Tag: final cuts

Greg Joseph wins Packers’ kicker battle, but for how long?

Greg Joseph was the last man standing in the Packers kicker battle…but for how long will he hold the job?

The last man standing in the Green Bay Packers’ summer-long kicking battle was veteran Greg Joseph, who ended up on the team’s initial 53-man roster after incumbent Anders Carlson and rookie Alex Hale were released Tuesday.

Statistically speaking, Joseph wasn’t the best kicker during training camp practices and preseason games. He ended up under 80 percent on all recorded kicks — 60 for 76 overall, or 78.9 percent, per Andy Herman. But Joseph finished strong — making two field goals, including a 55-yarder — in the season finale, while Carlson’s miss of 32-yard chip shot brought up confidence-shaking memories of his impactful misses to end last season. Hale, a rookie from Oklahoma State, is the Packers’ designated International Player Pathway player and will have a free practice squad spot waiting for him Wednesday.

Now that Joseph is the last kicker standing, the question becomes: Will his win last more than a day?

Packers coach Matt LaFleur made it clear the team would search the waiver wire for potential upgrades. And final cuts added a few possibilities for Brian Gutekunst to look through before waiver claims on Wednesday.

Here are all the kickers released during final cuts:

Lucas Havrisik (Browns)
Spencer Shrader (Colts)
Chad Rhyland (Patriots)
Austin Seibert (Jets)
Jude McAtamney (Giants)
Charlie Smyth (Saints)
Matthew Wright (Steelers)
Brayden Narveson (Titans)
Riley Patterson (Commanders)

There isn’t a slam dunk, can’t miss option. The Packers pro personnel department will have to do some real digging to know if any of the available kickers have the potential to be better than Joseph, who was the kicker for the Minnesota Vikings between 2021 and 2023 before joining the Packers. Joseph’s career kicking percentage is 82.6, and his extra point percentage is only 90.6. While he has a big leg (15 career makes over 50 yards), Joseph is certainly volatile. his miss on a 47-yarder in Denver during the preseason wasn’t even close.

But sometimes the devil you know is better than the devil you don’t, and the Packers will have a good sense of Joseph’s kicking ability after facing him for three years inside the division and now having a summer of him competing in Green Bay.

Also, keep in mind, Joseph is a vested veteran, so he’ll contract will fully guarantee for the 2024 season if he’s on the roster on Week 1. Joseph signed a one-year deal worth only $1.3 million, so the price tag isn’t a big one. But his entire salary would count against the cap if the Packers ended up having to make a midseason change.

Waiver claims are due by 11:00 a.m. CT on Wednesday. If the deadline comes and goes without the Packers adding a new kicker, Joseph just might end up as the team’s kicker for 2024.

Commanders coach Dan Quinn says two positions are sticking out ahead of cutdown day

Quinn says two positions have been harder to evaluate.

How many spots on the 53-man roster are up for grabs heading into the Washington Commanders’ final preseason game on Sunday vs. New England?

Will the Commanders keep three quarterbacks? Or will they keep 10 offensive linemen? What about six cornerbacks, seven wide receivers, or four tight ends?

General manager Adam Peters faces some difficult decisions before next week’s deadline for final cuts. A few positions will likely come down to Sunday’s game against the Patriots.

What is head coach Dan Quinn thinking about cutdown day?

“This may sound unusual, but we’re really looking for consistency because sometimes when a person can be into this spot or a ball player, they could press to really want to show out, or I wanna make this play, I wanna do something to stand out,” Quinn said Wednesday. “And so being tighter doesn’t allow you to play better. It just can make you a little tighter and more anxious about the play. So we’re really trying to make sure we’re staying into the flow of how we do things, and there may be some higher reps on a special teams portion or lower and higher on offense or defense.”

Quinn was asked if any position groups were standing out above others.

“I thought two of the groups that have really stood out to me, just been consistent and deep are at safety and at tight end, and just the practice habits, the willingness to go for their battles on special teams,” Quinn said. “So those have been two that have stood out to me of consistently high-level effort, guys supporting one another. And so that’s what you want as a coach where there’s really challenging spots and guys really pushing it. And I’d say those are two of the positions that that jump out to me.”

Let’s start with tight end. Three players are roster locks: Zach Ertz, Ben Sinnott and John Bates. Will the Commanders keep a fourth tight end? If so, that’s good news for third-year TE Cole Turner. Turner has had a solid camp but hasn’t flashed in the preseason games.

As for safety, Quan Martin and Jeremy Chinn are locks. Jeremy Reaves is close to a lock, with Percy Butler and Darrick Forrest also in the mix. Butler appears to be Washington’s top backup at free safety, while Forrest, who had a breakout season two years ago, has battled an injury this summer.

Undrafted rookie Tyler Owens is the wild card. Owens has all the physical attributes and has shined throughout training camp and in both preseason games. He’s made the safety battle much more enjoyable. And as much as Quinn has discussed him, it’s difficult to see the Commanders moving on from him next week.

