Tag: Jonathan Garvin

49ers release DL for 3rd time as part of practice squad tweaks

More practice squad moves for the 49ers:

The San Francisco 49ers on Thursday announced a small tweak to their practice squad.

Defensive end Jonathan Garvin, who spent most of August with the 49ers in the preseason, was released to make room for defensive tackle Nesta Jade Silvera.

This marks the third time Garvin has been let go by the 49ers. They released him as part of final cuts on August 27, but re-signed him to their practice squad shortly after. He was released from the practice squad in mid-September, then re-signed to that unit in early October. Now he’s been released again to become a free agent.

Jade Silvera spent the first portion of this season with the Las Vegas Raiders after they made him a seventh-round pick in last year’s draft. As a rookie he posted two tackles in two games. This season he played in all seven games for Las Vegas and racked up eight tackles.

It makes sense the 49ers would want to add some defensive tackle depth to the practice squad after undrafted rookie DT Evan Anderson was promoted to the active roster. San Francisco has dealt with a slew of injury problems on the DL, so having an additional DT in the building helps insulate them from another injury up front.

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49ers officially add veteran OL to practice squad, release DE

The 49ers announced a practice squad swap on Wednesday.

The San Francisco 49ers traded out some internal defensive line depth for some offensive line depth.

In a practice squad move ahead of Wednesday’s practice, San Francisco signed veteran offensive lineman Chris Hubbard to the 17-man unit. To make room they released veteran DE Jonathan Garvin.

Hubbard was with the 49ers during the preseason and battled for the swing tackle job. He was let go and the team opted to bring back veteran Brandon Parker instead of Hubbard when they made some offensive line moves prior to Trent Williams’s return from his hold out.

Having Hubbard gives the 49ers quality OL depth on their practice squad. He joins Isaac Alarcon and undrafted rookie Drake Nugent on that portion of San Francisco’s roster.

Garvin’s release isn’t a huge surprise and it may bode well for Yetur Gross-Matos’s chances to play in Week 2. The 49ers elevated Sam Okuayinonu from the practice squad in Week 1 to provide depth while Gross-Matos missed the game with a knee sprain. If he can’t go in Week 2, Okuayinonu would be the likely replacement again with Garvin no longer on the club.

The 49ers added Garvin during the preseason when injuries started to hit their defensive line. He played 77 snaps across three preseason games, tallying three pressures and five run stops according to Pro Football Focus.

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Cowboys still shopping UFL; bring in 3 DEs, 1 RB for workouts

From @ToddBrock24f7: RB John Lovett and DE Wyatt Ray played for Wade Phillips and the San Antonio Brahmas this spring; 2 more DEs also visited The Star Tuesday.

After adding a pair of UFL players last week, the Cowboys are still sifting through the spring league’s rosters for talent that might help them ahead of training camp.

Four more players were at The Star in Frisco on Tuesday, according to Nick Harris of dallascowboys.com.

The first is defensive end Jonathan Garvin, whose pending visit was first reported last Wednesday. Garvin was a seventh-round draft pick of the Packers in 2020 and played 38 games in Green Bay. He was one of the UFL’s top edge rushers this season as a member of the champion Birmingham Stallions.

Defensive end Wyatt Ray was also brought in for a look. Undrafted out of Boston College in 2019, Ray has spent time with eight different NFL clubs and gotten on the field with three of them- the Titans, Bengals, and Broncos. He played this spring for former Cowboys head coach Wade Phillips and the UFL’s San Antonio Brahmas, tallying 24 tackles and 5.5 sacks.

A third defensive end also worked out with the Cowboys on Tuesday. Derick Roberson went undrafted out of Sam Houston State in 2019 and spent three seasons with the Titans. He appeared in 16 games for Tennessee and then spent 2023 with the XFL’s Houston Roughnecks. He notched 26 tackles and 4.5 sacks for the DC Defenders most recently.

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Dallas is also kicking the tires on a running back to possibly add to their backfield committee. John Lovett had a strong 423 rushing yards- finishing fourth in the league- and five touchdowns on the ground- good for second place- this season for the Brahmas. The former Baylor and Penn State product has done two stints on the Panthers practice squad and was in camp with Pittsburgh briefly last August.

