Jalen Redmond continue his ascent with the Vikings, making four tackles (all solos), two of them for a loss, and defensing two passes in 53% of the snaps on defense. (x.com)
Tryouts
It’s now two weeks in a row that no spring football players have taken part in NFL tryouts. A caveat to that is that reporting of tryouts has become more sporadic, so a day or two here or there may have been missed over the past few weeks. It’s always possible there’s been a tryout on those days that has gone unreported.
Transactions
WR Deon Cain (Stallions) was waived from the practice squad of the Buffalo Bills on Tuesday, ending his second in-season stint with the club. He spent over a month on the practice squad in this tour of duty. Also on Tuesday, LS Tucker Addington (Gamblers) continued his 2024 odyssey, signing with the Jacksonville Jaguars’ practice squad. This is the second time the Jags have added a long snapper to the practice squad this season. The reason was revealed when regular long snapper Ross Matiscik popped up on the injury report with a hamstring ailment.
Tuesday saw the reunion of WR Maurice Alexander (Stars) with the Detroit Lions after a short breakup. Alexander re-signed with the team’s practice squad after being waived from the 53-man roster late the previous week. DT Jack Heflin (Roughnecks) was one of three additions to the practice squad of the Los Angeles Rams on Wednesday. He had just recently worked out for the Miami Dolphins last month.
Alexander was promoted to the active roster of the Lions on Thursday prior to their game against Green Bay. The next day, the Pittsburgh Steelers let DT Domenique Davis (Gamblers) go from their practice squad. He spent a little more than a month there. To close out the week, WR Kevin Austin, Jr. (Stallions) was signed to the active roster of the New Orleans Saints from their practice squad. He was out of practice squad elevations. Minnesota Vikings K Will Reichard returned from IR, which meant they had to say goodbye to K John Parker Romo (Brahmas). His performance in Minnesota likely put him at the top of a lot of emergency lists around the league for that position.
Finally, prior to Dallas’s Monday nighter, the Cowboys placed CB Josh Butler (Panthers) on injured reserve. He tore his ACL in the team’s annual Thanksgiving day game.
XFL
*The first two drives of the game resulted in P Daniel Whelan (Defenders) punts for the Green Bay Packers. Then he had a long layoff until his leg was called upon again, near the end of the third quarter. In all, Whelan punted three times for a 41.7 gross and net average. He dropped two inside the 20, and just missed a third by three yards. His first two punts backed Detroit up to their eight and 11-yard lines respectively.
*Still snapping for the Chicago Bears in place of the injured Patrick Scales, who’s been out since the beginning of the year with a back injury, LS Scott Daly (New York Guardians) snapped on all punts and kicks against San Francisco.
*The only notable play made by S Elijah Campbell (Defenders) for the Miami Dolphins on Sunday was a penalty for being offsides on an extra point attempt by the New York Jets. He was in on three defensive snaps, and 58% of those on special teams.
*In the Pittsburgh Steelers’ victory over the Cleveland Browns, LS Christian Kuntz (Renegades) handled all longer-than-normal snaps.
*Continuing to provide relief as the Atlanta Falcons’ swing tackle, OT Storm Norton (Wildcats) was relegated to three special teams snaps.
*Elevated for the third and final time in 2024 for the Atlanta Falcons (unless he is waived and added back to the practice squad), WR Chris Blair (Defenders) couldn’t even make good use of the elevation: He was active, but did not play.
*After not getting any playing time last week despite being active on gameday, Tampa Bay Buccaneers DT C.J. Brewer (Roughnecks) not only played but was credited with a tackle on a 3rd-and-1 sneak by Raiders QB Aidan O’Connell for a first down. That was one of six snaps Brewer played on Sunday.
*Kept to field goal and extra point protection duty, G Michael Dunn (Dragons) played four special teams snaps for the Cleveland Browns.
*Playing in just his second game of the season, QB Taylor Heinicke (Battlehawks) saw the field for one play after starter Justin Herbert left with what was feared to be a serious leg injury. On 3rd-and-20, Heinicke scrambled for 12 yards before the L.A. Chargers ultimately punted on the next play to end the drive. Herbert reentered the next time the Chargers had the ball.
USFL
*Re-signed to the active roster in time for Thursday Night Football after being released the previous week following their Thanksgiving game, WR Maurice Alexander (Stars) once again returned punts for the Detroit Lions, fair catching all three of them off the foot of former D.C. Defender Daniel Whelan. Alexander didn’t play on special teams coverage teams or on offense, so those were the only three snaps he played.
*Coming off the bench for the Carolina Panthers, DE LaBryan Ray (Stars) made his presence known with four tackles (two solo, two assists). All of his stops came in the run game. Ray played nearly half the snaps, coming in just shy of that at 47%.
*The defense of the 49ers held the Chicago Bears’ offense, led by number one overall pick QB Caleb Williams, in check. DT Khalil Davis (Stallions) was a part of that for San Fran, contributing a tackle on defense while on the field for 26% of the defensive snaps.
*Two field goals and two extra points from K Brandon Aubrey (Stallions) wasn’t enough for the Dallas Cowboys to overcome other special teams gaffes in a one-score loss to the Cincinnati Bengals on Monday night.
*Four targets turned into only one catch for 16 yards for WR KaVontae Turpin (Generals) of the Cowboys. He also ran the ball twice for 15 yards on a few gadget plays. Turpin returned one punt for 20 yards and did not have an opportunity to return a kick. He played 17% of the offensive snaps for Dallas.
UFL
*Coming off his first field goal miss of the season on Thanksgiving, there was a question as to how K Jake Bates (Panthers) would respond. The Lions had to like what they saw: Bates was perfect on two field goals, including the game winner from 35 yards out as time expired. He was also four-for-four on extra points. This performance came on the same week he was named NFL Special Teams Player of the Month for November.
*He received a game ball from Minnesota Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell last week, and this week, DE Jalen Redmond (Renegades) was rewarded with a starting assignment. He continued his ascent, making four tackles (all solos), two of them for a loss, and defensing two passes in 53% of the snaps on defense. Redmond’s two stops behind the line of scrimmage, both on Falcons star RB Bijan Robinson, were for a total of nine yards lost. He also knocked down a 3rd down pass near the goal line, forcing Atlanta to settle for a field goal.
*Providing long snaps for the Cleveland Browns, LS Rex Sunahara (Brahmas) otherwise did not make the stat book.
*WR Kevin Austin, Jr. (Stallions) was active over rookie receiver Mason Tipton (a Memphis Showboats draft pick) and tied for second on the team in targets with five. However, he turned those into just one catch for five yards in his first game as an official member of the New Orleans Saints’ 53-man roster. Pro Football Focus had one of those targets as a drop by Austin, who played the second-most snaps among Saints receivers (65%).
Byes: Baltimore Ravens QB Josh Johnson (Wildcats) and LS Nick Moore (Tampa Bay Vipers), New England Patriots DE Jeremiah Pharms, Jr. (Maulers), Denver Broncos LS Mitchell Fraboni (Maulers) and LB Dondrea Tillman (Stallions)
