Tag: Cordrea Tankersley

Vikings release CB Tae Hayes and CB Cordrea Tankersley

The Minnesota Vikings announced that it released CB Tae Hayes and CB Cordrea Tankersley from their contracts.

With the official window for free agency right around the corner, the Vikings have wasted no time cutting back on certain contracts.

First, the team released longtime tight end Kyle Rudolph. On Friday, Minnesota announced two more roster moves: releasing both CB Tae Hayes and CB Cordrea Tankersley from their contracts.

Both Hayes and Tankersley were pretty low on the depth chart. Hayes played in one game for the Vikings. Tankersley played two games with Minnesota.

The move doesn’t clear up massive space on the 2021 salary cap, but it’s a start. The Vikings save $450,000 on the salary cap with the decision to cut the two corners, as first reported by Chris Tomasson of the Pioneer Press.

It’s hard to say just how many cuts the team is going to have to make in order to get under 2021’s salary cap. We know what lowest total for the salary cap will look like, but we’ll have to wait and see for the exact base salary cap.

Vikings elevate Eddie Yarbrough, Tae Hayes and Cordrea Tankersley to the active roster

Minnesota announced that it was elevating cornerbacks Tae Hayes and Cordrea Tankersley, in addition to defensive end Eddie Yarbrough.

Minnesota has plenty of absences heading into its game against Detroit in Week 17. It should help, then, that the Vikings elevated some players for the defense.

On Saturday, the team announced that it was elevating cornerbacks Tae Hayes and Cordrea Tankersley to the active roster. Defensive end Eddie Yarbrough has been elevated to the active roster, via COVID-19 replacement.

Yarbrough has played in three games for the Vikings this season, while Tankersley has played in one. Hayes, however, has yet to play with Minnesota. He saw action in two NFL games this year with Miami.

Yarbrough can serve an important reserve role for the team, due to Jalyn Holmes and Ifeadi Odenigbo being ruled out for the game.

Tankersley and Hayes could still see some playing time as well, due to a lack of depth at defensive back and the low stakes of this Week 17 game.

Miami Dolphins add two players to 2020 practice squad

Miami Dolphins add two players to 2020 practice squad

The Miami Dolphins aren’t quite as active early on this season with player transactions as they were in 2019 — a reassuring sign that this team is in a much better place from a talent perspective entering Year 2 of the Chris Grier & Brian Flores era. But due to some unforeseen circumstances, the Dolphins did have a pair of openings available on their 2020 practice squad that required filling. We now know who those replacement talents are — including one familiar face for the Dolphins who was once upon a time a promising young talent.

The Dolphins signed former 3rd-round pick Cordrea Tankersley to the unit along with former Miami Hurricanes offensive lineman Tyler Gauthier.

Neither player is a probable contributor to the Dolphins on game day unless we see a drastic change in the dynamics of both units via injuries in the coming months. That’s a possible outcome, but the Dolphins would have to be completely devastated at both cornerback and along the offensive line to reach that tipping point.

A far more likely scenario is that Tankersley, who has failed to find his prior form after a knee injury cost him valuable developmental time in 2018, and Gauthier serve as depth pieces at practice to help develop the first-team offensive talents and that when Miami is afforded more enticing developmental players, we’ll once again see the Dolphins part ways with these two new additions.

Miami Dolphins cut cornerback Cordrea Tankersley

Miami Dolphins cut cornerback Cordrea Tankersley

The Miami Dolphins have been busy tacking on cornerbacks this offseason — even going to far as to continue to hoard waiver wire additions as the position despite the team’s apparent depth. Miami may well be looking to disprove the old saying that there can be such a thing as too much of a good thing: these Dolphins clearly covet their options in coverage. But Miami’s cornerback room is now one player lighter than it was yesterday morning — the Dolphins announced that they have waived veteran cornerback Cordrea Tankersley after three seasons in Miami.

A former 3rd-round selection in the 2017 NFL Draft, Tankersley offered promise with his early flashes of play as a rookie. But the former Clemson Tiger seemed to fall out of favor with former head coach Adam Gase and then was injured midway through the 2018 season, playing in only 17 games over the course of his three years with the team.

Tankersley never seemed to rebound from the knee injury that claimed the rest of his 2018 season — missing the entire season last year in what would have been a valuable window for Miami’s new coaching staff to evaluate his abilities.

Tankersley spent time on the Dolphins’ reserve/COVID-19 list over the course of the last week or so — but Miami activated him and then cut him in rapid succession yesterday, making him one of two players cut for the Dolphins along with long snapper Rex Sunahara. From here, Tankersley faces the unenviable task of trying to find a new gig amid all of the chaos around the league as teams look to solidify their training camp rosters; which figures to be a difficult task. If Tankersley is healthy, he’ll likely have a strong shot at pulling it off. But the Dolphins haven’t seen a healthy Tankersley in quite some time, which is probably a big factor in why the Dolphins elected not to put too many eggs into that basket as they’ve worked to build up their cornerback room.

Four potential veteran cuts for the Dolphins this summer

Four potential veteran cuts for the Dolphins this summer

The Miami Dolphins are in a “talent acquisition” chapter of their rebuild. But with each new infusion of talent, there’s an inevitable flushing out of the old guard that needs to take place as well — although the next phase of cuts for the Dolphins isn’t likely to take place until after the 2020 NFL Draft next month. But if, and when, the Dolphins decide to lop off some players off the roster, they’re going to have a number of veterans clinging to life as Miami Dolphins that are going to be tempting to part with.

Here are four veteran players who would be logical cuts for the Dolphins when they’re next committed to trimming the roster.

WR Albert Wilson

Wilson is here not because he doesn’t deserve to be on a 55-man roster but rather because the Dolphins are starting down a monstrous 2020 salary if something doesn’t change. Wilson is due over $10.83M this season; which isn’t anywhere close to his actual value based on his first two seasons of play in Miami.

Wilson will need to either restructure an extension or be cut — although which one the Dolphins opt to pursue may come down to whether or not they get a slot receiver in the draft.

CB Cordrea Tankersley

The Dolphins’ overhaul of the secondary is a steep project. But the lack of Tankersley to bounce back from a knee injury from November of 2018 in a timely manner cost him playing time this season and the coaching staff may grow tired of waiting to see him hit the field. He’s due just over $1M for this upcoming season, but if the Dolphins cut Tankersley after June 1st, he’d count for just $176k against the salary cap in dead cap.

DE Charles Harris

This one may need to happen regardless of what happens in the NFL Draft. Harris has had three seasons to leave a lasting impression on the field as a Miami Dolphin and he’s seemingly regressed in each season. The general consensus around Harris is that he’s a good man and a hard worker — but the former 1st-round pick played in just 39% of Miami’s snaps this past season despite a desperate need for pass rush production.

Owed $3.45M in cap this year, Harris feels like a logical cut once the time comes to trim the roster.

RB Kalen Ballage

Like Harris, Ballage may be best off looking for a fresh start elsewhere. It’s hard to shake the memories of Ballage rushing for 1.8 yards per carry on 74 carries in 2019 — just like it is hard to shake the images of the dropped passes and missteps in the passing game. The Dolphins are intent on overhauling their running back room and that should leave Ballage on the outside looking in.