Sports blog information from USA TODAY.
The roster saw a lot of churning the day after the Pro Football Hall of Fame Game
It did not take the Cleveland Browns long to make roster moves coming off of their 21-16 win over the New York Jets in the Pro Football Hall of Fame Game. We knew two players left that game injured, and they have both now been waived. We also now see the return of tight end Miller Forristall as a result.
Here are all of the various roster moves the Browns made on Friday.
Joseph Charlton, who spent time with the Browns last training camp, will rejoin them for camp again in 2023.
After spending training camp with the Cleveland Browns a year ago, he now returns in 2023 punter Joseph Charlton has been signed by the team again. Current punter Corey Bojorquez is coming off of a strong season with the Browns, so this has the appearance of nothing more than a camp leg to take some reps off of the starter’s plate on their roster.
Teams are allowed to have 90 players on their roster for training camp, so now that the draft is over, the Browns are loading up. Besides, after trading out of their seventh round pick this past weekend, the Browns had an open roster spot.
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The Browns have a punter on their roster for the 2022 offseason. Charlton has some NFL experience:
The Cleveland Browns are watching the NFL playoffs move along without them including AFC North and in-state rival Cincinnati Bengals making it to the Super Bowl. Like the rest of the teams not currently playing, the Browns are not making big news right now. Those moves will likely come around the opening of the league year including trades and free agency.
The team has continued to make a number of smaller moves to add players to reserve/future contracts. Tuesday, the team signed punter Joseph Charlton to one of those deals.
The 6’5″ Charlton was waived by the Carolina Panthers after 21 games with the team between 2020 and 2021. He played in one game for the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2021 as well. He has averaged 45 yards per punt with a net average of 39 yards downing 29 inside the 20-yard line while only having four touchbacks.
Special teams were a problem for Cleveland in 2021. Jamie Gillan was cut after struggling and replaced by Dustin Colquitt. The veteran Colquitt was signed for the remainder of the season but is not certain to return for 2022.
As a reserve/future contract, Charlton will be invited to offseason activities this year with a chance to make the roster. It is likely that the Browns bring in more competition for the position as well.
The Titans brought in a pair of punters for tryouts on Tuesday.
Even though the Tennessee Titans are set to embark on their playoff journey on Saturday against the Cincinnati Bengals, the team is still bringing in players for tryouts.
According to the league’s transactions wire, the Titans held tryouts with two punters, Joseph Charlton and Cameron Nizialek, both of whom have some NFL experience.
Tennessee currently has one punter on its roster in Brett Kern, but none on the practice squad. Kern isn’t on the injury report this week and looks to be healthy, so either the Titans are looking for a practice squad punter or are looking at punters for futures contract purposes.
Charlton played his college ball at South Carolina, and after going undrafted was picked up by the Carolina Panthers in 2020. The 6-foot-5 punter appeared in 16 games that season, averaging 46.3 yards per punt.
Charlton played in just six games in 2021, five with the Panthers and one with the Jacksonville Jaguars. He totaled 40.5 yards per punt in those contests.
Nizialek is a Georgia product who also went undrafted. He played in four games for the Atlanta Falcons this past season, averaging 45.4 yards per punt.
After enjoying a bye week, the Titans will return to action on Saturday in the Divisional Round against the Bengals.
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Danny Etling will officially be the Jags No. 2 QB Sunday against Indy after the team elevated him and six others from the practice squad.
The Jacksonville Jaguars announced that they elevated six players from their practice squad Saturday for Week 18’s game against the Indianapolis Colts, and those players are as follows:
With all of the COVID-19 cases the team has endured the last few weeks (or instances that requires a player to quarantine), it was a given that they would be elevating a good amount of players for their season finale to fill out their roster. According to the team’s official site, there are nine players on the Reserve/COVID-19 list currently and a few of them are starters.
The most notable player placed on the Reserve/COVID-19 list this week was backup quarterback C.J. Beathard, which explains the elevation of Danny Etling.
Punter J.K. Scott was placed on the Jags’ Reserve/COVID-19 list early in the week as well, which put the Jags in a predicament where they had to sign Joseph Charlton to the practice squad and elevate him to the active roster. The move is one that will give the Jags their second change at punter this season as the team’s original starter, Logan Cooke, was placed on season-ending injured reserve on Dec. 28 for a knee injury.
When the Jags take the field Sunday, they will also be without three offensive linemen in starters Brandon Linder and Cam Robinson, and one of their top backups on the unit in Will Richardson. That explains why the team elevated both Badara Traore and Tre’Vour Wallace-Simms, who were elevated last week as well alongside running back Nathan Cottrell.
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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The Panthers have already had a dizzying time trying to pin down a kicker. Are they about to go through another ride in trying to find a punter?
The Carolina Panthers just recently hopped off a carousel of kickers, having seemingly settled in with Zane Gonzalez after going through a dizzying ride at the position. But have they tried the Tilt-A-Whirl?
A new slice of excitement, or despair, may now be awaiting them with the other spot that requires a leg. As noted by the league on Monday, the Panthers have worked out punter Drue Chrisman.
Chrisman was signed as an undrafted free agent by the Cincinnati Bengals back in May. The Ohio State University product, who averaged 44.6 yards per punt on his 73 collegiate tries, has experienced a bit of back-and-forth with the hometown team, which just ended with his release on Oct. 12.
This news comes, of course, less than a week after the Panthers placed Joseph Charlton on the injured reserve. The newly-signed Ryan Winslow, who pinned three of his six punts inside the 20-yard line, took over the duties on Sunday against the Minnesota Vikings.
Carolina, as also indicated, worked out long snapper Turner Bernard as well. Bernard, another undrafted free agent, was most recently with Minnesota.
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The Panthers have placed P Joseph Charlton, who has averaged a league-low 35.8 net yards per punt, on the injured reserve.
In a game-altering blunder, Carolina Panthers punter Joseph Charlton had a late fourth-quarter attempt blocked by the Philadelphia Eagles this past Sunday. Now, he’ll have to sit with that sour taste in his mouth for at least the next three weeks.
Charlton has tried his last punt for a while, as the Panthers have placed the boot on the injured reserve. The 24-year-old had been dealing with a back injury entering the week.
The 2021 sophomore season has not been that kind to the 6-foot-5 punter in terms of production either. Charlton has netted just 35.8 yards per attempt this year, the lowest average amongst all punters.
As a result, the team has signed another punter, Ryan Winslow, to the practice squad. Winslow, who also stands at 6-foot-5 (the Panthers may have a type), has racked up some mileage over his three-year professional career, with stints in Chicago, Arizona, Green Bay and a stop in the Alliance of America Football.
Safety Kenny Robinson, additionally, was signed up to the active roster to fill Charlton’s spot.
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RB Christian McCaffrey may not be the only player back on his way to help a struggling Panthers offense.
The “Christian McCaffrey Watch” has started back up for the Carolina Panthers ahead of Sunday’s matchup with the Minnesota Vikings. And, as was the case last week, it starts off with a little cautious optimism.
McCaffrey, again, had been labeled as a limited participant for Wednesday’s practice. The fifth-year running back has missed the team’s last two games, both losses to the Dallas Cowboys and Philadelphia Eagles, due to a strained hamstring.
Carolina might also be getting back two more starters on the left side of their offensive line. Both left tackle Cameron Erving and left guard Pat Elflein were back on the practice field.
Elflein, who is now eligible to return, had been placed on the injured reserve after sustaining a hamstring injury of his own back in Week 2. Erving sat out the Week 5 loss to Philadelphia with a neck issue.
In a bit of bad (but not surprising) news, linebacker Shaq Thompson has already been ruled out for Week 6. Head coach Matt Rhule told reporters that Thompson, who is dealing with the plantar fascia injury, will miss his second straight outing.
Here is Wednesday’s injury report for the team:
| Injury | Wed. | Thurs. | Fri. | Game status | |
| LB Shaq Thompson | Foot | DNP | |||
| T Cameron Erving | Neck | Full | |||
| RB Christian McCaffrey | Hamstring | Limited | |||
| CB C.J. Henderson | Shoulder | Limited | |||
| P Joseph Charlton | Back | Limited |
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Here are seven supporting role players who deserve recognition for their solid work this year.
It’s almost January, which means it’s a good time to reflect on the past year. 2020 has been hard on a lot of people, especially those who have frontline jobs and don’t have the luxury of staying safe by working from home. They deserve our thanks. In that same spirit of gratitude for those of us who play supporting roles, today we’d like to recognize a few Carolina Panthers who might have gone overlooked despite performing well this season.
Here are seven supporting role players who deserve recognition for their solid work this year.
