Washington added Trevor Davis to the practice squad, a former fifth-round pick who specializes in punt and kick returns.
Davis (6-1, 188) played at Cal and was one of Jared Goff’s top targets in 2015. He was drafted in the fifth round pick by the Packers in 2016. https://t.co/EQ5VN0RJwM
The Washington Football Team is adding a member to their practice squad, signing wide receiver Trevor Davis on Wednesday afternoon.
Davis was a former fifth-round draft pick from the Green Bay Packers back in 2016, and played at the University of California where he was a top target for Jared Goff, the Los Angeles Rams quarterback.
Most recently Davis was with the Chicago Bears this offseason after spending time with both the Miami Dolphins and Oakland Raiders. He’s started a total of four games in the NFL, with 43 games played and 16 total receptions. His primary use has been as a kick and punt returner.
The Chicago Bears announced some roster moves Monday, including the additions of K Cairo Santos and WR Alex Wesley.
The Chicago Bears announced some roster moves Monday, including the signing of kicker Cairo Santos. Santos, who played for the Bears in two games back in 2017, converted 4-of-5 field goals during that span before suffering a season-ending groin injury.
Most recently, Santos started the season with the Tennessee Titans, but he was released after he went 0-for-4 in a Week 5 loss to the Buffalo Bills. In his six-year career, Santos has completed 108-of-134 field goals, good for 80.6 percent.
But it doesn’t sound like Santos’ addition is competition-related. It’s more of an insurance policy for kicker Eddy Pineiro, who’s nursing a groin injury right now.
“(Pineiro) does have a little bit of a groin [injury] that he’s dealing with right now,” Nagy told reporters Sunday.
We have signed K Cairo Santos and WR Alex Wesley. We have also placed TE Darion Clark on IR and waived WR Trevor Davis.
The Bears also signed wide receiver Alex Wesley, who returns for his second stint with the team within the last month. Wesley spent the final two weeks of the 2019 season on Chicago’s practice squad before he signed a reserve/futures contract in late December. Wesley was waived July 27 as part of roster cut-downs.
Chicago also placed tight end Darion Clark on injured reserve and released former Green Bay Packers receiver Trevor Davis.
The Bears have a much more stable unit than they did last year. Here’s how all key special teams contributors stack up heading into camp.
Special teams in the NFL can change the game for better or for worse. The Chicago Bears experienced the latter in grand fashion back in 2018 thanks to the “double doink” and worked to revamp their unit with one of the most highly-publicized kicking competitions ever and signing an All-Pro returner to kickstart the kickoff.
While the finished product certainly had room for improvement, particularly at the kicker position, it yielded quite a few positive results over the course of the season.
Now, one full year removed from the kicking fiasco, the Bears head into 2020 with a much more stable unit than they did last year at this time. Here’s how all key special teams contributors stack up heading into camp.
K Eddy Pineiro
Harrison Barden-USA TODAY Sports
The winner of the exhaustive Bears Bachelor-esque competition last summer, Pineiro held onto the job all year long after being traded from the then-Oakland Raiders and provided plenty of fireworks, both good and bad, as noted above.
For a while, it appeared the team had found its reliable kicker they had sought since the days of Robbie Gould when Pineiro converted 9-of-10 field goals in his first six games. Then the wheels came off, as he struggled to keep his consistency, going 3-of-7 in the middle of the season. Pineiro did rebound to close out 2019, nailing 11 consecutive kicks but questions still linger. His accuracy wasn’t consistent enough over an entire season and is his leg strong enough to hit deep field goals? Pineiro didn’t attempt a kick longer than 50 yards after his game-winning 53-yard field goal to win against the Broncos.
Going into the season, Pineiro is still the favorite to win the job, with far less competition breathing down his neck. Still, the kicker position is one of the most fluid in the NFL and if he endures another tough stretch, he probably won’t have the opportunity to rebound from it in Chicago.
We’re just days away from the start of Bears training camp, and there are several position battles to keep an eye on.
We’re just days away from the start of Chicago Bears training camp, and there are several position battles to keep an eye on.
While there are several starting jobs up for grabs at quarterback and in the secondary, there are also valuable roster spots up for grabs at running back and wide receiver. And with the absence of preseason games, every training camp rep is going to be even more important.
Some position battles are sure to draw more attention than others, naturally. Our Bears Wire staff shares their thoughts on which position battle they’re looking forward to in training camp.
Yes, it’s the obvious answer. But with the success of this team hinging on quarterback play this season, there’s no denying that the quarterback competition between Mitchell Trubisky and Nick Foles is the most important position battle at training camp. The Bears invested a lot to bring Foles to Chicago — a fourth-round pick and $21 million — but that’s still not a guarantee that he wins the job. Matt Nagy has made it clear that this will be an open and fair competition.
While Foles has experience operating in a system similar to Nagy’s, the shortened offseason figures to benefit Trubisky, who already has experience operating this offense and working with Chicago’s skill position players. Especially given that he’s been organizing offseason workouts during the virtual offseason. But regardless of who wins the starting job, it’s certainly no guarantee that they’ll be the starter come season’s end.
Get to know the Bears’ newest receiver Trevor Davis.
The Chicago Bears added another piece of depth at receiver and a special teams contributor in four-year veteran Trevor Davis, who signed a one-year deal with the team on Wednesday.
While Davis hasn’t been used much in the passing game, he’s served a key special teams role in three years with the Green Bay Packers and his short stints with the Las Vegas Raiders and Miami Dolphins.
Let’s get to know the newest Bears receiver/return specialist:
1. Davis set career-highs against Bears last season with Raiders
Steven Flynn-USA TODAY Sports
Everyone remembers the Bears-Raiders game in London last season. It’s a game that many Bears fans and players would like to forget. But it’s also a game where new Bears receiver Trevor Davis had a career day. Davis played in nine games for the Raiders in 2019, catching seven passes for 83 yards — including career highs with four receptions for 42 yards in a winning effort over Chicago.
Bears GM Ryan Pace has found gems in the later rounds. And there are some gems with the last 10 picks at No. 163.
While Bears general manager Ryan Pace has struggled with early-round picks during his tenure, he’s known for finding gems in the later rounds.
So perhaps it’s somewhat encouraging that Chicago has five draft picks between Rounds 5-7 in the 2020 NFL Draft — including pick 163.
When considering the previous players that have been taken at 163rd overall, there are some encouraging signs on this list that show that, if you get the right guy, he could evolve into a solid contributor.
Let’s take a look at the last 10 picks at No. 163.
2019: P Jake Bailey, Patriots
AP Photo/Ron Schwane
As a rookie, Bailey saw immediate action for the Patriots. He started all 16 regular-season games, as well as New England’s lone playoff contest, where Bailey averaged 44.9 yards per punt, including a long of 65 yards and 36 punts within the 20 yard line.
The Miami Dolphins have placed RB Kalen Ballage on injured reserve, cut S Montre Hartage and filed two waiver claims this week.
The Miami Dolphins are being forced to shuffle the deck once more due to injuries and performance on the field. Miami made two swaps of players on the 53-man roster yesterday, one on the heels of yet another injury and the other based on an early sample size for life in the NFL.
The Dolphins departing players are two youngsters — running back Kalen Ballage has been transitioned onto injured reserve after an injury suffered against the Eagles, while the Dolphins have cut UDFA rookie Montre Hartage after just one game on the active roster.
The Dolphins’ replacements include two fresh faces, there are no practice squad call-ups for the Dolphins in this round of changes. Miami has claimed running back Zach Zenner off of waivers via the Arizona Cardinals to take Ballage’s spot at the third active running back on the roster and Miami also tacked on WR Trevor Davis from waivers via the Oakland Raiders.
Davis is a former 5th-round draft selection by the Green Bay Packers and played his first three seasons in the NFL with the Packers before being cut by the Packers earlier this season.
For Miami, the absence of Ballage is the most notable shift on the roster, although rookie running backs Patrick Laird and Myles Gaskin appear ready to step in and split the bulk of the carries as the Dolphins look to find some stability in the running game. That stability won’t come until Miami gets some new bodies up front along the offensive line, but at the very least Laird and Gaskin have some more lateral agility than Ballage — that may help the team spring some bigger gains on the ground over the final 4 games of the season.
The Raiders waived former Packers returner Trevor Davis on Monday. Could GM Brian Gutekunst be interested?
Here’s an interesting twist to the Green Bay Packers’ on-going dilemma at returner: The Oakland Raiders released former Packers receiver and returner Trevor Davis on Monday.
The Packers traded Davis, who will be a free agent after the 2019 season, to the Raiders for a sixth-round pick on Sept. 18.
Davis played in two games for the Packers before being dealt to Oakland. With the Raiders, Davis caught seven passes for 83 yards, rushed four times for 73 yards and a touchdown and returned 19 kicks for 411 yards and 13 punts for 111 yards.
If the Packers were interested in returning Davis at no cost, they could put in a waiver claim and hope he’s not claimed before the Packers’ slot. It’s possible Davis, who already knows Matt LaFleur’s offense, would provide the best combination of return ability and offensive potential at this point in the season, although it’s equally possible GM Brian Gutekunst and the Packers were simply done with him when they traded him away in September.
The Packers have struggled returning punts and kicks all season. In fact, the team’s longest punt return is just three yards, and they still have negative total punt return yards (-8) after 12 games. No other team has fewer than 90. The Packers are also 29th in the NFL in kick return average (19.5).
Bringing back Davis could certainly help.
The Packers are looking. Gutekunst swapped returners on his roster Monday, claiming Tyler Ervin off of waivers from the Jacksonville Jaguars and releasing Tremon Smith.
Raiders wire looks at the winners and losers from the awful performance in Arrowhead against the Kansas City Chiefs.
Another week and another blowout for the Oakland Raiders. The Raiders ended up with an embarrassing loss at Arrowhead against the Kansas City Chiefs 40-9, adding to their awful point differential of -87.
The Raiders actually moved the ball pretty decent against the Chiefs with a strong running game out-gaining the Kansas City Chiefs 332-259 on the day but had 3 turnovers and allowed a defensive touchdown.
The penalties were too much to overcome with 12 for 99 yards with multiple penalties hurting the offense or continuing drives for the Chiefs. Just an all-around ugly day for the passing game with the receivers being lockdown throughout the game.
The defense actually didn’t have a bad showing. Holding a dynamic Chiefs offense to 4.3 yards per play is excellent for the outlook going forward, especially after a terrible game last week against the New York Jets.
The Raiders were able to generate pressure on Patrick Mahomes, causing the quarterback to airmail throws and pass off his back foot into traffic. The young Raiders’ defense continues to grow and looks ready to finish the season.
Who were the Winners and Losers for the Raiders against the Chiefs? Time to take a look and figure out who played well and who didn’t after an embarrassing Sunday.
