Tag: John Brannon

Giants host nine players for tryouts

The New York Giants hosted nine players for tryouts, including a former Pan American Wrestling Championships gold medal winner.

The New York Giants had been relatively quiet in terms of workouts, tryouts and visits in recent weeks, but that changed on Monday.

Per the NFL’s transaction wire, the Giants hosted or are slated to host nine players on a tryout basis. The list includes 2019 Pan American Wrestling Championships gold medal winner, Adam Coon.

The 6-foot-5, 265-pound Coon, who has two Greco-Roman wrestling silvers to go along with his gold, went undrafted out of Michigan in the 2018 NFL draft. After several years pursuing other dreams, he was signed by the Tennessee Titans earlier this year before being waived off of injured reserve in August.

Coon, who has never appeared in an NFL game, can play both offensive guard and linebacker.

In addition to Coon, the Giants also hosted wide receivers Tarik Black and Travis Jonsen, defensive backs John Brannon and Nate Brooks, punter Joseph Charlton, quarterback Jacob Dolegala, running back Benny LeMay, and defensive end Justus Reed.

Of that group, Charlton is the most notable and has the most NFL experience.

With punter Riley Dixon struggling this season, perhaps the Giants want to get a look at what else is out there. Charlton has appeared in 21 NFL games and punted the ball 66 times for 2,903 yards (44.0 average).

As of this writing, none of the nine has been signed.

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9 players who will be the toughest for Chargers to cut

A look at a few of the toughest potential cuts the Los Angeles Chargers might soon have to make.

Now that training camp and preseason has officially come to an end, the Chargers are hard at work to compile the 53-man roster and practice squad ahead of the 2021 regular season.

There are a few players that helped their causes this summer, but there still won’t be enough room for them. With that being said, I predicted the nine toughest cuts as the deadline approaches.

10 biggest stars of Chargers’ preseason

Highlighting 10 Chargers players who stood out during the three-game preseason slate.

The Chargers concluded their 2021 preseason with a loss to the Seahawks on Saturday night. They are now hard at work to determine the 53 players that will go into Week 1 of the regular season.

Quite a few players made their case for a starting spot, depth role or just the rights to remain on the team. Here’s a look at the 10 biggest stars from the past month of preseason action.

Chargers’ defensive position battles heading into preseason finale

See where the Los Angeles Chargers have their biggest position battles on defense heading into their final preseason game.

The preseason finale is set for Saturday night, as the Chargers will take on the Seahawks at Lumen Stadium in Seattle, WA.

Here’s a closer look at the top positional battles on the defensive side of the ball ahead of Los Angeles’ matchup against Seattle.

Interior defensive line

The guys up front have all been impressive this past month, which has made the evaluation process rather difficult. Cortez Broughton has looked like the best that he has since entering the league, but Joe Gaziano and Willie Yarbary have also made some noise. Meanwhile, Breiden Fehoko and Forrest Merrill have been neck and neck for the backup spot to Linval Joseph. All eyes should be on the play in trenches tonight.

Linebacker

There are four players that will fill out the room, with those being Kenneth Murray, Drue Tranquill, Kyzir White and Nick Niemann. If the team decides to roll with five, it will likely be filled by either Amen Ogbongbemiga or Cole Christiansen. Ogbongbemiga is not going to play, as he is dealing with an AC joint sprain. Despite not playing, Ogbongbemiga still has the slight leg up due to his special teams upside. However, Christiansen has been a tackling machine, which could change the coach’s minds.

Cornerback

Like the linebacker group, there are four spots that are locked up by Michael Davis, Chris Harris Jr., Asante Samuel Jr. and Brandon Facyson. The team will likely carry nine defensive backs, leaving one for a corner. Ryan Smith was seen as a lock, but he’s been out with a core muscle injury. Los Angeles could place Smith on injured reserve, and he would be allowed to return sometime during the season. Kemon Hall, John Brannon and Tevaughn Campbell, who have all shined, will be fighting for the job.

Kicker

It appeared to be all Tristan Vizcaino throughout the summer, but Michael Badgley kicked his way into having a slight advantage this past week. Head coach Brandon Staley said that he wants both kickers to have a fair shot, which likely means more field goal opportunities will be given on a rotational basis. Leg strength on kickoffs will also be an important deciding factor.

7 toughest cuts from our Chargers 53-man roster prediction

Looking at the toughest cuts from our Chargers 53-man roster projection following the second round of cuts.

We are a little less than a week away until we know how the Chargers 53-man roster for 2021 season will shape up.

With 27 players to cut, that means there will be some tough decisions to make as they fill out their team.

Going off of our latest 53-man roster projection, here were some of the most difficult cuts to make.

QB Easton Stick

I’m a firm believer that Los Angeles should carry two quarterbacks. While Stick has some momentum on his side, I find it difficult to believe that the team will cut Chase Daniel, who brings the knowledge with Joe Lombardi’s offense and mentorship to aide in Herbert’s transition. However, with another strong performance on Saturday against the Seahawks and Stick could have the Chargers considering rolling into the season with three signal-callers.

RB Darius Bradwell

Aside from Larry Rountree, Bradwell has been the most efficient rusher throughout the preseason. He has also made some key plays on special teams. While this may seem like enough to earn the final spot, I still believe that the coaches will roll the dice with the talent of Justin Jackson, despite injury concerns, and the untapped potential of Joshua Kelley. Bradwell should be a strong practice squad candidate, should he not make the roster.

