Tag: Futures Contract

Lions sign former Saints WR to reserve/future contract

Lions sign former Saints WR Tre’Quan Smith to reserve/future contract

The burgeoning reserve/future contract stable of players for the Detroit Lions keeps growing. A day after inking offensive lineman Netane Muti to a deal, the Lions locked up wide receiver Tre’Quan Smith to a future contract.

Smith, 28, spent the 2023 season with the Denver Broncos. He played in one game, notching 10 snaps and no stats for Denver. Smith is best known for his years with the New Orleans Saints.

A third-round pick out of UCF in the 2018 NFL draft, Smith started 35 games in five seasons in New Orleans. His best season came in 2020, when the 6-foot-1 Smith caught 34 passes for 448 yards and four touchdowns. He suffered a groin injury at the end of the 2023 preseason and was placed on I.R. by the Saints, then migrated to the Broncos after being released from the I.R.

Smith is known for his vertical speed (4.49 at the 2018 combine) and impressive catch radius. During his time in New Orleans, he played under Lions coach Dan Campbell and others currently on the Lions staff.

 

 

Lions sign another OL for the offseason

Lions sign OL Netane Muti to a reserve/future contract

The Detroit Lions added another free agent offensive lineman to the offseason player list. On Tuesday, the Lions announced they have signed OL Netane Muti to a reserve/future contract.

Muti, 24, played in two games for the Las Vegas Raiders in 2023 but only on special teams. He was a guard for three seasons with the Denver Broncos after being selected in the sixth round of the 2020 NFL draft by Denver. He’s got NFL experience playing both guard spots.

During his early career in Denver, he played alongside and often backed up Graham Glasgow, who is now a free agent after being the starting RG for the Lions in 2023.

Muti comes with a rugby background and scant college football experience. He tore his Achilles twice while at Fresno State but has remained healthy in his NFL career.

Tom Kennedy among 11 players signed to reserve/future deals by the Lions

The Detroit Lions signed 11 players to reserve/future contracts, including WR Tom Kennedy and OT Connor Galvin

One of the first orders of business for all teams in the offseason is to sign players to reserve/future contracts. With the Lions season not ending until after the NFC Championship game, it took longer than other years.

The Lions added 11 players to reserve/future deals on Tuesday. A reserve/future contract is a commitment by the team to bring the players back with a chance to compete for spots in the coming season. Typically, they are players coming off the practice squad or unsigned street free agents who had some connection to the team.

The biggest name is wide receiver Tom Kennedy, who has been on and off the Lions roster since the 2019 season.

The full list:

  • LB Mitchell Agude
  • WR Maurice Alexander
  • OL Matt Farniok
  • RB Jake Funk
  • OT Connor Galvin
  • CB Craig James
  • S Brandon Joseph
  • WR Tom Kennedy
  • OL Michael Niese
  • DT Chris Smith

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Vikings sign CB A.J. Green III to futures contract

The Minnesota Vikings announced Tuesday that they have signed former Cleveland Browns CB A.J. Green III to a futures contract.

A busy offseason for the Minnesota Vikings continues, as the team announced Tuesday that they have signed former Cleveland Browns cornerback A.J. Green III to a futures contract.

Green had been with the Browns since entering the league in 2020 as an undrafted free agent out of Oklahoma State. During his time with the Browns, Green appeared in 29 games, making two starts and coming away with two interceptions during his four seasons in Cleveland.

Green has great size for the position, coming in at 6’2″ and nearly 200 pounds, and should provide the Vikings with some much-needed depth at the position. Minnesota has a lot of questions going into the 2024 season, and not much cap flexibility to address them, so signing a guy with potential like Green can help mitigate those concerns.

Minnesota is still likely to address the cornerback position further, whether that comes through free agency or the NFL draft, as Green isn’t likely to be a player who is going to make a sizeable contribution, but rather provides competition in camp and may provide depth in the event of an injury.

With the signing of Green, the Vikings now have 13 players signed to futures contracts.

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Vikings sign RB Myles Gaskin to futures contract

A day after signing 10 players to futures contracts, the Vikings added one more in Gaskin

The Minnesota Vikings announced they signed one more player to a futures contract as they gave one to running back Myles Gaskin.

The Vikings signed Gaskin to the active early on in the season and elevated him from the practice squad multiple times this season to be the third running back on the roster. He spent time with the Los Angeles Rams in between his two stints with the Vikings.

Gaskin being brought back on a futures contract is a good thing for the Vikings running back room. While he doesn’t offer high upside at the position, he does have both a good baseline of play and is a veteran voice in the room for Ty Chandler and DeWayne McBride in their development.

Adding Gaskin to a futures contract makes it 11 total players the Vikings have signed to said contracts.

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The Eagles sign ex-Lions OL Jarrid Williams to a reserve/future contract

Williams finished the season on the Lions practice squad but was not signed by Detroit after the season

Former Lions offensive lineman Jarrid Williams has agreed to a reserve/future contract with the Philadelphia Eagles.

Detroit signed Williams to the practice squad in December when the New York Giants signed LB Jarrad Davis off the Lions’ practice squad to their active roster. Williams did not appear on the active roster for the Lions. Prior to his stint in Detroit, Williams was on the Eagles’ practice squad as an undrafted rookie.

He was one of several Lions who finished on the practice squad that did not sign a reserve/future contract with Detroit. The team did bring back 10 of those players, including WR Tom Kennedy and DT Demetrius Taylor.

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8 Lions who ended 2022 on the practice squad are now free agents

8 Lions who ended 2022 on the practice squad are now free agents after their contracts expired and did not sign reserve/future deals with the team

Monday marked the day when players who finished the 2022 regular season on the practice squad saw their contracts with teams expire. The Detroit Lions had eight members of the practice squad expire and not sign to a reserve/future contract.

Those eight players are now free agents who can sign reserve/future contracts with any other team or a practice squad deal with one of the eight teams still alive in the postseason.

The eight expired contracts:

PK Sam Ficken

TE Garrett Griffin

QB Steven Montez

CB A.J. Parker

CB Saivion Smith

LB Julian Stanford

OT Jarrid Williams

WR Brandon Zylstra

The Lions have 11 players signed to reserve/future contracts. All of those players were with the Lions practice squad or injured reserve at the end of the season.

For the players not signed to reserve/future contracts, it’s a pretty good sign their time with the Lions is over.

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Lions sign TE Derrick Deese Jr. to reserve/future contract

Deese Jr. was on the Lions initial practice squad as an undrafted rookie from San Jose State

The Detroit Lions have brought back another member of the 2022 undrafted rookie class. Tight end Derrick Deese Jr. agreed to a reserve/future contract with the Lions on Wednesday.

Deese spent the 2022 offseason with the Lions after signing as an undrafted free agent out of San Jose State. He was on Detroit’s initial practice squad but was released early in the season.

He joins 10 other Lions who finished on the team’s practice squad and signed reserve/future contracts earlier this week.

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Colts sign K Lucas Havrisik to futures contract

The Colts signed K Lucas Havrisik to a futures deal.

The Indianapolis Colts signed free-agent kicker Lucas Havrisik to a Reserve/Futures contract, the team announced Tuesday.

Havrisik spent a short time on the Colts’ practice squad this season and participated in the team’s 2022 rookie minicamp following the NFL draft.

He and Chase McLaughlin signed to the practice squad after the release of Rodrigo Blankenship. McLaughlin eventually won the job and had a stellar season kicking for the Colts.

Havrisik has yet to appear in an NFL game since entering the league out of Arizona.

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Lions lock up 10 practice squad players to reserve/future contracts

The Detroit Lions signed 10 players from the team’s practice squad to reserve/future contracts, including WR Tom Kennedy

In the first official order of business of the offseason, the Detroit Lions signed 10 players who finished the season with the team to reserve/future contracts.

All 10 completed the season on the Lions’ practice squad and were technically street free agents free to sign with any team. A reserve/future contract is a commitment by the team to bring the players back with a chance to compete for spots in the coming season.

The 10 players the Lions signed to reserve/future contracts on Monday:

WR Maurice Alexander

WR Stanley Berryhill

S Brady Breeze

CB Khalil Dorsey

OT Obinna Eze

RB Jermar Jefferson

WR Tom Kennedy

OL Darrin Paulo

DT Demetrius Taylor

CB Jarren Williams

The reserve/future contracts do not count against the Lions salary cap.

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