(Ed. note: The John Lovett mentioned above is not to be confused with the tight end/fullback of the same name who went to Princeton, won a Super Bowl ring as a member of the Chiefs in 2019, and appeared in eight games with Green Bay in 2020.)

According to Harris, the Cowboys currently have 88 players on the roster. They can have a maximum of 90 for training camp, but they do have one roster exemption for International Pathway Program player Denzel Daxon, so they can make three additional signings in all.

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Report: Cowboys to work out UFL-champion DE with Packers history

From @ToddBrock24f7: Jonathan Garvin played 3 years in Green Bay and was a top DE in the UFL for the Birmingham Stallions on a line that included Taco Charlton.

The Cowboys continue to look to the UFL to add possible depth to the defensive side of the ball, with just over a month until training camp commences in Oxnard.

Dallas will host Birmingham Stallions defensive end Jonathan Garvin for a workout this week, according to multiple reports Wednesday. Stallions head coach Skip Holtz made the revelation during an appearance on the YouTube show The Next Round just days after his team won the inaugural UFL championship.

Garvin, 24, was a seventh-round pick of the Packers in 2020 after a college career as a Miami Hurricane. He played 38 games in Green Bay over the next three seasons before being released during training camp last summer. He compiled 32 tackles, 2 defended passes, and 1.5 sacks over his Packers tenure, which included one start.

The 6-foot-4-inch 257-pounder signed with the Stallions in March. Serving on the same D-line as former Cowboy Taco Charlton, Garvin posted 20 tackles and 3.5 sacks over Birmingham’s 9-1 season. He was the UFL’s No.2-ranked edge rusher with a 33.1% pass rush win rate, according to PFF’s Marcus Mosher.

Now he’ll look to latch on with a group that already includes Micah Parsons, DeMarcus Lawrence, Sam Williams, Chauncey Golston, Tyrus Wheat, Viliami Fehoko, Durrell Johnson, and second-round draft pick Marshawn Kneeland.

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The odds of claiming a roster spot may be long, but Garvin is following in the footsteps of spring-league veterans KaVontae Turpin and Brandon Aubrey, both of whom were signed by the Cowboys in the past two years. Dallas has signed two UFL players already this week- linebacker Willie Harvey Jr. and cornerback Gareon Conley.

So there is a viable pathway for Garvin to the bright lights of the NFL, and the players there know it, according to Holtz.

“Last year, we had 22 players in an NFL camp,” he said Wednesday. “Twenty-two players out of our 50. Now, out of those, like nine made it, but 22 got into a camp. I think that’s what this league is about, giving those guys that second opportunity.”

Jonathan Garvin, your opportunity starts now.

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Matt LaFleur on releasing Jonathan Garvin on birthday: ‘This business never stops’

The Packers released Jonathan Garvin on his 24th birthday on Friday. Coach Matt LaFleur: “This business never stops.”

The Green Bay Packers released outside linebacker Jonathan Garvin on his 24th birthday on Friday. The transaction looked especially cruel after the social media team wished Garvin a happy birthday on social media a few hours before his release.

Coach Matt LaFleur bemoaned the timing but said the business of the NFL doesn’t stop, even for birthdays.

“Unfortunately, sometimes it’s time to move on,” LaFleur said before Saturday’s practice. “I understand the timing wasn’t great, in terms of it being his birthday. You guys know, this business never stops.”

Garvin, a 2020 seventh-round pick, was attempting to move from edge rusher to defensive line, likely in a last-ditch effort to maintain a roster spot. The Packers are deep at edge rusher in training camp, leaving little opportunity for Garvin to make the 53-man roster.

It’s clear the transition wasn’t going to plan. Could the Packers have waited until Saturday to make the move? Probably, but getting released was going to sting for Garvin regardless of whether the transaction arrived Friday or Saturday.

Garvin played in 38 games for the Packers over three seasons. He’ll have a chance to catch on with a new team relatively early in training camps across the league.

Garvin’s release opens a roster spot on the 90-man roster for the Packers, who didn’t immediately announce a new addition.

Packers release OLB Jonathan Garvin on his birthday

The Packers celebrated Jonathan Garvin’s birthday on social media Friday morning, and then released him a few hours later.

Roughly three hours after posting a tweet celebrating his birthday, the Green Bay Packers released fourth-year outside linebacker Jonathan Garvin before Friday’s practice, per Ryan Wood of PackersNews.com.

Garvin, a seventh-round pick of the Packers in 2020, turned 24 years old on Friday.

The business of football is a cold and cruel one.

Garvin played in 38 games for the Packers between the 2020 and 2022 seasons. He produced 32 tackles, 1.5 sacks and seven quarterback hits.

The Packers were working Garvin with the defensive linemen during the early parts of training camp, possibly in a last-ditch effort to find a place for him on the roster long-term.

The Packers are deep at outside linebacker behind starters Rashan Gary and Preston Smith, especially after retaining Justin Hollins and drafting Lukas Van Ness in the first round.

Packers Jonathan Garvin working with interior DL group in training camp

Jonathan Garvin, an outside linebacker his first three seasons in Green Bay, is getting some work with the defensive linemen to start training camp.

Of the many takeaways from the Green Bay Packers’ first training camp practice, one of the more interesting notes was that edge rusher Jonathan Garvin was going through individual drills with the interior defensive linemen, according to Ryan Wood.

For what it’s worth, Garvin is still listed as an outside linebacker on the Packers team site, so no official position change has been made.

Garvin was a 2020 seventh-round pick by the Packers out of Miami and has been a regular member of their 53-man roster during his career, specifically as a back end of the rotation edge rusher. Garvin recorded 25 pressures in 2021, although he ranked 91st among all edge rushers in PFF’s pass rush win rate metric.

Garvin, however, struggled to see playing time last season and was on the field for just 83 pass rush snaps. At times, he was listed as a healthy scratch on game days, even with the Packers short on depth without Rashan Gary. Garvin totaled just seven pressures and ranked 169th in pass rush win rate.

This offseason, Garvin appears to be closer to the bottom of the edge rusher depth chart than at the top. Based on rotations and playing time during OTAs and minicamp, Garvin was behind Preston Smith, Justin Hollins, JJ Enagbare, Lukas Van Ness, Brenton Cox, and I would even put La’Darius Hamilton ahead of him. Add Gary back to that mix, and Garvin very well could be the eighth option in what has become a deep edge rusher room for the Packers.

So a move to the interior defensive line makes sense from a roster construction standpoint. Garvin’s path to the 53-man as an edge rusher feels almost nonexistent right now. But along the interior defensive line, if the Packers keep six defenders, which they have done in the past, that final spot is up for grabs, with Jonathan Ford and Chris Slayton the front-runners for that role.

As Brian Gutekunst said on Tuesday when meeting with the media, the Packers do not have a shortage of pass rush options along the interior. So if Garvin, Ford, or Slayton want to really separate themselves from the pack, being a consistently sound run defender is the best way to do so. For Garvin, that was not an area where he thrived out on the edge. PFF grades are not the be-all-end-all by any means, but they do help provide context around those who are playing really well and those who are not. Garvin’s run defense grade in 2022 ranked 104th at the edge rusher position, and in general, is an aspect where this unit as a whole has to be better.

While the interior defensive line depth could use an experienced presence, with Kenny Clark, Devonte Wyatt, and TJ Slaton being the only players at the position with NFL experience, Garvin’s move to this group may be one of those instances where the coaching staff is simply trying to find some sort of role for him. A somewhat recent example of this is with former Packer Kamal Martin, who was listed as a linebacker, was suddenly taking snaps at edge rusher during a few practices but then never made the initial roster after being on it the season before.

There is a greater opportunity for Garvin to make an impact along the interior defensive line than at edge rusher, given the makeup of each position group, but a position change — if that is in fact what is happening — isn’t an easy task either.

Packers activate OLB Jonathan Garvin from COVID-19 reserve list

The Packers are getting back OLB Jonathan Garvin after he spent 10 days on the COVID-19 reserve list.

Green Bay Packers outside linebacker Jonathan Garvin is back on the active roster after 10 days away due to COVID-19.

