Tag: Malik Turner

Watch 49ers WR Malik Turner haul in incredible 1-handed catch

This catch by #49ers WR Malik Turner is fun.

49ers wide receiver Malik Turner made an incredible catch during a one-on-one drill in Tuesday’s practice. While one catch doesn’t make a player’s entire camp, it’s at least some indicator of the quality on San Francisco’s depth chart.

The quality at the top of the 49ers receiving corps has never been a question mark. Deebo Samuel is a First-Team All-Pro and former first-round pick Brandon Aiyuk looks primed to break out in a big way. Even Jauan Jennings came on strong as an elite run blocker and chain mover. Throw in offseason signee Ray-Ray McCloud and third-round rookie Danny Gray and the club could have five legitimately reliable NFL receivers. Then there’s Turner who pulled down this amazing grab:

That’s rookie cornerback Samuel Womack in coverage. The ball was really well-thrown by quarterback Trey Lance, and the expectation in one-on-ones is for the receiver to get the better of the DB. Especially when it’s a veteran receiver against a rookie corner.

The catch is out of control though regardless of situation. To haul in a high-arcing deep ball like that with a defender grabbing at one arm is extremely impressive and will surely stick out to coaches. One catch won’t punch Turner’s ticket to a roster spot, but he could be the frontrunner for a sixth WR job if the team carries that many. Thanks to his ability to play special teams he made the cut in our last roster projection.

Turner signed with the 49ers this offseason after spending his first two seasons in Seattle and the last two seasons in Dallas. During his four-year career he has 29 catches for 414 yards and four touchdowns in 41 games. He’s also played 500 special teams snaps in the last three seasons.

He’s on the roster bubble for now, but more catches like this one will make it hard to leave him off the team come September.

 

Cowboys free agent WR Malik Turner signs deal with 49ers

A third Dallas receiver is leaving the Dallas org this offseason. This time, it’s Malik Turner heading to the 49ers on a one-year contract. | From @CDBurnett7

First, it was Amari Cooper being traded to the Browns for little in return. Then it was Cedrick Wilson signing with the Dolphins. Now, it’s another Dallas Cowboys wide receiver heading to another organization.

After finally earning an opportunity for significant playing time last season due to injuries, Malik Turner came through on his limited opportunities in 2021. Perhaps looking for more of a chance to expand his role even more, Turner is returning to the NFC West and has signed a one-year deal with the San Francisco 49ers. It will be his third team in five years since entering the NFL as an undrafted free agent with the Seattle Seahawks.

Coming out of Illinois, Turner battled his way onto the roster and had a solid Year 2 with the Seahawks, totaling a career high 15 catches for 245 yards. Turner bounced on and off the active roster and this led him to signing with the Packers for the following season.

Ahead of the 2020 season, Turner was waived by the Packers and Dallas claimed the 24-year-old and he played in just five games for the Cowboys that year.

In 2021, Turner had his breakout in the second half of the season. A mix of injuries for Cooper, CeeDee Lamb and Michael Gallup thrusted Turner into a larger role and he stepped up in a big way. During a blowout loss versus the Broncos, Turner made his presence felt with two touchdown grabs that earned him playing time late in the season.

His biggest play of the season came late in a dominant win over Washington, breaking down defenders for a 61-yard gain before being rewarded with a touchdown catch a few plays later.

Joining the team that eliminated Dallas in 2021, San Francisco may use Turner for his shiftiness alongside star receiver Deebo Samuel.

For the Cowboys, Lamb, Noah Brown and free-agent signing James Washington are the only experienced receivers who will be healthy for Week 1 with Gallup coming off a torn ACL. Dallas appears poised to take a receiver early in the the draft in a few weeks.

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49ers visit with pair of veteran WRs

Marcus Johnson and Malik Turner both worked out for the #49ers on Tuesday.

The 49ers on Tuesday worked out a pair of veteran wide receivers as they continue searching for offseason depth at the position. Per the NFL’s transaction wire, Marcus Johnson and Malik Turner both visited with San Francisco.

Johnson was an undrafted rookie with the Eagles in 2016. He didn’t debut until the following year with Philadelphia. The Colts acquired Johnson in a trade before the 2018 season and he spent the next three years there before spending the 2021 campaign in Tennessee.

