NFL - NEWS & NOTES

Oops... Too Late!!!

Free agent tight end O.J. Howard won’t be a free agent for long.

Howard is visiting Cincinnati today, and if there are no issues with his physical the Bengals are expecting to sign him, according to Ian Rapoport of NFL Network.


The Bills cut Howard yesterday even though they just guaranteed him $3 million in March.

Prior to signing with the Bills, Howard had played his whole career in Tampa Bay, where he had 14 catches for 135 yards with one touchdown last year, and had 119 career catches for 1,737 yards with 15 touchdowns over his five-year career.

PFT
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Damn... missed out on that one.

 

You know where he's not the starter...?

 

Are you forgetting we have Lyman?

 

Don't count on that... I would take Brissett(I can't believe I am saying this) over Rudolph.

He also would NOT be starting for the Lions.

 

The Lions cut their backup and the Cowboys only have Dak. Maybe Mason can be on one of those teams. He obviously won't start but maybe there's some draft capital to be had.

 

I have a feeling that's why he is still employed by the Steelers.

 

So far you have names available like:
Cam Newton(probably won't want to backup)
Mike Glennon
Kellon Mond
A.J. McCarron
Josh Johnson
Ian book
Brett Hundley
Josh Rosen
Garrett Gilbert

What, if anything, does Rudolph bring to the table over these guys? They can be signed without a draft pick in compensation.

 

Rudolph is better than those guys. His contract is for 3 million this season. Cam is the only one that has a winning record on the list and he is a shell of his former self.

 

So... you are basing a career backups ability to be a career backup on wins and losses? I'm not sure a GM worth his weight will look at Mason Rudolph and say, damn, this guy has a winning record at 5-4-1, why hasn't anyone traded for him yet?

Everything depends on system when it comes to a backup. Let's face it, Rudolph hasn't been asked to do much with Ben there.. Now that Ben is gone, they bring in not one, but two guys to replace him...yet Rudolph lingers as the 3rd choice, imho because he knows that system so well. No other team has that advantage but the Steelers.

 

Irish makes the right point. Rudolph had every leg up in that competition, and not only did they draft a new QB, but they signed another. Brought in two guys, both apparently beat him. That doesn't bode well for his future elsewhere. Maybe he makes it, but he's not going to get the benefit of the doubt anywhere, he'll need to come in as backup / third and prove it.

 

Nothing really. He's a career backup and there's lots of those. Still, I wonder about GMs sometimes. Maybe someone throws out a 7th rounder but I doubt it.

He's a Steeler, for better or worse

 

Chargers to sign Sony Michel



Once again, Sony Michel will play his home games at SoFi Stadium.

But this time he’ll be using a different locker room.


After a report emerged earlier on Wednesday that Michel was taking a visit with the Chargers, multiple reports indicate he is now expected to sign with the club.

The Dolphins released Michel earlier this week. He’d signed with Miami in May.

The Chargers currently have Austin Ekeler, Joshua Kelley, Larry Rountree, and rookie Isaiah Spiller on their 53-man roster at running back.

Michel won Super Bowl LVI with the Rams last year. He led the team with 845 yards rushing in the regular season, also catching 21 passes for 128 yards.

In four seasons with the Patriots and Rams, Michel has 3,137 yards rushing with 18 touchdowns along with 47 catches for 386 yards with two TDs.

PFT

 

Bears awarded Alex Leatherwood and five other players on waivers



The Bears were the NFL’s most active team on the waiver wire.

Chicago claimed six players who were cut by other teams yesterday: Offensive lineman Alex Leatherwood, defensive tackle Armani Watts, defensive back Josh Blackwell, defensive end Kingsley Johnathan, linebacker Sterling Weatherford and tight end Trevin Wesco.


The biggest name of the bunch is Leatherwood, the 2021 first-round pick of the Raiders. Las Vegas tried and failed to trade Leatherwood, and if he had passed through waivers the Raiders would have been stuck with the remaining $5.9 million on his contract. But now the Bears will pay that.

It’s not a great sign for Chicago’s depth that more than 10 percent of their 53-man roster will be made up of players who were cut by other teams, but the Bears decided to be aggressive on the day after roster cutdown day.

The Bears will now have to release six other players to make room for these six new arrivals.

PFT

 

Wow. I remember last year when Raiders fans died on this hill when it came to this pick. The Steelers were the joke for picking Harris. While Harris wasn't my pick for Pittsburgh, he's worked out better than the Mayock picking machine.

 

Wow... only two of them are ex-Falcons backups. I guess we're moving up in the world.

 

49ers waive Trey Sermon, place Jimmie Ward on injured reserve



The 49ers kept five running backs on their initial 53-player roster Tuesday. They reduced it to four Wednesday.

The team cut Trey Sermon, a third-round choice in 2021, to make room for the addition of offensive lineman Blake Hance. The 49ers claimed Hence off waivers from the Browns earlier in the day.


Sermon’s departure leaves Elijah Mitchell, Jeff Wilson Jr., Tyrion Davis-Price and Jordan Mason in the running backs room.

The 49ers traded two selections to move up and select Sermon last year, but he took a backseat to Mitchell, a sixth-round choice who had 1,100 yards from scrimmage and six touchdowns. Sermon appeared in only nine games as a rookie with two starts, totaling 167 rushing yards and a touchdown on 41 carries.

General Manager John Lynch said last week that “Sermon has been one of our best players” during training camp.

It seems likely that someone claims Sermon off waivers.

The 49ers also announced they signed tight end Tyler Kroft and defensive lineman Jordan Willis to one-year deals. They placed linebacker Curtis Robinson and defensive back Jimmie Ward on injured reserve. Robinson and Ward will have to miss at least four games before returning to the active roster.

Ward injured his hamstring Aug. 15, and Robinson was diagnosed with a high-ankle sprain in the third preseason game last Thursday.

PFT

 

Lions waive RB Jermar Jefferson among latest roster moves



The Detroit Lions reversed course on one of their more controversial roster-making decisions. A day after keeping running back Jermar Jefferson on the initial 53-man roster, the Lions waived the second-year RB to make room for new DT Benito Jones.

The Lions claimed Jones off waivers from the Miami Dolphins after that team waived him on Tuesday. To make room on the 53-man roster, the Lions waived Jefferson. The move leaves the Lions with just three running backs on the active roster: D’Andre Swift, Jamaal Williams and Craig Reynolds.

Jefferson is subject to waiver claims, which will be processed at 12 p.m. on Thursday. If he goes unclaimed, the Lions can bring him back to the practice squad.

No players went from the active roster to injured reserve on Wednesday, which means players who missed the end of the preseason, most notably S Ifeatu Melifonwu and DT Levi Onwuzurike, remain on the 53-man roster and eligible to practice. The only addition to the IR came when WR Trinity Benson accepted an injury settlement after being waived with injured status.

The Lions also signed 13 players to the practice squad who all spent time with the club in training camp and preseason.

WR Maurice Alexander

LB Jarrad Davis

TE Derrick Deese

OT Obinna Eze

TE Garrett Griffin

DT Bruce Hector

DE James Houston

RB Justin Jackson

WR Tom Kennedy

CB AJ Parker

LB Anthony Pittman

OT Dan Skipper

CB Saivion Smith

YAHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

 

Texans release Royce Freeman

The Texans dropped Marlon Mack from their active roster on Tuesday and they released another veteran running back on Wednesday.

The NFL’s daily transaction report shows that Royce Freeman has been cut. The Texans needed a roster spot after claiming wide receiver Tyler Johnson off of waivers.

Freeman was claimed off of waivers by the Texans in 2021. He ran 35 times for 92 yards and caught seven passes for 62 yards in seven games for the team.

Rookie Dameon Pierce is at the top of the depth chart in Houston. Rex Burkhead and Dare Ogunbowale remain on the 53-man roster and Mack is rejoining the team as a member of the practice squad.

YAHOO

 

I'm guessing the Bears weren't the only team that put in a claim for Leatherwood. He was obviously a reach as a first round pick, but as a waiver wire pickup? I'd be jumping all over that. Terrific pickup for Chicago.

One very important clarification... the article mentioned a $5.9 million cap figure that the Bears are now taking over. That's not his 2022 cap figure, but rather the total for the remaining three years of the contract. It's fully guaranteed, so Chicago is indeed on the hook for the whole thing. But it's only $1.3 million this year.

 

Rams DL Aaron Donald downplays helmet swing: 'It was just a practice. It was football.'

Los Angeles Rams superstar defensive lineman Aaron Donald de-emphasized swinging a helmet at Cincinnati Bengals players during a practice last Thursday.

"It was just a practice. It was football," Donald said in a Wednesday interview with the AP Pro Football Podcast, via the Associated Press. "I don't really wanna go back to nothing negative that happened and talk about something that happened in a practice. My main focus is Buffalo."

Donald and the Super Bowl-champion Rams are set to open the 2022 NFL season on Thursday, Sept. 8, against the Buffalo Bills. However, in a joint practice with their Super Bowl opponents from last year, multiple skirmishes led to the Rams and Bengals coaches calling a halt to the practice. Donald was seen swinging a Bengals player's helmet at Cincinnati opponents during one of the dustups. In the AP interview, Donald was asked if he addressed the situation with Rams head coach Sean McVay and his L.A. teammates, to which Donald replied only "yes."

While Donald's helmet-swinging garnered the majority of the attention in the aftermath of the practice donnybrooks, there were reportedly multiple fights, with Bengals offensive lineman La'el Collins and Rams linebacker Leonard Floyd reported to have been in the middle of at least two of them. According to reports, Collins threw Floyd's helmet at Floyd, which led to players from both teams scuffling, and the two later were involved in another fight.

NFL clubs, not the league, are responsible for overseeing player conduct at practices. Therefore, it's unlikely the league would discipline Donald, NFL Network Insider Tom Pelissero reported last Thursday.

Los Angeles and Cincinnati played in the teams' preseason finale on Saturday without incident.

Donald, whose resume includes seven All-Pro selections and three AP NFL Defensive Player of the Year accolades, was clear Wednesday that his focus is looking ahead to Buffalo and not looking back at the incident that marred and prematurely ended the joint practices.

"Just trying to relive all that over again, trying to accomplish that, being a world champion all over again," Donald said. "That's the biggest motivation. I was motivated to get there, but once you accomplish that and you get to see what that feels like, it makes you want it that much more. So that's just the motivation, just to relive that all over again."

NFL.com