Looking back on every New Orleans Saints fourth-round pick since 2002, from Jahri Evans and Jermon Bushrod to Khairi Fortt, Rick Leonard, and Ian Book:
We’re continuing our survey of the New Orleans Saints draft history with a look back at the many players the team has picked in the fourth round since Mickey Loomis was named general manager back in 2002 — a group that includes Pro Bowl talents like Jahri Evans and Jermon Bushrod, as well as some big misses like Ian Book, Rick Leonard, and Khairi Fortt. But the Saints have found many quality players in this range. Let’s run through the list.
You can also find the Loomis-era Saints draft picks in our previous entries from this series:
On Friday, the Falcons released veteran OT Rick Leonard and signed TE Tucker Fisk to take his place on the 80-man roster.
Three days after cutting their roster down to 80 players, the Atlanta Falcons have announced a few more transactions.
On Friday, the team released veteran offensive tackle Rick Leonard and signed TE Tucker Fisk to take his place on the 80-man roster. Atlanta also released DB Cornell Armstrong from the injured reserve list with an injury settlement.
While Leonard’s release isn’t a total surprise, it was somewhat unexpected after he survived Tuesday’s cut deadline. Meanwhile, Fisk was released during the first wave of cuts, but he now gets a chance to redeem himself in the team’s final preseason game on Saturday.
The Falcons must get down to 53 players by the NFL’s final cut deadline on Tuesday, August 30. Neither Leonard, nor Fisk made the cut in our latest 53-man roster projection, but that’s why they play the games.
The Arizona Cardinals have not yet announced it, but they have signed a player to their 53-man roster. According to Tuesday’s NFL transaction report, the Cardinals signed tight end Jordan Thomas to the active roster, but it was done in an interesting way.
Thomas was elevated to the roster from the practice squad over the weekend leading up to the team’s Week 2 game against the Washington Football Team.
Rather than simply reverting back to the practice squad, Thomas terminated his contract with the team, as he is permitted to do under this year’s practice squad rules.
He was not technically elevated from the practice squad. He was signed as a free agent.
The difference is that if he were simply promoted to the roster, the Cardinals could relegate him to the practice squad again without being exposed to waivers. He would go from active roster money to practice squad money.
This way, if the Cardinals shoose to move him off the active roster, he must clear waivers before they can sign him back to the practice squad, allowing him the opportunity to have another team claim him and continue to keep him on an active roster.
The Cardinals had a roster vacancy because running back D.J. Foster went back to the practice squad and was placed on the practice squad injured reserve.
Now, with an open spot on the practice squad, the team announced the signing of offensive lineman Rick Leonard to fill the vacancy.
Leonard had been on the Cardinals’ practice squad in 2018 briefly.
The 6-7, 311-pounder spent all of last season on Houston’s practice squad and was with the Texans in training camp prior to being released on September 5. Leonard originally entered the league with New Orleans as a fourth-round pick (127th overall) in the 2018 NFL Draft out of Florida State and also spent time on the practice squads of the Saints and Rams as a rookie.