In 41 games with 12 starts, Johnson has 51 catches for 839 yards and five touchdowns. He’s also been a contributor on special teams and helped return kicks for the Titans.

Turner debuted in 2018 with the Seahawks who signed him after he wasn’t selected in that year’s draft. He was in Seattle for two years then Dallas for two years.

In four seasons Turner has 29 catches for 414 yards and four touchdowns in 41 games. He’s seen significant special teams work in his career.

With Trent Sherfield’s exit in free agency, the 49ers may be on the hunt for a WR who can fill in on coverage teams while also providing a little bit as a pass catcher. Sherfield last season posted nine catches for 87 yards and one touchdown while playing a key special teams role for the 49ers.

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2022 Free Agency: Cowboys WR Malik Turner visits with Cardinals

Turner may not be in the Cowboys’ future plans after two seasons with the club; he had 149 yards and 3 TDs on 12 receptions in 2021. | From @ToddBrock24f7

The Cowboys’ wide receiver room may be thinned out even further in the very near future.

Free agent Malik Turner visited the Arizona Cardinals on Wednesday, according to ESPN’s Field Yates. The 26-year-old Illinois native has been with the Cowboys for the past two years, after spending his first two pro seasons in Seattle.

The depth chart in Dallas has been in a bit of flux at the position this offseason, following the trade of Amari Cooper to Cleveland and the departure of Cedrick Wilson in free agency. They re-signed Noah Brown and added former Steelers receiver James Washington.

The Cowboys are widely expected to be looking at pass-catchers in the upcoming draft.

But whatever shuffling the receiving corps may see, Turner might not figure into the Cowboys’ plans. The one-year contract he signed with the club last March expired following a season in which he caught 12 balls for 149 yards and three touchdowns over 14 game appearances. He was additionally a regular special-teams contributor.

Turner’s most noteworthy outing came in Week 9 when he caught the team’s only two touchdowns late in a blowout loss to Denver.

Arizona is reportedly Turner’s first free agency visit this offseason. The Cardinals roster is seeing some churn this offseason; wide receiver Christian Kirk is now with Jacksonville, and longtime veteran A.J. Green is a question mark to return to the club. They were the 2021 team leaders among wide receivers in both receptions and receiving yards.

DeAndre Hopkins and Rondale Moore remain with the Cardinals, along with several other receivers.

CeeDee Lamb, Michael Gallup, Washington, Brown, Simi Fehoko, Brandon Smith, and T.J. Vasher are the receivers on the Cowboys roster.

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Cardinals bring in former Cowboys, Seahawks WR for visit

He caught 12 passes in 2021 for 149 yards and three touchdowns for the Cowboys.

The Arizona Cardinals might be on their way to adding a receiver in free agency. According to ESPN’s Field Yates, they hosted former Dallas Cowboys receiver Malik Turner for a visit on Wednesday.

Turner, listed at 6-2 and 200 lbs, spent the last two seasons with the Cowboys after spending a pair with the Seattle Seahawks. He entered the league in 2018 as an undrafted rookie out of Illinois.

In 14 games last season, he caught 12 passes for 149 yards and three touchdowns.

He also played 238 snaps on special teams for Dallas.

If he were to sign, it would be an interesting addition, as he doesn’t appear to be a player the Cardinals could count on to be very productive. He definitely could be added depth, but it would be quite the reach, based on his career thus far, to project him to be one of the top three receivers on the team.

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Cowboys WR Michael Gallup out for year with torn ACL

The pending free agent made a special catch, as is his modus operandi. Unfortunately it ended his season. What’s next for him, and the Cowboys WR corps.

The worst was feared immediately, watching Michael Gallup grab his knee instead of celebrating his second-quarter touchdown. Upon replay, the injury was realized. As Gallup planted to rise to catch a back-shoulder fade from quarterback Dak Prescott, his left knee buckled. Gallup was checked out by the training staff, and the test they were doing on the knee (anterior drawer) was clear what was happening.

Gallup went into the blue medical tent on the sideline, then went into the locker room. The team quickly announced he was ruled out for the game and now after the game it’s been confirmed. Gallup tore his left ACL in the 25-22 defeat and is done for the year.

