Tag: tony jones jr

Several former Saints players called up from 49ers practice squad before TNF

Former Saints players Willie Snead IV and Jackrabbit Jenkins are playing for San Francisco, while Tony Jones Jr. and Al Woods are suiting up for Seattle on Thursday night:

A couple of former New Orleans Saints players will be on the field for Thursday night’s game between the San Francisco 49ers and Seattle Seahawks. Or ghosts of Saints’ Christmases past: wide receiver Willie Snead IV and cornerback Janoris Jenkins were both on the 49ers practice squad, but they’ve each been elevated for this Week 15 game, the team announced.

Snead, 30, has appeared in two games for San Francisco this season, totaling 26 snaps on offense and 13 reps on special teams, though he has yet to catch a pass. His career hasn’t gone as hoped since leaving the Saints back in 2018; after averaging 3.6 receptions for 48.1 yards per game in New Orleans, Snead has managed just 2.3 receptions for 26.1 yards per game in stops with the Baltimore Ravens, Carolina Panthers, Las Vegas Raiders, and 49ers. He’ll have opportunities with Deebo Samuel out for several weeks with an injury.

Jenkins, 34, is set to make his 49ers debut on Thursday night. He started 13 games for the Tennessee Titans after leaving the Saints last season and bided his time until a spot for him opened up on a title contender’s roster, and now he’s looking to get into games for a Super Bowl dark horse. His exact role with San Francisco is to be determined, but we’ll see how “Jackrabbit” performs against one of the NFL’s better receiving corps.

But they won’t be the only former Saints players on the field Thursday night. Several of them are on the Seahawks’ roster, including running back Tony Jones Jr., wide receiver Easop Winston Jr., and defensive tackle Al Woods. Woods deserves a lot of credit for the career he’s had — a 35-year old native of Jennings, La who was drafted out of LSU by the Saints back in 2010, he was cut by New Orleans before he ever played a down for them. He’s gone on to start 76 of the 153 games he’s played in the NFL and earn more than $24.3 million in contracts with seven different teams. Seriously, good for him.

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Saints practice squad adds former Rams RB Jake Funk

Saints practice squad adds former Rams running back Jake Funk after signing veteran free agent Jordan Howard:

The New Orleans Saints practice squad added former Los Angeles Rams running back Jake Funk after signing veteran free agent Jordan Howard, per NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport. Funk, 24, was a seventh round pick by L.A. out of Maryland in 2021 and primarily played on special teams — he’s logged just two carries in the NFL, gaining 6 yards on one attempt and losing a yard on the other.

He’s also returned 4 kicks to gain 88 yards, an average of 22 yards per try, though the bulk of Funk’s focus has been centered on covering punts and kickoffs rather than returning them. The Rams released Funk this week while reshuffling their depth chart in the wake of several injuries, and after clearing waivers he became a free agent. Rapoport adds that he had other opportunities around the league but chose to sign with New Orleans’ practice squad.

Funk is the second running back to sign with the Saints practice squad this week after New Orleans picked up Howard; they’re both slotted in behind Alvin Kamara, Mark Ingram II, and Dwayne Washington on the depth chart. It makes sense for the team reload at the position after losing Latavius Murray and Tony Jones Jr. in subsequent weeks, but this still feels like an area that could be better improved by trading for a more-accomplished player. We’ll see if anything materializes on that front ahead of the Nov. 1 NFL trade deadline.

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Saints try out a group of free agent running backs

The Saints brought in a group of free agent running backs for tryouts after losing Latavius Murray and Tony Jones Jr.:

It’s been a rough couple of weeks for the New Orleans Saints running backs. Their depth chart has taken several hits with veteran backup Latavius Murray leaving the practice squad for a better opportunity with the Denver Broncos and third-year pro Tony Jones Jr. being claimed by the Seattle Seahawks off of the waiver wire.

That leaves New Orleans with just three players at the position: Alvin Kamara, Mark Ingram II, and Dwayne Washington. So it isn’t surprising to see the team fly in a group of free agents for tryouts this week. Pro Football Network’s Aaron Wilson reports that the Saints had four running backs work out at the team’s practice facility:

Report: 3 different teams filed waiver claims for former Saints RB Tony Jones Jr.

Report: 3 different teams filed waiver claims for former Saints running back Tony Jones Jr.

It’s annoying to see the New Orleans Saints lose a player and get nothing back in compensation, but it’s important to acknowledge this was a risk they were willing to take. And it was reasonable to think a running back with just two carries this season wouldn’t have had a problem clearing the waiver wire.

But that wasn’t the case — ESPN’s Field Yates reports that three different teams filed waiver claims for former Saints running back Tony Jones Jr. when the team let him go earlier this week. New Orleans may have had designs for Jones to return to their practice squad after going unclaimed, but several other teams were waiting for him to become available, and now he’ll be running for another squad.

To be totally honest, it isn’t that big of a loss. Jones was a healthy inactive twice this season before the Saints chose to waive him. He’s logged 59 rushing attempts for 163 yards (2.8 yards per carry) in his three-year NFL career, catching 7 of 10 targets to gain another 41 yards. He wasn’t going to get many snaps behind Alvin Kamara, Mark Ingram II, and Dwayne Washington. But it is another hit to a weak area on the depth chart that’s struggled through the first five weeks of the season.

Anyway — here are the teams that submitted waiver claims for Jones:

Seahawks claim former Saints RB Tony Jones Jr. off of waivers

Seahawks claim former Saints RB Tony Jones Jr. off of waivers, helping to replace injured RB Rashaad Penny:

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Hey, good for Tony Jones Jr. The former New Orleans Saints running back landed on his feet after being waived ahead of Week 5’s game with the Seattle Seahawks — and he ended up joining the team he spent all week practicing to run against, with Seattle claiming him off of the waiver wire. The Seahawks lost leading rusher Rashaad Penny to a broken ankle against New Orleans, so Jones joins a backfield featuring rookie draft pick Kenneth Walker and veteran backup DeeJay Davis.

It’s an improvement over his position with the Saints, where Jones was buried on the depth chart behind Alvin Kamara, Mark Ingram II, and Dwayne Washington. He was a healthy scratch in recent weeks and the Saints opted to activate Latavius Murray from the practice squad ahead of him in Week 4, losing Murray to the Denver Broncos after a strong performance. Now they’re without both Murray and Jones, with Ingram having averaged just 1.8 yards per carry against Seattle (on 9 attempts).

Kamara looked more like his old self with a heavy workload, but we know he can play. The concern all year has been the depth behind him. Maybe the Saints can call up David Johnson or one of the other running backs they worked out over the summer, but it’s unlikely they’ll be able to make a move ahead of the Nov. 1 trade deadline: they’re under the salary cap by about $2.3 million and will be hard-pressed to be buyers or sellers, even if veteran backs become available around the league. Hopefully Kamara’s health endures for the next twelve weeks and beyond.

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Saints fear ‘significant’ turf toe injury for WR Deonte Harty

Saints fear ‘significant’ turf toe injury for returns specialist Deonte Harty

There’s bad news for Deonte Harty. NewOrleans.Football’s Nick Underhill first reported that Harty was diagnosed with a turf toe injury after exiting Sunday’s win against the Seattle Seahawks, and it might end his season. NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport adds that Harty will receive a second opinion on the injury, but it’s believed he’ll be facing a months-long recovery.

If that’s the case, it sounds like a similar injury to what rookie left tackle Trevor Penning suffered in the preseason, which has sidelined him until at least November. It’s a really tough break for Harty in a contract year. He hasn’t found much success on special teams (returning 3 punts for 8 yards, and 6 kicks for 137 yards, an average of 22.8 yards per kick return) or offense (catching 2 receptions for 13 yards), but it’s not for lack of trying — if anything, he’s been trying too hard to make something out of nothing. Hopefully his injury isn’t as severe as feared and he’s able to return to good health soon.

So how do the Saints adjust without him? It probably isn’t sustainable to keep asking Taysom Hill to return kicks, entertaining as that has been; Jarvis Landry and Marquez Callaway have helped field punts, but neither has been particularly effective in the role. The only other Saints player to return kicks in the preseason was wide receiver Kirk Merritt and running back Tony Jones Jr., who was waived Saturday and could re-sign with the practice squad.

But the smart pick may be Rashid Shaheed. The undrafted rookie out of Weber State was unavailable for most of the season while recovering from an ACL injury but he brings an impressive college resume with a school record in kickoff return yards per try (29.1) and the all-time FCS record for kickoff return touchdowns (7). He’s the only player in school history to earn All-American recognition four times, largely for his efforts in the return game. If he’s healthy, he should get called up from the practice squad to try his hand on special teams.

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Saints activate DT Malcolm Roach, waive RB Tony Jones Jr. among final Week 5 roster moves

Saints activate DT Malcolm Roach, waive RB Tony Jones Jr. among last-minute roster moves in Week 5:

Whew. The New Orleans Saints released a long list of last-minute roster moves ahead of Sunday’s kickoff with the Seattle Seahawks in Week 5. They’re bringing up a couple of players up from the practice squad and activating another from injured reserve. Let’s break down each transaction reported on Saturday’s update to the waiver wire:

Saints losing Latavius Murray may be a symptom of a larger problem

The Saints losing Latavius Murray isn’t awful on its own, but it might be a symptom of a larger problem within the organization:

You’re lying if you predicted the New Orleans Saints losing Latavius Murray would be what sends the fanbase into open civil war. Let’s keep it real, here: Murray is a past-his-prime player that nobody expected much of when he signed with the Saints practice squad on Sept. 13. That he ended up having a good game in Week 4’s loss to the Minnesota Vikings was a pleasant surprise. He hadn’t gotten so much as an invitation to a group workout in free agency since his Baltimore Ravens contract expired back in January.

When the opportunity to get a pay raise and step into the Javonte Williams-less Denver Broncos backfield presented itself on Monday, Murray jumped at the chance. He was earning pennies on the dollar with the Saints practice squad while slotted in behind Alvin Kamara, Mark Ingram II, Dwayne Washington, and Tony Jones Jr. on the 53-man roster. It shouldn’t take him long to take the lead spot in Denver’s rotation. If he’d wanted to remain in New Orleans, he could have told the Broncos no-thanks, but he smartly saw this as a better opportunity.