Commanders make multiple roster moves

The Commanders make multiple roster moves.

The Washington Commanders made multiple roster moves on Tuesday, one week before the NFL’s deadline to trim rosters to 53 players.

On Monday, Washington released undrafted rookie linebacker Bo Bauer and signed defensive end Justin Hollins. Bauer was carted off the field in last week’s joint practice against the Dolphins.

Hollins, 28, played collegiately at Oregon and was the Denver Broncos’ fifth-round pick in the 2019 NFL draft. Denver waived him before the season, and the Los Angeles Rams claimed him. Hollins remained with the Rams until Nov. 2022. The Packers claimed him, where he remained until the following October.

The New York Giants signed Hollins to their practice squad, and three weeks later, the L.A. Chargers signed him to their active roster. The 6-foot-5, 248-pound Hollins has appeared in 67 career games with 123 tackles and 10.5 sacks.

On Tuesday, Washington made additional moves, releasing linebacker Keandre Jones and undrafted free-agent safety Ben Nikkel. The Commanders signed safety Kendell Brooks and linebacker Chapelle Russell to replace Jones and Nikkel.

Brooks, 24, played two seasons at Michigan State and signed with the Arizona Cardinals as an undrafted free agent in 2023. He was released during final cuts last summer and signed a futures contract with the Indianapolis Colts in January. The Colts released Brooks last week.

Russell, 27, was a seventh-round pick of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the 2020 NFL draft. He played collegiately at Temple. Russell spent his rookie season in Tampa Bay before being waived in January 2021. The Jacksonville Jaguars signed him and released him during final cuts. Russell signed with the Pittsburgh Steelers and was waived last summer.

Initial Vikings 53-man roster

Here is the first look at the 2022 Minnesota Vikings

Cuts have been made and the initial 53-man roster is live.

The Minnesota Vikings and general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah moved on from 28 players and added one in his first cutdown day as the man in charge of personnel.

There were a multitude of takeaways from the way Adofo-Mensah handled his first preseason and constructing of the roster and it starts with how the 53-man roster looked.

Here is the first look of the Minnesota Viking 53-man roster.

Meet the Chiefs’ 53-man roster following final cuts

Meet the #Chiefs’ initial 53-man roster following cuts:

The Kansas City Chiefs have officially assembled their first iteration of the 53-man roster for the 2022 NFL season. The team was faced with some tough choices, but Andy Reid and Brett Veach have always preached for the players to make those choices as tough as humanly possible. Expect some changes in the coming days as it relates to injured players and waiver claims.

Here’s your first look at the initial 53-man roster in Kansas City:

Final Minnesota Vikings 53-man roster projection

The final 53-man roster and practice squad projection for the Minnesota Vikings before cutdown day

The Minnesota Vikings need to be down to 53 players on their roster by 3 pm central time on Tuesday, August 30th.

In getting down to that number, the Vikings have made roster cuts to trim down the rosters to both 85 and 80.

As they work to move on from 27 players, the roster that you see at 3 pm on Tuesday will likely still see some changes, as they will wait to place players on injured reserve and work the waiver wire for players that other teams release.

Our projections have changed slightly over the past two weeks due to impressive performances. This week will see some of the same whether someone secures a job or works his way onto the roster.

(All starters are italicized)

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Falcons 53-man roster projection ahead of final cuts

Atlanta Falcons 53-man roster projection: Mike Ford and Jared Bernhardt make the cut in our latest prediction.

The Atlanta Falcons have one preseason game remaining before the NFL’s 53-man roster deadline. With 80 players currently on the team, the Falcons must cut 27 players by Tuesday.

Here’s our latest 53-man roster projection ahead of final cuts.

Here’s where former Jaguars are heading after waiver claims

Three players waived by Jacksonville have been claimed since final cuts.

Jacksonville had to cut its roster down from 80 players to the final 53 on Tuesday, and now we know where a few of those former Jags players are heading. Though several players (such as receivers Pharoh Cooper and Laquon Treadwell) were released and became unrestricted free agents, even more players were waived, meaning teams had a chance to claim them before they hit the open market.

Three of those players were claimed and now have a new home: receiver Collin Johnson, tight end Ben Ellefson and linebacker Quincy Williams.

Johnson is joining the New York Giants after an underwhelming preseason in an oversaturated wide receiver room. The second-year player had some positive moments as a rookie and will look for success with quarterback Daniel Jones in New York.

Ellefson, meanwhile, joined the Minnesota Vikings in a move that makes a ton of sense for that team after it was announced that projected starting tight end Irv Smith would miss the entire season after undergoing meniscus surgery. Finally, Williams joins the Jets as he couldn’t beat out Chapelle Russell or Dakota Allen for a roster spot with Jacksonville.

There weren’t any particularly surprising moves for the Jags, except for the fact that only five wideouts from the deep group made the final roster. But there were still some difficult decisions made that saw players who had impressive preseasons depart. We’ll keep you posted on what’s next for these players in the coming days and weeks.