Gallup has had a rough season. He strained his calf in Week 1’s loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, missing the next eight weeks before returning face his hometown Atlanta Falcons in Week 10. Gallup’s catch was just his second touchdown of the season, which is tough as he is set to enter the free agent market.

He finishes his year with 35 catches for 445 yards and the two scores.

Dallas got accustomed to working without Gallup and fortunately for them the cupboard isn’t bare behind him. They will certainly miss his ability to go up and make catches like the one he was injured on, but Cedrick Wilson has played well in his absence this year. Wilson caught a touchdown and an extra-point conversion on Sunday, as well as completed a big pass to Tony Pollard.

Wilson now has 40 receptions, 483 receiving yards, four receiving touchdowns while having three completions for 88 passing yards. He is the Cowboys’ trick-play specialist and having him in the game as part of the three-receiver rotation with Amari Cooper and CeeDee Lamb could disguise those trick plays even more.

Behind Wilson, Malik Turner has had a very strong season as well with 12 receptions for 149 yards and three scores of his own. It doesn’t sound like much, but Turner is WR6 for Dallas.

Still, Gallup will be a tough loss. Many expected him to price his way out of Dallas this season, but while many fans are thinking his final catch with the Cowboys will be that touchdown, his late-season injury could bring him back on an inexpensive one-year deal.

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WATCH: Malik Turner shows off agility, scores 8th Dallas TD of the night

Malik Turner showed off his moves on a long catch-and-run, then scored a touchdown. Dallas has now scored the most points by a team in 2021.

The Dallas Cowboys have now scored the most points in a game by any team during the 2021 season. 56 points with almost the entire fourth quarter left in Dallas and Washington can’t even stop the reserve Cowboys players.

After a fourth-down stop by cornerback Anthony Brown, quarterback Cooper Rush came in after Dak Prescott was rested for the night and put together an impressive drive thanks to wide receiver Malik Turner, who sparked it with a video game-like run on a 61-yard gain.

Fittingly, Rush went right back to Turner on his next throw and he scored the touchdown he deserved after the highlight-reel catch-and-run to put Dallas into the red zone.

Turner’s touchdown grab is his third of the year and the Cowboys now sit three points behind the franchise record of 59 scored in a game and they’ve tied the franchise record of eight touchdowns in a game.

Amari Cooper out; Could another Cowboys WR have a Miles Austin moment vs Chiefs?

In 2009, a bench WR stepped up in Kansas City and became a superstar; which current Cowboys player could repeat the feat this Sunday? | From @ToddBrock24f7

In the final hours leading up to an away game at Arrowhead Stadium, the Dallas Cowboys lose their biggest name at wide receiver. Winning on the road in Kansas City is a challenge for a team at full strength, but depending on a little-known depth player to step up at a key playmaking position in the notoriously-hostile environment puts the Cowboys at a distinct disadvantage.

Yes, that is the scenario enveloping the Cowboys this week as four-time Pro Bowler Amari Cooper has been declared out of Sunday’s matchup after being placed on the Reserve/COVID list.

But that opening premise is actually describing the 2009 season, when Dallas and Kansas City were set to square off in a Week 5 meeting. By the time the dust had settled that day, a 25-year-old Cowboys benchwarmer named Miles Austin had become an instant celebrity.

Could history repeat itself this weekend to produce a new Cowboys legend? Who in the current Dallas locker room is best-suited to play the role of Austin in the 2021 reboot?

The Cowboys were 2-2 coming into that October contest 12 years ago. It was the third year on the job for head coach Wade Phillips. Wide receiver Roy Williams, in his first full season in Dallas after being acquired by trade from Detroit the previous October, was to become the team’s top pass-catching threat after the release of Terrell Owens. But a ribs injury suffered against Denver caused Williams to miss several days of practice the following week. On Saturday, the day before their game versus the Chiefs, Williams was not on board the team plane to Kansas City. Someone named Miles Austin was to get his first NFL start.

Most Cowboys fans know the rest of the story. Austin absolutely exploded that day, hauling in ten catches from quarterback Tony Romo for 250 yards and a pair of touchdowns, including the 60-yard walkoff game-winner in overtime.

A star was born.

Williams was never again the undisputed WR1 for the rest of his short Dallas tenure. Austin, though, went on to lead the NFL in receiving yards that year and earned a Pro Bowl nod, the first of two straight. His 250-yard day at Arrowhead still stands as the franchise record for a receiver.

Austin was not a total unknown on his breakout day, though. He was officially listed as the team’s third receiving option after Owens’s release. The undrafted free agent was in his fourth season as a Cowboy, having seen action in 41 games. He had logged 23 catches on 45 targets for 435 yards and four touchdowns.

Clearly, though, Phillips and Romo and the rest of the offense thought enough of Austin to give him the opportunity when Williams was suddenly declared out.

So who is the under-the-mainstream-radar guy that the 2021 Cowboys might turn to for an Austinesque coming-out party in Kansas City? A look at the career stats of the current depth chart shows three players who all have not-dissimilar bodies of work coming into Sunday’s game.

Name Gms Tgts Recs Yds TDs
Miles Austin (entering 2009 KC game) 41 45 23 435 4
Cedrick Wilson 31 63 41 515 5
Noah Brown 45 52 31 358 0
Malik Turner 33 34 23 305 3

Wilson is the best-known of the bunch, both for his recent fill-in receiver work during Michael Gallup’s injury and for his current usage in many of the Cowboys’ gadget plays under offensive coordinator Kellen Moore. Turner just made a minor splash with two late scores in Week 9 to make the 30-16 loss to Denver seem less horrific than it actually was. And Brown has seen more playing time than any of them, although he hasn’t yet done anything that would light up a box score.

Wilson looks to be the primary beneficiary of Cooper’s COVID absence, but Dallas has shown a willingness to ride the guy with the hot hand. Should Brown or Turner catch fire by catching a few Dak Prescott passes in what promises to be a shootout, either could just as easily get their Miles Austin Mojo Moment this Sunday and provide the Cowboys with another weapon in the arsenal for when Cooper returns.

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Good, bad, ugly: Cowboys humiliated at home by Broncos 30-16

The Denver Broncos dominated the Dallas Cowboys in the trenches and on the scoreboard, handing the Cowboys their worst loss of the year. Here’s the good, bad and a lot of ugly. | From @BenGrimaldi

For the last six weeks, the Dallas Cowboys have played good football; winning football despite having a few bounces go against them in each contest. They managed to overcome and make sure that things went right when it mattered. In their embarrassing 30-16 loss to the Denver Broncos on Sunday, the Cowboys had pretty much nothing go right and looked like one of the worst teams in the league for much of the Week 9 contest.

The Cowboys dropped to 6-2 on the year and now will need to regroup to prove this wasn’t anything more than just a bad week at the office. Here’s the good, the bad, and the ugly for the Cowboys in a loss that’s difficult to comprehend.

WATCH: Cowboys’ Prescott finds Turner for pair of TDs to avoid shutout

There weren’t many positives on Sunday for Dallas, but Malik Turner grabbed a pair of scores to avoid the shutout and salvage some pride.

Nothing has gone right for the Dallas Cowboys against the Broncos at home. Down 30-0, quarterback Dak Prescott and the offense marched onto the field late in the fourth quarter with nothing to gain but their first score of the game and pride.

Dallas put together a nine-play, 75-yard drive in garbage time, capped off by a five-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Malik Turner to escape the first shutout for the Cowboys in AT&T Stadium.

Turner was the player who blocked the punt on the weird conversion for Denver on the first drive of the first half. The reserve receiver was making plays all over the field when the stars watched on the sideline.

The NFL might’ve switched the broadcast off of the Cowboys game, but Dallas still had some fireworks late, regardless of consequence. After a quick defensive stop, Prescott surprisingly returned to the field and repeated the previous drive’s conclusion with a touchdown pass to Turner and a 2-point conversion on the ground

Of all Cowboys receivers to have a big day, Turner was probably right down at the bottom of the list but there’s something to be said for being stubborn and adding points to feel positivity instead of walking to the locker room with their heads down.

If there’s anything good for Dallas to take away from the brutal loss, it’s a bit of rhythm after struggling all day. The Cowboys drop to 6-2 and have to flush this loss before playing the Falcons next week, who took down the Saints in Week 9.