Tag: Armon Watts

Highlights of every new Bears roster addition

The Bears claimed six players off waivers, including Alex Leatherwood and Armon Watts. Check out highlights of each player:

The Chicago Bears made several roster moves after setting their initial 53-man roster. They claimed six players off of waivers, which was the most in the league.

That included former first-round offensive lineman Alex Leatherwood, who lasted just one year in Las Vegas before being a surprise cut. Another surprise cut was former Vikings defensive tackle Armon Watts, who comes to Chicago as an upgrade at the nose tackle position.

Chicago also claimed comeback Josh Blackwell, defensive end Kingsley Jonathan, linebacker Sterling Weatherford and tight end Trevon Wesco.

In corresponding roster moves, Chicago waived rookie offensive lineman Zachary Thomas, defensive tackle Khyiris Tonga, linebacker Caleb Johnson and cornerback Duke Shelley. They also terminated the contract of linebacker Joe Thomas and placed receiver Tajae Sharpe on injured reserve.

The Bears have welcomed six new members to the roster. Here are highlights of each of them:

Vikings practice squad tracker

Keep track of all the Vikings practice squad additions

Cutdown day is behind us and general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah is moving on to the next task of building up his first practice squad.

The Vikings were hoping to have both Kellen Mond and Armon Watts sneak onto the practice squad, but both players were claimed on waivers early Wednesday morning.

Throughout the day on Wednesday and into the week, we will be updating this to reflect who is on the Vikings practice squad heading into the 2022 season.

Practice Squad

  • OG Kyle Hinton
  • RB Bryant Koback
  • S Myles Dorn
  • DL T.J. Smith
  • LB William Kwenkeu
  • WR Trishton Jackson
  • C Josh Sokol
  • TE Nick Muse

2 former Vikings claimed off waivers

The Vikings were hoping to keep both players

After cutdown day yesterday, waivers ran four hours earlier than normal to allow for teams to build their practice squads in time for practice this afternoon.

The Minnesota Vikings weren’t awarded any players on waivers, but they did have two players claimed from their roster cuts yesterday in quarterback Kellen Mond and defensive tackle Armon Watts.

Of all the players that the Vikings moved on from yesterday, these were the two likely claims by other NFL teams.

Mond was a 2021 third-round pick out of Texas A&M with the tools of a modern-day NFL quarterback: live arm, mobile and can excel outside of structure. His issues are what led the Vikings to move on from him. He struggles to see the field both accurately and quickly along with not being able to succeed past his first progression.

Watts is a starting caliber player on the interior. A former sixth-round pick out of Arkansas, he was waived strictly from a salary cap perspective. He was projected to be a starter on the Vikings defensive line this season.

The Vikings will be making plenty of moves today including building out their practice squad.

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Every NFL team’s most surprising roster cut

Highlighting the most shocking roster cut for each NFL team.

With the preseason in the books, every NFL team has now trimmed their roster to the league–mandated 53 players. While these rosters will certainly undergo changes over the next couple of days, each team has their initial 53-man roster set.

But when going from 80 to 53 players, there are some tough calls NFL general managers have to make in the process. And there were certainly some shocking moves across the league during the final roster cuts, which should make for some interesting moves on the waiver wire.

We’ve rounded up our NFL Wires editors to highlight the most surprising roster cut from every NFL team.

Minnesota Vikings trade for Houston Texans DL Ross Blacklock

The Vikings make their second player trade in August by acquiring a pass rusher

After a surprising move in waiving DL Armon Watts, the Minnesota Vikings made a trade for Houston Texans DL Ross Blacklock.

A former top-40 selection, Blacklock was a solid player for the Houston Texans but excelled as a pass rusher. Over his two seasons, Blacklock saw his PFF grades rise year-over-year with a high at 66.4 in pass rushing.

This is clearly viewed as an upside move by Kwesi Adofo-Mensah as the Texans defense has been abysmal over the last two seasons. Moving on from Watts is curious, as he was a more versatile defender. While Watts was a good pass rusher, he is a much better run defender than what Blacklock is currently.

The difference between the two must not have been significant enough to give up capital and save around $1 million in cap space. It also could mean that other moves are on the horizon.

Be sure to keep tabs on all the Vikings roster cuts with our tracker.

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Minnesota Vikings release DL Armon Watts

The Vikings shocked everyone with this roster move

Every year, there is a shocking release and the Minnesota Vikings have come through again in that regard. They have released first-team defensive lineman Armon Watts.

This one is a massive surprise considering they had him listed at the top of the depth chart. The move does save 2.54 million dollars on the salary cap, which does lend some credence as to the why behind it.

Watts was a projected starter for this team but he also was the only starter to have played in the second preseason game against the San Francisco 49ers. It was obvious that he wasn’t locked into the starter role and the Vikings wanted a longer look at Watts.

Be sure to keep tabs on all the Vikings roster cuts with our tracker.

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Four Vikings players who have stepped up in bigger roles

Here are four Vikings players who have done well in big roles:

The Vikings have been forced to deal with plenty of things outside the team’s control, like injuries, COVID-19 protocol and in-game bad luck.

Due to all those factors, Minnesota has had lesser-known players step up and thrive in bigger roles. Here are four Vikings who have done well in that regard this year:

Vikings DT Armon Watts talks about how he honored Everson Griffen during sack celebration

Vikings DT Armon Watts gave a shoutout to Everson Griffen with his celebration Thursday.

Vikings DT Armon Watts sacked Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger in the second quarter of Thursday night football.

Watts paid homage to DE Everson Griffen after doing so. Watts did the “Sack Daddy” dance after making the play, which is Griffen’s signature move after bringing down the quarterback.

The Vikings defensive tackle talked about that moment recently:

“I’ve always been close to him… just to honor him in that way meant a lot to me, getting a chance to do it, Watts said, via Andrew Krammer of the Star Tribune. “I know he’s working on some things and getting better each and every day. That’s what’s important.”

You can see Watts’ celebration here:

Watts finished the Steelers game with three tackles. Minnesota has dealt with injuries to its interior defensive line this season, which has led to Watts stepping up into a big role. Griffen currently resides on the NFI list.

Three lineup changes the Vikings can make going forward

Here are three lineup changes the Vikings can make:

At 5-5, the Vikings are at a crossroads: Minnesota can falter under high expectations or win more games to secure a postseason berth.

Minnesota has a plethora of crucial decisions to make if it wants to be successful the rest of the way. With how difficult the Vikings’ schedule is, it seems more than likely that the team will need to pull off upsets if it has any hope of turning 2021 into something memorable.

Here are three lineup decisions the Vikings can make down the road:

Three unsung heroes of the Vikings defense so far

Here are some unsung heroes of the Vikings defense:

Minnesota revamped its defense this offseason by landing some big-ticket free agents.

The Vikings signed players like DT Dalvin Tomlinson and CB Patrick Peterson. Those two grabbed the headlines in the offseason. Both have shown why at various points this season.

But what about the lesser-praised members of the Vikings defense? Here are some unsung heroes from that side of the ball: