Tag: Steven Parker

Cowboys make handful of roster moves, activate Brown from IR

The Dallas Cowboys activated CB Anthony Brown, but added Tyron Smith and Joe Looney to the IR.

The Dallas Cowboys 2020 season has featured a whirlwind of never-ending roster moves, as the team has been crippled by injuries at multiple positions. Those transactions continued on Saturday, as the Cowboys added two new players, tackle Tyron Smith and center Joe Looney, to the injured reserve.

To fill those two roster spots, Dallas activated cornerback Anthony Brown from the IR, and promoted linebacker Francis Bernard to the 53-man roster. The team also elevated two players from the practice squad to the roster in center Marcus Henry and DB Stephen Parker.

Every week, each team can add two practice squad members to the active roster for the upcoming game, and the Cowboys utilized that once again.

Smith heads to the season-ending IR after suffering a setback while battling the neck/stinger issues that have ailed him for a few years now. Smith is set for surgery and hopefully will make a full recovery before the beginning of  next season. The Cowboys are now without both of their star tackles for the remainder of this season, as La’el Collins underwent season-ending hip surgery last week.

In the games this year that both Smith and Collins missed, the Cowboys started second-year tackle Brandon Knight on the left side, and undrafted rookie Terrence Steele on the right side.

Dallas signed tackle Greg Senat from the Browns practice squad to the 53-man roster earlier this week to add some depth and potential competition at the position. Right guard, Zack Martin, is the lone remaining starter from the Cowboys dominant offensive lines of recent memory. Martin slid out to right tackle in the Cowboys Week 3 loss to Seattle after Steele left with an illness, but don’t be surprised to see Martin there again if Dallas’ other options aren’t cutting it.

Looney should return this year, as he lands on the short-term IR with a grade 2 MCL sprain. Fourth-round rookie Tyler Biadasz, has done a quality job in his limited action this year, and could very well remain the starting center after Looney returns. Looney’s return will still be crucial as the veteran could see time at either guard spot, especially if Martin is forced to move out wide as mentioned above.

 

On the defensive side of the field, Brown’s return from the IR could be substantial for a Dallas defense that has looked abysmal through four games. Brown re-joins a cornerback group including Trevon Diggs, Jourdan Lewis, and Daryl Worley, as Chidobe Awuzie remains on the IR.

Bernard was brought up to the active roster from the practice squad for last week’s contest, and he played 13 snaps on special teams. Bernard has a chance to stick on the roster, but the quickly-approaching return of Leighton Vander Esch could move Bernard back down to the practice squad yet again.

The Cowboys’ defense, which is dead-last in points given up per game, will attempt to bounce back as Brown returns and the Giants lowly offense comes to town in Week 5.

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Roster Churn: Cowboys look for buttery blend after injuries creamed Week 1 chances

The Cowboys saw 3 players go on the IR and brought in four new faces.

It’s bad enough the Dallas Cowboys suffered a tough 20-17 loss in the season-opener vs the Los Angeles Rams but they also got hit with a plethora of injuries. Tight end Blake Jarwin suffered a torn ACL, linebacker Leighton Vander Esch broke his collarbone, and backup offensive tackle Cam Erving sprained his MCL.

With all three heading to injured reserve, this created spots on the Cowboys 53-man roster. The first spot was filled by veteran defensive back Brandon Carr. The team then filled two of those holes with outside resources, signing linebacker Rashad Smith and offensive tackle Alex Light from the Chicago Bears and Arizona Cardinals practice squads.

Carr rejoined the team just before the season-opener and was in uniform Week 1 after being promoted from the practice squad but never saw the field. Now that he’s on the active roster, his role should increase to the point where he could challenge current starter Darian Thompson to play opposite Xavier Woods.

Smith, an undrafted free agent out of Florida Atlantic, adds depth to fellow linebackers Joe Thomas and Luke Gifford who look to not only step up in Vander Esch’s absent but now Sean Lee, who is headed to injured reserve and will be out for six weeks after having sports hernia surgery.

Light, also an undrafted free agent, played for the Green Bay Packers for his first two seasons in the NFL. However, he only played in 16 games with no starts. He was waived by the Packers on September 5 and signed to their practice a day later, only to be released on September 10. On September 14 he was signed to the Arizona Cardinals practice squad before signing with the Cowboys a day later.

The Cowboys are thin at tackle with La’el Collins and Erving on injured reserve. Light gives them depth behind Terence Steele who started Week 1 opposite veteran Tyron Smith.

With injuries galore, the Cowboys have done some nice patchwork to fill out the roster as they look for their first victory of 2020 vs the Atlanta Falcons this Sunday.

In addition, the Cowboys backfilled their practice squad with corner Rashard Robinson and strong safety Steven Parker.

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Vikings claim former Oklahoma S Steven Parker

Vikings claim former Oklahoma S Steven Parker

The Vikings claimed former Oklahoma DB Steven Parker off of waivers on Thursday.

With the Dolphins last season, Parker started in four games, and played in 14 total. He finished with19 tackles, 14 of which were solo, two interceptions and three pass deflections.

Parker played for the Sooners from 2014 to 2017. He finished with 146 career solo tackles, and two inceptions. He finished with 11 tackles for a loss and 3.5 sacks. He saw playing time early, starting in all 13 games as a freshman at Oklahoma. He earned Second-Team All Big-12 honors in his sophomore and seniors seasons.

He originally entered the NFL as a undrafted free agent, and signed with the Rams in 2018. He was with Los Angeles’ practice squad through the 2018 season before being released.

Parker has always thrived as a playmaker across all levels of football, but has yet to find a consistent role with an NFL team.

The Vikings have recently had one of the better secondary’s in the league, and Parker could fit in nicely in Minnesota.

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Two former Dolphins claimed on waivers, marking roster improvement

Two former Dolphins claimed on waivers, marking roster improvement

Just one year ago, the Miami Dolphins were far and away the least talented roster in the NFL. That will come when you have a fire sale to kick off a new rebuilding effort that puts priority on manufacturing salary cap space and hoarding draft assets — knowing full well you’re not going to be a competitive ball club in the year to come. And the Dolphins would go on to spend the majority of the season churning through the weekly waiver wire — hoping to strike gold and transition someone else’s trash into their own treasure.

These days, the Dolphins are a different story. No, the team’s rebuilding effort isn’t complete — not by a long shot. But suddenly the Dolphins are seeing their own discarded players plucked off the waiver wire by other teams; meaning Miami now does have some depth that makes players expendable that other NFL franchises deem worth investigation and, possibly, investment.

As an NFL general manager, there’s no better problem to have than too much talent. And that’s an issue the Dolphins have hardly known anything about for the past decade; especially when you consider that when the team has struck gold, they usually haven’t been able to retain them long-term.

But when the Dolphins announced the release of UDFA tight end Bryce Sterk and defensive back Steven Parker, it didn’t take long for other teams to pounce on Miami’s discarded players. Sterk landed with the Cincinnati Bengals, whereas Parker landed with the Minnesota Vikings — a team favored by many to win the NFC North this season. Dolphins cuts, claimed by a potential playoff team?

Indeed. Let it serve as a compliment to the job Chris Grier has done to remodel this roster in short order.

Miami Dolphins waive two amid recent roster additions

Miami Dolphins waive two amid recent roster additions

The Miami Dolphins have had a busy 24 hours in roster transactions. First, the team announced they had signed DL Brandin Bryant and claimed CB Breon Borders off of the waiver wire — and now the team has several more transactions to announce, including the corresponding cuts as the team adds yet another defensive back to the mix.

The Dolphins announced this morning that they have signed cornerback Deatrick Nichols and waived safety Steven Parker and tight end Bryce Sterk.

Sterk was an undrafted free agent who signed with the team in the aftermath of the 2020 NFL Draft, but the departure of Parker is a bit more surprising. Parker was one of the players who signed with the Dolphins shortly ahead of the start of the 2019 season — he’s been with the team for just about a year now and he logged some significant snaps with Miami over the course of that time. Parker logged 338 snaps (30%) on the year for Miami last season and in doing so logged 4 starts.

But Parker, along with Sterk, have clearly fallen victim to the numbers crunch NFL teams are currently in as they try to balance their rosters and ensure they’re maintaining the integrity of their locker room amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Cuts must be made earlier than usual and for Miami to make this decision in the here and now indicates the team got all of the evaluation it needed last season from Parker to know he’s probably not going to be a long-term fit in the secondary.

The addition of Deatrick Nichols is an interesting one, he himself was a UDFA out of South Florida but his play shined last winter as a member of the XFL — he led the dormant league in interceptions before the COVID-19 pandemic shut down operations. The former 3-star recruit hails from Miami, he attended Miami Central High and stayed in the Florida region despite offers from schools like Auburn, Clemson and Georgia. The Dolphins will hope his ballhawking skills can translate to their secondary as the team continues their search for the right mix of defensive backs for the 2020 season.