Tag: marcelino mccrary-ball

Jets sign Tanzel Smart to active roster, elevate two from practice squad for Week 11

Jets sign Tanzel Smart to active roster, elevate two from practice squad for Week 11

The Jets announced a few roster moves ahead of their Week 11 matchup with the Buffalo Bills, including bringing back a defensive lineman and calling up two from the practice squad.

The Jets signed defensive tackle Tanzel Smart to the 53-man roster, not long after the team waived Smart and brought him back on the practice squad. Smart has seen time in two games this season with one tackle.

The two players elevated from the practice squad this week are offensive lineman Jake Hanson and linebacker Marcelino McCrary-Ball.

Hanson joined the Jets’ practice squad on November 6. He played in 11 games — including one start — with the Green Bay Packers over the past two seasons. Hanson was drafted in the sixth round by the Packers in 2020. He’ll add extra depth on the interior for the Jets Sunday.

McCrary-Ball has been on the Jets’ practice squad since the end of August when the team began building their practice squad for the season after their initial 53-man roster was set. He spent the 2022 season and the 2023 offseason with the San Francisco 49ers. The former Indiana Hoosier signed with the 49ers as an undrafted free agent in 2022. With Chazz Surratt and Sam Eguavoen both out for Sunday, McCrary-Ball will be the fifth linebacker and help on special teams.

Under-the-radar LB moves into conversation for starting job

The #49ers might have a new frontrunner for the starting Sam LB job.

There’s a long way to go before the 49ers decide who their Sam linebacker is going to be. It’s one of the few open starting jobs on the roster, although given the deployment of personnel in modern defenses calling the third LB a “starting” job is a small stretch.

Still, the third linebacker in the 49ers’ base 4-3 defense is an important spot that requires a level of versatility as a run stopper who’s also not out of place in coverage. That’s where second-year former undrafted free agent Marcelino McCrary-Ball comes in.

The Indiana product spent all of last year on the practice squad, but has parlayed that experience into a chance at the starting Sam LB job in 2023.

With veteran Oren Burks, who began camp at that spot, working through an apparent injury that’s limiting his reps, McCrary-Ball is getting plenty of work with the first team.

He was a safety-linebacker hybrid in college who made some splash plays as a rookie in last year’s training camp and preseason. His versatility would make him a valuable third LB who could step in and play the Will LB spot if one of Fred Warner or Dre Greenlaw is unavailable.

There’s a long time to go until the 49ers have to make any firm decisions, but it’s notable that in a room with a pair of rookie draft picks and veteran Demetrius Flannigan-Fowles, it’s McCrary-Ball earning the first SLB run. This will be something worth tracking closely through the rest of camp and into the preseason.

[lawrence-auto-related count=3]

Watch: 49ers UDFA Marcelino McCrary-Ball comes up with INT

Watch: 49ers UDFA Marcelino McCrary-Ball comes up with INT.

Preseason games don’t count in the standings, but they matter to players like 49ers undrafted linebacker Marcelino McCrary-Ball who are fighting for a roster spot.

McCrary-Ball made his case to stick around with the 49ers to end the first quarter when he came up with an interception off a tipped throw in the red zone. Perhaps the most impressive part of the play was the  57-yard return. Athleticism is key in the second level in the modern NFL, and McCrary-Ball has it in spades.