Tag: New York Giants Transactions

Giants reduce roster to 80 players

The New York Giants reduced their roster to the mandatory 80 players on Tuesday afternoon.

The New York Giants trimmed their roster down to the mandatory 80 players on Tuesday first by placing tight end Rysen John and defensive back Quincy Wilson on injured reserve and then later in the day releasing backup long snapper Carson Tinker and waiving two injured players – defensive back Montre Hartage (shoulder) and Cole Hikutini (hip).

John and Wilson, by being placed on injured reserve before the 53-man roster has been finalized, will not be eligible to return this season. Both suffered ankle injuries in the Giants’ 17-13 preseason loss last Sunday to the Browns in Cleveland.

The remaining 80-man roster does not include running back Sandro Platzgummer, who the team gets an exemption for as a part of the NFL’s International Player Pathway Program.

The Giants will now head to New England this week for back-to-back joint practices with the Patriots on Wednesday and Thursday before returning home to face the Pats in their final preseason game on Sunday night.

Final roster cuts are due next Tuesday, August 31, at 4:00pm Eastern.

Giants waive Javon Leake, add two defensive backs

The New York Giants have waived rookie running back Javon Leake on Saturday and signed two defensive backs.

The New York Giants, in search of low budget solutions to abut their decimated secondary, added two free agents to their convoluted mix of rookies and unproven young veterans.

The two players the Giants signed are KeiVarae Russell and Brandon Williams. Russell, 26, was a third-round pick of the Kansas City Chiefs in 2016 out of Notre Dame. He could not master the Chiefs’ defensive scheme and was cut two weeks into the season. Russell then landed in Cincinnati for team seasons and then spent last season on the Los Angeles Chargers’ practice squad.

Williams, 27, was also a 2016 third-round selection. He was taken by the Arizona Cardinals and he also had a slow start to his career. He was waived/injured last August and has failed to catch on with an NFL team until now.

In order to make room on the roster, the Giants waived two rookie free agents – defensive back Christian Angulo and running back Javon Leake.

The release of Leake comes as a surprise since he has been praised by the coaches and his name has been bandied about for one of the return positions.

Leake, should he clear waivers, could end up back with the Giants on the practice squad or maybe even on the 53-man roster. It’s just they are desperate to get some bodies in the secondary after the loss of rookie safety Xavier McKinney (foot) this week.

Giants re-sign TE Scott Simonson, add three to practice squad

The New York Giants added three players to their practice aqua and re-sighed TE Scott Simonson to their 53-man roster on Tuesday.

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The New York Giants are making moves. Maybe not the ones fans were hoping for, but they are shuffling the deck a bit.

On Tuesday, the club re-signed tight end Scott Simonson, who suffered an ankle injury in the preseason finale in New England and was placed on injured reserve and then released on Sept. 10.

The addition of Simonson will give the Giants four tight ends again, but only two healthy ones. Evan Engram (foot) missed Sunday’s game against the Jets and could miss more time. Rhett Ellison left Sunday’s game with a concussion and is in the protocol. Rookie Kaden Smith was the lone tight end for the remainder of the game.

Simonson will fill the roster spot left by the release of offensive lineman Evan Brown, who was released on Monday.

Joining the Giants’ practice squad are tight end Garrett Dickerson, wide receiver Alex Bachman and long-snapper Colin Holba.

Dickerson played four games last year for Big Blue and three this season before he was waived on Oct. 22. He does not have a career reception the regular season. Dickerson originally joined the team as a rookie free agent from Northwestern on June 4, 2018.

From the Giants: 

“Bachman, 6-0 and 190 pounds, was signed by the Los Angeles Rams as a rookie free agent on April 29 and was waived on Sept. 5. He caught two passes for 24 yards in the preseason. Bachman played in 32 games in four seasons at Wake Forest and caught 82 passes for 1,162 yards (14.2-yard avg.) and 10 touchdowns. As a senior in 2018, he played in 11 games and posted career-best totals of 37 receptions for 541 yards and six touchdowns.

Holba, 6-4 and 255 pounds, has played in 13 NFL regular-season games, including the first two this season with San Francisco. He also played seven with Jacksonville in 2017 and four with the 49ers last year. Holba originally entered the NFL as a sixth-round draft choice (213th overall selection) by the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2017, from Louisville. He was waived at the end of training camp and signed with the Jaguars on Nov. 14 that year.”

To make room on the practice squad, the Giants terminated the contracts of wide receiver Reggie White and defensive end Freedom Akinmoladun.

Cornerback Corn Elder was signed to the Carolina Panthers’ active roster on Monday, creating the third opening.