That doesn’t mean the Saints couldn’t have done more to keep Murray in the building — though we’re working with “hindsight is 20/20” analysis in pointing that out. But for a team that has struggled to run with consistency and has made puzzling personnel decisions all year, this can’t be overlooked. It isn’t much on its own. But it might be a symptom of something worse within the organization: no attention for detail.

Let’s recap what happened over the weekend. On Saturday, the Saints downgraded Jameis Winston to rule him out of Sunday’s game with the Vikings. At the same time, they signed practice squad quarterback Jake Luton to their 53-man roster, suggesting they want to protect him from other teams’ poaching for multiple weeks. To open a spot for Luton, they released fullback Adam Prentice, who cleared waivers and is currently a free agent. They could have done that same procedure for Murray, but instead opted to make him a single-game elevation from the practice squad, along with tight end/fullback J.P. Holtz. Deactivating Jones and calling up Murray would suggest their spots on the depth chart were flipped, but that wasn’t reflected on their roster status.

So when Murray reverted to the practice squad after the game on Sunday, the Broncos were able to swoop in and make him a nice offer on Monday, and it was in his best interest to accept it. That wouldn’t have been the case had the Saints signed Murray to the 53-man roster on Saturday when they promoted Luton. They could have waived another player (like reserve running back Tony Jones Jr., who Murray was activated ahead of against Minnesota) or made Luton a single-game elevation instead. Murray rightly made the decision to leave, but the Saints had an opportunity to keep him from making that decision in the first place.

The team’s decision to not do that and expose Murray to poaching came back to bite them. Again, losing Murray isn’t going to sink their season. But this lack of attention to detail has started to define the Dennis Allen era. His team is practicing lax ball security and racking up procedural penalties that should have been cleaned up in practice. Routine personnel moves aren’t working out. There’s a very real possibility that they won’t get any sort of compensation for All-Pro talents like Marcus Williams and Terron Armstead leaving in free agency.

And that all comes back to leadership and the top of the organization. Mickey Loomis is the longest-tenured general manager in the NFL, but we’re seeing as many own goals from his front office as from Allen’s product on the field. There isn’t any evident eye for detail that we saw for years with Sean Payton steering the ship. Right now, the team just looks rudderless. Now, Payton’s teams definitely lost players they should have retained, at times getting too cute with procedural moves (remember Trill Williams getting claimed off the waiver wire by the Miami Dolphins last summer?), but at least they were making up for those mistakes by winning a lot of football games. There isn’t much positivity on or off the field for New Orleans right now.

That’s not to say it’s going to stay that way. We’re only four weeks into a five-month season. The experience that Loomis and his brass bring to the table should come into play sooner or later. This isn’t Allen’s first rodeo, either. He and his coaching staff have every tool at their disposal to work with and get this team back on track. With four of their next five games at home, it’s a great opportunity to shake back to .500 in front of a friendly crowd and go on a tear. They really can’t afford to keep losing games.

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Saints release backup RB Dwayne Washington

In a surprise move, the New Orleans Saints released backup RB Dwayne Washington after setting the initial 53-man roster:

Well that’s odd. Per Wednesday’s update to the daily transactions wire, the New Orleans Saints released veteran running back Dwayne Washington. The 28-year old appeared in 57 games with the Saints since joining them back in 2018, having spent the first two years of his career with the Detroit Lions.

Washington left the team’s Aug. 16 practice early with an undisclosed injury, and he hadn’t been spotted often at the facility in the weeks since. It’s possible he needs a four-week rest on injured reserve to heal up and aim for an early-season return, but at this point we just don’t know. For what it’s worth, the Saints did not release Washington with an injury designation, as is typical in these moves to IR, so he could just be moving on. He could be moving down to the practice squad. So stay tuned for updates on this front.

In any event: the running backs left on the 53-man roster include Alvin Kamara, Mark Ingram II, and Tony Jones Jr., along with fullback Adam Prentice. The only runners on the practice squad are fullback/tight end J.P. Holtz and wide receiver Kirk Merritt, who got some snaps in the backfield late in the summer. Ingram looked like he was running with fresh legs in the Saints’ preseason finale, but with the free agent market thinning out quickly New Orleans may struggle to add more depth behind him and Kamara.

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Who is on the Saints’ roster bubble entering the preseason finale?

Who is on the Saints’ roster bubble entering the preseason finale? Breaking down the list on offense and defense:

It’s going to be tough to make the New Orleans Saints’ roster. Just 53 of the 80 players under contract right now are going to make the cut, and many of those roster spots are already accounted for – by my count, as many as 46 players should be safe bets to make the opening-day depth chart (granted, three of them are specialists in the kicking game). 

Everyone else is on the roster bubble. A strong performance on Friday night against the Los Angeles Chargers could be what they need to win a job for Week 1, but falling shy of expectations could send their career in another direction. There’s a lot on the line for many of these guys. With that in mind, here are the players likely on the bubble going into the preseason finale: