Sports blog information from USA TODAY.
Coming out of the loss to the 49ers, these are the injuries to know about.
The Arizona Cardinals lost on Sunday to the San Francisco 49ers 45-29 and had some injuries of note.
One appears serious while others are things to watch as the week progresses.
Listen to the latest from Cards Wire’s Jess Root on his podcast, Rise Up, See Red. Subscribe on Apple podcasts or Spotify.
Here are four names that could fit the bill for the Chargers as the trade deadline nears.
The NFL trade deadline is close.
Sitting at 3-4 and still in a spot to make a playoff run, the Chargers could afford to add some reinforcements at positions of need.
With that said, each Chargers Wire writer laid out a player that Los Angeles should look to inquire about.
Swaim’s deal with the Cardinals is one year for $1.7 million. He got $450,000 to sign.
The Arizona Cardinals added veteran tight Geoff Swaim at the start of training camp to bolster their tight end room. We now know the details of the one-year deal he signed with the Cardinals, thanks to Over the Cap.
It is a one-year contract worth $1.7 million.
He received a $450,000 signing bonus and will earn $1.165 million in salary, the league minimum. He will also make $5,000 per game he is active in 2023, a max of $85,000.
The amount of the signing bonus suggests the Cardinals plan on him making the team.
There are no listed salary guarantees, though.
Swaim was coming off a one-year $3.5 million contract with the Tennessee Titans.
Swaim enters his eighth NFL season. Last year with the Titans, he played in all 17 regular-season games, starting 13 of them. He caught 12 passes for 58 yards and a touchdown.
He has never been a high-volume pass catcher. His career-high in receptions was 31 in 2021.
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Listen to the latest from Cards Wire’s Jess Root on his podcast, Rise Up, See Red. Subscribe on Apple podcasts or Spotify.
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By adding TE Geoff Swaim, the Cardinals now have basically one roster spot for the young players to compete for.
The Arizona Cardinals opened training camp on Tuesday and announced a few roster moves. One was the signing of veteran tight end Geoff Swaim, who most recently played for the Tennessee Titans.
Swaim, who will turn 30 in September, has been in the league since 2015 when he was a seventh-round pick of the Dallas Cowboys.
He played four seasons for Dallas, followed by a one-year stint with the Jacksonville Jaguars. He played the last three seasons with the Titans.
Swaim is 6-4 and 260 pounds.
He started 37 of the 43 games in which he appeared over the last three seasons in Tennessee.
He isn’t a big pass catcher. He has 100 career receptions and his career-high in a season is 31 catches, which he had in 2021.
He is a solid blocker and was part of a Tennessee offense that featured Derrick Henry.
Before the addition of Swaim, the tight end consisted of veteran Zach Ertz, 2022 second-round pick Trey McBride and a bunch of young and unproven guys.
Ertz and McBride are roster locks. Swaim probably is as well, which means the rest of the guys are probably battling for one roster spot.
Noah Togiai, Bernhard Seikovits and undrafted rookies Blake Whiteheart and Joel Honigford will all have to battle for a spot on the roster.
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Listen to the latest from Cards Wire’s Jess Root on his podcast, Rise Up, See Red. Subscribe on Apple podcasts or Spotify.
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The Swaim train has reportedly found a new home in Arizona.
Former Tennessee Titans tight end Geoff Swaim has found a new home as training camps open around the NFL.
According to ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler, Swaim plans to sign with the Arizona Cardinals, whose general manager, Monti Ossenfort, previously worked in Tennessee’s front office while Swaim was with the Titans.
After spending four years with the Dallas Cowboys and one with the Jacksonville Jaguars, Swaim was in Nashville for the last three.
Often pushed into a bigger role than he was suited for, Swaim appeared in 43 games (37 starts) in that span, totaling 52 catches for 351 yards and five touchdowns while serving mostly as a blocker.
In Arizona, Swaim will be no better than the No. 3, which is the right type of role for him. Zach Ertz and 2022 second-round pick Trey McBride sit at the top of the depth chart, and Swaim will face competition for the spot behind them with second-year tight end, Noah Togiai
Swaim isn’t the first former Titan to end up in the desert this offseason, as former Titans left tackle Dennis Daley was also signed by Ossenfort.
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The New Orleans Saints could use a blocking tight end after they traded Adam Trautman. Here are 10 free agents who could help the team:
The New Orleans Saints could use a blocking tight end after they traded Adam Trautman during the NFL draft — Juwan Johnson has developed into a competent blocker but he’s at his best running routes, catching passes, and scoring touchdowns. And he should benefit in that department with Derek Carr throwing to him. But someone needs to pick up the 519 snaps Trautman played last year.
Maybe one of the backups impresses this summer. Guys like Lucas Krull, Miller Forristall, and Joel Wilson have put up some good game tape in the past. But as a group they don’t inspire a ton of confidence, and this looks like a role the Saints could upgrade without investing a weighty contract. Taysom Hill isn’t a big part of this equation either given all of his other responsibilities on offense.
And the clock is ticking. Veteran tight ends like Eric Tomlinson (Houston Texans), Stephen Carlson (Chicago Bears), and even Dan Arnold (Philadelphia Eagles) have all been signed by other teams during the last week. The Saints do need to take action sooner or later. Here are 10 free agents who could help the team:
Mike Vrabel touches on two of the bigger surprises from the Titans’ Week 1 snap counts.
As we laid out in our snap count takeaways article earlier in the day, the Tennessee Titans’ usage of cornerback Caleb Farley and tight end Geoff Swaim were among the biggest surprises from Week 1.
Swaim totaled 44 snaps, more than fellow tight ends Austin Hooper (37) and Chig Okonkwo (9), and more than any other player on offense aside from quarterback Ryan Tannehill and the offensive line.
On Monday, head coach Mike Vrabel weighed in on why that was the case, saying Swaim is “the best blocking tight end that we have.”
That’s all well and good, but it still doesn’t explain why Swaim would get more targets and the same amount of touches as Okonkwo and Hooper combined when he’s the least talented tight end on the team.
Offensive coordinator Todd Downing even drew up a tight end screen for Swaim, who also dropped one of his four targets.
As far as Farley is concerned, the second-year pro saw just 15 snaps and was not the preferred option on the inside our outside when the Titans needed an extra defensive back.
Vrabel says the idea is to not have rookie Roger McCreary bouncing inside and out, and he prefers Ugo Amadi over Farley because of the physicality needed to play that role.
Mike Vrabel said the #Titans wanted to work Ugo Amadi in at nickel as opposed to bumping Roger McCreary inside and using Caleb Farley on the outside because of the physicality that comes with the nickel spot. Wanted Amadi in there because he's done it in the league before.
— TURRON DAVENPORT (@TDavenport_NFL) September 12, 2022
Not exactly a ringing endorsement for Farley, who now appears to be a man without a role in Tennessee. There’s still time to rebound but the 2021 first-round pick is well on his way to bust status.
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A closer look at the tight end position ahead of Titans training camp.
In our latest training camp preview for the Tennessee Titans, we take a closer look at tight end, a position the team has made some changes to this offseason after not having a true No. 1 in 2021.
Tennessee failed to adequately address tight end in 2021, instead opting for a rotation that didn’t exactly pan out.
Anthony Firkser was a major disappointment in what was supposed to be a breakout year for him, and Geoff Swaim and MyCole Pruitt were OK, but neither is a starting tight end.
Firkser is now in Atlanta, and Pruitt, who suffered a brutal injury late in the season, remains unsigned. Swaim is one of two tight ends who saw playing time last season returning in 2022, along with Tommy Hudson.
In place of Firkser and Pruitt, Tennessee signed Austin Hooper in free agency and drafted Chigoziem Okonkwo.
Now, let’s see which players are either roster locks or on the bubble, and we’ll examine the competition to watch in training camp before making a prediction for who will ultimately make the 53-man roster.
Would the Titans really consider trading the Swaim Train ahead of the 2022 season?
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After previously suggesting the Tennessee Titans should trade outside linebacker Bud Dupree ahead of training camp, Bleacher Report is back at it with another trade suggestion.
According to Bleacher Report’s Brent Sobleski, the Titans should consider trading tight end Geoff Swaim before the start of the 2022 season.
Sobleski cites Tennessee’s middle-of-the-road usage of 12 personnel last season and the emergence of 2022 fourth-round pick Chigoziem Okonkwo as reasons.
For starters, the Titans aren’t going to get much on the trade market for a backup tight end like Swaim, who would likely fetch a seventh-round pick.
It’s also far too early for the Titans to depend on Okonkwo as their No. 2.
Yes, Chig has had a standout offseason thus far, but the jury is still out on his blocking and he’d have to show a lot in that area and more in training camp for the Titans to feel comfortable parting ways with Swaim.
If all of that wasn’t enough, the fact that the Titans wouldn’t have much beyond Okonkwo and starter Austin Hooper if they deal away Swaim is another reason not to make such a trade.
We still don’t know the injury status of Tommy Hudson, who would be the No. 3 if Swaim is dealt, and guys like Briley Moore and Thomas Odukoya have zero experience in the NFL.
Swaim certainly isn’t untouchable, but the negatives of trading him far outweigh the positives, thus this isn’t a move Tennessee should make.
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We’re assigning a grade for all four of the Titans’ moves from Day 1 of the legal tampering period.
The Tennessee Titans made a grand total of four moves on the first unofficial day of free agency, and now we’re assigning a grade for each.
We say “unofficial” because any contracts with pending free agents that have been agreed to up to this point can’t be made official until March 16, the start of the new league year.
Nevertheless, here’s a look at what the Titans were up to on Monday:
Re-signed: C Ben Jones, TE Geoff Swaim
Signed: OL Jamarco Jones
Declined tender: RT David Quessenberry
We expect several more moves in the days and weeks ahead, including more cuts, restructures and, of course, more free agency signings. How big the Titans go remains to be seen, though.
For now, let’s just focus on what the Titans did on Monday.
Note: All contract figures are courtesy of Over the Cap. Also, follow along with our tracker for all of the latest moves the Titans make.