TE Stephen Anderson

I went back and forth with this one, but I kept Anderson off of the 53-man roster for the first time since I started making predictions. The reason for that is because of Gabe Nabers, who has played a similar role. I believe Nabers offers more upside as a blocker, has shown potential as a pass-catcher and most importantly, has been lauded by the coaches for his special teams ability.

DL Joe Gaziano

I’ve always been a fan of Gaziano since he came out of Northwestern, and after making the move inside he has flashed a ton. The one thing that could hurt his chances from earning a spot, however, is that there are a handful of other interior defenders that have performed very well. In this case, I went with the more experienced Cortez Broughton, who has looked like an entirely different player this summer.

NT Forrest Merrill

Like Gaziano, Merrill is in a tough situation because of how great the position group has been as a whole. Merrill, the undrafted free agent, has been a menace in the middle of the defensive line — consistently getting penetration and eating up double teams. Although he’s raised eyebrows, Breiden Fehoko gets the nod for his play and infectious energy he brings to the team.

EDGE Emeke Egbule

I viewed Egbule as a player that would benefit from the defensive switch and while he’s done good things, especially on special teams, he’s recently been sidelined with an injury, which has led to other players flashing like Jessie Lemonier. In this scenario, I have the team rolling with four edge defenders and both players not making the team altogether to save a roster spot for another position group.

CB John Brannon

The defensive backs have benefited from head coach Brandon Staley immensely, which has made it extremely difficult to figure out who will make the squad. While Brannon has led the team in interceptions this summer, players like Tevaughn Campbell and Kemon Hall were given the final spots simply because of their versatility in the secondary and special teams upside.

Pair of Chargers cornerbacks making strong cases for final roster spots

Chargers cornerbacks John Brannon and Kemon Hall have impressed this summer.

Leading up into the preseason, I had five cornerbacks projected to make the 53-man roster: Michael Davis, Chris Harris Jr., Asante Samuel Jr., Brandon Facyson and Donte Vaughn.

Davis, Harris and Samuel are essentially locks to make the cut, but beyond them is where it’s tough to predict who will make the team, because of a pair of under-the-radar corners that have made their cases to stick around.

Those two are John Brannon and Kemon Hall.

Heading into the contest against the Rams as the leader in interceptions in training camp with three, Brannon put himself at the top in the category in preseason play after picking off Devlin Hodges on a fourth-down play from the Bolts’ five-yard line that would’ve tied the game.

“Really excited for him because he’s been working so hard,” head coach Brandon Staley said about Brannon. “He’s got so far to go, but his heart, his spirit is right, and we’re going to keep coaching him.”

Hall, on the other hand, helped himself by making plays in all phases. He and Alohi Gilman forced a fumble. Hall also generated a quarterback pressure to Bryce Perkins that forced him to throw the ball away. The play right after, he broke up a pass on third down.

“He gives you a little bit of inside/outside flex,” Staley said. “Then he’s got a really good body type for special teams because he’s strong and he’s fast. He can do a bunch of jobs on teams.”

Even after strong performances in practices and Los Angeles’ opener, Brannon and Hall still aren’t locks to make the final roster. But if they keep at this pace and special teams standout Ryan Smith is not ready to return from his lingering injury, it will be difficult to let them go.

4 Chargers on roster bubble who helped themselves in preseason opener

With the majority of the starters on the sideline, a few Chargers players on the bubble helped their cases.

The Chargers took care of business to open up the three-game preseason slate, defeating the Rams by the score of 13-6.

For the most part, the presumed starters that did play didn’t see the field all that much, which left more opportunities for players that are fighting for a roster spot to prove themselves to the coaching staff.

With that being said, let’s take a look at four bubble players who helped their cause on Sunday night.

CB John Brannon

The Chargers are set with Michael Davis, Chris Harris Jr., Asante Samuel Jr., but there are a couple spots on the back end that need to be filled, and Brannon made his case with his outing. Heading into the game as the leader in interceptions in training camp with three, Brannon put himself at the top in the category in preseason play after picking off Devlin Hodges on a fourth-down play from the Bolts’ five-yard line that would’ve tied the game.

CB Kemon Hall

Brannon wasn’t the only one who stood out in the secondary. Hall also helped himself by making plays in all phases. Hall and Alohi Gilman caused a fumble. Serving as an additional blizter, Hall also generated a quarterback pressure to Bryce Perkins that forced him to throw the ball away. The play right after, he broke up a pass on third down. It was a great day for both players who head coach Brandon Staley has lauded throughout the summer.

DL Joe Gaziano

Throughout camp, all the attention has been drawn to Breiden Fehoko and Cortez Broughton as the guys fighting for a spot. But Gaziano gave us a reminder that he is not to be forgotten. After playing on the outside in his first two seasons, the move inside highlighted his strengths. Winning with heavy hands, strength and high effort, Gaziano applied interior pressure on a few occasions and a couple run stops behind the line of scrimmage. Undrafted free agent Forrest Merrill also flashed with a tackle for loss.

WR Jason Moore

If the Chargers go into the regular season with six wide receivers, there’s one spot that will need to be filled, assuming the first five are Keenan Allen, Mike Williams, Josh Palmer, Jalen Guyton and Tyron Johnson. Yesterday, it was Moore who helped his stock. With balls thrown to him in tight coverage and out of his reach, Moore still managed to catch all three of his targets for 31 yards.