackle and guard during his short stay with his hometown team, Tom Silverstein of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel tweets. The Packers drafted offensive linemen in the third, fourth and seventh rounds this year (Sean Rhyan, Zach Tom, Rasheed Walker).

Both the Chargers and Commanders put in claims for Martin in May, when the Giants cut him. Washington originally drafted Martin in the 2019 fourth round and used him as a starter at points during his first two seasons. Martin, 26, started 10 games for Washington from 2019-20 and played in seven Giants games last season.

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Minor NFL Transactions: 8/23/22

By | at August 23, 2022 4:31 pm

Tuesday marked the day teams were forced to cut down from 85 to 80 players. Here are the moves teams made made to reach the new maximum. Players who land on the reserve/PUP or reserve/NFI list must miss at least the first four regular-season games.

Arizona Cardinals

Atlanta Falcons

Baltimore Ravens

Carolina Panthers

Chicago Bears

Cincinnati Bengals

Dallas Cowboys

Detroit Lions

Green Bay Packers

Houston Texans

Indianapolis Colts

Kansas City Chiefs

Las Vegas Raiders

Los Angeles Chargers

Minnesota Vikings

New England Patriots

New Orleans Saints

New York Giants

New York Jets

Philadelphia Eagles

Pittsburgh Steelers

San Francisco 49ers

Seattle Seahawks

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Tennessee Titans

Washington Commanders

0 comments Arizona Cardinals Atlanta Falcons Bailey Gaither Baltimore Ravens Carolina Panthers Chicago Bears Cincinnati Bengals Dallas Cowboys Detroit Lions Green Bay Packers Houston Texans Indianapolis Colts Kansas City Chiefs Las Vegas Raiders Los Angeles Chargers Minnesota Vikings New England Patriots New Orleans Saints New York Giants New York Jets Philadelphia Eagles Pittsburgh Steelers San Francisco 49ers Seattle Seahawks Tampa Bay Buccaneers Tennessee Titans Transactions Washington Commanders

Saints Release TE Chris Herndon, Place WR Kevin White On IR

By | at August 23, 2022 3:30 pm

Chris Herndon‘s latest bounce-back bid left him on the outside looking in as the Saints made their second round of cuts. They released the fifth-year tight end Tuesday, Katherine Terrell of ESPN.com tweets.

The Saints’ move down to 80 players also included the placement of wide receiver Kevin White on IR. White, who played six games for a receiver-depleted New Orleans squad last season, signed a reserve/futures deal to stay with the team in January.

New Orleans added Herndon just after the start of training camp, but the former Jets starter has not shown too much since his rookie-year breakout. A 2019 suspension and an injury soon after stalled Herndon’s momentum after his 502-yard rookie year in New York. He has not topped 300 yards in a season since and only caught four passes while with the Vikings last year.

Injuries have defined White’s NFL career. While the former No. 7 overall pick has done well to hang around this long, he has been an afterthought since multiple major injuries wrecked his Bears run. White, 30, missed all of his 2015 rookie season and only played five Bears games from 2017-18. He has since caught on with the 49ers and Saints, suiting up as a backup.

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RB Gus Edwards Lands On Ravens’ Reserve/PUP List

By | at August 23, 2022 3:08 pm

The Ravens have waited a while to redeploy their optimal one-two running back punch. The team will wait until at least October for its J.K. Dobbins–Gus Edwards attack to return.

While both players missed all of last season due to ACL tears, Edwards landed on Baltimore’s reserve/PUP list Tuesday. He will be shut down for the Ravens’ first four games.

John Harbaugh recently expressed doubt about Edwards’ Week 1 status, but the 15th-year Ravens HC does expect the veteran back to be full speed later in 2022. Edwards went down during a 2021 preseason practice, suffering his ACL tear within minutes of Marcus Peters‘ season-nullifying knee injury. Peters is on track to make his return in Week 1, illustrating the differences in timelines these injuries can cause.

Edwards, 27, signed a Ravens extension months before suffering the injury. His three-year, $12.38MM deal included $8MM fully guaranteed. The contract runs through the 2023 season. The longtime Baltimore off-the-bench back ripped off three straight 700-plus-yard seasons to start his career, averaging north of five yards per carry in each.

Dobbins returned to practice two weeks ago, but the Ravens are carefully ramping up their starter for work. Dobbins, who went down barely a week before Edwards last year, also suffered meniscus damage. The Ravens’ batch of 2021 replacement options is no longer on the team, with veteran Mike Davis and sixth-round rookie Tyler Badie now representing Dobbins-Edwards insurance.

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Raiders To Release RB Kenyan Drake

By | at August 23, 2022 2:47 pm

AUGUST 23: As Drake expected, no trade materialized. The Raiders have followed through on their pledge to release the six-year veteran running back, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets.

AUGUST 22: Given a two-year deal in 2021, Kenyan Drake is not expected to be part of the 2022 Raiders. Las Vegas plans to release the veteran running back, Tom Pelissero of NFL.com tweets. The team is still holding out hope for a trade and will hold off on an official release for a bit, per Josina Anderson of CBS Sports (on Twitter). But Drake’s contract makes a deal difficult.

The former Dolphins and Cardinals back signed an $11MM deal during Jon Gruden‘s final offseason in charge. Teams must cut their rosters from 85 to 80 players by Tuesday afternoon. Drake does not expect a trade to happen.

“I’m just waiting on the next 24 hours,” Drake said, via Anderson (all Twitter links). “I don’t think anyone would trade for me just because of the contract situation, either way Raiders have to pay me.

“Honestly, I felt like the writing has been on the wall recently — like within the last two to three weeks. I never felt like I had a fair shot to really compete for the job coming off the injury. I feel like, as time progressed through camp, there really wasn’t a role for me to have anymore because they had guys that they brought in, they traded for and I was kind of odd man out, especially coming off my injury.”

Because the Raiders fully guaranteed Drake $8.5MM, a release will come with some dead money. The Raiders also restructured Drake’s deal in March, creating some cap space but pushing more money into the future. The Raiders will eat $8MM in dead money from this cut, though only $3.6MM of it will go on this year’s cap. The move will provide less than $500K in cap savings. A trade would lessen the blow, moving Drake’s $2.5MM base salary off the books.

Drake, 28, did not finish out his first season as a Raider; a broken leg sidelined him in December. Drake had recovered, however, and suited up for Las Vegas’ preseason games thus far. The Raiders’ new Josh McDaniels–Dave Ziegler regime added Brandon Bolden and Ameer Abdullah and drafted two backs — fourth-rounder Zamir White and seventh-rounder Brittain Brown — this offseason. The roster crunch behind Josh Jacobs left Drake without a place, with Vic Tafur of The Athletic noting (via Twitter) Abdullah — a former second-round pick but a player whose primary role in recent years has been as a kick returner — had beaten him out.

The Cardinals transition-tagged Drake in 2020, giving the former Dolphins third-rounder a nice payday to stick around following an in-season 2019 trade. Drake worked as Arizona’s primary back in 2020, and Gruden — who was interested in the Alabama product in 2020 as well, prior to the Cards tagging him — viewed him as a player who would help on passing downs. After totaling 1,092 scrimmage yards in 2020, Drake amassed just 545 (with three touchdowns) last season.

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Jets To Waive K Eddy Pineiro

By | at August 23, 2022 2:28 pm

The Jets have made their kicker decision. Offseason addition Greg Zuerlein looks to have won the job. The team is waiving Eddy Pineiro on Tuesday, Adam Schefter of ESPN.com tweets.

Pineiro kicked in five Jets games last season, making all eight of his field goal tries and going 9-for-10 on PATs. But the Jets scooped up Zuerlein after the Cowboys cut him this offseason. The veteran kicker is also attached to a slightly bigger contract — one year, $2MM ($1MM guaranteed). Though, Pineiro was set to make $1.75MM ($750K guaranteed) this year.

Barring another change at the position, Zuerlein will be on track to kick for a third team and begin an 11th season as a franchise’s primary kicker. The strong-legged specialist who earned All-Pro recognition in 2017 and made a 58-yard field goal to send the Rams to Super Bowl LIII a year later struggled in his second Cowboys season. Zuerlein, 34, missed a career-high six extra points in 2021. He made 82.9% of his field goal tries in each of his Cowboys campaigns.

Both players were not faring well during the Jets’ offseason program, and Zuerlein’s leash is certainly not as long as it was during his Rams tenure.

The Jets have not enjoyed kicking stability for a bit. They used three kickers during both the 2020 and ’21 seasons. Kaare Vedvik not working out in 2019 led to the team using two that year. Gang Green has featured a different kicker in each of the past six seasons. Jason Myers, a Pro Bowler as a Jet in 2018, was easily the best of the bunch. The team did not re-sign him in free agency the following offseason.

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Broncos Release LB Joe Schobert, Place OL Tom Compton On PUP List

By | at August 23, 2022 2:10 pm

Joe Schobert did not last long as a Bronco. The veteran linebacker was part of Denver’s second wave of cuts, as the team made the necessary moves to reach Tuesday’s 80-man roster max.

The Broncos signed the former Browns, Jaguars and Steelers starter last week, after having brought him in for a visit earlier during training camp. After playing Schobert in their second preseason game, the Broncos moved on.

Denver did not devote many resources to its inside linebacker position this offseason, adding nontendered Philadelphia cog Alex Singleton. The team was preparing to use 2021 trade acquisition Jonas Griffith alongside Josey Jewell at linebacker, but Griffith’s dislocated elbow changed those plans. Griffith is expected to miss time to start the regular season, which led to the Schobert signing.

Schobert, 28, made the Pro Bowl in 2017 and landed a big-ticket Jaguars contract in 2020. The Jags moved on from the high-volume tackler last year, trading him to the Steelers. While Schobert became a Devin Bush replacement, starting 15 games after the early-season trade, little interest came his way this offseason. The Broncos, who also moved 2021 inside linebacker starter Baron Browning to the edge, should be expected to pursue other outside options at the position.

One of the Broncos’ options at right tackle, Tom Compton, will also not be on the team’s 53-man roster when the season starts. The team placed the veteran offensive lineman on its reserve/PUP list Tuesday, shelving him for at least four games. The Broncos also waived running back Stevie Scott and wide receiver Trey Quinn. Tackle Casey Tucker received a waived/injured designation.

Prior to Nathaniel Hackett reuniting with Billy Turner, the Broncos signed Compton to a one-year, $2.25MM deal. Both Turner and Compton began camp on the active/PUP list, but Turner began practicing last week. Compton, 33, underwent a summer back procedure, blunting his momentum after being a quality fill-in for 49ers right tackle Mike McGlinchey down the stretch last season. Turner, Calvin Anderson and Cameron Fleming are vying to be the Broncos’ latest right tackle starter. Whoever wins that competition will be Denver’s 10th Week 1 right tackle in 10 years.

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