The team activated Garvin from the COVID-19 reserve list on Saturday. He was originally placed on the list on Nov. 14.

Garvin, the second-year edge rusher, will return after missing the Packers’ win over the Los Angeles Rams. With Za’Darius Smith on injured reserve, Garvin is a top backup at outside linebacker behind veterans Preston Smith and Rashan Gary.

Over the Packers’ first 11 games, Garvin delivered 18 total pressures and 1.5 sacks. He was on the field for at least 20 defensive snaps in 10 of 11 games, including a season-high 34 snaps in a start against the Minnesota Vikings in Week 11.

Garvin will be expected to play next week against the Chicago Bears.

It’s unclear if Garvin is vaccinated, but unvaccinated players are required to quarantine for 10 days before returning to the team.

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Packers place OLB Jonathan Garvin on COVID-19 reserve list

The Packers announced the placement of OLB Jonathan Garvin on the COVID-19 reserve list, putting into jeopardy his playing status for Sunday against the Rams. 

The Green Bay Packers could be losing another edge rusher this week.

The team announced the placement of outside linebacker Jonathan Garvin on the COVID-19 reserve list on Wednesday, putting into jeopardy his playing status for Sunday against the Los Angeles Rams.

Garvin, a seventh-round pick in 2020, has played at least 20 defensive snaps in 10 of 11 games this season, including 34 in a starting role against the Minnesota Vikings last week.

The Packers can’t catch a break at outside linebacker. The team will be without Za’Darius Smith, Whitney Mercilus, Randy Ramsey and Chauncey Rivers, who are all on injured reserve, and Rashan Gary – who missed last week in Minnesota – is still battling through an elbow injury.

The Packers signed Tipa Galeai from the practice squad last week and can once again elevate La’Darius Hamilton from the practice again to the gameday roster if needed on Sunday.

If Garvin is vaccinated, he will need two negative tests spaced 24 hours apart to return to the team. If he isn’t, he’ll need to quarantine for 10 days, meaning he’ll miss Sunday’s game against the Rams.

Over 11 games, Garvin has 18 total pressures, including 1.5 sacks.

If Gary can’t play on Sunday, the Packers may need to make a roster move to add help at edge rusher.

Packers rookie Jonathan Garvin right in the mix of OLB competition

Packers rookie Jonathan Garvin has a chance to win a job as the defense’s No. 4 outside linebacker during training camp.

It might have been nothing, it might have been something.

Did Green Bay Packers defensive coordinator Mike Pettine provide a subtle hint about who is the early favorite to be the No. 4 outside linebacker?

The competition rages on, but the Packers are excited about seventh-round pick Jonathan Garvin, an edge rusher from Miami.

Pettine mentioned Garvin while discussing how the Packers would take some pressure off the shoulders of Za’Darius Smith and Preston Smith while still replacing snaps from Kyle Fackrell, who departed in free agency.

“Rashan (Gary) is going to have a big part, a big role in what we’re doing, as well as Garvin,” Pettine said last week.

Garvin, the 242nd overall pick in the 2020 draft, is competing primarily with Tim Williams and Randy Ramsey – who were both in Green Bay last season – for the job behind the two Smiths and Gary.

“All those guys are solid players,” Pettine said.

Pettine said the Packers were intrigued with what Garvin put on tape at Miami.

“Garvin is a guy that had some good college tape who we were really pleased we were able to get him when we did in the draft,” Pettine said.

As a standout sophomore, Garvin produced 17 tackles for losses, 5.5 sacks and five pass breakups. His numbers slipped as a junior, and he didn’t test like an elite athlete at the combine, but he was still productive in 2019, tallying 44 pressures for Miami. His pressure percentage was still 14.8, according to Pro Football Focus, suggesting he might have been simply unlucky during his junior season.

Nicknamed “Spider” due to his long arms, Garvin has an intriguing mix of size and pass-rushing potential, especially considering he just turned 21 years old in late July.

While Gary will have a big role as the third edge rusher, all base 3-4 teams need at least four or five outside linebackers, creating a real opportunity for Garvin to land on the 53-man roster and start carving out a rotational role as a rookie.

“That’s a spot where there is some real good competition,” Pettine said.

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